Guide to Tanks

The 1945 epoch now has tanks! (Yay)

There are 5 roles for the crew of the tank. In order to be effective, all roles most communicate with each other, organize and work together.

The Roles

The Commander: The commander of the tank is the role requiring the most responsibility. You’re the one calling the shots (quite literally). Your job is to calculate the distance between you and enemy and inform your gunner about the meter and the left right sway. You also have to organize the tank crew, tell driver where to drive, yell at loader what ammo type to load, and order machine-gunner to fire. To calculate the distance of the enemy, you have to buckle yourself down to the commander’s seat. Once you sit down, you will now calculate the distance of anything between you, by clicking on it. After sitting, you will also be avaible to use the telescope of the tank. This way, you can see afar, and thus be able to calculate the longer distances. (That’s the whole purpose)
The Loader: Your job is the easiest one. You will wait for the commander to tell you what shell type to load, and you will simply take the said shell from the rack or floor (depending on your unga level) and will insert it into the turret. To achieve that, get behind the turret of the tank. Click on the rack behind you, then click on the shell. After taking the shell into your hand, click on the turret of the tank. Congratulations, you loaded the cannon. (Probably got the wrong type anyways.)
The Gunner: As a gunner, your job is to enter the parameters commander told you. Depending on the type of tank you might have to load the gun yourself using the autoloader (In your firing panel there is a button to load a shell). After that wait for his order to fire. To accomplish that, you must get to the side of the turret (preferably, you can buckle yourself down to the Gunners Seat) and left click on the turret. You will now access a menu, telling you what shell is loaded, what is the firing distance in meters, what is the left/right sway in numbers and a big fire button. To enter a parameter, you must click on the meter or left right sway button, then type down the numbers your commander gave you. After doing that, you must left click on the fire button and wait a couple of seconds to fire. Congratulations, you fired the turret. (Probably missed though)
The Machine-Gunner; You are expected to operate the machine gun in front of the tank. To do that, approach to the machine gun in front, inside the tank. Take an ammo belt from the floor into your hands, then left click on the gun to load the ammo. Once the ammo is loaded, left click on the gun with empty hands. Congratulations, you managed to man the gun. You are also now aiming forward to enhance your view. Now, to fire the gun, simply press on the direction you want to fire. (Have you actually hit anything with that machine gun?!)
The Driver: You are expected to drive/rotate the tank. Your job is more complex compared to the other roles, but do not let that scare you off. In order to start the tank, you must first sit on the driver’s seat. After sitting (Buckle yourself by dragging your sprite into the Driver’s seat or use the hotkey B) and having the Driver Wheel in your hand, you can start the engine by pressing Z, you must wait for the engine to fully start (Once the engine visibly starts to vibrate) and you can accelerate it by pressing Z again. To decelerate or to kill the engine, you must press the “C” key. To turn the tank left, you must press “A”. To turn the tank to right, you must press “D”. In order to shift to reverse you must press the button “S”, but to do so, you must be halted. To be able to move forward again, you must press the key “W” to shift into forward. Keep practicing to master your blitzkrieg/encirclement skills.(You will probably run over your own soldiers)

Tips:

The tank can only go forward or backwards and rotate to left and right. This is different from WASD(W to go forward, S to go back, you know the drill) control, so it may take some time to master. It is advised to drive jeeps first to get used to the driving system.
You can run over trees/buildings with your tank and it does not damage your tank.
You can insta gib/kill any infantry if you run over them.
It is advised to face directly towards the enemy. It will make shooting it a lot easier. Most tanks have their heaviest armour on the front.
Your loader can not load the turret if you are moving. Let him load the gun by halting the tank.
If you run over non-deployed anti-tank mines/anti-tank grenades, they will still explode and damage your tank.
You can not rotate your tank on its own axis if it is standing still. The tank must be moving in order rotate it.
Keep reading the chatlog for your commander’s instructions.
Rotating the tank at same time when right next to another tank causes a rare tank meeting to happen.(It is a bug and it completely ruins both of the collided tanks.)
Faster you go, easier it is to rotate the tank.
Do not rotate your tank near deep water tiles. If a single tile of your tank is on the deep water tile, you will be stuck there for an eternity.

Driving

So you want to finally be useful and not just dead weight to a crew eh? Few can drive, or well enough to do anything worthy of mentioning. If you want to know how to drive you’ve got to listen carefully to the steps given, and learn the mechanics of how our machines really work. Also a tip, the tank is safest place you can be, if you leave it because the tracks were broken you should shoot yourself. You’re not a true tanker. A real tanker stays with his tank regardless of the damage until there is no tank to cling to. That armored coffin becomes a moving pillbox if you use it well enough.

All modular vehicles are built with a matrix of a 5x5 area. This is how you’ll judge where you’ll be turning. Learn the position of the vehicle in all 4 directions and know where it is in that 5x5 area. A good idea is often to use a place, like the driver’s seat for reference. Most vehicles have the front at the edge of the 5x5 area. Tanks are one of them.
Tanks should be well equipped for the enemy you’re facing. If it’s enemy armor, take more AP and APCR shells. If it’s more infantry and buildings, take more HE. Overstock and you’ll be too heavy to move. A good idea is to empty a crate of belts onto the floor for your MG in case you become stranded. The MG’s will be your main tool of survival.
A tank crew can operate smoothly and effectively with just 1 crewman if they’re a true veteran at it. However most can’t run a tank effectively by themselves. The main things that you should have the experienced crew members in the tank be are the commander, to give fire orders and call hits, and driver. Your success relies almost entirely on these two positions. However you can get by alright without a commander if you’re not against enemy armor. A good driver is the key to success.

Example

Lets say we’re on Nanjing. We’ll also go over the 5x5 area of turning. Tanks have 4 Directions they can be facing, and a different position in their 5x5 area for each. (Note: tracks were disabled on the directional example to allow for stationary turning)

The Layout of most tanks

The front face of a tank will always be against the edge of the 5x5 area

North

West

South

East

So now that you’ve got directions, lets try a situation where you’d apply this knowledge. We’re at an alleyway that we want to get into but don’t have free movement to make a left turn to fit in.

now, because we’ve a wall blocking us, we can’t just make a left turn, it’ll have us running into the wall north of us. Thats no good. So instead, because facing south makes the tank on the east side of the 5x5 area, we can make a right turn and reverse to get in. So first set up against the wall. Once you’ve made it onto that tile turn right before it hits it, or it’ll be no good.

After your turn is made, you’ll be set to go in reverse to get through.

And then you can wedge on through in reverse, and flank the enemy by going through a place they assumed enemy drivers were too stupid to get through.

For possibly better explanation with a moving visual aid, take a gander at this poor quality video.

video