Reflecting on the last post

I've been thinking about this more.  I would add that mounting the gun higher up in your profile is also an advantage.  The distance from the main 75 to the top of an M3 Lee is a lot greater than the distance from the 75 to the top of a M4 Sherman.  This means that the M3 has to expose more of itself to shoot over a hill. (it does have the small gun in a turret up high).

After playing more, I've figured out the style I like is a 'sniper'.  A slow firing, but powerful gun that can kill in one shot.  I use it from a stationary concealed position, and then pull back to allow the gun to reload.  This means I generally use a large caliber, slow, explosive shell, like a 105mm vs a 75mm.  The disadvantage is that these rounds usually don't have the armor penetration of the smaller, faster rounds, or the accuracy and speed in aiming (no idea why this is a factor, but it's in the game)..  This makes me favor a side or rear shot.  Most tanks have the choice of one vs the other.

I also prefer a strong front armor at the expense of side and rear.  So, I'm leaning towards tank destroyers.  With the interface on the iPad it's too easy for me to point a turret in a direction I'm not facing, thereby exposing lighter side armor.  However, rotating a turret doesn't reveal a tank that's hiding, while rotating your fixed gun tank destroyer on target does.

For example, last night I had fun in my T18 (Tier 2 USA tank destroyer; prototype only in reality) going against tanks that had been armed with quick firing, low penetration guns that kept bouncing off my heavy front armor.  Meanwhile I took my time and kept one shotting them.  I kept a building on one side of me to help prevent a flanking attack.  In another game I faced higher tier tanks and I was at a disadvantage and died in one shot.  The game seems to be good about matchmaking, with my overall win/loss percentage is 46%.

World of Tanks: Blitz is out! with depressing guns

The less complex version of World of Tanks, World of Tanks Blitz, came out for the iPad last week.  It's a free download, so I gave it a try.  Much like a mecha game, it has a slower pace than the regular FPS.  Tanks accelerate, decelerate, and turn slowly, guns have a slow rate of fire, and take a few hits before dieing.   This makes it easier to live with the OK screen controls.

So, after playing a few games, I noticed something interesting: the main guns can't depress very far.  This would be useful for when you crest a hill and don't want to expose your tank before firing.  I think the hills in WOTB is exaggerated/wrong, The technical problem with the design of tank turrets is the hull outside the tank, and the breech inside the turret.  In both cases you'll hit something eventually.

  The other thing I noticed is that the game can make play easier or harder depending on who it puts on both teams.  It tries to match up the tank strength, so that you don't have a M3 Lee go against a Tiger, but it also has to try and match player skill.

 I'm not great with aiming the hull of my tank to match where the turret is pointing to maximize my armor (or would it be better to aim 30 degrees off center to try increase deflections and make the armor thicker, but expose a bit of the side) so I'd play better if my tank had more balanced armor, like the Tiger has vs the heavier front bias of a Panther.