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Screw that wheely bar wearing junk heap.

Combat BISOOOOOON!

I actually just went that way as there were more SPG options. I was hoping that meant they were better.

No idea if that is true.

/shrug

Basicly, by the time you get to the end of the SPG trees for both sides you have 4 primary SPGs:

Hummel (GER) - Easiest of the 4 to get if you are leveling the German MBT tree anyway. Very fast and manuverable for an SPG, and the shells do around 950 damage. Full map coverage.

SU-8 (RUS) - Very much like the Hummel in many ways except more expensive to unlock if I remember correctly. I don't think it has full map coverage, but don't quote me on that.

SU-14 (RUS) - Also known as the "sitting duck" or more commonly the "schoolbus" as it has about the same size, shape, and performance as one. The only benefits is it has full map coverage and the monster SPG gun which does a whopping 1850 damage and can one shot mid tier heavies. This is the same gun as...

S-51 (RUS) - The big daddy of SPGs. Full map coverage, massive damage, and fair speed/manuverability considering it's size (think giant gun mounted to a KV chassis). The drawback is you need to farm up 128k xp or so in the KV to unlock it which is possibly one of the most painful grinding experiences in the game.

Personally I like the Hummel. It may do about half the damage of the SU-14 and S-51 but it also has twice the firing rate (3-4 rpm vs 1-2 rpm). It's also a lot quicker which is very nice for when you are facing counter battery fire. SU-14 is almost impossible to move before a counter battery shot lands on you. Besides that I prefer the German tanks so it was easy to pick up (40k or so in the PzIV).

Thank you for that summary!

Gives me something to ponder, but it seems like I chose correctly in going with the Russian SPG then, as I do not really play artillery for mobility.

Does the S-14 hit that much harder than the S-51?
I do not mind the crazy costs involved, as it gives me something to. . .gun for.

Bugger, I panicked during the patch errors with servers. Got a 3 day chat ban for using caps too much lol

I'd love to get the SG51 but I'm not doing all that grinding in beta when it's just gonna get wiped. I'll save that kinda stuff for when the game is finished

Woo just got my T34/85. Kinda miss my Supped up crew and fast shooting and speed. Oh well now I got a bigger punch at least

Does the S-14 hit that much harder than the S-51?

SU-14 (RUS) - Also known as the "sitting duck" or more commonly the "schoolbus" as it has about the same size, shape, and performance as one. The only benefits is it has full map coverage and the monster SPG gun which does a whopping 1850 damage and can one shot mid tier heavies. This is the same gun as...
S-51 (RUS) - The big daddy of SPGs. Full map coverage, massive damage, and fair speed/manuverability considering it's size (think giant gun mounted to a KV chassis). The drawback is you need to farm up 128k xp or so in the KV to unlock it which is possibly one of the most painful grinding experiences in the game.

No, same gun

kenshin620 wrote:Woo just got my T34/85. Kinda miss my Supped up crew and fast shooting and speed. Oh well now I got a bigger punch at least

Can't you transfer your crew from your old tank into your new one?

Tyyr wrote:

kenshin620 wrote:Woo just got my T34/85. Kinda miss my Supped up crew and fast shooting and speed. Oh well now I got a bigger punch at least

Can't you transfer your crew from your old tank into your new one?

Wait....what? I sold off the tank to help cover costs

Dont tell me I did something I'll regret. They were in the 90's after all.

Uhh, yeah. You can click on their pictures, send them to the barracks and they'll stay with you. I've got my old Marder II crew sitting in the barracks until I can afford a Hetzer.

Wow

I feel stupid now There goes training

Took me a while to figure it out, but I only recently started getting my crews to the point where keeping them was worth it.

Well you lose a big chunk of training when you retrain them for a new tank so it's almost not worth it unless they were 100%.

Ah ok. I just spend 40k to get a 75% commander and gunner. Chump change. Might do gold for suped tanks though. Mmmm 100% gunner for a SPG sounds tasty

Holy crap the Hetzer is a steaming pile. This thing is supposed to be an upgrade to the Marder II?

Tyyr wrote:Holy crap the Hetzer is a steaming pile. This thing is supposed to be an upgrade to the Marder II?

KV is suppose to be an upgrade of the T28.....

On an side note I am sad the default gun for my T34/85 is the same on on my KV

I'm just a faster KV with a little less armor

Ugh. The thing with the Hetzer is that being a higher tier tank it naturally gets put in somewhat higher tier games than the Marder II. Well you give a ton up to get the Hetzer's armor (speed, angle of fire, maneuverability) but that armor isn't thick enough to make a real difference when everyone you're facing is packing a 75mm or bigger cannon. So in reality all you are now is an easier target than I ever felt like in a Marder.

I spent some of the XP I got in my first game uping the engine twice. 65% more horsepower has helped out a lot, and the suspensions added rate of turn does as well. I think that's ll I'm going to be doing though. I'm going to knuckle down and just try to power through the Hetzer to get to the StuG III.

Tyyr wrote:Ugh. The thing with the Hetzer is that being a higher tier tank it naturally gets put in somewhat higher tier games than the Marder II. Well you give a ton up to get the Hetzer's armor (speed, angle of fire, maneuverability) but that armor isn't thick enough to make a real difference when everyone you're facing is packing a 75mm or bigger cannon. So in reality all you are now is an easier target than I ever felt like in a Marder.

I spent some of the XP I got in my first game uping the engine twice. 65% more horsepower has helped out a lot, and the suspensions added rate of turn does as well. I think that's ll I'm going to be doing though. I'm going to knuckle down and just try to power through the Hetzer to get to the StuG III.

Just hang in there. As bad as the Hetzer is, the Stug is a shiney ball of awesome sauce (relatively speaking).

It can't be worse. I'd have to be immobile and the gun be fixed firing to the rear to be worse than the Hetzer.

My PzIV is turning out to be fun. I just hope I can resist the temptation to put the Schmalturm on it. PzIVs with Schmalturms look ridiculous.

I'm finally racking up xp in my KV and in another day or so I should have enough for a KV3 or the other one. But I just looked at the cash I need to buy the next tank and I'm nowhere near enough :( one is 600k and the KV3 was over 1 million :( I have around 150 saved up right now.

I immobilized a guy gunning right towards me and some other arty's, too bad he was just a scout. Next thing I knew, a wespe on the other team blew me apart.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, I'm using the Bison right now, about how do I rank vs the Grilles, Wespes, hetzers?

halonachos wrote:Also, I'm using the Bison right now, about how do I rank vs the Grilles, Wespes, hetzers?

For the Grilles and the Wespes your shorter ranged and less damage. That means on larger maps you'll have to creep up to keep things in range and hit closer to finish them off. Always buy the more damaging, more expensive ammo, always.

The Hetzer is a tank destroyer and a total piece of crap.

Okay then I have a couple of other SPG questions, I'm levelling up the crew and I'm wondering what the commander and gunner do exactly, the loaders and driver are pretty self explanatory.

Sometimes when I'm using the overhead artillery aim my reticule will be a circle and sometimes it will be a long oval similar to that of a flame template. I know that when I approach the edge of my effective range the circle flattens out, but I can be well within range and still have a flame template shaped reticule how can I fix that?

Last question is about the ammo, I have a ratio of 12/8/0 for my ammo starting from cheapest to most expensive. I carry no HEAT rounds as they cost gold and I was wondering if they're really worth it.

I've heard the gold ammo is pretty much a waste but I never tried it.

I think when your target circle changes shape it has something to do with the terrain, like you're aiming at the side of a hill when it's an oval.

That's the thing though, I'll be aiming at open terrain and have this happen. I like how they show how it changes on the terrain though, and that fact gives players a false sense of security when they hide behind a rock and I can move my reticule just enough to avoid the disfigurement of my circle.

The shape of the reticule is a function of range. At shorter ranges the gun is firing at a low angle. Because of that low angle the shell will be traveling in a much shallower arc when it lands so the possible point of impact distorts into an oval. At longer ranges the shell will be falling closer to vertical and the reticule will be mostly circular. In general when the point of impact is highly distorted I lay the side of the oval neatest to me near the front of the tank. That way if the shell goes a little long it's still likely to hit.

Since gold is free I usually keep a few premium rounds on hand. They actually are fairly effective. I killed three tanks in close in a single game with my Bison before, one of them was a PzIII that I put a HEAT round right through the glacis. In my own PzIII I've used the premium AP rounds to put holes in the front armor of tanks I usually only ricochet off of. The premium ammo is effective, but given the quantity of it you'd go through in a single night of gaming it's not worth it. I usually just save the gold and use it to either buy premium membership or as a cash boost to get my next tank.

Oh, that whole arc thing makes sense so I know what to do with it now.

I have no issues with PzIII's though, usually immobilize them and try to finish them off before the other arty's do. I usually have issue with some of the larger tanks though, again I can crit them but can't really damage them.

You know what I hate though, the stupid wespes/hummels/grilles that decide to take my immobilized PzIII instead of gunning for the other wespes/hummels/grilles or other bigger tanks.

Best I've done though with the Bison was 2 PzIII kills, and damage done to a IS-2, a Hetzer, and another PzIII. I was really busy that round. Can't manage too many close tanks though, I had a BT-2 come straight at me before. The fether rammed me through my cover and even though he was blown to bits by my friends, the enemy SPG's hit me.

I should finally have enough gold to buy premium on I think wednesday. I'm still saving for my next tank. I have about 1500 xp and 150k in cash to get my KV-1S. I'm gonna go for that instead of the KV3 just because it's cheaper so I'll be rid of my KV sooner.

My KV's crew is all 96% xp now, so I'll retrain them for the new tank and hope they don't take too bad of a hit.

I have the half million for the next SPG, but am shy a bit of the 5k (I think it is) XP needed.

Looking forward to it.

Also, I agree about the ammo. I always buy the more expensive (non-gold costing) ammo. I do not think I have ever lost money in a round even after repairs and reloading. The cost of the ammo seems to be worth it, easily.

Will be getting the premium account next week, as I am busy this weekend. That should help jump to the next vehicle.