World of Tanks: Unicorn

I platooned with my fav unicorn last night and we raped (he raped, I just assisted with the rape), so, today at least, I feel better about WoT <-- it is amazing what a little clubbing can do for one's attitude....

^my unicorn!  ...psst! getit? Unicum/Unicorn? ...
and it's all metallic, like a tank and has xvm colors with purple dominating and.. ah forget it.

what all unicums drink

World of Tanks News bits:

• $2.5 League in the works from Wargamming.net <-- this news is 2 weeks old now.
• A WoW (that's "World of Warcraft") type "Dungeon Finder" is coming with old Tank Companies quite probably going away <-- the DF feature in WoW srsly changed the game for casual gamers who, before, would rarely see the inside of a dungeon (/queue Leroy Jenkins).  It'll be called, "Tank Company Finder"?
• WoT console-gaming <-- eek!  You heard it.  PC gaming and Console gaming has forever been like the story of Lazarus and rich man in the land of the after life: great chasm btwn me and you and I can't get over to ya there son (I was using Jeff Bridges voice from "True Grit" just then).  It'll be interesting to see how this works out.  Me?  I'm die-hard PC gamer.

Oh, and, mods are changing....

Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle

• In combat, tanks "wiggle"
• One guy controlled the entire tank
• Tanks fought entirely alone, without supply trucks or maintenance crews or planes or any non-mobile pieces such as anti-tank crews, artillery, etc
• All tanks ever put to paper were produced
• All tanks of all nations were always mixed-up together, always.  E.g., there was never a side of all german or all russian tanks
• Once a crew fought enough in their tank, they got the next tank up which was always an upgrade
• All tanks followed a linear progression.  None were ever simultaneously made.  All tanks had parents and children, just like bible characters
• Militaries bought stuff for the tanks with pure silver and pure gold -- coins
• When a tank blew up, no one ever got out
• Tanks had ponies on them
• Related to the last point: some tanks were painted pink
• Tanks were not in armies or did not report to national govts.  No, they formed into "clans"
• These "clans" were both "scrub" and "elite"
• Tank wheels were hexagonal
• Tank guns were solid with fake holes in the ends of them
• When not running their tanks, tankers gathered into a large "forum" and insulted each other

Note, original title for this post was: "WVGHTMATW what video games have taught me about tank warfare"

^What wiggling may look like....

World of Tanks: 9 Battles, Narrative & Stats

Since the changes to wot-news.com ... xvm ... efficiency, AKA, "new efficiency" I have been enthralled with the statistic.  Namely because, mine dropped 70 points -- from 15010 to 1440 (currently, 1441).  In an effort to understand, I re-installed WOT Statistics and began monitoring each battle more carefully.

Below is, 1st, a narrative of each battle just after, and even whilst still going on.  The narrative's are rough remembrances almost.  It's odd to me to that, having just done something, I can find it hard to remember what _just_ happened ... at least precisely.  Also, it is amazing to "feel" one way about a battle, and then look at the raw stats, and see that -- it either went much better than I thought or, in most cases, much worse.  Of course, this is statistically-speaking.

The Narrative:

1st battle: Map: Karelia. Tank: Lion.  Spawned in South.  I was 2nd best player on team by xvm with a blue M48 Patton being the top (he had 1500 something eff).  We were vs 3 unicums.  An orange T69 rushed middle and shot me down taking 1/5th my hp before I found cover.  My arty missed killing him.  Uncicums went south of course (unicums always go south there).  I sniped one from my position at E3 dmging.  One unicum died on that side.  A T54 unicum pushed all the way to our flag almost, to 2 of our 4 arty.  I had read the writing and came all the way through flag cap to ram him before he killed the 2nd and dmged him w/ shots.  I kept him rubbing me until I died from his arty, then our arty killed him.  He said, "thx asshole" <-- not sure if meant for me.  Defeat.

2nd battle: Map: Murovanka: Tank: Mutant 6: Spawn north (enchanted forest side).  I head to NW corner as all heavies should.  I see I'm the _only_ one doing this.  I fall back through flag to flag buildings and fight from there.  Most of the enemy team pushed thru NW.  I snipe a lot.  I pen the Super Pershing a lot for no dmg.  I get down to single digit % hp.  I live.  Victory.

3rd battle: Map: Dragon Ridge: Tank Lion.  Spawned in north.  Head to middle mtn spot and begin sniping.  Do some dmg ok.  Suddenly realize only me and an IS-3 have gone middle.  Rest of team split to far flanks.  Majority of enemy team went middle, including tons of heavies.  I'm facing 2 Lions, a Tiger II, an IS-6, and a couple of their tier 7s.  The IS-3 with me started sniping down into the valley to the left, oblvious to what was going on, I'm sure until after I'm dead and he's being damaged from the ass.  I did a firing retreat as long as I could, but the humps of the gd road kept my gun elevated -- so frustrating....  And all the enemy heavies that barreled non-stop were orange/yellow.  Defeat.

4th battle: Map: Prokhorovka: Tank: Lion.  Spawned south nearer to west side.  Went deep south in wood.  Sniped at pushing enemies.  Our east did great.  Their west kept pushing and dying.  I killed a T30.  Lotsa hits, but mostly non-dmging crits.  Victory

5th battle: Map: Erlenberg: Tank: T34.  Castleside.  Took up position.  Enemy pushed dumb-like north, wide open ground.  At least 2 got mauled, but their majority kept pushing.  I went to help through castle-village, but a T-50 came suirushing through.  Shot, missed him point-blank (rage).  Went after him dumbly, missed again just before he disappeared.  Then, go back to help north, but just got there as last dying.  Got maybe 2 shots off non-dmg pen and one dmg on IS-6/3.  T-50 making 2nd circle same thing (this is within the castle "square" area.  Got him this time, he's dead.  IS-6, Super Pershing and another IS-6/3 went low/back road.  Fought them.  Dmged good Super Pershing in side.  Dmged both IS-6/3s, but died.  Our south push was still going strong when I left to compose this battle.  Checking: Defeat. 80,000 credits.

6th battle: Map: Highway: Tank: T34: Spawned north.  Headed straight for town.  4 big arty each side, but we had the only scout (AMX 13 75).  He lit their JDT (yes, I call it a gd JDT _not_ JT) and our arty kilt it!  Our arty did good hurting they arty.  I dmged: T34, Tiger II.  Killed T34.  Then, pushed on.  Took a good pop from they arty taking me down to some 20%.  Worked even harder to keep buildings on my right.  Tracked their T57 Heavy over and over (well, 3x), but he finally got me.  Victory.  

7th battle: Map: Malinovka: Tank: KV-5: Spawned south. Headed straight hill, didn't stop, hugging east wall ASAP.  Met Type 59 there behind windmill.  I think I bounced 1st shot, switched to gold, penned/dmged.  He died.  I didn't stop.  T34 now just over hill top.  Kept pushing on him.  Bounced, dmged, then he killed me.  We had almost half of them dead when I died.  Checked now.  All dead but 5 and we lost only me.  Only I died.  Only a Hummel left for enemy.  Victory!

8th battle: Map: Abbey: Tank: IS-6: Spawned South. Pushed east mega hard!  Dmged: IS, Tiger II, Panther I.  Killed at least Tiger II I think.  Kept pushing.  Killed arty.  Made flag circle.  2 IS-6 enemies came back to reset.  Dmged/killed 1 or both. Victory!

9th battle: Map: Steppes: Tank: Type 59: Spawned South.  Decided to go for spotting/detection.  Rushed like n00b to F2, up to rocks (I had seen a Type 59 do this well since to get around rocks to hit it means exposing oneself to ally fire).  We had 3 good sized arties.  Well, 4 or 5 enemies come around the rock regardless and kill me pretty quick.  Yes, they took _some_ dmg from my allies, but not enough (I think arty was playing "go fish").  But, I think what I did delayed their west push -- had to, they were all on me, and Type don't die _that_ fast.  Ok, our east push deep into, no, all over they base while their west push still 1/4 of the way to to go ours, but down to the proper row/same row as our base.  Ok, we are at 50% cap now and they are all dead but 2 (we got 7 alive).  Victory!

And now, the Stats:

^the stats ... eek? or no eek?

Stats don't lie.  A grand total efficiency of 961 for these nine battles.  According to the "measure" for efficiency, in these 9 battles I am a "bad" player.

You can calculate your own efficiency at wot-news.com, here.

Luckily, my efficiency is more than just these 9 battles, but this showed me how I perceive things and how they actually are.

Getting into the battle is import.  But then, living is important beyond that.  And you can't just live.  You have to cause damage, or help others to cause damage <-- _this_ is the essence of wot-news.com/xvm/new-efficiency.

World of Tanks: Scouting

There are essential parts and pieces to World of Tanks:

Artillery: (I can hear the hissing)
Brawlers: mediums and heavies that can take a beating
Snipers: tank destroyers and some heavies and even mediums that can hit, "from a long goddamn way off...." (<-- love that quote from the movie, "Shooter").

Scouts: Lights (I've seen some guides say, "anything can be a scout: heavies, mediums, etc...." <-- I say bullshit).

^Why did I say bullshit?  Cuz lights keep their hide value even when moving.  Lights are not "sometimes fast."  They are always fast.  Even the slow ones are fast.

Without further ado, here's a great replay showing just how well a light can do the job of a scout.  It is a VK2801, sans binocular telescope, sans camouflage net, but _with_ sixth sense which is one of the fav skills and perks of the veterans of World of Tanks.  The spot he finds to hide is incredible, and this replay also shows just how close other tanks can get to a light without having a clue he's there.

World of Tanks: Noobmeter.com's "OP Rating"

The statician(s) at noobmeter.com -- in late January -- blogged about a new measure he's been working on: OP Rating.  I.e., a rating to show which tanks are "OP."

Of note, the IS-6 and, _especially_, the KV-5 were near the top in tier 8 "HT" (Heavy Tank):

His words:
IS-6 and KV-5 performing very well, I think the gold ammo for credits has helped them as they lacked good guns. FCM 50t and VK4502A are both underperforming.  Here we also clearly see that M6A2E1 is owned by the best players - as it was a pre-order special so mostly players from the beta times got it.

blog.noobmeter.com

 LEVEL 8 Heavy Tank:

#	Tank	Nation	Battles	Tank WR	Player WR	OP rating
1	110	CH	3,441	56.7%	53.7%	1.06
2	IS-6	RU	43,640	49.7%	50.1%	0.99
3	KV-5	RU	75,339	50.5%	51.3%	0.98
4	T32	US	75,147	51.2%	52.4%	0.98
5	IS-3	RU	275,649	50.1%	51.4%	0.97
6	Caernarvon	UK	44,700	51.5%	52.9%	0.97
7	AMX 50 100	FR	40,620	51.5%	53.1%	0.97
8	T34	US	254,024	50.0%	52.0%	0.96
9	PzKpfw VIB Tiger II	DE	166,122	49.0%	51.0%	0.96
10	KV-4	RU	46,490	49.3%	51.3%	0.96
11	Löwe	DE	142,571	49.3%	51.3%	0.96
12	M6A2E1	US	921	53.5%	56.4%	0.95
13	VK 4502 (P) Ausf. A	DE	40,789	48.6%	51.4%	0.94
14	FCM 50t	FR	16,655	47.8%	50.8%	0.94

MS Office 2013 Takes The Microsoft Tax To A New Level

Microsoft is making the hardware=to the software.

"We want it this big"

Basically, you get a one-shot install of Office 2013 on a piece of hardware.  Buy a new computer, replace the old one, toss it away, or if it goes up in a fire ... you gotta buy another install:

To confirm the language in the EULA, the folks at Computerworld sent Microsoft a message clarifying that once Office 2013 is activated on a computer, the license cannot be reused on a different computer, to which the response was 'Correct.' In an attempt to further clarify, Microsoft was then asked whether the EULA prevented users who replaced their computer from reusing their license again on the new PC, to which the company responded that it had no comment.


Apparently, this is meant to force Office 365 usage ... still, when they forced companies over a decade a go to pay for a Windows license _whether_the_machine_was_sold_with_windows_or_not_ I'm fairly certain it had nothing to do with "the cloud"....

World of Tanks: Clans Part II