Sixth Sense in Tier 10 Battles

[Dlur 2,350]

Something occurred to me last night as I was playing a solo game in my E-50 (that currently doesn't have 6th sense on it as I moved the crew up to the E-50m and started a fresh 100% crew), is that I play tanks that don't have 6th sense much more cautiously than tanks that do have 6th sense, but I'm still getting just as much DPG and am often playing just as aggressive.

 

I've thought about it a little more and realized that part of it may be that I rely on sixth sense too often and use it as a crutch to tell me when I'm spotted, whereas on tanks that don't have sixth I just assume throughout the entire battle that I am spotted.  When I am spotted I'm more inclined to instinctively use hard cover, abuse terrain, shoot and scoot, etc.  Whereas if I'm relying on 6th sense I may be more inclined to linger in one location too long or hide in the back and snipe.  

 

At lower tiers you can usually get away with being spotted and then trying to get unspotted or find cover.  When you are facing Tier 10 tanks, especially high alpha TDs and arty you really can't afford to be spotted and resting on your laurels for 2 seconds until your 6th sense icon flashes on your screen.  2 seconds is long enough for a pre-aimed arty or 183 to one shot you.  2 seconds is more than enough time for a Waffen E-100 to track you and clip you out.  2 seconds is more than enough time for a pack of mediums who happened to be aimed in your general direction to focus fire you down to being utterly crippled if not dead.

 

On the other hand, it seems to me, that if you just assume you are lit all the time and position yourself and act accordingly you'll survive much longer and have a more pronounced influence on the game.

 

Now, I'm certainly not saying that it's a bad idea to have 6th sense on your tanks.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  6th sense is absolutely critical for those instances where you can't get any hard cover or take a position with great terrain that is advantageous to your tank.  6th sense is also critical for determining where unspotted enemies may be located.  You can do this by finding a piece of hard cover where you think a tank might be.  You then poke out of cover very quickly and then immediately withdraw back into cover and wait 3 seconds to see if your 6th sense went off.  Through experience and map knowledge you can generally use this technique to narrow down the possibilities of where remaining enemy tanks may be hiding.

 

What I'm trying to say and open for discussion is the concept that many people who play OK at Tier 8 and below yet struggle in Tier 10 may be leaning on their 6th sense crutch too much, myself included.

 

For shits and giggles here's a replay of me playing my E-50 without 6th sense in a battle tier 9 game where I don't sit in the back and hide, but rather take a forward position and contribute to the win despite realizing that I'm probably lit for majority of the game:

 

So I guess TL;DR the question is, how much do you rely on 6th sense in the top tiers of play?

[SlyGambit 163]

I agree it's bad to rely on sixth sense at higher tiers.   It's a tool and like all tools if you use it incorrectly you are going to get hurt by it. 

 

This part in particular I agree with 100%:

 

"Whereas if I'm relying on 6th sense I may be more inclined to linger in one location too long or hide in the back and snipe. "

 

That's a bad habit and when I recognize I am sliding into it I usually drop down to lower tiers to play something w/o sixth.  I also find that not having sixth can make the game a little bit more enjoyable.  My Chaffee and my T49 do not have sixth and both of them are constantly using view range/camo/spotting mechanics so I find I'm just a little bit more on edge throughout the match. 

 

All that being said you still should not be playing >T8 matches w/o sixth.  Even though a lot of the times it's pointing out the obvious (ie. crossing an open field to reposition) the value it adds when it -doesn't- go off when you expect it to is almost more than the value it adds when you're spotted.  

 

TL:DR: I rarely get surprised that I'm spotted.  I'm often surprised when I am not.  The latter can be a big edge in high tiers so you know you're likely not in a good enough position to influence the battle.

[CAMN 151]

Unless you are playing scout, 6th sense has very few, but VERY important uses at higher tiers.

 

It's mostly there to help you evade nukes from arty or from one of those one-shot-wonder TDs at the start of the engagement. Past that point, when you reach the front lines in a city map for example, that perk is totally useless. The enemy knows you are there and you know they know.

 

In open maps things are a little different, because moving from one choke point to the next usually means driving around in open terrain so the light bulb can tell you if there is someone already waiting for you on the other side.

 

Can you avoid all that and simply just assume you are always spotted? Sure, it just saves time to know for sure instead of assuming you are. Instead of driving from cover to cover, you can just drive in a straight line from A to B.

[CrazyScientist 93]

6th sense is like an emergency backup.  WHile most of the time you will know when it goes off, its the times that it suprises you that are key.  Its a fantastic safety valve, but if you rely on that safety valve, you will get burned one day.

[Expendable_Lad 752]

Good post,

 

I don't have a lot of high tiers, but on a scale of 1-10:

 

Leo PTA- 10/10, If I am trying to passive spot / generally be scouty I need this, especially if I am putting that gun to work.  Since I get one shot by arty and auto-penned by tier 5s 6th is a vital tool in my inventory. 

 

E-75- 3/10, It's certainly useful, but since I have a pretty strong view range, armor etc. it is much less relevant.  If I am playing right I am arty safe, using hard cover at medium/close range.  If I am exposed at all within a long firing lane then I better not be the only one on my team there and I am doing it as a calculated risk based on where enemy is.  Plus if I am exposed like that it generally means I have the HP to eat the first strike of whatever D-bag TD might be out there and have the means/support to retaliate. It may be the cost of ferreting him out.  Autoloader X TD's complicate this a bit though. 

 

704- 7.5/10 helpful in the late game, but I found myself poking and faceblasting a fair amount with teammates. I am backing away into cover after just about every shot in top tier battles with big alpha machines

 

268- 6/10 Similar to above, but I play it closer in than the 704 and have more shotgun-type moments where I often have a good idea when I am spotted.  But with the Ruskie alpha machines I assume I am going to be spotted and try to be in a spot that protects me from defensive fire lanes. 

 

When you really need it is when you are scouting/poking to see if enemy has a presence in front of you and when you are advancing on a camo'd position of camping campers. But even then your approach of assuming you are spotted means you will be creeping up conservatively any way.

 

All this said, compared to all other skills 6th takes the cake for usefulness. 

[IgnisAves 0]

I wonder if every player has this realization at some point. I remember grinding a tank without 6th sense, then switching back to one that had it and wondering if I was getting "soft". I wasn't a huge realization, just kinda an "oh" moment: If I play all my tanks like they don't have 6th sense, I will have much more fun (I still use it for 3 sec spotting, don't get me wrong.)

 

To answer your question: If I don't expect my 6th sense to go off, I've probably made some tactical error. 

[Xelos 62]

I'd prefer six-sense to be class dependent, preferably with scout tanks getting a 1-second fast version and select softer mediums (leo1 and batchat for example) getting the current version.

[tango_delta 84]

It depends on the map. Even if you drive a maus it is still useful to know when you are spotted or not when you are on the east hill on sevetogorsk for example. Generally on open maps with lots of bushes 6th sense is more useful than on citymaps where there is much less spotting games going on.

[vonluckner 2]

Sixth sense is pretty invaluable at high tier no matter what tank you're in. You can poke out the front of your tank or peek your hatch for a half second and get back behind cover just to see if anyone is there.