Armored Warfare open beta........

[Nefaro]

TL;DR:

It kinda reminds me of playing Wargame: AirLand Battle, but as a single vehicle.

That was probably deliberate on the devs part, judging by the UI, period, and general look of it.

[Toonces]

^ That convinced me...downloading!

[Nefaro]

I've got the gfx set to Very High and added 1x AA (hate those jaggies!).  This thing looks pretty damn good.  The dust & smoke effects are especially awesome.  Also the gunfire sounds.  Watching someone fire a large caliber gun, and seeing the dust kicked up around it, along with the realistic-sounding report, is moistening.



Screenshots don't do the windblown dust & smoke any justice but here's one anyway...






..



The first two tiers aren't heavily populated, since you can get through them so quickly.  Tiers 3 & 4 is where most people are right now, so the match waiting is practically nil in that sweet spot.

The default FOV was messing with me a bit yesterday, fortunately it has a slider in the graphics settings.  Unfortunately, I get an occasional crash when loading back into my garage after a match but it's not been regular.

[Tpek]

I'd be interested to play some games teaming-up with you folks.

One of the things I hate the most about the game is getting stuck with random stupid kids on my team.
This could really solve that problem.

[Nefaro]

I'd be interested to play some games teaming-up with you folks.

One of the things I hate the most about the game is getting stuck with random stupid kids on my team.
This could really solve that problem.

My handle is NefariousKoel iirc.



Been having an absolute blast in my new Tier 4  BMD-1.   

Firing the Sagger ATGMs is as fun as imagined.   It operates the same as in SB Pro, other than needing to check the level bubble in the Bradley (and a much lower min range).

Same as World Of Warships, the fun opens up once you get to Tier 3 or 4.

[bboyer66]

I'm grinding the M60A2 Starship right now, what a piece of junk. It armor is ....non existent, is big as a school bus, slow, has a long reload, and they can see you way before you see them. Just a frickin nightmare to play.
My BMP-1P on the other hand is great. It is super fast, can hide, 73mm gun does way more damage than it should, has the AT missle for long range sniping. Only downsides are the lack of armor (which I find no different from the Starship), and gun depression.

[Nefaro]

I'm grinding the M60A2 Starship right now, what a piece of junk. It armor is ....non existent, is big as a school bus, slow, has a long reload, and they can see you way before you see them. Just a frickin nightmare to play.
My BMP-1P on the other hand is great. It is super fast, can hide, 73mm gun does way more damage than it should, has the AT missle for long range sniping. Only downsides are the lack of armor (which I find no different from the Starship), and gun depression.

Wait until you get the BMP-2.

I just got the BMD-2 and that 30mm AC melts everything but MBTs.  Has the exact same armament as the BMP.


I also recently picked up the Starship's smaller brother, the M551 Sheridan.  It can put out some big Alpha damage but that damn 152mm reloads as fast as rock moves.  At least it's fairly fast and has 3 Smoke Launcher loads.  Those have saved my biscuit many times.

I often tend to load an ATGM at the start of the match with those and try to get a long shot or two, without being spotted, at the beginning of the match.  Then switch to the guns.

[bboyer66]

 The Starship is like the Sheridan without any of the benefits LOL

I'm grinding the M60A2 Starship right now, what a piece of junk. It armor is ....non existent, is big as a school bus, slow, has a long reload, and they can see you way before you see them. Just a frickin nightmare to play.
My BMP-1P on the other hand is great. It is super fast, can hide, 73mm gun does way more damage than it should, has the AT missle for long range sniping. Only downsides are the lack of armor (which I find no different from the Starship), and gun depression.

Wait until you get the BMP-2.

I just got the BMD-2 and that 30mm AC melts everything but MBTs.  Has the exact same armament as the BMP.


I also recently picked up the Starship's smaller brother, the M551 Sheridan.  It can put out some big Alpha damage but that damn 152mm reloads as fast as rock moves.  At least it's fairly fast and has 3 Smoke Launcher loads.  Those have saved my biscuit many times.

I often tend to load an ATGM at the start of the match with those and try to get a long shot or two, without being spotted, at the beginning of the match.  Then switch to the guns.

[Nefaro]

The Starship is like the Sheridan without any of the benefits LOL

Certainly.  Although it has more frontal turret armor, but it's benefit is very situational.

The 'Light Tank' class retention of accuracy, when moving fwd/back slowly, is a huge benefit in the Sheridan.  The accuracy on the 152 is crap, as you know.  So that's massive.  Plus the smoke, which you will need often.  Even most APCs can penetrate your frontal armor in the Sheri, so once you're spotted running & hiding is your only option.


At the start of a match, I tend to load a Shillelagh ATGM and follow a group of light vehicles out into a more open area of the map.  Where I take up a long-range ambush spot on a ridge behind some shrubbery & hope for the scouts to get a steady detection of some heavies far out.  Pop off a missile or two before figuring out where I need to go, switch to HEAT rounds and move in. 

Rushing in on the front line, with a Light Tank or AFV, is a good way to get smashed so I snipe with ATGMs until the MBTs get up into the fight.  Maybe that's an ideal way of playing the Starship too, since it has the same armament?  I don't think it's speed is quite as good, however, so relocating isn't gonna be as optimal.

[bboyer66]

The commanders hatch on the Starship is huge and provides a full damage target. So even in a hull down position almost anything that hits you does 400-600 damage.   

I usually start off with a missile as well. My latest strategy is to get in the building/railway/cluttered areas where there is not as much visibility. There I can maybe just brawl with the enemy, because this thing is too much of a target at longer ranges.

[Nefaro]

My latest strategy is to get in the building/railway/cluttered areas where there is not as much visibility. There I can maybe just brawl with the enemy, because this thing is too much of a target at longer ranges.

That's probably the most ideal way to go, although that terrible reload speed is a mark against it in such close quarters.  At least you can get yours down to almost 10 seconds with modules and skills.  The 152mm reload speed on the Sheridan is even worse.. by ~2 more seconds IIRC.  Between that and my lower HP & armor, it'd be quick death for me. 

[bboyer66]

 Think the latest patch yesterday did something to the Starships armor. Actually was bouncing some shells even from the giant commanders cupola. Or maybe its just me LOL.

[Nefaro]

Those people in their crazy Fox scouts.. makes me wanna get one.    8)

Hard as hell to hit those quick little bastids when they're rolling.

[Nefaro]

Another thing I'm grateful for; they reportedly don't allow UI mods. 

While I think one or two indicators could use a more obvious color change, and maybe a more notable sound effect, it works just fine.  Further, there isn't an ongoing UI Arms Race for who can get the most exploitative advantage from them.  Not something I appreciate in these competitive multi-player match based games that strive for some semblance of balance.

O0

[eyebiter]

Fun game.  Once things got going had a blast with the tier 1 M-113 and the PT-76.

Did have to change several the default install settings (install location, disabled the browser Activex control it installs by default, do NOT allow the my.com client software to run when Windows starts, and to disable forever auto seeding the install files).