PlanetaryGenocide

The two most relevant ones i listed above. I don't know the names. I choose the accuracy for reload penalty and the camo 3% for VR penalty. I also took the top speed increase for engine power penalty - 67 is nice. I passed on the other two and chose nothing.

Bofors used to be Sweden’s biggest weapons manufacturer, grew up an hour away from their main office. Pretty sure Alfred Nobel ran the company (Nobel prize guy) until they started making gun powder, used to be a steel mill before that. Company grew very aggressively due to arming Sweden during the WWs and exporting to some degree. Pretty sure BAE owns the division that makes heavy armaments now as Bofors dissolved some time in the 90s. 
 
Very typical tank for Sweden, almost everything was designed to operate on scandinavian terrain. The direct translation of Tornvagn is ”Towerwagon” which should speak to what this tanks intended purpose was. 
 
Would enjoy trying it out with a heavy aim reducing setup to get it playable in medium range. It’s DPM and VR are already beyond saving so I’d rather opt into making sure the shots don’t miss as the pen should mitigate some of the issues of center mass aiming. Playing it at ranges above 150m just seems impossible without equipping specifically for it, you won’t take damage but you’ll also not see shit and damage anything either. 
(Rammer, and some 2 combo of vstab/aim circle/irm depending on  how reticle behaves in motion)
I would have considered putting the Kunzepanzer mechanic on it and adjusting other stats to shift it from CQC to mid range as it just makes no sense with an armour profile this strong at range and giving it a gun that can’t make use of that
 
 
 

just remove arty from the game lmao

Logged in for a while to test out the changes, mostly playing the 40/43.
High-damage HE feels like (usually) a trap round. It might feel nicer to hit for 500 instead of 350, but you pay for that dearly. You basically need to pen with these to get a higher damage output out of them. Arty as a class is probably worse all-around, but its most noticeable in pubbie hands. They constantly shoot the wrong ammo so you end up having to deal with damageless, stunless arty that you can keep track of via tracers/minimap/sound detection. Even more concerned that Intuition isnt' default. I'm really happy with the changes. Arty is a little more fun to play, but also the most trash it has been since that patch cycle back 6 or 7 years ago where they got demolished and you'd only see them every 3-4 games. They literally do nothing.

Ran this setup and finally got the 3rd mark on T49.
This was my last session in T49, 4.8k combined.

I did more testing today. It's still good but different. 
What's gone:
Your ability to face brawl in cities is lots weaker. I used to win many games on Berlin, Lakeville etc by just going town and shooting heavies in their roadwheels and side scrapes for 200-300 and making their lives suck. This was especially good in 3-4 LT games.
Sitting in a bush, at distances, and kiting heavies by slapping them 200-400 at a time. It's a tactic of last resort now - probably by design or as a side effect of the intent of making this threat much weaker when done by E3s etc.
Reliably picking up killshots. I've lost at least 2 of my last 50 T49 games because i couldn't pick up what used to be reliable kills. 230 hp Strv103B side....hit no damage. 150 hp LiS? Hit a track no damage. 13 90? Screen not penetrated on the gun. Ugh. This really hurts the tank.
What's new:
Pen everything. Softs are now truly your prey - nary a 200 splash on the Borsig or Skorp. T-54LW was a nemesis but now you catch his side and he's down 910. Anything with 60mm or less is yummy.
Use HEAT. I carried 2 before now 5-7 is the number. 3.9s reload with intuition!! Plus mathematically (although not poetically) 50% chance to pen for 700 is better than splashing for 150. German sides, Russian and Chinese butts, and the occasional Italian.
Snipe! 0.45 is better than any arty piece! You're not gonna get pixels but it's enough to get soft plates at mid ranges.
Whats the same:
Ambush is your opener. The enemy LT can't outscout you when he's a 1 shot. Or when he's destroyed due to pen + fire. You're a counter scout with real firepower now.
Pick on softs - it works better now! No more 250 dmg splashing on Borsigs and Skorps and Waffle4s.
Burst for breakthrough - you need to be a little more calculating with the risks but the ability to blow up a flank is far improved with the gun improvements. "GO FAST GET DA BOOTY" has always been the motto - but it works better now. More risks, higher rewards.
It's worse - but somehow more fun. Caveat - I've not tried @PlanetaryGenocide style with the full stealth. I will though - on a different account - because I'm having too much fun with my teleporting TD.
 

While obviously the HE changes have neutered the tactical flexibility and bush wanking chode slapping of yore - tank is still fun. Lean in with Full Stealth and gun of choice OR build for full gun and intuition and yolo for pens. I'm using bond vstab, bond vents, bounty IAU, snap shot directives and 6 HEAT. 3.9s to switch shells. 33% camo, 480 VR and 0.45 accuracy. It's like a crappy TD that goes fast!

Over the last few months, sharp-eyed readers of the forums may have noticed increasing reference to "stealth fighter" or "full stealth" builds on light tanks. This is an exploration of that concept, and the concept of camo torture...
The full stealth build came out of discussions between @CraBeatOff and myself about how to improve the ability of scouts to, well, scout. We were initially trying to mitigate the limitations of the EBR 75 & 90's poor VR, and tested the low noise exhaust on them as a tool to get closer without getting spotted. We soon realized you could pull some rather silly stunts with 50% or more camo. Further theorycrafting on T9 lights ensued. I was already running the T-54 lightweight without a VS, with CVS optics and rammer. Crab suggested dropping the rammer and going full camo -- leaning into a LT's defining strength which is camo on the move, rather than trying to be an inferior MT. And the T-54 Stealth Fighter was born.
With the exception of the T49, my T9LTs were all mired in 2-mark territory. I am historically a terrible 3-marker, being bad at mechanics of shooting, streaky and inconsistent. However, the stealth builds changed that. I have been well above average in playing map positions, understanding spotting and how to tease tanks out of camo. Armed with 6% extra camo, I took the T-54 LT Stealth Fighter for a run... and 3-marked it in very short order. The loadout for the 54LT was CVS, iOptics, LNES.

So it turns out my DPG didn't exactly suffer very much from losing a rammer. The extra camo gave me the ability to stay alive longer, to spot better, and to get shots in from camo. OK, so this worked for the 54 LT which has excellent gun handling and doesn't lose much from dropping VS. What about the 132A?
The Chinese LTs are little-loved. They are inferior versions of the RuLTs, with worse gun handling but better alpha. The 132A has comparable camo to the 54 LT but a more compact frame, so I figure that will let it use bushes better. So here we go. The 132A got CVS, bounty optics, LNES and here were the results:

An even faster 3 mark, and very comparable statistics to the 54LT in terms of DPG and assist - if anything, a little better as I got more comfortable with this setup. A little bit worse WR, but that's statistical noise. 
OK, so the compact Russian and Chinese LTs can make this work, but what about the Fatpanzer 251. That thing is big. It has even better innate camo, but it also has a good gun, so the temptation to play it as a pocket medium is high. But in terms of tools, it also has good base VR. So I put down CVS, bounty optics and LNES on it, got the VR up well past 500, and tried the same tactics. 

OK, I'm sensing a theme here. Again, very comparable numbers. Last up was the AMX 13 90. As an autoloader, surely it needs vert stab. Well, firstly, it doesn't, and secondly, don't call me Shirley. The 13 90 already has stellar base camo, and putting bounty LNES on it just makes the camo silly. The base VR is terrible, though, so I spent some bonds on an improved optics on it, and the mandatory CVS. Let's see how it does...

So... the 13 90 works really well. The clip allows such easy late game burst that you can turn mediocre games into good games, and good games into great. The assist per game is rock steady at about 2500-2600 across all these tanks. 
This build is magic. It allows T9 LTs to really dominate in the vision game, and shrug off MTs. You're not competing with MTs for firepower, you're just dominating the VR game. You, sir, are a camo torturer. You are not seen until 11 minutes into a game, when clean up is warranted and you show up unexpectedly full HP. Tanks die and rage at invisitanks. You are stealth, you strike from the shadows.

Yeah I think the trick is to treat them as arty rounds pre-stun change, they should still be more reliable in terms of acc than before but much pickier about the armour it connects with. 
 
It’s probably how they should have changed it right away rather than the stun mechanic but since stuns just seem too effective in terms of accumulating impact in comparison so I doubt it’ll have a real change on gameplay.

Intuition effect is fine but it’s not anything to play around so that alone makes it very bad. 
 
Yeah you can reload a 183 shell to a better ammotype - same for clips but nobody in their right mind is going to swap those shells out to gamble a 10% vs a 30 second reload punish.. in that time frame you can always find a way to fire them and THEN swap to the better ammotype
If you’re willing to gamble that amount of downtime on that percentage (if there’s no punish for reloading then the skill has no value so downtime should always be assumed) as part of the gameplay it’s basically the same amount of stupid as camo/bino/repair equip on maus
There’s no downside to running the skill at least but it is by all means the absolute last useful skill on a loader, it is useful still on EVERY tank but it’s always going to be the one that is the worst out of the useful 

T49 swaps in 3.5
I actually already had Intuition on both my M53/55 and the T49 due to ... having no other skills for the loader to train.  That if nothing else makes the skill worth it once you're done with Bia/Safe/Camo or Repairs because what else is there? FF, sure but then... Adrenaline Rush? Lmao
 
Anyways, I loved Intuition before and I absolutely adore it now - It lets me not have to flex my precognitive skills nearly as hard for what ammo type to have loaded in the T49.
It's useless on arty though because the other shell types are meh.
 
As for Sound Detection, I did find one very good side benefit of having it on my T49 (and passive scouts in general) - it's nearly impossible to blind shot me out of common scout bushes anymore as an artillery

CVS in slot, optics (preferably bounty or bond) and low noise exhaust system (preferably bounty). Jack up that camo to insane levels, sneak in to positions people don’t expect, spot everything. If you need to shoot your gun, the camo and positions often let you get off shots more safely and sometimes even undetected. The loss of DPM is more than offset by vastly increased effectiveness  

Just to be clear, @CraBeatOff created it, I named it. I just happen to have done two particularly effective three mark runs in it and am closing in on a 3rd.

Ok so while the T-50-2 is still really fun, turns out the LTTB is just a better version of it lmao.  The gun is much more comfortable and punchy.  I'm currently using sr360's stealth fighter build on it but I do plan to try the zoom zoom build at some point

Ok still working on video commentary. In the meantime here's some thoughts and replays.
First - fuck EBRs. I'm decent in an EBR - i don't love them. They're bad for the game and although i do appreciate their ability to break open stalemates occasionally mostly they ruin matches specifically by exponentially punishing idiots. Pubbies can barely counter them. So this leaves me as a salty, aging LT driver in an EBR meta. However equipment 2.0 has yielded us some options on this. And of course the Manticore - which showed us that 44% camo and high view range can sit in a bush and help counter EBR idiots - and that you don't necessarily need gun mods to be competitive in a LT.
So enter the new trinity of high tier LT equipment. CVS LNE and some kind of boosted optics. Reloading? Why are you shooting? Vertical stabilizer? See previous point. Vents? If you have good base camo and need more view range you can drop LNE for this - Manticore and T-100 and of course the EBR.
Wether LNE or CVS gets slotted isn't something I've worked out. I'm sure there's some math on bushes but I've found that either works. Slotted LNE gives less defensive than slotted CVS gives offensive - but both have their uses - so it seems to come down to the map which cannot be predicted in pubs. Boosted optics are needed because there's almost no such thing as too much VR.
So how do you do damage? By shooting people who can't see you. Or using camo to get places they don't anticipate. Or by having your team shoot them while you fap in a bush. CVS is particularly useful for being able to see people in places that they cannot see you and then shooting them. Very very useful in bush lines. Additionally with this vision dominant setup you can more confidently fire from some positions - as often you'd be able to see whatever might spot you. This is due in part to leaning into camo - but also due to the equipment changes on other players tanks. Not every MT caps view range now, or has over 500. Ditto for TDs and binos! 
Enough theory crafting - although credit to @sr360 for engaging in hours of theory and test with me. See his absolutely rampant T-54LW StealthFighter post for crushing with this loadout.
Here are some replays. First up is Westfield. There's nothing too crazy about this except showing how CVS really messes with bushes. I burn out the Grilles pretty brutally. You can also see how i can camp in the wide open to snipe out the Strv at the end. Best part of this replay is my echolocation of the T-100 though. He was in an impossible to burn bush but since he knocked trees and i had hp I was able to choose an approach for surprise autoloader sex. Does the 46% or so camo on the 13 105 enable me to do something that 38ish wouldn't? I can't say. Maybe it makes me more bold than my default. But i appreciate the buffer.
http://wotreplays.eu/site/5922118#westfield-crabeatoff-amx_13_105
 
Next up Cliff. This game is super boring. Blame the map. I never saw a good chance to go up on top. Infact I've yet had a chance to get up there with LNE equipped. But that's just how the match went. So i sat and denied the enemy any chance to push without punishment. And then they all flooded 1 side and i saw a chance to win. Rushed the 268v4 and then disappeared again. I've used this bush exactly once before in an EVEN90. That tank is smaller but i managed to get inside it. Bonking the shots on the STB and failing to get a kill there. You gotta watch it to believe but that part was thrilling. An absolutely delicious ending. Curious about what people think both about how i played the match and about this set up in general. Comments!
http://wotreplays.eu/site/5922052#cliff-crabeatoff-amx_13_105

Went vanilla.... BestUserNameEU. Negreps for lack of imagination are deserved.

I saw that posted on reddit, nice one

http://wotexpress.ru/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/JduqugtudZE.jpg
This thing is tiny. 
Make it a light and it would be something spezial. Shitty intraclip and long reload wouldn´t matter so much. Would still run it APCR only though. 

@PlanetaryGenocide the Battle Pass gives out bounty Improved Aiming Unit, which is devastatingly effective on the T49 and Sheridan. Crab and I have been using it to great effect.

I'm fuckin zoomin boys and girls

 
This isn't 100% going to be my final setup as my crew still needs work but this goes 69 kmh on flat ground and turns so fast you flip your shit.  It's basically a tier 6 EBR sans HE bullshit and if you liked this tank in its original form you should try this
 
Thanks in advance

Hello!
As has probably been requested about a billion times in the past, the forum is finally getting a dark theme! You can select it by scrolling to the very bottom of the page, clicking on "Theme" and selecting DarkLabs.
I'm considering this a very beta version of the skin, and there might be several things that will require tweaks along the way. Let me know if you find something off and I'll get it fixed ASAP.
Cheers!
Never

The fact that WN8 is a relic by now aside there's a few points:
it was developed with the tools available. Damage upon assistance was simply not available as a data input - and still isn't for the whole account, only in recents. WN8 certainly, never, at any point, was meant as a measure for performance in single battle. It was meant as a global performance scale. LTs generally have been extremely good for WN8 farming since if you play them well, you generally also get a lot of late game damage and kills, even if the occasional large spotting game goes "unrewarded" in that particular game WN8 wise. It's a typical case of postponed rewards. Play well in general, and in general you'll get a high rating on them. You'd really need to get out of your way not to shoot tanks to get low WN8 in LTs while scouting well. Why is it always the players in the WN8 bracket of bad to average that react with so much indignation to this? You should be happy to have had a great game in combined damage, rather than focus on the WN8 for that game. If anything focus on all the other games where you get 1221 WN8 and lower and didn't do 6k combined. That's where the improvement is to be found.

Hello!
Starting today, statistics will be able to be updated once every hour, down from once every 24 hours. This applies to everyone. Patrons will soon be able to update their statistics at any moment they wish. Database queries have been optimized, allowing for much faster performance when calculating periodic statistics. As part of this, an issue has also been fixed which prevented some periodic stats from being calculated correctly. Fixed an issue that prevented average tier from being calculated in the overall column if an account hasn't played a game since the last old records purge. Hope everyone is having a great 2021 so far. Cheers!

Just bring three T49's they can do literally everything up to and including 300 damage to the front of a Maus ez 

Just bring three T49's they can do literally everything up to and including 300 damage to the front of a Maus ez