Équipage
No vehicle in World of Tanks can operate without a complete crew. Acting as a proxy operator between the player and his vehicle, they affect some of the more important properties of vehicles in game. Through battles, a crew will gain experience the same way vehicles will, and over time crewmen will improve their vehicle operating level, and later, acquire new ones. Even with the same hardware on the same tank a difference in crew skills can have a dramatic effect on the battlefield. Crews can be bought and sold, trained and retrained for different vehicles, and be moved from one vehicle to another. Every crew member is trained for a certain vehicle and role, each with their own levels of proficiencies. The career of an individual crew member as they go through different vehicles can be checked though their profile page noting the crew member's statistics and medals awarded during their career. If a crew member is killed in battle the vehicle's performance will suffer and if all the crew members are knocked out the vehicle will become inoperable.
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{{panel content|title=Primary Specialization|content=
The Primary Specialization of a crew member is his job in the vehicle. The crew member's skill level effects the vehicle performance. As a crew member gains experience, their skills improve, and they become more effective at their job. A vehicle's statistics list the maximum possible value. Note that this value includes additional stuff that can add to crew skill, like Chocolate. Still, getting to 100% crew skill is the easiest method to increase overall vehicle performance.
There are five Primary Specializations, or jobs:
Commander
- These crewmen are responsible for spotting enemy vehicles. They affect the view range of the vehicle, with more competent commanders able to spot enemies at a greater distance. Commanders also give a bonus to the primary specializations of the rest of the crew.
Driver
- These crewmen are responsible for operating the driving controls of the vehicle. They affect the movement dynamics of a vehicle, with more competent drivers able to turn more sharply, lose less speed on turns, and [[Battle_Mechanics#Movement, Acceleration, Top Speed|accelerate more quickly.
Loader
- These crewmen are responsible for loading the next shell to fire. They affect how fast the next shell is loaded, with more competent loaders able to load the next shell faster, resulting in a lower reload time.
Gunner
- These tankers are responsible for aiming and firing the vehicle's gun. They affect the speed at which a gun will zero-in on its target, with more competent gunners able to zero-in at a faster speed, resulting in a lower aim time.
Radio Operator
- These crewmen are responsible for maintaining contact with allies, so that they appear on the player's minimap. They affect the radio range of the vehicle, with more competent radio operators able to maintain contact with allies at greater ranges. At the base skill of 50%, a Radio Operator will operate a radio at 75% of its range.
Difference between role and specialization
A tank crew member has a specific specialization that he is trained for and becomes proficient in, a role is his job in the vehicle. Each crew member can have one specialization but can perform multiple roles. In addition, multiple crew members may be assigned to one role.
For example the PzKpfw 38H735 (f) has two crew members, a Commander who is responsible for spotting enemies, operating the radio, and loading and aiming the gun, and a Driver who operates the driving controls.
Bonuses and Penalties
There are two bonuses that can be applied to primary specializations: the Commander Bonus and Equipment Bonus from equipment and consumables.
- Commander Bonus
- The commander of the tank gives an experience bonus to every crew member under his command, in the form of 10% of the commander's own experience, rounded to the nearest percent. This bonus will allow the crew to operate beyond 100%, and as a result, will perform better than the tank's specifications. A commander at 100% will give every crew member a 10% bonus allowing them to be 110% proficient at their job. The bonus a commander gives can be found by hovering over a crew member with you mouse in the garage.
- Equipment Bonus
- The Improved Ventilation equipment adds 5% to each crew member's primary specializations.
- The premium consumables Chocolate, Coca-Cola Box, and Extra Combat Rations will give a 10% bonus for a specific battle.
A penalty to Primary Specializations can be applied as well, should a crewman operate a vehicle from his own country that he is not trained for (his tank will be in red).
- If a crew member is in a vehicle of the same class (but not in their own vehicle), they will take a 25% penalty.
- If a crew member is in a vehicle of a different class, they will take a 50% penalty.
Bonuses and the final primary specialization level of a crew member stack and can be seen by mousing over the tanker's icon in the garage or barracks.
Crew Injuries
During the course of battle, crewmen can be injured and be taken out of the battle, making their skill 0% for the rest of the battle, and their experience gains lowered by 50% for that battle.
Commander injury removes the bonus given to all crew members and reduces view range.
Driver injury reduces the top speed, traverse speed, and acceleration of the vehicle.
Loader injury increases reloading speed. Reloading may also be reset.
Gunner injury reduces aiming speed and increases dispersion. Zeroing-in on a target may also be reset.
Radioman injury reduces radio range to 50%.
Should a crew member have multiple proficiencies, then all the proficiencies associated with the crewman take a penalty. For example, a crew member who was responsible for loading and firing the gun, then both the gunner and loader injury will take effect.
A crew member from any given crew may perform multiple roles, or multiple crewmen may fulfill the same role. In the case of multiple crewmen for the same role, the effective skill between them is the average of the skills across all the tankers. For example the two loaders on a SU-14, one performing at 50% and the other at 100% will average of 75% loader crew skill. Injured crew members will perform at 0% for the purpose of finding the average calculations. Having multiple members perform the same job is beneficial, because if one becomes injured during the course of battle the job will no be as effected as if one one member was performing it.
The Small First Aid Kit and Large First Aid Kit consumables will allow an injured tanker to return to battle.
Battles
The main method of raising the experience of the crew is through participation in battles, where they will gain experience points, which is used automatically to improve their skills. The crew will gain as much experience as the tank did in the battle. This is the only way to raise the experience level of secondary skills. A crew member that was injured during battle will only receive 50% of the experience he would have otherwise. Since the rate of crew injuries may not be the same across all the crew members, it is possible that one tanker will improve his skills faster than another tanker in the same crew should he be knocked out less than his colleague.
Rapid Training is an option available only for Elite Tanks, tanks that have researched all upgrades. Selecting this option will means that each crew members receive a 100% xp bonus divided by the number of crew members, so 4 crew members receiving rapid training will get a 25% bonus every battle. This bonus is applied to both primary and secondary skill gain.
Rapid Training can be toggled on and off at any time by a check box above the crew icons in the garage on the upper-left side of the garage interface, or by a check box in the upper-right corner of the vehicle's research tree menu. When a player turns on Rapid Training, a dialog box will appear to notify the player that it has now been enabled. }}
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