Do the Garage Shuffle - LT edition

[DHP 502]

On 23/10/2017 at 4:54 PM, 8_Hussars said:

T71 CMCD reviews?

It's a worse DA.

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

3 hours ago, monjardin said:

I sold the Ru251 since I wasn't enjoying it enough to grind out all 289k XP needed for the tier 10 that I'd probably never buy. Then I put the 4 skill female crew in the Hwk12. Holy shit, is that thing mobile?! And 410m view range at tier 8. Yes, please!

Blaspheme warning: It may be more fun to run for shits and giggles than the T49. 

Is the LTTB now this mobile as well?

I keep telling everyone that those two are best in tier/class! And yes LTTB is similarly mobile. You are however a blasphmer, so you get a neg rep!

[kreigermann 280]

5 hours ago, monjardin said:

 It may be Nothing is more fun to run for shits and giggles than the T49. 

Is the LTTB now this mobile as well?

I fixed that sentence for you, you are welcome.

LTTB moves like a cat on crack(it did before too). Great little gun but meh view range.. be very wary of that terrible gun depression... you can miss shots at close range on a circle strafe low profile targets because you hit a bump.

Now I wish I didn't sell the HWK, when it landed in my garage I was like "yay!  free credits!"

[Tanager 150]

2 hours ago, kreigermann said:

Now I wish I didn't sell the HWK, when it landed in my garage I was like "yay!  free credits!"

Ditto.  Fortunately, I still have my LTTB.  Need to toss some equip in it and drive it.

[kreigermann 280]

I... TECHNICALLY have the credits to buy it back, I'm very curious about it now. ...  but I probably won't until I can get it on discount.. 'cause I'm cheap.. and I'm grinding up 50m credits to buy all of the unlocked Tier Xs on the HOPEFULLY coming winter sale. Though if they ever do a consumables sale again I'll end up poor again buying cola for the derps.... all the Tier X lights + some others... or 5000 cola.. hmmmm dilemma.

[Tanager 150]

I had assumed I'd be grinding through the wz-132 and then abandoning the Chinese scouts, based on what I've heard about the 132a and 132-1, but I have to say...the 132 is a nice little tonk.  Very maneuverable, and the handling on the top gun is much better than I expected.  View range is kinda sucky, though, so once I have enough FF skill to drop the AFE I'll start running food.  So the 132 is now a tier 8 keeper for me.

[Ezz 1,770]

132a for me epitomised the frustration of positioning, aiming, then missing. In other ways it was nice - good camo, nice to drive around in, but that gun gave me the heeby geebies. It also made for barely any upgrade over the 132. As with many of the upper tier lights, it would be a far more enjoyable experience with 0.06 better accuracy.

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

The China lights are definitely a love hate situation. They're good packages with irritatingly inaccurate guns, which doubles down with the fact that their engagement ranges are best where accuracy matters. I've kept the 132A and 132-1 and have reached for them fairly regularly. The 132-1 is getting a trial with a GLD, while a rammer boosts the dpm to about 2800 it's 0.38 accuracy just doesn't seem to let it aim down fast enough. Having 390 alpha and decent pen it's a good scavenger of single shots and has noticeably better camo than the Sheridan in that role. But I've tried vents, rammer and gld in that third slot and still not sure what's better. Without the rammer the dpm is about the same as the RhmPz. The GLD gives a slight advantage when trying to hulldown brawl 8s and low pen 9s and 10s, when you want to peek minimally and then back into cover.

I've found the 132A to work just fine with the rammer though. Vents also worked but that dpm seems more meaningful on a 9. You get basically no dpm upgrade moving from 132A to 132-1. And 7.7s reloads fit between HT reloads, which the 132-1 cannot get down to... In all tiers and roles there seems to be sweet spots of alpha and dpm and the 132A has one, while its big brother doesn't. It also differentiates it from the 54LW nicely. Tier 9 LTs lack not for 230-240 damage guns...

[dualmaster333 3,324]

So wait, what was your pitch on the HWK 12? Looking at the numbers I see nothing interesting......like, mostly worse than Bulldog. Small physical size? Ludicrous camo? Superior German Armor?

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

3 minutes ago, dualmaster333 said:

So wait, what was your pitch on the HWK 12? Looking at the numbers I see nothing interesting......like, mostly worse than Bulldog. Small physical size? Ludicrous camo? Superior German Armor?

Thats the thing, I really was not impressed on paper. I was sure it was going to be a turd. I had this plan to 1. unlock the RhmPz from the RU251 2. train the 3 lady crew members (long before claimed) in the Hwk12 while I waited for the RhmPz unlock 3. 3 Mark the Hwk12 to add to 3 mark collection. I had this echo-y memory of skill4ltu giggling a lot while driving his Hwk 12 and saying it was an easy 3 mark, so i thought why not. 

And in the process of marking it and training the crew I found it to be most effective and fun to drive. 410 VR, 35% camo, 35 hp/t. It can really zoom zoom. Constant bottom tier MM isn't a huge problem for 8 LTs - they saw Xs before constantly, and now they have more hp/t and VR and are limited to 3 Xs in a battle. 

The armor is shit, and so is the shell speed. The accuracy aimtime and and depression very are nice, and 240 alpha sure is better on a VIII than it is on a IX!

[Tanager 150]

7 hours ago, CraBeatOff said:

Thats the thing, I really was not impressed on paper. I was sure it was going to be a turd. I had this plan to 1. unlock the RhmPz from the RU251 2. train the 3 lady crew members (long before claimed) in the Hwk12 while I waited for the RhmPz unlock 3. 3 Mark the Hwk12 to add to 3 mark collection. I had this echo-y memory of skill4ltu giggling a lot while driving his Hwk 12 and saying it was an easy 3 mark, so i thought why not. 

And in the process of marking it and training the crew I found it to be most effective and fun to drive. 410 VR, 35% camo, 35 hp/t. It can really zoom zoom. Constant bottom tier MM isn't a huge problem for 8 LTs - they saw Xs before constantly, and now they have more hp/t and VR and are limited to 3 Xs in a battle. 

The armor is shit, and so is the shell speed. The accuracy aimtime and and depression very are nice, and 240 alpha sure is better on a VIII than it is on a IX!

Goddammitkickingmyselfforsellingitstopmakingmefeelmorestupid

[dualmaster333 3,324]

1 hour ago, Tanager said:

Goddammitkickingmyselfforsellingitstopmakingmefeelmorestupid

#ticketbacktanksonNA

[Tanager 150]

8 minutes ago, dualmaster333 said:

#ticketbacktanksonNA

I guess I assumed there was some kind of expiration on this (plus, I don't have the credits right now) - I can get it back for the sale price, right, not as if I were buying it anew?

[dualmaster333 3,324]

18 minutes ago, Tanager said:

I guess I assumed there was some kind of expiration on this (plus, I don't have the credits right now) - I can get it back for the sale price, right, not as if I were buying it anew?

There is no time limit and you get it for the price you sold it for.

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

A note on hp/t or specific power- this stat isn't getting the love it deserves. Its the real driver behind LT mobility and what has finally set them apart from mediums in an environment where vision mechanics remain unchanged. Starting around tier 7 the LTs begin to get hp/t values above 25 taking them past all but the fastest mediums and at 8 values go above 30 which is where abuseability begins to factor in, and higher than any LTs really had before 9.18. The 9s get around 33 and the 10s 35-47 (and the lowest gets hovertracks) which is where insanity kicks in.

How do we use this? Prior to the class redesign LTs hp/t was less uniform and so you could only sometimes outrun mediums, when you had enough of a lead and the terrain was right. Now that gap has expanded to the point where you're reliably able to use your speed to not only get away, but often get away unpunished! LTs have 0-10 kph advantages on mediums with a fairly standard floor of 65 at 8+. But the key isn't the raw speed, it's accelerating to it and maintaining it uphill to kite those LT bonering MTs. You in a LT get to speed twice as fast as most MTs and hold tons of it even if you have to climb. Previously uphill escape routes were a sure shot for your enemies as you slowed but now they barely register a loss in velocity and you're safe over the crest. This opens tons of terrain!

For example yesterday i was using the big dune in the north central part of Sand River to mess with a 30B. The 30B is a fairly powerful MT but as this was all 10s i had the insanity of the T-100LT. As he fired i would drive over, autoaim pen and drive back before he could traverse, catch up to my line and fire. This was in the closing time of a match where @Fulcrous , who was also in the T-100, and i had camo and acceleration kited 5 tanks North, delaying their approach and harassing at the uncatchable edge of vision, while our South overmatched and won. Vision and speed kiting a batchat is highly satisfying from the LT class perspective. But all of this was wholly because of the hp/t (admittedly the most extreme example in the T-100 but it scales by tier down to 7) and the ability to climb those dunes without losing speed.

So what general strategies can you take from this, especially if you're new to the class or revisiting it, or just deigning for missions?

First - always be relocating. Especially outside the first two minutes of a battle. You have nearly no reason to not drive for a better or safer angle, even if it's only to land a single pen. This kind of high activity, done with some care for your hitpoints, characterizes good LT play. Switching flanks can happen two, three, even four times in a battle and still be a good idea. If you do this in another class you've just wasted time dithering but in a LT you often gather information on the way with your VR and you actually arrive in time to have influence.

Second always be ready to run. Except for do or die game winning moments or closing damage farm it's preferable to run away than to trade hp. The moment the enemy looks like they might push into you run. You can come back if they don't or after they get shredded. A modest head start is often enough to let you get away without shedding hitpoints.