So I haven't been paying attention to first campaign missions after unlocking T-55a several years ago nearly at all. For example, I've been stuck on a heavy tank ramming mission for like 2 years, and I'm not even over exaggerating (because it's probably longer than that). Suffice to say, that ramming is not what I usually do in my heavy tanks. I also don't usually play Tier X, so it was unlikely for me to complete these missions "by chance".
But few weeks ago, I accidentally finished this mission, when an enemy tank crashed into me. It was a point, when I finally decided, that it's time to finish the damn thing.
And so it started, it still wasn't the main thing for me to be worried about, because nowadays I mostly focus on 2-3 marking my tanks, but at least I tried to choose the tanks that are semi-capable of doing the current mission.
An hour ago I finally finished and got the 260, therefore I decided to give people still struggling a few tips.
I suppose these tips might be well-known to some of you guys, but others might not realize what is the best strategy. For people who weren't actively trying to complete these missions and don't know the basics, this might be actually worth reading. Most of these tips also apply to the Obj. 279e missions I suppose.
– Don't waste your orders on any mission pre-Obj. 260. Just don't, it's not worth it. It's much easier to do these, than struggle with even harder version of the same mission for Obj. 260 (because missions in first campaign are usually very similar to each other, they just get harder and harder). And if you use it, and you'll eventually want your order back, you will be forced to complete secondary condition, which you don't necessarily have to do otherwise.
– Earn orders. Mission for StugIV and T-28HTC are basically trivial if you have some semi-decent higher tiers in your garage. Even T-55a last missions are usually easier to complete with secondary condition, than Obj. 260 mission without it. If you don't know, you earn orders for making secondary condition on the very last mission of each chapter for all types of vehicles.
– Do the arty mission. I know, I know, some of you most likely just hate playing those turds and will refuse to do so. But the truth is – The arty mission are the easiest ones to complete. Even if they are totally RNG, because that's what 80% of arty gameplay is. But putting your orders to complete arty mission is just a waste, because you don't even need to focus to complete most of these. It's going to be much easier to complete them and then skip some Obj. 260 missions with your orders.
– If you already have Obj. 260 part unlocked, try to complete secondary conditions on previous campaign's final missions to earn those orders, if you haven't already (I think I already made that point, but whatever). Don't be like: "Meh I don't wanna, I rather just try complete the one I'm already on". It's not a good mindset, because previous ones are just super easy for any semi-decent player. Some of these are completable just by having a mediocre game on tier X. The orders they offer are going to be priceless for actually hard missions.
– That way, try to save at least 4-8 orders for the very last missions for Obj. 260, because these are either actually hard or require a perfect matchup to be completed. Specifically medium tank's last mission, where you need to cause a whopping 3,5k damage to tank destroyers only. In 90% of games there's not even enough TD's with combined HP of this amount. Dealing this much damage to TD's only (alone) is even less likely. This is in my opinion the best mission to skip, period.
– Blocking mission are skippable if you struggle with them, but sometimes they just require getting a good tank on a good map. If you own any hulldown or sidesraping monstrosity, I don't think it's worth to skip those. Save your orders for some actually hard missions and not those requiring a good matchup.
– You obviously need some specific tanks to do these mission. For example, completing a mission with combined blocking+damage+received is not going be easy on a 50B or T57 heavy, because these tanks don't bounce. And the easiest way to complete these, it to achieve high blocking damage. If you see an opportunity just try and bait a heavy tank destroyer to shoot you. Jagdpanzer E100? Bam, +1000 to a mission. If he does it 5 times, you're already halfway through a mission. Hell, even if he pens you you get +1000 to this mission, lol. Of course, that's not going to happen every single game, you just need to take your chances whenever there's an opportunity.
So now the tanks I recommend for completing some of the harder missions. These I think are universally good for every occasion. That of course doesn't mean these are in my opinion THE BEST tanks in this game. No, but they are just great for completing some of the harder missions. But even then, you're better off playing whatever you like the most.
Heavy tanks:
– Kranvagn. Easy blocking damage when fully hulldown + one of the higher burst damage potentials, only beaten by Vz. 55 and T57, but these doesn't bounce that often and as I said you want to be able to block.
– Obj. 705A. Sidescraping monster, meaning reliable bounces, with surprisingly good DPM. Just isn't very good on open maps. But I completed a fair share of missions in just a few games with this one.
Medium tanks:
– STB. This is by far the best tank for completing missions. Unmatched DPM and flexibility, which means it can do practically everything you ask it to do.
– The only tier X substitutes to STB I would consider are Obj. 140 and Progetto 65.
– T-55a/Kpz 50t. Yes if you already have the T-55a, you have a very capable vehicle to complete the rest medium tank missions. Kpz is very similar to T-55a, therefore it's a good choice as well if you happen to own it.
Light tanks:
– Anything can work, but T-100LT and AMX 13 105 are the most reliable in my opinion. Some LT missions are much easier to complete on lower tiers though!
TD's:
– STRV 103B. This one is the most reliable TD to complete most damage related TD missions. Maybe aside from the 8K damage one, because in that case, it's usually easier to pick a high alpha damage one, and just get a lucky match.
– WT Auf. Pz IV. It's more reliable than Grille and it's easier to get good TD games outside of full tier X matchup.
– Tortoise. Probably the most OP tier IX in the game, so why not just use it? It's also a perfect vehicle for some of the missions.
Alright I'm gonna stop here. Discussions, additional tips or recommendations that I might edit-in and questions are obviously welcome 🙂
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/WorldofTanks/comments/rl66au/after_years_of_barely_even_paying_attention_i/
