Balthazars

Used up my two fuel yesterday shortly after it dropped, without much information. It didn't seem much fun. At level 1, trying to stop 4 Panthers at the end when standard ammo bounces off the side and half the team of pubbies are already dead (i.e. used up all 3 of their tanks) means there is no hope of victory. Another game-mode where the grind seems absolutely unreal (they've killed Frontline in this way too). It's like WG is determined to make grinding in the standard game as quick as possible while simultaenously every event has a torturous, unrealistic grind unless you play the game like a full-time job. While a piece of improved equipment is pretty nice carrot given the bond cost, the game limit per day means you're pretty screwed in terms of your progress if you get unlucky in just one game.

I thought most people grew out of designing double-barrelled tanks once they got past the age of 6... It looks ridiculous, and it's hard to think of a way it could be designed where it would not be ridiculously OP.

So, the T20 in May 2019... Still a good tank at tier 7. It has great (if no longer that special after the introduction of the Leo and the Italian line) alpha for a medium in this tier, with quite good penetration (especially gold ammo), excellent mobility and flexibility with gun depression. Has a relatively small profile so can do sort-of-scouting roles when absolutely required. On the downside, the gun handling isn't great, although still nowhere near as rage-inducing compared to say the Swedish Leo, and the rate of fire is as expected a bit on the slow side. Armour is also pretty much non-existent and you will get penned by most things. Overall though the package is nicely balanced, and the tank is probably one of the best mediums in the tier, and even when bottom tier the gun and mobility means that you're never going to be completely useless. 70 games to finish the grind, 57% win rate, 1,256 DPG - right on par with my T-43, only a little less than the P43 ter and way better than my Leo.

I'm pretty happy with it. There's probably only one map which I totally hate in all tank types at all times - and that is Mountain Pass, which is the single most restrictive and corridory map in the entire game, which I hate with an absolute passion. It is awful to play as a slow heavy (long drive to get anywhere useful, and that crossing point in high tiers often means losing HP), awful as a paper medium (no flanking opportunities), awful as a scout (few safe spots to actually spot anything), half the map isn't useful, and it is entirely possible due to bad deployment/imbalanced teams to get trapped in one third of the map for the entire game. Hate it in all circumstances. Delighted to have it as my single map excluded.

So, in early 2019, I have just finished grinding the BP. As others have noted, after the torture that is the Churchill VII, this feels at first like a decent tank. Then you realise that it's actually a really bad tank, but you were so traumatised by the Churchill VII that even the BP feels decent in comparison. The main problem is that it still has the same crappy 20kph top speed. It gets to it and holds it a bit better, but it still does not go anywhere fast, and given you don't gain much in way of armour for such a poor top speed, it remains the number one drawback of the tank. Speaking of armour, while it's better than the Churchill VII, especially the turret, it is still flat and riddled with weakspots, and can rarely be relied upon to bounce things except when top tier. The gun is an improvement on the Churchill VII too, but is by far the worst for tier 7 heavies, with poor alpha, a rate of fire that doesn't quite make up for the poor alpha (4+ second reload is often not enough to squeeze out that second shot), and the low calibre of the gun means you also struggle to track opponents. Mostly the problem is that no one takes you or you alpha as a threat and are often more than willing to trade with you. Penetration is bad on its standard rounds and so-so with gold, but the gold is damned expensive and you will run deficits when spamming it (which happens often). It's not particularly fun and I am glad to be through it. 65 games, 1,098 average damage (by far the worst for my tier 7 heavies, which are all at the 1,200 to 1,500 DPG range), but somehow managed to win 65.45% of my games.

Have now finished the grind. 220 games with a horrible 46% win rate, with 1,963 DPG (for comparison, that is the second best DPG for me in a tier 9 medium, better than the E50, Cent 7/1 and T54, only behind the 430 - I have better win rates in all of these tanks). I want to like this tank, and on many levels, I do like this tank, but for me it is totally cursed and I cannot win reliably in it at all. It has a lot going for it, the clip if you get to dump it is 1,080 damage which means in the right situation you can go from not having done much damage to spitting out a 3-4k damage game just like that. It's two-shot system giving you 700+ damage is also extremely good without totally crippling the overall DPM means it's also very flexible. It's highly mobile, the gun handling is okay-ish, and it can put up some good view range numbers. The major down-side is the total lack of armour, meaning you will get penned by HE-slingers very frequently and arty will ruin your life. I had one stretch of games where I was full-penned by arty for 700+ damage for five consecutive games. Also takes a ton of module and crew damage. I like it, but somehow I hate it also because I just cannot win regularly in it and I cannot repair the win rate.

Ah, so it's not just me then... I hate wheeled vehicles just for this. High ping makes hitting them a freaking nightmare. As for the changes... my poor 430, I didn't think it was overpowered at all. The 430U nerf doesn't seem that significant and it will likely remain very good, unless its gun handling actually is enough to make it 'bad' like it is supposed to. STB seems strange, nerf its penetration and shell velocity and some other stuff in return for dispersion buffs and the medium tank siege mode? I get it will make it more unique but the penetration nerf seems way too much for a tank that is, in their own words, supposed to 'brawl' which means fighting super-heavies frontally on most maps. Leo could be interesting, but it's still a paper tank in a corridor meta.

I have a personal hatred of Mountain Pass, so that will probably end up being my pick to veto.

No, no, no, no, no please no. If there is one thing from the old days that this game does not need, it is getting one-shot by AP firing arty again.

Recently finished grinding this tank. How does it stack up in 2019 for an okay-ish player? On one hand, it's kind of good, on the other hand, it's kind of bad. The good is that is has a massive clip that can do serious amounts of damage to someone if you get them in the right conditions, including in some cases clipping out the entirety of a lower tier tank, or with some high-rolls, even same tier tanks. 1,800 burst damage is definitely something that can make you very dangerous in the right circumstances. The problem is that the right circumstances are rare where you can unload the entire clip due to it being 6 shells. Plus then you're powerless for 45 seconds, and given you have zero armour, you have no option but to cower like a little ***** during the reload, because even pretending to poke is risky because you never really bounce anything and don't have a lot of health. Gun handling also leaves something to be desired, despite decent penetration, you tend to bounce and miss a lot too, wasting shells. Mobility is decent but not as awesome as I had hoped for a paper tank, and while you can sort of keep up with mediums, you won't outpace most of them in a straight-line fight, and can't run away from them too much either. As with all autoloaders you can't really operate independently, but this is especially true with the 50-100 due to the huge inter-clip reload. Basically oscillates between awesome and utter trash, with a bunch of mediocre in the middle. Not really a keeper in my opinion. 110 games, 55% win rate, 1,568 damage per game, which is decent enough for me. Not as good as my best tier 8s but not my worst either.

Would take it just for the reduced damage from splash/non-direct hits and reduced stun duration. Especially on paper tanks (like the Standard B which I am grinding currently, which suffers badly against arty) it could potentially make a big difference. Suffering 400+ hp damage on a non-direct hit is pretty frustrating. However, one of the biggest issues with arty at the moment is tier 6 and tier 5 arty and their rate of fire, which I note hasn't been touched at all. These arties, like the Lef, the FV304, the M44 and the Grille etc. fire so damned fast and do so much damage to low tier tanks that don't have a lot of armour that it is entirely possible for one of these focusing you to kill you inside 3 minutes, with not a damned thing you can do to stop it (especially against those that have very high firing arcs). Low tiers are even worse for arty spam at the moment because of this, in my opinion.

Now finished the grind, it is definitely one of the few keeper tanks at tier 8. Has a very nice all-rounder combination of mobility, a bit of armour, and an excellent gun with a great combination of of alpha and DPM without completing sacrificing gun handling for it. The turret is very good against same or lower tier tanks and is still competitive against higher tiers without the gold-spam. Penetration is a little on the lackluster side but standard for tanks released in the last two years where they are 'nerfing' gold ammo penetration. It's enough for most situations apart from super-heavies from the front. As noted however, it is a painful stock grind with the stupid 175/217 122 gun in the middle for no reason apart from WG wanting to screw with you. The stock turret isn't particularly reliable, and mobility while stock is also not particularly good. Improves immensely once you get to elite status but expect it to shorten your lifespan a bit until you get there. 100 games to complete the grind (with a bit of help from Frontline in there, a game-mode the tank does very well in). 1,507 DPG (bang on my average for heavies except for my IS3), 56% win rate. It's also my only tier 8 without a mastery badge in the grind, despite having a 4.5k damage game in there. Keeper for me, especially with Frontline seasons this year.

So, in early 2019, is this thing any better? Any different? Short answer: no. It is still a steaming pile of garbage, that has also been power-crept and forgotten. The biggest complaint, by far, is that it is slow. Slow, slow, slow. In a world where T95s, T28s, and O-Ni's (you know, tanks with actual armour) can do 30kph, you are still stuck capped out at 20kph (even downhill) and will take forever to get anywhere. In return for this glacial pace, you get... nothing. You get a rapid-fire pew-pew gun with mediocre gun handling and poor penetration, especially against the hordes of tier 8s you're likely to encounter, and poor alpha. You get zero armour that is of any value except against pubbies who still haven't learnt about weakspots and just auto-aim or aim centre of mass (and the latter guys are still 50-50 to pen you). Even worse if you go 'hull down' and they shoot at your turret, which is a huge weakspot. Just utterly painful to grind though. The one saving grace is that is doesn't have much of a stock grind because if you've played any other British line you'll have all the guns unlocked. I finished it in 48 games, a horrendous 44% win-rate, despite actually respectable DPG of 986 (for comparison, barely 100 damage less than my KV-85 which has nearly 60% win-rate and actually more than my ARL-44, which also has nearly 60% win-rate with a similar number of games at 68). It really is the speed and lack of alpha that hurts it, because you can't kill things quick enough or get to the right spot to win games, but can still spit out damage in a landside due to the high rate of fire when all the enemy tanks come to you. Painful.