Quantum_Ranger

Was fortunate enough to get OPhelia as a unique offer... so after picking her up, I will have enough BC left for the Ghost parts, but not much else unless I buy more BC (oof). The question is are any of the other CV90 tanks worth getting during this BP? I already have a Stingray 2, Object 195 and a ZTQ.... QR

Finally had an offer to acquire OPhelia from the BP shop... given her reputation for being OPAF, I picked her up for 99,999 BC. The reload and acceleration buff are welcome, so now I'm left to figure out how to best use her shield skill in PVE. Is the idea that when you have an ugly moment and are down to 1 hp, you have a few seconds to retreat and get maximal use out of your rebuild kit? Or do you use the rebuild kit as usual and rely on the shield as total last-ditch insurance? I'm also uncertain as to whether I really want to sacrifice HP for reload speed - is it really a good trade-off?? I suppose if you have the shield ability, HP becomes a little less crucial. I understand she's pretty much used for MBTs, although I did put her in the ZTQ-15 for a couple matches and it was good fun. As an aside, she's really whiny (now I understand why folks call her SB). Holy Moly! DVC, QR

Yeah, I usually ask at the start of a low-tier match if anyone needs their 5... if so, I try to help them out. I remember using a dakka-dakka to shave a bunch of bots down to ~ 100 HP on Sapphire, and the poor low-tier guy still couldn't bag 5 of them... kept running away from the hobbled bots. Sigh. DVC, QR

I suspect the devs closed access to the queues because it was easier to program than trying to eliminate the queue (and redesign the GUI) entirely. It's also easier to undo if for some reason they want to enable the queue again. The server-side load of the empty queue should be pretty minimal. At least nobody (I hope) got sucked into building a map rotation tracker for an unplayable queue. QR

If a new player is getting frustrated by 5 kills in 1 battle (which is not unusual given limited DPM at low tiers) try T3 M113 ACAV, which can 1-shot most bots in standard mode. Deploy an AT infantry squad from the troop compartment, and you should get there no problem. Cheers and good luck. DVC, QR

Both better than my ideas. I was thinking medium dark red for the 2017 and a medium blue-gray for the platoon. If the tags are on as usual, color seems mostly cosmetic. "starting canon version is a squad of five T-90A tanks with Thorpe’s personal vehicle being a Russian service Terminator" I wonder if this mean's Thorpe's 2017 queue wait will be 5 times longer than the rest of the platoon.... :-) DVC, QR

More bot MBTs will make flanking more important, especially with a squishy. The problem is all those linear maps where there's no space to go around. Specops tiers are already pretty long T7-T8 during weekday evenings in NA.... to the point where I've never really tried getting into a SpecOps queue at T5-T6, because if I wait that long to play a long match I might as well get all the credits/XP from a T8 vehicle rather than a T6. On the other hand, now that I need to grind my T72B to get to a qualifying Storyline MBT, it might be worth it for a few tries. DVC, QR

Egad... Can folks confirm that the T90A Burlak contract vehicle qualifies as Modern Russian?? I have one of those... which could mean my grind towards the progression T90A Vladmir can be a bit more leisurely as long as I have at least 1 qualifying vehicle to use during the next phase of the campaign. DVC, QR

Thanks for the advice... assuming that the storyline campaign is going to last a year (!) I am thinking my sanity will be better off grinding the progression vehicles... at least it gives me an incentive to work the Russian line rather than the Israeli or Chinese lines. From your comment, I suspect the T80U isn't for me, which makes me feel better about grinding T72-T72A-T72B-T90 and skipping the progression T80U branch altogether. DVC, QR

OK, the York is OP to start with... but now with Northern [Breaking] Wind BP, we are seeing matches with dual Yorks or York/Shilka combinations.... so this begs the question: What's the best recommended retrofit for the York? I am thinking mobility but appreciate advice from anyone who has done it. DVC, QR

OK, finally got offered a QN-506.... and thankfully passed on it because of the advice on this forum. Plus I already have Kurganets-25, thanks to last year's advice. :-)

I'm just impressed that there is 250k of stuff in the shop that Haswell doesn't already have. And the BC are a perishable currency - ordinarily they would all need to be spent in the current BP. Glad the others who participated in the decoding get a cool title, too. DVC, QR

All of your battles in eligible vehicles should count. I didn't have any Modern Euro or Modern Russian, so I had to grind T72 and T72A.... and I made the list for the next phase. Schlock, I am guessing that your IGN is different from your tag here because I didn't see a Schlock on the sinners list.... so you may have to check the list yourself to make sure you are there. I am grinding T72B now, so I figure I have a couple weeks left to build some XP on it, and then when Storyline launches make up the difference from banked XP to get into a T90. @boymahina123, if you far away from the modern RU vehicles it is also possible to obtain a prem standalone T80U in the web shop for 5500 gold.... If you didn't have the gold handy, you could potentially grab the Apocalypse bundle of discounted gold, get the tank, and have 4500 gold left over. Total cost would be something like entrance fee for BP. Wish I could afford a Terminator.... maybe one will show up in the BP shop (fingers crossed.) DVC, QR

Thanks, this is encouraging to know, for folks who have Obj 195 as a point of reference at this level thanks to previous BP. I was hoping for armor like a Volvo and mobility like a Saab, and not the other way around. DVC, QR

Somehow I think it is more than just luck.... I checked the shop almost every day during the last BP, and never saw anything over T8... I suspect it may have something to do with overall battle coin balance. +1 on XM247 York. Most T5 players have learned to despise these, but the cure for that is to own one. I tend to hold off on playing mine that often to be kind to others, but there are just times when you want to quickly finish a contract mission and the York is the one to git 'er done. Obj 195 is a lot of fun. I love the big boom, and the AC is decent to keep busy while reloading. The ZTQ is also worth it as a T9 LT, although if one is going to get the Ghost from the current BP, it might fill a similar niche to the ZTQ. On that note, does anyone have experience to see how the Ghost compares to the ZTQ?? DVC, QR

This is what I like about [LABS]... it's a real Bletchley Park. Perhaps that's the real "Enigma's Legacy"?? Didn't realize there were online tools for shift ciphers. On another note, am grinding through the Leo 2AV to get to the Euro MBTs. It's frustrating that the Leo 1A5 and Leo 2 are storyline vehicles, but the Leo 2AV is not. Is there an obvious reason for this?? From a power perspective, the 2AV feels pretty similar to the M1 Abrams... DVC, QR

I must admit I am having fun with the current BP, and having the previous BP tanks makes it more interesting. There's also tension with the storyline campaign, which is pretty much limited to progression vehicles regardless of which faction you pick. So it's a choice between grinding with a prem to optimize credit revenue, or grinding with a progression vehicle to have the battles count towards the campaign. Sigh. QR

Congrats to the new mods! As part of the NA constituency, I am pleased that there is equitable representation of the different global regions. I don't really see this as awkward at all. DVC, QR

Yes, I agree it would be good to see personal and overall progression... I'm fortunate that because I started the campaign with a brand-new tank, I could just track progression in the vehicle section of the dossier. It is a little frustrating that I have to take it on faith that I am properly registered for the campaign. The least they could do is have the registration appear on a website somewhere, or better yet, as an "achievement". Sounds like this was possible for panzer showdown. QR

This would be helpful, but I suspect the "fog of war" effect is intentional. It works both ways - real-time stats might help the trolls see how successful they are, and potentially facilitate their recruiting. Reading the tea leaves, there is a big sale on Russian progression vehicles this week. Any guesses as to whether this might lead to an increase in Russian vehicle battle counts?? Hmm. And this is in addition to the free T72M1 prem that folks could obtain by qualifying for the Desert Storm raid. Still hoping that the next battle path will give me a shot towards a Euro MBT, otherwise I am looking at a long grind thru the Leopard 2AV. QR

There's a troll CLAN? Didn't know they were that organized. Ow. Silly me for imagining that there were just rogue lone actors trying to throw things. Maybe they should have their own nick [TROLL] so we can clearly see what they are up to. QR

This is perhaps the best part of the update !! I didn't know there was a flag that went along with the decal... does it require banners to be unlocked (ew)? QR

Congratulations on a well-conceived and brilliantly executed paper. I am really pleased to see the robust sample sizes included here, thereby enabling proper use of the chi-square and avoiding the need for Fisher's (not-so-exact) test. This is the kind of academic output that makes this forum so very unique. Cheers, QR

Hope to see you in-game. [LABS] is a great battalion, BTW, especially for those of us who like data-driven gameplay. Welcome! QR

New maps might appear more frequently in the course of the rotation. I have seen some maps appear more frequently than others in the course of an evening. Divided objectives will be very interesting and refreshing, although it will make playing with randoms harder... (how many times have we seen Prometheus fail because nobody capped the generator?) It will be better for platoons, even impromptu ones. Might be a motivating reason for more folks (like me) to sacrifice some ping and get comms. QR