Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
knutliott

2T Stalker

Recommended Posts

Just got mine today, and it's fine.  I'm a little underwhelmed by it, but I think that's because it's the same tier as the Terminator 2000, Ramka-99, and Terminator 2017.

Effectively no armor.  Single barrel 2A42 30mm gun with 30 dmg 185 pen APDS.  Good missiles (but only 2 and they have a 25-second reload).  Camo is pretty good at 35%.  View range is difficult to judge as I'm still getting used to the 0.33 view ranges, but it seems decent - I have mine at 465/535 with retrofits and Ophelia (who doesn't provide any VR with my build).

3 upgrades that you unlock via completing contracts - upgraded APDS (30 dmg 205 pen) at 50, radar active ability at 100, and upgraded missile rate of fire at 200.

It really goes to show you just how OP the Terminators are.  This is a Terminator 2000 with no armor and half the missiles (which - incomprehensibly - take longer to reload than the 4 missiles on the Terminator 2000), but with better view range and camo.  And I'd always choose a Terminator over this because the improved camo isn't useful if you're using the 30mm, and the missiles are insufficient as an only weapon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Anyone find these high-tier-but-squishy prems frustrating?  Yes there is the prem bonus, but with no armor, it's hard to live long enough to print more credits than a decent progression vehicle of the same tier.

Still want the Stalker, because I don't have a Terminator/Ramka class vehicle in my garage yet.

QR

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
8 minutes ago, Quantum_Ranger said:

Anyone find these high-tier-but-squishy prems frustrating? 

You just have to understand that they are glass cannons and play them appropriately. The problem is that this one in particular feels very much like a Terminator, but isn't even close. 

Stay back and play it as fire support and you'll do well. I think it's actually nicely balanced... the problem is that it exists in a world of Terminators and Marder 2s which are OPAF.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think it performs ok from a limited play run - it's just..a meme missile boat?  I mean hitting for 1k+ with ATGMs is fun and all, but you have to run / stay behind cover and use the 'eye stalks' to fire over things for it to be truely effective.  Also it could be that the ATGMs are very mobile, but it does seem to perform well firing over hills / down - by this I mean angle your tank up a hill, aim down at something and they seem to fire straight at them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Quantum_Ranger said:

Anyone find these high-tier-but-squishy prems frustrating?

I love the K21, one of the best premiums ingame IMO

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
14 hours ago, Azdule said:

I think it performs ok from a limited play run - it's just..a meme missile boat?  I mean hitting for 1k+ with ATGMs is fun and all, but you have to run / stay behind cover and use the 'eye stalks' to fire over things for it to be truely effective.  Also it could be that the ATGMs are very mobile, but it does seem to perform well firing over hills / down - by this I mean angle your tank up a hill, aim down at something and they seem to fire straight at them.

The Stalker's missiles are base 850 damage, but can roll up to 1100-ish.  Best to use base damage for comparisons, though.

Roughly 1.7k missile damage every 28 seconds (3 seconds intra-clip + 25 seconds reload) is hardly meme material.  The Terminator 2000 has 4 x 920 damage missiles that have a 4 second intra-clip delay and then reload in 24 seconds.  So 3.7k-ish damage every 36 seconds.  60 damage per second on the Stalker vs 100 damage per second on the Terminator 2000.  Yeah that seems balanced.  Not.

Also, the 2A42 30mm gun on the Stalker does ~14,250 damage as I have it outfitted, but does ~21,375 on the Terminator 2000 outfitted the same way.  That's 475 rounds per minute vs 713.  Both are single-barrel turrets, and the Terminator 2000 has actually useful armor so can actually use its AC as much as it wants.  Granted I don't have the 3UBR11 ammo for the Stalker yet, but that only increases pen not damage so should not account for a 50% damage difference.

And the problem in all this is not the Stalker.  The Stalker seems reasonably well balanced to me at Tier 8.  It might be a tad fragile, but it's useful if you play carefully.

It's the Terminators that are completely over the top OPAF.  50% better AC damage, 50% better missile damage, WITH useful armor, and its only arguable downside is that it doesn't have any camo?  JFC man it doesn't need camo.  The only situation I can think of where you could argue that you'd want a Stalker over a Terminator is when you need spotting, but if you need spotting you're not taking a Stalker either so that's pretty much a moot point.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Seems like it's pretty crappy for tier8 especially with terminators in existence. I remember trying it out on testing grounds as stock thought it seemed average even without being able to use any upgraded modules or choosing a commander for it. Seems to be suited moreso for tier7.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
21 minutes ago, knutliott said:

The Stalker's missiles are base 850 damage, but can roll up to 1100-ish.  Best to use base damage for comparisons, though.

Wait what? I thought my.com was removing all of the HEAT damage bonuses at tier 7-10 in order to make things balanced?

I guess I stand corrected.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I guess not?  Or, more likely, this is a bug.

Stalker missiles.png

But at any rate, that's one of the reasons to use base damage for comparisons.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I finally got the Stalker, as I expected it's essentially a BMD-2M at tier 8 but without the infantry. I'll be comparing it mostly to tier 8s.

uPslVlu.jpg

Camo paint is applied, I just disabled it in the settings.

 

Mobility is excellent, very agile and zippy compared to the other tier 8 squishies. The closest comparison I could find would be the Dragun, which already has amazing balls mobility. The global mobility changes in 0.33 however can lead to control issues at high speeds, you will start drifting whenever you try to turn corner.

Vision control is above average, but still meh. A base camo of 30% is on the higher end of tier 8 squishies, but hardly at the top. The VBR in comparison has 33%, Sprut at 31%, RCR at 32%, Pinbad at 35% before the camo module. Base view range is also at a middling 465m, above average but not the best. This might get better with the Radar ability, but you have to grind for it.

The DPM for the dakka is actually quite low, not even beating the Rosomak M1 (with PELE). Even the BMD-2M can trump the Stalker here because of its reload module upgrade and a human loader. Firing the dakka also kills your camo, but that is to be expected. Combine that with the low alpha, don't use it as your primary damage dealer unless you are cleaning up a near dead target, otherwise you will draw aggro very quickly and start attracting fire.

The missiles currently retain the thin armor bonus damage from HEAT, but even that isn't enough to save the missiles from being meh. The BMD-2M missiles can hit just as hard (without the damage bonus) and reloads faster; the tall stalk for firing over cover don't outweigh the very mediocre raw stats.

pw4HJIA.jpg

MU0GxL4.jpg

BMD-2M comparison. Sad Stalker noises.

 

One hidden benefit of the Stalker however is the 360 smoke. It's not much, but it's more useful than it appears if you play aggressively. Being able to break spotting from all directions makes escaping from hairy situations a lot easier, although I would argue you shouldn't get yourself into said situations in the first place. Anyways, something nice I can say about the Stalker at least.

BpsWOYY.jpg

 

The Stalker right now is just meh, I can't call it balanced when it doesn't do anything particularly well (other than sneaky hill play maybe). Great mobility alone isn't enough to outweigh mediocre vision control and firepower in PvE, particularly with the lack of infantry which limits its damage output even further compared to other squishies. Get it while it's free from the contract, it's not worth spending real money to get it. Heck, it's not even worth playing to me, it can join the growing list of vehicles that pad my ownership XP bonus but never get played.

 


Spoiler

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yup, basically looks like a poor vehicle for it's tier. Others with the same class/role outdo it and that's not including the terminators. If they decide to remove the bonus damage from HEAT, it'll really be pathetic, but it may be enough to warrant buffing for a tier8.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Last update buffed the Stalker missile reload considerably, down to 18s base and 3s burst.

My criticism of the dakka still stands, but at least the missiles are more potent now. Doesn't make enough of a difference to improve the Stalker from meh to good though.


Spoiler

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think it would have been better if they had given us the second launcher, or beefed up the autocannon a bit. Definitely in the "casual-fun-to-play" category, but will have to figure out best map locations for it. Mobility seems good for driving around to pick off secondaries.

QR

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

An option to have either a 2nd launcher or an autocannon might have been nice, though that might have just made it even more obvious how OPAF the Terminators are.

If the theoretical 2nd launcher operated independently of the 1st - meaning it could reload while the 1st was firing and vice versa - then it probably would have been good.  They could even be set up as separate weapons with separate ammo loads, and that you'd have to toggle between them to use them just like you currently do with the missiles and the AC.

The more I think about it, the more that sounds really cool.

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Sign in to follow this  

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...