Wheat, Chickens, and Animal Pens

Tags

Minecraft

While I had a lot of free computer time today, the same day that World of Tanks 7.3 launches, I didn’t even log in.    I am having quite a bit of fun with Minecraft.

First, I created enough fencing to enclose a fairly large area, and managed to lure a chicken and two pigs into it. It currently has two chickens and a sheep in there as well.

Next I became a farmer. That’s wheat growing there.

It turns out most of the attraction of this game is collecting the rarer resources and putting them to good use.   Seeds and food are in short supply in my game world; stone and wood are plentiful.   I’m still trying to work out how to best feed myself, and I’m having a total blast.

While the 7.3 Update loads…

Tags

Minecraft, World of Tanks

It’s finally here – version 7.3 for World of Tanks.    Interesting timing for them to bring out the update – in the middle of a week-long 5x event.    If only I’d had that event earlier, I could perhaps have made it farther up the soviet tree.   Oh well.

Updating…

It turns out that Minecraft for the Itouch is not exactly the full version, and I have one animated little boy talking about how to play it and playing with his dad.    So naturally, I dusted off my year-old license and fired it up last night.

Minecraft is a strange little beastie.   It’s a sandbox game which most of you have already played, but it never quite caught my interest as a statistical gamer.    Usually, I just like to achieve something like removing all the fog of war, earning the top levels, things like that.    So it was hard to see the attraction of just surviving and finding something to do.    But with my son, we’re having a ball.    He wants to know all the crafting recipes, and figure out what to do, and it’s just so fun to watch his mind work through the whole thing.

Spiffier load screen than I remember

My first game in Minecraft went badly.   I loaded up the game with a vague notion that I needed to craft a pick, went looking around for trees, and ended up dead in the middle of the night.   I respawned, went looking for more trees and found them, but couldn’t find shelter or craft anything in time.    Death #2.    Respawned, went back to the area where I had died to see if I could get the items back, and fell in a hole.   Inside the hole, was a lava field.   Death #3.

OK.   Time to stop trying the jump-in-and-play method.   I watched a video showing how to play minecraft (which I can’t seem to refind), and read the tutorial on the wiki.    Started a brand new world and this time, I survived fine.

The Inside

I hollowed out a little cave in a mountain nearby, figured out how to make two very large chests, as well as the basic crafting table.    Some items you can craft without a table, many require this though.    Also made a furnace, which allows you to work with metal.

From the outside

I’ve been collecting resources, which may be the reason I’ve played the game so long, probably a game month.     I’m currently tearing down most of a hill to use to create a flat area in front of my house for farming and food purposes.    If you notice, I have two “turkey legs” left on my character and need to get a move on with securing reliable food.

As I tear down the hill I decided to leave a spire which is my primitive guard tower and lets me look down over a large amount of the game world.    I made the spire as I struggled to cut down some of these monstrously large amazon trees.

Currently filling in that watery area on the left. This will be my farm.

Having fun with this and letting it be a part of my current gaming rotation.

Malinovka Hill Attack #2

Tags

Maps, World of Tanks

What if you’re on Malinovka and camping is not your style ?    Go for the hill.

The hill starts at C0 to A0, and also goes to A7.    This high vantage point gives the team that controls it a lot of advantages.   Fighting over it, is said to usually win the game, and that seems true many times.

From Base 1, at a minimum you’ll want to move alongside the forest and get set up along the D line.   This can be played defensively by waiting for the enemy to crest the hill and start down, in which case you engage them and wipe them out.   They often come over one at a time, so if you have enough people waiting for them you get the victory.

Be aware of the flanking possibilities of the upper field at B7/B8/C7/C8 etc.    This is often obvious because the tanks just get spotted coming across.    One person entering that area is usually suicide.

If you want to advance to the top of the hill, move quickly and don’t delay.    You probably will meet enemy tanks at the top, and engage them around the windmill area.    If you take it, you can set up and wait for enemies to march up the hill.   You can also sit at the crest and try and snip down towards the church, but I find this doesn’t work too well.

If the timing is right, move down the hill towards the church and engage any defenders.   They will be in many possible positions around the church.    Take them out and usually that’s the end of serious opposition.    Next it’s time to hunt arty and cap the base.

If you get this far, make sure and call out to your base-defending teammates.   This is the time for them to support your final move in, by crossing the usually suicidal field, and to capture the base.

Most of this is similar if you’re at Base 2.   Move on up first towards B6 and the Church; decide whether to defend or move up the hill.       If attacking, move up and take the hilltop, and if appropriate move on over the hill.   Be ready for an enemy defensive position because they can slaughter you if you’re not careful.

Even if they are there, with enough speed you may be able to run down the hill and make it into the forest and disappear from their map.     This gives you the opportunity to snip and ambush them from behind, unless they give up the defense of the hill.    Run through the forest, and take out any enemy arty you can find, and get ready to make your final push onto the base.    Tell teammates to charge the field.

Base 1 is much easier to defend in my experience.    The farmhouses around K7 leave defenders a lot of chances to peekaboo you to death, so be ready – advance along the H line with most of your force and you can often decimate the defenders. Watch out for K7 and cap the base.

Now, in my experience, the hill is best attacked from Base 1.     Base 2 is at a disadvantage for some reason – it seems harder to reach the top in a mad dash to do so.    Base 2 is also at a disadvantage for defending from the hilltop, as the cross-field sniping seems easier/better for Base 1.   Be aware of this and play accordingly.

My second favorite map; lots of possibilities to satisfy every playstyle.

The much-maligned Malinovka Camp #1

Tags

Maps, World of Tanks

The ultimate camper map, I love Malinovka unlike many other players.

I’ll illustrate the approaches I use to the map, which include Swamp, Hill, Camp, Breakthrough, or Scout Rush.

The easiest thing to do is sit still and wait for an impatient enemy, aka camp.    If at base 2, there’s a bush along the extreme right that offers cover while you wait.    Base 1 has numerous bushy areas along the sides of the farm buildings.    Sit and watch what happens – as enemies rush out, kill/snipe them, and remember to move afterwards.   Behind buildings works well to keep the arty from counter-battery fire against you.

Beware – many players get BORED doing this and either rush the base (not good, if they are your teammates) or otherwise throw things off.   Don’t be fooled – keeping enough people in the base to take out the enemy is critical to success on the map. Patience is rewarded.   Almost any tank can successfully use this strategy.

Both bases have an “anti-camper” strategy; I like to use it at Base 1 if I’m a low tank.   The strat is to get the enemy to keep shooting at something he can’t reasonably hit, and burn up a lot of his ammunition.    The buildings at J4 and H5 with windows are the spots.   Just bounce around inside of them and throw the occasional unaimed shot out the window.   Watch the enemy throw lots of shells at you which explode harmlessly against the side of the building.    Don’t sit still – some people are hellish snipers (or simply lucky) and will kill you through the window.

I can’t really tell how well this works or how much it matters, but from teammate feedback on my team, sometimes people run out of shells on this map.   I infer this gives a bit of an advantage to your team, provided you can keep from getting hit or killed.

Base 2 has a similar location – the wooden palisade.    Drive a low tank from one end of the palisade to another.    The top of the tank is visible in a maybe 5%-10% shot to most tanks, which is impossible to hit while moving, and unlikely if you’re sitting still.    This is why I know the strat works – I used to try and kill these buggers and waste a ton of ammunition.

Now, suppose you are a very fast tank, either light or medium.     You might want to try and make a breakthrough to the base on the other side.   This works a bit for Base 2 – but you must have a solid force and little opposition, and if that’s true, then it’s not hard to do.   Just drive over and attack the base.

The real breakthrough is if you’re attacking Base 1.    Run a tank over there and stay on the north side of the two buildings.   Take cover behind the building at J3 and light up your enemies.    This lets your team at the base snipe them to death and arty can shower them with HE.     Take care not to let anyone shoot you through a window, or sneak around a building and get you.    If they peek out around the buildings anyway, they are exposed to your teammates and can be pounded.

Either way, if you are succesfully able to attack the base this means victory most of the time.    The counter to this strategy is a little outcropping on the other side of the lake at G7.    Sit there and watch the base building, you can snipe the attacker to death from there.

The Scout Rush for Base 1 can be similar to the breakthrough.   This is for a T-50-2, BT-7, or other solidly speedy and maneuverable tank.    Run a circle starting in front of the buildings – turn around while in front of one, and dash off to the other side.   Repeat as long as you can.

You can also speed into the base if it’s lightly defended.   Drive through like a bad pizza deliveryman and get out.    Lighting up the defenders is critical to getting them arty’ed and sniped to death.    You can repeat this maneuver if the enemy seems particularly unable to deal with it.

One final thing to be aware of is the Swamp Crawl – drive up to the start of the swamp at H6 or E4.    Move, slowly, from one bush to another and wait for the enemy to move up on you.    If you have a good gun, good camo, and all of that, you can sometimes pick them off one after the other, either simply playing defensively and letting them come; or crawling slowly to their base and getting ready to support or start a rush on the base.    Very much a patience game, and not recommended for a slow tank or even a fast one.

Month End Update

Tags

World of Tanks

It seems I’ve been drawn into exploring the American TD tree, by getting a half price Easy 8 and by my insistence on eliting tanks.

My progress through American tanks

The T82 wasn’t my type of tank – the best gun is the howitzer which you have to wait and watch it travel to your target.    I am always shooting things that move, not often things sitting still.    Definitely enjoyed the T40 and kept it.    This little guy has over 100 rounds of ammo and is therefore perfectly suited to Sand River map and demolishing the town.    It rattles your enemies and removes places for them to hide if you destroy the town from afar.

I now have both the M8A1 and the Wolverine and am grinding my way up.    I’m not really sure anymore where it’s going to end, to be honest.    I think I will unlock the Hellcat and the Slugger, but who knows – I’m remembering to have fun.     My Wolverine has a 100% crew thanks to the weekend sale on training.

Other things to note :

• Bought gold.    Finally spending actual money on gaming, dropped $50 in April on the gold.
• Easy 8 has 22k of 55k towards T20.    KV has 71k towards S-51.
• KV-3 has unlocked another gun, and has one more (100mm) to go before the grind towards the IS.     I’m not enjoying the KV-3 anymore.   I seem to get into matches each time with tanks I can’t penetrate except by luck.    Doesn’t matter if I’m hitting that IS or KV-5 in the back, I always seem to bounce or get the useless “Penetration” with no damage shot.

Kid Gaming

Tags

Minecraft, Pet Shop Story

Children are fantastic.   You never know what surprises are in store for you with them.

I came home from a business trip yesterday, and my 8-yr-old son tells me “Hey Dad – look at my house in Minecraft.”    He hands me his itouch and I look around at his house.    He’s made a nice little beachhouse with a roof, little chairs inside, two pools outside, and a garden planted around it.    I was floored.

This is a kid who I’ve been trying to get immersed in things for some time – he’s the type of little guy who wants to try things once.    He downloads a game, plays backgammon, runs and kicks a ball, and declares he’s done.     But apparently, not Minecraft.    This has been his thing to do with free time for perhaps two weeks (when I’m not saying “itouches down” that is).

He really seemed to get the idea of Minecraft after I told him “Basically, it’s just like Legos” and he’s been working on his house for over a week.    It appears they may be getting closer to wanting to play Dad-style games someday, we can only hope.

I am really tired of playing Pet Shop Story with my 11-yr-old daughter, but she loves animals and I would do anything for her.   Obviously.   If I keep sending her cushions and blue hooks and whatever else she needs.

The real problem is my daughter is too smart now.   She calls me out on being a hypocrite – “You won’t let us play lots of games but you do even more than we do!”.     So far I can still play the Dad card but I’m worried about what happens in a few years.

Match 8000

Tags

World of Tanks

Tonight I have played my 8,000th match.

I hit 7,000 on March 27th, meaning it took me a mere 29 days to move to this milestone.

It seemed only appropriate to use my MS-1 for the match :

The random map was Mines

And dramatis personae

Things did not start well.   Nearly the entire team headed straight to the island.    usually, the problem is not enough, but these guys….

Surrendering the center and the east flank ?

And yet, things seemed to turn around.    I managed to snipe a lot of center tanks, and take out the ones pushing onto our base.    And next thing I know, five minutes has elapsed, and we’ve won !

Base captured !

That works for me.

With the mighty MS-1 on top as always

A few other things of note at this milestone.

• I have finally 100%’d the Tetrarch, and selected Brothers In Arms for the crew to learn next.   But I’ve taken them off the primary list anyway.
• I elited the T82.    It’s an interesting TD with one strange weapon – a direct fire howitzer, which I eventually decided I didn’t like.    Sold it and moved the crew into the T40, which is now grinding up to 14k for the next unlock (currently 3k)
• KV-3 has 13k of the 34k needed for the two guns I don’t expect to use.   KV is 58k towards 127k for the S-51.   Easy 8 has 14k of 56k needed for the T20.
• MS-1 now achieved 60% towards the BIA perk.   I’m not expecting this to unlock until 1,000 matches….. if then even.    It’s strange, you need to play less battles to get crew skills in T10 tanks, than in T1.    Turning them into real forces to fear will take an incredible amount of determination.
• I’m just in the top 9,000 worldwide for wins, and battles played; and I’m in the top 3,000 for capture points.

Any bets on when I’ll hit 10,000 matches ?    July 1st ?

 

Being Griefed

Tags

World of Tanks

It took over 7,600 battles but I got, very much, individually griefed.    My first clue should have been the guys name – teamkiller(numbers).

He pulled up behind me in his BT-2 and sat there, as if he wanted to push me out into the field at Malinovka.    No matter where I drove he followed me like a shadow, looking for a way to get into my way.    He fired randomly to draw attention to the area we were in.    And after politely asking him to stop he just kept doing it, so it was griefing as opposed to being clueless.    Eventually he admitted it with a  ”LOL you gonna die”.

I spent the match trying to get rid of him and getting increasingly angry.   Guess who was the last one to die on our losing match ?   Yep.    I cheered at the idea of him dieing.

The effort this takes is hard to understand.    They create a second account, play enough games to at least unlock the BT-2, and are very careful not to shoot me, or ram me, or otherwise trigger the automated antigriefing systems built into the game.    This is fun for some twisted people ?

But, good things also happened.   I’ve elited the Tiger and don’t have to play it anymore.    I think I’ve changed my mind about it – with some camo skill, plus a camo net, seems I can stay undetected long enough to do some damage.    And when it’s on top I’m getting much better at excelling with it – my last match was a walkover win in Himmelsdorf.

I’ve also bought two more primary tanks – The T82 American TD, because I want to work my way up the primary US TD line.    See if following the logic makes any sense :

1. I want to elite the Easy 8.
2. It costs 51,900 xp to research the slugger, via the Easy 8.
3. From the Wolverine it costs a mere 21,850.
4. Therefore I need to work my way up the Wolverine path to elite the Easy 8.
5. First step is eliting the T82.

Also finally went ahead and bought the KV-3.     Played several matches in it and realized that stock, it’s miserable.    I blew free XP and got the turret, tracks, and a new gun, and now it’s kind of fun.   It’s a damage sponge, and feels even slower than the KV.       Over the weekend they’re having a 50% sale on crew training which should help some, and need another 7k XP or so to unlock the engine upgrade.

Himmelsdorf #2 – Hill and Slow Tanks

Tags

World of Tanks

Suppose, instead of a TD/Tank, you are stuck on this map and are an arty ?

There are several opportunities along the railways.    No bushes, but at least you get a chance to shoot at the enemy, especially if he sits still too long.    The 5/6 line at base 2 provides a lot of chances to take shots at the enemy.     I’ve even lost one map, where fast mediums along with the arty took the hill, and then ran in and captured a lightly defended base.

But arty is not my strong suit.   Nevertheless, this is how I’d play my Hummel.

Another possible approach is the big hill.   This only works if you’re driving a scout or other fast tank.   Starting booking it along the edges of the map and don’t worry about the enemy until you reach the C/D line or the G/H line.

If you drove too slow of a tank up here, alone, you’re dead.   If you were fast, you will either catch the enemy scooting around and setting up (in which case, engage!), or you can get into position and wait for them.    You may choose to go the extreme east around the rubble pile, and wait for them to crest the hill.    This works best if attacking base 1.    Or you can round the corner of the castle and be ready for them to come up the road(s).   This works best if attacking base 2.

Having defeated the enemy, you have two options – snipe from up top, or run down into the base.    I have found the snipe only works if you are playing the lowest tiers, 1-3.   It can be devastating though, if the enemy doesn’t understand where the shots are coming from.    Leaning over the cliff edge and shooting enemies in tank alley can turn the tide of the battle for you.

So when sniping’s done, or it’s time to attack the base, follow different tracks depending on which base you are attacking.

Base 1 has one approach down the hill, and two once you reach the bottom – northernmost road along A line, or the 2nd road along the B line.    View what’s going on there, and make a decision, and try and shoot along one of the roads.    B line is helpful if the enemy is still shooting down “Tank Alley”, or if an ambusher is waiting along A line.    After reaching the base, follow previous advice about capping.

Base 2 has two approaches down the hill – the edge, which leads you along the K line, or the twisting shorter route through H9/G9.    If there are known enemies along the K line, I usually take the twisty way.     If not, it’s a good route to head directly into the base.     This way you often have to watch out more for the enemy and react appropriately.   If you reach the base, follow previous advice.

The twisty route first brings you to one end of tank alley; engage the enemy if present and assist your teammates at the other end.    If it’s only one of them and/or slow tanks, you might scoot by, but that’s risky.    If you make it into the base, you’re ready to cap.

This method works best for

• The fastest tanks like BT-2, BT-7, Leopard, T-50; and fast mediums.
• Superfast TD’s like the SU-76, and the Stug.

What if, you’re a slow reload (derp) tank, and/or you’re very slow ?    Now it’s time to either head into Tank alley, or wing it.

Tank alley is a meat grinder.    Everyone goes in; if you’re lucky, one or two come out.    It can also be a walkover where you wipe the other guys out but that’s rare in my experience.    Thus, if you have the slow tank and want to do this, expect to die.

Stop at either C8/D7 (Base 1) or G7 (Base 2).    Trade shots and peekaboo.   Wait for teammates to appear and help you by breaking through the center, or along other streets.   If you’re fortunate, advance and cap the base.

I have found success with the ultimate slow and slow-reload tank, the 152mm KV, by going straight up the middle.    The road along the D/G line are the flanking lines for tank alley; stop here and wait for them.   When the enemy comes through there, kill one of them and retreat to reload.   You might be able to get two of them but more than that is rare.    If the battle goes favorably, head straight in towards the base and cap.

Hands down, this is my favorite map in the game, and it’s apparently the community’s favorite too

Update for 4/17/12

Tags

World of Tanks

New progress has been made.

• Elited the Leopard.   No question, even after the crew made 94%, I like the T-50 much better.    Think I’ll let that one sit.
• Elited the T29.     I did the right thing, I believe – getting the engines last.   It’s a very marginal improvement, but it is there.
• Sold my VK3001P.   Kept the crew, but I can hardly play the other tanks I have, and I just can’t get interested in running this one again for any reason.     This gave me enough money to be ready to purchase a KV3 and still have my 8m credit cushion.
• All modules researched for my Easy 8.   Oh, that thing is a beast to play.     I went with individual crew skills for it and will have a better feel for them when they are around 90% or so.
• Probably tonight my T28 will finally have 100% crew.

Not sure what I’ll do next, once I have more tanks at 100% crew skills plus finishing the Tiger.     Tiger II is just a few thousand XP away.    I think I’ll work the KV3 since I want to buy the thing soon anyway.