WoT Beginners guide Part 4: Crew Training

In World of Tanks, there are many factors that go into the performance of your vehicle. One of those factors is your crew experience. Every battle, your crew gains experience that helps increase their skill on the battle field. In this article we will take a look at crew training and how it can separate you from your enemy.

Your tank is typically crewed by two to six people, depending on the size of the vehicle, and the needs those vehicles have. Each crew member takes a different role and improves your vehicle as they themselves improve. For example, your tank may aim faster with a highly experienced gunner. The various positions you will see for your crew will be detailed in the following.

Commander:

The commander is the leader of your tank. He raises the overall effectiveness of your vehicle, and he can take positions of crew members that are knocked out of commission during any given battle.

Gunner:

The gunner is the crew member that affects the aiming speed of your gun and the overall accuracy. Some of the larger tanks carry two gunners as well.

Loader:

The loader directly influences the speed at which a gun can reload. This is extremely important if you find yourself in a heated engagement, as the more shots you can get off the more damage you will do in a shorter period of time.

Radio Operator:

The radio operator increases the view range of your vehicle, and the range in which you communicate with your teammates. This allows you to view more of the map and can give you the advantage of surprise.

Driver

The driver is the final crew member. His job is to maneuver the vehicle, and with higher experience he will be able to turn quicker and also help increase the overall speed.

The crew starts at 50% experience as a default though you can use credits or gold to start them at a higher percentage as well. Crew experience really begins to make a huge impact when your crew member reaches 100%. At this time you may train your crew member in a skill, or a perk. Though both are extremely helpful, you may only choose one or the other for each crew member. Skills are bonuses that take effect immediately. This means that once you choose it, the skill is activated and improves as you start the climb to 100% again. A Perk on the other hand, will only take effect when it reaches 100%. In both cases, when the skill or perk reaches maximum, you may then select another skill or perk for your crew member. It is also important to note that some skills and perks are available only to certain crew members. For example, a gunner has some separate perks than a loader may have.

To finish, we will identify some of the main skills and perks.

Common abilities:

These abilities can be learned by any crew member.

Repair: When a tank takes damage to a module, the repair skill increases the speed by which the module is fixed. This helps greatly when, say if you lose your tracks out in the open, you will be able to repair and get to safety again faster.

Firefighting: Increases the speed at which a fire will be extinguished in your vehicle, preventing it from doing further damage.

Camouflage: Increases the difficulty at which your tank can be detected by enemy vehicles.

Brothers in Arms: Gives each crew member the ability to take over for a downed crew member with minimal drop off in performance.

 

Main ability by Crew member:

We will only identify a couple of the main abilities per each position.

Commander:
Mentor: Increases crew experience gained per battle.
Recon: Increases maximum view range.

Gunner:
Deadeye: Improves the probability of inflicting damage to enemy modules or crew members.
Snapshot: Improves accuracy during turret rotation, allowing you to aim quicker and get off an accurate shot.

Driver:
Clutch Braking: Improves the speed at which your tank rotates. This is a great ability for slower tanks such as tank destroyers.
Smooth Ride: Increases accuracy when firing on the move.

Radio Operator:
Situational Awareness: Improves your tanks view range.
Signal Boosting: Extends your tanks signal range. This is great for scouts reporting back to the team on enemy positions.

Loader:
Intuition: Increases the speed at which the loader switches between shell types, such as armor penetration shells and high explosive shells.
Safe Stowage: Increases ammo rack durability. This will help your tank from taking a critical shot which can knock it out of commission quickly.

Your crew can distinguish yourself from other tanks, even of the same model. It helps bring a character to your vehicle, and the ability to choose your abilities helps match the tank to your own personality. It is also worth noting that competitive tankers may have multiple crews for the same tank based on the job they wish to accomplish.

Thanks for reading this article, next week we will wrap up the beginners series with a look at equipment and how they can also increase the effectiveness of your tank. Until then, Roll out!