The M103

[Felicius 170]

That pretty much sums the tier 9 heavies. Have/had them all on 4 acc that me and my 2 brothers play regularly. 

[Faure 0]

Should I get the engine or tracks first (if tracks at all)? I'm doing quite okay in this tank with just the turret+topgun, so I'm not sure if I should bother spending 24k exp on tracks I feel I don't need.

[Jesse_the_Scout 2,098]

Tracks decrease bloom on the move slightly, increase track HPs slightly, and increases mobility on most terrain a bit, so you really do want the upgrade. I'd actually take suspension over engine, it has almost the same effect on mobility plus the other incremental improvements.

[Felicius 170]

I did the same as Jesse. It is the best way. I will separate the grind in two parts:

1. 120 mm Gun T122>Turret T140>120 mm Gun M58

2. Tracks>engine>radio

First part is really necessary to do ASAP. Use free exp to unlock first 120 mm gun and the turret (not so much for the dubious armor upgrade as for not being completely blind). Top 120 mm is a thing that makes this tank, so dump free exp if you do not grind other lines (i free exped about 50% of it-my only grind on this acc at the time).

Second part: Tracks,engine and radio in that order just gives a few barely noticable % of performance, and do not alleviate the weaknesses of the tank. not a priority for free exp usage. Tracks help with the bloom and the traverse at the same time, while costing almost twice as less exp. Even if they were the same price i would go for tracks first. I went tracks first on T-54, too. And there it was the same exp price...and got better performance upgrade than the engine upgrade (my bro did the opposite - since he went the T-54 ltw route he had the top engine, and had slower, less accurate on the move tank than me with top tracks and stock engine - we run platoons, so tested. Ground resistance is a bitch).

 Vert+ramm+Vents. Run food when you can afford it, buy on discount. Especially if you play with the first 120 mm gun and stock tracks.

The tank burns often enough (1 in 20 battles) to consider not running food if you have Vents + BIA and all the modules researched, since bloom and reload are quite good then.

But double repair kits are a godsend if you have them stockpiled - getting ammoracked 2x is very often, and even though i never used rep kit for tracks I ended using both every second battle...so tends to be expensive if not bought on discount.

You can not omit med kit, driver dies every battle, and commander, gunner and loader every second. I never heal commander unless it is a vision map, since next shell will inevitably kill my loader or driver.

This tank would do just fine with 5 consumable slots (food, large rep and med kits, small rep and AFE).

If you have money to burn, run large medkit, too. Arty hits tend to knock at teast 2 crew members. If it is the commander and gunner, it is not so bad...if it is the gunner and driver, you are in pain...sometimes you get knocked out 3 crew members per battle, though not from one hit.

One of the tanks that you LIKE when arty hit you with AP and pens. At least you survive with enough fighting capability to kake 1-2 more shots before you die.

 

[Faure 0]

Thanks for the advices. Went for the tracks and am now heading towards engine. I indeed had already free exp'd the turret and first gun, and the second gun was unlocked fast enough. Radio I had unlocked from somewhere else, and since everything fits on stock tracks I had it fitted right away. 

Might change my consumables to double repair. I indeed noticed a lot of damaged ammoracks and engines. Arty hasn't been that much of a problem yet. I'm an avid dodger and often there are much better players on the team that get xvm-focused first ^^.

[lt_lolcat 305]

I finally ground my way close enough to use my free xp to unlock the e5.  I didn't unlock the top gun or the tracks because f this tank.  Contrary to most advice here, I found the best way for me to play the M103 was as a corner fighter.  The armor is completely unreliable which means you need to limit your exposure as much as possible.  And the first 120mm is really derpy, so long range shooting is very frustrating.  The one and only real advantage of this tank is its fast reload.  Abuse this to trade 2 shots for 1 against enemy heavies.  And you really want to be fighting heavies because mediums will pen you frontally and shoot faster.  Hell, I had tier 6 scouts pen me frontally.  Seriously, f this tank. 

[Fedaykin89 96]

Sooo basically this thing is limited to support role for other HTs?

If so, really tough shit when top tier and about the only "real" HT on the team. I'd much rather try to keep up with the MTs (and fail miserably, since this thing is a real slog)

[Bobi_Kreeg 379]

Every time you skip unlocking the M58... a kitten dies.

M103 is all about the M58, and your ability to make it sing.

[lt_lolcat 305]

48 minutes ago, Fedaykin89 said:

Sooo basically this thing is limited to support role for other HTs?

If so, really tough shit when top tier and about the only "real" HT on the team. I'd much rather try to keep up with the MTs (and fail miserably, since this thing is a real slog)

I'd rather brawl other heavies than mix it up with mediums who will beat you in everything besides alpha and you tend to die real fast when taking shots from multiple angles.  For your armor to work, you have to bait them into shooting your tracks or upper plate, then you get to shoot them back twice. 

12 minutes ago, Bobi_Kreeg said:

Every time you skip unlocking the M58... a kitten dies.

M103 is all about the M58, and your ability to make it sing.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that gun will work a lot better on the E5.

[Fedaykin89 96]

11 minutes ago, lt_lolcat said:

I'd rather brawl other heavies than mix it up with mediums who will beat you in everything besides alpha and you tend to die real fast when taking shots from multiple angles.  For your armor to work, you have to bait them into shooting your tracks or upper plate, then you get to shoot them back twice. 

That's a bit of a bummer, considering I'm running both the T-10 and the M103 and in Tier 10 games I can just go YOLO and pretend I'm a slower, bigger MT in the T-10 - and yes, I know this has to do with WG directly and indirectly buffing it from one of the most down-looked Tier 9 tanks to becoming pure awesomesauce.

My huge problem with going to the HT flank is, you guessed it, sky cancer - why bother shooting the huge-ass E-Hundo or Maus when you KNOW you can pen and OHK the M103 somewhere close to him?

[Daezara 154]

M103 is a huge pita, to slow to be a medium, no armor to be a heavy, everything you see can pen you frontally. (lfp is trash, cupola is big, overmatchable turret roof, cheek weakspots, frontal weakspot above the gun mantlet, turn turret 5° to one side and they pen your side turret, heck an e5 even penned my gun mantlet with heat)

Only good thing about this pile of shit is the top gun, if you live long enough to use it. As every hit wrecks a module or a crewmember.

[Felicius 170]

On 3/28/2016 at 9:51 PM, Fedaykin89 said:

That's a bit of a bummer, considering I'm running both the T-10 and the M103 and in Tier 10 games I can just go YOLO and pretend I'm a slower, bigger MT in the T-10 - and yes, I know this has to do with WG directly and indirectly buffing it from one of the most down-looked Tier 9 tanks to becoming pure awesomesauce.

My huge problem with going to the HT flank is, you guessed it, sky cancer - why bother shooting the huge-ass E-Hundo or Maus when you KNOW you can pen and OHK the M103 somewhere close to him?

Going with mediums and having 34 km/h top speed?

Also, mediums will go to spots that draw td fire, as opposed to fire from heavy tanks. Meaning bigger alpha...But they are small, hard to hit, and in case of CCCP OP wagons have hard turrets...and can spot tds, and return fire. You can not do a thing above mentioned.

So you will get some big shells in that huge turret, and arty will turn towards you to derp you to hell, since you will stay spotted (too big to fit any bush, no camo), while mediums around you go dark.

And E 5 has more accurate 120 mm coupled with better aimtime and soft stats (and a hard turret giving you time to aim all day if you want)...on M103 i was unable to return fire to tds at almost all times.

Corner fightng+snapshots are best bet. Engaging heavies is best because your only card is better aimtime/accuracy and 2 for one trade ability vs E-75 and such. Snapshot a lot with HEAT. 

I used less HEAT on E5 since i could spent some time aiming...except on other M103s...just snapshot AP in their turret direction...it will probably overmatch the turret or penn the tumor.

On the other hand, E 5 is great...you know you are in OP tank if you are killing O-Hos first, despite having tier X heavies beside them...150 mm HE only weapon that could as much as touch you.

[FlorbFnarb 537]

On February 4, 2016 at 7:47 PM, Felicius said:

After briefly raising my WR to 51% by 100 battles, pubbies actively brought it down to 46%. Lost 22 out of 25 battles in a row. 80% WR...check.

Seriously, I am giving my best. I am yoloing in Cromwell, and still get 75% WR, and in this one i move carefully, shoot only the most dangerous opponents pr best players, I am killing IS-7s while mercilessly spamming heat, but avail. My T-54 gets 60% WR without more that 5 heat and this i can goldspam snapshots all day (dealing dmg) and still lose.

This tank is so weak...and slow...

So far, armor on this tank is so crappy, E-100 just snapshot my turret...and 3 x overmatch without aiming. Careful aiming is great if enemy is on reload, but for more than 2 s exposure, i get penned.

Also, crew gets killed all the time. Loaders die a lot (even from arty splash, and sometimes i lose both of them, along with gunner from a single HE shell...even T49 one, frontally in turret), driver gets killed when tier 8s shoot my ufp and pen me, and gunner and commander die every other battle.

Ammorack every game. And on E 5 is the "same" problem...but E5 could hull down to prevent it, this thing is more vulnerable hull down than without.

There are positive points...just last battle a full health TVP T 50/51 rushed me...and i bounced 0 dmg, of course, but managed to put 3 shots in it, and rammed to kill,,,done 1 k dmg later and still lose.

And dumb polish players with 400 hp in tier X meds charging pre-aimed arty instead of capping...as last player in team...(fjords-cap is arty safe, because their arty went to peninsula near our cap...)My team simply derpes into Jageroos or Waffles one at a time, or when i eliminate all opponents, arty clicks me.Seriously, pubbies are actively preventing me from getting e5.

And for my T32 somebody complained about being a credit sink? Shooting 30-40 k ammo, while repairing just 10 k or less usually got me to 10-15 k loss at most on a loss, and wins would break even, because i would crush seals, and got no dmg in return...

This crap, though...well, repair costs are killing me, because i am dead every single battle, unless i camp (and my team lose that way, so killed anyway), i do shoot HEAT because who will kill enemy E5/E100/IS-7...my team usually gets 400 WN IS-4 or chai sniping JPE100.

Dont get me those stories "aim weakspots"...that you can to when you have time to aim, and being one giant weakspot, i must throw as much heat i can fire on them with minimal exposure...

About 15-20 k in red, because i loose to many battles. 160 battles so far, and abut 150 more to E5 (too many losses, and while carrying hard i still get shit exp on a loss). have 1 MOE and 75% mark...and climbing slowly, but steadily. Probably 2 mark before the end of grind. But I woud rather be in tier X in T32 than top tier in this cancerbait. At least i could punch above my weight, and M103 gets bunched from all kinds of shit...like Tiger firing AP frontally, and LFP hidden, wiggling the tank too.

I do shoot about 65-70% AP in total, since only 6-7 tanks really need that to guarantee penetration at all time.

Started playing all kind of shit tanks to boost my free exp bonus from 2x. I will dump every bit of free exp to skip this tank ASAP...and the only time i did that was to unlock Cromwell without playing those tier 4 and 5s...and not from hatred, but because it was Archer crew, and going from td>light>med is too harsh on crew(or my gold)

The pen is fine, as is the gun handling.  Why are you spamming HEAT with that fun at Tier 9?  It should shoot AP 90% of the time.

[FlorbFnarb 537]

On March 28, 2016 at 3:25 PM, Bobi_Kreeg said:

Every time you skip unlocking the M58... a kitten dies.

M103 is all about the M58, and your ability to make it sing.

YES.  The gun is awesome.

On March 28, 2016 at 3:36 PM, lt_lolcat said:

I'd rather brawl other heavies than mix it up with mediums who will beat you in everything besides alpha and you tend to die real fast when taking shots from multiple angles.  For your armor to work, you have to bait them into shooting your tracks or upper plate, then you get to shoot them back twice. 

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that gun will work a lot better on the E5.

It works great on the E5, but it's nice having it a tier down.

[Felicius 170]

On 4/22/2016 at 1:31 AM, FlorbFnarb said:

The pen is fine, as is the gun handling.  Why are you spamming HEAT with that fun at Tier 9?  It should shoot AP 90% of the time.

BC this thing has no armor at all. ANY kind of exposure and it gets shot to pieces. Gun handling is good for a heavy, but still bad for a huge slow paper medium - and it is fucking overmatchable!

You can pen an  E 50 with AP fine in the turret or LFP, bit HEAT goes right through UFP. So i might avoid return fire if he tries to hit my hatch instead of overmatching the whole fucking turret face.

I am using a good deal less gold ammo in the E5, since the tank has better gun handling and acc that allows me to hit really tiny weakspots at close range, and slightly larger ones at mid range, along with god mode armor that would allow me to aim E 100 style (3 seconds till the reticle shrinks to end), in case they nerf the soft stat on the tank.

If i see an E 75 who is a total noob, sure, i would load AP and go for hatches/lfp. But against any kind of decent player gold + turret face. Exposure time is a difference between staying alive and dead.

P.S.

This tank could rack dmg with AP only like crazy. But that require opponents that ignores you...my best games were tier X ones using AP only, since I was on the bottom of the enemy priority list.

But when you try to carry instead of supporting, this thing dies pretty soon...and sometimes you must carry when in a top tier heavy (and no IS-3s for you to be your anchor)

As a support heavy Conq is 2x better...even sweeter gun, APCR instead of HEAT, even has a good HESH shell for soft, but not paper targets you would not risk using HE...like some light tanks like 13 90...

And Conq can carry really well on city maps since HD buff to the turret. On open maps it is superior sniper...with hull down opportunities if there are no arty (prokh middle, etc) and it is even a tiny bit more mobile...

M103 is a tank almost without a role, and the only one it fills, it fills badly (support sniping with meh alpha/dpm). 50 120 at least has speed and apcr clip to trade 2 or 3 for one shots...along with some speed. It needs platoonmates as meatshields, sure, but M103 just drags any king of platoon down. Conq + E75 is much better than this + E 75.

[JimmytehHand 29]

I think the M103 is great. I'm not having any issues blocking shots with the upgraded turret and the gun is amazing. The handling, the pen, the accuracy, the alpha; all of these are fantastic. Combine that with heavium level speed and I'm finding it easy to flex around the map if I need to relocate. You also have enough of a hit pool to tank a bunch of shots when necessary. Sure, its frontal hull armor isn't amazing, but then again none of the T9s have amazing frontal armor that are going to be able to stop T10 guns. It plays exactly like the IS-8; your main goal should be to hide the hull and bully similar tier and lower tanks. Against T10 stuff you just play more conservatively and either go after stuff when they are distracted or you use your mobility to flank.

[Felicius 170]

On 5/12/2016 at 6:01 AM, JimmytehHand said:

I think the M103 is great. I'm not having any issues blocking shots with the upgraded turret and the gun is amazing. The handling, the pen, the accuracy, the alpha; all of these are fantastic. Combine that with heavium level speed and I'm finding it easy to flex around the map if I need to relocate. You also have enough of a hit pool to tank a bunch of shots when necessary. Sure, its frontal hull armor isn't amazing, but then again none of the T9s have amazing frontal armor that are going to be able to stop T10 guns. It plays exactly like the IS-8; your main goal should be to hide the hull and bully similar tier and lower tanks. Against T10 stuff you just play more conservatively and either go after stuff when they are distracted or you use your mobility to flank.

What heaviums are we talking about? If the tank is faster than E-75 or a ST-I, that does not makes you a heavium.  Heavium should be able to deploy almost as fast as mediums, and to the same spots, of course taking into account gun depression, and bring bigger punch and some usable armor into equation.

We are talking WZ 111 1-4 or T-10 here...E 50 is in the same league pretty much

http://wotguru.com/map-strategy-el-halluf/#

For example El Haluf. With above mentioned tanks I could always be the first heavy on A1 and use hulldown/sidescrape. In M103 it is impossible, since 2/3 of tanks going to that corner would outpace you there by a good 20 seconds.

Meds would dig themselves on B2 hulldown by the time you are there, so you could not pass to A 1, even arty would be in the positions they would hold to the end of the game and preaimed on passing tanks (despite missing the first shot cost them dearly, noob clickers do not pre aim the first shot and fire first, then relocate to camping places, despite being safe on spawn for like first 2-3 minutes at least. But after about a 40-50 sec they are in their cosy places scratching balls and waiting for reticle to shrink.)

Airfield, Sacred Walley, Cliff, just count...naming a 34 km/h top speed a "heavium" is pure lol. E 75 is sluggish, but it has higher top speed...meaning that part of the way it would lag behing you en route to brawl, but most of the time it would go just fire 28-30, and you 34. Big difference? No. On a 1/3 of the way there would be a slight downhill and E 75 would speed up to its top speed eating the distance between you two. You would be stuck at 34.

Conq would also be there as fast as you, would you call it a heavium? 

P.S. Comparing the hull armor of T-10 with M-103 is an insult. Both do not work against same tier heavies/lower tier tds, but T-10 is pretty safe from guns 200 mm penn and below, 225 guns that are the norm in tier 8 have a solid chance of bouncing upper plate if not gold, and 250 + is a sure penn.

In M103 I was penned frontaly from fucking Comet shooting AP rounds. and 175 mm penn just melted my lfp, and 220+ ufp. Middle is about 210 effective, and ppl autoaim you to kill your driver as a bonus.

Turret on M103 is huge, soft and overmatchable. Cheeks are penn for 220 mm  + meaning 90% sure for same tier heavies (246-258), and T-10 has tiny hatches on an otherwise  350+ effective turret face (resistant to all not td gold), overmatch zone is just a tiny speck.

[JimmytehHand 29]

It still plays like the T-10. You look for opportunities to hide the LFP/Hull and you use your turret to bully weaker tanks and pubs. When you can't hide the lower plate you angle and hope for a bounce. You get a lot of bounces this way against lower tiers and weaker guns. The Comet shouldn't be penning you with AP rounds if you throw out an angle if its coming at your from the front. 

Want to get the best results out of the M103s turret? Don't expose yourself to large guns or taller tanks. Wiggle the turret if they are aiming for your cheeks. The M103s gun combined with it's speed is what makes this tank shine. High rolls hit for 500; I rarely ever see anything below 430. The bloom and aimtime on both upgraded guns are excellent; you should be able to demolish other tanks with peek a boom or simple hulldown tactics.

The rest of the tank is fine. 34 km/h is great for a heavy; plenty of speed to flex and relocate when needed. You shouldn't have issues getting to the front at the start of the match unless there are a lot of T9/T10 meds. 1850 HP is more than enough to take hits when needed; most of the time if it has a scarier gun you need to wait for them to shoot or otherwise wait until they are distracted to poke on them.

You have to be able to flexible with your deployments with the M103. I'll expand upon your El Halluf example. Unless you are top tier and the enemy team doesn't have any large guns, why wouldn't you just make the heavier tanks on your team hold A1 corner and go to the hill instead? You should be able to get shots on the mediums up top or heavies and TDs that cross late or push up to take shoots at A1 from further back (C1 or A3). Arty is only an issue if you stay still or if there is 3 or 4 on each side. Then you slow play it and try to limit your exposure when you shoot.

Take Fjords as another example. Don't go to the peninsula in the far southern corner where you can't go hull down and take advantage of your turret; you should instead be going up to the far NE hill, clearing that and then cycling back to the middle to help clear out the map. The only time you have to go to peninsula is if you are top tier and you don't think your lower tiers can hold that corner long enough for you to clear out the rest of the map.

TLDR Version - Play to the tanks strengths (hull down, excellent gun/bloom, speedy for a heavy, nice hit pool) and limit your exposure against tanks you can't bully (E75/STI/T10s). Don't deploy to the "heavy" spot on particular maps just because you are a heavy. Go to areas you can hulldown and win that flank while your team stalls the other flank. Then return and defend or sweep through and mop up.

[Felicius 170]

I did all you said, armor use efe was 0.5 so I did follow M103 guide here from wotlabs...positioning would be just as you said. But "great gun depression" is a yoke, it does not work that well. Trouble is, when there are too much "support" and not enough brute armor, team folds quickly. Importance of hard heavies like Is-3 is enormous, but T-10 can flex, while this is slow shit. Also, T-10 has 120 mm side armor, while this gets penned my HE of every calibre. 

But the only selling point of M103 - the gun, is much better on soviet bias.

Platform is shit. If I expose, I die. if i support from second line and rack dmg, some idiot from my team shots me in the ass or i get artied.

My wr suffered despite trying to platoon. Anchors like E 75 can not really hide me, and if I threw T-54 in platoon they would outpace me. 

Gun is good, but rest of tank is shit. But Conq has a much sweeter gun AND turret armor. 

Also, I do not know on what drugs you are, but I bounced maybe 1/3 of shots with turret...anyone with a brain can penn it without gold. Exposing UFP actually improve overall armor, giving pubbies a dilemma where to shoot.

[JimmytehHand 29]

I can't attest to the EU meta, but I'm not having issues blocking shots with the turret unless it's from 230+ pen from large TD guns or heavies. I haven't noticed anything going through the cheeks, only the commanders hatch.

We are going to have to agree to disagree on the tank speed. This isn't a slow tank. It just isn't the fastest heavy in its tier. 

 

[Felicius 170]

I suggest you have a nice look at tanks gg. Cheeks are paper.

And what heavies are slower than this piece of shit? Do not count ST-I, that tank is a moving bunker.

E 75 is like 10% slower in a straight line most of the time at best...traverse is better, top speed is better, it evens out.

Oh, yea, that Jap piece of crap. So we have 2 slower heavies, and one of them brings the best armor in tier T 95 included.

[no_name_cro 2,034]

M103 would be decent if speed isn't capped at 34 as Felicious said. And the issue of tank remains, it's just doing nothing spectacular compared to its peers. It's just on worse end however you play it.

P.S. I just rebought it, and will play it after I gather free exp to 1st 120mm gun. Maybe I as player changed, maybe meta did, we'll see if it is any good, because it didn't leave good impression last time I've played it.

[BlackAdder 1,390]

On 5/15/2016 at 6:52 PM, JimmytehHand said:

I can't attest to the EU meta, but I'm not having issues blocking shots with the turret unless it's from 230+ pen from large TD guns or heavies. I haven't noticed anything going through the cheeks, only the commanders hatch.

We are going to have to agree to disagree on the tank speed. This isn't a slow tank. It just isn't the fastest heavy in its tier. 

 

 

I hate too see E75 when playling WZ-111 or FCM. But when i face 103 i don't have such problems. (although i perform better in 103 for the record). 

[Felicius 170]

Good part of E 75 efficiency is discouraging players to push. PPL are stupid, and morale won wars, and so does in wot. 

ST-I or E 75 can lock down a flank...and die eventually due to arty/rushers...but your lemming train can cap in time a lot of times. When driving M103 ppl just throw themselves at me. When idiots see a soft tank their mindset is "oh, I can destroy it, my 100% HP is worth his 30%". Just like they rush waffles.

When they see the bricks their mindset is "I was stomped 1000 times before by this tank, it is made of Kryptonite, I can not even scratch it, better stand back and kemp bush next 5 minutes, some soft idiot will soon show up. Or others will go first". More alpha from E 75= fear factor. Despite M103 having more dangerous gun because of higher chance to actually score a hit/hits you twice instead of just one hit from E 75. Just like real life Tigerophobia...sometimes Russians feared "Tigers" which were actually just pz. 4 with schurtzen on turret and sides (in game pz. 4 H), since they looked like tigers from distance...

And when 2-3 scrubs rush m103, it is game over. Would have been for E 75 too, probably, but they do not even try it...

Dealing with a good, skillful opponents/higher tiers is actually easier while driving M103, I admit that. You can trade 2 for 1 with e 75 if you load heat and go for turret face, and use superior gun handling against a lot of higher tier tanks, where E 75 armor just does not cut in any more...

E 75 vs M103 is basically like FCM vs IS-6. Invulnerability to scrubs and fear factor count a lot...Not taking damage from lower tiers is important because you can conserve your HP for engaging difficult opponents...and M 103 just bleeds hp in every skirmish...

Just in this case, M103 can not give tail like FCM when shit hits the fan. Sure, it can relocate once you clean the flank, but by that time there is usually very little left to relocate...

I liked tier X battles the best in my M 103, while in E 75 not much. Always tier X heavies to tank for me. Because if I am in tier X, I can support my team and if i did 3 k dmg or knock out a tier X tank, I influenced a lot our chances to win. But as top tier heavy you are often forced to go front line...or ppl shoot you in the back for "camping in a top tier heavy", or just camp base unless you do not lead them...and then you lose games...

Failplatooning with tier x tanks are actually good in M103.

[no_name_cro 2,034]

T32's gun is giving me cancer so I can't wait to get M103 already...