Month: May 2022

Keiler Quick Review!

The Wild Boar

By:

IrmaBecx

So if you think the new tier VIII German premium Heavy tank looks suspiciously familiar, then that’s because it is familiar. In the simplest of terms this is an E75 TS with a Löwe turret, and if you are looking for a middle caliber Heavy tank at tier VIII, then you’re not exactly starved for choice.

It’s in crates, so I am of course going to recommend you wait for a better offer.

But yea, this is a well established style of tank in the game. The venerable Löwe should of course be in everyone’s garage, the newer E75 TS is a strong contender with it’s black hole side armour and tier IX upper plate, the tech tree Tiger II has been buffed into stardom and is often seen in rating battles. You can even get a French variant or an American equivalent with a rear mounted turret and a big engine.

I always aspired to be a Löwe driver one day, and i got the TS a while back in some event. The tech tree VK 45.02 A has Tungsten shells now, so of course I picked one up. I’d like to have the “French Tiger” with the Tricolore camo, but really these tanks are like IS spam; same-same but different with generally fairly minor tradeoffs. Speed. Penetration values. Armour profile. Traverse.

But the Löwe of 2022 is the Buffest it’s ever been, there’s simply no denying it’s a successful style of tank, not just a prevalent one. I’ve said for many years everyone should drive a Löwe; indeed my first act as a Community Contributor was to give one away for free. But if you like the boxy turret and tier IX hull of the E75 TS, or prefer some 100 mm French flair in your life, then that’s fine too. Again just like with the IS spam; you really only need one, but one of them may also fit your driving style better than all the others.

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So what are these tradeoffs? It’s very simple. You get joint top speed in class, good mobility, high penetration, a rounded turret, and although this looks suspiciously like a Tiger II gun, you get 350 alpha instead of 310 like all the others. You also have a more powerful HE round, and german 105 mm guns have high alpha HE to begin with. 450 alpha means a 560 or thereabouts max roll with full penetration

For this you pay a bit of side armour,  a bit of aimtime, a bit of gun depression, and a bit of DPM.

No surprises at all, except for the alpha damage. This has become more and more common as a way to balance tanks, and I do think it’s working. 350 alpha made the M4 Revalorisé more comfortable to play, and you will trade better in the “wild boar” as well. Side armour is thinner than the TS, but it’s still 100 mm, and you still have those giant HEAT shields. Gun depression is “only” 8 degrees, but that paid for your tier IX upper plate, and the Löwe has 8 degrees too, so…

If you can drive a Tiger II, or a Löwe, or an M4 49, you can drive the Keiler too. It’s not quite as frisky as the Porsche of the French Tiger, but it’s pretty nippy for a German Heavy. And it may be lighter than the TS; but if you get it up to speed then that’s still 80 tons of ramming power, and they won’t dent your 15 centimetre upper plate.

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So should you get the Keiler; meaning later, when it comes for sale in a regular bundle?

If you have the E75 TS, then be advised the tanks are very similar. But if you think it’s a little bit cumbersome moving around, and you keep getting penned through your flat turret front, then the Keiler will have things to offer you, plus it doesn’t have that same old Tiger II gun.

What about as your first Heavy tank of this style? No problems. It’s definitely not rocket science to drive a big, boxy sidescraper like this, and the rounded turret means you don’t have to learn that angle outwards thing; you just wiggle the turret a little or keep it pointed straight at them.

Is the Keiler perhaps the best tier VIII German style Heavy? No. The Löwe is. Or the TS. Or perhaps the Tiger II now that I think about it. Stats say it’s the French variant actually, or the T54E2 if you want to be like that about it. Chrysler K does well also, not surprising since it’s so mobile.

But look at these other tanks we are comparing it to, and it does compare well. These are all vehicles well known for their reliable performance, and there are really only minor differences between them. Make no mistake, the Keiler is a powerful tank. If you hate facing the TS and the King Tiger out in the wild, you’re going to hate this one too.

A personal reflection perhaps? Yea, I like the Keiler. I don’t really feel I need one, but I definitely wouldn’t kick it out of my garage, and I would drive it if I got hold of one. I always loved the Löwe turret, and you know it doesn’t really take much more than an offbeat alpha damage number to get me interested.

Bottom line?

IrmaBecx says the Keiler is solid, but wait for a better offer.

The US Medium Experience Pt. 1

The Pershing

By:

IrmaBecx

So I managed to be a little discourteous about my feelings for American tanks to a reader asking an honest question lately, and upon sober reconsidering I have to admit I was wrong to.

In fact it’s a good question. What’s up with US Mediums?

For my part I fell out of love with them around 2016. Before that all I cared about was tier VIII Mediums, and I meant to have a complete collection of them one day. But the more I learned about the game, the less enthusiastic I became about the way American Medium tanks were balanced, and besides it was really the tier IX Patton that was the cool one back then because it has the big DPM.

Funny that, no? Because the Pershing now has the highest DPM of any tier VIII Medium. And I mean, it’s not like I drive my M60 at all. What do I know about the current state of US Medium tanks?

In theory I know quite a bit. I’ve had the M60 since it first came out and I used to drive the M48 back when it had the machine gun hatch on top and really like it. I know the stregths of the SuperPershing, Eagle 7, and the T23E3, even the T95E2. But what do I know about the actual tech tree tank; the Pershing?

Not a thing. So I bought one.

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I used to have a T20. That’s the one you have to grind after the Shermans to get the Pershing. And back in the day the reason you did was to get to the Pattons, but the T20 was always a weakly armoured Medium with a 90 mm a tier VII. That’s not super hard to figure out; classic Medium doctrine or reset camo, relocate or die, and make your shots count to build damage. Me, I threw some spare free XP and credits at it.

Then what happens? Well, you get a tank that looks suspiciously like a T32 or the T26E5 “Sheriff”, which I suppose isn’t so strange. It has a 90 mm gun that points down ten degrees and a bit of gun mantlet. But then most tier VIII Mediums have around 2000 DPM or so, and this one is pushing almost 2800. That’s a substantial difference. I does almost 50 with almost 20 hp/ton, and the traverse isn’t stellar. I’d be lying if I said I was excited.

So it’s a hull down tank. Using full gun depression you are showing around 200 mm effective armour frontally, that should be enough to work with. I slapped some standard camo on it, loaded it up with my standard combat loadout, and I guess it’s time to put my new tank where my mouth is. Oh, and I should say I’m not expecting miracles out of the box, because I need to grind the crew to 100% first. Also I am running adrenaline to max out the DPM.

Here we go.

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So the thing is, even at 75% crew the Pershing feels pretty mobile. It doesn’t have that driving through mud feeling stock tanks sometimes have. Also I manage to win 4 out of 5 games right off the bat just by doing simple hull down stuff. That is with top modules, but I am missing stuff like viewrange, turn speed, DPM, dispersion et cetera. Those five games also have the crew up to 85% already with liberal use of my extensive collection of boosters, so once you get the top modules unlocked this should be a fairly casual grind.

90 mm weapons don’t quite exhibit the same variety some other calibers do, and this is a bog standard tier VIII Medium tank gun only it fires a little faster. Penetration is all right, not the highest in class, but you have to love that five second reload. Running adrenaline I was actually able to out-DPM a Progetto 46 once it was down to reloading the last shell. That also had a bit to do with the armour plating. The Pershing will bounce fairly consistently in a hull down situation, and it does get randoms off the front and sides. It’s pretty robust, I must say.

Fifteen games later I’m up to 90% crew and running a 67% winrate. Sure, I’ve seen mostly tier VIII action, but still; that’s not bad at all for still grinding it.

Why is this? Well, the firepower id good. Mobility is good. Armour plating is good. We like to call that “a conspicuous lack of weaknesses”. Also it’s a pretty easy tank to drive if you know about the hull down playstyle, which in all honesty isn’t rocket science.

Some early impressions, bearing in mind it’s still not fully upgraded? It’s better than I thought. Easy to drive for sure. Better at brawling than I expected. I’d like to see a little more tier IX action, but so far I’d say this is a pretty powerful tier VIII Medium tank.

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While I soldier on to get the crew maxed out, who might be a candidate for driving US Mediums? Tier VIII is about where Mediums usually come into their own, and grinding out a tier VIII tank isn’t all that difficult these days. It’s a reasonable goal. But is the Pershing a reasonable tank?

Sure. It’s an easy drive and quite powerful, so I wouldn’t say it’s a high threshold vehicle. But then neither is the T-44 or the T-34-2, or even the P.44 Pantera, really. But then the Pershing wins about as many games as they do on average, so they’re not necessarily stronger tanks.

But other than being slightly noob friendly, the Pershing has a few key strengths that may appeal to the experienced player. The high DPM does actually make a difference; you get the last shot off earlier in a brawl saving your skin, you land two shots at range instead of one, you hit that last second speculator before they disappear around the corner because you were already reloaded. Lots of situations like that.

I usually say DPM is an overrated statistic, but what I really mean is that it’s not hard to work around low DPM. Having the best DPM is obviously an advantage, and especially when your tank otherwise shows a conspicuous lack of downsides. You know; like the Pershing for example.

The Pershing is a workhorse; robust and functional, purpose built to do what it does. It’s brawny enough that it will forgive you a few bum rushes and ill advised decisions; even on flat ground out in the open you will sometimes get a bounce or two. While that may not sound super exciting, it does allow for some inspired gameplay. You can milk your strengths and play careful, or you can try a few sneaky plays and leaps of faith, the Pershing will be up for it.

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25 games in the crew is maxed out, I have a First Class medal, and I’m running 60% winrate or so. That’s above my average. Driving a few more the Pershing keeps on performing, there’s no question this is a good tank. Doing 2000 damage is pretty easy with some good positioning and a bit of hull down work. I’ve gotten away from a few 1v1 situations I didn’t think I would, and I’m back up to 67% wins.

So how good is it?

Well, I’d say the Pershing is one of the best tier VIII tech tree Mediums you can get your hands on right now, and I certainly didn’t expect that. But with the ease of driving and robustness alone it’s already going to score high, and then you have that tier leading DPM as an added bonus. Really, I should have expected this tank would be very strong.

Is it fun?

Sure. It’s fun because it works, and it’s easy to make it work. It’s not one of those super challenging finesse vehicles, but a daily beater you can drive hundreds of games in and just get better and better at playing to your strengths, or your lack of weaknesses as it were. I want to say it’s still a vehicle that is geared towards the average, but I can’t honestly say that makes it boring to drive.

And the thing is, I’m already halfway to the M46 Patton, so I may pick one of those up too in a while. That one has some pretty expensive modules, but I did always want one back in the day, and better late than never, no? Also. An M46 Patton would sooner or later turn into an M48 Patton, a tank I always liked. My rationale for not having one has always been I have the M60 already, but then I don’t actually drive i, so surely there’s space in my collection for the tech tree version?

But that’s me. Should you get a Pershing?

Yes. It’s a great drive, a good place to start learning some hull down tactics, and the thing is robust. You could do a lot worse for your first tier VIII Medium. And with the caveat I haven’t driven the M46 in quite a long while, the M48 at least is a very solid proposition; really the only tier X Medium tank you need.

We’ll see what happens. But the Pershing is a keeper, take my word for it. I bought it expecting uninspiring, mediocre gameplay, but it’s been nothing of the sort. I’m not going to start filling up my garage with American tanks, but I am glad to have this one.

IrmaBecx says I don’t see why you wouldn’t be too.