Saturday, January 26, 2013

World of Tanks: The T95

The first T95 I ever encountered so happened to be on my team on Map: Himmelsdorf. Spawning north and following this 4-tracked behemoth down "Tank Ally" (AKA "Damnation Ally" and "Hell's Avenue"), he did not stop moving forward, lumbering along, and bounced nearly all enemy shots put at his massive frontal armor, as we were nicely able to shoot over him. It was a true, 'steam-rolling' that led to victory.

What Map: Himmelsdorf may look like, and a T95 "trek" down "Damnation Ally"


From that day, I had to have one, and so, made the long, arduous effort up the U.S. TD line, whilst also completing the entire German tree circa pre 8.0, acquiring the "Technical Engineer, Germany" badge (now ghosted, now recompleting).

 
A completed German Tree and "Technical Engineer, Germany" Achievement, pre-8.0

I do appreciate this beast, although it is somewhat diminished in the current environment.  Since pursuing it, tier 10 tank destroyers were introduced, and "silver gold" rounds, but after playing most of the early battles solo, and with the least gun, I have now attained the final gun, and enjoy the massive alpha-strike it dishes out.

It is barely a step-up from a pillbox, and things to consider when playing it are:

  • Know where you are going before map start, and get there ASAP, and do not plan to go anywhere else.
  • If defending, stay within easy regress back to flag.
  • If attacking, don't go alone.
  • Hide is not bad, and a camo net is not a bad idea on it, but do level-best to not move, and keep the expected trajectory of the enemy within gun traverse-range.

Another oddity that I _think_ is part of the new physics is that, on most maps, I get "pushed" at map start.  Here's a nice push from a dual-AMX-13-90 couple:



Good Guys Gregs pushing my T95 at map start

FKD's T95

History:
Much as the A-10 Warthog is said to be, "a gun with a plane around it" the emphasis of the T95 is gun, and having that gun survive.  The frontal armor in turn grew from an original plan of 8 inches, to 12.  Having the same power-train as an M26 Pershing, the resulting vehicle was extremely slow: 8mph (13km/h -- 16km/h downhill).

This vehicle was meant to march up to The Siegfried Line in Europe, take shots in the face from 88mm German guns, and continue plodding, punching holes with its massive 105mm.  Of the few prototypes made, only one still exists, spending some 27 years in unknown whereabouts, finally emerging and now at that Patton Museum of Cavalry and Amor in Kentucky (according to the wiki, it is destined for a new home in Georgia).

More reading:
The T95 at wiki.worldoftanks.com
The T28 Super Heavy Tank at wikipedia.org
The Siegfried Line










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