Crotch-Rot
10-18-2010, 01:34 PM
It wasn't so long ago that Hellcat, Rabbid, and Drayu were showing me how to play this game. Now with about 1200 battles under my belt, I'd like to give some advice to the new guys who are starting out. Please feel free to chime in with your advice as I know there are some of you that are crazy good with various tanks.
Tech Tree and Research
Look at the Tech Tree, see which tank you want to play. Then go down that line. You do NOT have to research everything available for your tank. Just only the components that leads you to the next tank in the Tech Tree. If you researched everything available for your tank, then it becomes an "Elite" tank. This means that you now can a) convert experience (using gold) gained in this tank to Free XP to be used on any tank you own; b) you can opt to speed up crew training.
Garage
You have 5 free slots. Keep more than 1 tank in there so you can "grind" for XP and credits while one tank is in battle.
Gold, XP and credits
Since we're in Beta, 150 gold is given out each nite at 7PM CST. Gold can be bought with real money once game is live. Save your gold to buy a premium account. This gives you 50% more XP and credit per battle. Gold is also used to convert XP to Free XP.
XPs are given for many things. Some of which includes spotting the enemy, damaging them, killing artilleries, etc... Capping a flag and killing all enemies yields the same XP for winning team, contrary to some of the pubbers will say.
Credits are given out based upon how you did in the battle. Engaging in fights against higher tiered tanks will gain you more XP and credits vs killing smaller tanks.
Ammo
AP vs HE: use AP on anything your tier and lower. AP pierces the armor and does damage to their hit-points. Use HE against higher tiered tanks since the do damage via explosive/concussive force. HE's will knock out crew and damage subsystems. Carry some of each. I carried a lot of HEs when running lights at a ratio of 2:1 HE to AP. On my heavies, I carry more AP than HE.
Guns
At first, the cannons that pump out more rounds per minute is better since your crew is not trained and there's more likelyhood that you'll hit something vs the single shots cannons.
Crews
50% crews are free. But spend the money if you have it to train them to 75%. They don't really get good until they're 80-85%. But 75% is much better than 50%.
Crews from the same country can be placed from one tank of the same tier to another. You'll need to spend money to retrain them, but they'll be retrained at a higher level like 90% if they are already at 100%. Moving between tiers will cause your crew to drop something like 20-25%.
Once your crew is at 100%, you can train them in a specialty like Repairs, Camo Skill, Firefighting, etc...
Add-on components
These enhance your tanks in various ways. This is what I've used
Speed governor removed: Didn't do jack shit in my Churchill other than damaging the engine after a while.
Spall liner: helped a lot in my tanks against HE explosions.
Rammer: This is not so you can ram other people. This refers to the mechanism used to "ram" the shells into the cannon. It reduces the reloading time by 10%.
Torsion bars: or something liek that. This increases the load-bearing capacity of your tank. If you're not adding on heavier components, then this allows you to weave and turn without loosing as much speed.
Small repair kit: Great to have when you gotta get that gun or tracks fixed to keep fighting.
Manual Fire extinguisher: I think it helps but not sure...
Camo net: Seems to help, but you really need your crew 100% trained in camo skills for this to work properly.
Battle
Never stop moving. You should always be moving. Never stop unless you're tracked or setting up an ambush. Unless you have your crew trained to 100% in camo skills and a camo net (which I doubt you have), as soon as another tank is near you, move your ass or artillery will make quick work of you.
Always point your tank into the direction of fire. The front hull has more armor than the sides or the rear. So this means you want to always shoot them in the sides or rear vs the front. Aim at the engine compartment in the back, aim at the tracks, or even the side/back of the turret.
If you have to charge the enemy, drive at an angle and weave (if it doesn't cause too much speed bleed). Never drive straight at them.
Sometimes, you have to run away from a fight to come back later to finish them off. That's ok.
Use rocks and buildings as cover from artillery.
When you're dead in a battle, hit Escape and Exit Battle. This takes you back to your garage so you can take another tank into a different battle. The dead tank stays in that battle until the battle is over. Then you can look at the results and repair/re-arm the tank. This way, you're constantly in battle earning XP and credits.
Circle strafe your opponents if they can not turn their turret or tank as fast as you. Shoot out their tracks if they're a fast mover to take away that advantage.
Right click on a target to auto-aim. Note that auto-aim will aim at the center of their turret, which is one of the most heavily armored sections on a tank. So use it with caution. Lots of time, it's better to manual aim than auto-aim.
That's all I have time for right now. Most of this is not new to those who've played for a week or two. Please add to this thread and I'll try to keep this first post updated with advice and tips.
Tech Tree and Research
Look at the Tech Tree, see which tank you want to play. Then go down that line. You do NOT have to research everything available for your tank. Just only the components that leads you to the next tank in the Tech Tree. If you researched everything available for your tank, then it becomes an "Elite" tank. This means that you now can a) convert experience (using gold) gained in this tank to Free XP to be used on any tank you own; b) you can opt to speed up crew training.
Garage
You have 5 free slots. Keep more than 1 tank in there so you can "grind" for XP and credits while one tank is in battle.
Gold, XP and credits
Since we're in Beta, 150 gold is given out each nite at 7PM CST. Gold can be bought with real money once game is live. Save your gold to buy a premium account. This gives you 50% more XP and credit per battle. Gold is also used to convert XP to Free XP.
XPs are given for many things. Some of which includes spotting the enemy, damaging them, killing artilleries, etc... Capping a flag and killing all enemies yields the same XP for winning team, contrary to some of the pubbers will say.
Credits are given out based upon how you did in the battle. Engaging in fights against higher tiered tanks will gain you more XP and credits vs killing smaller tanks.
Ammo
AP vs HE: use AP on anything your tier and lower. AP pierces the armor and does damage to their hit-points. Use HE against higher tiered tanks since the do damage via explosive/concussive force. HE's will knock out crew and damage subsystems. Carry some of each. I carried a lot of HEs when running lights at a ratio of 2:1 HE to AP. On my heavies, I carry more AP than HE.
Guns
At first, the cannons that pump out more rounds per minute is better since your crew is not trained and there's more likelyhood that you'll hit something vs the single shots cannons.
Crews
50% crews are free. But spend the money if you have it to train them to 75%. They don't really get good until they're 80-85%. But 75% is much better than 50%.
Crews from the same country can be placed from one tank of the same tier to another. You'll need to spend money to retrain them, but they'll be retrained at a higher level like 90% if they are already at 100%. Moving between tiers will cause your crew to drop something like 20-25%.
Once your crew is at 100%, you can train them in a specialty like Repairs, Camo Skill, Firefighting, etc...
Add-on components
These enhance your tanks in various ways. This is what I've used
Speed governor removed: Didn't do jack shit in my Churchill other than damaging the engine after a while.
Spall liner: helped a lot in my tanks against HE explosions.
Rammer: This is not so you can ram other people. This refers to the mechanism used to "ram" the shells into the cannon. It reduces the reloading time by 10%.
Torsion bars: or something liek that. This increases the load-bearing capacity of your tank. If you're not adding on heavier components, then this allows you to weave and turn without loosing as much speed.
Small repair kit: Great to have when you gotta get that gun or tracks fixed to keep fighting.
Manual Fire extinguisher: I think it helps but not sure...
Camo net: Seems to help, but you really need your crew 100% trained in camo skills for this to work properly.
Battle
Never stop moving. You should always be moving. Never stop unless you're tracked or setting up an ambush. Unless you have your crew trained to 100% in camo skills and a camo net (which I doubt you have), as soon as another tank is near you, move your ass or artillery will make quick work of you.
Always point your tank into the direction of fire. The front hull has more armor than the sides or the rear. So this means you want to always shoot them in the sides or rear vs the front. Aim at the engine compartment in the back, aim at the tracks, or even the side/back of the turret.
If you have to charge the enemy, drive at an angle and weave (if it doesn't cause too much speed bleed). Never drive straight at them.
Sometimes, you have to run away from a fight to come back later to finish them off. That's ok.
Use rocks and buildings as cover from artillery.
When you're dead in a battle, hit Escape and Exit Battle. This takes you back to your garage so you can take another tank into a different battle. The dead tank stays in that battle until the battle is over. Then you can look at the results and repair/re-arm the tank. This way, you're constantly in battle earning XP and credits.
Circle strafe your opponents if they can not turn their turret or tank as fast as you. Shoot out their tracks if they're a fast mover to take away that advantage.
Right click on a target to auto-aim. Note that auto-aim will aim at the center of their turret, which is one of the most heavily armored sections on a tank. So use it with caution. Lots of time, it's better to manual aim than auto-aim.
That's all I have time for right now. Most of this is not new to those who've played for a week or two. Please add to this thread and I'll try to keep this first post updated with advice and tips.