Scorpiany

For my second installment of my "A Guide to" series, I will discuss the intricate differences and intimate details of the various defense lines in World of Tanks. Newbie Ranking: 6 [intermediate] The 4 general categories of defense/support lines are: Front Line, Back Line, Support Line, Camping Scouting will be discussed separately in a different guide and will not fall under any of the above categories. For this guide, the map Malinovka will be used as an example. All images are borrowed from the World of Tanks Wiki Front Line: Vehicles Involved: Heavily armed/armored Heavies and Tank Destroyers, Agile Mediums, some Scouts General Overview: The Front Line of any combat situation is always the closest-ranged and most immediate form of combat. Most front line battles involve many heavies and some mediums battling it out face-to-face at very close ranges. Armored Heavies and some mediums should be the primary tanks involved in Front Line offensives, but any tank with an extremely powerful yet inaccurate gun (such as the KV-2 or SU-152) can also be used here. Map Locations: In order to display front line locations, I have outlined the primary front line battle areas on the map Malinovka. These are the areas where face-to-face confrontational combat usually occurs. Combat Tactics: [Armored Heavy tanks and TD's] When it comes down to close range combat, there are several things you should do. The first of which should be rather obvious... make sure that you have support with you; in other words, don't fight alone. If you are in a tank with a long(ish) reload time, try to shoot and hide... don't keep your tank revealed for too long, no matter how much armor you have. Every tank will eventually be penetrated in practically any area if your opponent has enough time to aim. If you have no place to cover your tank after a shot, try wiggling your tank side to side and forwards and back while reloading. This will ensure that the opponent does not have the crucial opportunity to aim for your weak spots. It will also provide random moments of armor angling, which will also increase the difficulty of penetrating your tank. Another option is to angle your armor, making it much harder to penetrate. This option is usually only employed in city maps or in regions where you have cover to hide half of your tank as you angle the other half. Examples shown in spoiler. ​​ The last option is to make usage of hills and/or bumps in the terrain. This will allow you to hide poorly armored parts of your tank whilst your show the strongest parts. Hills can also allow tanks with good gun depression to go hull-down, where a tank only reveals its turret and gun, while leaving the hull hidden on a hillside or behind a large bump in the terrain. Examples in spoiler. [Agile Mediums] If you are safe from enemy sniper fire, flank an isolated enemy vehicle. It is easy to get behind the enemy vehicle and circle it to avoid its gun. This way you can quickly take down an enemy vehicle. Example in Spoiler (pretend the enemy's turret is pointing away). You can also "shoot and scoot". This maneuver employs "hit and run" tactics. In other words, you speed out next to some enemy vehicles when they are not aiming at you, shoot them a few times while you run a circle around them, and then get back into cover. Fast moving Mediums can also be used to hide behind cover right next to an enemy vehicle, and lure it out of cover. As it does so, you quickly retreat to safety while allies nearby finish the enemy off. Examples in Spoiler. Back Line: Vehicles Involved: Mediums, inaccurate Tank Destroyers, poorly armored Heavies, some Scouts General Overview: The Back Line is primarily for tanks meant for close range shooting which may not have the armor to stay in the Front Defense Lines. The goal of Back Line brawling is to either a) Lie in wait for an enemy being lured out by Front Line tanks or B) provide close-ranged cover fire for tanks in the front line. This involves either popping your tank out of cover, shooting, and then hiding, or using Front Line tanks as protection from bullets whilst you shoot at enemies when Front Line tanks are reloading. Map Locations: The yellow zone is a place "up for grabs". In otherwords, the team that gets there first controls the area. Combat Tactics: [Mediums and Poorly-armored Heavies] Lie in wait for an enemy at the front lines to reveal part of its tank. As soon as you have a good shot, fire your gun and hide behind cover. This is also considered as a "peek-a-boo" tactic. Concentrate fire all times. If there are several vehicles revealing themselves, shoot at tanks in the following orders: 1) Tanks with the least amounts of health. The less tanks alive on the enemy team, the less guns shooting at Allies. 2) The easiest to penetrate targets. (This is for low penetration guns). If you have a one-time opportunity to shoot at an enemy vehicle, you want to make sure that your shot penetrates an enemy and does damage. 3) The most skilled player (for XVM users) or the largest threat in terms of firepower. If you can take down a KV-2, BatChat 12t, T49, T110E5, T18, whatever the case may be (depending on the battle Tier), you will greatly assist your team by shooting down a T18 rather than a T2 Light, or a T110E5 rather than a T32. In terms of player skill, shooting down a Super-Unicum is much more useful than shooting down a tomato... enough said. ​[inaccurate TD's] If you are in a Tank Destroyer with low accuracy (usually which is the case of Howitzers), you may want to play a Back Line defensive position. Even if you have low armor, if an enemy vehicle reveals itself, you will be able to deal massive damage to an enemy vehicle that shows itself on the front line, all the while not taking any damage yourself. If the enemy vehicles begin showing interest in your TD, relocate and hide behind cover. This way you'll be able to continue dishing out damage whilst protecting yourself from damage. This tactic is only recommended for TD's that can dish out massive damage with a large-caliber and long-reloading gun. TD's with fast rates of fire, even if inaccurate, should play a Support Line role. Support Line: Vehicles Involved: Tank Destroyers, Short-Range Artillery, some German Heavies, accurate Mediums General Overview: Support Lines usually involve poorly armored vehicles with extreme accuracy. When playing support line, you shoot at enemy vehicles on the Front Line and possibly the Back Lines at long ranges. This is also called "Sniping". There is controversy around using German Heavies for this however. Some people feel that with their extremely accurate guns they should be used for sniping at any tank foolish enough to reveal itself. Others feel as though they should play Front Line, or at the very least Back Line because of their high Health Pools and the fact that they are a heavy tank. The Tiger (P) for example may be better used as a Front Line or Back Line tank due to its high Frontal Armor. The regular Tiger is probably better used for sniping because it has relatively low armor for a heavy tank. The Support Line is also very useful for TD's with low armor and accurate guns. Map Locations: The yellow zones are places that are "combat victories". In other words, the team that wins the battle in the general area then also gains control of the area. Combat Tactics: [All non-SPG's] Snipe and aim at weak spots. Not much else to say. Use bushes and/or buildings to your advantage, in order to camouflage your tank or block incoming bullets, respectively. If spotted, haul your [edited]out of there! Most sniping locations do not offer actual cover from terrain or nearby buildings. This means that if you are spotted, you will need to hide and relocate as quickly as possible. [sPG's] Find a rock, small building, or anything that can protect your tank from incoming shots. For example, the FV304 has a very good, fast firing and accurate gun, but it has to fight at relatively close ranges due to its small gun range. This means that you will need some kind of cover to protect yourself. If spotted, move, move, and move! Get as far away from your previous area as you can, and then find a different piece of cover. If you keep going to the same spot, eventually enemy snipers and SPG's will realize that they should take blind shots at that particular spot, which could get you destroyed if you happen to be there when a barrage of bullets begins. Camping: Vehicles Involved: Artillery, "Garbage" tanks, "Emergency Base-defense vehicles" General Overview: Unless you are in an SPG, camping is usually bad... don't camp unless your tank is useless at one of the other Defense Lines, you're in an SPG, or the base needs to be defended. In the case of Malinovka, it is good if a few tanks stay behind and guard the base, as Mediums love to swarm along the sides of the two bodies of water and try to capture the opposing team's base. If your tank can easily be destroyed (low HP and numerous damaged modules), then camping may be your only hope of staying alive. If you are driving an AMX 40 on Malinovka, or an M3 Lee in a Tier 5 or 6 match, then the only place where you will really be useful is either in a TD spot or near the base. This is because your tank will not survive close range combat, lacks the view range to spot enemy vehicles on its own, lacks the camo value to snipe, and just does not have the fire power to be useful in close range combat. If you camp, when an enemy vehicle is spotted, if it is not very armored, you will be able to safely deal a steady amount of damage to it. Many people greatly dislike people who camp at base, especially when it's a heavy or tank that can be very useful in the battle. Only camp if it is appropriate!!! If your tank is more useful in a different location, then go there! An AMX 40 or an M3 Lee can be useful in other locations on the map... it just depends on your current situation and/or predicament. Map Locations: (I think this one is pretty obvious...) Combat Tactics: ​[All non-SPG's] Snipe, snipe, snipe! Be prepared to shoot down an incoming scout or a wolf-pack of mediums approaching your base. If you are camping at your base, you may as well do a good job at defending it. Sniping TD's in range should be alerted of an incoming assault on the base. Pack your marshmallows, bring some firewood, and have some nice campfire stories to tell! If you are needed elsewhere, go there!!! [sPG's] Just do your "raining death from above" thing. Make sure you shoot at stationary targets if you can. Also, choose priority targets. If you see a Toaster, SU-85, and a KV-1 staying still, all at full Health, who will you shoot at? If you have XVM, shoot at the most skilled player (if there is a significant skill differential). If your team is struggling the most with the KV-1, shoot at it. If none of the targets appear to be a significant threat at the moment, shoot at the Toaster. It has the lowest armor, and it's the largest, easiest to hit target, making it a very easy one-shot. The less guns shooting at your team, the better! If you are nearby the base, and it is coming under assault, relocate and concentrate your fire on the enemy vehicles approaching your base. Make sure you alert TD's about the threat as well. Just for fun, here is a map of Malinovka with all of the different locations highlighted. Yellow zones denote "up for grabs" areas, whilst blue zones denote "to be won via. combat" zones. The purple areas are scout locations. Rectangle = Front Line Circle/Oval = Back Line Triangle = Support Line Squiggle = Camping Purple Circle = Scout Locations

**** I will proof-read this guide later today, and fix any errors that I have made **** Hello World of Tanks Community! This is the first of many guides that I will begin posting on the WoT Forums in order for players of all skill levels to learn more about the game and its complex mechanics. I'll try to post these guides as often as possible, and eventually I'll make a Thread that compiles all of them together. My goal is to cover every aspect of World of Tanks that you'll need to know in order to become Unicum. =) Each guide will have a "Newbie Meter"... in other words, a ranking on how complex the tactics/information is in regards to the game. This one has a ranking of 2, which is the second-lowest "newbie" ranking. A ranking of 5 would be for average players, and a ranking of 10 would be for pros. Based off of that, you can probably figure out what the remaining numbers would be. ;) Newbie Ranking: 2 [basic] In the realm of World of Tanks, there are various types of ammunition to choose from. Knowing all there is to each type can help improve your combat efficiency when it comes down to choosing the right bullet to use. AP- AP (Armor Piercing) ammunition is your standard form of ammunition for most guns. They are typically purchased only with Credits, however there are a few rare cases in which they are a "Premium Ammunition" (usually in artillery, or the SU-100Y). AP rounds should be your standard choice of ammo during battle, and will usually suffice for penetrating armor of tanks the same Tier or lower as the gun at any range; if aimed correctly. An important thing to note is that AP rounds lose some penetration power over distance. This means that you probably won't penetrate armor that's 10%-15% less than your average penetration power when shooting at long ranges. APCR- APCR (Armor Piercing Composite Rigid) ammunition is one of the "Premium ammunitions" available for purchase for most guns. APCR ammunition boasts improved penetration potential, however on some tanks have a slightly lower damage output than AP shells (such as in the case of the T49). APCR ammunition should make up 5%-15% of your ammunition that you bring into battle. Something to keep in mind is that APCR ammunition loses penetration power over distance at an even faster rate than AP ammo. This means that when shooting at tanks at long range, expect APCR ammo not to penetrate armor that's 20%-25% less than the average penetration of the shells. Certain tanks such as the T71 use APCR as their primary form of ammunition, however this is not the case in most tanks. Although when this does occur, the APCR ammo will lose penetration power over distance at the same rate as AP. With low caliber guns, such as the one on the Pz. S35, at extremely long ranges AP may be more effective than APCR due its higher rate of normalization. . HE- HE (High Explosive) ammunition is a very unique form of ammo. Some guns (such as artillery or Howitzers) use HE as their primary source of ammo. HE shells tend to have very low penetration, but very high damage output. If you can penetrate the enemy armor, you will do massively devastating damage to the enemy vehicle. However, if you don't penetrate the armor, you will do fairly little damage, along with some module damage. HE shells of higher calibers are very likely to do damage to modules or crew members, but are not reliable in terms of damage dealt. HE shells detonate on contact, which means that if they hit the enemy's gun, tracks, or view port, they will explode right away. This has the potential to do some minor HP damage to the tank in addition to just damaging that module. Exploding on contact means that spaced armor will be very effective at blocking HE shells. Any HE shell with more than 55mm of penetration are typically very powerful shells, and can do great damage to tanks even when you don't penetrate if the target is not very heavily armored. Overall, unless you're using a Howitzer or arty, HE shells should only be used when shooting at tanks with very little armor, or when shooting at guns/tracks. HE shells don't lose penetration over distance, but with already minimal penetration and unreliable detonation, they shouldn't be used to snipe with. A Spall Liner can protect your tank from the effects of HE shells, which will come in very handy when it comes to facing Howitzers or artillery. Very large HE shells are capable of damaging multiple tanks with one shot, or damaging a tank even if the shot hit the ground right next to the tank. HE shells should make up 5%-10% of your ammunition layout. HE shells do not travel through objects; rather explode on contact with the object. High Explosive shells can also be very effective at resetting the base capture if it is a larger-caliber shell, or aimed at the tracks/gun. Premium HE- Premium High Explosive shells are essentially identical to regular HE shells, but feature increased splash radius's. They are typically found on artillery. These shells do not travel through objects, and explode on contact. HESH- HESH (High Explosive Squash Head) ammo is practically a HE shell with improved penetration capabilities, which may allow for increased damage dealt when not penetrating the armor. HESH rounds are much more likely to penetrate enemy armor than HE. HESH does not travel through objects, exploding on contact. HEAT- High Explosive Anti-Tank ammo is actually not "Explosive" in terms of effects on a tank. If you don't penetrate the enemy's armor, you won't do any damage. HEAT shells are available for Howitzers, boasting AP-like penetration while maintaining a damage value similar to HE shells (just slightly lower). An important thing to know about HEAT is that it can and will ricochet off of any amount of armor, if it is angled further than 75 degrees. Overmatch does not work for HEAT. Howitzer HEAT has AP pen with HE damage. They are also available for higher Tier guns as a replacement for APCR ammunition, wielding greatly improved penetration when compared to AP, all the whilst maintaining AP damage. Non-Howitzer HEAT has APCR pen with AP damage. HEAT shells, like HE shells, do not lose penetration power over distance, which make them effective for heavily armored targets without spaced armor. HEAT shells do not travel through objects, rather detonate on contact. This makes them easily blocked by spaced armor or modules. They should make up 5%-15% of your tank's ammunition if it's available. General Rules of Thumb: -AP should be the majority of your ammunition (With Howitzers, HE should be the primary ammo) -HE should be used against scouts/arties/tracks/guns -never face-hug a tank whilst shooting HE ammo... otherwise you might damage your own tank and gun! -use APCR only when you really need it. If you happen to have an APCR shell loaded on a long-reload gun, but you don't really need it, and enemies are within your proximity, then use that shell and quickly switch to AP. If your gun can reload quickly, then switch to AP if possible to avoid losing Credits. You don't want to shoot Premium ammunition at tanks that you can easily penetrate. -NEVER shoot APCR ammo on machine guns at long ranges. APCR on machines guns should only be used at ranges of less than 250m -always be prepared for an HE shell not to do full damage, even when shooting at scouts -shoot HE shells at a tank's tracks if you want to quickly immobilize it (Hint: If you've tracked an enemy tank with an HE shell on a Howitzer with a reload time that is less than 9 seconds, keep shooting the tank's tracks to keep the tank immobilized while you keep doing massive (or minor) damage. This should only be done if you are safe to shoot the tank's tracks without revealing part of your tank to the enemy's gun) -never load HE on an auto-loader unless all remaining enemies have very minimal armor. -use HE to reset the cap by aiming at tracks/gun, or just shoot at the tank if it's a 105mm+ caliber shell. -Premium ammunition is very expensive, whether or not you're buying it for Gold or Credits. Conserve it if possible. Tanks that use Premium ammo as their primary ammunition will have reduced ammo costs, but shells will still be relatively expensive [non-premium APCR such as this will only be purchasable for Credits].

Well, I'm glad that everything is OK now. ^_^ Good luck!

I agree with putting some restrictions upon people who haven't donated yet; since you do need a source of donations, and this will definitely encourage more people to help out with that. My only concern would be with excessive restrictions. Just make sure that you're not being too harsh. You don't want to give regular users a rough time; rather, you want to inconvenient them in order to encourage donations. ;)

I was wondering what happened to all of the posts I made last night... Oh well. :P Nasty error is nasty. I'm assuming that the error is gone entirely now, am I right?

I tested Polish and Dutch Client languages, and neither of those, nor the English versions had encountered any problems. I have not yet tested the German version, however based on the information Almace stated, I would assume that it's a conflict with the Client languages sourced from the German version.

I have not had any issues with Gnomefather's Sound Mods, nor Locastan's mod. I have seen this issue before with one of my old configurations however. I'll see if I can duplicate the issue, and then I'll tell you which mod is causing the problem. (Unless Aslain beats me to it again. :P ) Edit: Well, I've tried out several different combinations of mods, and I still have not been able to replicate this issue. Could you please post your _Aslains_Installer_Options_ (Setup Information) file? I will then be able to download the same modifications that you have, and hopefully duplicate the issue. Once I've created the same issue on my Game Client, I will be able to begin playing around with the configuration to try to determine which mod/mods is/are creating the issue.

So... anyone who doesn't donate has a limit to post counts, limit to PM's, and can't have a signature? <_<

Well, Aslain and BeGiN beat me to it again. Oh well... glad you got your issue resolved. :)

I will try installing Aslain's mod pack with the same settings as your buddy has used, and I'll see if the same issue occurs for me. If it does, I will attempt to resolve it. If I'm able to do so, I'll forward the results to you. I will respond within 12 hours. ^_^

And of course the E.U. will get the patch a week after RU, and NA will get it a week after E.U. does... I guess that means 9.2 isn't coming any time soon over here. I may as well re-download the Test Server.

Hmm... that's definitely some bad news. A lot of my favorite mods are all marked in red here. -_-

The modifications that are labeled in red are currently not functioning in version 9.2. Is this only for the Common Test, or are they not going to be working in the final release? Is any of this information final, or is it just the current standings of the functionality of these modifications?

Update: I increased the latency values for the Large Panel with HP bars.

Ah, well; I guess I wasn't paying enough attention. :P I will review the logs and see if I can find any problems.

Where is this "Delete my vote" button? I don't see it anywhere. :huh:

Let's hope he can keep it up, haha! To be honest, trolls should just be added to your Ignore List (There's a Forum Block list). Also, if you don't want to post your stats, you don't have to. There are many other possibilities for a signature. Heck, if you don't want to put a sig, you don't have to. Regardless, trolls are inevitable. Since Aslain.com is new right now, we shouldn't have a problem with trolls. But as with any online website or Forum, someone will eventually sign up who decides to make life harder for others. The best course of action is to report them to a moderator, add them to your Ignore List, and move on. No reason to let that hinder your actions.

Do you think you could upload a copy of your python.xml file? If there's something significant going on, it will be displayed in there (I would hope).

Heh... you had to add that option after I already voted in the poll. Working as Intended TM :P

Updated to 3.7.11 (23/07/2014). The following was added into the thread:

Didn't quite finish with the Polish version yet. It's taking a bit longer to translate the post than I expected. I will have it finished and uploaded in the morning.

I don't think that option is within Aslain's mod pack, however I heard of it being available somewhere else. I just can't remember where right now. I'm going to google it and tell you what I find.

The current Win Chance system does not take into consideration the Tier of the tanks, or the type of tanks that are being driven by skilled and non-skilled players. If I am correct, it only calculates overall WN8's and WR's, as well as vehicle proficiency. A change to this system would definitely be welcomed.

I will make a translation of it today and upload it to the Polish section. ^_^