When I heard your FRIDAY I knew your name should be changed

[bbmike]

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. 

[Rayfer]

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?

[Tuna]

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. 

You're a groghead, you're supposed to Rage Quit!

[WYBaugh]

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

[JasonPratt]

In my defense, I actually shortened the acronym! It should be TLotR:BFME2:RotWK. Maybe with an "EA's" in front of it!  :D

[Dammit Carl!]

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.

[JasonPratt]

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.

[Ubercat]

Are there any infantry in WoT? Seems like it would be a pretty weird, vastly ahistorical, offputting kind of game without them.

[JasonPratt]

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.

[Anguille]

I mostly played Rise & Fall: civilizations at war....cool game from 2006

[Dammit Carl!]

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.

[JasonPratt]

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.)

[Dammit Carl!]

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. 

[Barthheart]

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.)

[Dammit Carl!]

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.