Any general advice?

nesf

I started playing today. I've mostly been messing around in Tier II and Tier III German TDs. It's fun, I can see myself giving this game some bit of time anyway. I've read quite a few of the threads in here and some of the guides online but I was wondering if people had advice for a newbie.

Nody

Angling of your tank

Honestly it's about the biggest game changer you can learn early on.

Secondary is not to rush and be the first in line to go up against the enemy (there are times for it but those are 1/25 and not the other way around).

Third is to try to predict how the enemy will try to flank you.

Fourth is get some reload mods etc. on because they do make a world of difference imo

Spear

Armour:

Angling your armour properly is, as Nody correctly said, one of the most basic things to learn and it leads to a more general fact that many don't get: the tanks are (mostly) modelled after the real world things, so they have different armour in different places. Front armour will be thickest, sides less so, and the rear the least. If you sit there with your ass showing, it's going to be perforated. Similarly if just aim at the opponents thickest armour, you're not going to last long either. As a good example, consider the US T29, a tier 7 heavy. The turret front is nearly 300mm, and even tier 10s bounce on that. On the other extreme, the rear turrent of the tier 10 Leopard is as low as 20mm at points, and even a tier 1 gets through that.

Spotting:

just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they can't see you.

This illustrates the power of passive spotting better than I can:

Equipment:

many overlook the value of medkits, repair kits and fire extinguishers. They're 3k each, but your DPM is nearly halved with a broken ammo rack, and if you're on fire it's essentially match over, so balance that 3k credits against the possible earnings being lost.

nesf

Hehe, yeah, I'm in an odd place at the moment. Too many teenage years spent reading about tanks and not a fecking clue how to use any of this information in the game other than, firing while broadside; something for battleships not tanks.

Thanks to you both.

LostCorkGuy

Read this guide I posted on the WOT forums about camo and how it works


And use the WOT forums a lot of knowledge there a lot of trolls too though

nesf

LostCorkGuy wrote: »

Read this guide I posted on the WOT forums about camo and how it works


And use the WOT forums a lot of knowledge there a lot of trolls too though

Cheers. Yeah, well, MMO forums are like that! :P

nesf

I'm finding myself enjoying arty, there may be something wrong with me. :P

Spear

nesf wrote: »

I'm finding myself enjoying arty, there may be something wrong with me. :P

There is.

I'm an unshamed arty hater, but right now arty is a pale shadow of it's former self. They used to be massively more accurate, with better reloads, often meaning inta-death for anything slow, further magnified by 3 to 5 arty being common in a match.

CHorn

I've been playing for a few months. I've only a few quick thoughts to Tier V here, and really to repay some of the kind help I've received here and there.

If you're playing on the cheap, watch your XP like a hawk- the last thing you want to do is accumulate 7000 XP on Tier 1 and have it irreversibly tied to your MS-1 (unless you pay Gold to convert it to free) before you ever hear about the 'Accelerate Crew Training' switch.

Also look at equipment purchases for AFVs carefully- on that you're in and later models- something you might be considering buying now might come as standard equipment later. For example take the US SCR-506 Radio, which comes on the M3 & M5 Stuarts, M7 Priest, T-82, T-40.

Wait for the deals- 50% off on garage slots (these are your best bang/$), crew (re)training. Keeping crews with their tank forever saves on needing barracks space and retraining. Get crews to 75% straightaway with 10K credits (@50% off), and buy crews ahead when these sales are on (just research the tanks- you don't need to own them). Focus on 50% off deals on tanks, because grind to them is often on the cheap too and you can go up a line in a weekend.

Rationalize best use of your time- once you get a good few tanks, time not credits is the problem. I focus on deals- for example kill 30 tanks in a day in a Tier IV+ AFV any day this month and you get 300K credits, or the x3 XP deals++. Just check the deals out on website, see if they're worthwhile and applicable, and if so, focus efforts there while on.

Don't throw out vehicles until you're really really sure you don't like them- I recently repurchased a T-82 and found I liked it second time round, and if you're going to spend any $s buying garage slots to make this happen seems best (@50% off $15 will get you 20 slots). If you have to throw out a vehicle justify why it's got to go, not that you need the garage slot for something newer shinier.

Avoid some generally trashed grinds, like the A-20 to T-34 (use T-80 instead say). Pay careful attention to Tech Trees- there are some workarounds (M3->T82 skipping T18 (though this is fun so I wouldn't avoid)) and have end goals in mind. For me it was to drive the WWII vehicles I'd read about, so T-34, KV-1, Pz IV/V/VI, Sherman, Matilda, Crusader, StuGIII. With this in mind, be prepared to be surprised- some tanks don't work as you might expect- partly due to matchmaking, where some AFVs statistically just are more likely to end up in higher tier fights, where you lose your tank and some of the fun goes as you can really be up against the odds (NEVER ditch a vehicle you personally like playing in, no matter what others say).

Look at AFV 'credit ratings'- check out this to see net income (and other stuff) cut and diced any which way you want for example.

When you're killed hop to a teammate's vehicle to see what the better (?) players are doing (install XVM to see player and other handy stats in-game), particularly if someone is playing one of your AFVs or one you'd like to own- I found this better than youtube replays in some respects as you've already (had) a hand in the unfolding disaster.

Mods- install some that you find useful- I use a lot of Grandpa's stuff (sniper sights++).

Premium tanks- if at all (they cost) on 50% off. I got a Tier 6 PzIVS Schmalturm (875 (?) with a 1000 Gold Alienware voucher to start- note you can one-time get 300 Gold for changing password and 100 for linking your mobile phone # to account) and it's a brilliant credit earner and trainer (you can use premium tanks to train vehicles of same nationality/class without retraining).

Ask if you're not sure (here or on forums)- most folks are happy to help. Sometimes I wonder if the good folks who help out on the forums compensate with alternate in-game personalities...

(while I'm at is, is there a fairly casual approach clan in the Dublin area- not interested in clan wars, just platooning, company, maybe later competitive play to earn a few gold coins for garage slots?)

nesf

Spear wrote: »

There is.

I'm an unshamed arty hater, but right now arty is a pale shadow of it's former self. They used to be massively more accurate, with better reloads, often meaning inta-death for anything slow, further magnified by 3 to 5 arty being common in a match.

Yeah, hitting stuff is hard, but most of your job now as far as I can make out is forcing camping TDs to relocate, knocking some HP off the heavies, hopefully knocking out a track or similar and so on. With the way XP is structured it's pretty painful grinding up an arty at the moment because you miss a lot and reload slow and part of your role is area denial, or at least making enemy tanks want to stay on certain sides of ridges.

Still, it's an interesting change of pace. They do seem a bit over-nerfed.

Aenaes

CHorn wrote: »

(while I'm at is, is there a fairly casual approach clan in the Dublin area- not interested in clan wars, just platooning, company, maybe later competitive play to earn a few gold coins for garage slots?)

Cry Havoc is the clan that has the largest amount of Irish members. They have 3 divisions, the third one is relaxed just for platooning and optional tank companies.

http://worldoftanks.eu/community/clans/500008005-CRY3/#wot&mt_order_by=-role_hierarchy

Nody

nesf wrote: »

Yeah, hitting stuff is hard, but most of your job now as far as I can make out is forcing camping TDs to relocate, knocking some HP off the heavies, hopefully knocking out a track or similar and so on. With the way XP is structured it's pretty painful grinding up an arty at the moment because you miss a lot and reload slow and part of your role is area denial, or at least making enemy tanks want to stay on certain sides of ridges.

Still, it's an interesting change of pace. They do seem a bit over-nerfed.

They are over nerfed multiple times over but people can't accept they can't sit in a bush the whole game with out penalty. I loved to play arty even if from an exp and cash per game I earned less vs. both medium (I suck at it), heavy (better) TD (I rock your socks off) in the olden days.

How ever these days it's simply a waste of time and resources at any tier (before T5 due to lacking HE and after due to shell cost, lack of exp and nerfed accuracy, reload, damage etc.). They should simply remove them imo (and I got two top tier arties).

nesf

Nody wrote: »

They are over nerfed multiple times over but people can't accept they can't sit in a bush the whole game with out penalty.

More I think that some people coming from FPS games can't accept they can't sit and camp without thinking about what direction arty shells will come from. Others have a problem with the force multiplier effect. Finally you have morons who get annoyed with arties "stealing their kills."

From my browsing of the forums anyway.

LostCorkGuy

I'm glad arty was nerfed to hell it takes minimal ability sitting there playing with one hand acting as the hammer of god falling down on tanks, removed the rewards of skill , if someone wants to whine about me being hull down in a T32 and he can't get past me well then he should learn to play and hit weakspots or just flank instead of waiting for some ghoul sitting in base to drop a shell on me from 900m away.
Arty promoted camping behind buildings and rocks and lead to long boring games. As for people now complaining about TDs , the vast majority of TDs can be penned frontally, they have to have line of sight to fire unlike arty. Only 1 TD does arty damage and HESH is pretty crap anyway and when a TD fires, unless he's a good player , he's gonna be seen and die soon after. Majority of games where i see a Foch 155 ends with him doing 700 dmg bouncing 2 shots or missing and dying before he reloads. Every tank has a counter and a weakness, arty didn't it's only weakness was having a bad team letting tanks through

nesf

LostCorkGuy wrote: »

I'm glad arty was nerfed to hell it takes minimal ability sitting there playing with one hand acting as the hammer of god falling down on tanks, removed the rewards of skill , if someone wants to whine about me being hull down in a T32 and he can't get past me well then he should learn to play and hit weakspots or just flank instead of waiting for some ghoul sitting in base to drop a shell on me from 900m away.
Arty promoted camping behind buildings and rocks and lead to long boring games. As for people now complaining about TDs , the vast majority of TDs can be penned frontally, they have to have line of sight to fire unlike arty. Only 1 TD does arty damage and HESH is pretty crap anyway and when a TD fires, unless he's a good player , he's gonna be seen and die soon after. Majority of games where i see a Foch 155 ends with him doing 700 dmg bouncing 2 shots or missing and dying before he reloads. Every tank has a counter and a weakness, arty didn't it's only weakness was having a bad team letting tanks through

I suppose it comes down to how arcadey you want it really. Do you want it like an FPS game with metal skirts or do you want something closer to tactical tank battles and the serious pain in the ass that artillery was for most tanks. The issue with the latter though is there was never the "direct fire" ability that WoT SPGs have in reality so they weren't so dominant.

CHorn

CHorn wrote: »

Wait for the deals- 50% off on garage slots (these are your best bang/$), crew (re)training. Keeping crews with their tank forever saves on needing barracks space and retraining. Get crews to 75% straightaway with 10K credits (@50% off), and buy crews ahead when these sales are on (just research the tanks- you don't need to own them). Focus on 50% off deals on tanks, because grind to them is often on the cheap too and you can go up a line in a weekend.

Actually with this mentioned earlier, now's a typical weekend in mind: http://worldoftanks.eu/en/news/gamescom/wot-gamescom-special/

Since I'm only (currently) interested in Tier 5- items:

1) x5 XP for 1st Victory of Day- highest I ever saw.
2) 50% discount on equipment- buy those that are transferable (it's not 'Complex Equipment' that costs to 'demount') among vehicles- camo net, binos, toolkit. This is the best deal (IME- limited as a 90 day wonder) you're ever likely to see on these. Pick 'Complex Equipment' you need per vehicle if you dare, and by and large depending on play style- for instance TDs I generally snipe in so I find anything that loads shells in faster better, and mount a Rammer in my Soviet SU-85B. I haven't felt the need for a GLD (Gun Laying Drive to aim faster- yet) since if I'm pushed for time the shell has to go out the door NOW, not later or even sooner. Ask here or post on WoT (look first) for advice on what complex (i.e. burnt in except detachable at cost) equipment is best for each AFV.
3) The 50% Credit Income Bonus on all Tier V vehicles is handy, but comes along fairly often, but you need credits for (1) so go for it and prioritize playing Tier V AFVs for the weekend.
4) 50% discount on crew (re)training. I personally NEVER (or very rarely) retrain but that's the Tier 5- universe I work in. Note what I said about buying ahead here.
5) Premium vehicles. I stretched to Tier 6 on this because I liked the spec and it was a chance to drive earlier than otherwise a Pz IV-esque AFV. 50% off at this tier is unusual (IME). I feel I got a VERY good deal- I rarely lose credits on this, and it's a top performer for me (that's not saying much), plus I get to train German Medium crews in it, and there are a lot of these in German Tiers 5/6 (I planned initially on going through to Tier 10- it may still happen but not until I've got the sub-Tier 6 universe sorted). I had no plans to work through UK tanks so the Matilda wouldn't interest me and the T14 is a US heavy so again little/no interest.

This seems to get overlooked (http://worldoftanks.eu/en/news/44/anniversary-missions/) but I've managed it twice this month (every time I had a few hours to try), but if you kill 30 vehicles in a day in a Tier 4+ AFV (random battles ONLY) you get 300K (yes, that's 300,000 or 3 with 5 '0's), enough to fund significant vehicle + equipment purchases (The other deals here I found too difficult in my universe). I've found the SU-85B handy for this (it's Tier 4) if you're playing for free. As it is I got enough free Gold starting out to buy the PZ IVS Schmalturm so this works nicely too.

All in all, these combined in some form or fashion could work VERY VERY tidily for a new player, or even an experienced hand, and I'd love to hear what any of them here think, and they'd hopefully also be able to extend this to the upper tier universe.

Now why am I still typing? 30 vehicles to destroy and less than a day to do it...

nesf

I've reached the Lee. It's everything that I was promised.

Spear

nesf wrote: »

I've reached the Lee. It's everything that I was promised.

I think there's a real market for Hallmark or similar to produce sympathy cards for when someone buys a Lee.

nesf

Spear wrote: »

I think there's a real market for Hallmark or similar to produce sympathy cards for when someone buys a Lee.

I'm not sure if this tank is actually justified (by the developers) by the popularity of later American tanks in the Medium and Heavy branches that require it or what they're thinking because unlike most of the other poorish tanks I've used/read about, it lacks some niche where it works well. It's top gun is ok but your traverse would be limited even for a TD, never mind what is meant to be a Medium Tank. You cannot deal with fighting on slopes well at all due to limited gun depression.

If you lopped off the top of it and gave it a lower TD-esque profile it might actually be ok. Never good but somewhat tolerable.

CHorn

nesf wrote: »

If you lopped off the top of it and gave it a lower TD-esque profile it might actually be ok. Never good but somewhat tolerable.

That's pretty much the T-40 TD.

Canis Lupus

Don't you listen to the haters The Lee when fully maxed is admitedly a squishy tank but it's got a nice gun and can, if positioned correctly, put the hurt on the enemy. As a general rule though all t4 tanks suck balls. It's a right of passage to make you a better player before starting you on the 'real' tanks imo :P

You've picked an interesting line. I use almost exclusively US tanks and they're a great jack of all trades line with some interestingly different tanks as you go along.

In the meds the Lee, gets better with the Sherman leading to 2 different tanks with the Jumbo or easy 8 (fast rapid fire or slow heavily armored) leading to the fun T20 (zippy small with a nasty gun) and then the Pershing etc etc. In the heavies, the T1 heavy, intially might make you cry but learn to angle it properly and it can be fab. The m6 is admitedly a poor tank imo, it sits in a bad place with a weak gun, poor armor and it's the size of a bus BUT it's leads to the T29 which is one of my all time favorites (and arguably best in class for its tier) with it's ridiculously armored turret and great top gun, t32 more of the same and then a big change with the m103 etc.

Haven't gone down the TD line in the US but I WANT a t30.

nesf

I must say this game is so much fun. I'm still very much a noob and learning a lot but be it zipping around in a scout tank or leading the charge as a heavy this game has many interesting aspects. Cry also seems to be a really nice clan, very helpful experienced people happy to platoon with you and run low tier matches and plenty of fun chat.

I'm very happy I decided to give this one a go.

boman

i like arty very much, its very funny

Nody

boman wrote: »

i like arty very much, its very funny

For me these days arties games were in one out of two modes; 1) Every shell goes to extremes and hit the single dot on a building and you're happy to cause 1k damage (with a T6/T7 arty) in total before your team let their scouts come through and slaughter you (this is 80%+ of the games) or you're a god of hellfire (Top gear sound mod is highly recommended btw) raining fiery death on the infidels making them cry like little babies in chat about how arty is OP.

Of course with the French arty line most other were made obsolete anyway (oh I have a great idea, lets put the highest mobility on a arty piece that can fire 4 shots in 10s; that sounds like a great plan and will in no way be OP for anti arty etc.!).

Tenger

nesf wrote: »

I must say this game is so much fun.........

I'm very happy I decided to give this one a go.

I can't get the fecking thing to load on my laptop......installed 3 times and nothing when I click desktop shortcut of start menu icon.....grrrrrrr

Spear

Tenger wrote: »

I can't get the fecking thing to load on my laptop......installed 3 times and nothing when I click desktop shortcut of start menu icon.....grrrrrrr

Did you install through the full client download, or just the standalone installer? Are you running it as an admin? What's in the wotlauncher.log file?

Tenger

Spear wrote: »

Did you install through the full client download, or just the standalone installer? Are you running it as an admin? What's in the wotlauncher.log file?

Installed the full client download........from bottom left of this page: http://worldoftanks.eu/en/content/docs/update/
Download Full Client (Version 8.8) (5.6 GB)

Download took about 10 mins, then install was about 5 more. Double click desktop icon, nothing happens. Double click again and a window pops up telling me that "Warning: World of Tanks has started" then nothing happens.

Tried to "run as administrator" from start menu.....nothing.

wotlauncher.log:
19/09/2013 14:21:10 Start "WOTLauncher.exe" params=""C:\Games\World_of_Tanks\WOTLauncher.exe" "
19/09/2013 14:21:10 Create update folder: path="C:\Games\World_of_Tanks\Updates"
19/09/2013 14:21:10 Try access patch folder: path="C:\Games\World_of_Tanks\Updates"
19/09/2013 14:21:10 Create temp folder: path="C:\Users\Jonathan\AppData\Local\Temp\wargaming.net\wot\temp"
19/09/2013 14:21:10 Try access temp folder: path="C:\Users\Jonathan\AppData\Local\Temp\wargaming.net\wot\temp"
19/09/2013 14:21:10 Remove all "*.killme" files
19/09/2013 14:21:10 Save configuration: path="C:\Games\World_of_Tanks\WOTLauncher.cfg"

Spear

What OS is it? Are you using multiple screens?

Tenger

Spear wrote: »

What OS is it? Are you using multiple screens?

Windows 7 on a laptop. Can't find any problems. Installed it couple of times now.....nothing. WG support offers no answers

Spear

Tenger wrote: »

Windows 7 on a laptop. Can't find any problems. Installed it couple of times now.....nothing. WG support offers no answers

The wotlauncher.log looks clean at least. Check in your task manager, and see if there's any wotlauncher.exe's left running or stuck.

Tenger

Spear wrote: »

The wotlauncher.log looks clean at least. Check in your task manager, and see if there's any wotlauncher.exe's left running or stuck.

Nothing excepy Chrome and my normal stuff running (that I can see anyway) I may be calling on my techie mate to pop up for tea over the next coupe of days. Uninstalled it...gonna try 1 more time