Tag Archives: artillery

Screw the T1 Heavy.

  June 7, 2011 - 10:25 am | Rants, World of Tanks
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I got my KV! Yeah it still has that shitty turret and puny cannon, but at least I’ve got new tracks on her too. I even had enough credits to get the 75% crew training, which does seem to help on that godawful turret rotate speed. My luck with her so far has been terrible too, putting me in mostly unbalanced matches where I’m in the bottom third of the weaker team. It took me something like 9 matches before my first victory last night.

I also gave up on the USA Arti, deciding to rather concentrate more of my efforts toward the USSR tree. So I bought a SU-18, ran a few matches with it and then unlocked the SU-26. Now there’s an interesting beast. It’s the only Artillery unit that can rotate its turret fully. This means that aiming is usually much faster, giving me more shots on target before the other arties have time to turn on their tracks. It also makes it harder to spot while hiding in a bush :D . The firepower is still pretty weak though, and of course the range is poor, so you have to move further out and hit them more times. I’ve also noticed that it seems to be able to hit targets behind rocks and obstacles better than the USA counterparts. The higher trajectory must account for the crappy range.

And for interest’s sake: My number 1 search term for the last 48 hours is “Hetzers gonna Hetz” :D Awesome!

Image courtesy and (c) WorldofTanks.com

Booooooom!!!!

  May 6, 2011 - 9:48 am | World of Tanks
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Last night I was playing around with my ‘orrible little M2 Medium tank, just slogging along trying to get enough money and experience for the M3. With its measly cannon it hardly scratches the T4/5 tanks I seem to get matched up against all the time, and I have to snipe some penetrating shots on the much faster lights. Kills were slow, experience slower and it was just a slog. Then I unlocked the 75mm Howitzer cannon…

When I first mounted the thing I almost laughed. This stubby little thing surely can’t be very good, can it? I entered my first game and ran down behind the train tracks in the hopes of doing some early scouting (yes yes, I know it’s a medium, not a scout) for the artillery. To my surprise I ran right into one of their arties. I fired off a shot as I tried to dodge the inevitable mortar fire and… the poor artie was dead!

Hmm, ok lucky shot maybe. I was so stunned I stood still in the open for a few seconds. I got shot at from the flank, quickly ran in behind a building and fired off my second shot at the medium trying to shoot at me. BOOOOM! It was destroyed too. Hey, this is fun! Oh look, some lights have decided to come see who was causing the fuss in their back line. Bang, bang, two more destroyed with a shot each. , 4 Shots, 4 kills, me likey.

Sadly my luck ran out and the remaining arties tracked me and destroyed me, but I was grinning like a madman. The M2 may not be the greatest tank in its class, but boy is it fun with that devastating 75mm Howitzer. Against T2/3′s it’s a force to be reckoned with, and even against T4/5 lights/mediums it can do some serious damage. I’d still recommend running like mad if a T1 or KV comes at you, but at least you can get some impact on them if you flank properly.

I’ll post some screenies of my stubby little monster tonight, and while we’re at it, here’s some links on why the people on the WoT forums love their M2 Mediums:

M2 Medium Tank discussion
M2 Medium Tank appreciation thread

And then of course at the other side of the rainbow:

The horribly horrible M2 Medium tank with some fair arguments for and against it.

Oh, and it’s my birthday today :( 3rd decade on this planet… meh.