Beginner's Guide to Ground Forces

Discussion in 'WT Main' started by beachy86, Aug 12, 2014.

Beginner's Guide to Ground Forces

Discussion in 'WT Main' started by beachy86, Aug 12, 2014.

  1. beachy86

    beachy86 .

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    Since we have a lot of guys who are just starting to try and get into tanks so that we can run some squadron battles, I have decided I would try to come up with a few things to help people out. The first thing I am covering is ammo types used since it can be confusing on what to use and when. There are many different types of ammo in the game and probably some that aren't on this list yet, but I have all of the rounds you will run into in Tier I tanks.

    My recommendations as far as ammo goes would be to load a mix of some sort of normal AP round (AP,APHE,APHEBC,APCBC) and some higher penetrating rounds like APC and APCR if you run into something you can’t penetrate with normal rounds. You could choose to take some HEAT if you want, but personally I do not like how low the velocity of the round is. The rounds I would not bother taking at all are the Shrapnel and the HE(unless you are in a SU122 or SU152).
    AMMO

    This is the second part of the guide I am working on for the Ground Forces beginners. In this part I am going to be covering the Tier 1 Russian tanks and their strengths and weaknesses. With some of them I will also be giving tips on ways to effectively use that specific tank. I wish I would be able to do that for all of them but I feel that, like planes, at this Tier some are just not useful in any situation or there is another tank that can do everything better. One thing to remember, even when I say that a tank has good enough armor to take shots from other tanks you are not unkillable. If the tank driver you are facing is good enough, or lucky enough in some situations, he can hit a weak spot on your tank and end your round with one shot. So with that said until you get comfortable with the tank you are using and know its capabilities it is usually best to play it safe.
    Russians

    For the third part of the guide I will be covering Tier I German tanks. Sorry it took longer to get this together than the other two parts but I needed to back and play some games with most of these tanks again as I hadn't used most of them in a while. Some of the German tanks are completely outclassed by their Russian counter parts however some such as the StuG III A and the Panzer III F can dominate a game.
    Germans


    The next part I didn't initially recognize the need for until Valrimor asked about it, so I would like to thank him for bringing it to my attention. This is a short guide on estimating range to target and using the reticle to aim.
    Aiming
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2014
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  2. DeadlyWalrus

    DeadlyWalrus .

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    Very nice info. One more thing to add, APCR rounds tend to lose velocity somewhat quickly (because of their lighter weight IIRC) and thus won't penetrate as well as a normal AP round at very long ranges.
     
  3. HIGHLANDER

    HIGHLANDER Administrator,Motivational speaker,van dweller

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    and my tank blows up when looked at with an intimidating glare!


    Nj Beach great info. Thanks Walrus for the additional knowledge as well. I'm sure over the next month or so this as was the ammo info in planes be our second language.
     
  4. Ernst

    Ernst ready to rock

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    Awesome job man
     
  5. beachy86

    beachy86 .

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    Ok I have added the section for Tier 1 Russian tanks
     
  6. RossTiger

    RossTiger .

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    Great job! Really informative. I too love the T-50 at Tier 1, it's speed is fantastic, gun traverse decent and if you are fully or mostly hull down and angle your armour it's very hard to kill.
     
  7. beachy86

    beachy86 .

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    Ok so this morning while I was working on getting some playing time with Tier 1 Germans I was stuck a heaping pile of shit for a team and clutched a win out of it. This wasn't really do to my tank play however. Granted I was having a decent round in the Panzer IV C, with 6 player and 6 AI tank kills, when I made a few mistakes and one guy in a T-26 knocked me out twice in a row. At this point all I had left was a JU 87 R-2 and by the time I reached the combat zone my entire team was dead. So I did the first thing that came to mind and dropped my bomb on the T-26 that killed me for revenge. Expecting a loss I even congratulated the enemy team on a good game but decided to go get another bomb anyways. When I was taking off the enemy started to capture my single point and its was going quickly so I knew all 3 remaining guys were there. I finally arrived when the had it 80% capped and dropped my 1000kg bomb right into the cap and got a triple kill to save the game. I repeated the process until all of the enemy was eliminated. That had to be my single most exciting game since I started playing War Thunder, and made me a believer in the little Ju 87 that could. Here are my results after the battle. This single battle also made me decide to do a section for best ground attack aircraft to use.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2014
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  8. DeadlyWalrus

    DeadlyWalrus .

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    In a world before laser guidance and GPS, bigger is definitely better. Unless you are a very accurate bomber, 1000lbs (500kg) is probably the minimum size you will want to carry and 2000lbs (1000kg) is even better.
     
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  9. Valrimor

    Valrimor .

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    I finally got a chance to read your article. Very helpful indeed. There are a couple of other ground forces topics I could use some help with. First, settings and key bindings. I have noticed that when I am in a tank, I am not getting distance to target like I do in planes, and I would love to have that information. Second, aiming and targeting. Info on the max effective range and projectile drop for the various rounds.

    Thanks for what you have written and for what will be upcoming. Great job!
     
  10. DeadlyWalrus

    DeadlyWalrus .

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    You won't be able to get distance to target info because for an experienced player that would be virtually the same thing as the little aim indicator in arcade. If you play enough tank battles you're eventually going to get a general idea on range and proper elevation, but it does take time (it's a lot like mastering deflection shooting in planes). Until then, try and watch your round's flight path and where the round impacts and adjust your fire based on whether you are shooting long or short. The tank test drive area also provides a set of targets at different ranges if you want to try out a particular tank. Finally, I like to error on shooting short rather than long. That way, if I do miss, the impact of my round may throw up enough dirt to obscure my target's view of me while I move to safety.

    Shell drop is primarily factor of muzzle velocity so AP type rounds will follow a fairly flat trajectory while HE type rounds (including HEAT rounds) will follow a much more arcing trajectory. Part of the reason that Beachy has been suggesting that everyone just carry AP type ammo is that the flatter flight path makes targeting much easier.

    There is no hard maximum range in tanks. Assuming your weapon has sufficient armor penetration, if you can see it, you can kill it. The big caveat is that, due to air resistance, AP rounds lose velocity as they travel and thus will penetrate much less armor at long range than at short range.