Hello tankers,
Are your opponents piercing you despite your good armour? Do you get destroyed at the corners of buildings? Are you getting shot at when you’re observing them?
Most of this is due to poor tank positioning.
Today, here are the basics of tank positioning to enable you to move around and fire on your opponent while remaining as safe as possible.
Click Here: Disclamer
Due to the similarity of the placements, some illustrations are taken from WoT
-1°) The inclination of the armour
To begin this tutorial, we’re going to look at a basic principle that will help you understand why certain positions are more effective than others in keeping your tank safe.
Placing armour at an angle to the trajectory of a shot will increase its effective thickness. Whether through the design of the tank (T-34, Panther) or the placement of the vehicle (Tiger I, Black Prince), the objective is to have as much armour as possible.
"Click Here: How does the tilt increase the thickness of the armour?
In addition, sloping armour increases the chance of ricochets. For example, the upper front plates of the BMP-2 are almost horizontal, allowing even arrow shells to ricochet.
You will often hear the term ‘Angled’ (Angled his tank, angled armour…) which comes from ‘Angle’, which has an angle in relation to a reference (vertical or horizontal).
-2°) The diamond position
The first position that will significantly improve your chances of survival is the ‘diamond’ position. This inclined position angles your armour against the enemy’s fire.
This basic position will enable you to get out of a building-type cover more safely. The aim is to create a sloping surface for your armour, but beware of the weak points represented by the tracks.
!!! WARNING !!! This position should not be used with all tanks. In fact, certain armour layouts are designed to remain facing the enemy and bending the tank will destroy the protection offered by this armour layout (in particular Soviet IS or modern MBTs).
-2°) The Side scrapping
Derived from the diamond position seen just before, side scrapping is a manoeuvre that consists of hiding the front of the vehicle as much as possible behind the obstacle and presenting the tank’s flank at a higher angle, increasing the chances of ricocheting a shot. This manoeuvre increases the effective armour of the tank’s flank.
This is the preferred position when you want to hold a position at the corner of a building.
It is particularly recommended for vehicles with a rear turret.
It is also possible on some vehicles to put the engine first instead of the front and perform a “reverse side scrap”.
-3°) The Observation Defilement
The observation defilement is a position that allows observation behind an obstacle or hill, with only the commander’s optics or binoculars protruding, so you can observe while remaining protected from enemy fire.
-3°) The Shooting Defilement
This position, commonly known as “Hull down”, is similar to observation defilement. In firing defilement, only the tank’s armament is allowed to protrude, protecting the vehicle’s hull as much as possible. There are 3 ways to set up a fire formation:
- With an obstacle: rock, certain walls, rubble, etc. high enough to hide the tank body and only allow the turret to be seen.
Click Here: Shooting defilement behind an obstacle
- With the terrain: hill, low road, top of a slope… the objective is, on a slope that is not too steep (i.e. less steep than the maximum lowering of your gun) to get to the top and let only the turret be seen, which will be all the better protected as it will be leaning backwards.
!! Detail !! This manoeuvre is dangerous to execute with tanks with a small gun lowering.
- With an embossment created by the dozer blades of certain machines, which dig a hole and form a bump of earth towards the threat, protecting the tank hull.
!! Detail !! Embossing can be useful in an open area but is time-consuming for creation.
-4°) Flanking
Flanking is a manoeuvre that consists of moving onto the flank of an opposing armoured vehicle to bypass its position or its frontal armour, which is too resistant.
If you are 1-on-1, remember to immobilise your opponent by destroying his tracks to prevent him from pivoting towards where you are moving. Also watch out for OTHER opponents covering your target’s flanks.
You can also flank opponents in support of your team-mates who are already engaged.
Click Here: Flanking manoeuvrer
-4°) Shooting with Lead
If you’re shooting on a moving target, you’ll have to shoot further ahead of your opponents to compensate for the flight time of the ammunition fired, just as you would in air combat. The faster the target, the further ahead you have to shoot.
Some customised viewfinders have scales corresponding to different movement speeds
This is the end of this guide, which will help you to move, observe and shoot with the maximum chance of survival for your crew. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions and/or make any comments ;)