A writeup on light tanks [AMX12t edition]
Ok, to address the kind of awkward pacing and formatting of this post, I actually wrote it as one 15,318 character post, but obviously that doesn't work too well with Reddits format. I'll link to the others when I post them, and vice versa.
Hey guys, I'm a rather mediocre scout player on the NA server by the name of NInjamoose234, who has played every t6 scout other than the shitpiles known as the MT25 and T21. *I also haven't played the T37, but at the time of writing this originally it hadn't been released.
About my stats, they're nothing super fantastic, but I'm not just a tomato either. My 1k battles is around 1.5k wn8, (1.8k over the last 68 games, woohoo) which I'm kind of proud of, even though it's not that special. I was also featured on /r/WorldofTanks most improved list, as like rank 7 or something. /humblebrag
Anyways, after eliting the AMX12t, 59-16, and VK28.01, I wanted to make a small series of writeups on what are (in my opinion) the best scout lines for a beginner to the Light game.
Lets start with the AMX12t, the generally most hated of the trio. It's a bit of an odd duck, but an odd duck I've come to love. Most people despise it after coming from the ELC AMX, but I find that I outperform the previous tank in every way with this one. Looking at the stats, it's got paper armor like one would expect, but here's the catch, it has horrible (in comparison) maneuverability, not to mention nearly nonexistent gun depression and elevation.
The trick with this tank is all down to it's playstyle, it's the best passive scout in its tier. Slap a camo net, binocs, and your choice of third equipment on there, find a nice bush to cozy up in, and wait 'em out. I like to sit and wait for their scouts to try to break through, and then wipe them with a single mag, since usually by the time they break through they have taken some damage.
For equipment, I ran the previously mentioned camo net and binocs, with a Gun laying drive to mitigate some of its horrible aimtime. I guess you could take Optics, but those are for active scouts usually, since they don't stack with Binocs. Vents aren't a bad idea either, since it mitigates some of the accuracy, adds a bit of camo and viewrange, and helps with the driving characteristics. If you really wanted to you could run food also, but that's a bit rich for my blood. I'd much rather have a medpack for when the radio operator bites the dust (Which he does a surprising amount.) As for an ammo loadout, I take 1 mag of APCR, one mag of HE, and the rest straight AP. Some may complain about the lack of penetration that the gun has, but I haven't seen too many issues with it. For the 13-75? Sure, but it also sees tier 10s. This thing doesn't have to deal with IS7's much anymore. Plus, in this thing you are usually tangling with other scouts, which doesn't really call for 202mm of penetration. With anything other than lights, you want to be engaging from the sides or rear while they are distracted, so you can dump around 860 damage into them, and the sides and rears of even t9 tanks have less than 144mm of armor usually.
Crew skills are going to be basically the same for all of my scouts, Commander takes Sixth Sense ASAP, with camo as his second skill, everyone else takes Camo first. For the gunner/loader, I took Snap Shot for his second skill, to further reduce the aimtime for the thing, and for the Driver I took off-road driving, to help speed it up a little.
As for how to actually play? On maps abundant with bushes (Malinovka, Prokhorovka, etc.) you want to find one high up, with a bit of cover. From there you can pretty much just AFK for the first 7-10 minutes of the match, unless they have a tank with good viewrange making a beeline for you. Take note that the AMX12t actually doesn't have that great of a camo rating, which is why you want some cover there. Once that lategame hits, usually their scouts are dead, and you can start being a little ****. Get to the sides of their tank destroyers and light them up, **** arty, etc. I found the most joy came from tracking their top tier heavies, and watching them get taken apart. Dart around the map, using your still-above-average maneuverability,
On smaller maps, or maps with tight corridors and bad scouting spots, (El Halluf, Windstorm, etc.) you just want to take an early position where you might be able to catch a glimpse on the odd side (away from where the heavies brawl it out), so both you and your team know where all their lighter tanks are going. Also can alert your team to potential shenanigans. Once lategame hits (About 7 minutes in) just treat it like the above scenario.
Tight city maps like Kharkov and the like are rough on most scouts. Most. I find that the AMX12t can actually thrive on these maps, you just want to play it like an even more cowardly Medium than normal. I like to take an early spot on the fringes of the map, waiting for an enemy scout to run past you, and then after about 5 minutes start making your way to where the most heavies are gathered. After that, find a spot where you can set up flank shots, down an alleyway or something, and shoot at distracted heavies. Most of them won't pay attention to you, since there'll be a nice juicy heavy in front of them, so you can just tear into them. You wanna tag them as many times as possible, then as soon as someone turns to look at you, dissapear. Wait for someone to get singled out, then swoop in to steal the ****. While you arent as mobile as other tier 6 scouts, you are still quick enough to circle fools that don't take into account the buzzsaw that is the AMX12t. You just want to be careful around inclines, since that ****'ll slow you down like crazy.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this tank, and find that the people who ***** about it the most are still stuck in the same frame of mind the ELC put them into. This thing is a thinking mans tank, requiring you to actually take time to pick and choose your fights. None of this willy-nilly go-cart style gameplay.
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