Still playing World of Tanks? Hell yeah!

 11 kills in World of tanks, in the old 6 shot batchat  .... scary

World of Tanks has gone through some serious 'meta-game' changes in the last six months.  It's been an interesting ride, but here's a snap shot of what I'm driving now (and where I'm driving them).

Metagame Changes

WoT's is constantly rebalancing to cope with the meta-game.  As one country becomes dominant, or one tank appears too high in the stats, it gets nerfed or the others get tweaked.  Think of the Games Workshop 2 year release schedule, but released monthly.

So when the KV-3 became all dominant in tier 6 tank company games, it was upgraded to tier 7 and other 'lighter' versions were dropped in instead.  The American's were weak ... until the a new tier 9 and tier 10 tank dropped a high armour armour, great sloping and an awesome gun in to upset the others.  So what do people play and why ... let's see.

Russians

Best all round tanks. The best scout tanks (T-50 and T-50-2) in the game, plus arguably the best all-round heavies in both medium, champion and absolute(that's tier 6, tier 8 and tier 10 games) companies.  A good stock of IS-7 and IS-4's are essential for Clan Wars.  The su26 and T-28 are both fine additions at the lower tiers and junior tank companies, while the KV-1S is the king of the medium tank company.  IS3 rules the Champion and the two above own the Absolute.

Germans

Best sniper tanks with great accuracy, great penetration and best armour.  Not as maneuverable as the Russians and with slower firing guns than the Americans, these guys kill from range.  Maus is the biggest Tier10 there is with 3000 hitpoints (most tier ten have 1800-2500), and armour that can bounced nearly anything (from the front).  But germans aren't fast.  The Tiger, KonigsTiger and Ferdinand are great tanks for random games.  Their artillery is arguably the best - although I prefer the french.

Americans

Tinfoil armour ... mostly.  The medium line is dire, except for the top, the Americans are all about rate of fire (unsurprisingly) although penetration and accuracy suffer accordingly.  Some of the best Tank hunters and Heavy tanks in the game (at least from tier 7 upwards).  American heavies are all about 'hull down' positions.  They have guns that can penetrate anyone and out Rate of Fire most equivilent tanks at medium range.  Russians want it close, Germans want it at range... Americans want it at arms length.  Great guns though.

French

The real cat among the pidgeons.  The French offer danger everywhere.  They have next to no armour, blistering speed and movement (to challenge the T50!) and usually pack a devastating cartridge armed gun.  These tanks have turned the Meta upside down, vastly expanding ambush tactics.  A heavy tank will do 400-500 hp of damage at higher tiers, firing every 10-15 seconds.  A french tier 6+ tank can fire 5-6 times in 12-15 seconds.  As an ambush tank, they can wipe out heavies but rushing around the back of an engaged heavy and 'unloading' 6 shells into their rear weakened armour.  Real killers are the AMX1390 and the tier 10 batchat.  The Tank hunters have a similar approach and the penetration is devastating.  The arty are low slung, accurate and capable of blistering speed when needed to relocate (50-65kph, most heavies are 35 kph).  The batchat goes at 65kph and can do 5x390 average damage shots in 15-20 seconds.  Very vulnerable to arty, but great fun.

So I'm currently running with:

• ELC AMX (a tier 5 scout with an antitank gun) - quite like it.
• AMX1390 (tier 8 scout with devastating 6 shot gun) - love it.
• Batchat 25t (tier 10 medium) - would have its babies.
• AMX13F3AM - don't get confused, its a solid tier 5 arty.
• PzB2740 - My lovely tier 4 premium heavy, a lovely tank.
• Grille - German Arty, don't love it but solid in medium tank companies.
• T25AT - My lovely tier 7 American Tank hunter, I'll probably sell it when I've the money to buy the T29
• Tetrarch - Awful tier 2 British tank which holds its own, a freebie from WoTs.
• T-50 - still the best scout in the game.
• KV-1s - The best Tier 6 Medium tank company tank.
• IS-3 - the best Tier 8 Champion company tank.
• SU-26 - Tier 3 russian arty, most kills ever - great fun tank.

Wanted:

I'm gonna grab a T29 and my eventual goal is to climb the heights of buying a Tier 8 French arty, which can go as fast as a batchat, has a turret like an SU26 and can mess up everything... lush.