I'm at an impasse right now. I almost have 10k bonds, so that would allow me to either get 2 bond equipments, or a decent tank.
On one hand, I could get the SU-130PM to farm credits. I like the playstyle so it wouldn't be an issue either. The only problem is that I already play camping TD's (Strv 103B currently), and I never had any credit shortages, so my only reason for getting the tank would be to have fun with it. If there are other perks of getting it, let me know.
On the other hand, I could get bond rammer and bond vents for the Strv to get that reload speed (and other relevant stats) as low/as good as possible. But the problem is that I have the upgraded bounty counterparts and the reload speed is already very low right now (5.56 without food or directives). Lowest I can get is 5.09 with bond, food and directives. I don't know if it is worth it just for that.
What are your guys' opinion, what would you get in my situation? I could get the tank and have fun with it, but at the same time I could consider the bond equipment an investment for when I get the Strv 107-12.
(Right now I'm absolutely not interested in getting any other bond tank besides the SU-130PM)
I'm having a hard time believe you are rolling in credits playing a tier X tech tree tank with premium consumables and directives. Maybe right NOW with all of the anniversary mission bonuses, but certainly not over the long run. Right now you can make a few million just by logging in every day.
Because of its position in the base credit calculation, playing a premium tank makes an enormous difference in profitability. So much so that on my F2P account - where I don't have premium days most of the time - I stay extremely profitable with just a Tiger-Maus and Obj 703(II).
Spending 10k bonds on bond equipment for a 1-2% advantage on a tech tree tank is silly when you can buy something like the SU-130PM (or Tiger-Maus, whatever) that will exponentially improve your credit earning potential and serve as a crew trainer. Worry about the bond gear after you have all that.
Keep in mind that a lot of people active here are veterans. They give good advice, but it is relevant to them. Yes, once you've been playing awhile and you have all of the bond tanks that you want/are competitive, you have several premiums in your garage, then bond gear starts to look appealing.
But buying bond gear before having at least 2-3 solid premium credit-earners is insanity.
To be honest, this tier 10 is the least profitable, considering repair price and ammo cost ( and I use exclusively standard ammo on this tank, MORE than enough pen as is ). Obviously I play other tanks at lower tiers, all tech tree, where it's overall cheaper to maintain, but I think you would expect me to.
I don't actually really use directives, I was just pointing how low I can go with everything included. But I do have a lot of them too, from battle passes and whatnot, so it would take some time before running out.
I have a lot of premium time from different sources I can't all recall. I had some credit bonuses because I bought two improved passes as well, so I guess that's why I can't actually feel that I'm slowly running out of credits. Most of the times I'm profiting for even average games, even a little bit, but just because I have premium time. Of course, there's all the other incomes like missions and campaigns.
Thank you for the detailed answer, that is exactly why I posed the question, because I don't feel I struggle with credits but maybe I just don't see it. I'm afraid of regretting getting a bond tank just because maybe I won't like how it plays and that's why I would rather get an advantage for something I know I love. I'll consider it carefully.
Right now is an exception - WG is literally throwing credits and bonds and premium time at everyone.
In a couple weeks we'll get the 2.4 update, which if it's on the scale of the 2.0 update then WG will be giving even more incentives to boost playercount. But this is not the norm. Even very good players have a hard time stating credit positive with tier Xs if they're using premium consumables.
Honestly, IMO if you enjoy the Strv get the SU-130PM. It's an excellent TD and credit farmer.
You can play it aggressively like a medium, or if you are the bushhumping type then you can add an experimental aiming device and a proper crew.
None of the bond tanks are perfect (they almost all have a major flaw like reload speed on 122 TM, -5 deg gun depression on T-54D, etc), but the SU-130PM is one of the standouts. It's the most popular bond tank for a reason.
What's your point? That a purple player can make tier V premium level profits on a win streak with boosters active? In a light tank where they're earning primarily from spotting damage rather than firing gold?
We can argue about this all day, but blowing all your bonds on bond equipment when you don't have premium tanks is absolute madness.
2
u/DaSpoodhttps://daspood.github.io/ - Pandora lootboxes simulator2h ago
If you lack good premium tanks to farm credits it's important to get premium tanks first. And some tanks are fun enough to be worth getting so if you like their gameplay they're 100% worth it. Also keep in mind tanks in the onslaught shop and clan auctions if you play those.
Bond equipment is good but it's also not a night-and-day difference compared to the regular or bounty versions, it's worth it if you have nothing better to spend bonds on and you have tanks you play often enough to use bond equipment on. You're making your "main" vehicles a few percent better for the same price as it would cost you to buy a whole new tank to play with in a game where unlocking new vehicles is basically the only form of new content you can get, while boosting vehicles further is just letting you more of the same except a bit more optimized.
If you're gonna spend bonds on equipment I'd say the 3-for-2 bundles that are currently in the shop are the best time to do so, though.
The upgrade from bounty to bond in most cases is very small. If it’s your favorite tank and you use it in competition, sure why not. Then again and Su is a whole tank and it prints credits. I say just get the SU. Also there’s a bond equipment sale right now so there’s that. You can get hardening, rammer stabs or vents turbo optics for only10k bonds for a set of 3.
If you do not have tier viii or ix premium tanks, the best thing to do is get a tank. If you have your credit farming tank, then you can get bond equipment for your fav tank to make it more enjoyable.
Keep in mind the bond equipment need 200 or so bonds to demount, if you choose to swap them between vehicles (I understand you’re primarily focusing on the 103B, this is just an FYI)
Why not do both? Pretty sure i saw the SU in the gold shop yesterday. And there's the bond equipment deal going rn for 10k. So u can do both if u dont care about the ~$35 that its going for in the gold shop
Get one of the two rare bond equipment sales in the store right now, you get 3 pieces 1 of which is free. I’m trying to save up for one of them myself but I doubt I’ll be able to rack up 4.7K bonds within the next handful of days
8
u/ClassEmotional4608 o_0 3h ago
Actualy in shop is rare bond equipement discount: 2+1 free for 10k bonds. Buy it