look at me

I like my T34

weak spots

http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/49967-for-people-that-would-like-to-learn-frontal-tank-weakspots/

Upper Glacis: The upper frontal hull armour plate of a tank.
Lower Glacis: Lower frontal hull armour on a tank, usually weaker.
Mantlet: The armour section surrounding the gun. Usually strongest part of a tank. (IS-7's mantlet armour reaches approx. 350mm!)
MG Mount: Location where a machine gun is mounted on a tank for local defence against infantry. Usually have weaker armour.
Cupola: Dome shaped structure used by commander/crew to enter/exit tank. Some cupolas have observation slits for the commander. Usually have no armour.
Viewport: Device used by crew members to see the outside world, may/may not result in hull damage depending on the tank.
Upper Superstructure: Some German tank destroyers have two different armour values, one for the hull and one for the upper part. This is the upper part.

Now that we got the useless stuff out of the way...

Weaknesses will be hull then turret.

THIS GUIDE ASSUMES YOU ARE FACING THE TANK FROM THE FRONT.
Left side assumes your left, and the opposing tank's right side, and vice versa.
Tanks lower than tier 10 will have turret weaknesses for upgraded and stock turrets.


Tier X
Heavy Tanks

Maus
Hull: Lower glacis, there is a small rectangular block that can be hit and penetrated easily by tier 10 guns as long as the Maus driver does not angle his hull.
Turret: Shoot the round side beside the mantlet. Armour here is 220mm rounded. As long as the Maus driver does not turn his turret away and you have a good non angled shot, it will go through with tier 10 guns. It is possible to try to shoot the lower rounded part of the turret to attempt to ricochet it into the upper engine deck. However this is unreliable.

IS-7
Hull: Driver's viewport on the flatter part of the upper glacis. Lower glacis plate at far range, do not shoot it at close range, you will be shooting down at it and it will be highly angled. Avoid shooting the seam of the V, where it is extremely hard to penetrate. Behind the two headlights lie the ammo rack as well.
Turret: High penetration guns like the 152mm BL-10, 155mm T7, and Pak 44/2 L61 can penetrate the frontal turret at short range quite easily. Just try not to hit the mantlet. Commander's cupola on the left side of the turret is another viable option at close range.

T30
Hull: lol
Turret: The left and right area beside the mantlet can be penetrated by extremely high powered guns like 130mm S-70 unangled, if the T30 turns away even a bit, any tier 10 gun will penetrate. 152mm BL-10 CAN penetrate the mantlet, but it's not recommended. Commander's cupola is another choice if being facehugged. The small triangular area above the mantlet is also a good spot if being facehugged. Ammo rack is located in the back of the turret.

Tier IX
Heavy Tanks

VK 4502 Ausf. B
Hull: Lower glacis plate, it is still 170mm like upper glacis, but it is less angled. Tier 9 guns like 10,5cm Kwk 46 L68 can penetrate 50% of the time unangled. If angled, it is hard to hit through it, even with tier 10 guns like 120mm/12,8cm Kwk 44 L55.
Upgraded Turret: Commander's cupola, try not to hit the rangefinder in front of it. High powered guns like 155mm T7 and 152mm BL-10 can penetrate turret frontally if fired head on without angle.
Stock Turret: Same armour as the Maus turret, hit the rounded front turret armour beside the mantlet. Cupola is still weak.

IS-4
Hull: Lower glacis plate at medium/long range, where the spare track links are located. Ammo rack is located behind the headlights (hmm...), and also to the right of the lower glacis, where there is two (!) rounds stored. Shooting it at close range results in bounce/non penetration due to angle. Driver's plate is located in the middle of the frontal glacis plate. It's ~120mm thick and can be penetrated even by a Tiger I's 8,8cm L71.
Upgraded Turret: Commander's cupola on the right side. BL-10, T7, and Pak44/2 can penetrate frontal turret if you shoot the rounded area beside the mantlet.
Stock Turret: Frontal turret armour is a joke. Ballshaped range finder can be penetrated with ease. Tiger I can penetrate frontal turret if you aim beside the mantlet and hit the rounded area.

T34
Hull: See T30.
Upgraded Turret: See T30, but rear turret armour is now not a good place to hit due to additional armour plating.
Stock Turret: See T30.

Medium Tanks

Panther II
Hull: Will be penetrated by virtually anything matched in its tier. MG mount is especially weak. Lower glacis plate is another choice. Guns like D-25T will not penetrate if armour is angled. Ammo rack is located above the headlight (...?) near the right mudguard.
Upgraded Turret: Don't shoot mantlet, that is all.
Stock Turret: Same as above.

T-54
Hull: Hull can be penetrated anywhere by any guns above 200mm penetration, as long as the driver does not angle his T-54. If so, you can shoot the flimsy side armour. Ammo rack is located behind the headlights (Gee wizz.) to the left of the tank.
Upgraded Turret: Commander and loader's cupolas are easy penetration at close range. You can actually penetrate the frontal turret with 225mm penetration guns with 50% probability if you aim directly at the gun. Ammo rack is located in the back of the turret as well.
Stock Turret: Same as above.

Patton
Hull: lol
Upgraded Turret: Try to hit the hull, otherwise, hit the cupola or the area beside the mantlet.
Stock Turret: Anywhere but the mantlet (square part)

Tank Destroyers
Jagdtiger
Hull: Same weaknesses as Tiger II, but lower glacis is only 100mm instead of 120mm. MG ball mount can be penetrated by 8,8cm L56.
Superstructure: None. BL-10, T7, Pak44/2 can penetrate upper superstructure if it's medium/close range and the Jagdtiger is not angled. But usually you can shoot the lower/upper glacis plate. Mantlet is impenetrable, do not hit it.

Object 704
Hull: Lower glacis, area above the Red Star. Armour is only 120mm @ 60 degrees. ~187mm with shell normalization. Do not hit the mantlet, It's more than 300mm there. There is are two highly angled plates that count as side armour. From the front, it is too angled for most guns to penetrate. You CAN penetrate if the 704 happens to not face you.

T95
Hull: Lower glacis is very situational, it's extremely hard to hit barring point blank ranges, not to mention it's still ~200mm, then you'd be right in front of his gun. The two cupolas are easy weakspots to hit. The two triangle areas on either side of the main hull in the front can also be hit.

Tier VIII
Heavy Tanks

Tiger II
Hull: Lower glacis is rated at 120mm. There are ancedoctal evidence of the MG mount being weaker, I haven't noticed it due to it being easier to hit the lower glacis.
Upgraded Turret: Commander's cupola. Gun. (That's right) Shooting the gun directly will do damage to the tank as well as damaging the gun. Probably a bug. Ammo rack is located in the rear half of the turret.
Stock Turret: lol. This turret is a joke. Anywhere but the mantlet you will penetrate. Ammo rack is same as above.

IS-3
Hull: Same as IS-7, lower glacis is weaker than the rest. Avoid shooting the pike head on. If facehugging, the driver's viewing prism/port is a weakness.
Upgraded Turret: Commander's cupola. Guns with more than 225mm penetration can penetration ~50% of the time. Not recommended due to high chance of bounce. Ammo rack located in rear of turret.
Stock Turret: Mantlet, commander's cupola.

T32
Hull: This thing is rather good despite what people say. Lower side glacis is very hard to hit. The MG port and driver/radioman's hatches are weakspots.
Upgraded Turret: Commander's cupola at very close range, HE shells.
Stock Turret: lol

Medium Tanks

Panther
Hull: Lower glacis, MG port (Leopard at full speed managed to knock my radioman out). Ammo rack is located to the right of the Belkankruz, above the...take a guess.
Upgraded Turret: Anywhere except mantlet.
Stock Turret: lol

T-44
Hull: Same weaknesses at T-54. Ammo rack located in the exact same spot.
Upgraded Turret: Mantlet is rather weak.
Stock Turret: Mantlet.

Pershing
Hull: Lower glacis, MG port. The raised square portion right in the middle of two crew hatches.
Turrets: Anywhere but mantlet.

Tank Destroyers

Ferdinand
Hull: Lower glacis, area where the...headlights are.
Superstructure: None, but any gun with 225mm penetration or above will penetrate if the Ferdinand is not angled and if the shot does not hit the mantlet.

ISU-152
Hull: This tank destroyer is not burdened by silly things like armour.

T28
Hull: Same as T95, hit the cupolas or flank.

Premium Tanks

Lowe
Hull: Lower side glacis.
Turret: Commander's cupola, anywhere that's not the mantlet. The area below the mantlet is especially good, as you may jam his turret traverse.

KV-5
Hull: Radioman's MG turret, aka R2D2, lower side glacis.
Turret: Commander's cupola.

Tier VII
Heavy Tanks
Tiger I
Hull/Turrets: Armour? In MY Tiger I? It's more likely than you think. You should penetrate every shot with guns with 120mm+ penetration unless the Tiger angles his armour. Anyhow, MG mount, driver's viewport and commander's cupola. Ammo rack is located in the side sponsons above the tracks.

IS
Hull: Lower glacis, where the track links are. Avoid shooting the sloped section on the front, even though it's only 60mm, it is angled at 70 (!) degrees from vertical, making it 174mm effective, or 120mm with normalization. Even then it is more likely to ricochet your shot.
Turrets: Mantlet, commander's cupola.

T29
Hull: At this tier, it's rather good. Shoot lower side glacis or the MG mount. Crew hatches are another good spot.
Upgraded Turret: Same as T30, but the two "ear" rangefinders can be penetrated with ease.
Stock Turret: Same as T30

Medium Tanks

VK 3002 DB
Hull: Lower glacis
Upgraded Turret: Everywhere but mantlet.
Stock Turret: Anywhere.

T-43
Hull: The big square hatch for the driver. Lower glacis
Upgraded Turret: Anywhere.
Stock Turret: Anywhere.

T20
Hull/Turrets: This medium tank is also not encumbered by ridiculous things like steel plating.

Tank Destroyers

Jagdpanther
Hull: Lower glacis, MG mount. Try not to hit the mantlet.

SU-152
Hull: See ISU-152

T25 AT
Hull: Anywhere but the mantlet.

Requests
VK 3601
Hull: MG mount, driver's viewport
Upgraded Turret: Commander's cupola
Stock Turret: Commander's cupola

KV-3
Hull: MG mount, driver's viewport, lower glacis. For driver's viewport, you might get a zero damage critical because of the vodka fueled driver. After the first critical, you should start doing hull damage.
Upgraded Turret: Mantlet if he is facing you. I'd avoid shooting it.
Stock Turret: Mantlet.

KV
Hull: MG mount, driver's viewport, lower glacis. This tank is quite well armoured all round, but similar tiered guns can penetrate well barring bad angles.
Upgraded Turret: Shoot the flat parts that are not part of the mantlet. The turret is quite high off the hull, you can hit the traverse mechanism quite easily as well. Ammo rack is located in the rear, below the huge square crew hatch.
Stock Turret: Shoot hull instead, frontal stock turret has few non sloped parts, and rounded mantlet bounces quite a few shots.

38H735 (f) [aka Hotchkiss]
Hull: Driver's hatch, lower glacis (knocks out engine if penetrated)
Turret: Commander's hatch.

some pictures

more company tactics stuff

Had fun writing the above post while in Dad's hideout.  Wrote the following over my lunch break today. I was asked to run a battle last night where we achieved an impressive technical victory.  The two 31^st BN Companys participated in the same ATC brief prior to our battle.  It was planned to use the same tactics for both battles as both Teams were fighting on the same map, sand river.

In light of the tactics discussed prior to the fight and my previous post I wanted to raise a few organizational points and get some input about how we roll and what is or is not possible in a WOT setting.  Ironhorse Company does not have a roster full of tier X tanks.  And I imagine many of our future fights will not have a set roster until NET(no earlier than) 5-15 minutes before LD(crossing the line of departure). 

If given the task of leading another fight and with the additional task of briefing tactics prior to execution, would it be ok to organizing the tactics/fight by using a platoon structure?  Using last nights sand river plan as an example:  instead of referring to “our two maus drivers will advance up through the western village” I would refer to them as the Village platoon, and prior to the battle I could say, "you you and you are in the village plt (Secondary effort(SE) 1), tankdriverawesome is the Platoon leader.  He will call your targets."  
The IS-7s were assigned as the fast moving western flankers.  I would brief them as the Main effort PLT and give them task and purpose.  "Main effort, your task is to seize objective Cap by assaulting along route dunebuggy in order to defeat the bad clan on the sand river map. " Two platoons were essentially assigned as defense.  The northern arty spotting medium and the two heavies on the north wall could have been thought of as the Northern Defensive platoon(SE2).  "Task establish a block at C7 in order to prevent the OPFOR from flanking around the east village towards our cap."  The cliff firing TDs and the IS-7 in the low ground could have been the base overwatch PLT(SE3).  "Task disrupt enemy forces attacking along the 5 or 7 lines in order to attrit OPFOR and slow their rate of advance towards our base."  The other medium not mentioned could be formally part of the Maus PLT or just a company asset.

If we assign Platoon leaders, they could be responsible for positioning their individual tanks within the designated battle positions.  If we assign platoons, managing the battle becomes easier.  Instead of “ you you and you go here” its”Main effort, I need you to hold what you got until the maus platoon has moved past the 5 line in the village."
Is this too much for world of tanks?  Would it even help?   Mission type orders could give everyone an understanding of the bottom line or intent.  Compare that to a mirco managed approach and imagine a detailed plan given to individuals that could fall apart once the enemy starts rolling in an un-anticipated direction.  If we give simple task purpose, commander intent, and desired endstate, tank driver ImastudIS4dude would know, ok to achieve success everything depends on slowing down the enemies northern push which will allow our ME to cap before the OPFOR.  Therefore I do not need to personally kill every bad guy that comes my way, I can just track them.

Of course we dont have to use mil speak to explain things, but it came naturally when writing this up.  Hope this provokes some thought.

Basic WOT tactics

There are also a few army tactical concepts that I think have use during World of Tanks Clan battles: span of control, avenues of approach, mass and economy of force, movement techniques and movement formations.

Span of control:  Teams using voice chat software should strive to maximize that capability. 15 people acting on their own and talking on vent is too many and one guy trying to direct 15 individual tanks is unworkable. Most leaders can effectively manage 2-5 people which suggests forming 5 Platoons of 3 vehicles each. Optimally 4 maneuver tank platoon should be supported by one Arty PLT. This will limit chatter on vent significantly. Essentially only 5 people would need to do 80% of the talking. If you are not a PLT leader or the company commander you talk only by exception.  From what I've seen so far 31st BN goes a great job keeping chatter to a minimum.

Avenues of approach:  Most maps have three lanes or avenues of approach. The terrain just naturally dictates the routes you can take to the enemy base. Some are high speed, some are restrictive, some make no sense to use. For each battle we have to pick a route that is going to be our main effort. A few of the maps have dominating terrain features in conjunction with those avenues of approach that also have to be considered.

Once the "commander" decides which way to go, he should mass his combat power on that route. Tanks do not necessarily have to travel side by side, but the effects of those tanks need to be able to overwhelm forces on that route and hit like a fist. Think: travel dispersed but be able to strike as one. A corollary to massing the effects of combat power towards the decisive point is economizing everywhere else. On the secondary avenues of approach you can skimp and only allocate minimum essential combat power to get the job done.

If fighting a clan wars meeting engagement, think of two platoons of three tanks each stopping up secondary avenues of approach, so six tanks essentially start the battle on defense.  If it is discovered that the OPFOR is running a primarily defensive set one PLT on defense could flex to offense.  Or If you must attack, three platoons of three tanks each assault down our main effort line supported by 3 SPGs.

Designating members to platoons with a platoon leader(PL) would also help the distribution of fires.  Our PLs would be responsive for hitting "T" whenever they target someone.  Platoon members, who need to remember their PLs, would then know their primary target.  This is not to say they should drop everything they are doing: leave good cover, not shot a target of opportunity that is at 5%.  But if possible a whole platoon of three tanks can remove an enemy tank and its ability to damage us, very quickly.

  How we travel to the objective on offense is defined my movement techniques and movement formation. Stabilized guns do not exist in game, shots taken on the move are generally ineffective at ranges over 100 meters. For this reason, I personally advise the use of a vertical stabilizer.  To keep a rapid pace of advance there are two main movement techniques, traveling overwatch and bounding overwatch.  Traveling overwatch would have platoons following each other in trail with a 100-200 m gap between the lead and second platoon.  If three platoons are advancing, the third platoon doesnt need to keep such a large distance from the second platoon.   When the lead platoon is engaged and caught in a kill zone, that platoon either assaults through a near ambush or stops to return long range fire while seeking nearby cover.  The platoon immediately following may have the opportunity to return fire while remaining out of sight of the ambushing force.  The trail platoon(s) could then maneuver to place flanking fire on the defenders as the lead platoon(s) have fixed the enemy in place.

Bounding overwatch takes advantage of stationary tanks having a longer spotting distance.  The lead platoon would advance quickly to initial battle positions that offer good fields of fire and get set.  The trail platoons then bound forward to the next such opportunity to find a position behind cover and or concealment.  Once set the platoons start leapfrogging.  In theory the platoon that is eventually caught in the open would be supported by accurate fire from the platoon(s) that are stationary.

I've included two sketches below to help you visualize avenues of approach.  and although I've run outa time to describe movement formations maybe we should train the use of wedge, and echelon left/right.  I am just not sure if that is too much or if it would be effective in game.  it is not exactly one shot, one kill at tier 10.