The WoT Welcome Package
Author: dunniteowlDate: October 5, 2021
Introduction
First of all, Welcome to the Madness that is World of Tanks (PC) ! In this Welcome Package you will find:
1) The WoT Player’s Bible
2) The Prioritization Mantra for Play
3) A short list of “Don’t’s, please” and a bit of advice
4) Some Useful Links for Learning Things
5) A Bit About Your Garage and the Game Economy
6) “The Ruthless Math of WoT” by Zinegata [good post about how this game ‘works’ ]
1) The WoT Player’s Bible
Battle Mechanics — Global Wiki – These are the rules of the game, essentially. It is linked at Vision and Spotting, though you should get familiar with it all.
Crew — Global Wiki – The only thing that improves continuously (other than YOU) is your Crew. Here is their proper care and feeding manual.
[NEWLY ADDED!]
PDF Game Manual – This has a list of all kinds of functions for the game. It is not the best organized, but it is all there and searchable via the PDF file (acrobat reader is free).
[EVEN MORE NEWLY ADDED!]
KBS: Tanking Videos and other helpful information about WoT.
KRZYBooP is a WG employee who’s work is here in the forums and reaching out to the Reddit community, FB, that sort of stuff, I suppose.
He also likes to help out and in my time here, he’s been one of the most involved and helpful Forum WG Peeps of them all. The link above is a plethora of WG Videos that explain parts of the game and they are well worth your time to help you get more familiar with how the game works, how it looks, where things are and how you can do things that will make your play longer and more fun.
The game mechanics are often considered cheating to many players. The knowledge you gain from knowing how the game looks at you and all other players is crucial to understanding the WHY of all the HOW of ALL the Tips, Tricks and Techniques you will learn over time to improve your chances of success in the game.
Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” The game rules are complex. The game rules run on math most folks don’t get in high school. It runs on math a lot of folks don’t get in college. So, it qualifies, to most folks, as ‘sufficiently advanced’ as to be ‘indistinguishable from magic’ when it comes to knowing what’s going on in the game. So, when they meet a situation they simply cannot understand, they call cheating. It’s about ninety nine point nine nine nine eight or so that it might be you getting pawned by a better or lucky player. Learn from it.
Learn the Rules. Become a Magician of the Game!
2) With all this stuff comes a lot of stuff to remember!
While you’re mashing buttons, aiming-in, waiting for reload, checking your mini-map, angling your armor, getting hull down, avoiding arty, remaining unspotted, etc. it can be hard to stay focused on the most basic things that keep you in the game. So, from reading many, MANY forum posts before ever posting here and learning from others (who have really good WRs) I came to distill what I consider the Essential or Core concepts in this game from a playing perspective. In doing this, I came to the conclusion that I needed something to help me stay focused on the primary basics of play that would keep me active and playing, instead of a lump in the corner.
The Prioritization Mantra
Survive (if you do not survive, you cannot)
Do Damage (if you can’t/don’t do damage find another way to)
Help Your Team (if you can’t/won’t do this, you will have a harder time to)
Win? (which is never guaranteed)
This handy little mantra will help you to remember what you should be doing at any given time in the match. It is listed in order of priority as well, because if you can’t do one above, you can’t get to the next below in the list. If you are moving and take a hit, what do you do? Survive! Number One! Get cover, get out of the line of fire, survive!
See how easy that is? It really works and is easy to remember, because all you have to do is repeat to yourself, Survive, Do Damage, Help Your Team and nothing more. Haven’t fired your stick in 30 seconds or longer? Move, because you are surviving, now you need to DO DAMAGE. It really is easy, effective and efficient at keeping your head where it should be while playing at all times under any circumstances.
3) A few “Don’t’s Please” and some advice:
This game is reputedly fun. I have found the fun in my playing, but only after a bit of reaching down deep to find my own sense of fun in this crazy, complicated and chaotic game. I don’t normally tell anyone how to play. Not at all. I tell folks how I play and indicate that these methods are what took me from a steady 48% player to a pretty steady 54% player for the last two and a half years. With my computer and rural wireless connection, so I think I can make a claim of ability.
The Don’t’s:
1) Don’t map spam ping. This is that super annoying thing that I did when I first started and I see others do it all the time. First of all, map pinging before the start of match is sheer idiocy unless you ping and type, “I’m going there to spot,” or some such thing.
This is NOT everyone’s first rodeo and you (no matter who you are) are not: Erwin Rommel, George Patton or Bernie Montgomery, so there’s no reason to inform everyone what’s important on the map to you. I was told in less formal language and promptly re-evaluated my level of ‘superior’ knowledge sharing in chat.
Map Spam is annoying for two obvious reasons:
1] It clutters up the chat window and constantly highlights it, making it a distraction to the mind instead of an communications tool. It also eats up any other potentially valuable information from your other team mates. It’s like the guy with his butt on the mic-key of his walkie-talkie, completely oblivious that he’s the only sound ANYONE else can hear. This will NOT make you friends if you map spam.
2] Again, it creates a distraction
The sheer number of times someone can do this will make others want to TK that spammer. This sort of distraction actually causes problems for success — don’t be that guy that everyone else hates for helping lose a match by being too communicative. This becomes a constant visual distraction as each time you ping, it highlights it both in the chat window and on the mini-map. Doing this can distract your team mates from what they are attempting to focus on — like not getting hit, so use map pinging wisely and sparingly.
Considering WHO-Who-whoo is telling you that, you should really think that through. The NOT QUIET GUY saying don’t communicate too much should be important.
Training:
Only learn one or two New Things at a time. If you’re going to learn to spot, then forget about all that armor angling and getting hull down stuff for now, because it will just get in the way. Spotting is something to learn as well as those other things. Most times, you’re going to be learning all these new things while hitting “Battle!” and playing. Which is why I developed the Prioritization Mantra. Trying to learn something new when you’re learning all sorts of new stuff is hard to keep track of what you should be doing right this moment. The Mantra is your guidepost.
4) Some Useful Links for Learning Things:
In the camp of stuff you have to read and look through I highly recommend you read through these links:
Lert’s Collection of Guides and Tutorials
Sask Outrider’s Guides and Thoughts
And, while there are all manner of video streamers, YT video personalities and what not, I consider this to be the single best source of video, comprehensive, WoT related educational video: Zeven’s Replay Reviews.
I’d like to add that I have been trained, tutored, instructed, proctored, taught and ‘brought up to speed’ by folks ranging from field hands taking care of farmland to PhD physicists at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and quite literally every class of person in between.
Zeven is the SINGLE BEST RELAYER OF INFORMATION I have ever seen. Ever. It’s hard to find a better instructor for all things WoT. The Replay Reviews above was my ‘go to’ source for almost all of my tips, tricks and techniques for tanking.
Also included is 4Tankersanddog who provides a “no-nonsense” series of video guides for just about anything you would care to want to know more about. He’s also quite good and provides a tech hard, science-based factual layout of how to tank better. You cannot go wrong with him.
Another very good information source is Guido1212. I have found that to really get the most out of Guido, you should have been playing a little while and you should KNOW something about the game mechanics. He’s straightforward, though you really are going to have to have a better grounding in the game mechanics to get the full benefit of his advice.
Here are a few links for other folks who can provide you useful tips, information and a perspective on the game’s overall play.
MongooseJake’s useful tips/info/replay topic
There are lots of good descriptions of tanks, their characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, etc. as you progress up a tank line. I found it very informative and on point throughout. Easy to understand and a very good series of tank line progressions for those that are wondering, “What tank line should I ‘grind’ first?”
[NEW!]
If you like having a bit of information about the tanks being played during reviews, this link might prove useful to you. I have found that “Banziduck” has a decently paced sort of ‘play by play’ style of description of the matches he reviews, which includes the major characteristics of the tanks the players he’s reviewing are using.
Similar in manner to a baseball radio commentator with a bit of side cover, he blends a bit of tech sense knowledge of the tanks being used, their characteristics, which gun is being used and ammo types before the match gets going. So you get a small blend of “tech guy” talk and then “color commentary, play-by-play” breakdown in the review.
You can find his You Tube channel here: Banzi Duck — You Tube You can also find his thread in the Newcomer’s Section here:
Daily Videos and More. His laid back style and ‘baseball sportscaster’ sort of narrative is easy to listen to and provides you plenty of insights during the course of a replay review.
[NEWER!]
I have been remiss, lately and have meant to add this next link to the Package for a few weeks now…
Mr.BeetleBum is back to help players
MrBeetleBum spends a lot, nearly all of it, attempting to provide help and assistance to players who are new and or are hoping to learn how to play better. Hmm. That sure SOUNDS like what I would promote, right? I have been meaning to include MrBeetleBum into the Package for over a month now. My apologies for the tardy update.
I have also chosen, after a bit of personal review, to add RumRunner151’s WOT University returns! thread and links. Again, we have a Player helping out other players to learn more about the game and to learn how to play better as a result.
You can find his main link here: Rumrunner151’s WoT University There are all manner of things you can practice and learn from here and you can also call upon Rumrunner151 for assistance and help, like the others also do above. You can find better players, however some folks can relate to a ‘regular’ guy a bit better than someone from a higher level of skill who might have a different perspective. You can’t go wrong getting help that encourages you to practice and learn and this guy does that without fail. A sort of “I’m in the trenches with Y’all” perspective that I can totally relate to as someone who feels as if I am “down in there” while playing and learning, too.
5) A Bit About the Game Economy and Your Garage
One of the most useful, though often overlooked things talked about in this game, especially for New Players, is the Financial End of Things. In a later iteration of a different guide, I include references to that aspect in a section titled “All Things Garage.” It was brought to my attention, however, that this would be useful to New Players right away.
In that light, I include this link to that aspect for you now as “my stuff” simply is not ready. So here you go: Guide to Using Gold and Silver Efficiently
It is well worth the time for you to read through.
I am a Free To Play Pubbie (FTPP). I play without the use of Gold, because I spent the 500 Gold I got when I started in ignorance of how hard Gold is to come by for the Free Player. It was gone, because I didn’t check to ensure that the things I purchased were set to Credits (or silver) instead of the default, which was Gold.
Avoid my mistake!
Even if you are flush with Gold that you can pay for from your Real World cash, DON’T SPEND IT FOOLISHLY!
Learn from the Owl. Gold should be used sparingly and for the things that Nothing Else can change. If you really have to have a 100% crew to start a new tank, then Gold is the Only way that can happen. If you really HAVE to have a crew swapped over and the Perks and Skills have to remain as well, Gold is the ONLY way that can happen.
If you need more Garage Space or a Larger Barracks, GOLD is the ONLY way to make that happen. So be ready to use your gold, but don’t be a spend thrift. Use it wisely. Read that link for more.
The Garage in Brief
Your Garage is an Important Place! It is where you launch into Battle! It is where you can use the Tech Tree to see which tanks are in each Nation and the progression of tanks you have to research and use to get to the upper tiers. It is where you select, recruit and check out your Crew. It is where you use the Store to make purchases of Modules, Consumables, Buy Premium Tanks, Premium Time and armaments.
Be really familiar with your Garage. There are many ways to do the same things from different ‘pages’ and places in those ‘pages’ in your Garage.
Here is where you can check out your stats and see how well you are doing in each tank. You can check all your service awards (the shiny pixel badges) and all your achievements. You can compare your tank’s effectiveness based on the modules it has on it, the modules you’d like to place on it and you can even compare it to other tanks in the same line, different nations and tiers to see how it ‘stacks up’ to the others.
6) “The Ruthless Math of World of Tanks” by Zinegata
This is something someone recently Re-posted in the Newcomer’s Forums. Yes, I totally ‘stole’ it and added it into here (with proper accreditation, mind you) for your continued ‘education’ into the workings of World of Tanks. I read this about five years or so ago (as of the last edit date of this post) and found it to be a sobering and thought provoking read. Such that it changed the way I looked at the game and ‘what I should be doing’ to be ‘successful’ at it.
Will it help you? I have no idea. I do believe, however, that the more you can learn about how the game can be viewed provides you more opportunity to find a new way to do things or improve your efforts.
I also find that when I learn more about things, I can come up with more ideas as to what I can or should be doing at any moment during a match. It’s a bit of read and you might have to be ready to look at the numbers for a bit and spend a bit of time seeing those differences and how important they actually are. Read it and find out for yourself.
The Ruthless Math of World of Tanks
One of the major “debates” that rage in the forums is the ability of a single player to affect the entire course of the match. In general, the concensus is that a single tank can in fact affect the course of an entire match (often termed as a “carry”).
However, the problem with this “debate” is that it invariably boils down to what I call “win-rate makes me right” argument. We have some players who play solo and yet have very high win rates. Ergo, it is possible to “carry” a team all by yourself because the high win rates cannot simply be explained by “luck”.
The problem with this approach is that it does very little to actually explain how such “carries” are actually possible. Often, we just get some pretty vague (and often bordering on mythical) explanations, usually centering around “skill”.
This thread attempts to answer the “how”. It will not be a discussion about skill or tactics (although it will reveal why some tactics are so vital). It will instead simply show the unbending gaming principles behind how WoT battles actually work – the “ruthless math” of the game, if you will.
The Key Concept: The Hitpoint Mechanic and Critical Existence Failure
To begin to understand the “math” of the game however, one crucial concept needs to be understood by the reader: “Critical Existence Failure” (henceforth abbreviated as “CEF”. And yes, I’m using the TV Tropes terminology; because it’s more fun this way.
Basically, CEF is the model used by most games that use the hitpoint mechanic. Under this model, a unit can function at same level regardless if it was at full hitpoints, or if it was down to just 1 hitpoint. In WoT, it means a Sherman tank at 1 HP will still deal as much damage as a Sherman at full health. (And yes, I’m ignoring the module damage factor for now. See the side bar below)
What this means is that a 1 HP Sherman tank can potentially remain as effective as a Sherman with full HP. In fact, if the Sherman at full HP is an utterly bad player (whose shots keep missing or keep hitting spots that will just bounce the shell) it is entirely possible for a 1 HP Sherman to utterly demolish one at full health. I’m sure that most good players have done this one time or another, and it should already serve as an indication of how superior player knowledge (“skill”) can lead to a decisive difference on the field.
Sidebar: The contrasting approach to CEF is called “Subsystem Damage”, implemented in games like Banner Saga wherein your ability to inflict damage decreases as you take more damage. And to an extent, WoT is a bit of a hybrid because module damage (especially ammo racks) can severely affect your damage-dealing ability. The analysis largely glosses over this however, since module damage can often be repaired with consumables anyway, and it’s entirely possible to be brought to 0 HP in this game without suffering module damage at all)
The Myth of 15 vs 15
However, in reality, most matches are not won by a 1 HP Sherman duelling a full HP Sherman to death. Many will in fact point out that matches involve 15 tanks on both sides. Cue boohooing about how one tank can’t carry 14 others.
But in reality, matches are not actually grand battles of 15 vs 15. Instead, most matches are actually a series of smaller (sometimes inter-related) fights – which I will term as “skirmishes”, with often just two to four tanks of either side fighting for a particular section of the map.
As an example, take your average Lakefield battle. Let’s assume there’s two arty per side, and relatively competent players on both sides. Each team will probably send 2-4 tanks into the valley, 1-2 tanks into the mid, and the remainder (7-10) going into town.
But even in the case of the town, that big group often actually gets divided into a bunch of smaller skirmishes – with some tanks going to the lake shore, the others going to the church, and some hugging the map edge – none of which necessarilt interact with each other.
In fact, it is actually quite rare to see an outright slugging match involving more than 5 tanks from each side. Hence, the old excuse that “I’m just one tank out of fifteen” rings very hollow. You almost never actually fight 15 enemy tanks at a time at the point of contact. You will, in general, be fighting 2-4 enemy tanks, and you’ll have about as many allies with you too.
And really, what tends to happen in a match is that the 15-man team will win some of these skirmishes, and then lose a couple of others. Your lake-shore team might overwhelm their counterparts, but your map-edge team might have similarly folded. Afterwards, the survivors of their respective skirmishes will make contact with each other into a series of new skirmishes; and the process is repeated until one team is wiped out.
Sidebar: One of the “skills” lacking in many players – yet few people seem to be able to articulate – is their inability to recognize that these small, localized skirmishes are actually happening. Most players will understand the Valley-Mid-Town dynamic of Lakeville for instance, but they don’t further subdivide and understand that the town actually has multiple different areas of conflict. In part, I blame the minimap for this, which tends to be rather bad at representing how these skirmishes are actually seperated by buildings.
The Anatomy of a Skirmish, as Dictated by CEF
When people think of a 4 vs 4 match, they tend to think that it should result in a “fair” fight, wherein both sides essentially wiped each other out. And indeed, this is what sometimes happens – with only 1 or 2 badly damaged survivors emerging from the furball of 8 tanks.
But the reality of most skirmishes is actually different, especially if it involves players of different skills levels.
To demonstrate, let’s construct a thought exercise. Let’s assume we have two teams of four tanks apiece. Each tank has 450 HP and inflicts 120 damage with each shot (so 4 shots to kill an enemy tank). Let’s assume both sides hit and penetrate 100% of the time (a bit unrealistic, but bear with me).
However, let’s give Team A a small but crucial advantage. Let’s assume that Team A knows how to focus-fire, while Team B does not. Team B’s tanks will only shoot their opposite-numbered tank, until that tank is destroyed.
Given this setup, the following will happen:
* At Start:
Team A Tank 1: 450 HP
Team A Tank 2: 450 HP
Team A Tank 3: 450 HP
Team A Tank 4: 450 HP
Team B Tank 1: 450 HP
Team B Tank 2: 450 HP
Team B Tank 3: 450 HP
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
* After First Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 330 HP
Team A Tank 3: 330 HP
Team A Tank 4: 330 HP
Total Damage Done: 450
Team B Tank 1: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: 450 HP
Team B Tank 3: 450 HP
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 480
* After Second Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 210 HP
Team A Tank 3: 210 HP
Team A Tank 4: 210 HP
Total Damage Done: 900
Team B Tank 1: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: 450 HP
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 840
* After Third Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 210 HP
Team A Tank 3: 90 HP
Team A Tank 4: 90 HP
Total Damage Done: 1350
Team B Tank 1: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 1080
* After Fourth Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 210 HP
Team A Tank 3: 90 HP
Team A Tank 4: DESTROYED
Total Damage Done: 1800
Team B Tank 1: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 4: DESTROYED
Total Damage Done: 1170
Rather different from the expectation of mutual annihilation, isn’t it?
Indeed, by simply focus-firing, Team A was able to inflict 50% more damage than Team B, while preserving the life of 3 tanks which can now be redeployed elsewhere for decisive effect! How did this happen?
Well, I promised the math, and here it is. What we’re witnessing is what is called the “snowball effect” – wherein something of seemingly minor importance suddenly balloons into something more dangerous and disastrous.
In this case, the disaster began when Team B lost its first tank during the first volley. Because of CEF, Team B lost 25% of its firepower at this moment – firepower that could have inflicted another 360 points of damage had Tank 1 survived to fire for the remaining 3 volleys. That’s actually enough damage to destroy two of Team A’s remaining tanks! (Tank 2 & 3 have only 300 HP remaining in total)
Thus, the loss of just one tank was the difference between Team A winning with 3 surviving tanks instead of just 1 surviving tank. It was, in all likelihood, also difference in winning the whole match overall.
And really, if you actually take a while to look at how skirmishes develop, you’ll notice this pattern often when your team is winning: After your team destroys one tank, the second kill comes faster, and the third even faster, until the enemy team seemingly collapses like a house of cards. It’s all because each and every gun matters in these skirmishes – once the enemy team has fewer tanks your team is now much more able to focus-fire and bring down enemy tanks in rapidity, while the enemy has much less firepower to throw back at you.
So when people stress the importance of focus-fire and target prioritization, listen. Because the snowball effect of losing just one tank can cascade to victory or defeat for a specific skirmish, which in turn can win or lose an entire match.
That being said, it must be noted that focus-fire situations are actually pretty rare. Most players are now smart enough not to just expose themselves and let themselves be shot at by multiple players at a time. With peak-a-boo tactics, even skirmishes of 4 vs 4 tanks may in reality turn into 1 vs 1 engagements.
Hence, the need to create situations where you can rapidly kill an enemy tank – a technique which I call the “isolation”.
Sidebar: The above math should also demonstrate to people the utter folly of camping at the base cap. Yes, it is okay to camp at a good firing position as long you’re actually firing and dealing damage to the enemy; thus helping win some of the skirmishes. No, it is totally NOT okay to camp at the cap circle where you will not be shooting at anything 90% of the time, and the remaining 10% you’re just shooting at scouts when it’s already too damn late. Burn this reality into your brains: Every tank matters. Deserters will be shot!
A Game of Isolations
“Isolation” is the art of bringing as much firepower to bear on an enemy tank – with the intent of rapidly destroying it – while at the same time preventing your own forces from being exposed to lethal fire from the enemy.
As I already noted before, most players don’t sit out in the open anymore shooting at each other. They’ll often use cover and try to at least make themselves a harder target for the enemy. The 4vs4 example I showed above should not literally play out that way in real matches (hence why it’s a thought exercise).
What instead happens is that good players are constantly moving and maneuvering, looking for a way to create a situation wherein they can quickly gang up on an enemy tank without suffering much return fire – preferrably only from the target tank.
In fact, a well-played isolation is how “skunks” (matches wherein one team loses no tanks, while the enemy is wiped out) actually happen. Again, let’s do the thought exercise thing, but this time with Team A doing isolations instead of focus fire…
*At Start:
Team A Tank 1: 450 HP
Team A Tank 2: 450 HP
Team A Tank 3: 450 HP
Team A Tank 4: 450 HP
Team B Tank 1: 450 HP
Team B Tank 2: 450 HP
Team B Tank 3: 450 HP
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
After First Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 450 HP
Team A Tank 3: 450 HP
Team A Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 450
Team B Tank 1: ISOLATED, DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: 450 HP
Team B Tank 3: 450 HP
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 120
After Second Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 330 HP
Team A Tank 3: 450 HP
Team A Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 900
Team B Tank 1: ISOLATED, DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: ISOLATED, DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: 450 HP
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 240
After Third Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 330 HP
Team A Tank 3: 330 HP
Team A Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 1350
Team B Tank 1: ISOLATED, DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: ISOLATED, DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: ISOLATED, DESTROYED
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
Total Damage Done: 360
After Fourth Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 330 HP
Team A Tank 3: 330 HP
Team A Tank 4: 330 HP
Total Damage Done: 1800
Team B Tank 1: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 4: DESTROYED
Total Damage Done: 480
In this case, not only did Team A come out without losing a single tank, but they not inflicted more than 3x the damage of the enemy team!
And really, this is how the “unicums” actually achieve most of their wins. It is not about some mythical “skill” requiring better gunnery or whatnot. Instead, it revolves around the ability to pick out vulnerable (but important) enemy tanks in the pack, rapidly destroy them, which starts a snowball effect wherein the missing damage from the destroyed tanks rapidly adds up to their team’s advantage.
More importantly, this can be achieved outside of platooning, so long as you remain constantly aware of how the game revolves around isolation. As a final thought experiment, let’s do our Team A vs Team B thing again… only this time let’s assume that Tank 1 of Team A is a skilled player who knows how to focus-fire…
At Start:
Team A Tank 1: 450 HP
Team A Tank 2: 450 HP
Team A Tank 3: 450 HP
Team A Tank 4: 450 HP
Team B Tank 1: 450 HP
Team B Tank 2: 450 HP (Focus-Fire Target)
Team B Tank 3: 450 HP
Team B Tank 4: 450 HP
After First Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 330 HP
Team A Tank 2: 330 HP
Team A Tank 3: 330 HP
Team A Tank 4: 330 HP
Total Damage Done: 480
Team B Tank 1: 450 HP
Team B Tank 2: 210 HP (Focus-Fire Target)
Team B Tank 3: 330 HP
Team B Tank 4: 330 HP
Total Damage Done: 480
After Second Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 210 HP
Team A Tank 2: 210 HP
Team A Tank 3: 210 HP
Team A Tank 4: 210 HP
Total Damage Done: 930
Team B Tank 1: 450 HP
Team B Tank 2: DESTROYED (Old Focus-Fire Target)
Team B Tank 3: 210 HP
Team B Tank 4: 210 HP (New Target for our unicum, who assumes Tank 2 will target tank 3)
Total Damage Done: 960
After Third Volley:
Team A Tank 1: 90 HP
Team A Tank 2: 210 HP
Team A Tank 3: 90 HP
Team A Tank 4: 90 HP
Total Damage Done: 1320
Team B Tank 1: 450 HP (Last target, everyone is going after him now!)
Team B Tank 2: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 4: DESTROYED
Total Damage Done: 1080
After Fourth Volley:
Team A Tank 1: DESTROYED
Team A Tank 2: 210 HP
Team A Tank 3: 90 HP
Team A Tank 4: 90 HP
Total Damage Done: 1800
Team B Tank 1: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 2: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 3: DESTROYED
Team B Tank 4: DESTROYED
Total Damage Done: 1410
So despite Team B doing a little more damage than in the pure focus-fire example, and our unicum being the only casualty on Team A, his focus-fire efforts was actually enough to make his team still do 50% more damage overall, while leaving 3 of the 4 tanks intact. Heck, if Team A’s Tank 2 had shielded our unicum, they would all have survived.
My own thoughts
In addition to the above, you can also add in spotting damage to the mix, by having one tank go out and spot, and if said spotter is unseen, you effectively gain free damage without receiving enemy fire as well. This is a HUGE part as to why an unseen TD and a good spotter can utterly destroy a flank, and should be your go-to plan in part of playing well. (Not camping, but doing damage without getting damage in return.)
So in summary, the “ruthless math” of the game, thanks to CEF and its snowball effect, revolves around the rapid destruction of enemy tanks to reduce the opposing team’s firepower; while preserving your own team’s damage-dealing ability. Keep even your 1 HP teammates alive because they can pump out damage that is the difference between victory and defeat. Just one tank out of four knowing how to focus-fire can lead to huge swings in a match.
Of course, real WoT matches involve much more than just the thought experiment highlighted above. It doesn’t take into consideration things like tier mismatches (e.g. a Tier 6 skirmishing two Tier 5s), nor does it account for more random things like bounces, no-damage hits, or misses. The number of volleys to kill enemy tanks also isn’t as neat in the game, with different tiers and different kinds of guns.
But what it does show is that if everyone is playing consistently, then each tank does matter. It’s time to give up on the notion that you’re just one tank out of fifteen.
Thanks for reading this guys, and I hoped it helped. Once again, cannot credit Zinegata enough here.
Also, check out Gestapofish’s add on in the second page.
7) How To Win Games Playing Solo
_Juris Created: How to Win Games Playing Solo
This great bit of advice is from here: How to Win Games Playing Solo You can read the whole thread for more tidbits, however this is the meat and potatoes of what the thread is about.
I was going to include the entire text, but it says, “Post is too long.” Imagine. Me making a LONG post. Never gonna happen, right? 🙂
(more will be added later as I get my stuff better organized)
Other than that, welcome once again and I hope any of this you (and any others) find helpful, useful or of value in some manner for playing.
GL, HF & HSYBF!
OvO
Source: http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/591877-the-wot-welcome-package-version-1/