Kelly_Sereda

I see what you mean, gotcha. I suppose I was delighting at the possibilities of Maus since I feel good in Mauschen already in tier X, but then again, as you point out, one loses the tier VII match-ups with the same gun and arguably more effective armour. Since 9.17.1 and with the upcoming MM changes limiting the number of higher tier vehicles in multi-tier games, it seems the age of the superheavy is upon us.

Agreed Re: E75 engine - that was a deal maker. I'd add Maus gets a significant side armour upgrade as well which makes more extreme angling to protect LFP possible as well as 900 more HP. And it comes with slightly better mobility soft stats. I do well in tier X with Mauschen, I'm stoked for Maus.

I felt a bit fleeced upgrading engine on VK100. No speed increase and I couldn't really notice much difference otherwise. Technically you reduce engine fire chance from 20% on a hit to 12%, but whatever soft stats are touched alone aren't worth the expense in XP, I think. At 50k on the Mauschen I'm saving for the Maus instead. I'll leave XP on after unlocking Maus and do the engine afterwards over time. I really like the Mauschen, much more than the VK (even without the engine upgraded). I have my best WR in any heavy in the German lines so far with Mauschen and do not feel out of place in tier X battles, where the VK was noticeably more tier dependant. If this is an accurate set-up for the Maus gameplay, I'm really looking forward to Maus.

I had a similar experience with VK100 and found the Mauschen more capable. Tracks was first upgrade, but I do not intend to upgrade the engine - instead saving the 50k XP for Maus. I felt fleeced upgrading engine on VK for no discernible difference in performance. Only improvement I can see is reduction in chance of fire on a hit from 20 to 12%, but I've not found that to be a problem to start with. FWIW, currently at approx 100 games with my highest WR in any heavy tank so far @ 58%. The Mauschen seems to be responsible for driving our respective recent WR in opposite directions. I can confidently suggest using heavy spall liner. Tanks this large and slow are arty magnets and receive a lot of big HE derp. Also, stock aim is already decent, I am running at a high 70s hit rate and vis is good without optics (almost max with recon and situational awareness is trained) so I am running rammer and vents to touch up performance. Although this tank is often last to the front, I have only rarely felt that I missed the key moments either way. Sometimes, your fashionably late arrival is enough to tip the scales as the initial layout has been set. Where the VK was very dependent on tier to have a strong impact, I find Mauschen to play its role in any match. Stick with it, be aggressive with the Maus gun, don't forget angling is still very important and try and protect your HP until you can create a later push the enemy has no answer for.