Do NOT get the M1 KVT! Especially NOT right now with 10.7 BR being overrun by BMPT’s. And even before the BMPT’s, the M1 KVT has a very lackluster round for its BR. Not worth it imo. You will HATE life trying to kill the BMPT’s with the KVT’s dart. Ie, you will NEVER kill them and just be food for them.
I hate to say it, but I would suggest the Clickbait or the Wolfpack (though neither of them are on sale now.)
3rd option would be the RDF/LT, I don’t have it, but I would 100% recommend that over the M1 KVT.
I have both the AV-8B and the F-4S, I like them both. However, I mostly play Arcade so you should get someone else’s advice about the AV-8B if you play Realistic. The F-4S will work fine in Arcade or Realistic.
Buy clickbait or rdflt if you are going to buy av8. M1 kvt isnt going to do much at that br. Also phantom will be better option if you just need arb grind plane while av8 can offer you some cas gameplay.
I do not consider 371 mm of pen acceptable at 10.7 BR lol. Even the Wolfpack has 521 mm 😂 and the Wolfpack is 10.3 in GRB, and only 9.7 in GAB. If you do OK/well in the M1’s at 10.7 BR I am honestly impressed. But I basically refuse to use them anymore, and I would not want to suggest them to a new/grinding player. Especially if their crew skills/reloading skills are low.
I am quite surprised to see both of you guys support the M774 round lol. And again, I am quite impressed if you guys can do well with it. I cannot/do not do well with it 😂
For me, about the minimum armor pen amount that I start to do OK/well with would be something like the DM23 with the Leopard 2 (PzBtl 123). 407mm armor pen, yeah “close” to the M774, but I can at least pen most of the shots that I make, whereas with the M774 it’s just deflect/nonpen over and over for me. Even in Arcade where I can shoot exactly where I want to shoot, most of my shots do absolutely nothing.
If it’s just a “skill issue” with me, that’s fine and I have no problem with that lol. I have just tried many times to use that round+tanks and I do horridly every time 💀 Oh and I actually prefer to just use HEATFS rounds over “low” armor pen darts like the M774 🤣 Like with my Japanese Type 16 FPS, I take a handful of darts in but almost never use them. I just use the HEATFS rounds and stay away from the front line and lob them in.
I wouldn’t get the KVT right now, as learning how to play it with the BMP-Ts is nothing short of God Awful right now. I enjoy the M1 Abrams, it’s not a terrible tank- I’d argue a bit on the stronger side for 10.7- but it has some pretty large drawbacks that are only grossly amplified by the BMP-T and BMP-T72s.
Instead I’d argue go for the XM-1, as it being a lower BR will help you learn to play top tier while also giving you a good experience of APFSDS, thermals, LRFs, and the like.
For planes, I would not get the AV-8B(NA). It’s a mediocre plane that can’t do much in ARB. If you are looking for CAS, get the A-10A early. If you are looking for a dogfighter, get the F-4S or the F-5C. But I don’t think the AV-8B(NA) is the way to go unfortunately.
That’s just my take though, I’m sure someone has the complete opposite opinion of mine
It’s a great tank, but it is not currently on sale unfortunately. However Gaijin might bring it back as a GE premium, or for a special date sometime this year.
eh, I find M1 doing more for me than Leo 2s these days, and new player will struggle regardless of the vehicle.
True, to get most out of M1s reload you need expert crew and fully trained loader.
But its not like this issue doesnt affect any other non-autoloading premium as well.
Wolfpack has quite a few limitations that make it borderline unusable for me (shouldve known before getting it lol). Namely the gun depression on way too lightly armored chassis.
but seeing as Booker gets M900 on top of 5 sec aced reload and is actually on normal platform…
Just do double check that you know/use it! Both M1118’s have hydropneumatic suspension now 😄 Front/Back tilt; Up/Down. Doesn’t make the gun depression “good”, but it definitely helps. Also, the straight up/down sometimes helps hide behind hills, OR peak up even further over.
I love the Wolfpack, ground out the majority of the US ground tree with it. And that was even before the hydro suspension addition.
And another thing I assume you do know, but best to utilize its crewless turret. I survived sooo many shots by just peaking up over hills instead of pushing forward.
Gen 3+3 Thermals. Use commander sight, turn on thermals, hide behind hills. Scout and snipe. I love it. (I didn’t remember, it’s actually the only US ground vehicle with Gen 3+3 thermals, both the M1128’s.)
Indeed, I am also grinding the USA TT with it and it is a fantastic platform to play on, I recommend just playing slow and not rushing into the capture point, even tho it is a light tank.
Also, thanks @SilentTracker for pointing out that you can peak behind hills, I’ll be trying that out.
I’m quite happy with the kvt, sure the bmpts are a bit of a problem but hopefully they get moved up in br soon. The round is still capable when hitting weak spots, and the survivability is much better than I thought it would be. The AV-8B I’m finding is ok, my friend told me not to get the F-4s cuz it’s too high of a br and would be harder to learn and play, so using ir missiles is going better for me.
USA needs some middle ground round between the M774 and the M900/ M892A1 Having a 372mm pen round on the M1 at 10.7 while you have a 522mm on the wolfpack and 600mm on the M60 120S at lower BRs is pretty crazy.
At the very least the M833 for the 105mm guns would be fine, it’s only about a 20mm improvement across the board, which is a nice little buff that would not get it uptiered like giving it M900 might.
The F-4S is one of the better planes for its BR, but there are some unavoidable truths for it:
It’s a boat like most other Phantoms, but it could be worse, (cough TORNADO cough)
The RWR is almost complete ass. You kinda gotta learn how to read what its saying.
Magic 2 slingers WILL eat you.
ARH platforms WILL demolish you.
The Hornets in the 12. bracket are leagues better than you.
A few things that can help you do better:
Learn to notch and chaff. Set your Radar to PDV HDN and do not change it until you’re more learned with the plane/radars in general.
Turning off the radar until you are within combat range can help conceal your position until you turn it back on. Depends if anyone decides to focus you when scanning.
Fly high and shoot down. Most players do not look up all the time.
Fire your 7Fs within 20km. Outside of that they have a tendency to just fly off. Do not fire them into where your teammates are.
Use the HMD to ‘aim’ your 9Hs. They become very good if you use this to provide the missile with lead.
Put simply for the RWR, intermittent beeps means scans - do not need to worry. Constant tone means someone is tracking/launching at you. You should probably start to notch now.
If GUNS, radar lock your opponent to provide you with a leading sight.
Ultimately practice is going to be the best thing to improve your performance. The game will beat you mercilessly but if you want to suffer there’s definitely worse vehicles to do it in.
F4 is a grind bus…id stick the bombs on it and zomb all.the way.
Drop bombs, head on everyone. Rinse repeat.
Its outclassed by everything, its missiles are dead. Paying for pain like most premiums outside of shiny new ones…
