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Hey guys,

So I just got my Chaffee recently and I have to say I love it, it never ceases to amaze what this tank can do. I'm a fairly new player to WOT (~1000 battles) with 250 in the M5 and a 100 or so now in the Chaffee. I know that I will probably play this tank many hundreds of games and with that in mind I wanted some advice on tricking it out. Right now I have

Commander: 71% Sixth sense
Gunner: 71% Camo
Driver: 71% Camo
Radioman: 71% Camo
Loader: 71% Camo

Vents/Camo Net/Binocs (To be replaced with optics when I get the $)

First off I know that the second skill for my commander will be Camo, but I don't know what to do with the others. I definently play the chaffee as a passive scout, so I think view range perks will be important, and then either gun or driving perks for the others. So for second skills I'm thinking

Commander: Camo
Gunner: Snapshot ( or repair if thats not very good)
Driver: Clutch Braking/Off Road Driving/Smooth Ride ( need help with this one)
Radioman: Situational Awareness/Signal Boosting
Loader: None of these perks seem very attractive, probably just repairs?

Also need help on what equipment is best.

Thanks
Cac121

I suggest the gunner to get repair, tracked scout is a dead scout.  Driver should go with clutch breaking if you expects to get in an area and get out quick(aka rush), if not off road will make the Chaffee a better ride.  Radioman should have Situation Awareness, radio range should not be a problem if you don't rush.

you better by rollin in toward the end of the game and shooting the tanks in the ass, i clinched a game and finished off 8 tanks that were left almost dead. FUN FUN FUN

Luv the Chaffee, a favorite - but not passive.

Here's mine setup,
   I would switch Ramer with Camo Net if passive,
   switch some commander skills for passive
   but would leave the rest the same.

Equipment: Vents / Ramer / Spall liner

Skills
Brothers in Arms for all - than
Commander: Mentor, Recon, (Jack of All Trades after Mentor not needed).
  Passive: Camo after Mentor not needed
Gunner: Dead- Eye, Snap Shot   
Driver:    Off-Road, Clutch-Braking
Radio:    Camo, Repairs
Loader: Safe-Stowage, Adrenaline
Passive: Camo net, Repair

Consumables even if passive
  100% Oil
  Repair
  Med Kit

Also interested in other opinions.

Any reason for the rammer and spall liner? Rammer is only going to take off .2-.3 seconds from your reload, and spall liner only seems useful on something that has a lot of Hp + armor to take advantage of that.

Just my opinion and preference (at the moment).

Rammer: Every advantage counts - about 2 shots more per minute
    Like a auto loader   without     the penalty.
Now where did you say those French lights hiding?

Liner:   I found I survive a "little" longer, especially running around out in the open.
   Every 2-3 seconds longer is another shot away

cac121, on May 24 2012 - 01:12, said:

Camo and reapirs skill are averaged thruought the entire crew. So is advised to be researched on all crewmembers at the same time.

Right now your camo bonus is not 71%, but 56.8% because your commander doesn't has camo skill (0 +71+71+71+71/5) .

Because of this I don't recommend to train your loader on repairs or firefigthing, it's not worth it unless the entire crew has the skill too. My personal choice for loader is Adrenaline Rush, since the Chaffee faces a lot of enemies that can take almost 90% of his HP in one shot (if not one shot you), can help to snipe them or circle of death them more effectively.

Right now my Chaffee's crew roster is this:

Commander : Camo 100%, BIA 100%, Recon 5%
Gunner: Camo 100%, BIA 99%, (Will train Snap Shot)
Driver: Camo 100%, BIA 100%, Smooth Ride 1%
Radio: Camo 100%, BIA 100%, Situational Awareness 3%
Loader: Camo 100%, BIA 99%, (will train Adrenaline Rush)
Edited by Frijolero, May 24 2012 - 16:41.

I had not considered BIA, although now looking at it seems like it could be worthwhile... If I do that for my second set of skills I will need to drop sixth sense and train camo on my commander first.. do you think BIA is worth a whole 5 slots?

Also, if I train repairs to 100% on one or two of my crewmembers, I am aware that I won't get the full bonus, however, it seems to me that having 20 or 40% better repair speed is more useful than some of the perks that don't help a scout as much as some other type of tank.
Edited by cac121, May 24 2012 - 17:32.

Don't get small liner. Bottom line. I currently run mine with all Camo 96%is crew. And vent coated optics andrammer. On the next sale I plan to drop the vents and add a Vert. Stablizer. Which I think will be the best use for my play style. On most map I start out by running the route where I can light up a few targets and then go back. Do this a couple of time in a few spots and gauge where the enemies are. Then choose a side or path to help. Trying to light up enemies for arty and take a few pot shots also. The key to this play style is to always be moving relocate constantly. And when u have the chance make a run for arty when u think it is safe. If there aren't any? Find a nice juicy high tier td to take advantage of. This is just the way I play it and it works well for me. Good luck

cac121, on May 24 2012 - 17:28, said:

To me it is. It may not look much the 5% bonus for a already nimble tank, but any edge you can get is welcomed. On the other hand, you can buy the vent module to get the same 5% bonus also, so it's up to you.

cac121, on May 24 2012 - 17:28, said:

I'm not sure 'bout the exact formula, but 20% of the skill is more like 0.2% on the real game. This means, for example, if it takes to your crew 10 seconds to fix a damaged module, with 20% repair skill bonus that time will be reduced just to an unnoticable 9.8 seconds. In that case better buy the toolkit and leave the slot free until you find a better skill to learn. That way your crew will take only 7.5 seconds to fix the busted stuff and you'll be saving exp for future use when you find a skill you like.
Edited by Frijolero, May 24 2012 - 21:41.

Ah I didn't know that about repair... thought it was a flat bonus. Anyways, I remmapped my commander into camo so my crew is all around 75% camo atm. once I grind that to 100% do you guys think it would be better to do individual perks or all BIA? (I am using vents btw)

also, I know skills take longer and longer to level up as you go, but assuming my average exp per battle (around 500 now) is there any way to know how much I will need for skills? if getting secondary skills is going to take 1000 games I may skip BIA.

last thing, with 100% camo is a camo net necessary? I want to replace it with a vert stab or rammer but not if it will effect my passive scouting ability.

For a Chaffee, the higher the camo value the better. Is not necessary, but I wouldn't suggest to remove the camo net if you passive scout more than move around shootin' stuff. The gun is already accurate enough to not need the stabilizer unless you go zigzaggin' around the whole time as if you were on a T-50
Edited by Frijolero, May 24 2012 - 21:45.

I generally passive scout the first ~1/2 of the match and then run and gun the rest. I don't know which option would be better overall considering I will never use the camo net lategame or the vertstab earlygame.

I would say keep the net. Even at late game, not beign noticed till is too late is better.

cac121, on May 24 2012 - 21:26, said:

Let's put it simply bia is almost definatlyey not worth it when you have camo crew and sixth sense especially not as a passive scout u should run binos vents and stabs camo net make no difference on 100% camo crew I have tested even a binos patton doesn't detect me until 50meters and on crew skills I have 150ish battles 900 avg xp and I'm about half way through second so you do math ur making on average just over half what I make and it's gonna take me 300 battles min to max out second skillRespectfully , storm

BadDuck, on May 24 2012 - 01:42, said:

I, also, do not play a passive Chaffee. I realize that this is a choice for some players, and I respect it, but to me, being stationary in a Chaffee throws away many of its advantages.

That said, I have a few issues with your setup:

1. The rammer is questionable. A vertical stabilizer is going to have a much bigger impact on the performance of the tank.
2. Spall liner. I question whether this is going to save you, given the size of the arty we typically meet in a Chaffee. I suspect you're going to get one shotted a lot, even with the spall liner.
3. I would get Snap Shot for gunner before Dead Eye. Again, Dead Eye is only useful if you hit, and if you're shooting on the move a lot, you need Snap Shot to hit.
4. Take Repair before Camo if you're not playing passive.
5. I like Coated Optics for vision. Binocs are useless if you're not playing passive.

I love my "active" Chaffee. Had an 8 kill game yesterday when I managed to get into the enemies backfield and kill their 4 artillery and 4 tanks that were guarding them. The tank is just crazy fast and hard hitting. Unfortunately, we lost anyway.

Camo skill is always active.  It will lower the point your spotted even moving.  I'd recomend it as a first skill.
Camo net is only beneficial to a passive scout tho.  The chaffee accels at passive spotting and active anti-scout.  It has good concealment and an accurate gun on the move.

Repair on the chaffee is pointless your likely dead when the second shell lands.  If I am tracked I'll use a repair kit.

Fun fun tank.

Unless you plan to be a heavy bush scout, I would actually have to say your better off with camo and recon instead of sixth sense and camo.

Sixth sense can be a little dubious on a scout tank, as it takes 3 seconds to say you're spotted. In those three seconds a shot could be well on its way.

Here is my setup
Modules- Vertical stabilizer, vents, coated optics
Skills- Camo for all
Commander- Recon
Gunner- Snap shot
Driver-Clutch Breaking
Radio operator-Situational awareness
Loader- Repairs.

Never ever use a spall liner on a light tank. The way a spall liner works is NOT that id straight decreases explosive and ramming damage, but it gives you a 20% armor bonus versus explosives and ramming.

Let's say you get hit in the front armor with an HE shell from an m4 for 410 damage. Lets say by some prayer it doesn't penetrate. Normally you would take an average damage of:

(ShellDamage/2)-Armor
or
(410/2)-25 = 205-25 =180 damage.

With a spall liner you would take:

(ShellDamage/2)-(Armor*1.2)
or
(410/2)-(25*1.2) = 205-30 = 170 damage.

For a few hundred kilos of weight slowing you down AND losing the ability to mount a more useful module you saved 10 damage on a single hit. Worthless. Anything bigger than that will 1 shot you anyway, because everything will penetrate your 25mm (or less) of armor.

I highly recommend the following:
Vertical Stab: This is the second best tank in the game for bonus with a VStab.
Coated Optics: This tank has close to the highest view range of anything. Use it.
Vents: Every single tank that can take vents should use them.

For crew skills I highly recommend Camo on everyone first, followed by Repair or Brothers In Arms on everyone. On a Chaffee the new gimmick skills are just that. BiA is a +5 crew skill bonus to every single thing on your tank. Without repair you are dead when tracked.

If you're passive scouting, camo and binoc probably all you need. You could even try it without camo net. BIA and vents are more for all around performance, if you weren't happy with maneuv and gun and so on. Effect on view range is tiny, like 5% combined BIA and vents. Can get same effect from recon skills. Off road prob best for getting where you need to be, clutch braking not much use there and neither is smooth ride.

Chaffee has great harrassment gun, can kill almost anything with it. Should have vstab if you switch to combat mode a lot. Snap shot works very well with vstab, won't do much for you if you hold fire all fight. Would take binoc over optic if you spend most time stationary, but optic over binoc if you need to spot on the move. Really if you spend most of time in bushes already, there's no point replacing binoc with optic.

I'm playing Chaffee as fast moving sniffer and solo tank killer, works pretty well even without the camo. Very versatile tank.