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#Post#: 90--------------------------------------------------
General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: DaDogcatcher
Date: April 12, 2014, 4:15 am
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This guide serves to provide info on how the basic in-game stuff
work, so it should prove much more useful as a general guide for
all than specific comprehensive guides on tank types. A few of
the mechanics were covered by WG in youtube videos and are worth
checking out, although they are rather long and jargon-ish.
Random Number Generator (RNG for short, a.k.a. RNJesus)
This is the basis of many things in WoT. It basically generates
a random number within a specified range for your damage,
penetration and even camo. Yes, even your penetration is
affected, which is why penetration value for shells have a range
of XXX-XXX, hence the concept of perfect angling does not exist,
there will be *WTF HOW DID THAT PEN ME* moments even when u're
driving a maus like a pro. When referring to RNG, a low roll
means you got trolled by it, a high roll means your enemy got
trolled by it, just think of it as the number you get while
rolling a die.
Matchmaking (MM for short)
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwGiwkPqmbw
The MM system is there to balance teams in random matches, but
we all know how bull**** this thing can be a lot of times. Each
tanks have their own MM values and battle tiers, both of these
are different things. Heavies and TDs are supposed to have
higher MM value compared to mediums while most lights from tier
4 onwards get the "scout" MM. The scout MM basically grants you
the privilege of getting into the big boys' games where you get
chased down by anything that sees you because you're a 1-2 shot
kill. Hence one of the rules while platooning is never ever use
a light if you don't wish to get into tier 9-10 games.
Theoretically SPGs should not exceed 3 per team as well, a team
with higher tiered SPGs will have less while the other team with
lower tiered SPGs gets more of them. For mediums, TDs and
heavies your battle tiers are +-2, you'll meet at most tanks 2
tiers higher or lower than you. Battle tiers used to go as high
as 12, but tier 12 was recently removed "in a bid to decrease
the waiting time for tier 8 tanks". This basically mean that
when you're grinding tier 8s, expect to fight tier 10s very,
very frequently. Used to love my Tiger 2, but hate it now
because the armour is non-existent when facing tier 10s, not to
mention that WTF E100s just 3 shot K.O.s Tiger 2s without even
being spotted.
Armour vs Penetration
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq5S8CrsUig
The second video seems to have been removed, but it's nothing
important. Basically when you fire a shell of pen 100mm flat
onto (0 deg from the normal) an armour of 100mm, you're supposed
to pen it. Larger angles mean a higher chance of bouncing. When
the angle reach is big enough, the shot becomes auto-bounced.
However, when your penetration is three times the armour value,
your shot becomes an auto-pen. However, based on my experience
of getting my shots bounced off very weakly armoured targets and
performing miraculous bounces in my lights, I no longer believe
in these stuff. Welcome to World of Tanks my friends, be
prepared to catch your eyeballs as they fall out of their
sockets.
There are 2 kinds of armours, the normal ones and spaced
armours. Spaced armours are the ones you find on the super
pershing and on the sides of IS-3, IS-8 and IS-7. You know how
the normal ones work, so i'll talk about spaced armour instead.
Spaced armour is the parts on a tank with armour value but takes
no damage when hit, tracks are considered spaced armour as well.
It helps to partially negate HE damage and decrease the
penetration of shell before they reach your hull. This is why
german tanks are so potent at sidescraping as they have broad
and thick tracks. Side skirts are spaced armour as well. Eg. the
E100 and Maus, shooting at its sides means getting through BOTH
the side skirts and tracks. Russian mediums and american heavies
on the other hand, have very spacey tracks which don't cover
much of their sides. Whenever you see one angling to the side
too much, just plug a shot straight into its side for easy
picking.
In-Game Objects
Since a few patches ago, shells are able to pierce through
destructible objects like pillars, fences and walls. BUT,
destructible houses WILL eat your shells, keep this in mind. The
destructibles will decrease the penetration by just a wee little
bit. Note that the outline of enemy tanks do not appear when you
aim them through walls, but you can estimate the general
location of their weak spots and shoot them nonetheless. Newbies
are especially vulnerable to this tactic. If the enemy is too
far for you to confidently shoot at, zoom out to aim them
without being blocked by the destructible. Note that things that
cannot be destroyed cannot be penetrated, and that piles of wood
logs are destroyable but impenetrable as well. Within a few
patches (mini patch after the big 9.0 patch) to come, these
destructibles will remain in the game rather than disappear in a
puff of smoke. In other words, brick walls when destroyed become
bits of bricks on the ground which should affect the
manoeuvrability of your tank. Houses will also become
destroyable with HE and only HE. Hence when the time comes
consider packing a reasonable amount of HE shells to chew away
at solid targets.
Types of Shell
AP=Armour Piercing, HEAT=High Explosive Anti Tank, HE=High
Explosive, HESH=High Explosive Squashed Head, APCR=Armour
Piercing Composite Rigid
These are the shells in WoT. There may be some other shells i do
not know of, but those are rare and aren't special enough to
merit my explanation =P.
-First of all AP is the bread and butter for almost every tank
in the game, do not underestimate this shell simply it is a
normal shell. It receives a normalization of 5 deg, what this
does is basically increase the penetration of AP. Upon
penetration it deals the damage determined by RNG. The
penetration of AP is lost over distance. I've heard that the pen
is lost from somewhere between 20% to 30% over a range of 400m
and longer, so if you fail to pen a long distance well armoured
target repeatedly, it's a good idea to stop doing it and save
your shells before you run out of them.
-APCR also receives normalization albeit only 2 deg. Another
thing worth noting about APCR is that it travels at a higher
velocity and it is the normal shell for ALL TIER 10 MEDIUMS.
When using APCR, you don't have to lead a target as much as you
usually do, thus this is one of the advantages mediums hold over
heavies at tier 10. Upon penetration, it also deals the damage
through RNG. Pen of APCR is also lost over distance, same as AP.
-HE deals very high damage, but the damage is affected by RNG,
its penetration and the armour value. It has low pen, and thus
is very unreliable even when you use it on low armoured targets
unless you have a very high caliber gun (120mm above). The
advantage of using HE is that it is very unlikely to bounce, but
IT CAN and WILL BOUNCE when your luck suck very badly. HE also
has a blast radius, you can check it in your resupply window.
Basically a KV-2 can just derp at the ground to kill a low
health target hiding behind cover. Other than this, when to use
HE? Simple, just use it on low health targets who have 150 or
less hp. I really really don't recommend using HE for scouts and
SPG. If your penetration is not enough, the damage is negated by
armour value, but with a big enough gun your HE will penetrate
and deal full damage. Another advantage of HE is that it wrecks
modules and crews like no tomorrow, which is why when you deal
with the new german TDs, juz derp away on their turrets. Note
that spaced armour negates the damage of HE by A HUGE degree.
-HESH is identical to HE, with one bit difference: it has a
huuuuge penetration value comparable to normal non-gold APCR and
AP. This basically lets you deal high damage even on heavily
armoured targets, however taking the pain to aim at weak spots
will increase your chance to deal the full damage. One such tank
is the tier 10 brit TD FV152 183, often referred to as 183
because FV152 also refers to the tier 10 brit heavy. This is the
kind of target i recommend to let your team mates take the shot
if you're facing one head on. However it has a base reload of 30
secs, so it's not all rainbows and ponies. The tier 10 brit
medium also gets to use HESH other than APCR, making the brit
medium an interesting machine as well.
-HEAT. Ah the almighty gold round, abused by american
autoloaders and T-54s, yes they have high pen values, yet
they're ridiculously unreliable, which is why i rarely use them
myself. On the other hand, tanking HEAT rounds repeatedly while
sidescraping is such a satisfying experience.
Things about HEAT:
1. HEAT hates angled surface
2. HEAT hates spaced armour and side skirts
3. HEAT has no normalization
4. Firing HEAT blindly on a target makes you a gold spamming
noob.
Hence, even when firing gold, know how to fire it. Shoot HEAT
rounds on reasonably flat surfaces with no spaced armour, that's
how you do it. This is why Mauses are allergic to HEAT rounds. A
Maus relies more on thick armour than good angling to tank
shots. Also, HEAT deals damage based on RNG like AP and APCR.
One advantage HEAT holds over AP and APCR is that it does not
lose penetration over distance.
Types of Gun
Understanding your gun and how your tank's nation's guns work
will help a lot. German guns fire shells at higher velocities,
you do not need to lead targets as much. Russian, chinese and
french guns are the complete opposite, you have to lead a lot.
Howitzers, better known as howies and derp guns also fire shells
at a low velocity and these shells tend to drop a little
downwards at long range. There are also howies which fire shells
in a parabolic trajectory like an SPG, such as the one on the
Alecto and AT-2. I have yet to drive any other tank which uses a
similar gun. This makes these tanks suck at sniping long range
or shooting moving targets, however you can zoom out and shoot
over covers as though you're an SPG, so it's a double-edged
sword.
Camo and View Range
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ML4oXjG6ag
Some tips:
1. You get a higher camo when you're not moving.
2. Lights retain their full camo even when moving.
3. Shooting negates the camo of all bushes within a radius of
15m to you. Hence the common advise of shooting behind and not
inside bushes.
4. Maximum range to spot someone is 445m. You cannot spot a Maus
that is 446m away regardless of your viewing range.
5. Situational awareness crew skill for radio operator increases
your view range by 3%. Recon on commander by 2%.
6. BiA, vents and prem consumables like strong coffee, onigiri
etc. increases your view range as well simply by increasing your
crew efficiency. It's 8.6m for tanks with view range of 400m per
5% increment of crew efficiency i think.
7. You spot people with a point in the middle and on top of your
turret. If you're exposed but your turret remains in cover,
people can spot you while you cannot spot them, hence the
importance of sixth sense.
8. You lose your binocs bonus, camo net bonus and/or stationary
camo even if someone bumps into you and you're not the one
moving.
9. Sixth sense has a 3 second delay, so develop the reflex habit
of diving into cover the moment sixth sense lights up.
10. Remember what i said about RNG on camo? The time interval
between you no longer being spotted and you disappearing off the
enemy's radar is RNG-based by WG to avoid system abuse. Just
because the enemy is no longer visible doesn't mean you're off
the radar too, there seems to be a variation of +- 1 second
based on player experimentations.
When you're using bushes to passive scout, sit in the bush if
you're exposed from multiple sides, behind the bushes if you're
confident the enemy is only in one general direction. If you
want to shoot, try and put enough distance such that the bush is
completely opaque/visible when in sniper mode so the bush still
camos you even when you fire. This is where having good gun
depression comes in handy as most bushes are deliberately placed
on ledges. As a light and med tank user, i highly recommend
using optics for aggressive and scouting game plays. While camo
is a must for lights, i highly recommend camo for mediums as
well, russian mediums have a high base camo and with crew of
full camo rivals the camo of lights when using bushes for cover.
E 50 can be surprisingly stealthy as well.
Ramming 101 for Lunatics
The reason why i went for German tank isn't because i'm a WW2
fanboy, but rather i simply want to ram people given that the
Germans are heavy and have good engines. Ramming is an effective
strategy for killing low health targets without wasting your
shot or to track targets. Always consider ramming as a second
option. If you want to deal a reasonable amount of damage with
ramming, here's a few rules:
1. You need to have reasonable armour.
2. You need to have at least twice the weight of your rammee for
speeds lower than 20 kph.
3. You need to have 50% more weight than your rammee for speeds
above 30 kph.
4. Thanks to the physics engine, you deal damage as long as you
have high enough of a momentum than your rammee, if you're
ramming a very light weight rammee, don't stop upon ramming,
keep on going as you will keep dealing damage.
Also, if you're trying to detrack someone with ramming, ram them
diagonally to deal maximum damage to their housing wheel, it's
the big wheels on the front and back of tanks where you usually
shoot to track others. As a player driving an E 50, i know the
approximate weight of all tanks in game, and i just ram
everything that has about the same weight or less than me as
long as i'm faster than 40 kph without considering anything
else. Heavy tank? WHO CARES as long as it isn't a Maus or E100.
I did say this section is for lunatics. I have controlled
ramming as a skill for my driver, spall liner is also
recommended for ram junkies to minimise damage received upon
ramming. An E 50/E 50m fully duked out for ramming can even ram
IS-7s with enough speed even though an IS-7 weighs around 10 ton
more. And just because you're driving a light tank doesnt mean
you can't ram. A WZ-132 weighs around 25 ton, which makes it
heavier than almost all other lights and even some light weight
tanks like the rhm. borsig. Since it has great power to ton
ratio it just makes it one hell of a light tank to ram light
weight targets at high speeds and laugh your head off.
Skills and Perks
Skills starts working the moment you get them, and perks only
work when they are 100%. BiA, Brother in Arms only works when
ALL of your crew reaches 100%. For detailed info, you can visit
the Wot Wikia to know the percentage you get from skills. BiA
should never be used alone and should be stacked with vents or
premium consumables which increase the crew efficiency like
strong coffee, extra battle rations, onigiri etc.
Equipments
Most equipments do as the description says so reasonably well,
but i think i should mention that spall liners can be a little
unreliable. Even with super heavy spall liner which provides 50%
more protection to crew and against HE i still find my E 75
receiving a ridiculous amount of damage even from SPG splashes.
Sometimes i fee like i should change spall liner to some other
equipment instead...
The Numbers Does Not Tell the Truth (Hidden/Soft Stats)
Not everything is listed out by WG. However these stats can be
found in the Tank Inspector i recommended. Just because your
tank has a maximum speed of 60 kph doesn't mean you can reach it
even on hard and flat ground. One such example is the duck AMX
40 which has a theoretical max speed of 60 kph, but we know how
lovable that tank is. Your tank may seem fast on paper with good
power to ton ratio, but your traction on different ground will
influence your acceleration. Engines can also affect your
traverse speed, a better engine simply means faster traverse for
BOTH TURRET and HULL. This is why you should always go for
engine upgrades first instead of track upgrade if your maximum
weight allows it.
EXP and Creds
EXP and creds per battle are earned based on the dmg and
spotting damage done. There are rumours that kills will earn you
exp and creds as well, but WG has denied it and based on my
experience even if it does do so, it's not noticeable. Also, you
gain more exp and creds by dealing damage to higher tiered
enemies, which is why while lights getting scout MM really sux,
if you can go around putting troll shots into high tiers, you
can earn a ridiculous amount of EXP and creds. Being able to
make sweet sweet posterior love to a high tier non-turreted TD
will immediately make you a top scorer. Also, do note that
capping, gives you almost nothing. Really, capping when you are
winning without a doubt is a dumb thing to do, it ruins your
stats and marks you out as a tomato, so go out there and pile up
more damage for exp and creds. Only cap when winning by
eradicating the enemy is not possible or uncertain. Back to
creds, tier 5 is considered the best tier for earning creds,
while from tier 8 onwards you'll only make creds if you don't
get damaged too much if you're a non-premium user like me.
Premium user can play whatever tanks they want and still earn
reasonably.
Premium
Premium tanks cost almost nothing to repair and resupply. They
also have a higher credit earning coefficiency, they simply earn
you more credits per battle. It is recommended to have at least
one tier 5 or tier 8 premium tank for cred farming purposes.
Premium tanks also do not apply crew penalty as long as the crew
used in it is of the same nation and vehicle type. Eg. you can
place your crew from your IS-3 in an IS-6 and still enjoy your
crew at its full efficiency along with all the skills and perks.
This way you can earn experience for crews while placing them in
a premium tank. Premium account lets you earn credit and exp at
a rate of 1.5, you'll earn 50% more exp and credits.
As always, feel free to comment, dispute and add on to stuff i
might have left out.
#Post#: 91--------------------------------------------------
Re: General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: DaDogcatcher
Date: April 12, 2014, 4:16 am
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Reserved for future add-ons
#Post#: 92--------------------------------------------------
Re: General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: ljl87
Date: April 12, 2014, 4:32 am
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Good, Very Good. :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
#Post#: 93--------------------------------------------------
Re: General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: ljl87
Date: April 12, 2014, 4:55 am
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And if u need help with ramming. Download the tank information
mod. The mod will give u info of ur tanks chances of ramming
someone. If u are in low health. I dun suggest u ram. Because
ramming in low health is suicide if u are facing an heavy. Not
just u get sniped easily. U get killed by the victim. I got a
kamikaze badge cos he rammed me with 26 health left. 26
#Post#: 110--------------------------------------------------
Re: General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: Z
Date: April 14, 2014, 3:18 am
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Nice post Catcher :). Definitely be useful for newcomers
#Post#: 112--------------------------------------------------
Re: General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: southtrack
Date: April 14, 2014, 4:50 am
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Nice post Dog. Great effort & good tips. 8) 8)
#Post#: 113--------------------------------------------------
Re: General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: Theflybuy252
Date: April 14, 2014, 4:52 am
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Another piece of art from the great DogCatcher!
#Post#: 124--------------------------------------------------
Re: General know-hows and in-game mechanics
DIR By: DaDogcatcher
Date: April 16, 2014, 2:39 am
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aw, you all make me blush, cookies for everyone!
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