Playing World of Tanks the Crabeatoff way.

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

Really, if you think about it tanks and crabs have alot in common.  Hard armor on the outside, squishy on the inside.  They crush anything smaller and hide from anything bigger.  And they are tasty after being cooked. 

 

Actually, that last one may not be accurate for both.

 

I decided to get a lesson from Crab because I felt I had hit a plateau.  My WN7 and WR were not changing much and I didn't feel like I was improving much just by playing.  Besides, an expert would be able to point out bad habits I'm not even aware of so I can correct them early on.

 

I thought the lesson went really well.  We had to split it in half due to Clan Wars but that also made it easier to record.  We covered some basics like sidescraping/reverse angling as well as vision.  And discovered bushes are not very useful now.  The platoon work was a challenge, trying to implement Crab's instructions while paying close attention to the game as well.  From the replays I sent Crab had called me out on using gold rounds when they were not needed so for the lesson I focued on using standard AP rounds and just aiming more precisely.  I only embarrassed myself a couple of times in the platoon training.

 

Thanks to BashNSmash for helping during the platoon portion of the lesson.  He had alot of good advice as well.

 

I learned I have alot to work on.  In the 30 seconds before the match starts, I need to take note of what each team has, who the good players are and where my team is likely to go.  In other words, do more with that 30 seconds than make TOG jokes and complain about MM.  When attacking I need to work on learning the weak spots of tanks as well as positioning and firelanes.   Survival is my biggest weakness, I only survive 25% of battles and that number has not been improving over time.  During and after the lesson my survival rate was at 50%.  It would be hard to go into all the little things I learned.  Pay attention to firing lanes when moving.  Hug walls tightly, something I've not been doing. 

 

After the lesson I feel I have a good action plan for improving, and a list of things to remember during the battles.

 

tl;dr  Crab knows his shit and does a good job teaching it.  Recommended.

 

Tanking the Crab Way 

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P12pdd_wP0

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7YfkchI9jw&feature=youtu.be

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlvRJ_4aO4I&feature=youtu.be

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYU1LdaXbeM&feature=youtu.be

 

Lakeville from Bash's perspective.

http://youtu.be/EUOV3kC3Bx0

http://youtu.be/2cK62jeNXiw

[teh_chris 96]

Very nice.

Will you be posting a recording of the session? It'd be pretty cool to watch if it were possible.

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

I plan to post on Youtube.  It's divided into two sessions of about 50 minutes.  I'll probably also post the checklist I'm making as a result of the lesson.

 

I had a really good run of games last night.  My survival rate still sucks but I was living alot longer and for about 15 games totally eliminated potato matches simply by living longer do doing damage longer.  As well as my first 5k WN7 game, in El Halluaf, where I was able to use a couple of tips Crab and Bash taught me in our El Halluaf game and it worked great.

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

Hey thats great. I also look forward to seeing your checklists (and progress). And of course the youtube vids, so I can post a scathing critique of my own teaching. Teaching over the internet is hard, and the knowledge base for WoT is vast and amorphous! Glad to hear your initial results are trending well and looking forward to monitoring your progress!

[Bobi_Kreeg 379]

Hug walls tightly, something I've not been doing. 

 

Why do you hug the walls?

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

Why do you hug the walls?

 

They are lonely. 

 

It's harder for arty to drop hell on you if you are close to hard cover.  Also it decreases the angle people can use to shoot you.  If I'm ten feet from a wall near a corner I have a wider firing arc around the corner but more of them can shoot me.  A big part of the game is preserving HP and picking only advantageous moments to trade shots.  One of my embarrassing moments was getting killed early on Siegfried line.  I was following Bash and we ended up in a cross fire.  He immediately got tight against the wall of the building that was close and survived the the initial attack.    I derped, paused to try and fire back before realizing I was getting hit from multiple sides and died before I could get cover.

[GloatingSwine 299]

The other reason to hug walls is that because you are limiting the angles you are exposed at, if enemy tanks do want to shoot you they have to expose more of themselves to do so, meaning they are more likely to take fire from the campers behind you.

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

And now the fun begins.  Two almost hour long files.  135 gig per file.  Converting to flv will get it down to 2.4 gig but I suspect that's still a little too big. 

[JunkersHiryu 338]

I wouldn't know how to Eat off a Crab. He won't PRAToon wiff me. =/ eye's bads.

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

So, the good news is I'm figuring out how to convert the files properly.  I plan to post the first video this weekend.

 

In the mean time, I started with a 30 and 60 day WR of 53% and WN7 of 1350.  This is what I've done in the week since the lesson.  There was much T49 abuse in there, who could resist all those credits for sneaky sniper weekend.  But the results speak for themselves.

 

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

As promised, here's the first part of my lesson with Crabeatoff.

 

 

Mostly just talky bits and training rooms, with examples of using concealment and sidescraping.  I manage one durr moment when I don't notice I hit the auto aim.  The video is already worth it to me at this point.  Watching it a second time I understand better what I need to do in sidescraping than I did just after the lesson.

[Kyouko 2]

Thank you for documenting this, crab is doing a really good thing teaching these mechanics.

 

The bush thing is confusing though because in the training room before the double bush example you were able to snipe crab without being lit the first time, and unable to the second time.

[Sipher351 241]

Thank you for documenting this, crab is doing a really good thing teaching these mechanics.

 

The bush thing is confusing though because in the training room before the double bush example you were able to snipe crab without being lit the first time, and unable to the second time.

 

That is why I don't trust bushes. They are evil and want me dead. Great vid btw.

 

 

Edit: So to try and teach this to myself as well, I watched the part with the single and then double bushing again, and I think the reason he was still not lit on the single bush was the range to Crab was ~200 m, and on the double bush he was much close, at about ~110 m. So the range difference is what changed the lit vs not lit aspect of it. I'm a scrubby yellow though, so this might not be what happened.

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

Here is part 2 of the lesson.  For some reason when I die I'm didn't immediately switch to Crab's view.   Durr.

 

[teh_chris 96]

This is glorious. Thanks a ton for putting up the vids!

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

Happy people find the videos useful, Chris.

 

Here is part three.  Watch as BashNSmash shows me the proper way to avoid a crossfire.  Which I get to watch because I derped into the same crossfire and died uselessly.  Durr.  I will be posting the two Lakeville battles from Bash's POV later.

 

[_Rosco 7]

Some great info here, thanks for sharing

[GunnSm0ke 343]

Heinkel, thanks for posting these!!

 

I like your XVM setup, have you stated before what config you are using? If not, would you please?

 

Would you be willing to share the config file..?? Pretty please??

[MrMoonlight 182]

Thanks both of you for the sweet sweet video!

[Heinkel_Wulf 58]

Thanks everyone!  I'll be posting the last part of the lesson tonight.  The better I get at this the faster I go.  Bash has been kind enough to give me permission to use his Lakeville games in videos, so that's what I'll be posting after the lesson is done.  Then I'll post the two replays I sent Crab for review, while using his notes for commentary.

 

I use a variation of There was not an update posted right after 8.7 so I replicated it by installing the mods in the order Sela recommended.  However, I kept Jimbo's crosshair instead of Melty and since I use the KICM contours I had to change icon mirror from true to false in the XVM file.  I can post my config file if people are interested but it's really just Sela's with one flag flipped.

[tumblwd501 7]

Thanks for posting the vids!

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

I've been very impressed with Heinkel's production and his willingness to share a lesson he paid for with the public. I hope the videos are helping the viewers!

 

I want to go on record and note that not ever lesson goes like Heinkel's. I tailor each lesson to what I see from the replays and the information exchanged prior to the actual teaching. For example, with some more experienced tankers, I simply skip the mechanics section entirely and we focus wholly on tactical play!

 

But still, this is a good representation of the 'core' of my materials, and Heinkel was a great student (and BashNSmash a great co-instructor). Its been invaluable to hear my own lesson taught back to me, and make refinements to the pace and content of the lessons. 

 

Thanks Heinkel!

[Marduk 941]

I was on Port.... and I saw some asshole in the middle bush. I'm all like, "What is that jerk doing in the CrabSpot?". (note: I like going there too)

 

Its fucking DukeBerry.

 

Damn you Crab!

[Okeano 2,174]

That's my spot, gtfo.

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

Nobody owns the central bush/camo spots on any map. 

 

The only one I've innovated (or at least never seen in another replay) is the one where you break down the shed from the North/East spawn on Live Oaks.