So, it has taken me a lot longer to write this post than I expected. My principle excuse is that I have been taking advantage of this wonderful summer we have been experiencing in the UK. A secondary excuse would be I have been a bit wrapped up in some of my other gaming as well, but to be honest a lot of the time I used to spend writing (lunch-breaks at work, for example) I have been spending outside.
Anyway, where do I stand with World of Tanks at the moment. I am starting to play a little more regularly, having played very little for quite some time. Looking at my current desires in gaming, it is clear I am going to be playing somewhat less World of Tanks than I have been for quite some time. This is principally to make room for Crusader Kings II, Europa Universalis IV, Kerbal Space Program, and EVE Online. Given I am going to have less time playing the game, I think it behoves me to take a good long look at what I would like to achieve in the game in the short and medium term, but also take a quick round-up of where I am.
To aid in that, a few stats, as of writing.
Games played: 9009
Win rate: 56.64%
Efficiency: 1209
WN7: 1430
WN8: 1524
Battles Survived: 30.34%
Kills/Death: 1.71
Damage Ratio: 1.23
The win rate has slowly been creeping up for months, but most of the other indicators have been pretty flat for a while. I am sometimes finding it frustrating to play, when I find myself doing things I know are probably stupid, do them anyway, and then get it demonstrated to me they are stupid. My usual weakness is what it has almost always been, over-aggressiveness. This remains the one key area of my game I have to work on. I feel if I could manage to boost my survivability up a couple of percentage points, everything else would follow. That remains the long-term goal.
However, improving in the game is not much of a goal – I am sure pretty much everyone shares that goal. No, I want and need some goals rather closer to the here and now.
Tiger II
The first of these goals is, in fact, incredibly easy: get the Tiger II. This has really three parts. Firstly there is affording the tank itself. Then there is affording the equipment I would like to place on the tank. Finally, there is getting a crew for the tank. The first two are really just all about credits. I am going to wait for the tank and equipment to be on discount to acquire it if I can, though I won’t wait forever. This means that the purchase price of the Tiger II will became my credit floor – once I have amassed that many. I currently have just under 1.9 million credits, and the Tiger II at full price costs 2.45 million. For equipment I would probably go for rammer and vents, and then think about v-stabs. Another 1.7 million at full price, but discounts for equipment are semi-frequent.
The crew is more interesting. The crew I am currently intending for the Tiger II is currently in my VK3601H, and currently stands at 86% on their first crew skill (Commander with Mentor, the rest with Repairs). My current thinking is to get them trained up sufficiently so the Commander can retrain to Sixth Sense and the Driver to Preventative Maintenance, and both have Repair back up in the 50-60% range, before retraining the entire crew over into the Tiger II. To this aim I am playing the VK3601H very regularly, and will continue to do so. It is a fairly enjoyable tank to play, if not entirely up to the class of the KV-1S.
Tier X – to grind or not to grind?
This has proven to be a trickier decision, but I have eventually decided to continue currently with at least one of my Tier X grinds, in particular the Panther II. I am certainly not abandoning my other aspirations (the T110E5 line, IS-7 line, and Conqueror Gun Carriage line), but they are definitely taking second place. Indeed I hope to play my entire stable of Tier VIII tanks semi-regularly, as they are the ones at the level where I will find the greatest challenge. I do not see myself often playing the ST-I or IS-4 at the moment though, really only when platooned. This is simply due to the pressure of time.
Japanese Tanks
I now have both Japanese light and medium sub-lines to Tier III. I would very much like to get thorugh to Tier IV and VI respectively, sooner rather than later. Therefore these tanks are currently going to be my lower-tier tanks of choice. However, I have decided to make serious efforts to get the Ace Tanker badge with both before I move on.
Tier V/VI
Generally speaking I have a load of Tier V and VI tanks about, some of which I have not played, and some of which I have partially done. I would like to get as many lines to Tier VI as I reasonably can in the coming months. This is not an immediate priority – training the Tiger II crew – but it is something to start looking at in more detail once that grind is done. That said, it is going to be easy to do some Tier VI grinding alongside the VK3601H.
Crew Training
There is a natural movement here, as I have several crews currently on Tier V and VI tanks I would also like to be trained up to use on higher-tier tanks. In particular my crew currently on the KV-1S is due to go onto the IS-8 as and when I get that. That crew is currently in the high-70% range on its first crew skill. I also have a crew in the low-90% on the VK3002M, which I am thinking of using in the VK3002D or E-50 – depending if I decide to keep my Panther II active or not. Finally I particular I want to use the Stug IIIG to train up a TD crew for eventual use in probably the Jagdpanther II, or possibly the Jagdtiger. Both are a long way off however, as this crew is currently not even 100% in their main qualification.
Overall
Where do I stand? Well, in practical terms this means prioritising the VK3601H and Panther II, then the Japanese tanks, and then other grinds. Naturally some of this will depend with whom I might be platooning with. If they need to play a bunch of Tier VII games I am not going to get in the way – it just means I will be playing other tanks.
stnylan's musings 