Guide for beginners on simplified mechanics, tank selection, crew and other stuff

[Jammore 76]

After reading most of the stuff here and there I decided to try and write a guide myself. Mostly taken from others and my experience. If you make a valid point I gladly change it. After a while, I'd like to post it on official forums. There are some simplifications in mechanics so I hope I didn't write something too misleading. I slightly omit scouts and SPGs, because I don't play them much. And my formatting kind of sucks, I'll change it.

GUIDE:

This guide is meant for beginner players. Some mechanics are heavilly simplified but should suffice until reaching certain expertise. You can get to more detailed guides on particular topics. I list other guides at some sections which provide more detailed information.

So you started this new brand game and want to shoot and kill things, because what is more fun than moving in a 40ton monster shooting stuff? You probably have some experience in Call of Duty, Battlefield and such. Good, you know the basic concepts of competitive gaming. But they seem to not work in this game (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/286046-combat-briefing-for-the-new-player-aka-what-to-expect-from-wot/). Well you are at the right place. These are the basics.

The goal of the game - kill enemy team/capture enemy base - killing enemy is preferred, but sometimes not that safe (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/228710-anatomy-of-a-capture-defense/).

Firing
You aim at your target, you press mouse - gun fires, seems simple doesn't it? In fact there is more to it. First is your reticule, the smaller it is the better - that circle you see is possible deviation of shell from the cross in the middle. Shot will most likely go to mid of your reticule, but sometimes it does not. Generally anything that is inside that circle can be hit and even sometimes things outside. If you don't move or move your reticule, it will start getting smaller - your gunner is aiming. At some point it stays still - it means your shot is most accurate it can be for now - with longer distance, chances of missing are greater.
Also bear in mind that in third person view you see more than in sniper view --> use sniper view for firing (shift changes modes in default or you can use mouse wheel to zoom). Game calculates distance instead of you, it is easier than in real tanks.

Penetrating enemies
Ok, so you were lucky, you aimed well and shot goes off, you hit and nothing happened. Here comes to play the penetration of your shell, thickness of enemy armor and of course angle of enemy armor. You only penetrate when your penetration is higher than armor of your opponent. But there is more to it - angle of enemy armor increases its effectiveness and distance reduces penetration of your shell.
When you put your aiming circle on enemy it goes either red, yellow or green - this show chance of penetrating. Red - unlikely, yellow - there is a chance, green - very likely. But... there is always some but. This colour does not take into account angle of his armor or distance.

Enemy armor
Armor is listed as a value in milimeters - starts around 20-30 at tier 1 tanks up to 300 at tier 10 tanks. In the garage you can see those values for front, sides and back of your tanks and their turrets, but... There are weakpoints - for example commanders cupola at the top of the turret (not tower) is generally a weakspot. Also lower frontal plate - that small place between tracks on the lower front of tank
is usualy a weakspot (there are of course exceptions to this). So for your beginner's aiming you are ok with this sequence of weak spots. Back of the tank<side of the tank<lower frontal plate<commanders cupola<front of tank. Everytime you can't penetrate a tank I suggest that after battle you run Google and search for "'tank I had problems with' weak spots". You get a lot of images showing needed weakspots and are usually accurate enough.

Camouflage/spotting (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/304916-lerts-guide-to-being-the-invisitank-camouflage-and-spotting-basics/)
How did I get hit, I can't see anyone shooting at me! That is a typical situation involving spotting and camouflage. You can be spotted at a range around 250-300 metres. Each tank has its own range of visibility as well as a camouflage value. With higher tiers the spotting range increases up to 445 metres(that is maximumum game limit). While spotting range increases ability to see further, camouflage negates this.
It is very similar to penetration/armor thickness. When you are spotted, you stay spotted for 5-10 seconds if you manage to hide. Seems easy, well there is of course another but. Behind buildings you can't be seen from that direction. And behind bushes you get camouflage bonus - more bushes means more bonus. But... if you fire your gun, your camouflage value drops and bonus from bushes is negated.
So shoot wisely - if you can't hit reliably mind your trigger. So camouflage is: stationary>moving>firing vehicles.

Radio
When you spot enemy, you also broadcast his position to your nearby teammates - this range is determined by theirs and your radio signal range. These values summed together give a communication distance to your teammate. If you are further, he won't be able to see your tagets and you won't see his targets. Even you won't know his position on map (as well as he won't see you).

Draw distance
Even if you should know position of your enemy, you may not see him. This is due to draw distance. You can only see enemies in a box around your tank that has a side of 1000m - it means seeing tanks 500m vertically or horizontally, diagonally you can see tanks 707m far. Drawing distance in graphics options does not influence this, you will always see all allowed tanks.

My Armor (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/284733-lerts-guide-to-picking-your-fights/)
You now know how to see enemies and how to hit them. But you need to ensure they won't hit you. Here comes the basic equation presented by CrabEatOff.
camo/draw > exposure > armor > first strike > hp
From best defence on the left to the worst on the right. So best is not to be seen at all, if you are, it is good to be behind something solid. If you get hit, your armor should handle it. If not at least give him more damage than he is giving to you. I just skip to the situation when you see neemy, he sees you and you know he will fire. You just have few seconds to prepare for it. If you know he can't penetrate you, you are ok, but you can never be sure. Basic thing you can do is hide behind solid object - house, hill, corpse of tank. If you can't you should at least angle your tank and thus increasing your armor. Angle depends
on thickness of your frontal/side armor. Generally it is best around 25 degrees (0 degrees is straight to your enemy) - sometimes caled sidescraping. Better solution is to hide behind a hill so that only your turret sticks out - hull down position. Also if you wiggle a bit (move right and left and move your turret too), it makes enemy aiming and penetrating you more difficult.

Lert wrote a nice guide about most these topics (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/159638-lerts-thread-of-duh-or-mspaint-schematics-explaining-gameplay-basics/)

Tank selection(http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/251985-about-vehicle-types-roles-and-playstyle/)
There are 5 tank types.
Light tanks - fast, weak, low damage. You start with them, then you can choose another branch. In higher tiers some are flagged as scouts and get harder matchmaking (they meet more powerful tanks) because their purpose is to scout and find enemies. I suggest WoT wiki for finding those. They are hard to play so it is wise to avoid scout tanks at the beginning. Advantage of scout tanks is high view range and their moving and stationary camouflage is the same.
Medium tanks - fairly mobile, medium damage, good accuracy on the move, tougher than lights. They are best for fast movement and unexpected attacks and also have good camouflage values. There are exceptions to this.
Heavy tanks - slow, well armored with guns packing a nice punch. They are probably most forgiving for beginners and you can find some fast ones too - e.g. Chinese and French line. their biggest issue is speed and are big, so are often bothered by artillery.
Tank destroyers - they pack the biggest punch in the game (often gun mounted on tanks tier higher), have best camouflage. Usually they are either fast or well armored.
Artillery(SPG) - artillery fires with ballistic curve and is used for support fire mostly. It fires mostly HE shells and is weak itself. Try them to get the idea but I suggest playing other tanks at the beginning.

Modules
Tank is composed of modules, where some of them can be upgraded to better ones - namely turret, gun, tracks, engine, radio. Not every upgrade is possible for every tank. Like tanks modules are divided into tiers, but higher tier is not always better than lower tier. Some modules are used on multiple tanks, so when you research it on one, it can be used on other.

Tracks - increase turning and running speed and increase carry weight - can be seen at top right corner as a number 36,5/37,2 for example showing your tank weighs 36,5 tons out of 37.2 possible tons (metric tons - 1t has 1000kg)
Engines - increase acceleration and sometimes lower chances of fire. Value is in horsepower - hp.
Turrets - increase hps of tank, view range, sometimes armor and ability to mount better guns. Sometimes they allow faster firing speed.
Guns - influence penetration, damage, rate of fire, accuracy, aim time. Each gun has totally different statistics and needs a bit of evaluating. Penetration and damage are the most important, but other values have a huge impact too. Higher tier gun is not always better than lower tier.

Ammo (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/273627-lerts-guides-to-shells-shell-types-and-shell-mechanics/)
There are several types of ammo. There are 4 types
AP - standard armor piercing ammo used to hit tanks.
HE - high explosive used to hit weak targets, provide fire support. Generally penetration on this ammo is lower and gun caliber influences ability to do damage (152mm gun is more effective than 105mm gun), damage mechanics is completely different and a bit complicated.
HEAT - high explosive anti tank, they cost gold or more money to fire them, you can change this in the service section. But they have better penetration than AP.
APCR - armor piercing composite rigid, they also usually cost gold and have more penetration than AP, but have a slightly different penetration mechanics (they handle better angled armor than HEAT shells). You can consider them same as HEAT for starting purposes.
Carrying few HEAT/APCR (around 5), sometimes referred as gold shells, is a good idea unless you plan to change your gun/tank very quickly. They help with harder targets.

Tank crew
Most tanks have its crew composed of Commander, Driver, Gunner, Loader, Radio operator. Some tanks miss radio operator (then some other crewmember has 2 specializations) or other crew members (e.g. ELC AMX has only Commander and Driver, where Commander is Gunner, Radio operator and Loader too) while some have more Loaders - usually SPGs and big tank destroyers. High tier modern tanks tend to have 4 crew members (without Radio operator). Your crew gets more experienced by getting experience. When you hire new crew/retrain other crew form other tanks you can train them for credits/gold. For 20K credits per member he can be trained to 75% basic skill (For 200 gold to 100%) or more if he is more experienced. The game will show you preview what happens after training. Basic skill influences
reload speed, aiming, driving speed, view range. It is very vital to get it to 100% fast as possible. After getting to 100% basic skill level your crew can get another skills - you can select them and for credits/gold even change them. Training is sometimes discounted by Wargaming.

Crew skills
I list general first skills for each tank type, decision is influenced by playstyle. As soon as you get first skills to 100% you can choose another skill up to 5 skills per crewmember. As soon as your commander has his first skill at 100% it is very vital to retrain his skill to Sixth sense (applies to every tank). Sixth sense tells you when you are spotted by enemy. Sixth sense is a perk - it means it only works at 100%, while skills (repairs, camouflage, fire fighting etc.) work at any level (30, 60%). There are more perks, but this one is most notable.
Scout tanks - 1.camouflage,2.driving skills/view range skills
Medium tanks - 1.camoflage/repairs,2.gunnery skills/driving skills
Heavy tanks - 1.repairs
Tank destroyers - 1.camouflage
Artillery(SPG) - 1.camouflage

Crew moving
You can use one crew in another tank if they have the same nationality. But if they drive improper tank their effectiveness is lower. Also when driving another tank type, it is lower (they are T57 Heavy crew driving Hellcat). Exception are premium tanks, where you can use any crew of the same tank type without penalties (like T57 Heavy crew in T14 premium tank). Also if your tank is elite (has all modules and tanks researched), don't forget to check "Accelerate crew training" in top left corner above commander to increase crew training speed - this doubles experience on one of the crewmembers (one which has the least experience).

Tank equipment
Most tanks get benefit from Rammer - increases firing speed. But you can't move it to another tank unless you spend 10 gold - which is very cheap and should be used. Other good equipment is Binocular telescope (25% increased view range) and Camouflage net (bonus to your camouflage value) - they both work only when stationary for 3 secs, but can be moved from tank to tank in garage freely. If you don't have enough cash a pair of these greatly helps you in battle. Wargaming gives discounts on modules, so I suggest getting 2-3 pairs of these when 50% off and swapping them on tanks. Later you will used specialized equipment on each tank, but at start you are low on cash. General optimal tank setups listed below. Each tank can be played differently and some benefit more from different setups. These are only general setups that will work most of time. Note that vertical stabilizer is available around tier 7-8 and is considered better option to gun laying drive. Some tanks, namely autoloaders benefit from having both and they can't usually mount rammer.

Scout - Coated optics, ventilation, camouflage net/rammer - depends if you shoot or focus on spotting
Medium - Gun rammer, vertical stabilizer, coated optics/ventilation
Heavy - Gun rammer, vertical stabilizer, coated optics/ventilation/spall liner on really heavy tanks
Tank Destroyer - Gun rammer, gun laying drive, coated optics/camouflage net/binoculars
Artillery - Gun rammer, Gun laying drive (improves aim speed), camouflage net

Consumables
Tank can carry 3 consumables, they are chosen in service section. Basic setup for most tanks is repair kit, med kit and fire extinguisher. All of these have advanced variants that heal all crewmembers, repairs all modules all extinguish fire automatically. They also give a nice flat bonus even if used. But they are more expensive. Another option is to use food - gives flat boost to whole crew and is used each battle or fuel that increases vehicle speed and turret rotation speed. For starting I suggest getting basic repair kit,fire extinguisher and med kit. They can be freely moved between tanks. Good option is to buy them in advance during discounts (button store at the left above tank). Using consumables is recommended at tier 4+. In lower tiers the outcome of battle usually doesn't net enough credits to pay for them. But you can carry them for safety reasons.

Positioning (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/212496-why-the-famed-center-rush-is-usually-a-monumentally-moronic-idea/)
This is the most difficult part - you can find guides for each map in many guides. Generally try not to move alone. Also bear in mind your role. You should keep some type of cover nearby, hard cover preferably and also being behind a bush. Don't stick too to another player, you may block his exit route or spot him. Don't die first. Try to surprise your enemy and attack from different spots. The more early you get your gun to play the better, but dying too fast is not good. Your aim should be to do the same amount of damage your tank has hitpoints(it is around 3-5 shots a game). Later you can add up.
If you are moving in open terrain, try to use valleys - even a small bump in terrain can save you.

Suggestion on tanks good for beginners - in terms of teaching specific mechanics
Russian Heavy line - KV1 and so on, lessons in sidescraping, heavy tank use
American Heavy line - T29 and so on, lessons in hull down
American TD line - T49, Hellcat - lessons on camouflage, not being spotted
American autoloader line - T71, T69, scout lessons, autoloader lessons, tier 7+ is great but 5 and 6 are not that friendly
German Heavy line - Tiger - lessons in sidescraping
American medium - vision control, hull down
Russian medium line - T34 - fast firing and flanking

These are currently considered decent tanks for 2 most important end game tiers. Every tank has its strong points and weaknesess and heavilly depends on playstyle. These are merely suggestions. I listed mediums and heavy tanks mostly.

Good lines of tanks for tier 8
American medium - Pershing, T69
Russian medium - T-44
Russian heavy - IS-3
Chinese heavy - 110
German TDs - both lines, JGPII, Rhm. Borsig
French heavy - AMX 50 100

Good lines of tanks for tier 10
American autoladers - T57 Heavy
American heavy - T110E5
German TDs - WT E100
German Heavy - E100
Russian medium - Object 140, T62A
French medium - light/medium line ending in Batchat
French heavy - AMX 50B
Russian TDs

So for good learning experience and also end game tanks I suggest these tank lines:
American Heavy - T110E5 line
Russian medium - Object 140 line
German TDs - WT E 100 line
American autoloader line - I suggest get some experience first, there are scout tanks(http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/198457-how-to-deal-with-autoloaders/).
French medium/hard - hard to master, but offer a different playstyle

Sources of other information about WoT
http://rocketbrainsurgeon.com/category/world-of-tanks/
http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/186917-lerts-collection-of-guides/
http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/Main_Page

General hints (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/forum/405-survival-guide/)
Stick to the tank you are comfortable with, if you jump from one to another your performance will suffer. Don't be afraid to experiment a bit. Keep your T1 crew in barracks and put it to T4-5 tank to save on expenses. Good learning tier is 6-7, you can make mistakes without huge punishements, but you won't learn bad habits. Point of the game is not getting Tier 10 vehicle, each higher tier faces harder oposition with better players. Purchasing a higher tank will not make you more powerful(http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/286046-combat-briefing-for-the-new-player-aka-what-to-expect-from-wot/). Weekends usually offers some discount so wait for them. Fulfilling missions (top left corner in garage) can net you some nice credits.

Short hints (http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/98891-lerts-easy-tips-for-beginners/)
0) Have fun
1) Don't shoot your teammates, if you manage to hit them, apology should be made.
2) Don't sit in the open.
3) Ramming your teammates is rude and can spoil their aim/camo/binocular telescope
4) Have a plan for everything
5) If you are spotted, move
6) Surprise your enemy
7) Think before shooting - will it penetrate, is it worth resetting my camouflage?
8 ) Watch the minimap - this is very important to see the tactical stiuation. +- keys next to 0 key modify size, make it big enough to see exact positions of enemies/friendlies
9) Don't be rude, there is often player that makes you angry. If you respond you are getting yourself to his level, you don't need that.
10) Check wotlabs.net for good support and plenty of more detailed guides
11) If you are willing to get better and admit you can improve, you are on a good way.
12) If your base is captured it is you who must go defend it, noone else will do that.
13) Keep your gun in play.

99) Fun is forbidden, stats are what counts

Edited March 18, 2014 by Jammore

[BlackstarFallen 48]

Awesome guide! This will be a great help for new players like myself. Easy to follow and lots of great information. I would like to point out though, in the section "Tank Selection", you forgot to add heavy tanks. Overall, you put out an epic guide

[Jammore 76]

Awesome guide! This will be a great help for new players like myself. Easy to follow and lots of great information. I would like to point out though, in the section "Tank Selection", you forgot to add heavy tanks. Overall, you put out an epic guide

They are there, but I had a bad formatting - repaired. I probably add a bit more highlits to this guide.

[Otis 370]

My thoughts in no particular order:

 

-As a relatively new player to tanks I liked how you incorporated the bit about FPS games.  Almost every person I know came from that gaming style and it's important to note that it doesn't translate well into WOT.  I personally got very frustrated when I started playing because my aggressive FPS habits has almost no carryover to WOT and only served to get my killed early.

 

-I don't really like your writing style.  You seem to overuse the comma and hyphen buttons and I find it distracting.  Other than that, you were mostly coherent but it would definitely improve with some edits.

 

-Possibly include links to more in depth guides.  Angling for example is an extremely important part of the game that I was 100% unaware of for my first 1k games.  Reading Lert's guide for angling opened my eyes.

 

Overall I'd say that this is a very basic level guide and to be honest I think every category has been covered better by others.  I'm not trying to be mean or discourage you, but that's my honest opinion.  I would look at Lert's guides in general to see how he structures them and conveys useful information with his own personal flair.  It makes reading crucial information enjoyable.  Sorry to be rough, but that's my two cents.

[_deathadder_ 4]

Armor is listed as a value in centimeters - starts around 20-30 at tier 1 tanks up to 300 at tier 10 tanks.

 

load the skill. 300cm = 3meters

[Jammore 76]

My thoughts in no particular order:

 

-As a relatively new player to tanks I liked how you incorporated the bit about FPS games.  Almost every person I know came from that gaming style and it's important to note that it doesn't translate well into WOT.  I personally got very frustrated when I started playing because my aggressive FPS habits has almost no carryover to WOT and only served to get my killed early.

 

-I don't really like your writing style.  You seem to overuse the comma and hyphen buttons and I find it distracting.  Other than that, you were mostly coherent but it would definitely improve with some edits.

 

-Possibly include links to more in depth guides.  Angling for example is an extremely important part of the game that I was 100% unaware of for my first 1k games.  Reading Lert's guide for angling opened my eyes.

 

Overall I'd say that this is a very basic level guide and to be honest I think every category has been covered better by others.  I'm not trying to be mean or discourage you, but that's my honest opinion.  I would look at Lert's guides in general to see how he structures them and conveys useful information with his own personal flair.  It makes reading crucial information enjoyable.  Sorry to be rough, but that's my two cents.

No problem. I appreciate your points and I'll try to improve it. My writing style is heavily influenced by the fact I am not a native speaker. Well If I can improve that, it would be definitelly good. Including links is a good idea, I'll do that. The guide meant to be simple and to cover most of the basics. If you want to find more exact info, there are more detailed and better guides as you said. I want to include some not that apparent things. For example draw range. It is not very obvious in the game that you can't see targets outside of the drawing square. If you have any ideas I'd be glad.