The Drill: Winners’ Impressions
23 May 2011
The Finals of The Drill tournament on the European server took place on May 15th and proved that the German team Panzerknacker “drills” the best!
http://blog.worldoftanks.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PZK-270x300.png
We invited Grimmblut, the captain of the winning team, to share their impressions with the tankers and we are glad to post it here for you.
Grimmblut: First of all, thank you for the chance to give you some feedback about „The Drill“. And the first thing we would like to point out is that we've been really impressed by the new automatic system which organizes and sets up the matches for the participating clans. It worked great and it's a really good development. We would have wished for some more detailed info about it and the new registration system as well, as it pretty much came as a surprise that everyone of our members, who'd like to participate in The Drill, has to register himself for it on the WG homepage.
Cheeka: What do you think about the regulations of the tournament? As 5/60 is not a traditional division for championships within World of Tanks and it was held for the first time, your feedback is of huge importance for us!
Grimmblut: The limitation to tech tier 4 for artilleries and tech tier 5 for any other tank was a good choice in combination with the Westfield map. The artillery wasn't able to reach every spot on the map from just one position, so each team had to include the tactical element of repositioning its artillery during the game rounds. However, it became obvious that the KV is, at the moment, the most powerful tech five tank there. To be honest, I've seen no other heavy tank in any match during The Drill except for the KV.
Many people complained about the regulation regarding the disqualification of both teams if none of them have been able to get two victories in five rounds. The main problem here is not actually the regulations but the lack of the ability of many teamleaders to adapt one's own tactics to the defensive tactics of the opposing team. Many teams we encountered during The Drill had the same tactics and they did not adapt it to our tactics in any way or just in a trivial way, even after several rounds. We, however, changed our tactics in many cases several times even during a single round. That way we've been able to win over teams with camping tactics and those with rush tactics alike. Although we did not receive a single free slot during the whole tournament, we've lost only one round! That was in 1/8 finals against 1SBP "13 Rota Husarii", the hardest opponent we encountered during The Drill. 1SBP brought in a very artillery heavy setup in the first match, which ended in a draw. Our adaption to this was to change our tank destroyer focused setup to a medium tank focused setup and a fast rush, which led us to victory in the second round. We tried the same tactics in the third round and were defeated by 1SBP who entered the round with almost the same setup like before, but a changed tactics - changed in a way to bring our fast rush to a halt. Again the key to victory was adaption, but during that round it was used against us. We had to change our tactics again and, fortunately, we were successful.
Cheeka: If you were to choose between 5/60 and 6/60 division, which one would you consider more appropriate?
Grimmblut: I must admit that I have no strong opinion about this. Tech five means a more balanced artillery, both in effect and tactical possibilities, but the KV somehow sets the standard when it comes to the question which tank to use. 60 points are too much if the tech cap is at five, since you can easily bring in nine tech five tanks and tank destroyers, two tech three scouts and two tech four artilleries. That basically means you can bring in a top team with all relevant tanks/SPGs meeting the tech level cap. 55 points would be better as you would need to bring in some tanks as well which are below the tech level cap.
Tech 6 really focuses on artillery since tech five artilleries can reach any spot on most maps and do an awful lot more damage than their tech four counterparts. During The Drill the players complained about KVs and tank destroyers. Would it have been a tech six tournament (tech five for artilleries), they would have complained about the artilleries.
Cheeka: It seems to me that your personal attitude to artillery is rather negative…
Grimmblut: Oh, no. Quite the opposite is true: I'm the commander of our clan's artillery division. To prove this, I'd like to ask a small favor for us, artillery players: Please lower the number of needed kills for the Wittmann-medal from 10 to 7, if you play an artillery. I've got a few Wittmanns during the beta and since release, but I've never heard or seen someone who managed this with an artillery. ;-)
Cheeka:
Oh well, the only thing I can promise you to do is to pass the suggestion on to those whose authority is enough to make such decisions!
And going on with our interview I can’t but ask you what do Panzerknacker think about their opponents?
Grimmblut: In the name of all Panzerknacker, I'd like to thank every opponent we had the honor to fight against during The Drill. Every match was fair and filled with good sportsmanship.
I, personally, would like to thank each and every member of the Panzerknacker team for their outstanding good work as well as all our comrades who cheered for us. Last but not least, all of us Panzerknacker thank our tactical genius Krauti, who prepared every match so well and never failed to rally us when things looked grim and who led us to the victory in this great tournament.
Cheeka: Thank you for your cooperation and detailed feedback about The Drill: Training Camp tournament. Our congratulations on your victory and good luck in the upcoming championships and tournaments!
http://blog.worldoft...all-300x216.png
Grimmblut, Panzerknacker captain. The picture was taken at the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin (district of Tiergarten) on May, 21st. The Memorial was built in 1945 to honor the Soviet soldiers who had been killed in action during WWII. The tank in the background is a T-34.
http://blog.worldoftanks.eu/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PZK-270x300.png
We invited Grimmblut, the captain of the winning team, to share their impressions with the tankers and we are glad to post it here for you.
Grimmblut: First of all, thank you for the chance to give you some feedback about „The Drill“. And the first thing we would like to point out is that we've been really impressed by the new automatic system which organizes and sets up the matches for the participating clans. It worked great and it's a really good development. We would have wished for some more detailed info about it and the new registration system as well, as it pretty much came as a surprise that everyone of our members, who'd like to participate in The Drill, has to register himself for it on the WG homepage.
Cheeka: What do you think about the regulations of the tournament? As 5/60 is not a traditional division for championships within World of Tanks and it was held for the first time, your feedback is of huge importance for us!
Grimmblut: The limitation to tech tier 4 for artilleries and tech tier 5 for any other tank was a good choice in combination with the Westfield map. The artillery wasn't able to reach every spot on the map from just one position, so each team had to include the tactical element of repositioning its artillery during the game rounds. However, it became obvious that the KV is, at the moment, the most powerful tech five tank there. To be honest, I've seen no other heavy tank in any match during The Drill except for the KV.
Many people complained about the regulation regarding the disqualification of both teams if none of them have been able to get two victories in five rounds. The main problem here is not actually the regulations but the lack of the ability of many teamleaders to adapt one's own tactics to the defensive tactics of the opposing team. Many teams we encountered during The Drill had the same tactics and they did not adapt it to our tactics in any way or just in a trivial way, even after several rounds. We, however, changed our tactics in many cases several times even during a single round. That way we've been able to win over teams with camping tactics and those with rush tactics alike. Although we did not receive a single free slot during the whole tournament, we've lost only one round! That was in 1/8 finals against 1SBP "13 Rota Husarii", the hardest opponent we encountered during The Drill. 1SBP brought in a very artillery heavy setup in the first match, which ended in a draw. Our adaption to this was to change our tank destroyer focused setup to a medium tank focused setup and a fast rush, which led us to victory in the second round. We tried the same tactics in the third round and were defeated by 1SBP who entered the round with almost the same setup like before, but a changed tactics - changed in a way to bring our fast rush to a halt. Again the key to victory was adaption, but during that round it was used against us. We had to change our tactics again and, fortunately, we were successful.
Cheeka: If you were to choose between 5/60 and 6/60 division, which one would you consider more appropriate?
Grimmblut: I must admit that I have no strong opinion about this. Tech five means a more balanced artillery, both in effect and tactical possibilities, but the KV somehow sets the standard when it comes to the question which tank to use. 60 points are too much if the tech cap is at five, since you can easily bring in nine tech five tanks and tank destroyers, two tech three scouts and two tech four artilleries. That basically means you can bring in a top team with all relevant tanks/SPGs meeting the tech level cap. 55 points would be better as you would need to bring in some tanks as well which are below the tech level cap.
Tech 6 really focuses on artillery since tech five artilleries can reach any spot on most maps and do an awful lot more damage than their tech four counterparts. During The Drill the players complained about KVs and tank destroyers. Would it have been a tech six tournament (tech five for artilleries), they would have complained about the artilleries.
Cheeka: It seems to me that your personal attitude to artillery is rather negative…
Grimmblut: Oh, no. Quite the opposite is true: I'm the commander of our clan's artillery division. To prove this, I'd like to ask a small favor for us, artillery players: Please lower the number of needed kills for the Wittmann-medal from 10 to 7, if you play an artillery. I've got a few Wittmanns during the beta and since release, but I've never heard or seen someone who managed this with an artillery. ;-)
Cheeka:
Oh well, the only thing I can promise you to do is to pass the suggestion on to those whose authority is enough to make such decisions!And going on with our interview I can’t but ask you what do Panzerknacker think about their opponents?
Grimmblut: In the name of all Panzerknacker, I'd like to thank every opponent we had the honor to fight against during The Drill. Every match was fair and filled with good sportsmanship.
I, personally, would like to thank each and every member of the Panzerknacker team for their outstanding good work as well as all our comrades who cheered for us. Last but not least, all of us Panzerknacker thank our tactical genius Krauti, who prepared every match so well and never failed to rally us when things looked grim and who led us to the victory in this great tournament.
Cheeka: Thank you for your cooperation and detailed feedback about The Drill: Training Camp tournament. Our congratulations on your victory and good luck in the upcoming championships and tournaments!
http://blog.worldoft...all-300x216.png
Grimmblut, Panzerknacker captain. The picture was taken at the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin (district of Tiergarten) on May, 21st. The Memorial was built in 1945 to honor the Soviet soldiers who had been killed in action during WWII. The tank in the background is a T-34.
@Nosharii
23 May 2011
Grimmblut didn't see any other heavy as the KV on the field? Hm okay the only other heavy on tier 5 is the T1 Heavy american rolling cupboard so not a big thing about this.
But KV's on Westfield sucked from our opnents. KV may be hardshelled beasts but halfblinded and crippled tortoises.
They were food for our german medium/td setup. L70 ftw
The artillery was really good balanced on that tier like he said and was finally my clans kickout from the tournament when they herded 5-6 arties together into the uphills village where they could fire to all positions.
My opinion to the Drill. Great matchmaking rules. tier5 bring up the best diversity to the battlefield (not to say that it's the easiest way to create historic battle situations). Would love to see such regulations 5/60 - 6/70 - 7/75or80 in clanwars.
Just because tier 8-10 only matches suck in strategy and style like they are actually played in company and clanwars.
If you get in without a 10 tier8 group you just get overrun and the worst on this: you get most times killed by some fantasy/paper tanks that never have seen battleaction or even the construction halls
But KV's on Westfield sucked from our opnents. KV may be hardshelled beasts but halfblinded and crippled tortoises.
They were food for our german medium/td setup. L70 ftw
The artillery was really good balanced on that tier like he said and was finally my clans kickout from the tournament when they herded 5-6 arties together into the uphills village where they could fire to all positions.
My opinion to the Drill. Great matchmaking rules. tier5 bring up the best diversity to the battlefield (not to say that it's the easiest way to create historic battle situations). Would love to see such regulations 5/60 - 6/70 - 7/75or80 in clanwars.
Just because tier 8-10 only matches suck in strategy and style like they are actually played in company and clanwars.
If you get in without a 10 tier8 group you just get overrun and the worst on this: you get most times killed by some fantasy/paper tanks that never have seen battleaction or even the construction halls
Intruder313
24 May 2011
What he said was:
"
However, it became obvious that the KV is, at the moment, the most powerful tech five tank there.
"
Not just the most powerful Tier 5 "Heavy" but the best Tier 5 regardless of Class. But we all know that anyway - we've all ground those lower tiers where the KVs dominate the game.
I get the impression that in "The Drill" each team was usually 2 Artillery and the rest KVs and unspecified TDs. Barring the attempt to use a Medium Rush tactic in one round.
"
However, it became obvious that the KV is, at the moment, the most powerful tech five tank there.
"
Not just the most powerful Tier 5 "Heavy" but the best Tier 5 regardless of Class. But we all know that anyway - we've all ground those lower tiers where the KVs dominate the game.
I get the impression that in "The Drill" each team was usually 2 Artillery and the rest KVs and unspecified TDs. Barring the attempt to use a Medium Rush tactic in one round.
Grimmblut
24 May 2011
intruder313, on 24 May 2011 - 03:14 PM, said:
I get the impression that in "The Drill" each team was usually 2 Artillery and the rest KVs and unspecified TDs. Barring the attempt to use a Medium Rush tactic in one round.
Most teams consisted of 2-4 artys (Grille prefered), 2-4 KV, 1-2 mediums, 2-3 scouts, 4-5 TD (SU-85 and StuG III). I've seen only one team which focused on KV, and that was Pirates: Francis Drake, who used 8 KV against us during 1/4 finals.
Intruder313
24 May 2011
Ah OK thanks for the detail Grimmblut.
I'd be interested to see the composition of teams with a Tier 10 cap as increasingly in my Tier 8 Medium I've wondered if there's much point in carrying on when I could just take a Tier 8 Heavy instead.
Obviously this will become exacerbated once I reach Tier 9 (Panther 2 in my case) which is rated in the same tier as VK4502 and IS-4.
I'd be interested to see the composition of teams with a Tier 10 cap as increasingly in my Tier 8 Medium I've wondered if there's much point in carrying on when I could just take a Tier 8 Heavy instead.
Obviously this will become exacerbated once I reach Tier 9 (Panther 2 in my case) which is rated in the same tier as VK4502 and IS-4.
Grimmblut
25 May 2011
T8/9 mediums can't be compared with T8/9 heavies just like that. Heavies can be played more easily when you're on your own in a battle than mediums. Mediums are imo more platoon dependent than heavies. Mediums are most effective when played in a platoon with one or two other mediums, forming a wolf pack.
M26 Pershing:
Farthest view range in the game. Get into a scouting position quickly, don't shoot, and get XP/Cash from providing indirect fire possibilities for your comrades. Participate in the battle after the scout position is not usefull anymore.
Panther II:
High accuracy gun with great damage and penetration. Try using your manouverability to switch between positions from which you can snipe at enemy tanks. If the enemy pushes at some point of the map, try to get into a position to fire in their backs.
T54:
Best close combat fighter of all T9 mediums. Try to break into the enemy front where it's weak and perform either a semi circle to reach the territory of your team again, or push deeper into the enemy territory to destroy the enemy SPG or TD positions. The second tactic is very risky though and means a high chance of death for you. However, you still may inflict enough damage so that your sacrifice is more than worth for your team (e.g. taking out one or two heavy SPG).
M26 Pershing:
Farthest view range in the game. Get into a scouting position quickly, don't shoot, and get XP/Cash from providing indirect fire possibilities for your comrades. Participate in the battle after the scout position is not usefull anymore.
Panther II:
High accuracy gun with great damage and penetration. Try using your manouverability to switch between positions from which you can snipe at enemy tanks. If the enemy pushes at some point of the map, try to get into a position to fire in their backs.
T54:
Best close combat fighter of all T9 mediums. Try to break into the enemy front where it's weak and perform either a semi circle to reach the territory of your team again, or push deeper into the enemy territory to destroy the enemy SPG or TD positions. The second tactic is very risky though and means a high chance of death for you. However, you still may inflict enough damage so that your sacrifice is more than worth for your team (e.g. taking out one or two heavy SPG).
cultist
25 May 2011
Hello Grimmblut and congratulations to you and your team for the victory.
Did your team use the same tanks in all the battles?
And if you did what was your setup
Thank you.
Did your team use the same tanks in all the battles?
And if you did what was your setup
Thank you.
Grimmblut
26 May 2011
Hi,
we used a TD focused setup in most cases, but switched to completely other setups when we changed our tactics between battles.
we used a TD focused setup in most cases, but switched to completely other setups when we changed our tactics between battles.
