Actual Review of the WZ-111

 

WZ-111

By:

IrmaBecx

 

 

So yea, I bought it.

It’s nice, I figured it might be. It’s not super fast, but it gets around. If you’ve driven the 730 or the model 1-4, the armour makes total sense.

It feels Chinese. Has all the trademarks. Sluggish when turning and at lower speeds. Strong turret. Armour works well when angled properly; you get those expected rather than random bounces.

The weapon is so-so, but it’s all it needs to be. Chinese vehicles are geared towards balance between your three main categories: mobility, armour and firepower, but they do it slightly differently than Russian or American tanks. This is actually the main reason I like them so much.

I just enjoy the way they drive.

 

HELLO! My Name Is: WZ-111

 

*

That is of course not the whole truth. I also like Chinese tanks because they are new, because they are quite powerful, and because they are not Russian. You’ve heard me call them “Russian without the bias”.

Also, I mainly bought the WZ-111 out of frustration. I just wanted to drive it. To the extent there was a logical component to my decision making, it doesn’t go beyond my being reasonably sure the thing wasn’t going to be a total disappointment. In short, I bought the 111 sight unseen, and against my own better judgement.

Because it is the “right-now” tank. A novelty. New and unproven. And what finally tipped the balance in favour of getting one was, I suppose, wanting to be a part of that process of evaluation. A part of the avant-garde, the early adopters; the ones in the know.

A proper gold noob.

*

So is it any good? I was asked that very question on Twitter just now.

I said it was, but that I was also heavily biased towards it, and that I was working on a proper review. The bias you can see for yourself with a cursory look at my previous writings on Chinese tanks. I already like them a lot. I am the target demographic. An easy victim of the shiny and new.

That’s one thing, and it’s easy to understand. But it also means I accept these tanks will sometimes struggle; that is part of my calculation. I don’t want the WZ-111 to be a tier VIII IS-7, I want it to be a tier VIII WZ-111 model 1-4; a tank that can be really powerful in some situations, but is far from invincible. That is what being a “good tank” means to me.

A tank that is reasonably balanced means you have to pay attention to your gameplay to try and manufacture those situations where you can take advantage of your strengths. All tanks I have ended up driving hundreds and hundreds of games in have that in common: engaging gameplay. A bit of a challenge.

I decided to play it safe and drive my very first games with my friend Xeno, who is not only philosophically minded, but also interested in the 111 – not to mention the best tank driver I’ve ever known.

It worked a charm. Playing two games put a smile on my face, and gave me the feeling the tank was going to be all right. It feels Chinese. I want to drive it more. I can see how it will struggle: a tall Tiger II punches right through my front plate, as expected. A Borsig Waffenträger bounces off my side armour, because I have angled correctly, and so that is also as expected.

I can see that it’s not very different from what I expected, and although I may feel unfamiliar in my new Heavy tank skin, it looks reassuringly like my other 111, and philosophically, it strikes me as both coherent and transparent. Easy to get your head around, I mean.

We drove a few more games later on, which put me in kind of the same mood as when I had first bought my Hype 59: “The tank is good, it makes credits, and I like driving it; I just can’t believe I spent so much money on it.”

The 59, of course, manoeuvred its way into my heart by just being a solid all rounder and a relaxing drive compared to the high-strung Russian Medium. That is going to be the true measure of the WZ-111: will it become one of my daily drivers? Is it a “thousands-of-games-tank”?

*

That remains of course to be seen. As it is, I thought I’d just give a few short pointers about how you can make the best of your WZ-111, should you happen to be of the mind to make a rash decision same as I did.

First off, the aimtime is terrible. Other Chinese tanks have some of the fastest aimtimes in the game, but this is regular Heavy tank stuff. This means you don’t want to stay too far back; the thing is geared for short to intermediate ranges.

To make life easier at or near the front, you have a really strong turret front, and you have solid, straight 80 mm sides that sidescrape really well. You also have a nice wide strip of spaced armour just like the Glacial or 111 1-4, and 80 mm on the upper side hull:

 

112 Glacial. Note weak lower side armour.

 

WZ-111 has flat sides.

 

Looking straight ahead, the 111 has 50 mm less of effective frontal armour than the Glacial. The kinky semi-pike nose will always straighten out somewhere, unlike the flat Glacial plate which can be angled. Five degrees of gun depression means yo’ll have trouble firing over the front plate from many spots.

But the turret sits as far forward as it can, and the pike nose and strong side armour means you can get shots sideways going up a small incline. Side scraping is easy to set up, and some standard juking and dancing will get results once in a while.

Against multiple opponents or fast and agile tanks, you are toast; again as things should be. You have just enough armour and mobility to get to an early spot, and just enough firepower and armour to hold it when you get there. It’s not going to give you a lot for free: you have to understand your strengths and work around a few weaknesses to make the tank perform.

20 games so far I’ve not seen a lot of tier IX, so it’s hard to judge the actual strength of the 111. It doesn’t strike me as struggling unduly, and I don’t feel like it has training wheels. I will say if you have the Glacial, you basically have this tank already, and if you are looking for raw power and “bang for your buck”, the IS-5 is of course the obvious choice.

From what I’ve seen, the WZ-111 has some pretty fierce competitors, and not a lot that sets it apart except for being the latest thing.

*

For me, the acquisition makes sense; not just on account of my being a tank philosopher and needing raw materials for my work, but because I will never buy an IS-5, even though I really like it. I will also never buy a Glacial, because I think the blue dragon motif looks terrible.

Ergo WZ-111.

I am looking forward to exploring it. The Löwe is my only tier VIII premium Heavy tank, so I don’t actually have a lot of experience driving tier VIII Heavys. In this, especially, your mileage may vary. If you’ve done 3000 games in your Glacial, it’s not certain a pike nose, 3 km/h top speed, and more solid side armour is worth over 40€.

If you like Chinese tank, or shiny and new things, then the WZ-111 is at least a solid option. It’s a tier VIII Heavy, and it can do tier VIII Heavy tank things; some of them really well. It makes pretty good credits with some boosters or premium time. But I think you have to feel something specific for this particular tank, otherwise there will be a better, and likely very much cheaper option for you out there.

Two things irk me about the WZ-111. It’s too expensive, and also I can’t put the “Strong Willed” spare parts camo on it that all my other Chinese tanks have.

But yeah. I’ve been on Wargamings case for months about all the crates and probabilities, and so this is me putting my money where my mouth is: The WZ-111 is a straight up bundle with a guaranteed purchase. You get the tank, a garage slot, and all nine equipment slots opened. Ready to go, straight out of the box.

Sold.

Whether or not the 111 will turn out to be a trusted friend and constant companion remains to be seen, but so far I have good feelings about it. It’s too expensive, and it’s not all that, but it’s also a nice tank, and I want to drive it more.

*

So, what’s the verdict? Should you get one?

Of course not; are you mad? Go buy the Object 730, it’s less than an eighth of the price.

 

IrmaBecx says ask me again in six to eight weeks; I am busy driving my “pointless” Chinese premium tank…

 

The old and the new! WZ-111 and Glacial platoon.

”Ooops…”

So yea, this happened…

 

Considering the WZ-111

 

Yea, what the title says

By:

IrmaBecx

 

So I came super close to dropping the 40 plus € it takes to get the new Chinese Wonder as soon as it had dropped. I had no idea it was coming.

Well, I had some idea. It’s not hard. I follow the Blitz Twitter page; they always post “spy pics” of tanks in development, and of course I am a member of several social contexts where pixel tanks and their future is a hot topic of conversation. I even follow “Big” WoT content to keep myself up to date.

If you were to ask me today, I have about the same information you do. I know the T-55A is coming. And the AMX 30B, the VK 72.01 (K) and some others. It’s public knowledge. These days I am not only a CC, I am a supertester as well. But not all tanks go through external testing, sometimes they just appear as if out of the blue.

It’s not like I wasn’t ready for it. I’ve done like 400 games in the WZ-111 1-4; which this is the tier VIII variant of; i’ve driven the Glacial, the Obj 730, the IS-8, pretty much all relevant tanks in comparison. I like the Glacial. The IS-5 too. Of course I am a big fan of the model 1-4; easily my second favourite tier IX Heavy tank after the Kpz 70. I realised with a slightly sinking feeling I am the core demographic here.

So yea, if you had asked me whether or not I would be interested in a Chinese premium tank, I would have prolly said “yes”. If you had asked me whether or not I’d be interested in a tier VIII Heavy tank, I would have said “no”. That’s about the size of it.

*

So when the 111 dropped, first of all I was 100% sure I wasn’t going to see it for at least three days, because that always happens. Tank drops on Friday, we all get it on Monday. This time they do have a good excuse because it was Tankfest and people have been busy, but it’s always the same it seems.

Second, I thought I had a pretty good idea about what the 111 was going to be all about. If you look at the armour profile, it’s the same as the tier IX except it doesn’t have the weak bottom hull angling up at the sides; the whole side is 80 mm. It should side scrape better, in other words.

Also, it only does 35. That’s about the bottom limit for me in terms of mobility. The 111 model 1-4 does 50. You don’t get the 130 either, it’s a bog standard 122 mm with APCR standard. It’s the Glacial gun, only it’s more stable on the move with one degree less of gun depression (5 degrees).

The Glacial is the closest comparison; this is basically the same tank with a different armour profile. Early concerns were raised if you have the Glacial already, you don’t really need the WZ-111. The same I suppose is true for the IS-5 or any other tier VIII IS clone.

So yeah. I’d drive it. Totally. It looks good on paper. There were also a few other arguments in favour:

One, it’s Chinese. I never bought a Chinese premium tank I didn’t end up being really satisfied with.

Two, I can actually buy it. It’s a regular bundle. Also I get all nine slots unlocked, which saves me a bunch of grinding time. Sure, it’s expensive, but it’s a guaranteed purchase.

Three, it’s not often I get the opportunity to be a gold noob early adopter like this, for real. Not because I am driving a test tank or a press account loaner.

Where is the problem?

*

Well, for one thing, do I actually need another tier VIII Premium Heavy tank? Will I drive it? What I am really thinking about these days is actually the CDC – I’m so disappointed I didn’t work harder at the grind. I’ve been talking about wanting the CDC for ages.

My suspicion is the WZ-111 isn’t the right tank for me; it’s just the right-now tank.  What I *really* want is to be a gold noob, not a WZ-111 driver.

Also, my other Chinese premiums are a Light and a Medium, both acknowledged as some of the finest tanks in the game. No actual reason I would enjoy the 111 just because it’s Chinese.

But most of all, the whole thing kind of irks me. I try not to be ungrateful, but it’s hard not to feel that being a CC, I should actually drive the tank before making a decision on buying it for myself. I mean, that’s like my job here.

It is now Tuesday. No sign of the WZ-111 yet, I just checked. There’s nothing doing.

So far, from what I’ve seen, the WZ-111 should be similar to the WZ-111 model 1-4 in the sense that it resembles its Russian counterpart, only without the Russian bias. I’ve seen the thing move, and it looks reasonably mobile, on par with other Chinese. That doesn’t worry me.

What worries me is the utility. I know I’m not going to get a lot of mileage out of a tier VIII premium Heavy tank unless I form some kind of connection to it. Had I actually driven it, I would have known right away. As it is, I can’t make the decision on the WZ-111 by its reputation alone, because it doesn’t really have one yet.

I know, because I’m the one people keep asking about it.

If I was going to be a gold noob, I should have done that five days ago. At this point, I’m just hoping I’ll get to try it out while I can still buy it.

 

Stay tuned?

 

The elusive WZ-111

 

Monday Poetry Corner

 

More Death Star Monday Poetry

By:

IrmaBecx

And:

Emily Dickermax

 

This weeks Monday Poetry Corner is unintentionally dedicated to the Vanguard clan on account of boobs being mentioned again.

I maintain my innocence in the matter. It was John Cleese.

 

So yeah, poetry remains troubling. You should pay attention to your troubles, because they are significant.

I am still not able to understand poetry. I don’t know what it is. I’ve been trying all my life to figure it out, and I’m not dumb enough to think the “trying to figure out” part is the actual reason for it. But, like the pope in the infamous Monty Python sketch, I do know it when I see it.

That’s a joke about boobs by the way, and again it’s funny because it’s true; in both respects. You do actually recognise art when you see it, and boobs are of course art. Or at least they can be. Like I  said; you’ll know it when you see them.

I wrote my own poem about tanks last week, and for me it has served its purpose: it made people smile. And it also expressed a little something about the Ru 251; a very significant vehicle in both my tank driving and tank philosophising careers. I don’t really know why I did it, I just did. That’s how it happens; poetry just hits you, I guess.

This week, it has put me in an awkward situation. A long time friend sent me a poem, and made it very clear to me it was just for fun, and not for use.

I saw immediately it was true poetry.

And if this person had chosen a different alias, and a different poem for their inspiration, I would probably have kept their secret.But I can’t, because it’s Emily Dickinson. And I know Emily Dickinson can make people understand poetry.

I know this, because Bill Murray showed me. If you don’t recall, Bill Murray is Dr. Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters, or he is himself in Zombieland, depending on how old you are. Anyway, he’s involved in some poetry foundation or whatever it is, and they had built a house to do their poetry stuff, and so when they were done building the place, there was a kind of ceremony, and Bill thanked all the actual construction workers who had built it for their efforts.

Remember Bill Murray is Dr. Venkman.

He jokes around with them a while, and makes some jokes about poetry being stupid and ineffectual, and no one really cares about it except intellectuals, but you guys, you did somethig real; you built the house. So he reads them some samples of the stuff people who calls themselves poets write. “It get’s worse”, he says. “This one’s short”. He invites them to read some of their own original poetry. It’s another joke, of course.

“Don’t be shy”.

“Now I’m going to read a corny one for you”, Bill says. “What’s this gals name again? Oh yea, Emily Dickinson”. He sighs.

“I dwell in possibility..” he starts. It’s the poem “I dwell in Possibility”. And it’s so disarming. They all listen. The mood changes. Everyone hears what she is trying to say, because there is no other way to deal with the words she wrote.

 

Emily Dickermax is not Emily Dickinson, but it’s poetry just the same. As I said she is secretly a friend of mine, and I’ve had a week to consider my betrayal. My decision is, it has to be shared. Because it’s not Emily Dickinson, but Dickermax.

Do yourself a favour and look up Bill Murray reading poetry to construction workers, and also do read a few poems by the actual Emily Dickinson. The one you are about to experience through the filter of years of tank driving is called “Because I could not stop for Death”

This is our Emily. She speaks to all of us.

 

 

Because I could not stop at Death-star

 

Because I could not stop at Death Star

He kindly stopped in front of me

The Leopard 1 posed stock and still in my sights

And I blew him to smithereens.

 

He slowly drove, the M60 knew no haste

I put him away for eternity

With my HE and also my HESH

For his gold noobidity

 

We were in Vineyards where as Deathstar I stood

Camping in the bush

I blew the nighttime into day

And said goodbye to the setting sun

 

Or rather – Deathstar sits silently

Camo drawn quivering and chill.

For only if the Leopard had espied

Death poised ready to strike from on the hill.

 

Since then ’tis centuries and yet

Feels shorter than the Winter Malinovka Day

I first loaded British HESH

To dispatch others towards scrapyard eternity.

 

-Emily Dickermax