Happy belated Veteran's Day e-warriors!
Your friendly Phil44five here with a few reflections on what I've been seeing lately; An increase in 7-0 butt kickings, an increase players with 1200D being the top scorer on the team and of course an increase in the ever dreaded zero damage player . . .
This post is mainly for light tankers. And even more specifically, light tankers on tiers 8, 9 and 10.
My biases include the Ru 251, T92E1 and the Leopard 1, which are the three tanks I play most frequently.
Caveats that will save you time: I have 27K games played, most of them in light tanks. I also have a dreaded 48% WR. I don't care what you have to say about listening to 40%ers, I've seen 68% act like total nubs. So say what you want but I believe these things to be true . . .
Here are some things to consider when playing tiers 8-10 in a light tank:
1) Heavies and TDs think of you as a rodeo clown. Your job, as they will put it, is to run around like a madman and risk taking damage from all directions before any of the enemy tanks are spotted. This is a great risk to you lightly armored tank. Do not buy into it. Play your game and spot when you can. But, always check to see if the heavies and TDs are in a position to actually support you. Far too many times they are not in a position to assist you when you're out risking your neck. Check to see where your friendly heavies and TDs are before spotting.
C6, light tanks have light tank camo - so they don’t lose camo on the move. They are the best for spotting - period. The Leopard 1 isn’t a light (lightly armored medium yes, but it doesn’t get light tank camouflage- this cannot be played in the same manner.
2) Unless you're playing in a Dracula, never go alone at the beginning of the match. For example, the dunes map that has a train running through the center of it, Never go alone to the dunes side at the beginning of the match. it's just foolish. You dont' know if you're going to be met by 1, 2, 3 or 7 tanks. In order to avoid this I use a 3 or more principle. When lining up at the beginning of the game I will rarely proceed with other light tanks to a secluded side of the map (away from heavy/TD support) with less than 3 tanks. When you go alone in this fashion, you're asking for trouble and you'll have no support when you need it. Don't go alone at the start.
Who spots then? You need to be a spotter - but don’t over extend. Most middling/poor players sit back in a light - or never move once the fighting starts. The mobility and view range of your tank are the attributes.
If you don’t want to play a light - play a TD.
3) I've been seeing a lot of light tanks sit in one spot and fire, for example at the face of an Emil II, 3, 4 or more times with zero damage. This is the result of not knowing which medium/heavy tanks and TDs you can actually penetrate with our tiny little light tank canons. Know thy enemy's armor ratings is fundamental at tiers 8, 9 and 10. If you are not looking up the armor ratings of tanks you are having trouble with, then you're doing it wrong. As light tanks our biggest challenge is finding a penetratable angle of impact for our shots. There are whole websites out there dedicated to revealing this to players. Find one, investigate the tanks you're having trouble with and stop shooting Emil IIs in the face. It's useless in most light tanks.
Solid point. Don’t try to engage tanks frontally. No light can afford to do that - just rest camo and be off to a better point.
4) When playing in the T49, T92E1 and Sheridan series of tanks, your entire style of game play changes instantly. In a fully kitted out T9 your reload time is around 16 seconds. That means you are a drive-by expert. In many cases I maximize my ability to drive a fast, small tank through an enemy line and reserve that big 700D shot for the one weak enemy tank that is a one-shot kill. With such big penetration in a light tank this is a very lethal principle that I rarely see players use. The opposite of this would be the fast firing Ru 251 with painfully weak penetration. When up against a KV4 or a T32 (both with painfully slow turrets) the Ru can literally run circles around this tank and pen their soft sides at the firing rate of 1 shot/ 6 seconds. Whereas the T9 would be ineffective at taking out that big of a tank because of it's reload time.
Be careful with circling any tank. It’s not 2014 anymore - plus while practical at times, be wary of any unspotted reds. They may be waiting to drop an HE on you. Light tanking is very situational and you can go from Hero to Zero in a fraction of a misplaced movement
5) When you sit in one spot for longer thang 90 seconds, in a light tank, you're becoming useless. There are cases where 2 or 3 enemy tanks may sit out in the open and you can do the fire, duck behind a rock, pop out, fire again, repeat tactic, but for the most part, you should be utilizing the feature of your tank that sets you apart, speed. Speed to snag a base early on, speed to get behind that fat Obj 704 and speed to run away from a 3 on 1 situation.
Constantly evaluating your position is a requirement of any tank. If you are in an effective spot - there is no need to move. If you aren’t in an effective spot, you should be getting to one.
6) A base capture early in the game will give your team more points toward a victory than almost anything else you can do as a light tank. I see a lot of light tanks wandering around completely aloof to the idea of letting that base work for you for the entire game. Closely related to this is the radar signal you send to the other team as soon as you sit on a base. If it's the middle of the battle, say 2-3 mins in, and you sit on a base, you are sending a message to all enemy tanks that there is a stationary light tank sitting on a base and they may come flocking to you like seagulls to bread. Always consider an escape route.
Arguable. On some maps, yes on some no. Grab uncontested bases sure, but don’t push to a base and get shellacked. The better of a player you are, the less cap games occur, read the map and your teams as to what can be appropriate at the time.
7) Always consider an escape route as a light tank. Forget about the concept that running is what pu**ies do. You're a light tank, you're fast and you're made for outrunning the enemy. In nearly every instance in which i go to a separate side of the map, with only 2 other light/medium tanks, I am constantly looking for what my attack route will be and simultaneously keeping an eye on "Oh s**t, we're outnumbered, I better find an escape route." It's always on my mind. I see far too many players who are outnumbered 4-1 and they just stay put and fight it out. You're a fast tank, accept that it'll cost you 2 or 3 shots in the a** and run.
Keeping your Gun in the game is number 1. Don’t however run for the sake of running. Evaluate the situation, can your team hold there? Or is it time to go? Sometimes running will allow red to wipe out other tanks - where if you had held you would have taken a few down.
8) When getting behind a turretless TD . . . consider what other enemy players are nearby. You can't sit behind an Obj or a Foch and take them out without risk, if they enemy has tanks in the area that can respond. Do this when the TD is separated from the rest of its team, or at the end of the battle when that lazy TD is tucked away all on his own. Be very careful with the Foch or any fast hull traversing tank, good players will find a way to twist themselves into a position to crush you.
Also remember sides are good too - in a high RoF tank, don’t forget a few track shots can help - but in a Sheridan etc - best just to nail a soft spot and nail out if need be. Crafty TD drivers will scrape you off and bump you into stuff so you can get escape. You don’t have the weight to push most TD around - so be aware, be very aware.
9) Stop assuming that other light tanks are going with you. I see a lot of players bolt out of spawn and go half way across the map and then turn around to realize that no one went with them. These players often get crushed in < 90 seconds and then blame others on the chat. This is like learning to cross the road as kids, stop, look and listen. Look around and see what the others are doing. Unless you're a unicorn, you can't win this game on your own, you need to have a buddy, especially as a light tank.
Keep in mind what type of light you are. I rarely care what my team is doing in a Brit light - as I can often Run n’ Gun my way out of a pickle. Same with the RU (keep in mind your back deck Gun depression limits) where as a Sheridan or T49 with the sundial reload isn’t as flexible in those situations (your alpha can often discourage pursuit especially if they think you have one ready to go).
10) The number one thing I would impress upon anyone reading this with < 10,000 games is this: If you bought a tank with real $$ and somehow managed to warp yourself from tier 3 to tier 9 and then begin playing at that level, a) you'll probably get smeared, b) you will be dead weight to your entire team and c) in most cases you are actually ruining the game for others who have been playing at high tiers for much longer. This dead weight factor cannot be underestimated. When you're not familiar with the map, not familiar with your tank, it's armor, how to position it and are shooting the face of an Emil II 3 times in a row, these are signs that you live in nubland and you are single handedly ruining the game. Please for the love of all things holy, stop playing on tiers that are too advanced for your skill level.
Play what you want. There are tons of high battle players who are clueless. One more isn’t going to dilute the gene pool at this point.
But keep in mind it is tougher to win in 9-10, so if you are the type of person that may care about stats or think you may at some time, keep in mind it’s harder to turn the numbers in 9/10 and you may want to learn light tanking in 7-8.
Lastly, light tankers, never forget that the easiest thing to do in this game is to sit in a corner and wait for a little red dot to pop up form 900 meters away and wait for your shooting reticle to calm down and send 1200D down range in one shot. What takes slightly less skill is sitting in a street in a fat heavy tank and let rounds bounce off of you all day long shooting at whatever comes into your field of view. We light tanks require finesse and much greater strategic thinking than heavies and TDs. We have to drive more accurately at rates of speed that are 6 times faster than a heavy. We are constantly performing evasive maneuvers, constantly putting ourselves at great risk to get a some D while others sit and wait for it all to come to them. The best gamers in THIS game are light tank drivers.
Maps aren’t that big. Know your camo values and spotting ranges.
Know where your team is, and where red most likely will be. Your mobility and camo are your life, don’t spend HP foolishly - but don’t be a TD. The best way to guarantee a loss in a light tank is sitting with your team in a group huddle.
Just a friendly little reminder from good ole Phil44five.
Now I will await the blog slaughter that is to follow this post . . .
Nothing like foreshadowing 
2
JefeMac, on 14 November 2021 - 12:55 PM, said:
