Brass Scorpion
03-07-2014, 12:41 PM
Unfortunately this forum has no video games sub-section that is non-GW related so I've posted this here in the off-topic section.
I've been playing World of Tanks (WoT) on Xbox 360 since the open beta last November and am completely hooked on this terrific tactical game. World of Tanks is a 15 tank per team single elimination (i.e., no respawning) tactical shooter that covers the period of tank development from roughly 1925 to 1952. Many aspects of the tank object modeling in the game are realistic, for example, front armor is better than side or rear armor, sloped armor is better than flat, and tanks have weak points like turret rings and ports, while other aspects of the game are simply video game mechanics to make the game both playable and enjoyable as a video game. Unrealistic game mechanics include things like repairs to immobilized tracks after a few seconds during battle and the the spotting and detection game protocols.
The game is free to play so as is normal for most free-to-play games the creators hope to make money on it through modest transactions for game upgrades and other items like premium tanks, additional garage space for more tanks, etc. Many of you are already playing this game and since it's free to play I encourage anyone who hasn't tried it yet to give it a go and see if you like it. If you do try it I think you'll find plenty of people on your Xbox friends list with whom to play it. Platoons of up to three friends may enter battle together on a team and work together in game, which is a highly enjoyable aspect of the game. World of Tanks is also a PC game for those who prefer to try it out there. The PC version has been running longer and has far more content than the Xbox 360 version.
If you'd like to learn more about World of Tanks specifically on Xbox 360 visit http://worldoftanksxbox360edition.com. At that website you can also look at your own game statistics and those of anyone else playing the game if you know their gamer tag.
I've been playing WoT both alone and with friends and have developed what I think is a pretty good meta-game at this point, analyzing what tanks are in each game at the start and adjusting my own tactics accordingly based on that information. Having platoon mates to rely on to execute tactical manoeuvres successfully in small groups definitely makes the game more fun and increases chances of winning.
So far I've managed to get my kill-to-death (k/d) ratio up to about 2.45 as of this writing. When I realized recently that it was already nearly 2.0 I quickly began actively working on raising it even higher. Working to achieve certain statistics and medals in WoT can become just as addictive as the game itself. There are dozens of medals to be earned, some of them much more difficult than others. It's certainly a fun aspect of the game trying to earn specific medals, many of which require a bit (or a lot) of luck as well as skill in order to achieve. There are even a few that can only be earned by being in a platoon, like Crucial Contribution and Brothers In Arms.
I recently had one of my best games ever of WoT. I was so excited about it I've been sharing the tale of it with fellow gamer friends. It definitely was not something that happens too often. A few nights ago I was in a game with my T14 tier V heavy tank on the map called, Cliff. There are usually two main fights on this map, one on a hill and one in a low area along a long narrow dirt road connecting the two team bases. The fight on the road usually starts with long range sniping and progresses from there as one team loses more tanks. Since tier V was the high tier in the game and I had a tier V heavy I decided to go to what is usually a close up brawl on the hill knowing my tank should be up to the challenge in this particular game.
When I rounded the hill I noticed two things. First, there were no enemy tanks there protecting that flank. Second, I looked up at the score and noticed my team was being destroyed as they were already down by a significant number of kills and losing more fast. I quickly decided on a risky gambit. Since I had no one to immediately stop me I'd race down the hill to the enemy base and see if I could ambush their artillery, tank destroyers and other vehicles in the rear of their lines.
As I began my race to the enemy base I noticed that a small light tank higher on the hill behind me showing on the game's mini-map began following me. Being light and fast he caught up to me easily and quickly began shooting my tank's relatively thin rear armor. To my surprise, my hit points did not diminish. Luck was with me as he did not have a powerful enough gun to penetrate even my rear armor or do any significant damage when he occasionally did. So I ignored him and continued racing to their base with him shooting me in the rear constantly as I did so.
When I got to the enemy base I proceeded to destroy the foes with the biggest guns and weakest armor first to take those guns out of the battle as quickly as possible. Even inferior foes can often destroy a much mightier tank easily if they are all shooting it at once from different directions hitting vulnerable side and rear armor so it's best to cut down on the enemy's numbers with alacrity. Some of the weakest armored vehicles in the game have some of deadliest cannons, like Wolverine tank destroyers and artillery. I destroyed the artillery first, then immediately turned on the tank destroyers. I began taking some damage, but thanks to my heavy armor, rapid manoeuvring and well placed shots I was able to take out every single enemy vehicle quickly enough to avoid lethal damage even though there were several of them firing at me at once. When I'd destroyed every other enemy vehicle in the immediate area I turned my turret to face the poor little light tank that had been desperately trying to stop me since I began this expedition near the start of the game and destroyed him too.
Now that there were no longer any enemy vehicles firing at me or immediately visible I was finally able to look at the game statistics and take stock of how it was going overall. I had killed 8 tanks and the enemy had destroyed 9. There was only one enemy tank left and he was far down the dirt road near which I was now sitting. I couldn't believe he was still there because he was near my team's base and my remaining five team mates down that way now only had to deal with the one tank. Nevertheless, he was still running around down there causing problems when I used the game's aiming view to get a close up look at him, so I quickly dispatched him too with a carefully aimed long range shot.
I got 4 medals for the game. Though I've had many 6 or 7 kill games at tier V and higher it was my first ever Radley-Walters's medal for destroying 8 or 9 tanks in a game with a tier V or higher tank. My highest kill count ever in a game was 11, but that was with a tier II tank destroyer. I received the Top Gun medal for having the highest score with 6 or more kills. I have 43 Top Gun medals as of this writing. I also received the Pascucci Medal for destroying three SPGs (self-propelled guns, artillery) in a game and the Steel Wall medal for receiving a potential 1,000 points of damage via at least 11 hits and surviving the game.
The enemy killed 9 members of my team before I wiped them out. I had wreaked lone tank for a tank vengeance!
To those of you reading this who have already played this game and maybe even played it with me I say, thanks! If you haven't tried it yet I say, what are you waiting for? ;)
See you on the battlefield!
I've been playing World of Tanks (WoT) on Xbox 360 since the open beta last November and am completely hooked on this terrific tactical game. World of Tanks is a 15 tank per team single elimination (i.e., no respawning) tactical shooter that covers the period of tank development from roughly 1925 to 1952. Many aspects of the tank object modeling in the game are realistic, for example, front armor is better than side or rear armor, sloped armor is better than flat, and tanks have weak points like turret rings and ports, while other aspects of the game are simply video game mechanics to make the game both playable and enjoyable as a video game. Unrealistic game mechanics include things like repairs to immobilized tracks after a few seconds during battle and the the spotting and detection game protocols.
The game is free to play so as is normal for most free-to-play games the creators hope to make money on it through modest transactions for game upgrades and other items like premium tanks, additional garage space for more tanks, etc. Many of you are already playing this game and since it's free to play I encourage anyone who hasn't tried it yet to give it a go and see if you like it. If you do try it I think you'll find plenty of people on your Xbox friends list with whom to play it. Platoons of up to three friends may enter battle together on a team and work together in game, which is a highly enjoyable aspect of the game. World of Tanks is also a PC game for those who prefer to try it out there. The PC version has been running longer and has far more content than the Xbox 360 version.
If you'd like to learn more about World of Tanks specifically on Xbox 360 visit http://worldoftanksxbox360edition.com. At that website you can also look at your own game statistics and those of anyone else playing the game if you know their gamer tag.
I've been playing WoT both alone and with friends and have developed what I think is a pretty good meta-game at this point, analyzing what tanks are in each game at the start and adjusting my own tactics accordingly based on that information. Having platoon mates to rely on to execute tactical manoeuvres successfully in small groups definitely makes the game more fun and increases chances of winning.
So far I've managed to get my kill-to-death (k/d) ratio up to about 2.45 as of this writing. When I realized recently that it was already nearly 2.0 I quickly began actively working on raising it even higher. Working to achieve certain statistics and medals in WoT can become just as addictive as the game itself. There are dozens of medals to be earned, some of them much more difficult than others. It's certainly a fun aspect of the game trying to earn specific medals, many of which require a bit (or a lot) of luck as well as skill in order to achieve. There are even a few that can only be earned by being in a platoon, like Crucial Contribution and Brothers In Arms.
I recently had one of my best games ever of WoT. I was so excited about it I've been sharing the tale of it with fellow gamer friends. It definitely was not something that happens too often. A few nights ago I was in a game with my T14 tier V heavy tank on the map called, Cliff. There are usually two main fights on this map, one on a hill and one in a low area along a long narrow dirt road connecting the two team bases. The fight on the road usually starts with long range sniping and progresses from there as one team loses more tanks. Since tier V was the high tier in the game and I had a tier V heavy I decided to go to what is usually a close up brawl on the hill knowing my tank should be up to the challenge in this particular game.
When I rounded the hill I noticed two things. First, there were no enemy tanks there protecting that flank. Second, I looked up at the score and noticed my team was being destroyed as they were already down by a significant number of kills and losing more fast. I quickly decided on a risky gambit. Since I had no one to immediately stop me I'd race down the hill to the enemy base and see if I could ambush their artillery, tank destroyers and other vehicles in the rear of their lines.
As I began my race to the enemy base I noticed that a small light tank higher on the hill behind me showing on the game's mini-map began following me. Being light and fast he caught up to me easily and quickly began shooting my tank's relatively thin rear armor. To my surprise, my hit points did not diminish. Luck was with me as he did not have a powerful enough gun to penetrate even my rear armor or do any significant damage when he occasionally did. So I ignored him and continued racing to their base with him shooting me in the rear constantly as I did so.
When I got to the enemy base I proceeded to destroy the foes with the biggest guns and weakest armor first to take those guns out of the battle as quickly as possible. Even inferior foes can often destroy a much mightier tank easily if they are all shooting it at once from different directions hitting vulnerable side and rear armor so it's best to cut down on the enemy's numbers with alacrity. Some of the weakest armored vehicles in the game have some of deadliest cannons, like Wolverine tank destroyers and artillery. I destroyed the artillery first, then immediately turned on the tank destroyers. I began taking some damage, but thanks to my heavy armor, rapid manoeuvring and well placed shots I was able to take out every single enemy vehicle quickly enough to avoid lethal damage even though there were several of them firing at me at once. When I'd destroyed every other enemy vehicle in the immediate area I turned my turret to face the poor little light tank that had been desperately trying to stop me since I began this expedition near the start of the game and destroyed him too.
Now that there were no longer any enemy vehicles firing at me or immediately visible I was finally able to look at the game statistics and take stock of how it was going overall. I had killed 8 tanks and the enemy had destroyed 9. There was only one enemy tank left and he was far down the dirt road near which I was now sitting. I couldn't believe he was still there because he was near my team's base and my remaining five team mates down that way now only had to deal with the one tank. Nevertheless, he was still running around down there causing problems when I used the game's aiming view to get a close up look at him, so I quickly dispatched him too with a carefully aimed long range shot.
I got 4 medals for the game. Though I've had many 6 or 7 kill games at tier V and higher it was my first ever Radley-Walters's medal for destroying 8 or 9 tanks in a game with a tier V or higher tank. My highest kill count ever in a game was 11, but that was with a tier II tank destroyer. I received the Top Gun medal for having the highest score with 6 or more kills. I have 43 Top Gun medals as of this writing. I also received the Pascucci Medal for destroying three SPGs (self-propelled guns, artillery) in a game and the Steel Wall medal for receiving a potential 1,000 points of damage via at least 11 hits and surviving the game.
The enemy killed 9 members of my team before I wiped them out. I had wreaked lone tank for a tank vengeance!
To those of you reading this who have already played this game and maybe even played it with me I say, thanks! If you haven't tried it yet I say, what are you waiting for? ;)
See you on the battlefield!