French tanks? No thanks.

[mccarthypaulsimon11]

Bonjour!

Disclaimer: I have nothing against France.

WTF is wrong with the French tanks in the game? If the real life ones were anything like this, it's no wonder they lost the so badly on the battlefields.

Seriously, this is like a cruel joke. I've decided to complete an entire nation's lines of tanks (I am a completionist) and have decided to start with the garlic-munchers because they have a simple small line. I must have made a horrible mistake. I feel cheated and dirty and I'm only at tier v.

Tiers I-III weren't bad tbf, but not great tanks.
Tier IV The B1 is actually decent, although for a heavy it bruises like a b*****. Probably what the 'B' stands for.
The SAU TD is fine. Again, you can sneeze and it blows up. it's dreadful, but whatever, just push on through. Still grinding for the next TD from this.

Tier V worse than the preceding tier. BDRG is the shining light, actually enjoyed playing this.
AMX EL Bis is obviously a joke. Like, it literally has no armour. It's turret can only turn a little bit (like a stupid TD). That's a great mechanic on a light tank, right? Idiot French. They're idiots. I basically just spot in this, pop out and fire, ricochet, try to escape and then a gust of wind blows me up. I actually think being spotted in this thing means you take damage. Pathetic tank.


But the WORST. WORST tank by far is the ARL 44. I mean come on. The thing can't move, can't rotate it's big fat turret within the time limit of the game and has ZERO accuracy. I've been completely still, crosshair circle narrrowed completely, enemy AFK and still the bullets completely miss the tank. It also has NO turret armour. Seriously, you make a house-sized turret, and you put all of the armour in the hull. Why? There are people going in that tank, they'll die.
I haven't gotten the last gun, so maybe it suddenly becomes somewhat playable, but good grief this is like a sick joke. Like the French tank designers were secretly working for the N***s? Were they?

Anyway, looks like I have just over 100,000 combat points to earn in this piece of hell before I can continue the line.

Question: do the French tanks get any better?

Au revoir muthafochs

[Neithan]

Hey, don't underestimated the advantages the french have brought to tank warfare. I mean, iirc they historically were the first to come up with a reverse-gear (all jokes aside, that indeed was a great improvement to the tanks manouverability on the battlefield).
And a rearview-mirror is always welcome, to have the front in view.

Scnr, but again, jokes aside, that is actually a hint on how to play the french light tanks, as "running away" is your way of survival. Only to come in from another angle at a later point, unleashing your damage, before, again, just running away. They are just not build for sustained battle in any way, and once you learn to acknowledge (and embrace) that, you should do fine.

Although, can't wait for your rant when you encounter the limited vertical capabilities of the AMX lights, like not just depression, but esp. elevation, those dumplings can't aim up for sh*t, and dare the terrain is not "even".

Regarding the ARL 44, haven't bothered with in in a while, but generally, it was regarded a beast (always a frightful enemy) with the top gun, able to dish out damage even when lowtier. But yes, the size, armor-profile and tracks-layout is something that severly gimps the tank, you have to carefully play around those problems and use your strengths to your advantage (like, you know, with basically any tank).

[Catweazle]

the ARL 44 is a great tank. Just try playing a tournament in tier 6, it will be full of ARLs. This tank has a fantastic DPM (damage-per-minute) with good penetration and still decent frontal armor. Yes, traverse is not good, but overall the ARL 44 is a very good tank :)

[mccarthypaulsimon11]

Originally posted by Catweazle:

the ARL 44 is a great tank. Just try playing a tournament in tier 6, it will be full of ARLs. This tank has a fantastic DPM (damage-per-minute) with good penetration and still decent frontal armor. Yes, traverse is not good, but overall the ARL 44 is a very good tank :)

I wouldn't dream of taking this thing into a tournament (it's bad enough shame punting it out of my hangar).
I honestly don't get the DPM reference. The reload on this is chronically bad. It's almost as slow as the turret rotation. Maybe the DPM improves with one of the upgrades?

I can't really speak to that, as I'm struggling to grind with this bucket.

I do have to argue about the armour. I have researched this, and experienced it, and the armour is truly dreadful. There is NO armour on the turrret. The turret takes up 90% of the thing (hyperbole).

Back to the grind ...

[MoyZ3]

EVERYTHING you say is garbage. Its like the opposite of reality. A mirror universe where the ARL is useless. Like come on, that tank is awesome. If played properly, which you are clearly not. Oh hold on, i just reread a line - you are talking stock tanks level. not even fully upgraded? I bet you wont load equipment or prammo either.

This is a waste of time. Wow. Just, wow

[EL_Din_46]

Originally posted by mccarthypaulsimon11:

I wouldn't dream of taking this thing into a tournament (it's bad enough shame punting it out of my hangar).
I honestly don't get the DPM reference. The reload on this is chronically bad. It's almost as slow as the turret rotation. Maybe the DPM improves with one of the upgrades?

I can't really speak to that, as I'm struggling to grind with this bucket.

I do have to argue about the armour. I have researched this, and experienced it, and the armour is truly dreadful. There is NO armour on the turrret. The turret takes up 90% of the thing (hyperbole).

Back to the grind ...

Seeing a stock ARL I know that I'll be able to farm some damage. Try to avoid driving stock tanks, or at least upgrade to the top gun first. If you absolutely have to drive a stock tank and the tier is high enough, drive them in fun modes.

There's a few ways to make the grind a little easier without spending gold..

Only use your combat xp boosters on the tanks you are grinding. Be sure to play those tanks every day so you get the advantage of the x2 xp multiplier for the first win. If you get x3 or better multipliers immediately switch to the tanks you are grinding. You can't save those multipliers for later, so don't waste them.

Save your free xp for upgrading to the top gun. You only earn it at a rate of 5% of your combat xp so it's valuable. Be patient and play other tanks until you've saved enough free xp. Since free xp can be used to research any tank, use your free xp boosters on the tanks you play well and get the most xp from playing them. The daily x2 xp multipliers will double all types of xp earned, so getting that first win on your best tanks will help.

If the tank's tier is high enough, grind in fun modes that have multiple lives: Uprising and Big Boss, iirc. Your x2 multipliers and boosters will be good for two three lives instead of one.

[Greygamer]

With all respect I think you are wrong about the the French tanks, you cannot play all tanks in the same way.
It is required to learn the strengths and weaknesses and figure out how.
B1 at tier iv is my preferred heavy over the Matilda, it is just so nimble with similar penetration to the Matilda.
Early heavy tanks were designed to stay at range and give fire support to the infantry and cruiser tanks. The B1 is more like a medium in terms of manoeuvrability.
The D2 is one of the top three tanks at tier III in my opinion, good dpm and when it stays at range will get many bounces on its front armor, the turret is small so makes a difficult target when hull down.

The ARL actually had to be nerfed because it was considered over powered! The turret cheeks were weakened.
Going forward French heavies play more live mediums (Heavyium) with not great armor but good manoeuvrabilty and strong guns.

I suggest you might want to try the German/American/Russian tech trees for something more conventional.

Good Luck and have fun.

[mccarthypaulsimon11]

Originally posted by MoyZ3:

EVERYTHING you say is garbage. Its like the opposite of reality. A mirror universe where the ARL is useless. Like come on, that tank is awesome. If played properly, which you are clearly not. Oh hold on, i just reread a line - you are talking stock tanks level. not even fully upgraded? I bet you wont load equipment or prammo either.

This is a waste of time. Wow. Just, wow

Everything I say is garbage? Really? The mobility and the turret rotation don't suck? Yeah, so you're demonstrably wrong there.
How is it awesome? As in, awe-inspiring? Or are you being hyperbolic again?
I may well not be playing it properly, please be actually useful and explain how I should do this.
Yes, I am talking stock levels, try reading properly, but then ... also go back and edit what you wrote to reflect what you misread. Jesus.
I rarely use prammo, but I always fully equip ech tank, so ... you're wrong again. Gratz.

A waste of time because you literally had not a single constructive or informative sentence in the entire post. Literally. You had plenty of errors, though.

[mccarthypaulsimon11]

With all respect I think you are wrong about the the French tanks'

Very possible.

'you cannot play all tanks in the same way.'

I know.

It is required to learn the strengths and weaknesses and figure out how.

I know this.

B1 at tier iv is my preferred heavy over the Matilda, it is just so nimble with similar penetration to the Matilda.

I agree. I did point out that I liked the B1.

The D2 is one of the top three tanks at tier III in my opinion, good dpm and when it stays at range will get many bounces on its front armor, the turret is small so makes a difficult target when hull down.

I did mention that I liked the lower tier French tanks. I agree.

The ARL actually had to be nerfed because it was considered over powered!

That might explain why I struggle to like it.

The turret cheeks were weakened.

Good lord, they nerfed the armour on this thing?

Going forward French heavies play more live mediums (Heavyium) with not great armor but good manoeuvrabilty and strong guns.

Thank you, I guess I do have to figure out why the ARL 44 is so good. Nobody has been able/attempted to tell me why this is yet. I figured the selling point was the gun, but it is SO inaccurate and the turret takes a minute to rotate.

I suggest you might want to try the German/American/Russian tech trees for something more conventional.

Thank you, I am thinking maybe the yank tanks might be interesting.

Good Luck and have fun.

Tank you (boom boom), and you too. I appreciate the response.

[KatherineFtw]

Originally posted by mccarthypaulsimon11:

Question: do the French tanks get any better?

Depends on what you mean by better and which Tier 10 we are talking about. Overall, from what I can remember of the French tech tree before I left two or three years ago, the AMX 50 B and the Foch 155 are the most competitive tier 10's. The Foch 155 has a pretty decent damage output, both in per shot and per clip. You just have to remember is that France is the autoloader nation, which favors a particular playstyle. If you want tanks, particularly heavy tanks, that favor armor/a frontline role more than an autoloader/support role I'd advise you to look at the German and Soviet tech trees. The MUAS and IS-7 were pretty competitive last time I played.

[mccarthypaulsimon11]

Originally posted by KatherineFtw:

Originally posted by mccarthypaulsimon11:

Question: do the French tanks get any better?

Depends on what you mean by better and which Tier 10 we are talking about. Overall, from what I can remember of the French tech tree before I left two or three years ago, the AMX 50 B and the Foch 155 are the most competitive tier 10's. The Foch 155 has a pretty decent damage output, both in per shot and per clip. You just have to remember is that France is the autoloader nation, which favors a particular playstyle. If you want tanks, particularly heavy tanks, that favor armor/a frontline role more than an autoloader/support role I'd advise you to look at the German and Soviet tech trees. The MUAS and IS-7 were pretty competitive last time I played.

Heeded this advice already and am having a lot more fun with the German and Soviet line. I also won a Tornvagen (think that's the name) which is awesome. I have the Silencer too and have been grinding and finally have the Waffentager or whatever it's called from the German line. Liking that too.

I guess I just don't suit the ARL 44. Ovo a lot of people seem to like it, but to each their own.

[Greygamer]

Originally posted by mccarthypaulsimon11:

I guess I just don't suit the ARL 44. Ovo a lot of people seem to like it, but to each their own.

Not all tanks suit everyone tbh, so many tanks for free that you can always find enough that are suitable. Sometimes I just free xp some tanks because they don't work for me