Success in World of Tanks depends on survival, and survival depends on your
tanks ability to stay hidden and spot enemies.
When you're out on the battlefield, enemy tanks will remain hidden from everyone
on your team until they have been spotted. Once an enemy is spotted by you
or a teammate, it becomes visible to other players on your team. Spotted enemies
will appear both on your HUD and on your mini-map, allowing you to easily target them.
If you see a binocular icon appear above a recently spotted enemy tank,
it means you were the one to spot the enemy for your team. You will receive XP for
any damage done to this tank by your teammates, making it highly advantageous
for you to spot enemy tanks. Note that you will only receive spotting XP if
your teammate could not see the enemy tank without your assistance.
Many factors affect your ability to spot enemies, including what class of tank you
use, your crew status and your tanks view range. There are a number of tweaks you
can make your tank to make it more effective at spotting the enemy.
Choosing a tank package that includes an upgrade to your turret will usually increase
your tanks view range. Adding coated optics or binocular telescope from the
equipment menu increases your vehicle's view range, however these items do not
stack and the binocular telescope is only active when your tank is not moving.
Light tanks tend to be the best spotters. They are typically faster than other
classes, allowing them to get closer to the enemy lines. They also tend to have
better view ranges. While light tanks are the best suited, all tanks are potential
spotters for their team. Even if you don't have the speed or view range of a
light tank, you should still look to spot enemies whenever you can -
especially for teammates using Tank Destroyers or Artillery. As crucial to
success as it is to spot enemies for your team,
it is just as important to keep yourself from being spotted by your enemies.
Your tanks ability to keep hidden from the enemy is called its camo factor.
Tanks with a higher camo factor are less likely to be spotted. Your camo factor is
affected by what you do on the battlefield. For example, rotating your
tanks turret will not affect your camo factor, but rotating or moving your tanks
chassis will decrease
your camo factor, and firing your gun will almost certainly give away your
position. Be sure to remain aware of your surroundings, and take care when
traversing the battlefield. Use bushes, buildings, fallen trees, rocks and other
barriers to keep yourself hidden as possible from the enemy. The more cover
between you and your foe,
the harder you will be the spot. Be sure to keep an eye out for the detected icon
at the bottom left of the screen, next to the tank status. If you see this icon, it
means that an enemy within your field of view is looking at you, so proceed with
caution. If your crew has the Sixth Sense ability, the spotted icon will appear
when an enemy sees you from any direction - not just when they're in your
field of view. If you find yourself spotted and outmatched by the enemy,
try to put distance and cover between yourself and the enemy until they have
lost sight of you. Just as with spotting, certain tanks have an advantage when it
comes to remaining hidden on the battlefield. Most Tier 4 and higher light
tanks are free to move across the battlefield without lowering their camo
factor making them just as hard to spot on the move as they would be standing
still. There are also a few ways to improve your tanks camo factor in the
garage. In the customize menu, you can add a variety of camo patterns to your tank.
These not only make your tank look great on the battlefield, they also increase
your camo factor. You can add camo to your tank for 7 days, 30 days or
permanently. There are four different camo categories: winter, summer, desert and urban.
If you purchase a camo from each category, the correct camo for the map
you're playing on will automatically be selected when you roll out to battle.
Under the equipment menu, adding a camouflage net to your vehicle will
provide an extra boost your tanks camo factor when you remain still
for three seconds.
This makes it a perfect complement to the binocular telescope which works only at a standstill.
Use these tools and tactics on the battlefield to get the drop on your foes
and lead your team to victory. Roll out, commander!