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







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