My local weather man says I should have enough snow to bring life to a screeching halt some time today, so, that sounds like a gaming opportunity if I ever heard one. I still have an ongoing Medieval 2: Total War campaign as Spain to finish. There is some serious Warlock business to take care of, too. And if the weather allows, it'll be the continuing adventures of our p&p D&D group Saturday night.
Heart :smitten: :smitten:
The weather is a bullsheet here. It's in the 40s but is going to get colder throughout the day. But in four days it's going to be in the 70s again. The South doesn't understand the concept of winter.
I'm probably going to do some more boardgaming:
1) Dien Bien Phu (Legion Wargames)
(not really Vietnam, but whatever, this song is better than "in Vietnam it was nineteen...nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nineteen")
2) Fortune and Glory (again, played last weekend for the first time and loved the game)
3) U-Boat Leader
You guys are having snow this morning too?
Probably the usual World of Warships.. Maybe some flying with Nef.. Continue my Attila Total War game. Maybe check out Age of Empires II HD, grabbed in the waning minutes of the Steam sale.
Weather man says this afternoon for the snow. Hope B_C gets it, too. It'll improve his mood, I'm sure. ;)
Quote from: MetalDog on January 06, 2017, 07:18:43 AM
Weather man says this afternoon for the snow. Hope B_C gets it, too. It'll improve his mood, I'm sure. ;)
Nope, some "rain-sleet" northwest of us. It snows here maybe once every 10 years, and then it's usually a dusting that lasts an hour, if that.
Besides, what's wrong with my mood? Besides the usual I mean.
Snowing hard here right now, but we're only 'supposed to' get a dusting. Another storm supposed to come tomorrow night. Don't mind the storms as much if it's on the weekend. Though we're supposed to move my son back to College on Sunday.
Man I am all over the place with my gaming lately.
Starbound has taken most of my time since purchasing.
Heroes is always a wildcard if there are peeps on.
Now that I have a HD that can fit the library of Congress on it I re- downloaded world of warships.
HOI4 and Stellaris are always possible and I'm still looking to check out the new shinys in Witcher 3.
And of course some Wang is always possible thanks to shadow warrior 2
Here us southwest Michigan we've been in a lake-effect snow cycle on and off for weeks now. More expected today, along with 6 degree cold. Perfect gaming weather! All over the place this weekend; HoI4, SoW Waterloo and Pike and Shot.
Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 06, 2017, 07:04:10 AM
I'm probably going to do some more boardgaming:
1) Dien Bien Phu (Legion Wargames)
AHEM!! Also, you're the Viet Cong in the FIRE IN THE GROGS forum game (at least during the test phase, but it's going so well so far we might just segue into the full game.)
Your catchup post for your options and what AzTank did on his part of Turn One (as the US player) can be found here: http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=18567.msg492914#msg492914
Snow and cold here on the New York frontier as well. Must be January.
Continuing to squeal with delight through the Enderal mod for Skyrim as well as the Mercia campaign in Age of Charlemagne. Good times in both.
Metal Gear Solid V beckons, however...
Relatedly, we're still looking for one or maybe two players to fill out our forum game of FIRE IN THE LAKE. Panzerseast, you and Jomni expressed some interest -- let me know for sure, so I can reserve your playslot!
During our test phase, ArizonaTank has been randomly assigned to the US faction, and Banzai_Cat (as noted) to the Viet Cong. The next players in can have the NVA or ARVN at your choice.
If we only get one more player, I'll take the remaining side. (Yes, including the NVA since they got a bit of bad luck on the first draw.)
My absolute newbie tutorial of the game starts here (http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=18567.msg492556#msg492556), or you can skip down to AzTank's part of Turn One here (http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=18567.msg492908#msg492908), which also continues the tutorial (with some ditto information from previously).
Currently this is just the test to see how feasible it is for us to run the game if I'm using Tabletop Simulator as my game table to take snapshots and reports from. TTS is not required, although if players have that and want to play their turn in TTS you should ping me on Steam whenever I'm online and let me know. (Steam name: Sabreman)
Since the test is going well, I anticipate segueing directly into the full game instead of restarting.
Hope to be a couch potato and play some Dragon Age Inquistion or do a little Diablo 3 gear grinding.
Combat Mission:Shock Force - Highland Games - continue my campaign
Mass Effect - give it another go...
Something Else
Other than GM-ing FitL (I hope), I will definitely be playing more Mechwarrior Online, which has been the big winner in my Christmas games so far (no surprise, since I've been playing MW back to MW2).
And I expect I'll be working on finishing up my Battle for Middle Earth 2: Rise of the Witch-King grand campaign AAR, where I tried to keep Mordor, Isengard, Angmar and the Goblins from overrunning Middle-Earth as the Dwarves (while the Gondor/Rohan faction has completely pissed away all its territories #:-) L:-) ).
I may be introducing a friend or two to classic Space Hulk boardgaming.
Order of Battle WW2 - Blitzkrieg - has been surprisingly excellent.
No snow. So that means yard work here. :-\ In between, DC: Case Blue, AJE's Ceasar vs Pompey Campaign, and beating-up Redcreans in Pillars of Eternity. Have a great weekend Grogs and keep your dongles warm and out of all that snow.
Endless space 2 - after learning lessons in the first game I'm going in again
As much as I love warhammer and civ 6 it feels better to have completed those campaigns so I can put them on the shelf and try something else
And thanks to faraways aar I might have a look at Thea
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 06, 2017, 10:46:42 AM
No snow. So that means yard work here. :-\ In between, DC: Case Blue, AJE's Ceasar vs Pompey Campaign, and beating-up Redcreans in Pillars of Eternity. Have a great weekend Grogs and keep your dongles warm and out of all that snow.
Make sure you choose a lot of projects the create VPs in AJE. Even though I kicked as on the battlefield in my game, I still lost on points due to not generating enough VPs..
I'll try to play some Rise and Fall: Cilivizations at war. Maybe some Master of Orion CtS, MOO2 or Birth of the Federation.
:smitten: Heart.
Well, besides the retail job I do (weekends - not bad just 8-12pm) and no snow but we are below zero today. It's January.
I have been playing the free version of Order of Battle World War II, and really liking it. There's some things I wish were made clearer in objectives or events. But it does compare to Panzer Corps and in some cases is better than Panzer Corps. I have been thinking on grabbing a campaign during the Matrix Sale ( I still have yet to figure out what I'm going to get - kind of in this weird malaise lately.)
I have been playing (or attempting to play) Darkest Hour: Kaiserreich- USA in one attempt the "hilarity" that ensued after the '16 ( I mean '36) elections was just wonderful, "What do you mean? The Canadians invaded New England? Alaska too!?" "Oh greaaaat Pacific states left...and here comes Mexico..."
Other than that, that's really it.
I feel I'm probably missing the joke with this thread, but today happens to be my birthday.
Friday's are usually PS4 night with me and two buddies - we play either Battlefield 1 or The Division.
Since it's my birthday, I have the privileged to be able to choose to do exactly the same thing... only thing, I get an Indian takeaway to go with it. Go me!
(Being so close to Christmas I rarely celebrate on the day, I usually do something more worthwhile later in the month with other friends who are also January babies)
On Sunday I expect to be squadding up with another group to play some Europa Universalis IV.
Quote from: WargamerJoe on January 06, 2017, 12:39:40 PM
I feel I'm probably missing the joke with this thread, but today happens to be my birthday.
Friday's are usually PS4 night with me and two buddies - we play either Battlefield 1 or The Division.
Since it's my birthday, I have the privileged to be able to choose to do exactly the same thing... only thing, I get an Indian takeaway to go with it. Go me!
(Being so close to Christmas I rarely celebrate on the day, I usually do something more worthwhile later in the month with other friends who are also January babies)
On Sunday I expect to be squadding up with another group to play some Europa Universalis IV.
All what are you playing at the weekend threads have to have Friday in caps inserted into a song title as a lyric and the video of said song be linked in the first post. In essence it's just a what are you playing this weekend thread with hardcore rules you must adhere to
Other rules are optional, but preferable such as all Friday songs should be bon jovi songs
Mods will crush you for not doing it right, just ask TGB, wherever he is now
I am moving this week to my new villa, so a lot of headache and little time for gaming, but I squeezed my PBEM in DC:B, WITE and CM:FB, also played some FOG new purchased DLCs.
^^ ...is eternal vigilance? :bd:
As I'm out of town and thus consigned to ye Olde Laptope, maybe I'll get on with a Commander: The Great War game and watch people play The Division on Twitch.
Hows this for a blast from the past... "Titanic Adventure Out of Time". I can't believe I am able to run this game on current hardware but so far so good!! Dosbox game launcher and voila. Real nice game that I had back in the day but never finished. Anyone play this and what are your thoughts?? Bruce
Quote from: undercovergeek on January 06, 2017, 12:46:41 PM
Quote from: WargamerJoe on January 06, 2017, 12:39:40 PM
I feel I'm probably missing the joke with this thread, but today happens to be my birthday.
Friday's are usually PS4 night with me and two buddies - we play either Battlefield 1 or The Division.
Since it's my birthday, I have the privileged to be able to choose to do exactly the same thing... only thing, I get an Indian takeaway to go with it. Go me!
(Being so close to Christmas I rarely celebrate on the day, I usually do something more worthwhile later in the month with other friends who are also January babies)
On Sunday I expect to be squadding up with another group to play some Europa Universalis IV.
All what are you playing at the weekend threads have to have Friday in caps inserted into a song title as a lyric and the video of said song be linked in the first post. In essence it's just a what are you playing this weekend thread with hardcore rules you must adhere to
Other rules are optional, but preferable such as all Friday songs should be bon jovi songs
Mods will crush you for not doing it right, just ask TGB, wherever he is now
The only time you get crushed is if you start the thread with an ivoJ noB song. Otherwise, the only rule is FRIDAY must be all caps and part of a lyric from the song. Other than that, have at. And happy birthday, Wargamer Joe!
So much hate for Jersey's finest. >:(
I'll likely be playing some Scourge of War: Gettysburg, sandbox, the usual thing with couriers and all.
I am very much considering re-starting Morrowind one last time, and actually devoting myself to finish it as a New Year's resolution. The only thing holding me back is that I lost my save game where I was about halfway through the main quest, so I have to start brand new. That was a lot of gaming hours and work to get that far in the game, and I'm just not sure I have the stamina to do it again. It was fun, but not Skyrim fun.
But...I'm seriously thinking about it. I do want to do some dungeon crawling, and I've always felt I've let myself down by not finishing Morrowind.
If not Morrowind, or SoW (or in addition), I'll be continuing my path to domination of Wales in CK2.
Love ya' like a brother, Toonces, but Springsteen is New Jersey's finest. As evidence:
While I'm no fan of either...you could at least pick a more working man song for The Bruce...
such as...
Not to mention the fact that as a born and bred Jersian you are pretty much sick of
Born to Run by the time yer 8....
Honestly, I'm not a big Bruce fan either. But he at least has artistic credibility and acknowledged talent. Bon Jovi is a hack who played pop hair metal and the millions of albums he sold are used as some sort of confirmation of his artistry.*
*=The statement I made about Bon Jovi makes me a music snob. I accept that. But I feel that my position is akin to those who have taken sides in the 'clip' or 'not to clip' debate currently being held amongst 'serious' board wargamers. Each side, I am sure, feels that their opinion is the 'right' one and the other side is composed of mouth breathing booger eaters.
You guys are forgetting some other kings of New Jersey...
Dee Snider is a bad man and would whoop Bon Jovi's a$$!
My personal favorite homegrown NJ talent...
Quote from: MetalDog on January 06, 2017, 08:37:25 PM
Honestly, I'm not a big Bruce fan either. But he at least has artistic credibility and acknowledged talent. Bon Jovi is a hack who played pop hair metal and the millions of albums he sold are used as some sort of confirmation of his artistry.*
*=The statement I made about Bon Jovi makes me a music snob. I accept that. But I feel that my position is akin to those who have taken sides in the 'clip' or 'not to clip' debate currently being held amongst 'serious' board wargamers. Each side, I am sure, feels that their opinion is the 'right' one and the other side is composed of mouth breathing booger eaters.
While I don't share you vitriol for JBJ you do, I can see your point. I feel that way about 99% of the top 40 bullsh*t that is out there right now.
Quote from: jamus34 on January 06, 2017, 09:04:39 PM
My personal favorite homegrown NJ talent...
NOW you're talking!!!
Quote from: MetalDog on January 06, 2017, 09:00:36 PM
Dee Snider is a bad man and would whoop Bon Jovi's a$$!
I believe it. Especially after watching their documentary. It's on Netflix and it's highly, HIGHLY entertaining:
Neidermeyer would not approve.
Good thing his own troops shot him in Vietnam, eh?
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-16IeOLTA8k8%2FVacXDLHvy-I%2FAAAAAAAABN8%2Fym03NTEZvPs%2Fs1600%2Fniedermeyer1.jpg&hash=7f1670562e6c8b1d25abdad087111b2db27d5d58)
Yeah, but he got retconned back into the Twisted Sister video.
Funny you mention Morrowind, Toonces, as I am just about to mod and patch Oblivion and play it...for the first time. Can't wait to try out the Shivering Isles and Knights of the 9 too.
Pics and opinions, PLEASE. :notworthy:
Have you played Oblivion, Slash? It will take some time to patch and mod it. I hope to work on that tomorrow.
I played it briefly after it had come down in price and really liked it-- my first Elder Scrolls game-- but couldn't get past the scaling enemies that made every fight a battle for survival. Loved the world and environment though.
Quote from: Gusington on January 06, 2017, 09:34:05 AM
Snow and cold here on the New York frontier as well. Must be January.
Continuing to squeal with delight through the Enderal mod for Skyrim as well as the Mercia campaign in Age of Charlemagne. Good times in both.
Metal Gear Solid V beckons, however...
Stellaris. gaint hamster with horns divinely appointed to conquer 60% of the Galaxy. Maybe some Shogun2 FOTS and/or CLoD.
I actually finished the Knights of the Nine DLC but never did Shivering Isles. Never finished the main quest, either.
If I survive tonight I am gonna patch it up tomorrow. Almost died driving down to Manhattan to see friends. Brakes froze and I coasted through an intersection against the red. That'll wake you up 😳
You drove to Manhattan in this crap? :wow:
No...Brooklyn 😎 Through one intersection only, no damage and no one hurt, just hope I don't get a ticket from a traffiic camera.
8 inches of snow here and a low of 5 degrees. A great excuse to play games and drink rum all weekend.
So far:
Planetary Annihilation Titans
Campaign Series Middle East
On Deck:
Darkest Dungeon
Sengoku Jidai
^ Yep, about the same here. I'm sipping a Sam Adams and installing Neverwinter Nights 2 on GoG. Just got done a little Darklands (saw that it's available on Steam now)!
Quote from: Toonces on January 07, 2017, 07:07:42 PM
^ Yep, about the same here. I'm sipping a Sam Adams and installing Neverwinter Nights 2 on GoG. Just got done a little Darklands (saw that it's available on Steam now)!
Man I got to fire up
Darklands again.
Sipping on a 12 yr and playing some
Starbound
Finished my driving lessons, instructor said I'm good enough to drive mums car. The look of defeat in her face was amazing. Gonna be driving everywhere.
Mostly been playing revolution under siege since I finished that Orlando figes book
Had a couple of Beam & 7's along with a bowl of hot chili and a nice log in the fireplace. NFL Playoffs and the movie, "The Finest Hour" in between. I love winter-- sometimes.
Been bouncing between EU4 as England and CMANO.
My new CMANO scenario is done. None of my lua code worked right. Had a lot of minor formatting errors that took me awhile to find and fix. Going to make some custom overlays in the morning then it should be ready to post for testing. Already been thinking about what I'm going to do next. I made a promise to myself of not starting anything new until I clear out some of the partially scenarios I have from the last few years.
EU4 as England is going great. I've miraculously am still holding all my French provinces. I've even expanded to include all of Brittany. French are colonizing Mexico, and the Spanish Brazil, so for the moment I have colonizing all of North America and Caribbean to myself other then 1 Norwegian colony on Hispaniola. I even got an event where the pope gave me a casus beli on anyone who colonizes in the North American region. Only bad thing is that my alliance with the Spanish fell apart. They broke it and then rivaled me. That's 40,000 less troops the next time me and the French get into it. The other strange thing was the HRE electors elected France as the emperor. Most of them are not even the same religion as the French so I'm not quite sure how it happened. They look to be coming to their senses and will be voting for Austria when the French king dies.
Assuming I'm sober enough I'm hoping to get some Elite in sometime Sunday after the NY vs Green Bay game.
Quote from: Hofstadter on January 07, 2017, 11:01:54 PM
Finished my driving lessons, instructor said I'm good enough to drive mums car. The look of defeat in her face was amazing. Gonna be driving everywhere.
Congrats. Remember when I got mine. My mom only let me use her car when she needed something from the store or my sister needed picked up or dropped off somewhere
and she didn't want to do it.
Congrats Hofstadter...I think.
Once I got my learners permit at 15, Dad put me in the driver's seat and I've been there ever since.
He'll, he more than once told me to "go get ___," threw me the keys and said "and don't get caught," while I was still with said learner's permit (needing a licensed driver with me but the game was on, so no right now). Dad was a bit shady, methinks.
As expected, lots of Mechwarrior Online; also a new entry in the BFME2:RotWK AAR (in the digital AAR section, or see the link). ...um, I think. My memory of this weekend is a bit fuzzy.
Unexpectedly, started playing World of Tanks today, got up to Tier 4 (out of 10) on German Tank Destroyers (the Hetzer), and up to Tier 3 on Light Tanks (the Pz 38t). I am finding that Tank Destroyers, the German kind anyway, are increasingly useless as they get more powerful: they're too slow to go on a successful blitz (all the targets are dead by the time I get there, so no great xp), and too fragile (and slow, and unable to adjust aim quickly) to hang back and save the day against a counter-blitz.
Also, it's Banzai_Cat's turn again on the Fire in the Grogs forum game: I've shepherded things along to Turn Two, and finished writing introductions for the four factions, and (provisionally) took over the NVA faction, who got off to a hard start anyway. But if someone wants to take their spot, or the ARVN, the slots are still open! -- I'll move out of the way to Nam-master. ;D (Not to be confused with Narm master.) Otherwise I'll team up with the other two players (ArizonaTank and Banzai) against myself by, provisionally, running both North and South Vietnam so the game will continue on.
It was a Civ6 weekend. I almost made it to the industrial age before the broken AI dog piled me for no reason. I really wish they would add some kind of meaningful diplomacy to the game. After getting thoroughly beaten I did what any self respecting Civ player would do. I started over again. :buck2:
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 08, 2017, 10:22:08 PM
As expected, lots of Mechwarrior Online; also a new entry in the BFME2:RotWK AAR (in the digital AAR section, or see the link). ...um, I think. My memory of this weekend is a bit fuzzy.
Unexpectedly, started playing World of Tanks today, got up to Tier 4 (out of 10) on German Tank Destroyers (the Hetzer), and up to Tier 3 on Light Tanks (the Pz 38t). I am finding that Tank Destroyers, the German kind anyway, are increasingly useless as they get more powerful: they're too slow to go on a successful blitz (all the targets are dead by the time I get there, so no great xp), and too fragile (and slow, and unable to adjust aim quickly) to hang back and save the day against a counter-blitz.
Also, it's Banzai_Cat's turn again on the Fire in the Grogs forum game: I've shepherded things along to Turn Two, and finished writing introductions for the four factions, and (provisionally) took over the NVA faction, who got off to a hard start anyway. But if someone wants to take their spot, or the ARVN, the slots are still open! -- I'll move out of the way to Nam-master. ;D (Not to be confused with Narm master.) Otherwise I'll team up with the other two players (ArizonaTank and Banzai) against myself by, provisionally, running both North and South Vietnam so the game will continue on.
JP....
BFME2:RotWK may be the longest game acronym I've ever seen. What is it?
Quote from: bbmike on January 09, 2017, 06:21:27 AM
It was a Civ6 weekend. I almost made it to the industrial age before the broken AI dog piled me for no reason. I really wish they would add some kind of meaningful diplomacy to the game. After getting thoroughly beaten I did what any self respecting Civ player would do. I started over again. :buck2:
You're a groghead, you're supposed to Rage Quit!
Quote from: Rayfer on January 09, 2017, 06:31:51 AM
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 08, 2017, 10:22:08 PM
As expected, lots of Mechwarrior Online; also a new entry in the BFME2:RotWK AAR (in the digital AAR section, or see the link). ...um, I think. My memory of this weekend is a bit fuzzy.
Unexpectedly, started playing World of Tanks today, got up to Tier 4 (out of 10) on German Tank Destroyers (the Hetzer), and up to Tier 3 on Light Tanks (the Pz 38t). I am finding that Tank Destroyers, the German kind anyway, are increasingly useless as they get more powerful: they're too slow to go on a successful blitz (all the targets are dead by the time I get there, so no great xp), and too fragile (and slow, and unable to adjust aim quickly) to hang back and save the day against a counter-blitz.
Also, it's Banzai_Cat's turn again on the Fire in the Grogs forum game: I've shepherded things along to Turn Two, and finished writing introductions for the four factions, and (provisionally) took over the NVA faction, who got off to a hard start anyway. But if someone wants to take their spot, or the ARVN, the slots are still open! -- I'll move out of the way to Nam-master. ;D (Not to be confused with Narm master.) Otherwise I'll team up with the other two players (ArizonaTank and Banzai) against myself by, provisionally, running both North and South Vietnam so the game will continue on.
JP....BFME2:RotWK may be the longest game acronym I've ever seen. What is it?
Battle for Middle Earth 2: Rise of the Witch King
In my defense, I actually shortened the acronym! It should be TLotR:BFME2:RotWK. Maybe with an "EA's" in front of it! :D
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 08, 2017, 10:22:08 PM
Unexpectedly, started playing World of Tanks today, got up to Tier 4 (out of 10) on German Tank Destroyers (the Hetzer), and up to Tier 3 on Light Tanks (the Pz 38t). I am finding that Tank Destroyers, the German kind anyway, are increasingly useless as they get more powerful: they're too slow to go on a successful blitz (all the targets are dead by the time I get there, so no great xp), and too fragile (and slow, and unable to adjust aim quickly) to hang back and save the day against a counter-blitz.
You should have been there in the Marder II's heyday: 75mm gun spewing death at (the then) Tier 3 (iirc) - it was the ultimate glass cannon. Of course, they nerfed the fire rate and accuracy (oh god, did they really mess with accuracy) so it's not the girl it used to be. Sigh.
Had pretty good time with American TD's up until the T25 which I haven't purchased yet. The Jackson will give you the turreted experience but don't get carried away and forget its a TD.
For a truly horrible experience, go up the German line that has the DB2 as a heavy. That bastard is a right turd.
I have noticed that somewhere after the Hetzer (maybe after the first Stug, so Tier 6?), the "survivability" rating for German TDs ramps up hugely. I guess I'm working for that day. ;) And hoping that if I spend xp and cash on proper crew training and research bling I can make things easier until it's time to trade up. No doubt I'd do better if I worked with a platoon (as long as we had good comms and some discipline), supporting an advance of a main 'blob'. ;)
But first, getting the Light Tank up to Tier 4 is my priority.
Meanwhile, I'm interested in self-propelled arty, but I haven't seen anything in-game explaining how they work, just hints from watching allies in them. I should check for player-tutorial videos I guess.
Are there any infantry in WoT? Seems like it would be a pretty weird, vastly ahistorical, offputting kind of game without them.
No infantry (or off-map arty for that matter, despite some cosmetic barrages before matches occasionally). I think about this a lot when getting tanks (and especially TDs) into a lot of situations: I once crawled into a narrow valley with lots of brush while sneaking on an enemy after he passed by, in case the ally guarding the exit point couldn't handle it. He did, so I turned around and left -- and thought, man there is no way I'd get into this situation without infantry support!
(Incidentally, I was a key reason our team lost that match: we were down to the last two units, against the enemy's one guarding his base, and I was on the way across the map to see if we could double-team him somehow, when I inadvertently ramped my Marder II off a four foot embankment, rolled it, and blew up. :hide: #:-) )
Heroes and Generals does sound like a much better combined arms game, fwiw. This is very much pure fantasy of 15 vehicle teams starting in clumps and slugging it out on a map.
I mostly played Rise & Fall: civilizations at war....cool game from 2006
Quote from: Ubercat on January 09, 2017, 01:04:38 PM
Are there any infantry in WoT? Seems like it would be a pretty weird, vastly ahistorical, offputting kind of game without them.
WoT is an arcade tank game with historical trappings. War Thunder does have a kind-of combined arms thing, but you are only looking at planes and tanks then. Still no infantry. Only game I've ever seen all the above working together is ARMA and then the armor was a scripted thing. But, they are working on having armor in soon, so I can't wait for that.
In terms of WoT and playing arty, here is my approach (I'm up to G.W. Panther on the German side and up to the AMX 13 something or another on the French side): 1. Focus on getting rounds out as fast as possible, so buy a rammer appropriate for the gun's caliber and adjust crew skills to do likewise. 2. Radio range is important as you are reliant upon others to spot - get your radio upgraded ASAP. 3. Try to reduce the gun bloom that comes from moving aim, reloading and so on but I'm not certain if there is too much you can do here as the gun kind of dictates this. 4. Don't bother with too many anti-tank rounds as HE is your bread and butter but save a few for the times you have to go into TD mode. 5. Look at the other equipment or consumables that can be used to improve efficiency and decide on what works best for you.
Practice makes perfect, so play, play, play. Your "accuracy," stat will drop like you won't believe so get used to that right now. Also, blow up that mini-map and pay attention to it - both for offensive and defensive purposes. Guarantee you that you get sacked hard more than once when that screening force on your left or right doesn't block like they should or bother to warn you that a light tank is coming for you.
German guns hit hard and fairly accurate but lack really good overhead arcs. French guns have good arcs and their two mid-tier tanks move very quickly but damage output isn't so good. Sorry, but don't know much about the other nations' SPGs.
There is, or was, a good tutorial on the WoT forum boards about using arty so look that one up. Be prepared to be loved and loathed in equal fashion in your SPG.
I've been stealth-whomped by Davy Crockets on SPGs more than once. But how do they operate? -- I mean how does a player target with them? (I gather they move like normal and maybe prepare to shoot automatically after moving so far as any prep is needed.)
Clicking the shift key puts you in "overhead aiming," mode - there you can see your aiming circle with a line stretching from it to your tank. Stay still and it (the circle) gets smaller and smaller until it stops (some spgs have a tighter circle than others too). The dot in the center is where you want the round to hit and the circle is the area that the round can impact in. If you are lucky, your round will hit either on that dot or close enough to the target to do splash damage to them.
Once you fire, you can see the tick marks along the side light up as the round is being reloaded and also hear the associated sound effect once a round is in the tube. There may also be some gun bloom created once you fire, so you have to learn to juggle how much accuracy you get vs. getting a round out as quick as you can. Tighter the circle = more accurate the shot but this also takes longer to achieve and those guys are usually moving around too. Just watch and see how many times that sucker moves jjjuuusssttt before you hit the LMB.
Open top SPGs, TDs and Light Tanks are good candidates for one shotting (but not always). Medium and Heavy tanks will need to be whittled down. For those guys, heck for all the tanks, try and put your round either on the turret top or the engine deck. Any flat surface is good but open topped vehicles eat just that much more HE damage due to their design.
The firing arc your gun has is (sort of) reflected by the shape of the aiming circle. A more completely round circle kind-of says that your shell will have a almost straight down drop on the target. An elongated circle says that your gun is firing on a flatter kind of arc. For these situations, I put the dot just behind the target so hopefully the shell still hits the tank in some way.
That is about it for aiming and shooting, I think. Practice and familiarity with the spg's gun should take care of the rest.
Now, while in aiming mode, watch out for falling trees - you can see them fall over but not what knocked them down unless you have a spotter on the scene. If you have time and can watch, you might be able to predict the speed and direction the tank is going by the vegetation/buildings/etc. getting destroyed while the tank is moving and thus you have a target. Once you get to know maps and where SPGs generally position themselves, you can try your hand at counter-battery fire by being in aiming mode and hopefully catching the slight "tracer," effect of a round being shot out as you scan those areas. Another tactic is to travel closer to the lines which gives your shell a sorter travel time - this also puts you in greater jeopardy but what the hell.
Take a gander at this and maybe you can see some of the things I'm saying.
I LOVE plying with arty in WoT. Blasting stuff from across the map is sooooo satisfying. :bd:
And when you get a shotgun kill! :D (LoS kill with an arty piece while trying not to be killed by a regular tank.)
Best I've done is wipe a couple of lights while they were on the move(different games, mind you). Oh man the screaming I got from the recently departed was beautiful.
My fav is three others blasting away at a heavy and I drop a shell on it for the kill! :D They cheer the kill and curse my steal at the same time, great times.
Or picking off a TD that's hiding in the bushes just because you happen to see his muzzle flash when he fires. Death From Above! :DD
Or nailing another arty that's bust focused elsewhere on the map. BOOM! C YA! >:D
Amen, brother.
I shotgunned a couple of enemies before I learned (from another friend this afternoon) how to indirect target; but I very much appreciate the great advice here! :smitten:
(In both cases, coincidentally, I happened to be base defending -- and I was taken out a few second later by someone else. Still, with a Tier 2 arty that wasn't bad.)
Quote from: Barthheart on January 09, 2017, 06:20:39 PM
My fav is three others blasting away at a heavy and I drop a shell on it for the kill! :D They cheer the kill and curse my steal at the same time, great times.
Or picking off a TD that's hiding in the bushes just because you happen to see his muzzle flash when he fires. Death From Above! :DD
Or nailing another arty that's bust focused elsewhere on the map. BOOM! C YA! >:D
Barth you need to play World of Warships!
If it was on Xbox I would.