Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug?
CheaterMcCheat
07 Aug 2012
Hi, I've recently started playing Artillery and I seem to be struggling. Whenever I hit a tank it either does completely crap damage, like in the 20's-30's, or I get "penetration" after a direct hit, with no damage at all. Wtf is going on? Is this some kind of bug or am I doing something horribly wrong because as far as I can tell my shells ARE hitting the tanks, I can hear the little dinks of them hitting but they don't do anything at all. I've noticed artillery doing crap damage to me recently as well, so it can't be just me as I've been hit by artillery this 7.5 patch in regular tanks and it has hardly done a thing to me when it has hit me.
I thought HE shells were supposed to always do some kind of damage on a hit, but the damage decreases dependant on armor thickness, and when they penetrate they do full damage? When I hit someone they get reduced to like 30 damage no matter what I am shooting at and when they penetrate they do fuck all?
I've tried several artillery lines, currently using the Wespe right now, nearly unlocked the Hummel, but no matter which line I try it's the same irritating result.
Could someone please give me some sort of advice on whatever I might be doing wrong or if it is some kind of bug/nerf, because from what I am seeing I am hitting them and not splashing next to them as I can hear the dink sounds of my shell hitting.
I thought HE shells were supposed to always do some kind of damage on a hit, but the damage decreases dependant on armor thickness, and when they penetrate they do full damage? When I hit someone they get reduced to like 30 damage no matter what I am shooting at and when they penetrate they do fuck all?
I've tried several artillery lines, currently using the Wespe right now, nearly unlocked the Hummel, but no matter which line I try it's the same irritating result.
Could someone please give me some sort of advice on whatever I might be doing wrong or if it is some kind of bug/nerf, because from what I am seeing I am hitting them and not splashing next to them as I can hear the dink sounds of my shell hitting.
DeadlyFighter
07 Aug 2012
Seeing as you seem to be on the low ends of the artillery branches, are you firing AP when you get the no damage hits? As for doing low damage, I'd like to know if you're hitting heavily armoured targets, and if not, where you're aiming. It'll explain things.
HE shells should do full damage when they penetrate, yes. You may also be hitting tracks, and have them absorb all the damage. You'll still get a ''penetration!'' response, though.
HE shells should do full damage when they penetrate, yes. You may also be hitting tracks, and have them absorb all the damage. You'll still get a ''penetration!'' response, though.
Woel
07 Aug 2012
Low tier SPGs are like that. Didn't exactly check which ones you're actually playing (though you said you have Hummel almost unlocked, so I guess below T5), but T1-4 SPGs can have this. It's due to low caliber, low penetration and relatively low damage/splash. The solution is to aim for medium/light tanks possibly, with those tanks you'll probably meet quite many T4-6 meds, you should be able to penetrate them every now and then.
Note if possible, you should hit the flank or the rear of the tank, they have less armor there.
There are couple of possibilities for zero damage also. Since you don't have any splash, it's possible that you'll hit the top of a gun and do zero damage to the enemy tank, probably same works for tracks absorbing damage every now and then. Also decently armored enemies can "ding" lower tier SPG shells (heavies in front or gun mantlets). After T5-6 you'll be able to penetrate more tanks (or just do decent damage). Though the same rule applies: hitting the flank of an opponent will often result in higher damage.
And finally: playing SPGs is just plain random. Sometimes you will one-hit tanks, sometimes you'll miss a lot. A few games ago I did about 83 damage on a T95 (with my Object 261), hitting the tip of its gun. On the same SPG I had direct hit on the gun of an M103 as well, resulting in zero damage (darn long gun), also directly hitting T-50-2 which survived (not sure where I've got him, he wasn't spotted at the time). But there's not much to complain about, in other matches you'll do ridiculously high damage.
Note if possible, you should hit the flank or the rear of the tank, they have less armor there.
There are couple of possibilities for zero damage also. Since you don't have any splash, it's possible that you'll hit the top of a gun and do zero damage to the enemy tank, probably same works for tracks absorbing damage every now and then. Also decently armored enemies can "ding" lower tier SPG shells (heavies in front or gun mantlets). After T5-6 you'll be able to penetrate more tanks (or just do decent damage). Though the same rule applies: hitting the flank of an opponent will often result in higher damage.
And finally: playing SPGs is just plain random. Sometimes you will one-hit tanks, sometimes you'll miss a lot. A few games ago I did about 83 damage on a T95 (with my Object 261), hitting the tip of its gun. On the same SPG I had direct hit on the gun of an M103 as well, resulting in zero damage (darn long gun), also directly hitting T-50-2 which survived (not sure where I've got him, he wasn't spotted at the time). But there's not much to complain about, in other matches you'll do ridiculously high damage.
CheaterMcCheat
07 Aug 2012
No, I have been firing HE exclusively so far as I was told to only use HE by another arty player.
Before I got my Wespe I was using the T57 and was doing 30-40 damage to tanks the same tier as me, the lights and mediums, but I could do good damage to tank destroyers and other Artillery.
During my last game I was firing on a KV-1 and doing around 150 or so damage. I didn't mind that as I knew his armor was reducing the damage to that amount so I was ok with it. But when I fired on a T-50 light tank it did 40 damage? I heard it hit him as well so it wasn't splash.
But the game before that I was firing on a Churchill and all damage done to him was in the 30's-40's. Seeing as how the KV-1 and Churchill are both the same tier I thought something was wrong and from what I experienced in the T57 as well I couldn't even scratch light tanks.
I don't know if this is just bad luck, game mechanics or if I am doing something wrong, it's hard to tell. Perhaps I am missing something critical that an experienced arty player could point out? The results I get just seem too random. I know about RNG in this game and how it often screws people over, but I think my effectiveness with artillery is beyond random and is just poop.
Before I got my Wespe I was using the T57 and was doing 30-40 damage to tanks the same tier as me, the lights and mediums, but I could do good damage to tank destroyers and other Artillery.
During my last game I was firing on a KV-1 and doing around 150 or so damage. I didn't mind that as I knew his armor was reducing the damage to that amount so I was ok with it. But when I fired on a T-50 light tank it did 40 damage? I heard it hit him as well so it wasn't splash.
But the game before that I was firing on a Churchill and all damage done to him was in the 30's-40's. Seeing as how the KV-1 and Churchill are both the same tier I thought something was wrong and from what I experienced in the T57 as well I couldn't even scratch light tanks.
I don't know if this is just bad luck, game mechanics or if I am doing something wrong, it's hard to tell. Perhaps I am missing something critical that an experienced arty player could point out? The results I get just seem too random. I know about RNG in this game and how it often screws people over, but I think my effectiveness with artillery is beyond random and is just poop.
CheaterMcCheat
07 Aug 2012
@Woel Sorry about that I meant the Grille. Grille comes after Wespe, not Hummel. My bad on that :P
CheaterMcCheat
07 Aug 2012
Woel, on 07 August 2012 - 08:42 PM, said:
Low tier SPGs are like that. Didn't exactly check which ones you're actually playing (though you said you have Hummel almost unlocked, so I guess below T5), but T1-4 SPGs can have this. It's due to low caliber, low penetration and relatively low damage/splash. The solution is to aim for medium/light tanks possibly, with those tanks you'll probably meet quite many T4-6 meds, you should be able to penetrate them every now and then.
Note if possible, you should hit the flank or the rear of the tank, they have less armor there.
There are couple of possibilities for zero damage also. Since you don't have any splash, it's possible that you'll hit the top of a gun and do zero damage to the enemy tank, probably same works for tracks absorbing damage every now and then. Also decently armored enemies can "ding" lower tier SPG shells (heavies in front or gun mantlets). After T5-6 you'll be able to penetrate more tanks (or just do decent damage). Though the same rule applies: hitting the flank of an opponent will often result in higher damage.
And finally: playing SPGs is just plain random. Sometimes you will one-hit tanks, sometimes you'll miss a lot. A few games ago I did about 83 damage on a T95 (with my Object 261), hitting the tip of its gun. On the same SPG I had direct hit on the gun of an M103 as well, resulting in zero damage (darn long gun), also directly hitting T-50-2 which survived (not sure where I've got him, he wasn't spotted at the time). But there's not much to complain about, in other matches you'll do ridiculously high damage.
Note if possible, you should hit the flank or the rear of the tank, they have less armor there.
There are couple of possibilities for zero damage also. Since you don't have any splash, it's possible that you'll hit the top of a gun and do zero damage to the enemy tank, probably same works for tracks absorbing damage every now and then. Also decently armored enemies can "ding" lower tier SPG shells (heavies in front or gun mantlets). After T5-6 you'll be able to penetrate more tanks (or just do decent damage). Though the same rule applies: hitting the flank of an opponent will often result in higher damage.
And finally: playing SPGs is just plain random. Sometimes you will one-hit tanks, sometimes you'll miss a lot. A few games ago I did about 83 damage on a T95 (with my Object 261), hitting the tip of its gun. On the same SPG I had direct hit on the gun of an M103 as well, resulting in zero damage (darn long gun), also directly hitting T-50-2 which survived (not sure where I've got him, he wasn't spotted at the time). But there's not much to complain about, in other matches you'll do ridiculously high damage.
Thanks Woel, that makes sense with the low tier SPG's and their low caliber. There are obviously more variables affecting this game than I thought there were.
Woel
07 Aug 2012
CheaterMcCheat, on 07 August 2012 - 08:46 PM, said:
@Woel Sorry about that I meant the Grille. Grille comes after Wespe, not Hummel. My bad on that :P
But otherwise you got that right. Last time I was playing low tier SPG, it was the M7 Priest. It was before the KV split (so a bit stronger KV-1), but frontally I did from 5 to 80 damages to it, depending on where it exactly hits. But then there was one time when I managed to do a full penetration on a Tiger tank for about 500 damage and I burned him (I think I hit the top of his turret at that time), but mostly the shells just bounced off him.
Your best bet is still shooting mediums that snipe and TDs that get spotted, they're usually easy to penetrate. Anyways, for better or worse, it'll change as you advance with tiers. Your rate of fire will decrease and your damage and splash will increase (okay I lied, Object 261 and Batchat155 are different story), but you won't do insane low or zero damages on direct hits that often.
@Your other post: Game mechanics may seem rather complex as you start the game (unless you don't give a damn about it like the majority of WoT players), but once you learn the basics and some numbers, it'll end up being pretty simple. If you want to dig into these things further, then WoT wiki is a good place to start.
Afghane
07 Aug 2012
After the big HE nerf a while ago, the small tier arties have been rendered all but useless. I used to play small tier arty to blow off steam (su-26 in particular) until the day I noticed I am doing 10-20 dmg on tier II and III. That day I sold them all. You can't do much about it, grind your teeth and carry on.
CheaterMcCheat
07 Aug 2012
@Woel I actually am interested in learning more about the game mechanics, I might just do what you said and take a look at the wiki. I've only used it for looking up tanks I am interested in so far.
Thank you to everyone for shedding some light on the subject, though, going to wait and see what higher tiers of SPG bring to the table. Next up is the Grille, been killed by it so many times and have seen so many so it must be pretty good if it's this popular :P
Thank you to everyone for shedding some light on the subject, though, going to wait and see what higher tiers of SPG bring to the table. Next up is the Grille, been killed by it so many times and have seen so many so it must be pretty good if it's this popular :P
Fenomenmusic
07 Aug 2012
If you manage to hit a weakspot with artillery, then the winner is you. I mean, with 100% crew major qualifications, Elite Hummel can do strange things as well. Sometimes I get a no damage penetration (7.5 still has this bug), sometimes I make 1000 damage to enemy tanks, however max. damage is counted as ~900. Keep your head up, enjoy the game to the fullest, if you have a bad day, go out and smell some fresh air! 
Grabarz19_PL
07 Aug 2012
Low tier artillery (2-3) is currently very broken: The weapons are so small caliber they are very insignificant. Hitting a tank's front armor will usually do 0 damage. It's all but what you'd expect from artillery but unfortunately the case still wasn't looked at by WG.
Tier 5 artillery is where the 0 damage shots on arty end and splash damage begins. A Hummel shell will do average 200-300 damage (unless you penetrate, then it's 800~). At this point you might like to get some icon mod or just remember which tanks you can penetrate in sides/rear and never miss the opportunity. I can't count how many T-54s got full damage from my GWPanther (which technically has a very similar gun to Hummel just with better accuracy).
Never played tier 4 artillery so no comment from me.
Tier 5 artillery is where the 0 damage shots on arty end and splash damage begins. A Hummel shell will do average 200-300 damage (unless you penetrate, then it's 800~). At this point you might like to get some icon mod or just remember which tanks you can penetrate in sides/rear and never miss the opportunity. I can't count how many T-54s got full damage from my GWPanther (which technically has a very similar gun to Hummel just with better accuracy).
Never played tier 4 artillery so no comment from me.
WaterContainer
07 Aug 2012
CheaterMcCheat, on 07 August 2012 - 08:45 PM, said:
I don't know if this is just bad luck, game mechanics or if I am doing something wrong, it's hard to tell. Perhaps I am missing something critical that an experienced arty player could point out? The results I get just seem too random. I know about RNG in this game and how it often screws people over, but I think my effectiveness with artillery is beyond random and is just poop.
CheaterMcCheat .. assuming this is a serious question: try hitting the parts of the vehicle that have the least armor. This way you can ensure more damage gets through. Low tier artileries have low penetration values and when they hit very thick armor they will simply do nothing.
