World of Warships Revisited

This is a "dad game" - a slow paced PC game with very few controls, and 10-minute rounds.  Cunning is superior to twitchy reflexes.  And of course, it's all about WW1-WW2 warships blasting chunks off each other. You can play with/against other humans or co-op vs AI bots.  In short, it should appeal to the average wargamer.  I've done other posts about this game, so I'm going to focus on changes since the last time I played (~6 months back) and then indulge myself with a rant.

So what has changed since last Christmas?

Well, there's new German battleships, for one.  Sadly this means games are crowded with even more mouthbreathing battleship drivers as everyone rushes to try them out and progress to the best ones.  The Russian cruisers are out and are not at all overpowered (*cough* Russian developer bias *cough*).  The Royal Navy still aren't in the game (after all, the Soviet Navy won WW2, right?)

I liked the new minimap and in addition, the markings that define where smokescreens start and stop are a great improvement.

In the latest patch, their is a very handy colour-coded "armour viewer" which shows the thickness of the armour on your ship, including magazines, citadels, turrets etc. 

Apparently high tier Japanese destroyers have been nerfed (surprise surprise) due to the whining of battleship 'tards and they are going to "rebalance" (i.e. nerf) the mid tiers as well.

There's a nice event on this month giving away two rather good ships (a tier 5 Kongo and a tier 7 Myoko).

Captain Skills have been adjusted (but as usual there are pretty much must-have skills for each class so there isn't really a choice if you want the optimum skillset) and so have ship upgrades.  

The biggest (and least welcome) change for me is the new "matchmaker" which decides what ships you get matched up against.  Basically, tier 5 ships get shafted by always ending up facing superior tier 6 and 7 ships.  Given tier 5 is the most popular, fun, accessible and balanced tier (all the ships are good and there are no "lemons") this is a major annoyance to me as a casual player.

It's a truism that the smaller the ship, the bigger the balls of the captain....

So is World of Warships fun?

Yes, it is.  I've enjoyed getting back into it.  There's a range of playstyles - you can spam your guns and dodge like a madman with a gunboat destroyer, sneak about and ninja torpedo stuff with Japanese destroyers (though they will be nerfed soon due to salty tears of battleship drivers unable to bother to steer left or right and dodge them).  You can drive a mighty armoured battleship (thought most people with these hide at the back of the map as a battleship and snipe ineffectively, fleeing after a single destroyer 5"shell scratches their paint) or be a multirole cruiser that showers things with 6" shells or precisely fires 8".  If you prefer boardgames and don't like ships at all, you can fly planes from overhead view RTS-style as a carrier.   If you have friends and a microphone, there is great potential for teamwork and the relaxed pace means there is time to randomly chat/plan ahead.

The Rant

As you may have inferred, I'm not a fan of battleships.  Actually, I like battleships fine. It's just the players who use them. For some reason this class invariably attracts the biggest retards on the team. "Hurr dur - I haz biggest gunz," perhaps? Dunno.  But for whatever reason, inevitably, the biggest ships on the team are driven by the biggest tools, who are definitely not the sharpest in the shed.

Battleships:
+have the highest average damage done per game
+have the highest win-rates
+have the most armour
+have the most hitpoints
+have the biggest and most long ranged guns
+have the strongest AA
+have the ability to dodge their biggest threat (torpedoes)
+can repair massive amounts of damage

-are slow to turn
-have slow-firing, slow-turning guns
-are not very sneaky

So, as expected, battleships are incredibly survivable and can dish out awesome damage, while being a little unwieldy.  Sounds like a perfect ship for someone who isn't afraid to mix it up, and can plan ahead a little. Sadly, 99% of battleship players possess neither of these traits.

Battleships can dodge torpedoes.  Just most of the time they choose not to bother.  Far better to whine for nerfs on the forums... (4:30 for torpedo dodging using WASD "hacks")

Battleship drivers are whiners.  If there is more than 2 destroyers in the game (out of 15 ships) there will inevitably be a battleship driver whining in chat. What? They may actually have to pay attention to where they are going in case of torpedo attack, and can't simply mindlessly sail in a straight line and focus on shooting all game?  Of course, it's fine if there are 6 battleships - hey, it's the only target they can hit.  In addition, battleship whines have resulted in nerfs to carriers and destroyers (who were designed to stop battleships wandering off alone) which has also indirectly nerfed the usefulness of cruisers (who counter said aircraft and destroyers). 

Battleship drivers are wimps.  Their damage parties can repair more damage than the entire hitpoints (flotation capacity) of a destroyer. Multiple times.  Their armour (if correctly angled - which is a big if given the average IQ) can shrug off capital ship shells.  They can eat half a dozen torpedoes and fight on.  Yet most battleship players run from the slightest hint of "trouble" (this could be defined as a cruiser 1/5th of their size) and tend to snipe from the extreme edges of the map ~20km, where they seldom hit enemies and cannot influence the game.  It's not uncommon to see cruisers and destroyers heading for the objective and battleships heading the other direction. 

Battleship drivers are dumb.  They loftily avoid peasant strategies such as zig-zagging and tend to sail blissfully along in straight lines, presenting their broadsides to the enemy (for more "dakka") which makes them vulnerable to enemy fire and torpedoes.  And in the game, there is a beeping torpedo alert, so it's not like they can claim they are "ambushed."  Most times the average battleship player will avoid the mission objectives and even run away from them if there is a weaker enemy presence there.

So, don't mince your words - tell us how you really feel....
It's so frustrating when the most powerful, toughest ships in your fleet are operated with someone who should not be allowed to use anything more complex than a spoon.  When a ship that requires thinking ahead (the main battleship weakness is they and their guns are slow) is piloted by someone who does not think. Period.  When a ship capable of soaking up immense amounts of fire hides behind smaller, flimsier cruisers using them as meatshields, or snipes from extreme range, running away from the mission objectives.  You'd think having the biggest guns would compensate for having the smallest balls but apparently this is not the case.

I've played hundreds of games over the last year but only seen a handful of good battleship players.  Usually these are fast battlecruiser types (Kongo, Scharnhorst) - so I suspect they were played by cruiser specialists who were moonlighting.

TL:DR
World of Warships is fun, simple, free and very good with friends.  It's full of team mates dumber than AI bots (usually in battleships) and if you want the Yamato/Tirpitz/Iowa be prepared to play a LOT to earn them.   There's been a few good quality of life changes, offset by the new matchmaking system which has shafted Tier 5 ships - to prepare to ran up to tier 7 (and to a lesser degree, tier 6) to get the new "sweet spot." 

World of Tanks - Owning Your Results, Improving Yourself

Whilst to "repetitious" to be a full-time love, World of Tanks is a game I drift back to from time to time.  Slow paced, simple controls, and requiring cunning rather than reflexes, it is a good "dad" game to play with mates when you have a spare 10min.  Imagine chess where you are one of the pieces - a piece armed with a Pak 88 and in hedgerows rather than a checkerboard.

I've already done a few articles, a review,  Getting Started, basic skills/knowledge, improving from the basics and  intermediate skills.  The latter two reflect my journey from being a "reactive" player (only concerned about myself and my tank) to a greater awareness of the battle around me.

I recently got interested in it again, due to (a) being unable to wargame due to being on holidays but having access to a laptop and (b) and article on "win rate" and how people do or don't believe they can influence a game's outcome. As I both like stats, and I like internet arguments and pointing out fallacies, here's a brief overview of the opposing sides:

Stat Deniers: These people either claim that WoT games are "rigged" so they cannot win or that they always lose due to their 14 stupid team mates.  Or they claim the outcome of games is purely random due to the random mix of tanks and differing player's skill level.  They ignore the common denominator in all their games: themselves.  They tend to play by self-imposed "rules" and claim to only play for "fun." They often point to a single one-off game to prove they are "really" a good yet unlucky player and ignore the fact they win only 47% or less of their games and invariably have below average damage and kills per game.  Basically, the stats show they are mediocre players, so they blame anything but themselves.  I can't be bad - therefore stats must be meaningless!

Stat Whores: These people also think their team mates are stupid, but have decided that they can personally win matches, and the only person to blame for a loss is themselves.  They take responsibility for their themselves and their team. They will take every advantage possible within the game mechanics; under the theory "if the game allows it, and gives me advantage, I will do it."  Interestingly, they all tend to have above average stats and win rates that range from 55% to an astronomical 65-70% in some cases.  They tend to work hard to improve themselves by watching tutorials, streams, guides and videos, and by analyzing their stats to find their weaknesses.  Sadly, they often morph into arrogant pricks.

Why stats matter:  Most WoT players have played thousands of games.   With such large sample sizes, the stats are very reliable.  The average player has a 49% win rate (allowing for draws).
If you have a win rate above 60%, you are in the top 1% of players.  A player who goes completely AFK and just lets his tank sit in base doing noting for 1000 games would get a win rate of around 42%.  (There's one guy that has played 88,000 games with a win rate of 43% - only slightly better than being AFK - talk about never learning from your mistakes).  Handily, WoT has a lot of stats measuring tools and websites, such as vBaddict, noobmeter, and 3rd party programs like XVM.   Stats are great for analysing and improving your play (but sadly many use it to enlarge their e-peen.)

As you can see, I tend to favour the "stat whore" category who take personal responsibility rather than denying my shortcomings and blaming it on everything and everyone else.

Everyone remembers the time they carried the team and won the game, killing half the team including their top heavies, and capping solo against hordes of incoming foes. But you also have to acknowledge you can also "lose" a game - not just by dying in the first minute with 0 damage, but by your in-game choices. 

Teams are balanced by tank, not by skill. So often a lot of better players end up on one side, and a team gets stomped.  Poor players highlight this, and think that they only lose because they have bad teams.  But they ignore the fact that everyone gets bad teams - over 1000+ games it evens out.  There's a commonly held opinion that 30% of WoT games are impossible to win, 30% are impossible to lose, and the remaining 40% can go either way.  Good players know they can tip the "either way" games in their favour.    Further confusing the issue is "tiers".  Poor players feel helpless when they are a bottom tier tank in a game.  A Tier 5 M4 Sherman or T-34 vs a Tier 7 Tiger, IS or Pershing will be murdered 1v1, sure.  But it's not 1v1 - it's 15v15.  Even bottom tier, you can win games by flanking and supporting your team mates - you just can't rambo in, that's all.

With the new physics, it's possible to flip your tank and end up on your back like a helpless turtle all game. I did help my team mate right himself - after posing for a screenshot, of course.

After reading the post about the stats vs stat deniers, I looked at my own overall stats: 52% win rate, slightly above average kills and damage per game.   It had been rising ever since I started to put into practice the ideas from the intermediate thread and was 55% over the last 1000 games.

However, previously I had tried to better myself by focussing on higher damage and kills.  I had seen a significant jump in damage dealt and XP earned, and my win rate had climbed simply as a nice side effect.  But what if I deliberately tried to improve my win ratio?  What if I "owned" not only my personal stats, but also the win rate of the entire team?  I decided to do an experiment.   

As the official forums are useful but can be a bit of a cesspit of whinging and negativity, I've been visiting WoTLabs forums, which is run by purple (i.e. top 1%er) players.  Here's a collection of ideas gleaned from them, which I have been trying to put into practice.

1. Play the same tank or same style of tank repeatedly to get "in the groove". (i.e. swapping between a slow, tough KV-1 heavy and a speedy Chaffee scout is too a jarring change of playstyle) That way you can concentrate on the big picture of the battle (macro), rather than trying to remember the capabilities of your tank (micro).
Don't play every random tank in your garage for your "daily double." Focus on 2-3 similar tanks and play them repeatedly to get consistency.  You'll earn more XP anyway as you'll win more. 

2. Learn from others.  WoT is easy to get into a rut.  If you blame your team or the matchmaker, there's no incentive to improve.  Quickybaby and Jingles are popular Youtubers, but I'm expanding my horizons; Zeven and Taugrim try to be more educational as they play.

3. Learn from your mistakes.  After each game I make notes about my failings or discuss it with someone.  It started out  simple "why did I die?" but it is becoming more complex "what could I have done better"  "should I have swapped to the other flank earlier" "did I support from the right position?"  It's not an elaborate thing: it only takes 20-30 seconds or so.   If you view each match as a learning experience, it takes the sting out of deaths: "Well, it was a great position - but you need 2-3 tanks to hold it, not one."

4. Analyse your stats.  I noticed my survival % is low - so I need to be more cautious.  I also noticed my capture/defence ratio favoured captures.  But good players always have a higher ratio of defence.  So I need to defend more; instead of pushing aggressively.  Also, my damage could be higher.  I need to fire more: get into better positions and simply snap off more risky shots.

5. Know your enemies/limitations.   I've dropped back to Tiers 5 and 6 where I know every tank, it's capabilities and it's weakspots, already.  Again, this helps you focus on the big picture.   I know I can play well in Tier 5-6, but I'm merely OK at Tier 7 and struggle at Tier 8.  I'm going to get my stats up here, then move up the tiers - I'll stop around Tier 7-8 as higher tiers are too expensive and the grind is too long - stock tanks aren't as much fun!

6. Be positive.  Never blame your team.  When you are bottom tier, instead of cursing matchmaker, think "How can I be most useful?"  Being low tier changes your tactics, but does not make you play badly. Learn from your bad games. 

7.  Macro, not Micro.  Whilst I once used it merely to track nearby tanks to shoot, I now try to analyse the overall "flow" of the game.   Is a flank crumbling? Do I reinforce it or retreat?  Should I push out wider to flank or compress back onto my team mates in defence?    It's thinking about the big picture. 

8. Play your good, upgraded tanks, play your good crews.  I know some friends who relentlessly "grind" a tank from stock, then once they get a good crew and good upgrades, immediately move on to the next tank.  The problem: by quickly moving on to the next stock tank, they're always playing with sub-optimal gear - i.e. handicapping themselves.  They never play and enjoy their upgraded tank.

9. Never trade damage.  The good players regard their hitpoints as 4-5x more valuable than everyone else and seldom trade damage 1 for 1 unless their is a specific need to.  Corollary: it's seldom a good idea to suicide to save a team mate who yolos off.  Sometimes you just need to let natural selection take it's course.  Corollary: When you face another tank 1v1 it's not a honour duel to the death - feel free to retreat and go elsewhere - or lure him forward into crossfire.

10.  Don't go solo. Don't defend that crumbling flank solo.  You'll just get ganged up on and wrecked.  It's better to push with the lemmings.  Likewise, pushing to a great position is pointless if you're solo: it may be great tactics, but you'll get focussed down and killed.

11. Short term patience.  I don't mean camping an empty flank all game or sitting back on base "guarding" arty.  But it's just having the patience to not take that extra shot, or wait till the enemy tank turns side on so when you track it you can pen every shot.

12. Think ahead.  I think World of Warships, with it's lumbering behemoths taught me this: plan to ahead where you'll be in 20-30 seconds. It's not an inflexible strategic plan; more a "where should I be in 30 seconds?"  I'm trying to apply this to tanks.  Corollary: Have an escape route.  I always ask myself: if I go here, can I run away if things go bad?

13. Short term goals.  If you've already played 5000 games you can't suddenly change your overall win rate from 49% to 60% overnight.   I set goals over the short term, i.e. week - and compare it to my last 1000 games.

14. Play medium tanks more.  They have the best blend of speed (necessary to move around and help influence the game), firepower and vision. They're the best for "macro" level play. I personally like tank destroyers (Jadpanthers, Su100,StuG look so awesome) but they are too passive and "reactive" so I'm playing them less and less.  Heavies have poor view range and often "must" go to particular areas of the map; limiting their flexibility; many are slow.  I find it difficult to use light tanks as most current maps now are very confined and corridor-like; so their scouting is less useful; in most cases their firepower is lacking.

15. (EDIT). Winning in normal mode is simple:  Win one flank before the enemy wins on the other.  Simple, really.  You side can then cap, or reinforce the other flank at will. This informs quite a few decisions: do you try to "hold" a weaker flank to allow your superior flank time to push through?  Do you join the lemmings to push through a flank faster, as the other flank is screwed anyway? How can you find gaps in the enemy line to "lead" your allies forward?

I'll add in more as I think of them, but these are some of the key things that come to mind that I have been consciously working on.

Sites like Noobmeter can be helpful to analyse your gameplay. 

Results: 

It's a small sample size of ~70, but since I started "owning" my play and trying to win the game, looking at the ebb and flow of the game, regardless of team or tier, my stats have climbed sharply.
I'll compare them to my last 1000 battles.

Although average damage has remained similar (it improved most back when I was working on the skills in my "intermediate"post).   Base captures and defences have both doubled.  My survival has climbed from 32% to 44% so my kills/deaths has climbed accordingly from 1.5 to 1.9.  But most tellingly, my win rate has jumped to a staggering 70% compared to my usual 55%.  It's mostly Tier 6, but that's where I mostly play anyway - I'm not claiming to be a good player, merely a much improved one.

I think I'm in the third stage of my WoT career:
Stage #1:  learn basics, like armour, vision, and camo mechanics
Stage #2: own my own results - work on improving damage/personal positioning to benefit myself
Stage #3: own the team's results - work on positioning/situational awareness to benefit my team

As my win rate has sky rocketed, so has my confidence and attitude.  I load in as a Tier 6 against Tier 8s with double my armour and firepower?  No worries - I can help somehow.   Games seem less random. If you're a 49%er, an "average" player - the game IS random - pretty much a coin flip.  But if you're consistently 60%+, you start to see meaning in the wins and losses. With consistent 5-6 game winning streaks, losses are now tending to be anomalies that can be analysed rather than random, regular occurances.  I'm not saying I'm suddenly an awesome player, but I am saying that applying the knowledge of better players has contributed to a massive improvement in my stats (at least over the small 70-game sample size). 

It's mostly generic advice above, but I think the crux is:  I'm owning not only my results, but the team's results.  It's not someone else's fault if I lose - it's mine. The second point - you can always improve, but you have to want to.  It's easy to plateau - the guy with the most WoT games (149,000!) has a precisely average 49% win rate. He shows perfectly, you don't necessarily get better through sheer experience.

World of Warships - to Tier 5 and (slightly) beyond

My aim is to consolidate my stats at tier 5-6, as that is the area you start to meet experienced players regularly.  I've tried most of the ships, so I'll start with a quick round-up:

Tier 4 Destroyers
Isokazes are a tad slow, but stealthy with the usual great IJN torpedoes.  Identical to play to all other Japanese destroyers - sit outside your 6.1km detection range and fire torpedoes invisibly.  You're a ninja! 

The USN Clemson was my favourite; upgraded to  8 x 4" guns, allowing it to dogfight with even Tier 5-6 destroyers and burn down ships with gunfire. The first true gunboat, and has solid 5.5km torpedoes to give flexibility.

The VMF Izyaslav has flatter more accurate guns than the Clemson with similar dps, but the turret arrangement, traverse and its 5km torpedoes are slightly inferior to it's USN rival. I am starting to prefer its excellent high velocity guns over the Clemson.

Tier 4 Cruisers.
I did OK in the Karlsruhe, but regard it as a steaming bag of poop, strictly inferior to pretty much everything else in Tier 4. The rapid fire destroyer-size guns on the Tier 2 Dresden are not so charming at Tier 4.

The IJN Kuma continues the "heavy destroyer" theme started in the Tenryu, swift with good torpedoes and rapid fire guns.

My pick for most effective is the Phoenix - pretty much a Tier 5 Omaha at Tier 4.  Quick, tough, and lots of dakka, with decent range guns.  Another very good ship.

Tier 4 Battleships
Myogi. Initially I hated the randomness and ineffectiveness of the half-dozen big 14" guns (majority of which face the rear) but I quickly grew to enjoy the speed - charging behind friendly destroyers on the flag and monstering enemy cruisers, before fleeing the scene, having stirred up sh1t and attracted half the enemy team.  My favourite in game moment - dodging the torpedoes then running down a Minekaze (which was chasing our carriers) and blowing it away with a point-blank salvo. 

Wyoming.  Basically, double the guns, more armour, but only 20kts of speed.  Much easier to play than the Myogi but far less interesting and challenging - once you commit, there's no backing out as you don't have the speed to flex. I won't be going further up the USN line as they don't get faster until Tier 8 or something. Quite easy to get 50K+ damage; just get in as close as you can without being torpedoed, and angle your hull, tanking damaged with the "T" consumable.

Admittedly the game doesn't look this good...  ...but it does run on pretty much any computer...

Tier 5 Destroyer
Nicholas. Statistically the worst destroyer in T5, but I found it my most successful due to its multi-role nature - a rapid-fire, agile, dogfighting gunboat capable of torpedo attacks.  There are two viable loadouts - the B hull has better maneuver, AA and dps but has low velocity guns which "float" shells at long range, whereas the A hull has slower firing, yet more accurate guns.

Gnevny. I enjoy it but struggle to do well in it - as it plays nothing like a destroyer and more like a cruiser.  Great guns have terrible traverse, meaning you have to plan moves in advance like larger ships, and it's 4km torpedoes means attacking with them tends to be suicidal unless well planned.  Staying end-on to enemies at ~10km and using steady curving zig-zags avoids 90% of shots while keeping your guns on target.  Resist the urge for suicide torpedo attacks.

Minekaze.  An excellent destroyer and better than many T6 ships. Fast, agile, stealthy with good torpedoes. It refines the IJN destroyer concept of fast, stealthy torpedo-ninja to a new pinnacle.

Tier 5 Cruiser
Konigsberg. A classic glass cannon with great accurate guns that outrange most ships at it's tier, but it falls apart if you give it a harsh look.  Deadly, but needs careful ship-handling.  Decent torpedoes. A massive upgrade from the Karlsruhe.

Omaha.  The classic spammy light cruiser - good speed, good guns. Easy to use and do well in.  Has two viable loadouts - one with better gun range, the other with more torpedoes. A very good ship, but is overshaodowed by its premium counterpart, the Murmansk. (Same ship, in Russian service, is twice as agile and has better torpedoes. It's like the game's developers were Russian or something...)

Furutaka.  The first 8" gun cruiser, it has terrible dps/RoF and low gun range (why would a 6" outrange a 8") but precise fire with good penetration.  Reviled by most of the player base, difficult to use, but has it's moments and gives a different flavour to the  other T5 offerings.  10km torpedoes are a novelty.  I found I had a lot of success after I got the 'feel' for it (after about 20+ games, admittedly).

 Most players are interested in their stats, as the games are fast, you can play lots of games, making the sample size large, and thus reliable.  Sites like warships today track those stats, making it easy to improve your play.

Tier 5 is where it's at....
Pretty much every ship at Tier 5 is decent, but by now I've decided I do not enjoy lumbering battleships and have no interest in carriers.   At tier 5-7, gameplay improves and team mates are (slightly) less like braindead potatoes, whilst there isn't so many "leet" players you can't have good games.  Tier 4 also had many excellent ships, but tends to end up in Tier 5 games quite often.  Whereas Tier 6 seems worse off in a different way; their ships are similar to Tier 5 but face higher quality opposition.

 I've learnt a lot since my Tier 2-3 days, and I've found a lot of "hidden" controls and tactics since then - which I'll have to share in another post, as baby is asleep and I can sneak off to bed....

World of Warships: Tier 3 Ships and Beginner Tips

Well, I've racked up a few more hours in this game, and I must say I enjoy it far, far more than the often-frustrating World of Tanks.   Apart from torpedoes and leading shells, the main challenge has been to "think ahead" as the majestic momentum of a warship is quite different to the start-stop gameplay of tanks who lurch from cover to cover. 

I've tried all the Tier 1, 2 and 3 warships from each faction and class, and here's my 10c on all of them.

Tier 1: 

Gunboats
All the rookie ships are gunboats and are pretty evenly balanced.  Pick what looks cool, though remember only USN and UJN have the full range of warship classes, so I'd focus on upgrading those first.

Tier 2:  

Destroyers
Not even a contest. The Umikaze and its 7km torpedoes is better than most Tier 3 ships and is the best ship in this tier, period.  The Sampson's torpedoes only ranges to 4.5km and the Storozhevoi packs a whopping 9 torpedo broadside but suffers from a crippling 3km range. 

Cruisers
They're all quite solid.  The Dresden has masses of machine-gun-like light guns, and the Chikuma is speedy and elegant.  I also did well in the Chester, but it is less interesting and unique in feel, so it got sold.

Tier 3:

Destroyers:
Again, rated nationally in the same order as Tier 2 - Wakakaze has the best 7km torpedoes, with the Wickes having acceptable ones and the Derzki very powerful albeit at suicidally short 3km ranges which make it very 'situational.' I.e. there's only rare situations where they can actually threaten the enemy team.

Cruisers:
The St. Louis is slow but packs bucketloads of guns, able to slug it out with the awful Tier 3 battleships.  The Tenryu is the first cruiser with torpedoes and acts like a big destroyer.  Both are fun and offer very different playstyles. I disliked the Kolberg which seemed identical to the Dresden - only fighting tougher higher-tier opponents - I couldn't wait to ditch it.

Battleships:
I'd say South Carolina over Kawachi but it's like choosing chocolate or strawberry-scented turd pancakes.  The slow firing battleship guns track slowly, are short ranged and inaccurate, and their lumbering bulk makes them easy prey to destroyers. They require even more forward planning than other ships, but sadly I notice they tend to attract the most brain-dead players who either yolo into the enemy solo and die or alternately sit sniping ineffectually at extreme range, or head down narrow straits where there is no room to dodge a torpedo spread. "Imma be a big battleship hurr durrr." 

Crew Skills. You can "customise" your commander with special skills. Which skill is best? Depends on the ship class. There are five tiers of skills but I am only familiar with the first two.

Tier 1: 
Battleship = Basic Survivability +15% better repair time
Cruiser = Basic Firing Training  +10 % rate of fire
Destroyer = Situational Awareness - indicates if ship is detected by enemies

Tier 2:
Battleship = Aiming Expert + 2.5d/sec better turret rotation
Cruiser = Aiming Expert or Torpedo Expertise
Destroyer = Torpedo Expertise +10% faster torpedo reload

Beginner tips I learned from hard-won experience

View range matters.  Destroyers are spotted around ~6.5km, cruisers at ~10km, and battleships at 14km+ (individual ships vary). Firing your guns increases this a lot (i.e. by 3+ km on a destroyer). Corollary: if you're a destroyer, you have a view range advantage - so don't fire you guns except as a last resort.  Not being seen at all is the best way to (a) sink other ships (b) avoid being sunk yourself.   In later levels destroyers have automatic AA - turn it off with "P" to avoid gunners giving away your location.

Firing Torpedoes.  This is what makes destroyers feared.  Press X to get a grey "predicted path" which shows where to fire to get a hit if enemies continue on their speed/heading.  I tend to fire one salvo along this path, then a second salvo behind this path.  If the enemy ship detects the first salvo it tends to swerve into the second.  Delaying 1-2 seconds between salvoes creates a crossover "X" pattern which is harder to dodge.   It's always best to fire at a target's broadside.  If you're confident of your aim against an easy target, press '3' again to fire a narrower spread to land more hits on him.

Note: Sometimes players blind-fire torpedoes randomly down narrow straits as "area denial."  Unless I am capping a flag, I don't want to "deny" them. I want them to enter the strait, then fire into it and sink them. 

Corollary: Know your torpedo range, and know your opponents' torpedo range.  Tip: The wide end of the green wedge shows how far yours will go.  

Corollary:  There's no such thing as a friendly torpedo.  It's always on you. "But he swerved in front!" No excuses. You pull the trigger, it's your fault.  Check your surroundings, check the minimap. Never fire if there is even a 1% change of an ally crossing your torpedoes path.

Dodging Torpedoes. Always try to run parallel "through" the torpedo spread; turning away from the firer gives you more reaction time (recommended - also sometimes you can outrun the torpedo), though turning into the firer means you can better hunt down the little bastard who fired them (if you're ticked off).  Whatever you do, don't present your broadside to the torpedoes.

Sharp Turns. Cutting to half speed allows you to turn tighter; handy for dodging torpedoes or avoiding 'digging from clams' - hey, who put that island there?!    Furthermore, agile ships can dodge incoming shells by making zig zag turns.

Smoke. Destroyers have two useful abilities - speed boost (10% more power) and smoke. Smoke allows you to lay down cover. A few tips: as you lay smoke, either turn away from enemies or cut power slightly in order to hide in it as you lay it; otherwise you can get 'ahead' of the smoke and remain visible.  Smoke is handy but does advertise "destroyer over here" to everyone.

Leading Targets. Never stop moving.  Clicking your mouse button once fires a single turret (ranging); clicking twice fires a broadside, and holding it "ripple" fires the gun (machine-gun hilarious on a Dresden). You always tend to need to lead targets more than you think - a 35 knot destroyer moves quite fast relative to your shots.  Don't forget to aim slightly "above" the target if they are moving away and "below" if they are closing.    You can fire over islands - lock a target with X, press SHIFT and often you can see over it.  Your shell trajectory will usually arc over them as well.

Keep Moving. Stopping does not increase your accuracy at all. But it does increase your enemies accuracy. Corollary: Try not to present a broadside to the target, but sail towards/away from at 45d or whatever is the tightest angle that still allows you to bring your guns to bear.

Tunnel Vision = Doom.  Players tend to press SHIFT and zoom in, pounding enemies without any awareness of their surroundings.  They run aground, ram friendlies, are easily torpedoed and usually don't pay attention to their own ships' damage.  Look at the mini map. Zoom out every few seconds.

AP or HE?  You get two sorts of shells.  AP can punch into the target's citadel (an armoured box approximately amidships) doing grievous internal damage while the HE starts annoying fires. Some ships are better firing one or the other.  Destroyers have no citadel so you may as well fire HE at the little buggers.  It's kinda situational in other circumstances so I'll leave this one for more experienced players.

Repair Wisely. You have a "repair" (R key) on a cooldown that puts out any fires/stops flooding/restarts engines.   It does not recover HP, but simply stops more HP from draining.  Sometimes it pays to wait a moment before repairing if you are under enemy fire; due to the cooldown it can be a pain to fix a fire, only to have your engines knocked out a second later with no way to repair them until your repair "refreshes".

Random useful information: 
You need to be on the Port screen to leave a division you are in.
Alt key shows lots of detailed information on friends and foes.

What about aircraft carriers?
Bugger off.  This is World of Warships, not Command and Conquer. I bet you like artillery in World of Tanks.  Luckily there are no carriers, only 'proper' ships at Tiers 1-3.


Anyway, hope this helps any newbie sailors like myself - I had to learn this all the hard way.  (by googling it? ;-)  As usual, I play on the NA server, so if you are playing say hi in chat. 

World of Warships First Impressions (PC Game)

Regular readers will know I often dabble in World of Tanks (info for raw beginners here and beginners-wanting-to-be-decent here).  Whilst designed by Russian gangsters who utilize a painful grind and not-so-cheap "freemium" free-to-play model it is a great "dad" game - old age and cunning beat youthful reflexes and the 5-10 minute rounds means the wife will actually believe you saying "just 5 more minutes."  You don't need to chug a case of Red Bull to be twitchy enough to compete - you can relax while chatting and playing with your friends on programs like Teamspeak using a mic.

With the start of the holidays I've embarked on one of their newer games - the not-so-inventively named World of Warships. Same theory - a deathmatch (or capture-the-base that inevitably becomes a deathmatch) with a dozen or so on each side, last ship standing wins.  As usual as an Aussie I've favoured the NA server over the Asian one (I distrust the Singapore-Australia undersea line as I prefer slightly higher ping over packet loss).  Also, I dislike being abused in Filipino.

Bear in mind these are "first impressions" - from low tier play.  That said, given the commitment in game time the game imposes to get beyond the "low tiers" this is a valid review as it is as far as most people will get before either giving up or deciding they love it.

Everyone loves tanks with big guns. Warships have more. Size does matter...

The Good

It's got WW2 ships.  How many games allow you to command a Kongo battlecruiser?
It's shiny. There's a thrill as the funnels belch smoke as you order the ship to full power and bow waves push away.  A bubbling torpedo wake (friendly or not!) always inspires a momentary jolt of terror. 
It's somewhat realistic.  Ships have a satisfying momentum, and turrets take a while to track onto targets.  For a ships to have a pool of hitpoints does not seem so silly as it does for a tank.  It feels more like a genuine battle than an arena deathmatch like its tank cousin. 
It's easy to play.  WASD to steer. Mouse to turn your turrets and shoot. SHIFT to zoom in. Voila, you can now play Warships.
It's fast to play.  Rounds are longer than WoT (usually 10-15min) but should not aggravate the wife.
It rewards planning.  Due to ships innate momentum and the ranges involved, you need to think 20-30 seconds ahead.
Different ships, Different flavours.  Destroyers are agile, sneaky and can launch deadly torpedo attacks and cover allies with smoke screens. Cruisers are flexible all-rounders.  Battleships are lumbering but powerful behemoths.  Carriers are for people who don't actually like ships and prefer to play air traffic controller on a minimap.
Low Tier = Useful.  In WoT, being a Tier 3 in a Tier 5 game meant you were just cannon fodder for higher ranked vehicles. In WoWS, lower tier ships still seem viable.
Mostly Historical. 90% of warships were actual warships.  Unlike WoT, where 90% of tanks are BS wishful thinking paper designs that never even made it to the prototype stage. But wait, they haven't done the Soviet Navy yet? In that case, brace yourself for 1980s Kirovs vs Bismark duels. 
It's free. Yeah right. Unless, of course, you want more than 8 ships. Which you will. Or you want to play at beyond Tier 7, which is fine with me because if you've played and progressed that far it's fair you pay something. Or you don't want to have to play a ship you dislike for five hours to get to the next one which you DO want.

WW1 era ships clash with WW2 designs - but at least they don't fight  mostly 1970s vessels or paper-only designs.... yet *cough* WoT *cough*

The Bad

The grind.  To unlock new and better ships you are stuck with having to play dozens (later on, sometimes hundreds) of games with the preceding ship - even if you don't like it.  I estimate the grind is 2-4x worse than World of Tanks.  No, I'm not joking.
It needs more ships.  Only IJN and USN are represented well, though there are some Soviet destroyers and German cruisers. I'm pretty sure the Royal Navy and Italian Navy were both comfortably bigger than the Kriegsmarine and Soviet Navy and I'm confident that the former was at least as large as the IJN.
Less Opportunity for Skill than WoT.  Yes, I'm new to WoWS but while it seems to favour tactical planning, there seems to be less ways for player skill to impact the game. In WoT, a good player could sidescrape, hulldown, angle armour, and aim at weakspots as well as use terrain and cover.  In WoWs, dodging and launching torpedoes was the nain new skill, and the shots seem more "random" (i.e. dependent on computer Random Number Generation - aka RNG) - than skill, without even an indicator to show how your actions impact accuracy etc.
It's very slow....  I know slow is good for us old guys, but it sometimes takes frustratingly long to get anywhere in a 20-knot boat. The battle sometimes takes a while to warm up.  A 10 minute game is good, but not if 8 minutes is jockeying to get into combat range. WoWS almost crosses the boundary into "too slow" - thank goodness for destroyers.

Verdict:  If you love WW2 warships, and the IJN and USN in particular, absolutely try it. It's atmospheric, free to try, and simple to play.  That said, don't get your heart set on a Tier X, like, say, the Yamato - it will take you literally thousands of games of playing nothing but a certain ship type. 

Hey, this wasn't on your list of articles for Christmas period!  What is this PC gaming crap?!
Suck it up - it was already written before my to do list.  Also, the wargame-pc gamer crossover bracket is relatively popular.  
 Btw, is anyone interested in a beta review of the new PC Game Mordhiem? It seems to be very X-COM-meets oldschool Mordhiem in nature, and has now got is campaign system in place. 

World of Tanks: Improving from the Basics

I'm a distinctly average player.  However my efficiency, win ratio, kills:deaths and damage ratios have all been climbing distinctly and steadily upwards.

This is not for "pro" players but rather average players like myself who are looking to improve. 

I already know the basics - camo, armour, positioning.  The improvement is coming through being more aware and responsive to the battle around me.  In other words....  It's all about the Minimap, Baby!

#1. Start of the Game - Where should I be?

At the start of the game I have a good look at the minimap as the lemmings my team mates rush off to deploy.

Is there a weaker flank I can reinforce?
Is that flank even worth reinforcing?  (defending a flank solo or in a pair is usually suicidal)
Where are our top tier tanks going?
Is there somewhere I am "expected" to be (i.e. heavies in city fighting, mediums sweeping open flanks, TD camping spots, areas I need to scout as a light)

TL:DR Wait a minute, see where everyone is going, and pick a flank

Cautious Early Involvement
Now we deploy. I like to get into position to do early damage, but not at the expense of losing HP (or worse, the tank).  Basically, get your gun somewhere (safe-ish) it can be shooting early.

I'd add: don't go far from friends unless you have the raw speed to get out of trouble.   I'd also add a corollary: and you can fight off any tanks of equal speed. I.e. if I'm in a Tier 5 Chaffee and I see two fast Tier 6 Cromwell mediums and a Leopard on the other team, I'm not going yoloing off solo into enemy territory.

However, ask yourself: can I flee?  If things go pear shaped and you find yourself heavily outnumbered and outgunned, do you have an escape route?  That bush in the middle of the open fields might seem like a good spot - but it'll be hard to escape unscathed when spotted.  Likewise canyons can trap you.

No yolo! Charging in (aka "suicide scouting") seldom works. Maybe 1 in 10 it comes off, you throw the enemy into disarray, kill their arty, etc; the other 90% of the time you condemn your team to being 0-1 down.   Most times, you will charge into a bunch of otherwise useless enemy campers who will quickly vaporise you.  The current maps are too narrow and crowded for meaningful manuevers at this stage.

Throwing Good Money After the Bad
If you see a single tank charge way off in front to fight enemies by himself, let him go. And die.    Don't "help."   By following him and trying to support, you have likely doomed yourself too, and hurt your team. Now your team is 0-2 down, instead of 0-1.  Worse still, allies may follow you and then your flank will crumble as you go in to attack and die piecemeal.  Sometimes you have to sacrifice the intellectually weakest for the greater good.

Example: In this "defence" game, five team mates ignored the game mode and decided to attack (despite the fact there was no flag); attacking piecemeal in a conga-line on the flank.  After three died, instead of trying to save the last two (who were already being swarmed by six foes); I took up an ambush position overlooking the flag which I could control with vision.  After five tanks died trying to cross open ground to my position, the last two foes were too scared to approach the flag and we won.  If I had rushed to try and save my team mates, I would have got off maybe 2-3 shots before being wiped out by the focussed fire of 6 enemy tanks...

#2.  Early Game - Where are they?

As contacts start "bleep" and contacts pop up on the minimap, I reassess the minimap.
 How many enemies have we spotted? Where are they?  Where are the still-hidden tanks likely to be?
I.e. 7 enemy tanks have been spotted on the left flank, and 2 are destroyed.    Setting aside the two artilleries, that means 4 unaccounted for; of which probably one is camping near their base.  So we are only facing 3, maybe 4 tanks on this flank.
If you have XVM installed (which you should) you'll also know which tank has been spotted where.

TL:DR  Find them, get your gun where it can shoot ASAP, but stay safe - preserve a line of retreat.
Don't lose too many HP.

#3. Mid Game - Finding the Gaps

Once about half the tanks are gone, gaps will start appearing in the enemy line.   By now, after looking regularly at the mini-map, you will also have a fair idea of where most of enemy team is located.

Yolo time! This is where an aggressive push often works.  There are often opportunities to flank enemies - you now (hopefully) know where the weak points are.  This is a great chance to get in "free damage" 

If you're in a light or fast medium, you might consider a run through to their artillery.  Or maybe you can get behind their main force and harass them, distracting them and relieving pressure on your team mates.  If you have a more powerful tank, you may even completely break the enemy flank.

TL:DR  Now is the time to seek out and find gaps, push or flank your foes.  Check the minimap, think, then act decisively.  

 Know When to Hold Em, Know When to Fold Em
...know when to walk away, know when to run.  

The  mid game is also when you really notice things going pear-shaped.

When you lose tanks, and the death message appear, check the mini-map and quickly consider the big picture:
Is your flank crumbling?  
Is the other flank crumbling?

If you are going to withdraw, be decisive.  A slow"fighting retreat" just sees you exposed as you withdraw.  Don't hang around for one last shot. Once you decide to pull out, go.  That low tier medium facing three full-HP enemy top tier heavies? He's about to die anyway.  Make sure his sacrifice isn't in vain.  Escape, and set up somewhere you can engage the heavies on more even terms.

If you think it's time to withdraw, the time is now.  Not in a minute or two when escape is impossible.

Amusingly, a team-mate gets stuck...

 ...and has to be pushed free.  Names hidden to protect the innocent :-P

#4. End Game

This is where preserving your hitpoints early is handy. It's why I have become more selfish when retreating/sitting behind allies. Would you rather it was you, or  that red WN 30 potato left fighting in the clutch stages?

I notice many blue-purple (good-great) players are rather cautious and they are usually always among those left alive at this stage.  They may be "campers" and "farm damage at the expense of team mates" but they are also winners.  There's a reason they do what they do.

If you have been paying attention to the minimap, you should have a fair idea where enemies are.  It's why fast tanks are so dangerous - they can swap flanks, or attack/defend unpredictably.  Whereas that 15kph TOG is probably is where you last saw him.  Vision range is also useful here, which is why you should never throw away your light tank in a suicide mission early in the game.  

If in doubt, defend cap rather than attacking.  If you have XVM, you can tell who will win a race to cap and how many are on cap. This is VERY useful.  Only 3 tanks count towards capping at a time, but extra tanks can be useful backup if one of the three is hit (and has its cap points reset.)  Often, if there's already 3 on cap, I usually move off cap a bit where I can intercept enemies and protect the capping tanks.

GENERAL TIPS

Get Comfortable in Your Tank
If you're always grinding "stock" tank to get better guns, engines and equipment - you're always driving a sub-standard tank.   Likewise if you're always training up new crews, you are gimping your performance. A 80% crew has 15% lower speed, accuracy and DPM than a maxed 110% crew.   If you're only playing for the "grind" and to unlock tanks, and not to have fun and blow stuff up, why are you playing the game?

A corollary to this is - get comfortable in your tier.  Players often "grind" quickly to high tiers without understanding or grasping the gameplay (or learning about enemy tanks) at the lower tiers.
For example, in tier 5 I am a good player (usually one of the best ones on my team); in tier 6 I am capable, in tier 7 I am so-so, and I am outmatched in tier 8.  So I confine the majority of my games to Tiers 5-6, while "learning" in Tiers 7-8.

 ....The Need For Speed
 ....Is the other flank crumbling?
This question highlights another point - the need for speed.  A slow tank cannot easily withdraw, or switch flanks to support a flank, or race back to stop an enemy cap.   Many game-winning strategies are simply not possible with a slow tank.   Speed > Armour.  Many slow tanks have great armour.  Great if facing their own tier or below. But how often are you top tier?  1 in 3?  When lower tier, your armour is likely to be outmatched, especially with the prevalence of gold ammo. So while armour is useful 33% of the time, speed is ALWAYS useful: 100% of the time.  And speed is arguably even more useful when you are a lower tier. 

Slow+ Tough: An armoured AT-2 tank destroyer, against foolish opponents, who don't know it's weak points, is almost impervious to frontal fire from equal or lower tier foes.  It can chew through swarms enemies who obligingly attack it frontally in chokepoints. However once it moves to a flank, it cannot redeploy elsewhere.  It's hard to "win" a game in an AT2 unless the opponents co operate. It's only tactic is a slow, frontal advance or a "back to the wall" last stand. Against higher tier foes (most of the time) it is largely neutered - the armour is negated by gold spam/better players/better guns, and its gun cannot always penetrate foes in a head-on duel. Furthermore, its lack of speed makes it an easy artillery target. It is a one-trick pony that relies on your opponents and team mates making certain choices.

Fast: A T-67 (also a tank destroyer) is a speed machine which can outrun some light tanks.  It has armour weaker than a coke can - but it doesn't care.  It can use its speed to flex all over the map, controlling engagements with superior vision range, fleeing unfavourable fights, and flanking with ease.  It can blast across the map to support allies or reset an enemy cap.  It's useful in higher tier games where its gun reliably pens when flanking and it can even be used as a pseudo-scout.  You can do well regardless of your opposition or team mates. 

Make Favourable Trades
If you're facing 3 enemy tanks with their guns trained on the rock you're hiding behind - why roll out and exchange 1 shot but get 3 in return?  But it's amazing how many players cannot resist doing this.
 They roll out, do 250 damage, get 3 x 250 damage shots in return; and are probably now tracked and mostly dead where opponents can easily finish them off. 

Usually they are loath to rush you and possibly lose their precious HP, so you have time to sit behind your cover and consider you situation.

Can you retreat toward backup?
Can I use my armour? (Sidescrape > Peek-a-boom); 70d+ = nearly automatic bounce
Can I ensure I get the first shot in/can I position myself so they can't flank me if they charge?
Is there a weak tank I can finish off? (gambling on one-shotting a tank and reducing the odds to 1:2)
Do I need to pop out and shoot to discourage them from rushing me?

I was quite proud of this game; after four team mates "lemminged" to their doom, I held off 5 enemies on my flank solo, through judicious retreating and sidescraping, killing their heavies (O-Is, KV) and holding them in place long enough for my artillery to take the others out. 

Remember - there's rarely a need to trade damage at a loss.  Ultimately, if you and your opponents remain in situ for the rest of the game, you've just tied up 3 enemy tanks with one of yours.  You can then pop out and hurt them when your team mates flank them in the end game.

"Free" Damage.  This is the holy grail.  Enemy tank turret facing away from you?  Maybe you're in a bush out of his view range. He can't shoot back! Awesome!  "Free" damage is damage you do without risk to yourself.  Something for nothing - it's the best trade of all. Constantly be thinking: how can I get in position to do unanswered damage?

A corollary to this is get the first shot in. This could be done by abusing camo/vision mechanics, or simply using cover wisely.  Having a first shot can damage crew/modules (making return fire less effective) and has a psychological impact on the enemy player as well.  It also gets you 'one-up' if it becomes a race to trade HP.

However, if you are a heavy, I would expect to lose some HP. If you are leading the line, you will take hits for your team.  You have the biggest HP pool and can lose chunks of HP with less risk, and negate hits with your armour.  For example, if you are a KV-1 with an allied Crusader, you should be the one to push around the corner to fight that 105mm-toting Pz IVH.  You might take 100-150 damage of your 640+; whereas the Crusader might get derped outright.   A heavy that has 100% HP at the end of the game is either very skilled at angling or (more likely) has been sitting back, hiding behind mediums and lights.... ...i.e. not doing his job. 

Focus Fire, Secure the Kill
I don't call it kill stealing, but kill securing. The faster an enemy gun can be put out of action, the better.  Work on one enemy tank and take it out of action ASAP.  This preserves your team mates precious HP.  Occasionally I leave a kill for someone else (i.e. I'm in my slow loading SU-152, with 700+ damage gun, vs a enemy with 50HP and two team mates are close by) but 90% of the time, focus your fire, remove the enemy tank, and take its gun out of the game.

It's not kill stealing, it's a public service.  You've made your team mates safer, sooner!

TL:DR
Use your minimap
Use your minimap all the time
Actually play your upgraded tanks and don't rush off to grind the next tier
Don't always rush in to help team mates in trouble
Withdrawing is a valid tactic: when you decide to do it, do it early and decisively
Don't use slow tanks; speed > armour
Don't trade damage at a loss (ie. play peek-a-boo with superior enemy forces)
Focus fire & kill steal - take out the enemy gun ASAP

These are not hard-and-fast rules (I can think of lots of exceptions) but are good general guidelines which have improved my play ~50%. I'm trying to widen my horizons from managing my tank (tunnel vision), to managing the entire battle (tactical awareness).  The key is the minimap. Did I mention that already?

World of Tanks - Intermediate Skills

World of Tanks is all about stats. People judge you on them.  If you are under 48% win rate, people will regard you as a poor player. Under 45% or so, and you will be regarded as a terrible player, good only to be used as a meat shield.

It's presumed you know the mechanics of how armour and camo work - if you don't, go here for links.  This post is for intermediate players - the below average-average players who want to improve their gameplay.  This is the bracket I fall into. The below post is a rehash of others articles I found the most thought-provoking and helpful, primarily Lert's Guides  -with full articles linked.

Don't be a Victim

"I'm always on sucky teams"  "Matchmaker is broken"  "There's nothing I could do"

I'm just one guy of 15.  I can't affect the game much, right?  WRONG.

Fights are never 15v15 tanks sitting in the open blasting at each other.  Assuming a few artillery and a few campers, most battles for a flank are likelier to be 5v5. And due to intervening terrain, those inevitably break up into 3v2 and 1v2 and 1v1 duels.  You'll seldom face more than 2-3 enemy tanks at a time.  Why do we get 15-0 steamroller wins? Because someone wins a 1v1 duel, then joins a friend to make it 2v1, outgunning the new enemy - they then win, and move on to the next enemy with a 3v1 advantage in firepower...  It's a snowball effect.

Every tank matters.   The math is ruthless. If your team loses, you are to blame.  You can control your win rate.

This video is a signature of Sask_Outrider's guides.  Like Lert, his guides have an immense amount of useful tips and tactics.

Stats Matter

The larger the sampling, the more reliable the stats.  If you've played 2000 games and only won 45% of them, the sampling is large enough to be reliable.  The stats reliably point out you are a below-average player.    If you win 550 times out of 1000, it means that 50 times, your superior decision making and tanking skills resulted in a win.  Conversely, winning only 450 out of 1000 means 50 times your poor choices were responsible for the loss. If your KDR is less than 1 and your damage ratio is less than 1, you are not pulling your weight.  Someone else has to "carry" you and do extra kills and damage.   Corollary: Always try to do damage equal to your tank's hit points

Remember: there's a difference between not caring about stats and denying their meaning and significance. And when a game is as stat-centric as WoT, they can be a reliable and useful indicator for improving your play.

There is an interesting phenomenon called the Dunning Kruger Effect (also one of my gamer tags, ironically).  In brief, it says dumb people overestimate their ability - they are too dumb to realise how bad they are.  But what if you're a poor/below average player and you know it?

You know the game mechanics, you know how armour, penetration works.  You even memorised common weak spots to aim for on enemy tanks. But you lose more than you win.... how do we fix this?

A. How to Win - Trading Hitpoints

Each team has 15 tanks. Each tank has armour and hit points. Each tank has guns that remove those hit points.  A tank with 0 hit points is dead has 0 effect on the battle. 

A good player will preserve his (and his team's) hit points while seeking remove the enemy hit points 

This should inform all your decisions.  Where you move, where you shoot, etc...  ...ask yourself:

 "Will this remove enemy hit points while preserving my own?"

This is the single most important thing you will read on this page.

A better breakdown is here.  Read it. Learn it. Live it.  

It seems so commonsense, but if you apply it to all your decisions it will improve your play dramatically. It will help you avoid poor "trades" (i.e. getting in a situation where you lose more HP than you take off the enemy.) The mindset brings with it a lot of good practices, like:

*Spotting is good - it helps team mates remove enemy HP

*Camping base is bad - you preserve your own HP but do not remove enemy HP (and allow enemies to remove allied HP unmolested)

*Taking a hit for a low-HP team mate - preserving their life (and their gun) helps remove enemy HP

Remember, hitpoints are a resource.  Like any resource, they should be traded or spent when it is advantageous to do so. Heavies, for example, are expected to lose some HP when helping to push a flank. What we want to do is trade the fewest of our hitpoints for the most enemy hitpoints possible.

B. Picking Your Fights

How do you best remove enemy HP whilst retaining your own?

There's a chart that goes like this:

Camo -> Exposure -> Armour -> First Strike -> HP

1. Camo. You can see him. He can't see you. This is the best. 

2. Exposure. Peek out, shoot, move back into cover before enemies retaliate. They can't hit you.

3. Armour. Hull down, sidescrape, angling. Minimise damage.  If you don't have armour, get the:

4. First Strike.  Make them be the first to lose modules and hit points.

5. Hitpoints.  Failing all else, you may be able to tank them if you have superior HP. If you have 1000HP and they have 200, you're likely to win.  Not the best option, but useful at times. 

All these tips are aimed to take the most HP off the enemy while minimising the risk of losing your own.  Below are associated points which which bear repeating:

Focus Your Fire

Tanks in WoT retain their full firepower even with 1HP. So by focussing on a single tank and knocking out their gun, you reduce return fire.  "Spreading" damage around means more guns are firing back (and thus reducing your team HP pool/killing your team).  Turn that 3v3 situation into a 3v2...  Removing enemy guns preserves your team's hit points.  More details here.

Corollary: Kill stealing is good. The faster you can knock out a tank (and therefore their gun) the sooner you remove it from the game (preserving your team's HP), and the sooner your team can focus on their next target.

Get Early Damage

You know that guy that sits back, camps and does 0 damage until all your team is dead, then kills 2-3 half-dead enemies, then gets swarmed, whilst telling everyone in chat how much they suck?

Whilst the player preserved his hit points, he did not help preserve his team's hit points (by distracting enemies, spotting, spreading enemy fire) and neither did he remove enemy hit points (and also their guns).  By hiding away out of the action (effectively making his team a man down) he created a negative 1v2 situation for his team somewhere on the battlefield.  Although he got kills, he did not contribute until it was too late to effect the outcome. He was part of the "snowball" effect that got enemies to a 14-5 lead.

The best player on a losing team is still a loser.

Free Damage

Camping passively is bad - you allow the enemies the initiative.  However mindless aggression can get you swiftly knocked out and unable to contribute.  A good term to think of is "free damage."

Free damage is damage you do to the enemy without taking any in return.  

You might surprise them, early in the game, and move back into cover before they can react.  They are now a few hundred HP down and you will have an advantage later in the game.  This ties in to points 1 & 2 of "picking your fights."  Learn to look for free damage. Get it as early as possible - it can dramatically impact the late game.

Use your Minimap

I'm presuming you have XVM installed. If you don't, go do it now.

WoT, being a very stat-driven game, has lots of tools to help analyse gameplay.  I particularly liked the heat maps showing where activity occurs on any given map.

But your minimap is your Bible. Enlarge it (+ and - keys) a few sizes to make it easier to read.  Consult it often. Don't get tunnel vision and ignore the "big picture." 

Don't be afraid to retreat (i.e. the mysterious "S" key)
It's easy to get carried away trying to "push" enemies, and charge forward. Or get absorbed with trading cool 'splosions until it's too late.  This is especially true if you are facing superior forces on your flank.  If you can't take them, back up or run away.  The brave man dies for his country. The smart man makes the enemy die for his.

Make them enter the chokepoint. Make them peek around the corner into your allies guns.  Make them chase you into the gunsights of that KV-2.

If you decide to retreat, do it early and fast. The longer you hang around, the more likely you will be shot up when making your escape.
Corollary: Before you take up a position, determine if you can easily retreat from it

XVM & Win %
I think it is silly not to use it. In sports, coaches and players scout opponents to knowing who their good players are.   I.e. if you know their three best players are in arty, you don't sit still for too long.
If you have good players supporting you, you can rely on them.  Poor players - prepare a Plan B.

However there is a temptation to play the man, not the tank. But a gun can hurt you just as much as if it is fired by an idiot as a genius.

The other thing is the "win %" which calculates your chance to win before the game. I've seen players drive into the lake and drown if they have a low win %. I know I find it a bit depressing at times, and can lead to negative play. Even more soul-destroying is if you have a 70%+ win chance then your team fails.

Again, while it might be useful information, you can't let it completely dictate your mood and game style. It's a percentage chance, not a fact.

Capping
If, like me, you've ever wondered when to cap, or when to drop back and defend a cap....

Capping announces your presence and location. It also puts pressure on the enemy team.  There is more complete guides with mechanics here and examples here but basically

 Capping forces enemies to react. It puts pressure on the enemy team.

Capping early when enemies are nearby (and can easily respond to the threat) is usually a bad idea.  A better time to cap is if you are outnumbered and the enemies are far from their base.  You may disrupt their attack as some players will race back to stop you (often in dribs and drabs.) Good players nearly always react to an enemy cap - after all, you know exactly where he is, and if you don't neutralize him, you'll lose, irrespective of kills/losses.  As a bonus, he's sitting still in the open. Free damage ftw!

Defence: You can reset the timer by doing any damage (shooting at tracks or using HE - often players carry a few HE shells for this purpose).  Shoot the weakest tank to guarantee damage. Cycle between targets to reset each tank on cap.

Offence: You can speed up the timer by having extra tanks (up to 3) capping, more than this does nothing but make it harder to dislodge your forces from cap/reset the timer.  When capping, avoid getting hit! Failing that, defend the tank that has been on cap longest (has the most cap points).

If in doubt, go back and defend. 

Anyway, there are a lot more good points in the various guides, but these are the ones that struck a chord with me, and I think are improving my gameplay the most.  I hope these help you like they are helping me. 

Yes, Delta Vector regulars, it's another PC game post. With toddlers it's easier to grab a 10min game then set up a gaming table. Suck it up! ;-)

World of Tanks: Basics

 This is a follow on article of this one - WoT, Getting Started.

Hopefully you have an idea of what to expect.  You've chosen a "line" of tanks - preferably one with few frustrating lemons in the tier 4-7 bracket you'll spend the most time in.  By sticking with only one or two nations (Russia or USA, recommended) you can unlock tanks and gear faster. A recap:

Heavy. Lots of damage. Slow moving, tough. Can take enemies head on.  Forgiving for newbies. 
Recommended: Russia, USA

Tank Destroyer. Be a sneaky ninja - with a giant cannon.  But you're usually as well armoured as a Coke can.   
Recommended: USA, Germany, Russia


Medium. Jack of all trades.  Decent gun, some armour, speed good for flanking. 
Recommended: Britain, Russia

Light.  Flimsy, fast. Spends a lot of time birdwatching from bushes.  Very unforgiving.  Good for hunting arty.
Recommended: USA

SPG (Artillery). Sit, stare at map, lob shells.  Not really a tank.
Recommended: None. Get one (any nation) so you understand how they work/how to avoid them.

However, not every tank follow the rules.  An ELC light plays more like a superfast TD. A Matilda is a medium that is really a slow, well-armoured heavy. An AMX is a light - but has good armour and is slow - it's more like a heavy. The AT2 tank destroyer has a tiny gun but is almost invulnerable in a head on assault.  

How do you do well? Hurt enemy tanks!

Basically, do damage to the enemies.  If you do more damage to the enemy than the HP you have on your vehicle, you are doing well.  Whilst staying alive for longer helps you do damage (good), hiding in a corner and doing 0 damage hurts your team.  Don't yolo out across the middle of the map, but if you're not getting much damage you need to be more aggressive. Damage earns you XP. Damage makes you win.

Useful tip: Download XVM

It's a useful mod that gives useful info.  It shows who are good/bad players (which means you can spectate the good ones after you die and learn). It also shows you your view range on the minimap, and the last known location of enemy tanks. Very useful.  Simply download it and drop it in the WoT folder in your C Drive.

Options

Turn off grass and extra effects in sniper mode to make it easier to see.  Reduce shadow, water and flora sliders until you have 30+fps.  Your CPU not your videocard tends to limit performance.

I turn my overall sound settings right down, so if friends on Teamspeak or Vent don't get drowned out by tank noises. Whilst there is in-game VOIP for platoon-mates, it isn't good quality.

You can play round with reticules and markers. I tend to turn on all enemy icons (tier, model, player, health bar) so I can make more informed decisions.

Tank Weapons & Equipment

I'm not going to talk about guns, and armour etc as it is pretty self explanatory.  The lower the dispersion and aim time scores, the more accurate the gun.  Basically, you want to avoid using the stock weapons and engines in most cases. In early levels you unlock stuff fast. But in later levels you use free XP to avoid having to "grind" using weak weapons and gear. Save your free XP for weapons/engines etc at Tier 4-5+ - do not spend free XP to unlock tanks!

Consumables

Default loadout is: small first aid kit, a first aid kit, and a small fire extinguisher. These will be hotkeyed from buttons 4-6. Learn them, and keep them the same for each tank, so you can quickly repair your tracks or put out a fire in battle.

Modules

There are very useful modules - a Gun Rammer adds 10% dps (almost mandatory on Tier 5+ tanks); Binocs and Camo nets are great for Light Tanks and TDs, and Repair Kits are useful to Heavies. these three are great as you can freely shift them between tanks.  Only buy them on a special.  Vents are a great all-round addition. Right now modules are hideously expensive.  We'll revisit them later. 

Ammo

AP is normal ammo.  Most of your ammo is AP.
HEAT/APCR ("gold ammo") is very expensive but penetrates more armour. Carry 5 or so rounds for emergencies.
HE rounds rarely penetrate, but damage modules and crew and do massive damage to lightly armoured vehicles. I usually carry a couple for re-setting cap.
Buttons 1-3 swaps ammo types in game.

Crew Skills
 If you right click on crew, you can set crew skills and perks.
 The best commander skill is "Sixth Sense"* - it tells  you when you are spotted by enemies.
For TDs and Lights, "Camo" is a good skill.  Most of my crew train this as their first skill.
For Heavies, I like "Repairs" as a good skill for your crew.
Mediums can vary. Snap shot (gunner) and driver skills (smooth ride etc) are as useful as camo.
*Useful tip: It's actually better to train a skill like camo and reset it to 6th Sense when it gets to 100%

Useful Buttons

ENTER to chat. Once you type, press TAB to cycle between channels.  Highlight an enemy tank and press T to request fire on it.   Change the size of your minimap with the = and - keys.  Print Screen takes screenshots. With machineguns, C reloads your clip.
Protip: Hold down Right Mouse to freely look around without swivelling your turret or your tank around like a Nigel.

Platoons

Play with friends. You can Ctrl+Right Click on a players name in-game to add them as a friend (or block or report them, for that matter). You can create platoons on the fly in-game, or from your contacts/friends list on the Garage screen.

Warning about Tiers: Playing with friends over comms is great and improves your chance of victory. HOWEVER if you pair up the wrong tanks, it can lead to frustration.  Most players know not to mix tanks of different Tiers - i.e. a Tier 2 tank in a Tier 5 game is suicide.  
However it is not evident to new players: Not all tank classes of a "Tier" are equal.
Lights and Artillery are not "ranked" the same as Mediums, TDs or Heavies, and often face much tougher opponents.  A Tier 5 Chaffee and a Tier 5 Sherman are NOT equals.  The Chaffee will drag the Sherman into Tier 8 games and almost guarantee both will be bottom tier (i.e. worst tanks in the game).  A better match for the Sherman would be the Tier 4 M5 Stuart which sees similar opponents.
Here is a precise list.

Rule of thumb:  Count artillery or lights as 1-2 Tiers higher than they say on the box. In any case, as scouts and arty are kinda solo roles, it's best to platoon with heavies, mediums or TDs. 

No Auto Aim.

Right click is auto aim. DO NOT USE IT*
(-) It is far less accurate
(-) You cannot aim at weak points
(-) It does not "lead" tanks and thus misses deflection shots on moving vehicles
(*) There IS a time to use it.  Usually, it's when you are in a fast tank with a rapid fire gun, engaging a slow/stationary target.  Right click to lock the target, then you can concentrate on driving behind it/around it as it tries desperately to track you with its turret.

HUD/MiniMap

It's pretty self explanatory.  However pressing Ctrl will allow you to mouse over the minimap and click to "flash" a square of the map - to draw your team mates attention to a sneak attack, for example. If you accidentally lose your HUD, V gets it back.

Camouflage or: I'm getting sniped by invisible tanks! Hacks!

The view range of a tank depends on its own view range and the camo of the enemy tank.
There are very useful modules (Binocs, Camo Net, Coated Optics) which improve this a lot, but at low tiers you rarely see them.   It's pretty commonsense:
Smaller tanks (lights, TDs) have better camo. Big tanks (heavies) are easily spotted.   Lights (scouts) have the best spotting range.

Firing your gun massively reduces your camo for several seconds.  Sitting still improves it (especially if you have Binocs and Camo Net) - crashing around knocking over trees doesn't help.   If your crew have the Camo skill, it helps a lot.

Here's an old but useful video. Watch it. 

If you prefer words and pictures, voila.

Armour or: Why Can't I damage the Enemy?!! This is BS!!

Your crosshair shows how likely your shell will penetrate (green = yes, yellow = maybe, red = no)but it's more complicated than that.

Sloping armour is much more powerful. So if you point the corner of your tank's hull at the enemy tank, you effectively have about double the armour* than if you face them head on (*because maths.)
This is called angling. 

Most times (but not always) tanks have better turret armour.  So sitting on a reverse slope (exposing only your tougher turret to shoot) is good. This is called hulldown. American tanks in particular shine at this tactic.

A more advanced skill is called sidescraping.  This is when you reverse away from cover, showing your (weaker) side armour at such an extreme angle it almost automatically bounces.  Many players never learn this.

Most players quickly learn to "peek-a-boom" - rolling out of cover, taking a shot, then rolling back.  However, there are two things to consider (a) do you have a bigger gun/more HP (so you can win if you "trade" shots and (b) if you are side on, and they are angled head on, you may bounce your shot.Russian heavies are usually good at this.

Another video guide. This time on armour.

Here's the word-and-pics version.

Moving On: When do I move up the tiers?

Many people say "only when you have totally mastered every component, and played hundreds of games in a tank etc, etc."  Screw them. You move on when you want.
However:
Tier 1, pretty much all guns penetrate, so you don't learn much about armour.  After about 20 games, you lose your "preferential matchmaking" and get tossed into harder games.  Maps are boring.
Tier 2 is where the beginner tanks branch out.  You get your first artillery (SPG) and tank destroyers.  It's a good transition tier to hang out in, and try out different tank styles.
Tier 3 is pretty awful. You can feel helpless when you face Tier 5s which you may only penetrate from the side or behind.  I'd zip through this tier as fast as possible.
Tier 4 is where you first notice the grind. The Matilda, T28, tank destroyers and lights are OK, but the rest are pretty bad for the Tier 5 games you'll inevitably find yourself in.
Tier 5+ hooray, you've arrived!  A decent range of good tanks and lots of maps.  

Free XP

Do not use this to unlock tanks.  Just don't.   You use free XP to unlock weapons and modules so you aren't stuck with a stock tank.

It annoys me to see a stock tank in a game (yes, there is a symbol that shows you are stock - we will know).  It shows the player is an impatient me-me kid who wanted a new tank right now but was too stupid to realize he has now doomed himself (and his luckless team mates) to dozens of games with a sub-optimal "crippled" tank - with the weakest weapons and a sluggish engine.

Save your XP to unlock modules. Playing a stock tank is painful, you will earn less XP, and you will lose more. And so will your team mates.

Crew & Retraining

You very nicely get 100% crew for your starter tanks, but any new crew are either 50% or pay 20,000 silver and buy trained crew (75%).  Good crew are important - although "50%" crew don't really halve your speed, rate of fire etc - they do reduce it significantly (A 50% crew actually has about 80% of the ability of a fully-trained crew)

If you retrain crew from another tank, you lose a big chunk of that skill.  A retained crew is 80%, 90% or 100% as good as he was on the last tank, depending on what you are willing to pay.

Crew training is exponential (diminishing returns) - it's easy to train from 50% to 75% = but takes ages to train from 90% to 100%.  85% is about half-way to 100%.  90% skill is only about 2/3rds the way to 100%.

Personally, I wouldn't retrain a 100% crew for another tank until you have Tier 5 or higher tanks.  The crew from Tiers 1-4 simply aren't in the vehicle long enough to make it worthwhile.

I'd just stick your Tier 1 crews into your Tier 2s without retraining them (they're still 75% - better than the 50% freebies you'd get ).

Where possible, I'd tend to save money and use free 50% "Rapid Courses" crews.   The only time I'd buy a 75% Regimental Training crew for 20k is for the Commander - he adds a percentage of his skill to all crew members.  I'd also consider buying a 75% trained gunner for some tanks - as doing more damage gains you XP faster.

Spending Real Money

No "free to play" game is truly free.  You need it for Garage Slots beyond the 6 or so tanks slots you start with.  The smallest amount of gold you buy ($8) buys about 4 garage slots - or 8 if you were patient and got them on special.

I want to learn more! I want to get guid!

This is a great place to start.  It explains the mechanics (especially camo and armour) in more detail.

 For advanced gameplay, I recommend Quickbaby. I also enjoy The Mighty Jingles.

I used Lert's Guide to learn a lot about a range of topics covered in this post. His list of "Donts" for beginners is very useful and should be mandatory reading. Lert's Guide => Recommended Reading.

I also like stats. WoT has lots of stats. Some useful, some not. Some make your electronic penis bigger.  A few useful sites are WoTLabs, Noobmeter, Want to know what the best tank is?  vbAddict has the answers.  There is the official wiki but like all wikis I'm not 100% sure how accurate everything is.