WOTBB 49 – Release the Kraken – Amaunet85's blog and whatnot

Original date of blog: January 10th, 2015

I’ve learned a great deal during Winter Manoeuvres. About myself, and about my tanking. Before, I was never keen on going solo, and when I didn’t feel like being in a platoon, and didn’t feel like being social, I’d go sealclub or go to my reroll. Considering this contest was all about dealing as much Dimi-Damage as possible, sealclubbing wasn’t an option, nor was not being on my main account. So, despite knowing it would pretty much destroy my ratings, I decided that the only way I could deal proper Dimi-Damage was going solo in tier X.

And it went surprisingly well. I lost more games than I would in a toon, but it really didn’t go that bad. I’d equal between 3k and 5k damage per game for the most part, win or lose. And because it wasn’t about winning to begin with, I felt less bad about losing whenever I did, as long as I did proper damage. And the perfect tank for me was the E100. The Kraken is such a beast when it’s released, and as long as you don’t meet players you know and that can use their prammo well, it’s perfect for tier X sealclubbing.

I had one match on Copperfield though, that drove me utterly mad. The results looked like this:

I hadn’t aced the E100 at the time then, and I don’t have any ras above tier III. So that win would have been so epic. One minute more, and I would have won instead of a draw. I bounced 18 shots. Eightteen! Even for the Kraken, that’s a lot. Broke my heart, that match, and I didn’t want to play at all anymore after it. But, Dimi-Damage. So I continued. Not in the E100 though. Hated the tank for a day or so, but I returned to it, because it let me do the most damage of all my tier X’s, and it was easier to handle than the td’s because of the turret.

And then came December 12th. It was mid-afternoon, and despite refusing to toon – this time not because I wasn’t in the mood to, but because I found out that I did more damage going solo – I was hanging out on ts. There were a bunch of people in the room, and we were generally having a good Phoenix time.

The map I loaded into was Himmelsdorf. It had been added the update just before and I still didn’t know exactly what the best positions in there were. It’s not a favourite map of mine, that’s for sure. We started on the southern spawn. I told the team to go right with me. So of course, half of them went left. This made it look like a very promising match indeed.

So, going right, and using the debris-heaps there, I started shooting enemies. With the E100, that isn’t that hard, because you have a very big gun that does big booms. And I carry loads of HEAT to make up for the fact that the pen isn’t always decent. The first tanks I started shooting were the E3 and the IS8.

While I was shooting those, my team was steadily getting shot, and I bounced some shots like a pro. I say that, but the E100, when angled, is so OP, it’s absolutely wonderful, and I often end up giggling while playing it, because people can’t actually hurt me and it ticks them off. But the E3 was a lucky guy, and bounced some of my shots as well, both AP and HEAT.

All the while around me, my team was steadily vanishing. I didn’t bother looking behind me, because I figured I’d be losing this match anyway. I’d just sell my skin for as much credits as I coul. The enemy mediums had flanked us by now, and were raping my team from behind. I went after the IS8 that went into hiding when the E3 finally got killed. Once he was dead, I turned around to see what was left.

I had a VK 45.02B and a Jpanther II left on my team, and the enemy existed of T54, T44, IS7 and the Object 140. Three quarters of my health left, I turned around and drove back towards the two remaining noobs. They faced the T54 and T44, while I drove off to the adjoining street to take care of the Object 140. That being done, I turned around again, only to see the Jpanther II vanish.

The IS7 was now cutting across the square, a two or three shot. I decided that he was the biggest threat, so went for him, using the dirt heaps to stay hull down properly. I shot him, he shot me, I bounced, he didn’t. I kept my eye on my minimap, and as I shot the IS7 again – leaving him with a massive 35 HP, my final ally, the VK, died.

This did not make me happy.I activated my adrenaline, and HE’d the IS7. Surprisingly enough, he hadn’t damaged me yet. But the reload for that last shot on the IS7 left me wondering why the meds weren’t upon me already. I turned around, and there they were, peaking around the buildings, only just arriving, somehow. It was as if the RGN had given them a traffic jam somewhere. Either way, I liked it.

What I liked less was that they were still full health. Meaning that neither the VK, nor the Jpanther II had been of any use at all. I went for the T54 first, when he peeked out too far from behind his cover. And with that shot, I once again assumed it was game over. But they were not pro’s that would have come out once I fired and circled me to death very quickly. They were noobs, and they kept hiding themselves and trying and failing to play peek-a-boom.

I reloaded, shot the T44 and turned him into a one-shot. At this point in time, some medium instinct of the T54 kicked in, and he came at me. He did this so hesitantly though, that by the time he reached me, I could land another shot into him. Not really worried about the T44, because he was the weaker tank, and because I still had plenty of health left, I turned with the T54, and when he drove into a building and attempted to drive into it despite the game not letting him, I finished him off.

The T44 bounced on my butt as I turned around to face him again, and like a deer in headlights, he froze and just stood still while I finished turning around and facing him. He shot – tracked me, no damage done. I didn’t even repair, and with 20 seconds left on the clock, I fired, and finished him off. It was surprisingly anticlimactic…

Now, I knew I had done quite a bit of damage this game. And of course, I had a Radley and a Kolobanov. It wasn’t the first ace I’d get in it, but I was hopeful it could be another ace. I was not prepared for what I saw when the battle results loaded. I have had my epic games, I’ve had my Ras in tier III, but I have never, ever, did so much damage in a tank before. Never. My previous record was near 6k damage. This is my new one: