Love Me Some World of Tanks
If you enjoy team games on the PC (are you a crazy Call of Duty fan?) and you also like free stuff then you will love World of Tanks. I can’t say many bad things about this game. Well there is one, which I will explain below.
Game Basics
In total there are around 150 historically accurate Russian, American and German tanks. You start out with a basic light tank, there is one for each country. After you hit the large Battle button at the top of the tank selection screen, you are automatically entered into a battle. After a brief loading screen and waiting for most players to join, you and fourteen comrades face off against fifteen others in heart-pounding action.
There are two ways to win the game.
- Capture the enemy flag. This means placing your tank in a large circle at the opposing teams base. You have to hold your position until the counter reaches 100. Not too hard until you realize every hit you take reduces the counter.
- Kill everyone on the opposing team. Supposedly you earn more points by capturing the flag, but that doesn’t take into account the fun involved in seeing your enemy burst into flames.
Even if you lose a game, you still earn experience and credits that allow you to upgrade your tanks with better equipment. There are also extras you can add onto your tank to give you a boost. An example would be a camo net that gives you +25% stealth ability.
Winning gives you a greater number of experience points and credits. After you spend your experience points to research the next tank you can spend your credits and buy the tank.
If you want to speed up how fast you level you can spend real money and buy in game gold. This can be used to double your experience, buy more credits, buy powerful shells, and even get a fully researched tank. Gold purchased tanks are sort of in their own tier and you can’t upgrade to a newer tank beyond them.
There are 10 levels of tanks in the game, although the highest I have is a lvl 8. I find at my level of skill, it is better to stick with blowing up noobs than getting to higher tiered battles where tank platoons abound.
Playable Tank Types
Heavy Tanks
These bad boys are slow and lumbering but let out a massive, destructive boom every 45 seconds or so. They sport thick armor that stops many of the smaller tanks shells. Can’t say this is my favorite as their slow speed is annoying. Try climbing a hill as a KV-5, it’s mind-numbing.
Medium Tanks
Faster than heavy tanks but pack less of a punch. These are always good to run around in groups called wolfpacks. These packs encircle lone heavies (mostly noobs driving Lowes) and grind them down. According to the game they are supposed to deliver flanking attacks and back off. But nobody backs off in this game. It’s go go go!
Light Tanks
My second favorite tank to play in this game. Well only if there are artillery backing you up. Otherwise your thin armor will not protect you against some of the lowliest penetrating shells. Here your speed is your ally, light tanks must scout out in advance of their team members and light up targets for artillery.
My favorite thing to do as a light is rush in straight for the artillery. You hope Mr. T-95 is afk bio when you rush in. I have a T-50-2 that looks like a crack fiend swerving all over the place trying to dodge incoming shells.
Tank Destroyers
These are fun if the map has good hiding places. Buy a camo net and hide in the bushes. That’s all there is to playing a Tank Destroyer.
SPG (self-propelled guns).
Ahh, the bane of all heavy tanks (actually all tanks). Sit back in relative comfort while you spoon feed the enemy high-explosive shells. This is my favorite tank to play even though all regular tankers hate them. You will hear complaints constantly in the game chat about how arty ruins the game. Just laugh and launch another death-inducing projectile their way.
There is More than Just Winning
What is even more fun than winning? Receiving a hard fought medal or award.
A few examples of medals and achievements are:
- Top Gun – Rack up at least six kills in one game and hope nobody else did. This is very hard to get. I have only done it twice in a few months of playing.
- Reaper – Kill three consecutive vehicles with one shot each.
- Scout – Detect at least nine enemy vehicles. Not too hard to get on a light tank.
If you are interested in seeing all the achievements and how to get them, go to World of Tanks Guide.com
My Favorite Tank
The GW Panther SPG. It’s a level six so you can still get a good range of nubs to bombard. I have it as elite status right now while I build up the tank crew. Sadly, the tank this model is based off of never saw the light of day according to Wargaming:
Developed by the Krupp company in 1943–1944. A model of an SPG was manufactured. No prototypes were ever produced.
Here’s a cool video showing the GW Panther in action. (Music is horrible but oh well)
The One Bad Thing About World of Tanks
The Malinovka map aka Campinovka. This map is irritating to play. It’s basically a giant field that is no-man’s land. There is also high ground that must be captured to win the game. Unfortunately:
- Noobs in their light tanks rush across the field and die in a hail of explosions, or
- Everyone sits on their sidelines until the time runs out.
I have seen people self-destruct their tank upon loading into this map on multiple occasions. Here is a thread on the World of Tanks forum about removing Malinovka.
wow even the graphics are of relatively high standard, im definitely interested
Nice! Definitely awesome, especially for a free game. Who doesn’t love tanks?
Looks pretty cool, we’ve come a long way since that old Atari game “Combat”, remember that one?
Oh definitely. Combat brings back memories of long hours in front of the “game TV”. In our case it was a 13″ black and white set. Good times.