World of Tanks New Player Guide

World of Tanks New Player Guide by Rastus

Table of Contents:
I. Intro
II. Controls
III. Nations and their Advantages.
VI. Tank Types

I. Intro
Hi welcome to my guide. This is my first guide ever, and I welcome constructive criticism to help better this guide, and myself as the writer.
I’ve played this game for about 4+ hours a day since about 2 days after the EU Closed-Beta release, and I feel like helping some new players to this game which I found a little hard to understand at first.
So again, welcome to the guide, I hope this helps you, and if you have any questions, just post and I, or someone else may be able to help.

II. Controls

Here is a basic overview of the in game controls. You can also press F1 in battle to see an overview of the controls as well, as well as some other useful information.

Movement:
W – Move Forwards.
S – Move Backwards.
A – Turn Left.
D – Turn Right.
R – Auto Accelerate.
F – Auto Reverse.
Space – Come to a full stop quickly, and continue moving after pressing again, or fire a shot.

Combat:
Left Click – Fire.
Right Click – Auto Aim. Your tank’s cannon will follow the tank till it disappears or till you right click again to cancel it.
Shift – Turret View for Tanks and Tank Destroyers. Top down view for SPG’s.
1-5 – Select which ammo to use. Press the number 1 to change ammo after next shot, press twice to change immediately.

Communication:
Enter/Return – Team chat. Press once to type, press again to team chat.
Enter/Return + Ctrl – Chat to tall. Press Enter/Return to type, press Enter/Return + Ctrl to send to all.
F2-F7 – Radio Commands.

Miscellaneous:
F1 – Open in game guide to controls as well as other useful information.
Scroll Wheel – Zooms the camera in and out. Also zooms the camera in and out when in turret view and top down view.
Hold Right Click (Just in front of your tank) – To look around your tank and not move your turret .

III. Nations and their Advantages.

For the time being their are 2 nations in World of tanks, with more nations to be released as the game progresses. Each have their own ups and downs, and here I will give a small description on those.

USSR:

The USSR have the strongest statistical fire power in the game for the time being, and also have the fastest light tank in the game so far.
But with this firepower, the USSR lacks armor with other tanks in their tier (this is not always the case though), so be careful going head to head with other tanks in your class.

Germany:

The German Steel has the thickest armor in almost every tank category in the game (especially with the higher up tier tanks like the Maus).
Having the thickest armor may cause you to move slow, but it doesn’t mean you still can’t get to the battlefield to deliver damage in the safety of your armor.

These aren’t always the general rule for these sides, but this is how things pan out for the end game stats. But don’t let these stop you from choosing your favorite tank, as rolling around in your favorite tank is half the fun.

As more nations come out, I will update this. But for now, we can have fun with Germany and the USSR.

VI: Tank Types.

Their are 5 tank category’s in the game, and I will explain the ups and downs of each category.

Light Tanks:
The first type of tank you will use in the game, and also tend to be the fastest. Light tanks like the USSR A-20, and the German VK1602 Leopard are used to scout out enemy positions, and rely them back to allies. They can also be used to destroy unprotected SPG’s to allow ally tanks to advance without fear form above. These are very impotent tanks when it comes to the bigger battles, but they are very fragile and can die very quickly (Sometimes 1 shot depending on what hits them) so be careful where you drive.

Medium Tanks.
The backbone of any battle, medium tanks are your all rounder tanks. They have no major advantages or disadvantages as they have average speed, damage and armor.

Heavy Tanks.
Heavy tanks have the thickest armor compared to any other class. Though slow when it comes to movement and turret turning, these tanks can deliver one frightful blow, and take a few blows themselves. Due to their sluggish movements, light and some fast moving medium tanks can get in close and circle around these big behemoths and twiddle them down to nothing.

Tank Destroyers.
These guys lack side and back armor and don’t have great speed, but they make up for these in firepower. With no turret like other tanks, Tank Destroyers must turn their whole body to follow their prey. These are great snipers, and are used well to defend your base, or your artillery with their large cannons and thick frontal armor.

Self Propelled Howitzers:
Self Propelled Howitzers, also known as SPG’s, are the long range artillery of the game. With their top down view of the map, they can shoot almost anywhere on the map, and deal the highest amount of damage in the game when it hits directly. SPG’s have the weakest armor in the game, so need to be protected well from those pesky light tanks.