Happy New Year!

Now I noticed that I hadn't made a post in quite a while and mostly this is because I was trying to avoid angry people who seem extremely offended the moment they see a Christmas tree or when they hear the name Santa Claus. Right, before I start explaining what I'm talking about, I should probably mention that I don't have a religion. Most people would classify me as atheist but personally, it really doesn't matter to me very much. I never cared a lot about finding a religion for myself. Mostly because I was brought up in a family that didn't have a religion. That's not to say I'm not interested at all, it's just I can't seem to believe in something that I'm not so sure exists.

Let's use Christianity for example. I have many friends who are Christian and occasionally, I would ask them questions about it. It's pretty interesting to hear their tales but it makes me wonder, is there real hard evidence that God exists? Is he really sitting up there in the clouds controlling everything that happens? If so, then how come I've never seen him before? These are usually one of the many questions that pop into my head when it comes down to religion. Religion is not a bad thing don't get me wrong please. But I'm the type of person that tends to rely on evidence and facts to support a belief.

This brings me onto the next topic; political correctness. People need to figure out that there are other religions out there on this planet. It's very understandable that you have great respect for your religion and hold it in very high regard. I applaud it in fact. But if it's to the point where you have to start a war or ruin other people's days, then I'm not so sure if that's what you really want. What kind of religion out there would promote violence or hatred against other religions? It wouldn't make a lot of sense right? Then how is it that here in Canada, saying "Merry Christmas" sounds more like I'm swearing now? I have no problem with saying Happy Holidays and I very much respect your religion. I simply can't wrap my head around how we have to tear down trees on our shopping malls and completely eliminate that holiday mood.

Onto a more happier note (and not wanting to start some sort of hatred war with anyone as I am a peaceful person), happy new year! It's the last day of 2012 and I'm sure the Australians are already enjoying 2013. Don't worry about the world coming to an end, it's already tomorrow in Australia!

Here's hoping that I'll get more time to write in this blog and with any luck, maybe I'll get more views everyday. In the meantime, I'm quite content with just writing out my thoughts with few readers. Who knows? Maybe I'll become famous through this blog (I really doubt it).

So as the last post of 2012 for this blog, I wish everyone a safe and happy new year. May the odds be ever in your favour. Cheers!

I should probably say that I'm not trying to offend anyone here. Merely I can't seem to understand other people's actions.

Rewind YouTube Style 2012

For anyone who hasn't watched this already, do it. Now! YouTube released this video two days ago and it essentially recaps the best videos of 2012. Of course, this means we'll be seeing a lot of familiar faces such as Psy, KassemG, FreddieW, BarelyPolitical, Smosh, amongst others. 

It's a very nice video and it makes me wonder, how did YouTube manage to kidnap convince all of these YouTube celebrities to gather in one place and film? Not much to say now but if you still haven't watched it, then go do so. I never force anyone to watch videos but this may be the first time I'm doing this....

A leader? Me?

So tonight saw the first time I had to lead a team in clan wars. In case you were wondering, I've never lead an entire team before but I have lead squads (i.e. meaning I was tasked with holding a certain flank with a few other tanks).

So as you may have guessed, I was pretty nervous. Ok, maybe you didn't guessed that but let me tell you a little background story. Tonight, we had to fight on two different areas at the same time and quite often, we don't have enough people to field one full team. So I was lucky to be able to get 10 people (maximum team size is 15). This is pretty decent but at the same time, there were two of our fellas who didn't have tier 10 tanks and I needed more of those. Never mind that.

Now as for artillery. World of Tanks is very dependent on using artillery especially if you are fielding a weak team. In the event that you and your chaps are outnumbered, artillery might just be a life saver. So how come I didn't pick the biggest artillery piece lying around? (That's the T92 mind you and we had one of those.) I needed an artillery piece that could reload fast but also aim fast. I was really betting on the tanks to do most of the damage while the artillery was meant to soften up any hard to handle opposition.

In short, we won. I was lucky that they only had six guys and they didn't seem quite bent on trying to push us.

I also want to thank my team for not dying. They did a superb job of staying alive and following my orders. Although now that I've had a chance to lead a battle on a full map, I've noticed a few flaws of World of Tanks. Namely it's difficult trying to figure out who is who for those all the way outside your view range.

For those of you who have a World of Tanks client, here is the replay for you to examine.
http://mwreplays.com/replay/A4AY8CM5933G/
I'll be thinking about converting my replays and uploading them onto YouTube for everyone else who doesn't want to download.

Super Meat Freeze

Just going to do a quick post here today. I've been listening to this song for quite a while and it still hasn't left my head so I thought I might share it with you guys. Oh and one thing, if we have different tastes in music, that's ok. You can go listen to your music while I share it with other people who enjoy it. :)

Oh and by the way, I suggest you get the song. (I.e. download it off iTunes or something) because for anyone who listens to music through YouTube, you know that the audio quality of the YouTube player really sucks.

Never understood why people would have arguments over their music preferences... 

Angry Birds Star Wars

For those of you who don't bother keeping up with the news or are simply too busy immersed in your little bubble, Rovio has paired up with Lucas Arts and created Angry Birds Star Wars. Yes, it's basically another Angry Birds game but with a Star Wars spin to it.

Essentially it's another Angry Birds game but hey, it will really sap away your phone's battery and it provides a nice sci-fi spin to the game right? 

You'll be seeing a lot of familiar scenes from the original Star Wars films and a lot of familiar characters. As usual, pigs are the antagonists so they represent all the bad guys including stormtroopers and Tusken Raiders found on Tatooine. 

There's really not too much to say about this game as it's very similar to the original Angry Birds. Many of the birds get an overhaul in appearance (so they resemble the main characters you know) and they get new abilities at the cost of their original ones. Keep in mind that all of these new abilities will have something to do with Star Wars such as the red bird (portraying Luke Skywalker) will get to use a lightsaber while the black bird (portraying Obi Wan Kenobi) will get to use the force. 

If you're looking for another angry birds game to keep you entertained and you liked watching Star Wars, then you should get this game. Even if you're not overly crazy about any of the two, you should still get it. It's free so why not?

New American Autoloaders

So for those of you who keep up with the development news of World of Tanks, the upcoming patch (8.2) will bring several new American tanks and the Chinese tech tree. I won't say too much as it is still the first iteration of the test so it's highly possible that things may change.

The T57 heavy tank is the newest upcoming tier 10 American heavy equipped with an autoloader and a slightly disappointing engine power. In almost all aspects, the French AMX-50B appears to be a much better option over the T57. The only thing that the T57 has over the AMX-50B is it has a little bit more armour. Not enough to make a difference but enough to bounce the occasional shot. However, it was used in clan wars (where everyone is using premium rounds) then chances are pretty good you'll die very quickly and won't be of much use to your team.

Still, it's an interesting tank and I'll post a few pictures of it here.

Looks pretty decent in my opinion although I probably wouldn't grind to this tank until I've finished my current M48A1 grind and my planned FV4202(105). Now just for fun, I'll post pictures of the T54E1. I still haven't played it yet but I will add my impressions here later on. 

How I Met Your Mother

Anyone watch this show? Along with The Big Bang Theory, these are basically the two American TV shows that I watch. For this post, I'll stick with talking about my watching habits for How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) in excruciating detail just like the protagonist, Ted.

Ok, not really. I'm bad a writing and I keep this blog as my outlet of frustration. So for those of you who don't know or have never heard of HIMYM, it basically talks about this dude who's telling the story of how he met his wife to his kids. Seeing how it's a show, they never reveal the mother until the very end. Which.....doesn't appear to exist at the moment due to the show's great success. It's their evil plan to keep you hooked on and keep you watching.

The show mostly centers around Ted Mosby who's an aspiring architect and appears to be having lots of trouble finding his soul mate. I'm still catching up with season 5 pretty soon, I'll be caught up. I really enjoy watching Barney Stinson though. He's the legen- wait for it....DARY character in the show.

Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris, is perhaps the most important character of the show. He provides the most laughs out of the entire cast and honestly without him, I wouldn't be watching this show. Plus it's always fun watching some of his .... womanizing adventures.

Can't really think of much to say at this point in time. Probably because I'm feeling a bit tired and I want to daydream a bit. Yes, sometimes I want to daydream. Weird huh?

Goodbye Kitty

So who doesn't like kitties? Ok, a lot of people do but that's not the point. So I recently decided to re-watch this web series that I had watched a long time ago. It's about a black cat and a white kitty and how the black cat tries to do everything to kill the white kitty. The makers decided that cats have more than 9 lives so in turn, despite the black cat failing every time and dying every time, he gets revived every time. 

It's too bad that there are 10 episodes. They really should've made more but nevertheless, it's pretty interesting. And slightly violent at times. The video I've posted is a marathon of all 10 episodes so you can watch it all in one shot. Or just search up goodbye kitty on Youtube if you want to watch each individual episode instead. 

Mmmm lobster. Nom nom nom. I like eating lobster....

Beauty?

What exactly does society perceive as beautiful or sexy or hot or cute or whatever? I feel like this is going to be more of a philosophy post so for those who have something better to do, you should go do it. As I was saying, lately I've noticed a lot of these so-called beautiful people around. Well, this has been going for quite a while but I never really bothered to think about it much. But today, it just kind of struck me and I started thinking.

So I was watching Katy Perry's Part of Me music video and I noticed that with minimal makeup, she actually looks pretty decent compared to when she gets CAKED with makeup. Here, why don't I show you guys what I'm talking about.

Here's a picture with little makeup and short hair.

I don't know about you, but a lot of celebrities looks pretty decent with very little makeup (or in some cases, no makeup). For example, Lady Gaga really does look very...."normal" when she doesn't have any makeup on. Even though it may not have gotten her all the attention, she would've looked a lot better on screen. 

This is not to say makeup is bad of course. As a boy, I'm generally neutral about it (honestly I really don't care) but I wouldn't want to date girls who cake their face with makeup. I like to keep it natural. 

On a side note, the actor who plays as Lord Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes, has a really big nose.... 

Mindblown.....

Panther-M10

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Superman? Seriously, you guys need to go around bringing binoculars with you. So back in WW2, deception was a very common thing. Both sides worked to try to make fools of each other while trying to watch their own backs. So naturally, the Germans decided they should fool the Americans and try to disrupt their lines. Long story short: the Germans didn't have enough captured Sherman tanks (or American tanks for that matter), so they had to disguise a couple of their Panther tanks and make them look like M10 tank destroyers. The plan failed horribly as these wannabes were found very quickly and very easily.

So World of Tanks recently released the Panther-M10 and as usual, I got interested so I thought I try it out. It's a medium tank that only looks like a tank destroyer so treat it as a medium tank. The Panther-M10 also feels much lighter than a Panther so you will have the speed to flank and you should flank because you are packing only a 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 that only has 150 mm of penetration.

Your colour scheme will match that of American tanks but camouflage will not. You will still use German camouflage if you decide to purchase it. Also keep in mind that you're not invincible so move when you get spotted out in the open. If you're confident about it, you can try brawling with this tank. Yes I'm dead serious about using a German tank to brawl. Why? The gun reloads pretty quickly so you can get off another shot before your Russian counterparts and at short distances, it's often much easier to aim for weak spots right?

So is it worth the price of 5750 gold? Not exactly. It's credit earning potential is not as great as tier 8 tanks (obviously) but there are a few things to counter that. It will never see tanks tier 9 or above (assuming you're not platooned of course) and it's a great tank to use for training your medium crews. So if you feel that you want a good medium tank to train crew members while making a modest amount, then go ahead and buy this but otherwise, you could try waiting to see if there are any tier 8 German premium mediums in the future.

Panther Research Path

I hope you guys had a great Halloween and for those who don't celebrate Halloween, it's basically a North American event where people dress up and kids go around their neighbourhood asking for candy by ringing doorbells and saying "trick or treat".

Anyway, it has been a while since I made a post so today, I'll start off with a Panther medium tank. Even when fully upgraded with a 100% crew, you'll realize that it does feel pretty heavy thanks to its armour. Keep in mind that you must research the tracks first or you're not going to get anywhere. But if you already have the engines researched, put those on then aim for the tracks. You won't be able to load up anything else once you do however and this includes equipment. You could purchase the enhanced torsion bars but that's a little bit pricey so it depends on you.

1. Tracks: PzV-Ketten Ausf. 1945
2. Turret: PzV-Schmalturm 
3. Gun: 7.5 cm KwK 45 L/100
4. Engine: Maybach HL 210 P 30
5. Engine: Maybach HL 230 P 45
6. Radio: FuG 12
7. Gun: 10.5 cm KwK 42 L/28
8. Gun: 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56
9. Tank: Panther II

For the Panther, you have a choice of either the 75mm or the 88mm. Go for the 75mm mostly because it has A LOT more penetration making it much better for sniping. The Panther is best used for sniping and not brawling so take advantage of that. Your frontal armour will be able to protect you against most lower tiered tanks but it's not invincible so soften up your enemies before you move in. 

Flying Locust

So who doesn't want to see flying tanks? I mean, the ones that go at least 500 feet into the air. Well it just so happened that me and a couple of clan mates decided to fool around on the map Serene Coast. One of us knew that there was a mystery house that could propel our tanks into the sky. What we didn't know was it had a very strong "push", so the speak. Nevertheless, it was very fun and even I was very surprised at that.

I apologize for the bad framerate. For some reason, WoT doesn't seem to agree with my computer and the framerate takes a drastic drop from time to time.

JagdPz IV Research Path

Ah the JagdPz IV. One of World of Tank's underpowered German tank destroyers. With the German bias going around, it's no wonder why this tank is pretty difficult to use. That's what most people would say when they grind through the JagdPz Iv. Mostly due to the fact that there are no "real" upgrades on the guns and its gun arc is extremely poor. But if you can find a way to draw out its strengths, you're going to enjoy this tank quite a bit.

You'll have two gun choices the choose from, one of which you should have already researched from the StuG III. In case you didn't, this guide will show you when it's best to get it. Let's get started shall we?

1. Tracks: JagdPz-IV-Ostketten
2. Gun: 7.5 cm StuK 42 L/70
3. Gun: 8.8 cm PaK 36 L/56
4. Engine: Maybach HL 120 TR
5. Engine: Maybach HL 120 TRM
6. Radio: FuG 7
7. Gun: 10.5 cm StuH 42 L/48
8. Tank: JgPanther 

You won't be able to mount anything unless you get the new tracks so aim for those first. Now about the guns; there are two gun options and thanks to patch 8.0, the difference became bigger. The 75 mm has 150 mm of penetration but deals less damage than the 88 mm. It's a good choice to use the 75 mm as it does have a short reload time and it is able to penetrate a lot of armor. The 88 mm may deal more damage per shot but it only has 138 mm of penetration. It's really up to you on which gun you decide you want but personally, if you can't penetrate their armour, you won't be able to damage them. 

Tiger II Research Path

Well, it's actually been a while since I did one of these. Mostly because I've been WAY too busy. Nevertheless, I still found a small bit of time to do a small update soooooo here we go.

Ah, the lovely King Tiger. One of the few German tanks considered as "OP" (overpowered) in World of Tanks. Its stock gun (the 88 mm) is a very nice gun and to be honest, good players won't need an upgrade as it can penetrate most weak spots very nicely. But since it's World of Tanks, you may as well upgrade it right?

If you already have the engines from the Tiger (H), then do put them on, they will help immensely. If you don't, then just follow this guide. As always, I'm going to assume that you haven't researched ANY of the modules.

1. Tracks: PzVIB-VK
2. Turret: PzVIB-Henschel-Turm
3. Engine: Maybach HL 230 P 45
4. Engine: Maybach HL 234
5. Gun: 10.5 cm KwK 45 L/52
6. Gun: 10.5 cm KwK 46 L/68
7. Radio: FuG 12
8. Tank: E-75

If you're a below average player (or you aren't very good), you may want to consider using this path. 

1. Tracks: PzVIB-VK
2. Turret: PzVIB-Henschel-Turm
3. Gun: 10.5 cm KwK 45 L/52
4. Gun: 10.5 cm KwK 46 L/68
5. Engine: Maybach HL 230 P 45
6. Engine: Maybach HL 234
7. Radio: FuG 12
8. Tank: E-75

The difference between the 10.5 cm KwK 45 L/52 and the 88 mm KwK 43 L/71 is mainly the damage and rate of fire. For a longer reload time, you can dish out more damage per shot but with 3 mm less penetration. Personally I stuck with using the 88 mm as it reloads pretty quickly and it does surprise a few people as they don't expect you to reload so fast.

I'll be Bach

Have you ever played Haydn seek? It's a very fun game where one hide and the other seeks. Or maybe I should put up a bumper sticker saying "dude, Bach off". Don't worry, I can Handel it. Ok, that's enough of my stupid music puns. Let's get down to business.

For those who haven't been stalking reading my blog, I'll just let you know that I'm part of a clan in World of Tanks. I thought it might be a nice idea to just recount the events of our battles for the past couple of nights. It's unfortunate that I didn't get the time/chance to take screenshots seeing how lately my schedule has been so tight. No, I'm pretty sure she didn't say that for all those who were about to say "that's what she said". 

So one particular night, I had the lovely experience of being in a 11 vs. 15 battle. Naturally, I was part of the 11 (woot!) and the awesome part was, our strategy worked! We were able to take on a numerically superior force and I'm sure that it'll really help with morale in the clan. Granted it wasn't their "good" team that we fought against but it was still a good start. We have been fighting in clan wars for about a month now and we never really held land for more than a couple of days. We could take it but we never really had enough people to hold it. So I'm really hoping that we'll soon get more players to help defend. 

I wish I could talk about the strategy but that would mean revealing classified information and no one would like that. So I'll just keep quiet and let you readers use your imagination. We also managed to develop a nice strategy that was awesome for defense even if it costed us half of our team. As long as we could lead the battle into a draw, we still kept the land. That's how it works with owner's battles in World of Tanks. 

Aside from that, the clan does do a very nice job of fighting together as a team and it's often quite interesting when the enemy decides to just pool all their resources onto one flank and we get hard pressed to defend it. 

T32 Research Path

Essentially the heavy version of the M26 Pershing, the T32 carries a lot more armor and has a bigger gun than its medium brother. Basically some dude walked into a Pershing factory and went "What if we made this bigger?" (Or something similar to that).

Anyway, keep in mind that even with the 105 mm gun you'll still be outgunned so you must always aim for the weak spots if you are to shine on the battlefield. Also thanks to its low profile, the T32 is also an excellent tank for facehugging especially against those pesky KV-5's.

1. Tracks: T84E3A
2. Gun: 105 mm Gun T5E1
3. Turret: T119
4. Engine: GMC Allison V1710-E32
5. Engine: Continental AV-1790-3
6. Radio: SCR 528
7. Tank: M103

You should have most of these modules from the T29 such as the 105 mm or the upgraded engine. You can put on the engine without having to research the tracks so do that if you already have it. Also keep in mind that you will need new tracks if you want to mount the 105 mm so you'll be stuck using that 90 mm for quite some time. 

Anno 2070 [Updated]

So approximately a year ago, Ubisoft released Anno 2070. A sequel to its series, Anno 2070 introduces players to a possible future where global warming has taken a turn for the worse and has caused the ice bergs to melt considerably. It's to the point where mountains are the new lands and everything else is submerged.

Anno 2070 is a city building game but also incorporates some RTS into it as you command your ships and some aircraft. The variety of units may be lacking but they are still fun to play around with. You've got standard cargo ships able to transport goods from one island to another (keep in mind that Anno 2070 takes place on islands and not large pieces of lands). Then you've got nifty warships which do battle against other warships and depending on the ship in question, it may have the armaments to attack submarines and aircraft. Submarines can't attack aircraft but they are awesome for attacking most ships as they lack the proper weapons to defend themselves against these sneaky units. Aircraft on the other hand lets you attack inland as your ships' ranges will reach only so far. Although strangely enough, there are no airplanes but instead, there are helicopters and VTOLs.

Anno 2070 is also a rather complicated game as you progress onward and build up your civilization. At first you may only need to contend with fishery for food and tea or liquor for drinks to satisfy your citizens' needs. But soon you'll be faced with challenges of getting them lobster meals, champagnes, expensive jewelry, household robots and 3D projectors just to name a few. The problem is that each of these goods requires different raw materials and other unfinished goods so you'll be jumping all over the place trying to gather all the right materials.

There's also the issue of raw materials. Each island can support up to a maximum number of 4 fertilities (provided you are playing on easy mode) so you may farm up to 4 different foods. Seeing how this game has more than four foods, you're going to have to expand to other islands and farm there as well. Other raw materials such as oil, coal, copper or uranium are also difficult to find all on one island thereby forcing you to either stay in the stone age or expand and settle in other islands. The biggest issue with expand to so many different islands is making sure that all raw materials and goods go to where they need to go. Raw materials need to go to factories while finished goods need to go to your citizens. You can put factories on the same island as your citizens thereby saving time and the trip of transporting the goods in question. But then you face the problem of eco-balance.     

The biggest challenge in this game is maintaining a good eco-balance for your citizens. Those living underneath too much smog will soon start feeling unhappy and unhappy citizens means less taxes. Also, if your eco-balance drops too low (say -500 for example), you might see a natural disaster or two destroying a good chunk of your city. This encourages players to build buildings that help improve the eco-balance making it a much better place for your people to live in.

This is just a brief outline of what Anno 2070 has to offer. I know I didn't write much here but I will put up a couple of pictures just to please your eyes.

In this picture, you can see an anti-ship turret in the foreground protecting my docks from enemy attack. My (unfinished) city sits in the background.

Here we have two lovely submarines on the surface of the water waiting for their orders.

Here we see the same two submarines now submerged and are underwater. You can see some of the marine animals in the background.

Edit (Sept. 15): I felt like taking more pictures so here they are.

M103 Research Path

This tier 9 American heavy tank replaced the T34 in patch 0.7.2 and quite honestly, it's quite an improvement over the T34. The hull armor is now sloped making it very difficult to penetrate its upper glacis while the turret armor, despite having less armor, is still very strong as it too has lots of slopes everywhere. In addition, you now have access to the 120 mm T122 gun which has a decent amount of penetration and with enough skill, you probably won't ever have to research the last gun, the 120 mm M58. Yes, you heard me right. As long as you are constantly aiming at the weak spots, your 120 mm T122 gun will serve you very nicely. Although if you want to make your life easier, a better gun is always nicer too.

Right, now that I got the introduction out of the way, let's get started shall we?

1. Gun: 120 mm Gun T122
2. Engine: Continental AV-1790-7C
3. Turret: T140
4. Gun: 120 mm Gun M58
5. Tracks: T97E2
6. Radio: AN/GRC-7
7. Tank: T110E5

Like I said previously, if you believe that you're good enough and don't want to research the final gun, don't bother. You'll get the exact same gun when you reach the T110E5 so you'll end up eliting your M103 without having to spend research points on that gun. Also, the stock tracks are able to support all your upgraded modules with some weight left for equipment. Keep in mind that your tank will still feel rather sluggish so you'll want to get the tracks before you get the radio. 

Mmm, Free Stuff

Isn't it wonderful when you get free stuff? We live in a world today where free stuff is only available at supermarkets sampling food and the internet. So whenever you come across the chance of getting free stuff, chances are it's probably too good to be true or someone gave you a gift.

Anyway, I wanted to share this video which shows how to hide your tanks in World of Tanks. I won't say much other than the fact that it was very interesting and funny because of Monty Python. Read the description of the video if you don't know what I'm talking about.

StuG III Research Path

I'm actually writing this now because I'm going to be getting rid of my StuG III real soon so before I sell it, at least I have something to refer to. Out of all the TD's I've played (which isn't a lot mind you), the Stug III has really shown me that it can work miracles. I finally got back my 9 kill record which took a very long time to get. My previous 9 kill record was in a Panzer II and that was back in beta. I was pretty excited back then too since it was my very first time I had stolen gotten so many kills.

Oh and somehow the wiki isn't incredibly accurate about the armor part but keep in mind that if you try to face hug same tiered tanks (or lower tired tanks), you'll have a really good chance of bouncing shots. Your upper glacis is actually stronger than you would imagine and it's only the lower glacis that is easy to penetrate.

1. Gun: 7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48
2. Tracks: StuG-III-Ostketten
3. Gun: 7.5 cm StuK 42 L/70
4. Engine: Maybach HL 120 TR
5. Engine: Maybach HL 120 TRM
6. Radio: FuG 7
7. Gun: 10.5 cm StuH 42 L/28
8. Tank: JagdPz IV

If you prefer to use the 10.5 cm (which is a derp gun), then switch step 3 with step 7. Otherwise the 7.5 cm StuK is a better choice as it has excellent accuracy and decent rate of fire. Also the upgraded radio only has 415m of range so upgrading it won't make too big of a difference (sadly). 

Tiger (H) Research Path

The "legendary" Tiger tank found in World of Tanks isn't very legendary. Thanks to the Russian bias that's been around since the beginning of time, German tanks have been very difficult to master and believe me when I say difficult. One of the problems with the Tiger tank is the fact that none of its armor is sloped as it was designed to withstand punishment and not deflect it. This was the last German tank that had the "classic" tank look as afterwards, German engineers copied the Soviet T-34 medium tank and incorporated sloped armor into their tanks (i.e. Panther and King Tiger). Alright, let's get on with it shall we?

Again, I'm going to assume that you magically didn't/couldn't/wouldn't research some of the shared modules.

1. Gun: 8.8 cm KwK 36 L/56
2. Turret: PzVI-Porscheturm
3. Gun: 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71
4. Engine: Maybach HL 174
5. Engine: Maybach HL 210 P 30
6. Engine: Maybach HL 230 P 45
7. Engine: Maybach HL 234
8. Tracks: Breitketten
9. Radio: FuG 12
10. Gun: 10.5 cm KwK 42 L/28
11. Tank: Tiger II

Seriously if you are still considering using that 105 mm on a tier 7 heavy, you need to rethink your strategy. Only the strongest HE guns are effective for anything past tier 6. I strongly recommend that you use either the 75 mm stock gun while you grind to the 88 mm. You should have already unlocked that 88 mm from the VK 3601 (H) but in case you didn't, the 75 mm will have to do. 

Also, keep in mind that the stock tracks can hold practically everything so you may want to research it last. The new tracks does let you turn on a dime slightly faster and thanks to the extra load limit, you will feel your tank to be slightly more mobile. 

As usual, aiming for the best gun should be a priority as it will help immensely with the extra penetration and accuracy. The Porscheturm is also something you will want to get soon as the stock turret simply looks ridiculous and everyone will instantly know that you're driving a stock Tiger.      

Super Pershing Impressions

I noticed that my Super Pershing post was more popular than the other pages so I thought it would be a good idea to write down my impressions of this tank. The Super Pershing is essentially a very heavy medium with a decent enough gun. For those who have experience using the T32, you will find that the 90 mm on the T32 and the 90 mm on the Super Pershing is actually the same gun but with two names.

The Super Pershing is also very good at absorbing damage and bouncing off shots (from the front of course).  Spaced armor has been in use every since the first world war and for good reason too. Sloped spaced armor causes shells to tumble or deform thus making it much less effective at penetrating the next layer of armor. Seeing how the Super Pershing has sloped spaced armor on its hull, it becomes much more effective at bouncing shots as most shots will probably penetrate the first layer but will fail to penetrate the second. I've bounced shots off T28 Prototypes, M103's, King Tigers, T95's, etc. and each time, it's thanks to my spaced armor.

The turret armor is also very well protected in certain parts but it does have gaps. For example, the cupolas are exposed so face hugging taller opponents wouldn't be the best thing to do. Also the extra armor is rather thin in terms of width so it doesn't full cover important areas such as the bottom of the turret or the turret ring.

As you can see, the extra turret armor covers approximately 80% of the frontal turret (I'm eyeballing it here). Aim at any spot other than that extra armor and you should be able to penetrate it.

The 90 mm gun T15E1 is a medium tank's gun. You will either have to flank your enemies or learn all the weak spots. Seeing how this gun only has 170 mm of penetration with a standard AP shell, you'll have to aim at those weak spots on those heavies or you're going to have a bad time.

If you know where to aim and who to aim at, you'll definitely enjoy playing this tank. The reload speed is also decent but as a suggestion, I would recommend putting on that rammer as one of your equipment. 

Now that I got all that crap out of the way, let's get down to the fun stuff shall we? 

Pros:

• H4X0R armor!!!!!1!!11!
• Good reload speed
• Decent aim time
• Cheap price (compared to other tier 8 premiums)
• Good gun depression 

Cons:

• Slow (poor engine)
• You may need to use up a consumable slot for 100-octane
• Virtually no side or rear armor
• May have trouble getting to the sides and rears of your enemies in time

Recommended Equipment

• Medium-caliber tank gun rammer
• Vertical stabilizer (or enhanced gun laying drive if you don't drive around much)
• Improved ventilation
• Toolbox (if your crew isn't trained in repairs)

Should you purchase this tank? Players who are accustomed to using heavy tanks with weak penetration guns (such as the 88 mm found on German tanks) may find this tank to be very familiar. Your gun requires good aiming but that aiming time is often offset by the powerful armor letting you take hits while you take the time to aim. This tank is also cheap costing approx. $33 USD and makes a decent amount of credits on any given match. If you hate slow tanks with weak guns, you won't like playing this tank. On the other hand, if you want crazy armor and don't mind the speed and firepower, then you'll love it. 

I like to compare the Super Pershing to the M4A3E2 Sherman as both of these tanks are more well armored than their counterparts. They both pack the same guns but lack speed and carry increased armor. Both tanks do have more speedy counterparts yes but all that extra armor makes a huge difference between life and death.

If you want to read more about the Super Pershing, check out the World of Tanks wiki here. 

M4A3E8 Research Path

Might as well do another one of these before I take a short break. Anyway, here is my favorite tank (currently, it's about to be surpassed by the Super Pershing) and well, don't know what else to say other than happy thanksgiving! It's not thanksgiving I know, but that was in my head. Once again, this research path guide assumes that you have none of the modules unlocked from previous tanks.

1. Gun: 76 mm Gun M1A1
2. Engine: Wright C. R-975C4
3. Turret: D51080
4. Gun: 76 mm Gun M1A2
5. Engine: Ford GAA
6. Radio: SCR 506
7. Tracks: NVSS T80
8. Gun: 105 mm SPH M4L23
9. Tanks: T20 or M36

At this tier, you really should not use the 105 mm. It may have been adequate for your lovely M4 Sherman but it really does get wasted on this tank. The M4A3E8 (or Easy 8) is an excellent flanking tank and you want to pump as many shots as you can into the rears of higher tiered tanks. The 105 mm lacks the penetration to get the job done so this is where the 76 mm M1A2 comes in. 

Also, this tank has more than enough load limit to go around so you can research the tracks last. It just makes your life easier when you do get them and you'll find the grind to the T20 or the M36 quite enjoyable. 

M4 Sherman Research Path

Seeing how the wiki never seems to do a good job of handing out information, I decided that I should start giving out some advice on what modules to research first. Keep in mind that if you have elited your previous tank, it makes life a lot easier. Also all of my research path guides will elite the vehicle in the process. If you believe that there is a specific module you do no wish to obtain, you may skip it at your own risk. So without further ado, let's get started.

If you wish to use the 76 mm M1A1 gun, follow this research path.

1. Engine: Wright C. R-975C1
2. Tracks: T42
3. Turret: D51072
4. Gun: 76 mm Gun M1A1
5. Engine: Wright C. R-975C4
6. Radio: SCR 506
7. Gun: 105 mm SPH M4L23
8. Tank: M4A3E8 or M4A3E2 

If you wish to use the 105 mm SPH (also known as the 105 derp or mini-derp), follow this path.

1. Engine: Wright C. R-975C1
2. Tracks: T42
3. Gun: 105 mm SPH M4L23
4. Engine: Wright C. R-975C4
5. Turret: D51072
6. Radio: SCR 506
7. Gun: 76 mm Gun M1A1
8. Tank: M4A3E8 or M4A3E2

The M4 Sherman has two different choices of weapons and both have its strengths and weaknesses. The 105 mm is good against low tier targets potentially one-shotting them. The 76 mm makes you more of a threat against tier 7's and lets you snipe slightly more accurately than the 105 mm. 

Whenever upgrading a tank, you should always aim for obtaining the best gun possible before research other modules. Unfortunately, the M4 Sherman is extremely sluggish and unmaneuverable with its stock engine so getting an upgrade made save you some frustration. If you don't mind the slow speed, then get the skip the first step and get the engine later.  

People With Narcissistic Tendencies

You may notice that occasionally, my posts have grammatical errors in them. This is because I don't really proof-read them and I should. I simply type out what I have in my head and I don't bother going back to read it. I really should change this bad habit shouldn't I?

So I thought I should talk more about my current clan and help them do a little press. My clan currently has 40 people in it (last I checked) and we are in a desperate need of more members mainly for defending the lands that we hold. We are able to take land alright, but we always lose it after a day or two and we never have the chance to move inland. The attacking force is always so busy attacking and trying to defend that I'm sure a couple of us are rather tired and deserve a break. So if anyone here wishes to join a clan wars clan (we have to fight just about every night so we need all the people we can get), don't hesitate to visit our recruitment page and message us. Just be sure to read the requirements as some of the clan members lack the proper tiered tanks and you will be given a lower priority in battle.

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, I thought I would share two pictures about my clan. No, we did not pose in front of a camera acting like fools. Rather it's just a couple of screenshots which I thought should be considered as milestones.

My first picture here is proof of our very first successful landing. It was our first time as a clan winning land and the funny thing was, we got a technical victory with the owner's battle (that's the final battle mind you). It was a waste of time waiting an extra 15 minutes for the battle to start only to find out that the enemy never showed up. At least we got our very first taste of true victory and I'm sure the entire clan was proud of ourselves. 

This next picture you see here happened last night actually and the coolest thing was, we didn't lose a single tank in the process. We fought brilliantly and our artillery did a good job of whittling down the enemy while the rest of us finished them off. Although this clan did bring in a couple of tier 9's and 8's, this was the very first time we had such a perfect win. I still don't know why but if their team had rushed us up in the northern flank, we probably would've lost as we were outnumbered in the northern flank and they had fast but powerful tanks at their disposal.

Either way, that's it for now but I'm really hoping that we can move inland and perhaps one day, we can start conquering Europe on the clan wars map. That's where all the gold is and that's where all the powerful clans are sitting.

T26E4 Super Pershing

Yesterday I finally caved in and spent $33 on a pixel tank. I guess if I put it that way, it does sound kind of bad. Anyway, let's go through a short history lesson before I discuss why I decided to spend my hard earned money. During world war 2, there were essentially two sides; the allies and the axis. The allies were composed of a bunch of countries including the United States, the British, the French (well, the good ones anyway) and other various countries. The axis were filled with Nazis and their friends. During world war 2, the technology of tanks progressed rapidly and by the end of the war, both sides had built machines that were never before imagined. The Germans had the King Tiger and the Panther as some of their most fearsome tanks and the United States had.... well plenty of Sherman tanks. The Shermans were very weak compared to their German enemies but they always made up for it with numbers and in the second half of the war, they had superior air support so that made their lives easier too. The Americans were slow to realize that they needed heavy tanks and decided to continue to produce tons of medium tanks to no end. The M26 Pershing was developed late in the war and only a handful saw action in Europe. Despite being called a heavy tank, this was purely for moral purposes and it was clear that this tank did not have enough armor to protect it and its gun wasn't top-notch. The Americans then decided to slap on some additional armor and called it the Super Pershing. Only one Super Pershing saw action during the war as the allies had basically won the war and they were simply marching their way straight into Berlin.

So with World of Tanks, I decided that I wanted a Super Pershing as part of my collection. Unfortunately, it's a premium tank so you must purchase it using real life money. I spent many days thinking about the advantages of this tank and what I would do with it if I really bought it (I have the T34 as my primary money maker tank so I don't really need another one). I decided that it was probably a good idea to use this tank as my secondary money maker tank (effectively pushing out my Easy 8 out of the picture) and using the Super Pershing to continue to train my medium tank crews.

I had never spent money before on World of Tanks and all of my premium tanks were received for free along with what gold I had.

The M22 Locust was thanks to a friendly forum user who had gotten a few extra promo codes at a WOT gathering and he pasted them onto the forum after much persuasion from other forum users. I was watching at that time so I immediately pounced on a promo code the second it appeared.

My T-127 was received from this shady looking German website which turned out to be alright in the end. There was plenty of codes to go around so many people also received theirs. But unlike many of these people, I actually liked this tank due to its strong frontal armor and my usual habit of aiming at weakspots even if I knew the gun could penetrate the strongest part of the armor. The T-127 does indeed have a weak gun but it is compensated for by its armor which makes it quite nice for face-hugging.

Remember the time when the American T34 was still a tier 9 heavy? Well, I was grinding towards it like a madman and I had to get a tier 8 premium tank as I wasn't going to spend $50 on a Lowe. Halfway through the grind, this kind gentleman who had purchased an Nvidia graphics card received a promo code for WOT. Seeing how he did not play WOT, he originally wanted to sell the code for some real money but I kindly told him that selling promo codes was not allowed on the WOT forums so he simply gave me the code which contained a Matilda and one week of premium. Thanks to this one week, I was able to grind out the T32 from stock to elite in less than one week. One of my more crazy achievements yes but I got two premium tanks within less than one week of each other and both for free.

Now we come to the present where having tried it out on the test server, I was very much impressed with the performance of the Super Pershing. Its spaced armor gave it a very good chance at fighter higher tiered opponents and thankfully, it was the cheapest out of all the tier 8 premium tanks. I spent much time having debates in my head until I decided to go for the "Do or do not. There is no try." I am now a proud owner of the Super Pershing and I have plans on keeping the M26 Pershing when I have grinded towards it.

Savvy?

I like to draw much of my personality inspiration from captain Jack Sparrow. No, not Jack Sparrow, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow. He's a pretty awesome guy and even though he's a little bit weird, he just seems to be able to get everything right. Well Dr. House does that too after 50 minutes of the show but hey, I guess I like people with sarcastic, humorous and narcissistic personality traits. Was captain Sparrow sarcastic?

For those of you who don't know, WG is currently developing the third game in their World of.. series: World of Warships. You know, these cheesy names are really starting to get on my nerves but hey, at least the gameplay is awesome. They've recently opened the forum to the public and have already assigned someone to answer all our repetitive and boring questions. It's a nice place to hang around if you're crazy about warships of the WW2 era and with any luck, you might get yourself into closed alpha if you shine enough boots.

What I really can't wait for in this game are the aircraft carriers. According to my sources (whom shall remain  anonymous as that's how they do it in James Bond movies), players using aircraft carriers will have an RTS style approach to the game. You send out planes to attack other planes or other ships and the coolest thing is, you just sit safely behind friendly lines while your evil minions obey your orders. I've always wanted to play an RTS game that also had an FPS/TPS perspective to it. The closest that I got was Stick War but like all other free online internet games, it was limited. I know WoWS won't grant me what I want but for now, it will have to do until I miraculously become a genius and develop my own game.

Did you know that grilled cheese sandwiches tastes really good?

Clans

Anyone who has played any online game (or games that can be played online - honestly, what's the difference?) knows that there is something called clans or guilds. Essentially it's a group of players who band together for different reasons and they play together, laugh together, win together, talk to each other (c-c-c-c-combo breaker), and die together.

In World of Tanks, players can join clans and just like any game out there, there are different types of clans. These clans range from the very casual laid back clans that teach newcomers the basics, to hardcore clans that require large amounts of effort and dedication. These hardcore clans have to option to compete in clan wars and try to win land for their clans. Of course with something so important, these clans often mandate their members to participate in training battles to improve each others' skills.

I had recently left a casual clan and moved onto a more hardcore one. One of my many reasons was because my old clan started seeing a lot of inactive members and no matter how hard I tried to push for it, we were never ready to fight in clan wars. There simply wasn't enough members on a given night to even participate in clan wars let alone have 15 tier 10 tanks ready to fight. At the same time, I also believed that my skills could be better used elsewhere and that I was rather confident in being able to take out any tank one-on-one. I like to consider myself an engineer and I tend to look at the strengths and weaknesses of each tank and compare them to what I'm driving. Then based on the data I have gathered, I can make a simulation of the event in my head and judge whether or not I would win. Of course, I would have to put it into practice but having played World of Tanks for so long, it does become easy to discover the weaknesses of your enemies after a while.

So enough of me bragging about my skills (which really aren't that great but I'm trying to improve), my current clan is filled with nice people. Granted some are rather...unique in their own sense but all are very nice and awesome people. These fellows have clan wars experience and know what they are doing and after fighting with them in multiple clan battles, I feel rather confident that we can defeat all but the most hardcore clans. It's funny though how we are able to capture land only to have it taken away from us the next day. Then we recapture it and lose it just as quickly. It's still a nice experience though and having played on that map so many times that I now unconsciously go to my usual position when I encounter that map in public matches.

Seeing how this is a blog, I feel that I should also talk a little bit more about myself. For those stalkers trying to figure out more about me, I am a university student. I think I'll just leave it at that for now.

Oh, can't forget a picture. I had just recently got my first tier 10 tank so I have been using that for clan wars a lot. It's a very fun tank and just like most American tanks, it's rather versatile compared to other nations.

True Crime

Several years back there was a game called True Crime: Streets of LA developed by Luxoflux. Basically it was a Grand Theft Auto game except you were a cop instead of a criminal. It's always nice to see the station from the other side of the bars. Anyway, that was back when I had first started playing video games, well seriously playing them. I had a Nintendo Gamecube back then probably because it was the cheapest out of the PS2 and Xbox. I didn't really catch onto PC gaming until much after did I discover that it was a lot easier to have everything you wanted (games, school, work, etc.) all on one machine. Did I get off topic again? So True Crime was my very first M game and I'm going to be honest here, I wasn't 17 at that time yet. But I really wanted to play that game because you were allowed to be a cop. I've always wanted to be a cop when I was a kid. It always seemed fascinating watching the cops chase down criminals in movies and on TV so obviously, I started to get influenced by it.

Nevertheless, I managed to get my hands on a copy of True Crime. Boy was it money well spent. I still have fond memories of it from a special appearance with Snoop Dogg to how difficult it was to get your hands on a squad car to the very accurate map of Los Angeles. Well the map wasn't super accurate but for a video game made in 2003, it was very good. Essentially, you could explore almost all of L.A. through a video game provided that you get used to seeing the same buildings and the same pedestrians and cars.

It was the first video game of its series and just like any other video game, there were areas that could be improved or fixed. A.I. is probably the most obvious one given the fact that this game was made in 2003. But a good chunk of these improvements were installed onto the next game in the series: True Crime: New York City.

Now TC: NYC would have been a great improvement over TC: SoLA if it weren't for the fact that it was rushed to stores. TC: NYC implemented a monetary system (just like many video games at that time) and as a player, you could purchase cars from various car dealerships or clothing to customize the protagonist Marcus Reed. The number of cars you were allowed to own was greatly expanded from the standard Ford Crown Victoria to a Nissan 350z to even a limo. All of these cars can be given a "police upgrade" which essentially adds a small light bar at the back of the car (or front in some cases), gives it a siren and adds a reinforcement bar at the front of the vehicle. This effectively made turned your civilian car into a police one and you could go around pulling over drivers checking for contraband or issuing bogus traffic tickets.

Both games allowed you to randomly frisk pedestrians for illegal weapons or contraband. It's always pretty fun watching the animation as your character cuffs the suspect and trips him onto the ground. TC: NYC also gave players the option to turn in the evidence to the evidence locker at the station or sell it at a pawn shop for some extra cash. This would affect your character has he completes his deeds in a good way or a bad way. This lead to different endings depending on whether you wanted to be a bad cop or good cop.

I never did got to the part why TC: NYC was so bad now did I? The biggest reason for it was because it was rushed thus a lot of bugs were not found nor removed. This really surprised me as anyone who played the game for 30 minutes would soon notice the frequent crashing or the inability to use the scope on a simple sniper rifle. The game was still very fun but the bugs really ruined it.

Fast forward to 2011. I was very disappointed to find out that True Crime 3 was canceled by Activision as they wanted to focus more of their efforts on Call of Duty and other mainstream titles. Now I haven't really paid attention to the gaming news lately so when I walked into EB games today, I noticed a game called Sleeping Dogs. The cover was what had captured my attention and as I picked it up, I got this strange feeling of familiarity. The back cover had the usual pictures of showing some action but I thought these pictures looked really familiar. Reading the description also told me that the player would be playing as an undercover Hong Kong police officer. Now things were starting to get really familiar and I decided I would remember the name and research the game when I got home.

As it turns out, Square Enix had bought the rights to the game and finished the development of it. I am really excited to see how this will turn out and also I really wanted to play a video game that took place in Hong Kong; my home city.

I'm feeling really tired right now so I'll just paste the usual picture and go to sleep.

Why Must I Title My Posts?

I feel like it's been such a long time since I wrote something. Nevertheless I will make an effort to make more posts from now on. Hopefully my procrastination skills won't get the better of me... Lately I've been feeling my English skills have been deteriorating. I'm starting to turn to short sentences. Like this one. WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!!?

Either way, I've just finished watching Battleship and I thought I should write a few things down before they leave my head. For those of you who have never heard of Battleship, it's actually a board game in which two players set up their warships and try to strike their opponent's fleet. In the infinite wisdom of Hollywood, they have decided to make a film adaptation to such a game and put a little spin to it; aliens.

I won't spoil the movie for those who haven't watched it but basically aliens decide they need Earth for their purposes and seeing how aliens don't talk human, the most obvious language is violence. A good chunk of the movie is filled with action of big guns firing at each other but there are the occasional parts that make you wonder, "do they ever do that in the military?". 

On a side note, I must admit Rihanna looked a lot better than with her usual make-up. That's not to say that she didn't have any make-up in the movie but instead, she didn't sport her usual "Nicki Minaj" look. Did I exaggerate a bit when I compared her to Nicki Minaj? Well Rihanna certainly did look more "normal" than her usual self. At least that's my opinion. 

Being the overly-obsessive gamer that I am, I began to think about playing a naval battle RTS game. Unfortunately I'm thinking I set the bar too high as the closest that I found was Naval Warfare: Arctic Circle. I know graphics shouldn't be too big of a problem when I go look for games but this one really makes you feel like you're playing a game from the 90's. Just in case I didn't make myself clear, this game was released April 2012. 

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait until 2013 when World of Warships will enter alpha testing. But speaking of which, about a month ago I had received an invitation to closed beta for World of Warplanes and I am ashamed to admit that I suck at flying. Why couldn't they have invented heat-seeking missiles earlier? I'm having such a hard time aiming my bullets at my target. I knew I was bad at planes but this really takes it up a notch. The first kill that I got was because my wing grazed into him and I was fortunate enough that he had very little health left. I crashed shortly after because I flew too low....

But I honestly can't wait for World of Warships. I think I'm going to grind the aircraft carrier line first seeing how it's always fun having dozens of planes flying around you (provided you aren't piloting said planes of course). 

SimCity 4

If there's one game that I really liked, it's probably SimCity 4. Probably because it's a game that never ends and presents quite a challenge (maybe it's because of all the bugs). For those of you guys who don't know what I'm talking about, SimCity 4 is a city-building simulation game. You are a mayor and it is your job to build a city while keeping your Sims (that's what they call people) happy. Even though you are a mayor, you have god-like powers are your disposal such as launching meteors or calling in UFO's. 

One of the hardest elements of this game is keeping your Sims happy or you'll soon find yourself bankrupt. You will need to build schools, hospitals, police stations, parks and the likes to keep them in check. All of these have a monthly cost and even though you can adjust the funding to increase or decrease their effectiveness, it's still a very costly experience. Fortunately you can always raise taxes or place toll booths on roads to generate more income. Of course, these options don't come without their consequences.  

But even though this game is a difficult game (especially with your utilities adviser constantly nagging at you about power, water and garbage issues), I guess the best part is building a monorail system and seeing my Sims use it. Makes my city look more modern. 

Oh and let's not forget the U-Drive-It mode. Available only if you purchase the Rush Hour expansion pack or the deluxe edition, you get to jump into several different vehicles and complete missions or just drive around your city admiring the view. It's really too bad physics aren't implemented in this game or it would be pretty awesome driving off a cliff. Nevertheless, it's still awesome to bomb your city with a jet fighter or drive a tank and shoot everything on sight.

I did mention that this game is a bit buggy and some of these bugs are quite a nuisance. At random intervals, the game might crash on its own with no warning at all. Although it does get annoying very quickly, you'll soon teach yourself to save often. You'll thank yourself for it too as it carries over to other games and based on personal experience, not every game out there is made to not crash at all. Or what about blackouts? Exactly my point. Another important bug I thought I should mention is the fact that your Sims seem to choose the shortest routes to work and not the fastest. If you have a street and a highway placed with the street being the shortest route, you'll soon find yourself with a traffic jam and the highway completely unused. That's when you have to start blocking off routes and force your Sims to use the highway. This way, you can easily put toll booths and force them to pay. Cha-ching! 

I would post a picture of my city but it looks really ugly at the moment so maybe later. I would recommend this game to anyone out there who enjoys a bit of light gaming with some thinking involved. Although the new SimCity is coming out in 2013 so I'm waiting for that one as well. 

My Very First Post

June 30, 2012.
My very first post.

I've decided to create a blog which will detail my gaming experiences and occasionally, my real life ones as well. If you plan to stalk me, please don't try to enter my house. It's very messy and you probably won't be able to find the door once you enter. Did I mention that I have a team of ninjas guarding my house? 

Anyway to start off, I should introduce myself. It took me a very long time to come up with a gamer tag and it was only very recently that I thought up of Unknown Chemistry. How did I come up with this name? I honestly have no idea. Perhaps it has something to do with me failing chemistry back when I was in high school..... Regardless, I have no intention to become world famous but if this blog does indeed become well-known, I'll be happy to reap in some ka-ching from the ads. I'm just saying.

I currently have a bit of free time so I do spend it playing video games. Video games are what I like to consider an outlet to my problems rather than what most people would call an obsession. It's quite interesting actually whenever I get a new game. I play it, I beat it in a few hours (or possibly a few days) and then that's when I start measuring the game's fun factor. To me, a game's fun factor is measured by its replay value. Simply playing the game the first time then not being able to do anything with it again is very boring. Imagine spending $60 on a game then to find out that once you've finished the game, there's nothing to do anymore. 

Seeing how this is my first post and I feel that I've spent too much time on myself, let's move on to the game I am currently playing. World of Tanks. I must admit, it does have a very cheesy name but it is quite fun. WoT like any other game out there has its pros and cons. You get to pick from over 150 tanks and instantly jump into battles which pit you against 15 foes. If you were wondering how it's fair to see a PVP game with 1 vs. 15, don't worry. It's 15 vs. 15. Players work as teams and try to accomplish objectives which always includes killing the entire enemy team. You don't really have to be all that bloodthirsty to enjoy the game however. Depending on the game mode, you may need to defend your own base or race to capture a neutral base located at the middle of the map. 

Instead of advertising the game, I really wanted to mark the beginning of this blog with a screenshot. This WoT screenshot shows my most favorite tank with my invincible crew that no matter how many times they die in battle, they are always resurrected afterwards. What makes my crew even more awesome is the fact that they are at their 3rd secondary skill at 50%. Feels like it took years to get them this far...

Oh and yes, my username for WoT is Knightmare93. That was before I came up with Unknown Chemistry mind you.