Blade's minor achievements corner

Hi,

I've been in this clan not too long, but it's have been quite interesting experience. So after some time I decided to look through my matches over the last few weeks and share some of them. Maybe just because they were fun and maybe to get some pointers from other members .

So here is the first: http://wotreplays.com/site/383904#self

Me running around in Swamps in T49. Very tense draw, but hey my first ever Radley-Walter's medal. So I cannot be picky . I'm still angry at my self for missing the second last shot...

Bladed

Here is one of my last games while grinding T-70. A tank, which I kind of began liking in the end.

I looked at both teams and decided I need to be somewhere to be able to shoot the middle, since both teams were made mostly of new players, so I was hoping they would just rush straight. So I set up and saw our arty going straight through the middle passage... This is when i understood this will be either a fuuun or "oh no, not this nonsense again" game.  

In the end I was left with two AFK teammates and whole lot of enemies. I cannot say they did not help by spoting and distracting enemies, but...I would have liked having them fighting by my side.

http://wotreplays.com/site/399895#karelia-bladed_baron-t-70

P.S. I think in the end I should have gone along the roots near the deepest lakes in the map. The arty must have been readying it self to jump in at first sight of me.
Now I had a very uneasy 90 seconds in cap

Congrats on your T70 game, very well played!

Your decision to stay at the base was really good since you predicted exactly what was going to happen. Leading targets was good, but you were a bit unlucky not hitting D2 at all.

You really played well against LTP and AMX 38 since you recognized that LTP is a good player and it's better to take him out first. Although you should've repaired your ammo rack as soon as it got damaged because if that AMX got another lucky shot into your ammo rack, it would've exploded and you'd be dead.

Another good decision that you ran away to hunt down Marder and Chi-Ha. Bouncing Marder , really unlucky. Sidescraping against Chi-Ha was bad (too much angle), but luckily he missed you. Now, when you engaged that AMX, you should've gone in the sniper mode since you bounced the engine deck. You could've easily planted those shots in his turret (or his rear if you stood 20m away). Lucky arty didn't hit you there.

So, all in all great game. I hope some tips I gave will be useful later on.  
Oh and that silly LTP. Pretending he's AFK, then saying GJ baron, I'm french

Well the arty was missing by far for quite some time, so i just thought that my luck will continue or he will just kill both of us but yeah...sniper view would have helped.

This is a replay of T8 match in platoon with SunTZuGa on Artic region map:

http://wotreplays.com/site/423331#team

This quite interesting match with very few people going to defend east side, so Sun and I decided to take that part. However, as big part of the team was not intending to leave the camping hill - we did not have the numbers to be aggressive. So basically we tried to hold them as long as possible and dish out as much damage without risking too much and hope north side will push. But during most part of the battle I was just waiting for the moment when the opposite team just push all together at us and we'll have to retreat and rely on our hill campers...But they never pushed and we had ample time to do some dmg. So we ended top damage dealers of our team with 6k+ among us.

In retrospect, those campers were not completely useless when Tiger and Pershing tried to flank us. But I would have liked a few more of them by the side to just to act as a visual deterrent from some aggresive tactics from other team.

So the dreaded M3 Lee grind is nearly finished: T1 is unlocked and it’s ~5k xp until M4. And I can say, once all the modules were unlocked this machine was not so bad at all. Yes – it’s medium only in name and not playstyle and yes – it’s too tall for its own good , but the gun is very good and usable up to tier 5 and big part of tier 6 enemies, the mobility is also good to respond and relocate according to battle progress.

Just had another great game in this tank (second replay) so I though to share what I learned on this tank and some gameplay footage. Maybe somebody is grinding this tank currently or you have plans for that in the future and it might be useful.

So what I learned:
1.       Think of yourself as a mobile TD. Stay behind and shoot at enemies already engaged in a fight with your team.

2.       If you see your team’s heavy/medium/light tanks on your left and on your right it means you are too much forward in a fight (same as 1 point but just KISS rule I use myself).

3.       Think about yourself as if not American but Chinese tank (or Russian T-60 /70/80). Why? For most American tanks – guns’ depression is their most valued feature and you can abuse hilly  terrain and make short work of opponents that you have drawn to fight in such place if they do not have good gun depression (for example Chinese). The M3 Lee has very good gun depression ~9 degrees if I’m not mistaking, BUT in order to use it you have to show almost all your tank and the commander’s cupola is a very juicy target . In short when you decide where to go – choose places with flatter terrain.

4.       Right sides of vertical obstacles (houses, rocks, etc.) with clear view to your targets are your friends. Your gun is mounted on the right side of the tank, therefore, you can basically show very little part of your tank and shoot effectively. This is especially beneficial in longer range fights (~200 meters or more) as most guns on lower tiers are not very accurate so you can be quite hard target to hit.

5.       When Top tier – your armor is very good with slight angling. This does not mean that you’re pseudo heavy tank, but if you can limit the enemies coming from front only – you can bounce a lot.  What this means when the fight is going to the end and there are less enemies you can be more aggressive and bully smaller targets (just not TD’s  please) with quite good results.

So here is practical examples of how this tank can be used:



1. http://wotreplays.com/site/427806#self (0.8.8 version replay)

This is a replay of a fight some time ago where I earned my first ever Top gun (strange that I was this tank to get it…).
I started the match quite cautiously, picked a far back position where I could cover right and central part of map. Since both enemies and our team died at the rocks I decided to take hold of the hill and provide some spotting for the team. Now I’m not sure that this was very good idea, as I could have just waited for enemies at my current location and just pick them off from distance. But at the moment I thought that no more enemies are going through that side and I wanted something to shoot at….this decision lead to 1 good thing and 1 bad thing. The good thing was that I got jump on Matilda going to our base through the riverbed, which armor might have been quite a problem for my team. The bad was the fun 1 vs 2 engagement which followed in the end. However, in here I was already in superior position uphill from enemies, so they could not quickly surround me and the bouncing festival began .



2. http://wotreplays.com/site/427811#self

This a replay of game I had today, where I scored 8 kills (sadly Radley-Walters medal is only from tier 5 ).

Personally I think this is not the best showcase of how this tank has to be played, but some parts are useful.

At the start of match I chose to go right side, but kept my distance back, which let me shoot at the appearing enemies without being shot back (this is good part). However, after that I decided to push forward and suddenly appeared the frontal tank on this flank (which is really bad part ) so it was just a matter of time until I get a shell into my behind. It was basically only luck that the enemies did not decide to flank that building from both sides. So as the enemies came only from one direction I could quite safety deal with them.  At the end of battle you can see me poking from right side of the build for shots. If you take free camera you’ll see how little of the tank is being shown.



So this short introduction to M3 LEE is over . It’s not the best tank but definitely not as dreadful as you might think after reading forums. It just have very unique playing style. And there is something about its shape that encourages enemies to drop everything and shoot at it..

In couple days I’ll start grinding another “the worst tank in game” – French B1. I’ll let you know how that goes

Maybe somebody want to join me in this road?

Just as promissed the dreaded B1 grind has begun...

I has been only 10 matches for now, so it might be premature, but I think I will not be using free-xp to skip this tank (unless the MM was too good for me for the moment).
I think more than 60% of time I get into T4 matches, where this thing rocks. And when you get into T5 – it’s not as bad as I thought: you’re too slow (compared to mediums/light) too get too far into the battle, so usually you arrive when everybody is fighting and there are possibilities to choose targets, which you can damage. Still ACPR ammo is must is such cases (I carry 20 for the moment – will see how it goes).

However, here is the replay of my 5th match in B1, where I managed to get ace taker (faster than any other tank):

http://wotreplays.com/site/433874#mountain_pass-bladed_baron-b1

During countdown I decided to go left and take the long way to enemy base. I thought this would provide me best cover from flanking and TD’s and use my best asset – front armor. However, my team decided otherwise and all went left. And only one Marder went to right. So I changed my initial plan and went right with it, since I did not expect somebody else would change their headings. However, 30 seconds passed and I was reminded why I HATE low tier matches – almost all people who went left decided to lemming through the bridge leaving the centre and most left (my initially chosen) routes completely undefended… (ok some stayed back, but it was not enough as it was soon apparent). As now there were a few other players who decided to join Marder on right side I once again changed my battle plan and turned back to defend the base. This is where I made a mistake. I thought that the enemy team (or at least part of it) will flank and charge our lemmings on the bridge so if I come back near to our capture circle – I’ll have nice side shots and if not I will just go on the hill to limit the angles I can be attacked from and duke it out for as much xp possible (I believed we have already lost this game). However, the enemy did not rush but still quickly dispatched our lemmings and began advancing on base. And here I was in poor position, just realizing I won’t be quick enough to get on the hill by the time they arrive ( I still did not have top tracks in this game). So in retrospect I should have stopped much earlier – just on that ridge on the way to base (G9). This would have let me shoot at anybody capping and leave a lot of distance for enemies to cover until they could flank me. Yes, this would not help the lemmings – but sometimes you cannot be in all places of the map at the same time – and in this instance this was just what they deserved.
So my final stand began. First cornered T-46, which I missed in first shot. Then came T40, DW2 and co, which meant I needed to retreat behind the hill and hope they will just rush individually. And of course – this happened T-46 came, then T40 came, then T82 decided to ram me (which I was very grateful for, as now his wreck created a cover for my front ). After that there is not much to comment in detail: I tried to angle myself for the enemies I thought posed most threat to me, shot at them and used wrecks when I could. Then Pz38 got great idea to finally flank me so I was only waiting to be blown up and just decided to take DW2 together with me. But the Pz 38 was too lazy to look for best angle (or aim at turret) so just stopped and shot at my at angled armor , which did not end well for him  In the end, ally in German-captured-B1 came back from enemy base just in time to help deal with the leftovers, which I was thankful for.

So at least for now my opinion is that B1 is a good tank, which ~50% of time gets into matches where it is top dog and basically how you perform in it carries great weight in that battle.
The only issue I have with the tank at the moment is its gun. No I do not want more penetration, since that would most likely mean this tank would face T6 and that would simply be brutal. What I would like is bigger alpha but slower reload  (same DPM). This would let angle better between shots…but you cannot have everything