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[naki27]

Most of the game is obviously an arcade, of course, but I was wondering if the basic tactics, (like engaging in two dimensional "dogfights," running circles around enemy tanks, popping out and behind cover, scouting, etc) are really how tanks in World War 2 fought.

[SAS~Dark Apostle]

The tactics in game are an adaptation of the available environment. Save for Kursk, not many engagements tell of tanks charging headlong at each other. Most were ambushed based attacks, or" slow" move and fire style like in the blitzkrieg. Look at the stories of the Allied advance through the Bocage/Hedgerows of the French Countries. Stugs hiding in barns, kill teams of infantry with panzerfausts/panzershreks. AT guns hidden in the hedges and off branching lanes.

WoT is basically the tactics of a FPS in tanks. Not to go anti-arty, but the SPG dynamic of the game does hamstring the ability to setup a sucessful ambush if the enemy SPG is on the ball, again a situational dynamic changer.  The game is a lot more flowing in how you apply tactics, not just per map but per situation against the tank your facing. What works well against a heavy wont work against a TD, or a medium, so your forever having to adapt.

[CWMV]

Well, I highly doubt it. Probably happened, but not how they ideally fought.
What I gleaned from being in heavy Armor battalions is that getting into that sort of situation means you F'd up somewhere along the line.

Although I had a platoon sergeant that, during the Gulf War, had Bradley's "Clean" iraqi infantry from his Abrams with 25mm...so ya it probably happened.

[Verhängnis]

Well it really depends on the tanks and terrain, aswell as the strength of each side. Sherman tactics against Tigers were simply to outflank them and attack from the rear where the soft armor is hidden. The Tiger for example was also designed to destroy fortifications while it's counterpart the Panther would destroy lighter emplacements, infantry bunkers etc.
Mixed tactics are very important and in World of Tanks, if say you are a medium tank, depending on your size and characteristics, you can either support your heavy tanks in the combat role or do some light scouting or even spotting (Sniping) in sort of the same way a Tank Destroyer does.
Light tanks were used as mobile command points to maintain radio contact or to scout along enemy positions and terrain to report them aswell as exploiting breaks in the enemy line so that they could destroy artillery or command posts, trenches etc.

So I wouldn't call it a simulation, obviously it is arcade but it does require development of tactics and strategy to win.

[norm]

as someone who plays this and Steal Fury, The ground feels far to smooth in WoT, as you can shoot on the move accurately. In Steel Fury, the only way you will hit things, primarily the things you wan't to hit, is if you shoot and scoot.

[Joberg]

Ideally you want a good stand-off shot. That's why the German tanks are generally so highly regarded. Their cannons could kill enemy armor at long range and their armor was heavy enough to withstand most enemy shots that could reach them at long range.

[Verhängnis]

Well if we take a look, german tanks generally are much heavier with massive amounts of armor, and very powerful, long range guns.
Hence in World of Tanks, you can't do the same things in a German medium that you can in a Russian or American medium, you are often alot less manouverable but your survival chances are higher because of the increased armour. For example my VK3002DB medium weighs around 40 tons so in last resort, you can ram people at 40 km/h. I did that to a Hetzer at about 20km/h and insta-killed him while taking no damage of my own.

[Cranky.1]

I wish they made the Sherman in W.O.T. like the real thing.
The German's nickname for it was the "Tommy Cooker" and the Allied forces nickname was "Ronson" after the cigarette lighter advert "lights first time every time"


The Sherman armor was not so great at all that's why in photo's you see Shermans with sand bags packed on & around them.
The side armor was its most weakest spot that a AP shell would go strait throw the tank pop out the other side.
The tank crews would weld the tracks or weld oxy-cut plates from destroyed tanks for extra protection.
For some reason they made the Sherman in the game tougher to knock out then it is.
The reason Sherman was a great Tank for the Allies was the numbers they had.
the most best part of the Sherman was the brave Tank crews who fought in them knowing that the Panzer Armor outclassed them.
It is said in WW2 he who rules the Skies rules the Lands that is why Germany lost the War.   

[Verhängnis]

Yes but too bad most of those brave crews came back as mince, I can't imagine being the maintenance crews that had to literally 'gurney' the blood and guts out.

[Eexhaton]

I dare to call WoT a semi-sim type of game.

Where arcade style gameplay is 'enhanced' with certain simulation style features.
In this case it is viable and often needed to use real historical tactics and manoevers to win.
There is shoot-'n-scoot, there is close combat/peek-a-boom in city encounters, angle of your tank is a factor aswell, just as distance and penetration.
The armor system of the game is also made so, that in order to take out a tank effectively, you really have to know where to aim - rather then just front,side,rear,tracks etc. And the proper use of the available terrain adds to the tactics.

It's just not the simple straightforward FPS Arcade game imho.

The fact that gives the game a huge arcade feel however, is indeed as with the Sherman M4 tanks and all other ones; the HP pools.
Someone on the WoT boards - I guess it was Merquise - had an extensive post about it.
Once you are past the "simulation" part of the game, in his words: the armor - then you have to wear down the other tank's Hitpoint pool, which in this case, makes Shermans and all other tanks unhistorically strong, able to withstand many more hits then a real life tank could.
Obviously this is done for balancing and gameplay reasons.

However, I think it would be cool to have some sort of 'hardcore' mode in game, with matchmaking tiered specially for people who have enabled it.
In this mode, tanks would not have any hitpoints, just their armor and their modules. So they can simply be taken out in 1 shot, if you hit one at the wrong place - just as in real life.
Tracks gone? too bad, you sit there for the remaining match time. - try fixing tank treads under incoming fire..
Turret shot out? too bad bro..
Ammorack explodes? - DEAD Tank!
Engine fire - better put that out ASAP!
Shell through the Driver's mailbox? - He's DEAD, Jim! - oh yeah, ummm you won't be able to drive anymore...try some first aid under fire.

And so on..

And it needs some proper maps for it aswell, historical battles, historical places.. that kind of maps..

[Verhängnis]

Weather effects would be nice, desert storm, rain, heck, even on the american maps maybe a tornado or two? And if you don't get out of it's path fast enough, you can be flipped.  That would tie in with the new physics they are bringing in aswell hehe.

[naki27]

I think I remember (stress on the "think") reading somewhere that they were considering making an offline version of the game, and anything in there would likely be much closer to realism.

It would also be nice if you could drive tanks off cliffs and such, instead of there being an invisible wall at the edge of each major drop.  We'd have to pay more attention to avoid killing ourselves that way.