New to SPG/arty/artillery?

Here is an introduction to playing arty:

Equipment for light tanks and artillery

One question you will come to ask yourself is “what kind of equipment should I use on my tanks?” I will try to answer this, based on recommendations I’ve seen and heard, and based on my own experiences.

The type of equipment you should use depends on what type of tank you are driving. Let’s run through them type by type. But first a few words about my “philosophy” when it comes to using a tank’s strengths and weaknesses. Very few tanks are good allround tanks, maybe except tier IX and X medium tanks. Most tanks and types have certain strengths and weaknesses, and you have to play them accordingly. When it comes to equipment you can either use it to compensate for weaknesses or to enhance it’s strengths.

My personal philosophy is to equip tanks to increase their strengths, and to use their relative advantages to the fullest. This also includes what kind of crew skills I choose.

Light tanks

I may be a bit controversial on this one. Really good light tank drivers will certainly recommend something different than I do, but my choice is what I think is the correct setup for newbies up to medium good players:

1. A camouflage net increase your tank’s stealthiness by 10% when you have been standing still for 3 seconds or more. Even if there are fever and fever maps with bushes for passive scouting, there still are enough possibilities. (Only yesterday my passive scouting in a match resulted in 4.250 assistance damage, and I became the best player on my team.) If you move, the camouflage net loses it’s effect, but it is a great equipment on the right map. And you can move a net from tank to tank without any cost.
2. Binoculars increase your view range by 25% when you have been stationary for more than 3 seconds. Therefore it is – like the camouflage net – for passive scouting only. Remember that even if your tank has a view range of more than for example 500 meters, the maximum view range in the game is actually 445 meters. What those extra meters of view range means, is that your view range will be used to reduce the effect of the enemy’s combined camouflage “effect”. (= camouflage value on a tank + camouflage net + camouflage skills on the crew)
3. You can not win a game only by passive scouting. So the third equipment I use on light tanks is coated optics, which gives you an extra 10% view range when on the move. This might not sound like a lot, but remember that light tanks keep their camouflage values when they move. A good scouter moves a lot when passive scouting is not possible. So that extra 10% will be enough to spot a heavy tank with a low view range.

Better players than me will definitely choose equipment that increase the performance of the gun, for instance a vertical stabilizer. I have played the tier VI american light tank T37 a lot lately. At first I used binoculars, coated optics and vents, but then I swapped the vents for the camouflage net, and I think my performance in that tank increased after I change the equipment.

On tier VIII light tanks gun performance is more important, but for tier IV to VII I believe my setup is quite okay. On tier I to III you can use a toolbox instead of coated optics, since you can move it for free to other tanks. (Spending 500.000 in game credits for equipment on a tier I tank is a bit….. silly?)

Arty

It is in my opinion a lot easier to choose equipment on an arty than on and other type of tank. To maximize the strengths of an arty you have to focus on reload and aim time. Therefore the setup is:

1. An enhanced gun laying drive increases the aim speed by 10%. Anyone who has played an arty knows how frustrating it is to wait for the gun to aim fully.
2. An artillery shell rammer decreases the reload time by 10%. You just have to use one!
3. The third equipment is a difficult one to choose. I have tried different ones, and on my artillery I now have three different equipment in the third slot: A spall liner (increases the protection from light vehicles which will find you), camouflage net (see above) and vents, which will decrease reload and increase aim speed. Choose any. When your crew has got reasonable camouflage skill, you might want to choose not to use the net. Vents might be the best all round equipment.

On a later post I will recommend equipment for medium tanks, tank destroyers and heavy tanks.

Well then, what about arty?

I play arty only to do the missions in World of tanks, and I am not a very good arty player. But Bobo Grimmer, who has a YouTube channel dedicated to him playing arty, is. I asked him if he could do a video explaining a bit about arty for newbies. I’m not sure if this is his reply, but it is quite instructional: