'Frontline Mode'

Ah... finally, some free time...

It's good to be back... and the videos have been uploaded as well to YouTube!

And now... Frontline Mode. It's probably the most successful [and favored] mode since. Too bad it's only available for a limited amount of time before it was pulled off the shelves.

Like an actual war going on...

So what's so great about this mode? Well... for starters, it's player count on the map is massively improved; 30 versus 30 players. The map's huge, too; the size is equivalent of 9 regular sized map in World Of Tanks added together.

It's starting to sound like Grand Battles mode, but there's quite a lot of factors which makes the Frontline Mode leagues better...

So to start things off; there's 9 sections on the map, called 'zones'... and these zones are roughly the size of a regular map in the game. Those zones start off with 10 players on each side, to even out the teams.

The teams are the Attacking team and the Defending team, and they both have their own roles and objectives in this game mode. Starting to sound familiar? Well, that's because we had something like that before; the '100 Years of Tanks' event.

Pure madness this game mode provides... was immensely fun, too. 

Except this time you're not defending/destroying the Mark I tanks, but instead these giant mountain guns called 'pillboxes' in the game, and there's about 5 of them.

Both teams start out on the edge of the map; the attackers will try to capture a zone's flagpoint to advance to the next one above it. It's the defender's best interest to prevent the areas from being captured, as not only the areas cannot be re-captured by the defending teams, but the attackers will get bonus match time when that happens... and that's valuable.

Oh, and there's 6 zones available for capture for extra time and advancement. The last 3 is where the gun emplacements are located.

Now, you can probably see how this goes; the attacking team's objective is to the destroy these guns. Not all of them, though... just 3 will do. The guns are also spread out on the map, but on the other side of the map, away from the attacking team. So they'll have to work their way there...

The defending team? They'll have to protect these gun placements from being destroyed until the time runs out. These are the only way either teams can win/lose.

But that's not all!

Each of the zones comes with a respawn zone, and also a resupply point. The first one is only available to the attackers when the zone is successfully captured, and will be disabled for the defending team. The second one functions the same way in terms of capture, but serve a different purpose; it restores a vehicle in the circled area, refilling lost health... ammo, and also restores all damaged/broken components and injured/killed crew members.

You'll have to wait about 2 minutes after accessing the resupply point, though... but it only affects that specific point that you went to, so you can travel to another resupply point in another part of the map to use them again.

But what's this respawn thing I hear you say? Well, that's because you CAN respawn in this game mode... indefinitely, at that too.

Although there's a 'respawn token' system in place to prevent abuse; each player is given one extra respawn at the start of the game, and you're given another respawn token in five minutes. You can collect them up, save them for those riskier moves... but only up to 2.

There's also another thing that prevents abuse; if there's a large amount of players in one zone of the map, it'll immediately be blocked off for others, this is for obvious reasons.

Oh, I'm not done yet...

There's also this 'combat reserves' system in place which works similarly to the clan war 'powers and abilities'. There's a variety of them to choose from...

There's just waaay too much to list here, and I bet I'm not even 100% accurate with all this... so here's the Frontline Mode regulations link, for more precise information.

I urge you to go read up on it, otherwise it'll be confusing in later parts of this post.

Frontline Mode: Regulations

And with the rules and systems outta the way, it's time for the replays! Unfortunately, there's only the 'Defending Team' type of replays saved...

Chaotic as hell, pretty bummed out about not receiving the General rank...

But what the heck... we've even lost the match. I wasn't even aware that I had risen through the ranks rather quickly.

A rather decent battle; nearly failed to defend a zone there, near the end.

The game mode was a blast to play... not only is it fun, but also rewarding as well. Getting prestige is one of the rewards in Frontline Mode.

How it looks like when you've reached maximum tier.

The prestige were not difficult to do as all you need is any rank above Private to get some points. The higher the rank, the more you get... so if you managed to reach Major/General almost all of time, then it'll be a breeze for you.

Getting the first prestige was good, and you get some nice rewards out of it, too.

Prestige rewards screen.

Unique camouflage, but it's actually a preset. 

Frontline badge, bronze.

And when I say 'badge', I meant the ones you can place beside your name; the ones that are visible in battle...

Frontline badge, selected.

You can prestige about 4 times in the game; ranging from Bronze [1], Silver [2], Gold [3] and Maximum [4].

Prestige tier page.

The 4th prestige gives you a large amount of bonds; 1000 to be exact. Seems too tryhard for my taste...

It was a really busy period for me though, when the event dropped. Exams were approaching, and plenty of other issues kinda bring down the time I can spend playing this awesome mode. Managed to land a 2nd prestige though... just before the event ends.

Maximum tier for prestige level 1.

Updated badge, new set of camo presets and 100 bonds...

Too bad I didn't have time for another prestige...

Overall, it was a good event/mode. Wished it'll come back again sometime in the future, and probably a different map to go along with it, too. A refreshing change for World Of Tanks; and I fully accept it.

Wheew.... that was quite a post... wasn't expecting this much to be written! I'm also aware that there's another event going down, but it looks like I won't be able to participate in it fully... maybe I'll poke in a few times to see what's going down when I have the time to spare.

And that's all for now! Not sure when I'll be able to put up another post, so it's best to lay low; it's less likely to be soon... so see y'all next time...

-Panzer Fist-

Late July Update

And here we are again...

Busy with IRL shizz; school projects' been piling up and work isn't helping much, either. Whatever free time I have I spend it on Reddit.

Yep, that's where I go to now in my spare time... can't even remember the last time I've actually played any games.

But it's not all bad news, though! I managed to get the World Of Tanks replays recorded, at least. Already had one up on YouTube, and the other will have to wait till tomorrow as I'm freakin' tired already right now... 

It's 4AM here, I have classes the next day and here I am...

Anyways, this is just a late update to before the month ends. Definitely gonna get the next post done ASAP, when I have the time. So until then, stay tuned.

-Panzer Fist-

Late June Update

Figured I should put this out there...

About nearly a month already, and no posts? Well, there's actually not much of an excuse... rather than I'm just trying to enjoy my vacation while I still have it.

And even then I still have work to do during my relaxation time... some vacation, huh?

All the videos are still sitting in storage, with the exception of the Frontline Mode replays; I will need to personally record those before I can even play World Of Tanks again... the usual game update shenanigans.

This obviously means my version of WOT is stuck in the update with Frontline Mode still ongoing, not post-Frontline Mode update. [if that makes any sense]

That means it's outdated; last 'latest' update was during the Frontline Mode games, and updating said game will prevent me from getting Frontline Mode replays as they'll be "corrupted."

So it means the '2018 Football' [or soccer] minigames were not played even once... a real shame, but it just happens...

As to when I'll be able put an actual post here? Well, hopefully soon... I just hope that I don't forget all about it! Just stay low until another post rolls out...

-Panzer Fist-

France's TRUE Heavy Tank: "The Iron Wall"

And it's finally done! A bit late, though...

Yep. This was supposed to be up yesterday, but I had other things to take care of...

Anyways, today's post should come as no surprise as to what it is... and it's the Tier IX French Heavy Tank; the AMX M4 51.

That's the stock turret the picture has; the TCA turret.

So finally we get to the actual good parts of this new mini-line, and away from that horrible mess known as the AMX 65 t. *shudders*

Ugh... that was surely hell for me...

As you can see from the picture above, it starts out with the previous tank's upgraded turret. Getting the Tier IX's upgraded turret [the TCB turret] is probably a good thing to do as it's massively improved over the other one.

Aaaannnd without anymore delays, it's time for some videos! For the first batch, it'll be using the 120mm gun. The upgraded turret was researched back then, and there isn't any replays with stock turret as you can't mount the 127mm gun with it.

Plus, this tank doesn't feel complete if it doesn't have it's TCB turret...

Not sure if rushing in was the best strategy here, but oh well!

The tank's 120mm is similar to the AMX 50 120 or AMX 50B's gun, but single-loaded. It's quite accurate, and with 257 penetration at Tier IX really helps out a lot. Using it was a breeze...

Obviously this tank has those god-awful cupolas at the top, which are immensely weak... there's two of them, by the way. Many players only notice the one with the "searchlights" on them. This means moving around is a must to avoid getting hit there, or you could use your gun to block one of the cupolas... I find it extremely useful at certain times.

All of the armor is at the front, so the sides and rear [both hull and turret] are absolutely thin. Getting hit with High Explosive there will really do a number on this tank.

Typical choke-point city map battle; things got pretty clumsy at the end there...

Even though it has armor of a typical heavy tank, it's still vulnerable to High Explosive... even more if it gets hit on its sides and rear. The 120mm fast rate of fire makes engaging enemies more comfortable as you can put out shots quickly...

...and accurately, I might add. Though not the most accurate gun, but at least it's not derp levels of accuracy... or the ARL 44's level of "stop and shoot" type of accuracy.

And now we move on to update 1.0 replays! Hence why the previous post was about the Encore engine tests.

An epic game, with up to 4K+ damage! They didn't stand a chance...

The reload time for the 120mm gun can be reduced to 10 seconds, just shy of entering 9 seconds if you've got the right equipment and skills. Feels like an AMX 50B's gun slapped onto the tank, just without the autoloader capabilities... and it's great!

The speed of this tank is not as horrendous as the AMX 65 t... in fact, it can shift really well... and can even get to it's top speed with little problems. Useful to know if you like ramming vehicles, like the E 50 M.

I have yet to get this tank...

And now we switch over to the 127mm gun. Supposedly a naval gun, and it's the 'derp' or 'higher damage' alternative to the 120mm. Where the 120mm shines in high penetration, the 127mm has high alpha damage to back it up.

Time for some 127mm gun replays...

Another battle where we steamrolled the entire enemy team... it's rare to encounter such matches nowadays.

Now, the damage increase isn't massive... just 470 instead of the 120mm's 400. But still, it can roll up to 500+ damage... if it ever does, that is.

The reload time on this gun is surprisingly not that long, only a few seconds more compared to the other gun. It does has the worst Premium Rounds ever: Armor Piercing with a minimal increase in penetration.

Another surprising thing is that the HE rounds aren't that good... you would think a derp/high damage gun would have enormous HE shell damage, but it's not that much.

How many Himmelsdorf replays has it been? lol

And now one of it's biggest drawbacks shows itself: the piss-poor penetration. If I was using the 120mm gun, I would've been able to damage the last enemy tank in the lower plate. Instead, I have to resort to other methods of elimination...

And because it's a derp gun, it also has horrible shell velocity. Easy to dodge in long ranges, and you'll have to give quite some lead to distant moving targets.

The 127mm gun also has another plus up it's sleeve: it has a larger caliber value. That means you can overmatch more armor than the 120mm gun... it can overmatch 40mm armor whereas the 120mm cannot.

So that means if an enemy tank's turret/hull roof is about 40mm [or even their engine deck/side armor] then you can just shoot it, and it'll go through instead of bouncing off.

I feel like the premium rounds are semi-useless: only brought some as standby for armored targets with no other option of engaging the enemy... like let's say, a well-dug in tank destroyer.

But even then, it might not even be enough to go through their armor...

So there's two different play styles as from before; the fast-firing and high penetration gun for snipers, and the highly damaging and larger caliber gun for close-range brawlers.

A nice diversity in guns, but since this is Tier IX it's okay to use either guns. The Tier X tank on the other hand is a different story...

It won't be long till I get my hands on you...

But that's a story for another day, as I'm still stuck in Tier IX at the moment. Was supposed to have about 40K+ experience, but it was used to get the 127mm gun.

And so now... to recap everything so far!

The Pros: Decent frontal armor, up to 180mm thick... which is about 200+ effective. The 120mm gun is a beast in all regards with great rate-of-fire, reload time and accuracy. Turret armor is also good, too. The 127mm gun can be a hard hitting weapon that can overmatch 40mm armor plates, which can be useful when dealing with certain tanks. It's reload time isn't that bad, either.

It's also a pretty mobile tank, for it's size. Useful for ramming lighter targets, much like the AMX 50B but with slightly lower speed. The turret also doesn't lose turning speed when mounting the 127mm gun, so it can be a nasty surprise to enemies.

The Cons? Well, It has horrible side and rear armor for both the hull and turret, so all the fighting has to be at the front... nowhere else. The massive cupolas are thinly armored, so constant movement is required to avoid damage there. The turret "ears" can be shot with HE ammo to deal some damage as well, much like the Emil II/Kranvagn tanks.

The 127mm's gun has atrocious accuracy, aim time and also penetration, which can limit the amount of things you can shoot at. The tank's massive size makes it an easy target for artillery, as anywhere except the front is weak.

And there's the infamous frontal hull "shoulders"... 150mm and any bit of angling can turn it into a weakness for others to shoot at.

Overall, it's a tank with equally great strengths and also equally great weaknesses. Although it seems to have more weakness than strengths at this moment. I won't talk about them here, but some of my old posts have covered it before... so I'm saving the bitching for another time.

And that's all for this tank! It's a joy to finally get to play a true French Heavy Tank. Has multiple drawbacks, but hey... at least it ain't an overpowered piece with barely any weaknesses.

The next post will most likely be of one of two things: The Fronline Mode or either the Tier X French Heavy Tank. Don't know when they'll be up, hopefully it doesn't take a millennia for them to be made... so see ya'll then!

-Panzer Fist-

Long Gone, But Back!

Maaan, it's been too long.

Finally back... and yes, I know... it's been over a month since the last post.

Part of it is because of busy IRL stuff: work, school... all that stuff. Exams are coming up soon, so there's that as well.

On the other hand, I've been busy playing World Of Tanks Frontline mode; a massive 30 versus 30 battle on a map 9 times the size of a regular map! It's like Grand Battles plus objective mode, with respawns/on-field repairs and supply and also off-screen assistance like Airstrikes.

Still playing it, as I wanna get at least a Silver Prestige. Just a few more levels to go...

Anyways, enough of that. Today's post will NOT be about the next French Heavy Tank in line, but instead an old video from many months back.

It's the World Of Tanks Encore tests, that little test program they'll let you try out before WOT 1.0 rolls out. It's long due, and I figured I might as well do it before we dive into the next tank post.

This is because the said next tank post has a mix of pre 1.0 and post 1.0 replays.

So without any more delays, here's the Encore test I did.

I can only do 'Medium' settings as 'High/Ultra' is too much for this computer, won't get 60 FPS if I used that.

Overall, it's good. I did adjust mine manually when 1.0 rolled out, though. Needs that 'personal adjustment' to it.

The next post should be arriving soon... once I'm done with them, that is. Though 'soon' may take up to a day or two, lol. But nevertheless, it will be done. I need to clear out these old videos as they're taking up too much space... need to make room for the Frontline replays I'm planning to record.

And now I'm off to do some more editing... stay tuned!

-Panzer Fist-

"The Odd One Out"

Aaaand finally I'm back again! It's been too long.

This time there's no excuses; just good ol' fashion procrastination... been busy doing small edits using various editing software to make pictures/GIFs, played some Armored Warfare as there was an update to that game and plenty more...

But enough with the ramblings, it's time for today's post...

Well... this marks the start of the new French Heavy Tanks, if we're gonna continue from the last post. And the first tank for the new mini-line is the Tier VIII French Heavy Tank: The AMX 65 t.

French 110, anyone?

This tank... hooo boy! It's a pain to play, that's for sure. Technically, it's supposed to be the AMX M4 49 for the Tier VIII slot, but since they used that tank for the 'Premium Tank' slot they have no choice but to find something else instead.

What's strange is that they used a tank with a pike-nose hull. They could have just used one without the pike-nose and just buff the frontal hull a bit more, but nope...

It would be something like this... a massive improvement.

It's very out of place... and here I thought Wargaming is trying to eliminate tanks that don't fit in the regular line... I'm guessing this tank will be removed in the future... at least I hope so.

Aaand that's enough for the rants, before I go off too much... so let's get to the videos!

Not sure what to say about this particular tank, but I'll try...

Well for starters, it's got good gun choices. The 100mm gun is identical to the Premium counterpart; the AMX M4 49... but it has much better reload time. The other gun packs a bigger kick, but has longer reload.

I'm not sure why this tank has one of the worse speed in the game, but it does. Even after upgrading the engine it still trudges along at a very low speed, comparable to a superheavy tank.

And now, the next video...

The armor of this tank is pretty... lackluster, and that pike-nose hull doesn't help, either.

Let's say... it's like the 110, but with worse armor and a very obvious [and weak] cupola to shoot... and also that it's slow as hell. The tracks on this tank are very large for some reason, so I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.

The second turret for this tank is strong, but has more weakspots than the first one. The upside is that you get to mount the 120mm gun, if you prefer using it.

The final video, now...

It's a bounce-fest up in this tank...

Yes, tons of ricochets, bounces and damage absorbed... but still, those are lower-tiered tanks. Tanks tiers VII and up will have little to no problems going through the hull of this vehicle.

My loadout of this vehicle will be the stock turret and the 100mm gun; played like the AMX M4 49. It's hull armor can cause problems but at least the gun's fast.

So now, it's time to recap the pros and cons of this tank...

The pros? Well, it has decent gun choices: the fast n' accurate 100mm or the hard-hitting and high penetration of the gold shell from the 120mm. It's turret armor is good, so you can go hull-down in certain occasions. It also has the gun depression to do that, too.

The cons.... It's hull armor is bad, and not to mention that it's a pike-nose design. As if the hull "shoulders" aren't bad enough, now there's this as well? No. Then it's turret cupolas are absolutely weak; lightly armored that almost every tank it meets will have no problem going through it.

It's a massive tank, so it's a easy target. Mobility's bad as hell, as it traverses like a Maus; just soo slooow... even the turret suffers the same problems, too. And speaking of the turret, it's aim time is rather long... even on the 100mm gun.

So it comes as no surprise that I only played about 40 battles in this tank before I gave up... "Gave up" as in "I skipped this tank with gold"... no choice. I like this tank line, but I can't stand this particular vehicle... The AMX M4 51 and 54 are the ones worth getting, AND playing.

But I guess that's it for this post. Next one's gonna be the AMX M4 51, and it's gonna much more longer [and also less abrasive] than this one here. Don't know when I can make it live, but stay tuned...

-Panzer Fist-

M.I.A?

Fortunately not!

Man, it's been 5 weeks... FIVE. WEEKS. A whole month without even a peep? Well, I've been busy... more than usual this time around, though.

But no need to worry, I still know what I have to do. Decided to at least put something here before March ends...

Well, I still have the old World Of Tanks replays... and better still, there are all recorded already. Just need some empty days to myself and it's on with the editing/uploading, then finally the post. Looks like update 1.0 has dropped, and from the looks of it... it seems to be very large. This is gonna take quite some time to install...

But yeah, just dropped by to let y'all know that I'm still around, just been having too much of IRL stuff to handle at the moment. There's a lot of videos I have to edit and upload, but I'll get them done eventually. Until then, it's more waiting...

*sigh* It's always the IRL bull that'll mess up your schedule...

-Panzer Fist-