Most important factor in deciding if you need HE ammo with your tank.
A) Does it have a short barrel/howitzer mounted on it?
and/or
B) Does the diameter of the barrel exceed 100mm?
If yes to one or both of those, then you can consider HE ammo. I personally only use it on guns larger than 120mm. Things like the KV-2 and SU-152, etc. As it is, the HE round for the Russian 152mm gun has 75mm of penetration and can take out most tanks with one shot to the turret.
I generally take 2 rounds of HE in all my tanks for the purpose of killing SPAA, or open turret TDs.
Although I rarely get to use it, 2 rounds will now cause my entire tank to blow up if I show them my side/angle. A good shot is the only thing that's gonna kill me.
Edit: More dev-blog news.
Dear players!
Many War Thunder tank commanders have experienced the situation when a lucky shot from the enemy has knocked out all crew members but one. Previously this meant that the tank was combat ineffective and unable to continue the battle. Vehicles with only a few crew members (2 or 3) suffered the greatest from this, since almost any penetration in the turret would most likely mean that the tank was knocked out of action.
We decided to improve the whole situation so that our ground vehicles survive a bit longer. As soon as the feature is implemented, the vehicle will remain “active” as long as it has at least one conscious crew member. The feature will function in the following way:
The conscious crew member will replace either the driver or the gunner, thus the tank will have the ability to move or fire. Of course you won’t be able to drive and shoot at the same time whilst having only one surviving member in a crew. In order to replace a gunner or driver, the crew member will operate slower. Currently this is a fixed time period depending on the mode (less time for Ab and an increased time for RB and SB). Once you activate the command that enables the crew members to switch positions, you will see a progress icon in the bottom left corner that indicates how much time remains for the switch to complete. This may very well depend on the “Agility” skill in future (we are still considering).
It is Important to note, if the conscious crew member is a driver, he will obviously not have to spend time switching to the driver’s seat, a player will be able to move his vehicle at once. The same is true for the gunner, once a gunner’s crew mates are knocked out of action he is still able to operate the primary weapon and engage enemies without a pause, however if he has to switch to the driver’s seat in order to drive the vehicle, there will be a time penalty while he performs this “switching” action.
Hopefully the new system will significantly improve the survivability of ground vehicles on the battlefield and vehicles with a lower crew count will have a better chance in combat.
This is a terrible idea... SPGS will never have a chance. Go ahead and kill me off rather than wait around to spawn back in. Unless I'm at Berlin and facing down an alley right at the enemy in a well covered spot, this is a terrible idea.
I now have the same problem with tanks now they put me in lobby's that are way to hard for me like Berlin and Russia I got shot in the first few minutes and all my tanks are no good I think I need to buy better tanks now or find some way back to easy lobby's or I'm simply going to stop playing this game.
You need to learn how to hide. If you're dying too soon you're probably going straight to the objectives and getting yourself killed. Learn how to play the tank you're in. If you're in a tank destroyer (TD) that can rotate its turret, play it by angling the tank to bounce shots off, and hide behind walls until ready to shoot once reloaded.
If you're playing the German or Russian tank destroyers, they only have self propelled guns (SPG). These are some of the best tanks/guns in game if you know what you're doing. Again, it similar TD play style, but you need to stay covered more, and watch your flanks, as you have to rotate your entire tank to turn your gun. These tanks are best for open environments as they generally have a lot of armor, but in low tier battles you want to position yourself with a view all the way down an alley where there are no flanks.
Generally in the TD/SPG games, you want to be behind the regular tanks, support thing with your heavier/larger guns.
That said, when playing regular tanks you are the front line. You find the closest piece of cover to the objective you can find, and kill off anyone else attempting to take it. Don't go and rush into the cap before the rest of your team is there to back you up, as that's how you die early. Find your cover, and wait for them to come for you. If there's a map where you have good cover all around, and your teammates can still squeeze by you, this is the ideal situation. Once the enemy tanks start to come in more slowly, this is when you cap the base, push up, and find a new cover spot.
Generally speaking, in Arcade Battles you're going to find people who just run straight to the bases and die, and repeat three times. In realistic, you have to protect yourself and everyone else around you because you have to pay to get in the next tank, and if someone beside you goes down, then chances are they wont be coming back. That's how you get overrun in RB, and ultimately lose.
I am the opposite. Noob in tanks but good in planes.
, But with the Carbs are useless..
