Good evening, World of Tanks players and Wikia visitors! Today, we take a look at an important in-game aspect of teamwork: artillery and team relations. You may not think much of it, but this is a commonly confused and hard to understand topic! I'm here to help sort through the confusion. Let's get to it.
The Team and Artillery[]
First things first, the Artillery's main idea and tool is their full-map-coverage ability and their remarkable characteristic of being able to fire from nearly any location (in the upper tiers, at least). Their bread and butter is by shooting at enemy tanks that are well within their own lines (or bordering, or crossing in, to friendly lines) and offering crippling firepower to support the front lines and destroy the mid and back lines of the enemy. However, a common weakness of all artillery: they have little armor--the lightest of any tank type--and most are not especially fast. Most do not have curved armor, either, so they must rely upon the concept of sheer brutality to protect them.
Because of this, they cannot scout for themselves. Their great firepower but diminished speed and almost-cardboard armor means they must stay well within enemy lines or risk a swift death. This means that other tanks, small and swift, must find enemies for the artillery to shoot at. These tanks are known as Light Tanks, and are front-line and beyond fighters, going far behind enemy lines to scout out camping and slow vehicles and light them up for artillery to cripple or even disable.
How to Properly Scout=[]
You need to realize an important fact before using Light Tanks: they also have little armor, and their guns are nowhere near the level of any artillery's. Their weapons are for defense, and rarely offense. Don't shoot if you don't need to; bullets leave a trail and whistle. Shoot only at enemy scouts, and then only at the parts that service them well: Tracks, Radio, Turret Traverse, Driver. The other parts are of little significance, and the Gun is usually a well-armored part of any tank.
Look specifically for artillery, but don't pass up the chance to disable or light up other enemy tanks: the more the merrier!
When searching for artillery, you need to remember that all artillery are weak and even light tank's weapons are enough to cripple one. If you light one up, you might as well destroy it; and if you can break parts of it without being spotted, you are at an extreme advantage. Destroy artillery whenever possible, ignoring any other spotted vehicle until the SPG is down. Remember: Self-Propelled Guns can fire from ranges you can't even see on a normal tank.
Good Consumables and Upgrades[]
The best upgrades to go for are the Tracks, Engine, and Radio; these will help you be a better scout. Consumables should be limited to things like Repair Kits (as mentioned earlier, other tanks just love shooting at tracks), Fuel Consumables, and Health Kits. These will ensure you get a good run, and possibly make it back to base, where you can approach the front lines again and fight there, if you wish. Equipment on Light Tanks you are likely to keep should be things like Improved Ventilation, Enhanced Vickers Suspension, and the Engine-enhancing consumable equipment ?.
As far as crew skills go, aim for things that will alert you if you're spotted, things that will stay hidden longer, traverse rough terrain, and finally, spot the broken parts on an enemy tank. There will be times when if you had known about an already damaged module, you could have broken it, and thus won the battle.
Medium Lights[]
These are Light Tanks that aren't very fast, but have Medium-rank/level armor and weaponry. These should be played as force scouts; unlike normal scouts, they shouldn't attempt to traverse secretly, but rather through unguarded or lightly guarded areas where they can get through. You can also use them on the front lines as medium tanks.
I hope you enjoyed this blog, and I hope this helps!