Information World of Warplanes guide

CarnageINC

Clansmen
I thought I would throw together a guide for anyone interested in trying out World of Warplanes 2.0. The game is great and fun but its not always intuitive, hence the need for a new player guide. You don't need to master all these bits of advice to do well in the game, just reading these few bits and pieces will help accelerate your learning curve. I might edit this to add in pictures later on.

Settings:
The left Alt key lets you see a lot of information but the default setting is push to hold. Push to toggle works better IMO. To set this, or for any key you wish to change, you should go to the settings menu and the control layout and right click the box you want to change. For the left Alt key setting, its under Alternative Interface right up top of that section.

A small note of warning. When you have the alt key on toggle you'll have to switch it on and off a lot to get the most accurate picture of what is going on around you. When its off you can see the distance to your 'locked' target, this is helpful in dog fighting or running away to see if they are closing in on you. Plus you can only switch spawn locations with the alt key off.

Firing multiple weapons:
Another setting change you should try off right out of the box so your use to it, is to have 4 keys or buttons to fire weapon groups 1, 2, 3 and all. Default is left mouse button fires all forward firing guns. Group 1 will fire cannons and group 2 will fire machine guns. Group 3 is the outboard weapons I believe. If you only have 1 weapon type, Group 1 will default to fire all of them.

The reason for this is weapons have an overheat mechanic. Larger calibers overheat quicker and then bog down in fire rate till they quit all together. If they are tied to the same key you won't be able to be as accurate in a turning fight and to let the cannon's cool down and then killing your target takes longer.

You won't notice much difference in flight trajectory from your 7.62mm, .303's, 12.5/7mm up to 20mm cannons. When you get up to and past 23mm you'll start to see a big difference in trajectory and flight speed. This starts to happen around tier 4 and up.

Cap circles:
Aerial:
Killing any aerial target gives your side 20% of the cap bar. Like wise, dying in the cap bar takes away from the bar. If its neutral, dying will only push it back to neutral. You can tell when your in, or out of, the cap circle by the circle icon in the top center of your screen.

So if your heavily damaged or overwhelmed and fighting for a contested cap point, try to fly outside the cap bounds before your death. Knowing when to cut your losses is hard at first but it really helps your team out if you don't trying to 'stick it out and take one with you'. You almost always do more harm than good. Of course this all depends how deep you are in the cap. This is where situational awareness will save you and your team a lot of grief.

Ground:
This is probably the hardest thing for new players to grasp. Killing ground targets only fills the cap bar if you destroy all the ground targets within the 'boxed' sections of the cap.

Every section is closely grouped together, or 'boxed' and every target has a little dots visible if you have the alt key on or if your targeting that section. You have to be within visual range to see these dots, i.e. 1500m or closer. Each boxed section will have 4 to 10 targets in it. Each of those little dots in a boxed section has to be destroyed for your side to get the credit for cap control.

So if you strafe, rocket or bomb a section and it doesn't give you a portion of the cap, ensure you go back to kill what ever is left in that boxed section! I see this over and over and over, people not finishing off the target section they were attacking.

An example of this is when you fire on an AA site. Often you will see the main AA gun, flanked by 2 pillboxes and a small hut or structure behind it. All 4 of these will have dots on them and all four must be killed to get credit for the cap bar.

Squall line:
This is a feature that helps end the game. You will be given a 2 minute warning when the squall line is approaching. Once it arrives you will not be able to respawn. If your pretty beat up and your not going after a certain daily mission, sometime it helps your chances of surviving longer if you destroy your plane outside of a cap to respawn before the squall arrives. Of course if you've died a lot it can take quite a lot of time to respawn and your absence can be detrimental to the teams chances.

Weapon usage:
This is a small part to give you a quick guide on how to employ your weapons efficiently. All weapons; rockets and bombs, will be replaced after all the weapons are used. The cool down varies on weapon type and aircraft. If you have 12 rockets and keep 1 after a cap capture, you will not regenerate anymore till that 1 rocket is used!

Bombs:
Altitude matters! The higher you release the less accurate your bombs will be. Size matters! Small kilo bombs are only good at killing, on average 1 or 2 dots in a section. If you bomb the tent barracks you might kill more white dots per bomb but all targets boxed sections have the same 'hit points' I believe. When you get up to the 200 kg/250 lbs bombs will you be able to kill 3/4 of a boxed section with one bomb. One 500 lbs bomb, hitting center mass, will destroy most dots in a small boxed section. The exceptions are the larger structures.

Bombs can kill planes! If your being chased and your down in the dirt and the guy is behind you, try dropping a bomb! I've had this done to me and I've done it to others, its quite a hoot when it works!

Rockets:
These come is a few sizes. They can be better than bombs in most cases since they are stand off weapons. A good rule of thumb is 1 rocket will only destroy 1 dot. If the targets are close and your rocket is well aimed you can destroy 2 or more but this is usually for the larger size rockets. One other good thing with rockets is you can fire them at air targets! If you intercept a bomber formation and you have rockets, you can kill a bomber with 1 rocket! Another use is if someone comes at you head to head you can launch your rockets in their face and sometimes get a lucky kill.

Target Selection:
Play to your aircraft's strengths! Know if your plane can turn and maneuver well! Know if your plane can climb or dive fast! Using a Bf-110 in a turning dog fight is to lose every time! Learn the best way to use each plane. Using a Spitfire (fighter) to strafe ground targets while you have only the .303's equipped, your wasting your time. But if you have no other targets, why not! Don't limit yourself to one type of target either! I see this all to often too!

Priority of caps:
When you first start or tab you can click on different caps to see what they do if you control them. Always, always, always go after Military Bases, Command Posts, Mining Plants and Airfields before Garrison and Forward Airfields if you can.

What good does it do your team to have an airfield or a garrison if the enemy has the Military Base or the Command Center? Either of those 2 caps will force your team on the defensive.

90% of the time, holding more of these than the enemy will win the game for you.

Aerial:
When attacking another aircraft always beware of a trailing aircraft. This happens to often, an attackers dives in on a target only to have a enemy on his tail within seconds. This is the art of the dog fight, knowing when and who to attack.

I always try and let the first one or 2 fighters pass me and attack trailing fighters. It all depends upon how 'deep' you can go without getting in a bad spot. This is something I'm still working on ;p

I always try and attack the highest altitude targets if their bots. This usually forces them down as they dive for speed. In addition, I usually try to stay at a higher altitude then most enemies in the area if I can.

When joining an existing dog fight, having the alt key on will help you see who is already damaged. Kill off the weak ones first! Just like tanks or boats, the less guns the other side has the better off your side will be. However if they are to far in or far away don't Zerg rush them, you'll only end up dead quickly.

This is probably the most important note in this section, always try and kill enemy attack aircraft as quickly as possible! These are the triangle icon mother fuckers who will take over a cap in a minute or two if left alone. They are slow and heavily armored. The can't maneuver for shit but can pack a hell of a punch. Don't let yourself die by focusing only on them, I've done this way to much, get target focused and then I'm getting butt fucked by his buddies.

Ground:
Its always smart before you enter your attack run on ground targets to align yourself with multiple boxed sections laid out in succession. This way you can make one pass hit multiple ground sections and then swing around 180 degrees and mop up what you missed on your next pass. I quite often will get 1/3 to 1/2 the cap, initial and mop up, using this tactic with certain aircraft.

I almost always prioritize AA guns and destroyers. The less guns shooting at me or my team the better. Even if I'm going after air targets but I have an opportunity to kill just the AA gun, I'll take it. Even if I don't go back and kill the bunkers and tents attached to that boxed section, its not damaging my team.

Tent parks are another quick and easy target to kill. Depending upon the aircraft I'm using and enemy resistance in the area, I will leave these for a gun runs. Any aircraft can quickly kill these areas with their guns.

Don't press your ground attacks to hard. Give yourself time to pull out of any dive your in. You do your team no good if you press home a strafing run only to lawn dart in the cap circle. Everything you tried to do for the team will be undone with your death.

Let me repeat this, you actively hurt the team's chances of winning by lawn darting. Not only does your death take away from the cap bar, your team will be one less plane down in that section for X amount of seconds. In addition, any future re-spawns you will have will also take longer. That ground target isn't going anywhere, so don't rush the kill!

Bot Tactics:
Just some stuff I've noticed and to keep in mind when flying. As of now, depending upon the time of day, half or more of the team will be bots. They are pretty good but not perfect. If a bot has you locked up, its in Terminator mode. It absolutely will not stop till you are dead! This bogs you down till other bots or players feast upon your plight. Best to try and lead them to your team mates if you can't out maneuver the plane your against.

Bots will attack the same cap over and over if their spawn is near by. This is why I hate the bot attack aircraft. You can kill these guys but when they re spawn they go after the same cap. Often you'll want to move on to contest other caps but if your the only one in that area and you know its a bot, it will Arnold you...it will be back! Bots attack aircraft often fly together toward the same target, so 2 attack aircraft uncontested will quickly take over a undefended cap.

Flying with friends:
I've noticed that when I fly similar aircraft that my team mate is flying, it becomes easier to assist them. It mostly likely that its harder to drift away faster in the heat of the moment or that your flying in similar flight regimes so you'll always be closer by going after similar targets.

Misc. Tactics:
A lot of times it befits you more if you go vertical, instead of a horizontal turn, when turning around to attack aerial or ground target. This slows you down and puts you above the target in a lot of cases. Plus it often will throw off human noobie pilots too. This is a great tactic to use on the slow attack aircraft I hate so much.

Don't go it alone if there are only 3 caps. You will die and do nothing much for your team. On larger maps with more caps, a single plane of the right type, can sometimes solo a cap. You really got to know what your doing and how to quickly kill all types of targets.

After a respawn, don't always rush off to get back into the fight. Often times you'll see your team feed itself piece meal to the enemy side a plane or 2 at a time. Sometimes its best to defend and let the enemy team trickle in on your cap.

If your still alive a few minutes after the squall line has passed, hit tab to see who is left. If your one of the few humans left alive on your side, ensure you live. If one side or the other has lost all its team planes they lose even if they are up on points! I've won a few games so far by refusing to fight and running like a bitch to win for my team. If the enemy only has 1 or 2 planes left and your behind on points, kill them to steal the win away!

You can win from behind by doing these things!
 
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