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[Sonlirain]

Spoiler: So I just had a bit of a hero match (click to show/hide)

The match went pretty poorly at first; most of our team died, and it came down to our KV-220, our M41, and myself against: their Chi-Nu, PzIV, PzIII/IV, Stug, Hetzer, M3 Stuart, Grille, and Wespe.

We had the north side of the map; the 220 was at half health sitting behind the hill closest to spawn, on the north-east corner of the swamp, trying to spot them as they came through towards base, the M41 was in the usual far-NE arty corner, and I had set up camp at the base of the windmill. It started when our west push (four in total) was wiped out by their Chi-Nu and arty; I hustled over, popped the Chi-Nu, then ran back. Over the next eight minutes they trailed toward our base one by one, typically getting spotted by the KV-220 and popped by me. They lost their PzIV and Stuart like that, and the Stug barely got away when three shots in a row were cursed by the RNG to skim over his roof after I tracked him.

Their Hetzer flanked the far north path, sitting on the west side of the hill to shoot at the 220. I flanked him in turn and killed him, then popped the Stug as he came back over the northern ridge to kill the 220. As I was heading back towards base the PzIII/IV (who was literally on 1hp) ran in and killed our arty. I dinked him and dodged, but no arty fire came, so I started down the east road. The Grille tracked me about half a second before I spotted him, but I killed him before he reloaded, and the Wespe pinged a couple shots off me as I tracked him down and killed him.

Gotta say, that's a nice turnabout from the usual SU-85 "get two-shotted by random shit without doing anything" play.

Reminds me a bit of my game i had in the KV-2.
http://wotreplays.com/site/527163#tundra-sonlirain-KV-2
TopGun Kolobanov and Radley-Walters in onegame (mostly due to the utter incompetence of the ENTIRE enemy team that survived and my constant taunts).

Then again SU-85 and KV-2 aren't even in the same league so congratulations.

And those interested in a scenario where a AT-2 faces opponents with NO CLUE where to shoot then watch this replay.
http://wotreplays.com/site/539041#self
It's against tier 6 opponents with at least 2 KV-1s trying to kill a tank they have no idea where to shoot... most shots were aimed at the lower glacis.

[sluissa]

Just had a game in my T21 where I had nearly 3000 spotting damage and a decent amount of direct damage as well, I also saved the game from a near loss via camo cap by a E-25. Immediately after which the arty called me useless. Apparently I'm supposed to suicide scout, all day erry day.

I love the community so much sometimes.

[Sonlirain]

Just had a game in my T21 where I had nearly 3000 spotting damage and a decent amount of direct damage as well, I also saved the game from a near loss via camo cap by a E-25. Immediately after which the arty called me useless. Apparently I'm supposed to suicide scout, all day erry day.

I love the community so much sometimes.

You tell me. I was sniping away in my Tiger till someone on my team got annoyed by "fucking campers" and started relaying coordinates for all the "campers" to the enemy team.

Also artillery is useless. I barely remember the last time i got hit directly by an artillery shell in situations other than point blank TD more SPG camping.

[Kaitol]

Its funny you say artillery is useless, because I've been oneshotted by arty across the map three times today in moving light tanks going 50 km+

What the fuck world.

[Flying Dice]

Arty is situational. It's nearly useless on some maps, obscenely powerful on others. Specific vehicles can be powerful in a wide range of situations, a select few, or none at all. The S-51 is a perfect example: It has a sickeningly powerful gun (every Russian SPG up to Tier 9 uses the same one, and the T10's gun has worse damage), but to balance that it also has a painful reload time (54s with 100% gunner), an absolutely tiny gun traverse (something like 4-5 degrees), and a very long gun settle time.

In short, it can one-shot nearly anything at or below T6 with a direct hit on the right spot, but it is very, very hard to use it effectively on maps that don't have a single choke-point where most of the enemy team will cluster as well as a position from which arty can place accurate fire onto that choke. If you're top-tier as it, you'll almost never hit anything that's moving, but most things will die from your splash alone, so still targets = dead targets.

Then, take the Hummel. It has a decent gun and an excellent gun traverse arc, making it useful for more wide-open maps where you'll be engaging targets along a wide stretch of land.

And then there are low-tier arty pieces, which are pretty much useless. Even the SU-26 these days. But in any case, the most important part of arty is how you play it. If you potshot at random targets, you'll not do much. If you zero on a specific line of advance and keep hitting the enemies there over and over whenever they stop moving or poke their heads out of cover, you can turn a flank with your fire alone.

[Sonlirain]

Well i still have the first gun on the S-51 but from my experience it misses... A LOT.

I was playing counter battery on mines and someone scouted out a Rhm.B and another S-51 on the hill (the usual place for TDs and SPGs for the north team).

So shot the S-51 being open top and all... miss (a total miss at that).
Ok he disapeared but i managed to notice him shooting just as i reloaded so i adjusted a bit and fired again.
Hoping he's still there i fired blind again once i reloaded but nothing happened.
He got then revealed and killed by someone from my team literally a second later while STANDING in the exact same spot.
Nope didn't reloacate. I just missed 3 shots in a row.
Now for the Rhm.B... i fred several rounds randomly at the bush... nothing (But he was there litterally a second ago!)
And i finally got one kill in that game when i TDd a SU-100 that came around to kill me.

After the game i got informed that i did 100 damage to the S-51 and 90 to the Rhm.

Oh and in another game (ruinberg) i git a Rhm.B squarely in the front... didn't penetrate. 400 damage dealt.

[Flying Dice]

Wait until the second gun. I've had things happen like this: I was aiming at an IS and fired, but a Hellcat literally drove into my shot. My aim had been centered on the IS, and the Hellcat was barely inside the aiming circle. The shell 1HKOed the kitty, and the splash damage took the IS down to a sliver.

Hell, I've done things like dueling a KV-2 in TD mode with it. That was... very brief after the KV missed his derp.

[sluissa]

Just hit an E-25 going full speed with a direct hit unaimed snap shot KV-2 derp from ~400 meters.

He was so angry.

I even apologized.

[Flying Dice]

Just hit an E-25 going full speed with a direct hit unaimed snap shot KV-2 derp from ~400 meters.

He was so angry.

I even apologized.

AHAHA! Shit like that is why I loved playing the KV-2 so much. It didn't happen often, but when it did... xD

Of course now I have the Alecto. :v

[Sonlirain]

ok i had the strangest S-51 game in a LONG time.

Himmelsdorf... a place where i have no idea where to go as an SPG.
Most of the game was kinda boring but towards the end magic happened.

First of all i met eye to eye with a Comet (one i shot before in arty mode)... who somehow managed to bounce his shots off my armor TWICE while i aimed and blew him to bits... all that while his comrade in a Hellcat decided to zoom past me without even bothering to do a snapshot.

So assuming he'd notice me killing his friend and wanting revenge the hellcat would come back so hid in an alley nearby.
Lo and behold there he was zooming right past my gun.
He noticed me and turned around slowly creeping up the  on me... exposing his sde...
BLAM!
I... didn't penetrate.
415 damage done tho.
He's still onto me so without thinking i decideded to sidescrape (a twitch i have from playing KV and Tiger line tanks) he fired and... bounce.
He fired and bounced two more times while i was reloading.
However by that time he realized he really should move up and get me clean in the side... or at least from a better angle and my traverse wasn't up to par... and i died there.

With 1100 potential damage recieved... as a SPG with 350 health.
And i would have won the match IF i my shell penetrated that Hellcat.
Sadly the remaining HT in my team was not the sharpest tool in the shed and... well yeah.

Have a replay of that silly match.
http://wotreplays.com/site/556565#self

[Flying Dice]

Heh, I actually have noticed that trend with the S-51. I think I bounced a Leopard 1 shell once, if my memory serves.

Spoiler: In other news, the AMX 12t is a tier 8 French heavy. (click to show/hide)

[Sonlirain]

So i had another wonderful game in S-51.
Fiords.
Standard arty game. I was mostly way back lobbing shells into the north pass (still the stock gun BTW) even damaging a panther with splash (a bit over 500 damage total from 2 shells that decided to be generous and land near enough).
Finally my team got the enemy team routed and clashed with their second line of TDs... T95 among them.
Our jagdtiger flanked the T95 and made him expose his side to my shells... said tiger was in my targeting circle but literally on the edge so the chance of me hitting him were minimal.
And even if i hit his frontal armor it wouldn't do much right?
WRONG.
Not only the shell flew way above the T95 missing him COMPLETELY (funny since it's probably the largest vehiclei n the game) but it also hit the Jagdtiger in the LOWER glacis wrecking his engine AND setting him on fire.
And he was literally on the very edge of the targeting circle not even half of his tanks being inside.

This game... i just don't even...

[sluissa]

Play however you want, but from personal experience, I'd just suggest that you(and everyone else) stop playing arty. Everyone would enjoy the game more, I think.

[Sonlirain]

Play however you want, but from personal experience, I'd just suggest that you(and everyone else) stop playing arty. Everyone would enjoy the game more, I think.

Well i played low tier arty ages back when it was still kinda fun (the russian SPG with the turret).
After the massive nerf those SPGs became unplayable so i unlocked the S-51 via KV-2.

So basically i'm only playing it once or twice a day just for the first win bonus hoping i can get the 203 mm deathcannon for it one day.

Beside that i just Roll around in heavies since their natural predators (SPGs) no longer exist.

[Jopax]

Please do keep playing arty. It bores me and frustrates me personally, but so far it's the only counter to the plague of TD's which is screwing the gameplay quite a bit.