killswitch95's Crash Course Guide to WoT

[killswitch95 15]

*As I have finally been banned from the Official Forums (After going from a -4600 rep to a +2738 rep) I have transferred my Crash Course Guide to Wotlabs in order to maintain it*

*Original Source*

 

 

Just kidding, come on in...

 

*I am following this topic, so ask any questions you may have and i'll get back to you both here, and through a forum message within 24hrs of your asking*

 

its a newcomers guide!

 

--------------------------------------- Table of Contents ----------------------------------------------

1. Angling

2. Learn Weakspots

3. Camo

4. Personal Preference

5. Economy

6. Premium Goods

7. Crew Leveling/Tank Maximizing 

8. Forums/Wiki

9. Matchmaker

10. Ammo

11. Dealing Damage Over Taking Damage (And General Tactics)

12. Progression Through The Game

13. Tank Physics

14. 9.15 Substantial UI Changes

15. Minimap

16. Boot Camp & Proving Ground

-------------------------------------- End Table of Contents --------------------------------------------

 

1: ANGLING: 

In the low tiers, 1-3 angling isnt really that much of a factor, but from tier 4 up, it can really save your life, heres an example,

your in a shiny, fully upgraded tier 6 T-150, a very good tank, a very newb friendly tank, now heres the issue,

your face to face with a Churchill VII, it has enough gun pen to go through your front plate, which is 90mm... but, your side is also 90mm, so heres what you do,

you ANGLE off to the left or right about 20-45 degrees, increasing your armor protection to around 180mm+, that will make him unable to pen you (unless he shoots premium ammo, and even then the proper angling will stop that to).... Pro Tip: If there is hard cover, you can Sidescrape

 

Sidescraping is using a bit of hard cover to hide your front/rear armor, while you back out from it at an angle, exposing your side armor, in order to get a shot,

however in doing so, the angle of your side armor should be enough to bounce incoming rounds... that tiger on the right in the pic below, imagine a wall in front of his right track, extending all the way to his left side, he is backing off of the wall, exposing his right side to forward fire in order to get a shot, however in doing so his right side

armor will be shot, but it's at such an angle the incoming round should bounce off, that's sidescraping

 

but you also have to keep in mind of the 2 & 3 Caliber Rules that this game uses:

 

If the AP or APCR shell's caliber is more than 2 times the nominal thickness of the armour (Such as a 130mm shell hitting a 60mm thick plate), projectile shell normalization is increased by the following formula: basic normalization * 1.4 * shell caliber / nominal armour thickness.(the formula isnt important right now for a newer player, but still nice to learn) Note that the shell is still capable of bouncing if it strikes the armor at an angle of 70° or more from normal.

If the AP or APCR shell caliber is more than 3 times the nominal thickness of the armour (such as a 130mm shell hitting a 40mm thick plate), no ricochet will happen even if the impact angle is more than 70° from normal. The increased shell normalization described above will also occur.

 

*The Proposed Single Caliber Rule, details on its function below*

The new Single Caliber Rule states that no matter the shell size, nor the armor thickness, an incoming shell WILL Ricochet off the armor at an angle of 76 Degrees or more.

The Following chart will be for Shells (Rounds) of Different Sizes (Calibers) hitting a 50mm Armor Plate at differing angles of approach, 

demonstrating the new Single Caliber rule versus the old 2 & 3 Caliber Rule... Single Caliber Statistics are marked in Red.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                *Point of Ricochet When Fired at 50mm Armor Plate*

         2 & 3 Caliber Rule                                                                       Single Caliber Rule

90mm @ 70 Degrees = Ricochet                                                  90mm @ 72 Degrees = Ricochet

122mm @ 70 Degrees = Ricochet                                                122mm @ 74 Degrees = Ricochet

152mm @ 90 Degrees = Ricochet (It wont Ricochet)                    152mm @ 76 Degrees = Ricochet

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This means that no matter the armor thickness, no matter the shell size, if you shoot an enemy at an angle of 76 degrees, or more, you will auto-bounce..

This means tanks such as the tier 7 American TD "Scorpion" with 1mm or armor can ricochet the UK Tier 10 TD "FV125B 183" 183mm AP round... Indeed, tanks that are weakly armored may now be able to "Tank" more effectively, (Tanking means sidescraping, and generally tactics used to ricochet incoming rounds) such as the tier 10 Bat Chat 25t, or Leopard 1, Whereas tanks that are already decently armored, but rely on overmatch areas as balance just became a lot stronger...  these include the IS-3, and Obj. 140...

This mechanic however is only in effect for AP and APCR rounds, HE, and HEAT and HESH will still follow their own set of penetration mechanics as defined later in this guide.

*THIS WAS A PROPOSED MECHANIC, IT HAS SINCE BEEN POSTPONED, THE GAME CONTINUES TO USE THE 2 & 3 CALIBER RULES AS STATED ABOVE.*

 

so basically, in order to sidescrape effectively you need 4 things

 

- be in an decently armored tank

- know your armor thickness

- know the gun caliber (size) that the enemies are using to try and kill you

- and be able to adjust your angling according to which guns are shooting at you

*Keep in mind that no matter how you angle a Tiger I, you're going to be penned...*

 

Spoiler 

Angling

 

2: LEARN WEAKSPOTS: 

Typically if you can't go through the front of a tank, you may be able to go through the side, or rear, if that is not an option, then theres WEAKSPOTS... back to the examples...

ok, so your faces to face with that stubborn Churchill VII, you've angled off to the side, so he can't pen you, but oh no, you cant pen him by auto-aiming, what do you do?, well you have 2 options,

• 1, shoot his lower plate, all tanks have a lower plate, even the T95 (when you get to that level, youll see why i used it, its small, but its there), typically its one of the weaker points of its front armor*

(* the tier 9 VK 4502 B's lower plate is actually as strong as the upper, if not stronger)

meaning that if you cant pen the upper plate, you could pen the lower, which on the Churchill VII you can, now some tanks you can, but only if its straight to you, but if they angle, you cant, the Churchill, unless its at an extreme angle, you can pen its lower about 90-98% of the time in the T-150...

• 2, shoot hatches, ok so that little Churchill is off to a steep angle, and you cant pen the front upper, or lower plate, dont fret, theres still one more weakness it has, hatches...

typically on top of any tank there are hatches where crew get in, and out, and typically on the very top there are hatches with viewports, this is where the commander sits, and typically it is a very weak weakspot...

back to the example, ok your Churchill enemy is angled, you cant pen its hull, so look to the turret, and boom, you see viewports on the top of its turret, you can shoot those and 80% of the time you will get a damaging hit on your foe, but some tanks hatches are more armored then others, making there weakness a little less weak than you would like, but still alot weaker then what you could be hitting I.E. the rest of the front...

Spoiler 

Learn Weakspots Here is a third party website for viewing armor models. Select a tank from the list, then select compare and choose your tank you would be using with what ammo you'd fire and then select "3D Model", click Collision and select "Live" - Tanks.gg

 

3: CAMO: 

It's alot simpler then it seems, but very hard at the same time, camo is the way you stay hidden, you said you tried to scout, well light tanks have the same camo on the move, as they do sitting still, meaning if your standing still, and your not spotted, then you wont be spotted while moving at the same distance from your target, now heres where it gets a little tricky, 

thats only for lights, every other tanks has the values halved when they move, so while a light would have a  stationary camo of 1.0, and a moving camo of 1.0, all other types of tanks have a stationary camo of 1.0, and a moving camo of 0.5, so if your in a heavy, like our T-150, camo, while helpful, is not a priority, because you need to be in the thick of the fight, but lights, like a AMX 13 90 need to be stealthy, so they need a lot more camo, so your not spotted, and therefore not taking shots, because typically light tanks, and most mediums do not have a lot of armor, and cant take alot of hits, so you need to snipe from afar so as to not take hits, the same in TDs, mainly because most are non-turreted, meaning they cant side hug people from the sides, or rear, and therefore are easily flanked, while most turreted TDs have weak armor much like lights, meaning they cant take a lot of abuse... and then theres SPGs, they provide fire from far away, but are generally not good in close range, so they need good camo, i advise reading more about camo in the WIKI...

Spoiler 

Camo

 

4: PERSONAL PREFERENCE: 

No one is forcing you to move up in the tiers, if you dont feel ready to move up, then dont, theres no shame in staying at tier 1-3 for 100-700 battles, those battles are very forgiving, tier 4-10 are not, and they only get harder, harder as in the experience required to move up, and the player skill generally gets higher the higher the tiers you move up, and they are not merciful...

 

5: ECONOMY: 

Yes, while tier 1-3, where your at now makes good money, tier 4-6 make the most (unless your in a premium tank, more on these below) whereas tier 7-8, your profit generally starts to drop off, and tier 9-10 are typically very very hard to make profit in, unless you have decent/good skills, and as a bonus, tier 4-6 typically is the best tier to learn the game processes in and therefore better your play, but as stated in #4, if you dont feel  ready, dont move up, you can also check your "DEPOT" periodically and if theres any tank, module, equipment, ammo, or consumable your not planing on using, you can sell it back to the game for 1/2 its original cost (unless there is a tank/equiment/premium ammo/consumable sell, in which case typically youll receive 1/4-ish of the original sell price, not a good time to sell stuff, unless you really need the money)

 

In 9.19 a new currency was added to the game: Bonds, these bonds are used to purchase improved equipment. These equipment offer even more boosts (Typically a 2.5% increase) over their normal counterparts. These Bonds can also be used to buy directives which will provide a tanker with crew skill/perk boosts, or equipment boosts for the duration of a battle. Initially these bonds could only be earned in Ranked Battles, however in addition to this they can now be earned in a random battle in which every tank is tier 10, as well as Grand Battles. There are plans in 9.20.1 to allow tier 4+ tanks to receive bonds as well for getting certain medals in battle. Of course getting these medals in a tier 10 vehicle will boost it's earnings, and be combined with tier 10's ability to earn bonds as is.

 

6: PREMIUM GOODS: 

Tanks, ammo, camo, XP conversion, credits converson, equipment dismounting, writing, and consumables all of these, except the tanks, equipment dismounting, and XP/credit conversion, are available in some form or another for credits camo and writing are available to be applied "forever" for gold, while they have a set time of "1 week" or "1 Month" for credits. consumables, and ammo are are available for gold, as well as credits, when you go to purchase these items, there should be a arrow besides the gold cost, click it for the price in credits... XP conversion is converting XP (experience) from any elite vehicle in which you do not have "accelerated crew training" turned on (more on that in the next bullet) you can pay 1 gold to convert 25 xp to free xp, which you can use on any tank, of any type, tier, and country, Credits conversion is where you pay 1 gold to have 400 credits credited to your account without you having to battle, or sell anything for them (this however is not a good use of gold, and is highly recommended that you do not do this), however if you have equipment on a tank, that is complex (camo net, toolbox, and binocular telescope are the only equipment that is not complex) and you need it for another, you can demount it for 10 gold, and it will be transfered to your depot... and lastly theres tanks, these premium tanks generally are better than their stock counterparts, but not their fully upgraded counterparts, they make much more credits, and CREW XP for battles than a normal tank of the same tier, it is advised that you do not purchase a premium vehicle until you have at least one normal vehicle of the same, or higher tier (your not even at tier 5 yet, do not go buy a tier 8 Lowe...)

Spoiler 

Premium Tanks

 

Consumables

 

Ammo

 

Exterior Camo

 

Gold Economy

worth mentioning are the non premium consumables, here are the basics, that you should always use, until you develop a certain style, and can adjust accordingly...

 

- Small Repair Kits, they repair 1 module per use

- Small First Aid Kits, they heal 1 injured crew member per use

- Manual Fire Extinguishers, they put out 1 fire per use

 

**All consumable are now reusable, and take 90 seconds to cool down, you can mount 3 consumables per tank, and when used more than once you do not incur higher credit costs I.E use it twice, pay for it once**

 

 &

7: CREW LEVELING/ TANK MAXIMIZING: 

So you've unlocked everything you could on that T-150, but you like it so much you plan on keeping it? good job, there are still a couple things you can do, such as the following, crew training, and equipment, ok so you have hit "Elite" status on your tank, Elite means that there is nothing else to unlock (No more modules, nor any more vehicles, for example, the tier one French light tank, has 1 gun to unlock, and about 5 tier 2 vehicles, if you unlock all 6 *or however many there are* of those things, you have nothing left to unlock, and thus have an Elite tier 1 light tank), great, you have 2 options now, accelerate your crew, or pool XP, pooling your XP is simple, just keep playing your tank, the XP will keep piling up, and you can pay gold at some later time to convert it to free XP, OR you can accelerate your crew, you'll see when you have elited your tank, a little box comes up above your commander called "accelerate crew training" what this does when you select it is take all the xp you earn from that point on and gives all of it to your crew, rocketing their abilities up twice as fast as normal, allowing you to get skills/perks faster, skills/perks are what your crew gets after they hit 100%, you can then select new things to train in that all help your tank in some way, all tanks benefit from the perk "brothers in arms", but being a "perk" it only activates when it hits 100%, but unlike all other perks, every crew member has to have it hit 100% for it to come into effect, 6th sense is good to if you need to know when your spotted I.E. lights, TDs, arty... skills however come into affect as soon as you start training such as Camo, or repairs, or firefighting...

Spoiler 

Crew

 

Equipment is different however, its basically a paid for module, that helps a specific point on your tank, such as vents, which help your entire crew, but are only good on closed vehicles.

some are complex, whereas others are not, (as mentioned above) you can spot a complex piece by the "golden nut" in its description, you can find the equipment menu in between your modules, and consumables (the 3 boxes with "+" in the bottom middle of your screen)

Spoiler 

Equipment

 

8: FORUMS/WIKI:

There are always players looking to help new players on the forums, such as myself, feel free to ask them for tips and tricks, most are willing to help, there is also a wiki where you can read up on all this and more...

Spoiler 

The Forums... the most vile pool of Toxicity on the web... but you know that, you're already here

 

The Wiki... Where these links link to...

 

9: MATCHMAKER: 

Everything since patch 1.0 gets the same MM brackets, SPGs, LTs, etc... Now tier 1-3 see +1/-1 MM and tier 4 starts with +2/-1 MM. After tier 4 everything gets +2/-2 MM and tier 9 gets +1/-2 MM with tier 10 getting +0/-2 MM. +2 refers to tanks being able to fight tanks 2 tiers above the player vehicle I.E. your tier 4 Matida facing a tier 6 KV-2, and -2 refers to facing tanks 2 tiers below you, I.E. your tier 6 T-34-85 facing off against a tier 4 Pz III J.

 

1.  some tanks experience Preferential MM, for example the tier 5 premium tank Churchill III only sees battle tiers 5-6 whereas the tier 5 Churchill l sees battle tiers 5-7
2.  some tanks experience an even better form of Preferential MM, for example the tier 4 tank Pz B2 only sees battle tier 4 whereas the B1 sees battles tiers 4-5
3.  all non-premium tier 4 heavies experience the type of MM as described in point number 2

 

Here is a chart of special tanks which get MM for your use:

 

Note that in patch 9.17 WG introduced a new 3-5-7 MM and extended the Light Tank branches to tier 10 as well. This means there is no more Scout Matchmaking, and every tank class gets the same MM for it's tier (I.E. A tier 6 Heavy Tank gets the same 6-8 MM as a tier 6 Light, Medium, TD, or SPG). With this they also made it to where players will not get the same map within 10 games of getting on it previously. However maps like Himmeldorf and Winter Himmelsdorf are still counted as separate maps. And because of the same MM spreads they restricted platoons to only take in vehicles of the same tier to prevent "Failtooning" AKA a tier 1 tank platooned with a tier 10. This is both a good move and a bad move because tanks such as the SU-122-44 (Tier 7-9 MM) can no longer platoon with friends playing tanks such as the IS-6 (Tier 8-9 MM) even though they fall into the same tier bracket in a sense.

 

Most important of these changes were the 3-5-7, 5-10, 15 MM format rules as follows:

 

3-5-7:

3 Tanks of a tier 2 tiers higher than the lowest tanks (I.E Tier 8's)

5 Tanks of a tier 1 tier higher than the lowest tanks (I.E. Tier 7's)

7 Tanks of a tier 2 tier's lower than the highest tiers in the match (I.E. Tier 6's)

 

5-10:

5 Tanks of a tier 1 tier higher than the lowest tanks (I.E. Tier 8's)

10 Tanks of a tier 1 tier lower than the highest tanks (I.E. Tier 7's)

 

15:

All 15 tanks are of the same tiers

 

Both team lists follow roughly this format to the letter, sometimes it may be 4-6-7, 2-7-9, and so on, however the MM is mirrored for both teams, no longer with a team get one more higher or lower tiered tank than the other.

 

And because of this getting top tier in tanks is a bit harder than it used to be, but to counter this there are two safe guards: 

 

1. The new MM tracks your tier placement, and after a few lower tiered games will place you as top tier (You better take advantage of those games when they happen)

 

2. Due to the new MM placing more lower tiered tanks in the match than top tier tanks, your lower tiers will out number them giving you more targets to shoot at than say a previous Tier 8 game with 12 tier 8's, 2 tier 7's, and 1 tier 6 on each team...

 

Spoiler 

Matchmaker

 

10: AMMO:

There are 6 types of ammunition in the game, the one you choose to shoot at your target could mean the difference between surviving, or being killed, so i will go over them here...

 

Armor Piercing (AP):

Armor piercing shells are shells which use kinetic energy to punch a hole in armor and do damage to the crew and internal workings of a vehicle. The penetration ability of an AP shell is heavily dependent on how much energy it carries, so a high velocity, large caliber shell tends to penetrate armor better than a small caliber, low velocity one.

AP is the standard shell for most direct-fire tanks in the game. AP is sometimes premium ammunition on some artillery. AP with enhanced penetration or damage is also sometimes premium ammunition on some direct-fire tanks (this is common in Japanese pre-Cold War designs).

Armor Piercing Composite Rigid (APCR);

Armor piercing composite rigid shells are shells made of a dense, sub-caliber core surrounded by lightweight, full-bore outer casing. APCR shells are designed to do the same thing as AP shells - penetrate armor using kinetic energy. APCR shells have the advantage of being lighter than AP shells while still having dense penetrating cores.

APCR is the premium ammunition for most direct-fire tanks. On some high tier tanks (usually high tier medium tanks), APCR is the standard ammunition rather than AP.

High Explosive (HE): 

High explosive shells are shells filled with explosives that detonate on impact. HE shells are not designed for anti-armor applications, however HE shells with enough explosives can still penetrate armor by burning through it with sheer explosive power.

HE is one of the standard ammo types for most direct-fire tanks in the game. It is often packaged alongside AP as standard ammo on many tank guns and is even cheaper than the AP ammo, although on most guns its is advisable to only keep a small stock of HE shells. HE is the sole standard ammo on some direct-fire howitzers and is the sole standard ammo for almost all artillery.

Premium High Explosive (HE): 

Premium high explosive ammo is a specially designated form of HE. Mechanically, premium HE is the same as regular HE, but usually has some sort of enhanced capability such as a larger splash radius.

Premium HE is premium ammo on some artillery and on a few direct-fire howitzers

High Explosive Anti Tank (HEAT): 

High explosive anti-tank shells use a shaped explosive charge to sear through armor. HEAT ammunition explodes on impact to create a concentrated stream of molten metal which punches through a vehicle's armor.

HEAT is premium ammo on some direct-fire tanks. Since HEAT shells' penetration ability are dictated by the amount of explosives they carry (rather than muzzle velocity), it is the ammo of choice for penetrating armor with large caliber, low velocity guns such as howitzers. HEAT is premium ammo for most artillery in the game because of this, and is also premium ammo on some high tier, high caliber guns

High Explosive Squash Head (HESH): 

High explosive squash head shells are shells which spread a "paste" of explosives on the surface they impact, which detonates shortly after. This concentrated blast causes spalling inside of the structure it explodes on, killing the crew inside or damaging its internal parts without actually penetrating it.

HESH is premium ammo on some top tier vehicles, and is most common in top tier British vehicles. HESH's realistic properties are not simulated in the game, and in-game HESH rounds are simply HE shells with inflated penetration values. Otherwise, they behave exactly the same and are even labeled as HE, and should be used similarly

 

Note that since 9.17 SPG's now only carry HE and Premium HE except for the LeFH18B2 which retains AP and HEAT to compliment its HE rounds, and the Sexton I which has HE and two AP rounds... These are Premium SPGs and as such did not fall under the 9.17 SPG rebalance

Spoiler 

Ammo... All types

 

11: DEALING DAMAGE OVER TAKING DAMAGE (AND GENERAL TACTICS):,

Seems like a simple process but its not, you have to know when its the right time to take damage on your tank vs not taking damage...

 

- your T-150 is sidescraping against a KV-85 with the 122mm (he just bounced off your tank, because you're good at sidescraping) who is trying to also sidescrape (enough to the point you keep blowing off his track instead of actually dealing damage to him) if you notice that there is no one around him (or its just him, and say a small tier 5 medium with him) then while he is on reload you should advance to his position, his reload will be long enough that if he's less than 200 meter from you you can get in his face before he reloads, and use your skills of active angling (wiggling your tank back and forth in front of your enemy) to bounce his rounds, while you completely destroy his tank, and then his smaller ally (cause the weaker tank is the weaker threat, always take out the biggest threat you are faced with first, even if you die, your team will silently thank you)

 

Likewise, you have to know when to hold your ground...

 

- your T-150 is sidescraping against a KV-85 with the 122mm, he is bouncing off your tank with his gun, now before you go and charge him like you did in the above situation, you notice he has another tier 6 heavy with him, a Churchill VII, and a Cromwell as well. you should not charge in to him at this point while singly you could kill the KV-85, you would die because of the Churchill and Cromwell spewing rounds into you as you did so, this is where you want to not take damage that you dont need to, continue to sidescrape, taking shots at the Cromwell or Churchill if they present themselves, you wont pen a sidescraping KV-85, but neither will he pen you, hold your ground until you get at least 1 to 2 allies in your area to charge with you, OR wait until those enemy tanks are within one shot killing health of your T-150 to charge in.

*always pay close attention to the situations you find yourself in, at one moment it may look like its a good call to charge in somewhere, but before you do always look at your minimap, and team board to see who is spotted, where they are spotted, and who hasn't been spotted, and if its to risky, hold off on your move, or move to a better position to help your team, because no one, and I mean no one, likes charging into an ambush*

 

**While trading hit points is part of the game, if the situation arises where you can take off enemy hit points without losing your own, then always go for the "Pure Profit Play", no need to lose hit points when you don't need to, as you WILL need them later**

Spoiler 

Tactics

 

12: PROGRESSION THROUGH THE GAME:

 When you play the game, you get credits, and Experience after a battle, you will use these to unlock, and purchase your way up the tank lines that you choose

 

- look below the battle button, you'll see a group of buttons, one of them is "Tech Tree", click it...

 

 

- you will have each tree for each nation available, all you have to do is click on the flags at the left...

 

 

- now, since you're at tier 1, you'll click the tier 1 tank in the tree you want (if you're beyond tier 1, then you know how this works, and you don't need to read further.)

 

 

- you'll see that there is 1 gun to unlock with a number amount (probably around 100 or so) that is the Experience requirement to unlock it, unlock it...

 

- after you unlock the gun, the only thing left is the next tank, same deal, battle your way to get the minimum Experience required, and then unlock it

 

- you can then use credits which you save up as you play to purchase the tier 2 tank you just unlocked (You can purchase it either in the store, or from the vehicle tech tree as shown above, click the orange number under the tank picture when you have enough credits)... and the whole process starts all over again, except this time you have more modules to unlock, but its the same concept, play battles, save up Experience (XP) and credits, unlock tanks, buy tanks

 

 

putting this all together, we'll use the KV-3 as an example...

 

 

- you can see that the turret upgraded research price is 7,120 (XP) meaning you'll have to save up that much XP just to unlock it, then you will need the required 21,930 credits to purchase it for your tank (sometimes the module will not mount as soon as it is purchased, the most likely cause of this is low suspension capacity, you will need to unlock the suspension before you can mount your module)

 

- when a tank, or module is available for purchase, its number rather than being in a light green indicator is in a orange indicator as shown to the left under the image for the KV-3, its purchase price is 1,390,00 credits

 

- when a module or tank is not yet available for purchase, its green indicator is dark, with dashes going through it, indicating that you have yet to properly unlock the tree required to be able to unlock the module or tank (it works in a linear fashion, start at the bottom, and work your way up ins steps)

 

*You can pay gold to convert experience on elited tanks (Tank with everything unlocked) into free experience which you can then use on any tank, OR you can play the game in the free to play aspect, and just grind the experience the standard way, possibly a little more time consuming, but free, and the same result*

 

**You can not pay gold to free XP your way up a line having played only 50 battles, you simply do not have enough experience saved up, no matter which way you choose to progress, one way or another you MUST grind out the required experience, either through the line itself, or on an elited tank, you cant go anywhere if you dont have the experience**

 

***Elited tanks can also have the option of accelerating their crews training,

you will not be able to save up experience on a tank to convert to free XP if this option is turned on***

 

****Premium tanks have no researchable upgrades, nor unlock a new tank,

if you want to unlock a new tank, you must play the tanks that require credits to purchase, not gold***

 

13: TANK PHYSICS:

A new physics system was added to the game in version 0.8.0. The system is best experienced rather than read about.

No longer do hills have lines that you simply cannot cross. The steepness of the terrain you can climb is now determined by your tank's weight, horsepower, and the speed it was going before it started climbing.

Some items of note:

• - If your vehicle enters water that's too deep, an icon will appear on your screen indicating that water is entering the crew and/or engine compartment. If you stay in deep water for too long your tank will destroyed. Prior to 0.8.0, you simply had an invisible wall preventing you from driving into or falling into such bodies of water.

• - You can drive off of cliffs. You can use this to attack enemies from directions they weren't expecting. If you're not careful you can fall to your death in some places on some maps. Fast tanks can catch air as they go off a cliff at high speed. This also has interesting implications for ramming (or then again you could just drop your tank on an enemy). Prior to 0.8.0, you simply had an invisible wall preventing you from driving or falling off of cliffs.

• - If your tank is going fast enough and you turn sharply, your tank will now drift (slide sideways) while turning.

• - Ramming a tank will knock that tank away from you in addition to causing damage. In the right situation, you might be able to knock them off a high cliff.

• - You can push friendly tanks up hills far more effectively now than prior to 0.8.0.

 

9.14 PHYSICS UPDATE:

 

- Players can now use handbrake to perform U-turns (Drifts) 

(Press *Spacebar + Direction key*) *Artillery & TDs cannot perform this action for balance reasons*

 

- Tanks can now roll over many obstacles that they previously could not, and they lose less speed going over smaller obstacles

I.E. Craters in roads, rail roads, rubble piles etc.

 

- Tanks no longer come to a complete stop almost instantly, rather their weight forces them to proceed a bit farther forward, or backwards

than Pre 9.14 physics, tanks also rock more when coming to a stop, but this does not have a new adverse effect on aiming, as it was coded out in testing.

 

- Tankers now have to be careful of the steepness of the slopes they sit on as their tanks lateral traction has somewhat decreased, making side-slope-sitting (sitting side ways on a steep slope) very hard to do, as the slightest shift in weight will send you down the slope.

 

- Players can now slide onto their tanks sides, and unless they are moving laterally fast enough, they will sit on their 

sides until either A) a teammate rights their tank, B) they are destroyed, or C) the match ends, a player who is on their side can still fire their guns...

**Sideways TOG II* Post 9.14**

 

- Players can now Roll their tanks over onto their roofs, players will have 30 seconds to right themselves, before their tank is destroyed,

players cannot shoot while their tank is upside down... Currently there is no action for teammates to use to right a flipped tank other

than using brute force, a tow cable, or something to that affect is slated to possibly come in the future...

**Upside down TOG II* Post 9.14**

 

Spoiler 

 Physics

 

14: 9.15: Substantial UI Changes:

In 9.15 WG rolled out a substantial change to the UI (User Interface) that may create some difficulty in understanding older garage screenshots,

I will cover them here...

 

- Garage Filter Update:

Now users can filter the tanks in their garage better than ever, it can be found in the bottom left of your garage

Spoiler 

 Tank Garage Filter

 

- Tank Preview:

Now players can preview tanks before they even unlock them, while they are fun to look at, more importantly you can navigate the screen as if it where a tank you purchased, you can use this to find out the crew setup for the tank in question, as well as its all important statistics on the right hand side.

 

you can preview a tank by going into the Tech Tree (Explained earlier in the guide) and right clicking on a tank you want to preview, you will see "Preview Vehicle" click it

and you will be able to see the vehicle in question as it would appear in your garage. 

Spoiler 

Tech Tree Preview Option

 

Tank Preview Screen

 

- Statistical UI Changes: 

In 9.15 the statistical UI was updated to include more information on your vehicle, as a result the whole look has changed, and to some it may look daunting, but do not fret, I will go over the changes now...

 

you can see there are 5 subjects in question, Firepower, Survivability, Mobility, Concealment, & Spotting, you can click on each of these to reveal more detailed statics on the subject in question...

Spoiler 

 New User Interface Picture

Now I will show you an example of what it looks like when you click on the tabs in question, from bottom to top...

 

- Spotting

  the Spotting tab opens up to reveal the following:

Spoiler 

 Spotting Picture

- View Range (How far you can see)

- Signal Range (How far you can contact your allies)

 

- Concealment

  the Concealment tab opens up to reveal the following:

Spoiler 

 Concealment Picture

- Concealment of Stationary vehicle (%) (Your camo rating while sitting still)

- Concealment of Moving Vehicle (%) (Your camo rating while moving)

 

- Mobility

  the Mobility tab opens up to reveal the following:

Spoiler 

 Mobility Picture

- Weight/Load Limit (Your tanks Weight)

- Engine Power (Horsepower)

- Specific Power (Power to Weight Ratio)

- Top Speed/Reverse Speed

- Traverse Speed (How fast your tank turns)

 

- Survivability

  the Survivability tab opens up to reveal the following:

Spoiler 

 Survivability Picture

- Hit Points (Your tanks Health)

- Hull Armor (Front/ Side/ Rear)

- Turret Armor (Front/ Hull/ Rear)

 

- Firepower

  the Firepower tab opens up to reveal the following:

Spoiler 

 Firepower Picture

- Standard Shell Damage (How much your shell damage is)

- Standard Shell Penetration (How much armor your shell penetrates)

- Rate of Fire (How many rounds per minute you can fire)

- Reload Time (How fast your shell is loaded into your gun)

 

15. Mini Map:

The Mini Map is one of, if not the most important feature you have at your disposal, it shows you the following:

 

1: The Map environment 

2: Your tanks position in relation to the map environment (where you are)

3: Your Teams tanks (Shown by the Green Diamonds, Squares, & Inverted-Triangles)

4: The Enemy tanks (Shown by the Red Diamonds, Squares, & Inverted Triangles)

5: Where the enemy was last located (Enabled in the settings menu)

6: The name of the tanks represented on the map by the tank icons (enabled in the settings menu)

7: Your View range circle (How far your tank can see in a 360 area, enabled in settings)

8: Your Radio Range (How far your tank can talk to your team mates, enabled in settings)

9: Draw Distance (Maximum render range in the game, enabled in settings)

10: Gun Range (how far your gun will actually work, For small auto cannons, and machine guns, or the 25mm on the H35, enabled in settings)

 

As you can see, one who does not pay attention to their minimap is basically flying by the seat of their pants, and only aware of what is happening directly in front of their tank, whereas someone who does use it is aware of their situation, their teams situation, and can adjust their strategy for the long term within the game.

 

You can enlarge your Minimap by pressing (+) as default, and shrink it by pressing (-) as default.

 

*Some mods, such as XVM add all the settings enabled features directly to the minimap, without need to enable in settings*

 

16. Boot Camp & Proving Ground:

In update 9.19.1 WG traded the old tutorial mode in for a new and improved "Boot Camp" mode... I personally believe this is a vital piece of information for new players because had players like me had something of this caliber to help us when we started, we may be much better players statistically than we are today. I do not know if this mode is activated automatically upon a new players starting up of the game for the first time, but I do know as an experienced player who signed up prior to 9.19.1 we can access it by hitting the "Esc" button, and within the menu there will be a prompt along the lines of "Start Boot Camp"... If it isn't exactly like that, it is whatever says "Boot Camp" on it.

 

Within the mode new players are greeted with the following:

 

- You are thrown into a Pseudo-Match on the Airfield map, on the northern runway, you are in command of an M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo, and you and your two teammate AI's are to basically just drive forward, shooting anything red in your path.

 

This is a good thing for new players, it thrusts them into the thick of battle very quickly, almost like how the devs did for Need for Speed Mostwanted (2005 Edition) did to their players. However upon completion of this Pseudo-Match, the Players are rewarded with a "Free Vehicle" (All things given to the players are Boot Camp only goods, except maybe the Gold and Premium... I was an existing player who played the previous tutorial, so I didn't get anything upon completion). This free vehicle can be one of 3 different tier 2 tanks, the T2 Medium, the Pz 35t, or the T-26. The players can choose which one they want by selecting "Change Reward" above the "Confirm Reward" button... After this you have another fight...

 

- You are thrown into another Pseudo-Match on the Abbey map, south spawn... It progresses much the same as the first fight, except you are told to engage the sniper mode, you are told to use bushes for cover, you are told to aim for weakspots, and you are told to flank tanks which have limited gun arc (TD's)... The TD of choice in this mode is an SU-76I (Yes, that rare, OP tier 3 premium that went on sale for like 4 hours that one time) given the guns you have, you will NOT be able to frontally pen it, so listen to the game and flank it, so matter what tank you use, you can flank it. After that a lone LTP will hide around a rock, and you have to flank it around hard cover.

 

This match teaches you the basics of many things I have mentioned above: Aiming for weakspots, camo and bushes, and flanking... After this match you are given XP and credits to unlock the next engine of your tank, this is useful for the next match...

 

- You are then told to participate in a Pseudo-Match on the Prokhorovka map, south spawn again. This time you move forward to actively spot a few enemy AI's, kill them, and then move forward again to spot for your team. What you spot is a literal crap load of tanks and you are rightfully told to fall back because there are to many of them. At which point you are told to completely out flank their entire force by going to their base hidden by bushes and cap them out. At which point a defender comes into the fight that you must kill to cap out.

 

This match teaches you the importance of spotting, and most importantly for a new player When to make a tactical retreat, and regroup for a different approach. This match also teaches new players that capping is just as important, and useful as a method of winning as killing everyone. Not only that it teaches players that protecting your cap points is important and that focusing to hard on one flank (Tunnel Visioning) can lead one to be overtaken from another flank. Finally it teaches new players the importance of maintaining as much cover as you can while moving. After the match you are told to unlock and purchase your tier 3 tank, and you setup your crew with 6th Sense crew perk. Teaching players about perks in a tutorial is one of the massive high points of this mode because Skills/Perks are just downright crucial in this game, especially 6th Sense...

 

- You now take your new tier 3 tank for a run on Ruinberg, North spawn, in this match 3 crucial things happen, you are set on fire, your commander is killed, and your track is blown off, you are told to use consumables to fix them. After which you will be out spotted by a BT-2 using the same camo mechanics you have been using, and finally your last major opponent is an LTP which is massively holding a corner, and you must either flank, or attempt to sidescrape against.

 

The importance in this match is of course the use of consumables, but another important thing is that A) Camo mechanics work both ways, and B) An enemy holding a corner that can withstand your fire is extremely dangerous. After the match you are told to equip your new found consumables, and a piece of equipment, a toolbox. After the your are told to check the missions tab, and partake in a Random Battle.

 

- You are now entering your final Boot Camp battle, this is a "Real" one, it takes place on Mines, south spawn, it's basically a Proving Ground Match, you use everything that you have learned thus far to win a 15v15 battle, but don't worry, it's AI teammates and enemies, so don't worry about looking stupid in front of people. My one real tip for this particular battle is Remember how you have to flank the LTP's, do not rush it head on.

 

This battle is as close to a real fight as you will get in WoT without actually being in a Random Battle, it has the usual suspects on a Mines match: Hill rushers, Center rock holders, Bottom of hill camping tanks, Base camping TDs, 9 line flankers, and 1/2 line Island hoppers... The only way this would be a more realistic WoT match would be to include SPG's... Upon completion of this match I believe new players receive 500 gold and a day of premium time. I have heard that you possibly get to keep your tier 2-3 tanks, but I am not 100% on that, so don't quote me on it... If you do not, I'm sorry.

 

After this, get a tier 1-2 and partake in 10 battles of "Proving Ground", you can get to the mode the same way you selected "Random Battles" in the Boot Camp mode, but instead of selecting that, select "Proving Ground". These matches take place on Mines and Mittengard and are only available to tiers 1 and 2. The first 10 matches you play in Proving Ground count on your statistical service record, and allow you to gain XP and Credits. After 10 battles they no longer count, and you have to play real Random Battles to continue progressing in World of Tanks.

 

Boot Camp and Proving Ground together are a great way for a new player to inform themselves about the game without having to read a lot of guides, or watch a lot of videos. And I believe in the future WG will add content to the Boot Camp further increasing it's value.

 

*in the spoilers are links to the wiki pages themselves if you would like a more "in-depth" look at the mentioned topic*

 

in the following spoiler are a couple reference photos to help your needs

Spoiler 

 

to the left is crew

 

to the center/left is modules

 

to the center/center/left is equipment

 

to the center/center/right is shells

 

to the center/right is consumables

 

to the right is current tank overall stats

 

in the top right above "Purchase" is your current Gold amount

 

in the top right above "Exchange" is your current Ingame Credit amount

 

in the top right above "Convert" is your current Free Experience amount

 

 

here is your service menu showing how to purchase gold ammo/consumables for credits, just look for the drop down menu

i hope this helps, and goodluck on the battlefield! 

 

PS. feel free to private message me any questions you have!

 

PPS. i will make new posts linking players here so they to can have some tips and tricks, as well as coming back and editing this post, as i see fit to include more information!

 

PPPS, While this is my guide, I update it following the questions that YOU THE PLAYERS ASK, so as to avoid these same questions in the future, so while its a guide posted by me, YOU have a hand in affecting whats included, isn't that cool or what!

 

*IF/WHEN SANDBOX CHANGES GO LIVE, THIS GUIDE WILL BE UPDATED ACCORDINGLY*

***for you trolls out there, heres the TL-DR version...***                       

 

[-_Q]™            

[Folterknecht 2,257]

Nice piece there +1

 

you forgot the most important thing when it comes to minimap though :-)  .... how to enlarge it

[SaintLaurentius 532]

wow, nice topic....

[leggasiini 1,567]

>"Speaking of useful tanks, the tanks most used in competitive game play used by top clans, unicums, teals, or generally anybody who fully understands the game meta will be highlighted in GOLD"

> Type 5 Heavy is highlighted in gold

   

 

nice topic regardless tho

[Zepherex 3,641]

I find since they did the changes to official forum it's pretty hard to get a ban. I literally spammed 1080p pictures of Brazilian flags in response to some taco muncher talking about how much he loved his arty; nothing came of it!

 

What the heck did you do to get banned?

[MAJEST1C 412]

Tl;dr

[Strigonx 442]

41 minutes ago, Zepherex said:

I find since they did the changes to official forum it's pretty hard to get a ban. I literally spammed 1080p pictures of Brazilian flags in response to some taco muncher talking about how much he loved his arty; nothing came of it!

 

What the heck did you do to get banned?

IDK about you but a mod gave me my 4th strike for saying jap tanks, and prior to that the same mod handed my 3rd strike for (at that moment) a 2 weeks old post on a  locked thread. 

 

 

[killswitch95 15]

1 hour ago, Zepherex said:

I find since they did the changes to official forum it's pretty hard to get a ban. I literally spammed 1080p pictures of Brazilian flags in response to some taco muncher talking about how much he loved his arty; nothing came of it!

 

What the heck did you do to get banned?

Shitters made shit posts, and I called them out on it...

[Archaic_One 1,853]

Nice job, welcome to the happy place.

 

I got banned for calling some cretin that was complaining that WG gave pref MM to players that paid for prem-time a 'window licker'.  I cannot remember what my other bans were for.  Its pretty obvious that you don't need to take a competency test to mod NA, thats for sure.

[saru_richard 105]

wait you got ban from official... nuuuu D:now who am i suppose to have meme wars with now ;-;

[killswitch95 15]

On 1/5/2017 at 3:03 PM, saru_richard said:

wait you got ban from official... nuuuu D:now who am i suppose to have meme wars with now ;-;

 

 

EDIT: Holy shit they added some Dank Emoticons over the past 3 years... they're so cancerous, but glorious...

[Strigonx 442]

49 minutes ago, killswitch95 said:

I may or may not have an alt on the official forums and they may or may not be the commander of my first clan [DEMON]...

this is all speculation of course... if there WAS a Commander of [DEMON] he'she's avatar is probably a picture of "Rory Mercury" and i'm sure he/she wouldn't mind having meme wars... 

 

EDIT: Holy shit they added some Dank Emoticons over the past 3 years... they're so cancerous, but glorious...

[Tman450 210]

how did you get -4600 on the forums, if you don't mind me asking?

[Spartan96 1,026]

35 minutes ago, Tman450 said:

how did you get -4600 on the forums, if you don't mind me asking?

lot of shitposting about 2 years ago if memory serves right

 

[MAJEST1C 412]

4 minutes ago, Spartan96 said:

lot of shitposting about 2 years ago if memory serves right

 

Your memory is correct. Rip wotlabs

[killswitch95 15]

35 minutes ago, MAJEST1C said:

Your memory is correct. Rip wotlabs

except I try to be helpful now, so NOT rip wotlabs... 

1 hour ago, Strigonx said:

[Archaic_One 1,853]

I think you're going to fit in nicely good sir, nicely indeed.

[Zepherex 3,641]

On 1/5/2017 at 6:14 PM, Tman450 said:

how did you get -4600 on the forums, if you don't mind me asking?

Posted in pre nerf CR/D too much

[SlyMeerkat 1]

Very interesting read