Friday, June 22, 2012

WoT: The "He Sucks & He Don't" Mod ... Showing Win Rate In That Tank

A guy on the forums put a mod to the XVM mod (that's 2 mods if you're keeping up) -- the ol' "he sucks and he don't" mod -- that he claimed would show wins in _the_ specific tank that _the_ specific guy is in, not just global win rate.  Well, just now, I got it working and it works:

XVM: Kuroialty's Win Rate In That Tank Mod

Download

I am only running this on one computer I play WoT on, to see how I like it comparitively.

But, it works!

I compared a player in the game to his Service Record.  Indeed, it showed his win % in that vehicle.  His global was a different number.

Screens (some I took and some from Kuroialty, along with his explanations):






Here's yet another mod to the mod to the mod, did/done by Plunky:

I did things a little differently. The way I have mine setup, I now have a better understanding as to how good a person may be in the specific vehicle they have brought into the match.



Normal OTM Explanation:
Line 1: Tank (enemy), Player Nick (allies)
Line 2: Player Nick (enemy), Tank (allies)
Line 3: Tier - Health Bar - Health %
Line 4: Total number of games played - Global Win Rate - Global Efficiency
Note: The color of line 4 denotes Global Efficiency
----------------------------
Alt OTM Explanation:
Line 1: Name
Line 2: Number of games played in current tank - Win Rate % in current tank - Global Efficiency
Line 3: Health Bar
Note: The color of line 2 denotes Win Rate in current tank only




World of Tanks: Late German Exhaust Explained: Exhaust End Pot With Flame Shock

I broke down and finally decided to googles the funky, but neat-looking, exhaust on late German tanks.

My fav tank & design: Panther I Ausf. G
Just look at that nice ass!!!
And here we see my 1/72 model replicating
the Bovington, England Panther
I painted the main exhaust pipes navy grey


According to this German page:

Served to reduce / prevent the flames
from the exhaust in the engine part-load range. were built from 1944 on Panther IG, and would probably get all 1945 German tanks ... ... were shown above in the production of Tiger III S but again not just available....

That's a google translation

I ran, "auspuff end topf mit flammen dämpfer" through http://www.microsofttranslator.com, and it came back with:

"exhaust end pot with flame shock"

I had always -- it looks like, wrongly assumed -- that it some how squelched smoke, so as not to reveal the tank as easily and/or, a camo effect.

Was this the purpose of preventing flames?  To prevent detection?  Did it also hinder smoke?  Was it so the tank could not be seen at night?


Thursday, June 21, 2012

World of Tanks: CliffsNotes: Lead Designer Sergey Burkatovskiy Talks The Future of WoT & The Coming T26E4 Super Pershing Premium Tank

  • They will not make unique skills/perks per nation.  The many tanks by nation are enough uniqueness.
  • More changes are coming for tournament play, via the web.
  • Spectator mode coming.
  • Replays to be saved to server, better quality, and rewind feature -- hopefully by end of year.
  • Will there be matching by skills?  Keep noobs from pros -- like in Dota?  No,  This will not happen.  Noobs and pros always to play together.
  • Along with the new physics, map destruction is coming.
  • Historical and garage battles coming.
  • IS8 and KV4 complaints: no changes planned.
  • T-50-2 deletion: why?  It is not based on any prototype.  IRL, it was a slow vehicle for infantry support.  In game, it is a motorcycle with a gun.  A replacement is coming.  They have a guy on their team with a huge stack of photos, who researches tanks.  He has found a replacement for the T-50-2, created in 1943, equipped like the T-50-2.  It will play like the T-50-2.
  • How can you get non-clanned players to play on the global map?  Historical battles will be similar to the global map, but without obligations.  The clan global map takes a lot of dedication.  The historical global map will not.
  • T26E4 SuperPershing: New premium tier 8 medium coming?  Yes, American super Pershing.  It was apparently a modification of M26 Pershing -- the Americans captured Panthers, removed the armor from them and welded it to the T26E4 SuperPershing.
  • New Trees Coming:
                 British
                 Japanese
                 Chinese
                 Europe
  • Japanese and British trees are coming.  Also coming: Chinese Tree and European Tree.  Chinese tree: real problems with it.  It did not begin until after ww2.  Its 1st ank is based on      T-34-85 -- tier 6.  Team Europe: more problems -- many vehicles widely built and traded among nations.

                                        World of Tanks. Show 'ASAP'. You Ask We Reply



The T26E4 Super Pershing:

T26E4 Super Pershing





Saturday, June 2, 2012

World of Tanks: A Thinking Man's Game

This game has sucked me in for many reasons:

#1, tanks. That's like, nice, huge, firm, tits....


I've seen this pic on the internets forever now
I wonder who this kid is, and how old he is now... prolly 30?


#2: an FPS -- a genre I will never tire of ever, and that has staying power forever (Diable 3 being a genre that was honestly good in the 90s if not earlier, like, old ultima, pre-UO; don't be hatin' on me, I'm not dissing D3, just sayin' -- yes, I played me some D3):


What Diablo III may look like

But 3 things have inspired me recently regarding WoT, and had my brain go, "hey, FKD, this is a thinking man's game....":

A. Platooning with a great player
2. A death with defeat in my Marder II
D. Watching a novice player think and grow

A: I platooned with a great player for hours recently. Let's call him: Magnus. At first, Magnus was giving me hard advice, which I typically rebuff (believe it or not, I can be hard to talk to). "You should do this" and "why did you do that?" However, I kept my mouth shut, with mild frustration at his didacticism, but then, like a diamond bullet, something he said stuck, and I realized he was right. Get ready for great words here!

If you don't know, ask. If you know, say. Otherwise, listen.

The great advice of Magnus:

1st, never go to the fight a high-tiered tank destroyer makes. By-pass them. T95s, Jagdtigers, Object 704s, are only successful when enemies come to their fight. If at all possible, simply avoid them. They are slow. They are only a step-up from a pill box. They cannot get-to-the-fight like a medium, or even a heavy tank. What do they do? They plant at a spot where they want to fight, and it will most likely be the best place for _them_ to fight _you_.

I must admit, in the some 12k battles I've fought, I had never thought of this. Yes, yes, one must adapt, and situations dictate you _must_ fight them where they be, but otherwise, if at all possible, avoid them where they decided to place themselves, and if you can win without engaging them, do so. There are plenty of oppurtunities in battles to do this very thing.


E.g., was on map: Fjords the other day,
Ran into 2 T95s at sector J5, followed Magnus's's advice, did not fight
the huge TDs, went through middle (aqua dotted line), defeated mediums
Capped and won!  It wasn't like a T95 can race back to stop you....


2nd, how to properly play the VK4502PB and Maus. Provide only a very shallow side to the enemy, keep nose pressed against defilade (i.e., a building wall) between reloads. Back up to shoot at an angle. I had seen a Maus do this, and didn't know wtf he was doing. Now, I know. Hey! Maybe I'm the last one to know this technique, but the point of this post is: World of Tanks is a thinking man's game.

What a Maus may look like if you placed a Ken doll next to it....


Both of these nuggets were simple, understandable, deductive and genius, and changed age-old thinking on my part in the areas they addressed. Oh, how I loved my VK4502PB, and how much I lamented my below 50% win rate in it.... Again: a thinking man's game.

2: I died yesterday in my Marder II, resulting in a loss. I did not think beforehand. Had I spent the countdown clock reciting what I knew worked on that map, in that vehicle, I woulda lived, and maybe had a victory, or a draw, or at least not died -- that's the progression of course: worstest=death/loss, worser=live/loss, worse=death/draw, better=live/draw, best=death/victory, bestest=live/victory <-- duh. (Note: please do not take this scale seriously and/or, the markers of worstest, worser, etc. I sorta shit shot that, ikr!)


The map: Abbey. In my TDs, I love to go to the hill-top that runs roughly along columns 2 and 3, and defend my flag from there (I play my TDs heavily and about 99% of the time on defense, especially on natural maps -- city maps, of course, one has to do otherwise, especially on maps like Himmelsdorf).  [Hrm, Abbey is apparently also called, "Monastery"...].  I like to get behind the brush at positions B3 or H3 (depending on side I spawn on), and snipe the enemy flag capturers from there.


What map: Abbey may look like....
What I've learned is this: especially at lower tiers -- but even high tiers too you know, scouts, madmen, might come racing along that ridge, having avoided allies -- or like, allies might have gone that way at all (never happens right?) and you get caught with your pants down.  In smaller, hideable TDs, like the Marder II, I've learned, especially at map start, plant myself with the brush between me and column 1.  You know what I mean right?  Expose my back, if necessary, to my flag, and have brush in front of me, as I turn toward column 1, to get ready for the madmen.  Honestly, you can put yourself in the middle of the brush, and there just enough to cover your front and back, but the key here, is to be facing away from your flag until your team establishes good coverage that way, etc.


Well, I didn't do it.  An artillery had gone up there too.  I think I was so thrown by this fact, that I just sorta sat there with my ass exposed, and fully visible to any ridge-runners.  Sure enough, an astute, but-as-mentioned, madman, Luchs, came racing to my nest, having avoided any allies (thinly dispersed on that side) and, although I did some panic moves and damaged him -- he killed me.


Now, in my Marder II, in that position, I have saved many a victory from defeat, or draw from defeat.  I was the first to die due that fact, and I watched the rest of my team struggle, and then love the match due to being out-capped.


Again, a thinking man's game.


Me on the toilet




D: Watching a novice player think and grow: We'll call him, Parvus.
If his win rate has improved as I see it due to my advice, then this is, indeed, a thinking man's game....

Parvus, for the longest, rushed in, died. Rushed in, died. Fought without defilade, without cover using rocks or buildings or whatnot. I've admonished him for ever to play more defensively, more conservatively, more patiently. Slowly, but surely, he has been. Now, his constant win rate of around 45% has climbed to the high 50s. Realizing this, and hearing he followed my advice, filled the room with dust I say. It was dust! /snif.


This is not me, and I'm not crying!


One last time: World of Tanks is a thinking man's game....

A squirrel contemplating and about to blog about nuts,
the same way I have today about world of tanks