As the titles says I suck at Germany and no I don’t want to quit.
I’m currently playing at 3.7 RB and as I’m typing this am on a 17 match lose streak. I’ve tried reading reddit threads but they all say German mains think they’re invincible, I’m sure that’s true for most but I know my tanks can be killed. I’m actually get quite frustrated for my poor play (and team), so I’m seeking help, tips, strategies, weak spots, just anything so I can at least improve my play and not worry about my loss.
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First of all what vehicles do you have in your lineup? And why do you think is the main cause of your deaths?
wow you’re quick, thanks
I’m currently using the Puma, Pz IV J and H, Whirblewind and Dickermax
I believe I’m having trouble positioning myself well, my rounds keep bouncing off russians, and CAS keeps wiping me when I spawn
I was just browsing the forums.
Good vehicles except maybe the Dickermax since it’s too situational. Keep it anyway, can’t hurt.
Make sure you are using the default shell on the panzer 4s. HEAT is nigh useless and APCR should only be used in cases where you really can’t pen. APCR looks good on paper but it bounces a lot and has very low post penetration damage. Your stock APCBC shell is good enough that you really don’t need APCR. I would keep a 2 or 3 APCRs just in case, but you will rarely need it.
Map knowledge comes with experience. I can’t really say much for this except make sure there is some cover nearby for when you need it.
If you were using APCR that might have been the problem. Try aiming at the turret cheeks of T-34s. If you are shooting from the sides try shooting the flat lower portion instead of the upper angled one.
You’ll just have to make peace with this one. Whirblewind is good but it can get overwhelmed with multiple planes and then there isn’t much you can do.
PS: play with the armor analysis tool, it can help you a great deal for finding weakspots.
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thanks these are great tips, I suppose I just need to be more patient as well
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what’s it good at? I know it has great gun depression so I’ve been sniping behind hills at the moment
(I hope the block quote worked)
Big gun. You can one shot anything as long as you hit basically. It’s quite funny if you can get into a nice position and watch a crossing. Depression is good as you said but I wouldn’t go peaking at ridges since the vehicles is quite huge and you need to expose almost the entire thing to shoot.
Good sniper to stay in the back in short.
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OH man, KV-1 was guarding spawn so I used it, I finally shot it in its round cheek and watched it tell me non-pen (I left the match after that)
not saying you’re wrong btw, just funny how it happened
Standard volumetric fail. There are some parts of some tanks that you really should be able to pen but can’t most of the time because of how finicky the volumetric system is. Drive optics on Tiger 1s are notorious for eating shells that should no doubt pen that plate.
Again, with experience you’ll learn where these “volumetric black holes” (as people like to call them) are and avoid shooting at them.
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thanks for your help dude, I’ll be sure to use them in the next battle
btw to anyone reading this I wouldn’t mind more tips at all if you have any
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This is just strictly poor luck, I’ve sat at spawn with SPAA and not doing anything and only have drone kill, still, I’m getting free wins and I’ve been carried by good team. My recent worst record has been 1-9 despite me doing significant damage to the enemy team.
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Just super basic stuff :
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Survive-ability onion. Armour is your inner most layer. Not being seen, and not being fired upon are the out layers. Always assume your armour will fail. It’s there as last resort.
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If you are seen, if cover is not available, and you are about to be fired upon, angle your armour, even if it’s not good armour. Whacky angles can occasionally cause a whacky ricochet
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If you are reloading whilst caught in the above scenario, and expecting to be shot at, wiggle your hull and turret side to side. Make it harder for people to hit your barrel / weakspots.
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If you come across an enemy and you don’t know where to aim. Just destroy his barrel. Give yourself some time to figure how to dispatch him. If there’s any vehicles you specifically struggle against, look them up in the hangar armour viewer.
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Crew skills. Plenty of guides out there on what to prioritize. Some skills are vital, some kinda useless.
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Unless you can’t avoid it, don’t drive through open no man’s land. On rolling hill maps, always drive in the deepest part of the defilade, never drive along the crest of a ridge. Always move from cover to cover. Always look for your next piece of it.
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If you are shot & immobilized, and you know the enemy is still in a position to shoot you again. Do not fire smoke. All you are doing is blinding yourself - and any nearby allies who could potentially save you from being able to return fire. So often I try to save damaged allies, and their own smoke stops me from doing so.
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If someone is firing on you at long range, if they have you pinned, or if they are covering a route you need to pass. Don’t smoke yourself, fire a smoke shell at them instead (if your tank has access to it). Blind their situational awareness instead of your own.
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Don’t be afraid to retreat. Don’t be afraid to go defensive. Don’t feel pressured to constantly be on the attack. It’s easy to lose by trying to win too hard. The dug in player has the advantage. It’s often better to let them push you then you push them.
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Binoculars are super useful. You can use them to shoot people through bushes / walls that obstruct your barrel optic. Just aim the binocular at the enemy, press your fire button, this should snap the barrel aim to where your Bino’s aim. Quickly exit binos and press fire again.
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Map knowledge is a huge part of this game. Knowing where to go and where not to go, and it’s impossible to teach in a reasonable way. It’s just something you accumulate over time. Trial and error.
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If your tank is unstabilized, but you want to fire on the move a bit better, use cruise control (Q/E by default). Press E once to get into gear 1-3, and you’ll move at a constant steady pace. Great for urban CQB situations when going around blind corners and such.
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these tips are awesome, yes they are the simpler ones, but they’re the ones I’ve forgotten, thank you
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Well, what Ace said are all very good advice. They know what they’re talking about. Now I don’t claim to be good, but I’m experienced, been playing for 6 years now. Theres two things that I usually stress about when talking to new players (and has been missed here).
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If the coast looks clear, it isnt. Look again, and advance as if the whole world is trying to line you up, they will be.
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Use custom battles. This gamemode is incredibly helpful in finding the weakness of your enemies. I’m not sure if it’s still like this, but I believe the Protection Analysis feature uses a different system to calculate penetration and damage to what matches do. The best way to learn is real matches, but you dont want to lose silver lions or anything do you? Go into a custom match, set one up (probably conquest) and have bots there, just shoot at them until you’re bored. Work on your positioning, your aim, firing on the move etc. Work out little quirks in the maps, and find weird spots you CANT shoot through so you don’t make that mistake in matches (some maps hitboxes are really strange, often overlapping into open areas).
Some other tips that you might already know:
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Your teammates are worthless. You said yourself you had a 17 game losing streak. Why? Your team suck. Never rely on them. If theres a teammate covering your flank? No he isnt, he might as well be telling the enemy you’re right there making all the noise he is.
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Optimise your settings. There’s a lot of settings in the game that make a drastic difference in gameplay. Turn off grass in gunner sight is a big one, you won’t be able to see as much if its enabled. Sound settings are also big. Effectively, turn down your engine noise as much as possible and turn up others. If you’re getting flanked in an urban environment this is your biggest indication.
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Set a keybind for pinging squad targets. I dont remember what the keybind is actually called, but what it does is marks a spot on the minimap and the map itself for your squad to see. This can easily be used to accurately place artillery down as you dont have to guesstimate anything, just point your mouse where you want to ping, press the button, and there’s a yellow circle on the minimap.
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Keep your noise output to a minimum. I cant stress this enough. Pressing “i” on your keyboard as default will turn off your engine and your tank will run on battery power until the battery runs out (you just cant move). This takes away the sound of your engine so the enemies cant hear it. Only issue is that once the battery runs out anything like electrically operated turret drives, laser range finders, and autoloaders will be disabled. I’ve personally used this to ruin superior enemies’ days. Hide around a corner, turn your engine off, they come barelling around and blast them.
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Don’t try to buy your way into the top tier. There’s many reasons for this but I’ll give you the 3 biggest ones imo. You’re too new, and won’t understand the game or how it works at that tier. Its not fun at all, which is partially due to the low tier premium players. It’s a waste of money because unless you can get a full premium lineup (which can cost you up to $500 NZD for a less than optimal lineup) you’ll have one spawn then leave. You won’t have any (useful) backup vehicles. If you want to get a premium vehicle generally a good rule is no more than 1 battle rating higher than you’re used to. UNLESS you would buy it for fun, then theres no real rule except expect to not have fun, and to not do good for a long while after buying into higher tiers.
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Play aircraft as well. Its generally a good idea to bring an aircraft into your lineup, I know CAS is horrible and ratty but you can use it as anti CAS instead of CAS, or a bit of both if you take something like a 109 which can bring a good bomb and dogfight.
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Expect to die, and expect to die in really weird ways that make no sense. You will die all the time. Sometimes theres nothing you can do about it. Probably one of my strangest deaths was when I was playing my VK 45.01 (the Panzerbefehlswagen variant, sorry if my spelling is off), and that has two 100mm plates strapped on top of one another as the front plate. Now I had a T-34-85 pen the first plate, then as soon as it hit the second plate it took a 90° turn downwards and enter my lower front plate like that. Should it have happened? No. Did it happen? Yes. Was it funny? Yes. (It either did that or bounced off the MG port I cant actually remember.)
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Just vibe. Chuck on a playlist of your favourite music and dont have a care in the world. Its the easiest way to enjoy the game, and I’ve gotten my best resaults doing this. My best match was 3.7 Italy, 22 kills just by vibing and jamming to Sabaton. (21 kills, with 1 guy I killed after the match finished). Though somehow my team still managed to lose that XD. You’ll get those games just by having fun. I’m nowhere near a good player and I was absolutely shocked I did that. I think my enemies all had a lobotomy earlier that day.
That’s all from hjnbnb for now. If you want any more tips just let me know, or we can hop on and do a few matches together if you are more of a visual learner.
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Just a comment on your line up. Puma is great. I have it in much higher BR sets and wreck people with it often. WW is great. Again, I have it in much higher sets and prefer it to the Ostwinds . I suggest you play the StuG and jump to the Jagdpanzer at 4.3 asap. The low profile of these vehicles make them tough to deal with when played well. The Jagdpanzer in particular is very difficult to overcome and can easily take out anything it faces all the way up to 5.3. German is a great faction. Don’t lose heart. Keep adapting.
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Your still very new, only way to get better is watching youtube like Phlydaily for example and keep playing regardless how bad one performs. Just need experience and time. Even youtube shorts for war thunder has great tips. All anyone can do here is share written tips or guides, but doing them is the harder part.
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You can play with German tank Destroyers, especially the 4.3 ones, and the other tank destroyers tech tree is also good
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Yes, it just takes time to gain experience and become strong
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Some one claimed the dicker is situational but I used it and had a 6 kill streak on just russian armor at close range but I did die and was forced into a diffrent tank.
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