Platooning on May 27th

Good times last night with Neo_Patton, et al.

I love tier 7.  I love the Panther I, and I love puppies....

The E-75

Welcome!

skyeye24 has accepted a clan invite!  Good to have you bro!

123zorn & Der Maus!

Congo rats to 123zorn on his new Maus:

Victory!
Battle: Mountain Pass Thursday, May 24, 2012 9:36:54 AM
Vehicle: Maus
Experience received: 2,774 (x2 for the first victory each day)
Credits received: 70,551
Battle Achievements: Mastery Badge: II Class

^what 123zorn might show in his garage after his 4th battle in his new Maus^

^what a Maus _may_ look like^

^what we all sorta wish a Maus looked like^

Mumble Server & Hotness Platooning

Apologies.  The Mumble server had been down.  It is now back up again.

Also, had a most killer time platooning and winning about every single battle with Icarus and Bustlerack today.  It was like, I was Scarlett Johansson going "pew pew," ...running around with Thor and Ironman.

Gg!

What Scarlett Johansson _may_ look like....

Bi-Weekly Tank Company Night

5 showed:

CameleonSPY
Yam
Mac
Stiffee
HeavysSandvich

Yam, Mac and stiffee ended up doing a platoon.  I was in and out due to family crap -- sorry all.

I want to thank those that showed.  Sorry Heavy that you couldn't participate.  We prolly need to accomodate lesser tiers.  See the rest of you next time!

gg all....

Growers & Showers

Some were recruited based on top-tiered vehicels: Maus, E-100, IS-7, T110E5, etc.  I call these, "showers," cuz you have the tiers to "show" in the game, and I mean, when you can, say, pull out a big huge Maus, and roll it up on they in battle, then, that, is the quintessential definition of "showing."  You indeed, "show" your big, huge, tank.  Whether it is parked in the garage, or rolling into battle, it's fully shown, fully big, fully tier 10.

Some of you were recruited without a big, huge, "show" tier 10 tank.  I just want you to know that, too, are a "shower."  Why?   Cuz you had the skills, the stats.  Yes, I examined your service record, I ran your stats at wot-news.com or tank-tracker.com, I compared your stats.  I compared them just like I did the "showers" in the clan.

I said, "this guy has big skills too and one day, they will indeed be seen in a big, tier 10, tank.  He will one day, "grow" into a tier 10, and have those same, elite skills as he does right now in the smaller tiered tank.

So, just know, that whether you show or grow, you are all big to me, and I appreciate the size of your skills.

Just sayin'

-FKD

Welcome To The Clan!!!

HeavysSandvich!!!

Take it! It's yours!

I've done not much really at all.  I filled-out some fields on a form at a website, clicked some buttons, and made a clan.  Next, I invited you to join.  You joined.  Here we are....

I'm posting this now to tell you that, by and large, this clan will become what you make of it.  You'll find me eager to delegate, happy to hand-over authority and wanting to see others get involved.

Want Clan Wars?  Go make it happen.  Want a better Clan graphic/icon?  Make one.  Want this, that, and the other thing?  Do it.

But, time to repeat our mantra:

Zero pressure
No assholes

If all you want to do is play tanks, have at it.  There are some I've not spoken to in over a month or more.  They are in the clan, but just playing tanks.  They show up in clan channel, and that's it -- never a peep.  And that's just fine.  This is how this clan is, and it will stay that way.

For the rest of you, to quote Kid Rock: "you get what you put in...."

Or, as Achilles said to the Myrmidons before storming the beach in the movie, "Troy":

Myrmidons! My brothers of the sword! I would rather fight beside you than any army of thousands! Let no man forget how menacing we are, we are lions! Do you know what's waiting beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it! It's yours!

Man, I love that!  I'm Achilles!!!

^what FKD _may_ look like^

Platooning

I had a killer time platooning with clansmen tonight: brodix and speedsterhk.  I've also had great times in recent days with Yamserov, CameleonSPY and others.  Good times!

You guys always bring the hammer....

Guns

And now, random picks of shooting guns....

Welcome New Members!

horsk_hawk & Bustlerack!  Welcome to the clan!

^this spells "Hi!"^

State of The Clan

Approximately 2 months ago, Tank Club was formed.  In that time, we have grown to a membership of 25 people.  There have been bumps, but we are plowing on.  I mean, to me, a growth of 25 is darn good.  That's about a dozen people a month.

And we have recruited, not from the sea of common players, but quality players with great stats....

Even if we only grow by half that much between now and mid-June, that'll take our numbers up to 30something, and on from there.

I have viewed, literally, thousands of WoT accounts, confirming the stats are of the level our clan needs.  I have documented each one that is a possibility.  I then contact each one as they come online (I even keep a ledger so as _not_ to contact more than once -- I did not do this early on and got _told_).  I've been:

• Ignored
• Told to f*ck off
• Been given promises
• And rarely, I get a recruit

I continue this and spent prolly 2 -- or more like -- 3 hours last night doing nothing but this.  My methods continue to perfect.

Bumps:

• Our first clan night could be defined as, "wtf?"  But then again, we learned how to _be_ a clan
• shing keeps trying to put lace around the edges of his tanks

I just want to encourage everyone, and myself, that I think we have come a long way, but still have a long way to go.  We have to look at this as a ballistic shot, more than an alpha-strike -- i.e., we're shooting our round high into the atmosphere, and a half hour from now, it'll come smacking make itself known, unlike a close-in shot from a 704 right next to you.

FKD, why it take so long?

• We are farming recruits from upper tiers, largely burned-out on clans, and/or who have sworn to never join one (we've managed to snag-up some of these of most exceptional skill)
• We are farming new players with promising stats, but it'll take them a bit to get upper tiered vehicles
• We are still a relatively new clan -- 2 months is really nothing -- our presence is becoming, and will be known.

Our clan rankings:
http://wot-news.com/index.php/stat/clanstat/us/1000003502

At some point, the gravity of the clan will carry itself, and I hope to _not_ need to keep up this dogged, recruiting, pace.  In the mean, I carry on....

Analogy time: recruiting is like buying stocks, which are buying companies.  Most of these will fail, and return no profit on the work of buying them.  Few break even.  Some, rarely, return a profit, and make up for all the rest.

The few of you reading this, and that are actually helping out, are like a good stock on Wall Street.
I want to especially thank Yamserov and shing who have been helping immensely.
-FKD

And now, to keep you reading this blog, here's some pics of Marissa Miller:

Clan Stuff Night: Tank Company, et al.

This coming Sunday at 9PM EST!...

Yes more Dodge Viper pics....

Stats

Explanation and calculation of efficiency rating:
http://wot-news.com/index.php/stat/calc/en/

Our clan stats at wot-news.com:
http://wot-news.com/index.php/stat/clanstat/us/1000003502#

^has great stats^

A Message from Yamserov

Comrades, we're looking to promote anyone who's been active in the clan to soldier. This is important because if you are a soldier, you're pretty likely to be awesome, reliable, charming, and you're signed up for the 401K plan*! If you've been chatting, platooning with clan members, commenting on the blog, showed up for our first company battle, etc. please let me know! I can think of some off the top of my head, but others may be on at different times. Once people have had a few days to respond then the change will be made (FKD, if you'd like to copy this info to the blog...). Our thanks goes out to those helping to make Tank Club a better place to reside whilst exploding the enemy.

As far as we're concerned, this clan is going to have a very "flat" hierarchy, with positions awarded by merit and participation. We also want to preserve an open door communications policy.

Other clan roles will be assigned as we need them, especially tactical leadership positions. So be thinking about where your strengths lie, and make sure to show up for our next company/training battle session this coming Sunday! FKD will update everyone with the exact time.

Also, if you have any kick-ass uber-stat friends please send their names to FKD! He will love you forever, love you for always!

-Yams out

*401K Plan composed of 100% Enron stock

^What the TLR 401K nest egg might look like....

Clan Wars: Memo from Yamserov:

Yamserov has provided the following, excellent write-up on:

TLR CW Execution

Strategy Summary Document

TLR CW Execution

Direction

Where are we now? - At this time, TLR is in the growth stage of preparation for Clan Wars. We have grown membership nearly to the level necessary to field one full team of 15 people. We have been recruiting excellent players. We are starting to develop group cohesion and delegating leadership roles. We have created web platforms and activated a voice server. We have increased our fun quotient considerably, and sessyness is nearly off the charts.

Where are we going? - Our initial goal, for those interested, is to achieve full control of a Clan Wars province. In order to achieve our goal, we must:

1. Increase the amount of CW capable tier X Heavy and Tier VIII Artillery available.
2. We must implement a successful, appropriate training regiment to achieve force readiness.
3. We must continue to recruit members, a significant percentage being of appropriate skill, time zone, and availability for basic CW operations.

We will achieve these goals using methods our members devise.

Cost
Long Term Costs? - We require significant monetary expenditure for consumables and premium ammunition. Time expended on training, recruitment, and successful capture of territory will be significant, especially for TLR leadership and CW participants. In addition, virtual resource expenditure will be high in terms of credits and experience points.
Capital Needed? - We require appropriate numbers of high tier level armor and SPGs, and more tankers with high participation and skill.

Risk
The Long Road - Competition for CW territory is incredibly intense, requiring negotiation of tactical, diplomatic, and coordination challenges, as well as challenges of clan will. These hurdles are exacerbated by the mature state of CW politics; multiple power blocks control most major territories. This plan acknowledges the desire of TLR members to participate in these challenges, but also acknowledges the significant likelihood of setbacks during this iterative process. We must take steps to ensure the clan still has fun while pursuing our goals.

Flexibility
Semper Gumby - In view of the difficulty of this task, choosing a territory to pursue is open to further research. Contingencies for capturing CW territory include a plan  to participate in joint operations with smaller clans in exchange for revenue sharing, or if necessary a merger with smaller clan(s) in an equitable manner after a period of consideration and research. In view of the high failure rate and difficulty of the latter step, it would not occur without cost benefit analysis and extensive consultation of clan members, followed by a vote.

^approves^ (note: this is not Yamserov)

Welcome! MacG467

Welcome to the clan, MacG467.

Good to have ya at the party....

Tank Company Night: Mo'

Other stuffs I learned:

We field about 8 clan members Tank Company night.  It was basically a scrimmage, a way to see how many we could get to turn-out for, say, a Clan War.  8 is enough?  Prolly not.

So, we still got some growth to do.  Still, I was happy with the turnout.  8 out of 24ish is -- um, think brain think... 1/3!!!  So, we got 1/3 of us to show up for the scheduled/announced Tank Company, in a 100% zero pressure, no requirements clan.

Me thinks that's good!...

Anywho, I'm thinking we shoot for bi-weekly Tank Company nights, each Sunday, 9PMish EST.  If this is a problem for anyone, please let me know.  Eager to discuss....

Meanwhile, recruiting continues....

Welcome!

Heinen!

Good to have ya bro!

I wish I could give every new member one of these as a gift:

Winning!

Aesdea
Victory!
Battle: Malinovka
May-08-12 10:07:12 PM
Vehicle: IS
Experience received: 1,627
Credits received: 54,487
Battle Achievements: Mastery Badge: I Class

123zorn
Victory!
Battle: Ruinberg
Tuesday, May 08, 2012 10:09:10 PM
Vehicle: KV-3
Experience received: 7,085 (x5 for the first victory each day)
Credits received: 39,960
Battle Achievements: Mastery Badge: II Class, Master Gunner, Reaper, Sharpshooter

123zorn
Victory!
Battle: Cliff
Wednesday, May 09, 2012 12:48:33 AM
Vehicle: M40/M43
Experience received: 8,795 (x5 for the first victory each day)
Credits received: 41,953 Battle Achievements: Mastery Badge: Ace Tanker, Confederate

Is pleased with these victories

XVM or Win Rate Mod

This works with 7.3:

http://code.google.com/p/wot-xvm/downloads/detail?name=xvm-full-2.2.zip&can=2&q=

Make sure to check all files and "unblock."

The config I put in the res_mods from the xvm_doc folder was blocked, gave the, "mount point invalid" error -- took several minutes to figure out.

Basically, gives you win rate and a couple other stats:

Like Morton Salt ... it works!

What winning may look like sitting in your car....

Ace! shing!

Victory! Battle: Westfield
Tuesday, May 08, 2012 2:04:27 PM
Vehicle: KV-3
Experience received: 10,265 (x5 for the first victory each day)
Credits received: 57,069 Battle Achievements: Mastery Badge: Ace Tanker, Master Gunner, Sharpshooter, Steel Wall, Defender, Invader, Top Gun

New Deputy Commander: Yamserov

Yamserov has been promoted to the rank of Deputy Commander.  He has shown good:

-Attendance
-Interest
-Initiative
-Great ideas
-He comforted shing one night who was deep in tears

The Tank Company work we did this past weekend was all his brainchild, and he is doing a lot to get us toward Clan Wars.

Here is a strat write-up he has provided (I think from the forums).  Feel free to submit your own and I will post it:

TLR Basic Tank Tactics: Some Key Points
In No Particular Order
Credit to the WOT Forums

• Stick Together: Move as a unit with tanks in your area/squad. Break cover together, keep moving together, and set up assaults, defenses and ambushes utilizing the particular benefits of the tanks available. E.g. hide reasonably behind the most armored tank when faced with enemy assault. A wall of advancing tanks is intimidating and effective, and so it running into one!
• Maneuver: If you're driving a tank, your job is generally to move! Yes, you want to blow up the enemy, but it's so much easier if you can punch their weak spots. In general you want to push the enemy and force a reaction to you; grab his attention with one force, fix him, and slam him from the side and/or with arty. Maneuver is useful on attack and defense; if the enemy forces you to react, make sure you meet him on ground that suits your tank (if possible)! HULL DOWN!
• It is far better to push into weakness, especially if it's a weakness your team created. That said if you must push into strength, make sure you can stand the casualties (or else defend)! 
• Communicate: Communicate with your squad, and make sure the commander knows what your squad is doing if it's a significant departure from the plan. Keep radio comms clean, and communication quick and concise. Tell us if you're flanking, so we can support!
• TELL YOUR COMRADE IF ARTY CAN HIT THEM WHERE THEY ARE! ALSO TELL ARTY IF THEY ARE BEING COUNTERBATTERIED AND COUNT THE SHOTS! Hell, count the shots any time; it'll give us an idea of enemy composition.
• Scout: Information is power; we'll have a plan going forward based on the map and any other info we can glean beforehand (espionage?), but without scouting we don't know the enemy's strategy, vectors of attack, composition, etc. except as a comparison to what is possible on that map. MAKING RED BLOBS APPEAR, WHILE SURVIVING, IS GOLDEN!
• Shoot to kill: Squad leaders, at a minimum, will call out targets with T key; attack the most dangerous/damaged targets to quickly lower the enemy's firepower. This advice may go to shit in the middle of combat, but keep calling those targets! Also, squad leaders should verbally call out targets requiring arty support (squad leader on a planned offensive front should be receiving the majority of arty support anyway). If you see an opportunity to counter battery the enemy and they don't know they've been spotted, use communication to land multiple rounds on one target if possible to increase chance of kill. 
• Stay Alive: The longer you are alive, the more pain you can cause the enemy team! Directly or indirectly, you can take away HP, the ability for enemy to cross an area unimpeded, the ability to avoid arty, etc. Your abilities, with the exception of module/crew damage, do not decrease when you are at 1HP! Likewise, shield your teammates with your tank if they're almost dead! This especially goes for times when we might need to withdraw in force.
• Don't stop where arty can hit you! Don't bunch up where arty can hit you!
• ARTY, ARE YOU SHOOTING AND SCOOTING??
• When moving to cover, do not stop to fire! Just go to half-speed if you must. 
• For scouts specifically, unless noted otherwise, don't suicide scout! The longer you're alive, the greater advantage you will bestow to your team. A scout in the end-game of a battle is priceless!  Another small point for scouts: I don't recommend firing unless you are trying to draw attention to yourself or attacking arty. And add lots of transversal velocity, juking, and praying.
• Situational Awareness: Make your minimap BIG, and look at it! Always consider what is happening around you. What might you find ahead of you, using process of elimination (of enemy force composition)? Where are common ambush points? Arty, are you getting plinked by a scout? TDs, are you getting flanked? CAN ARTY HIT YOU RELIABLY WHERE YOU SIT?? 
• Be a good sport: We are playing to have fun, blow shit up, and to have fun improving. If criticism is necessary, administer it in a thoughtful, respectful way; take advice and learn from it. Have a sense of humor, it's only a game! If you feel like you have been wronged by someone, talk to them about it in private before bringing it before the clan leadership; we're all on the same team, and these things can often be resolved before FESTERING into something foul. Like FKD says, no pressure!

And in conclusion:

Night of the long turrets: Our 1st Tank Company Thing

Or, reality department of reality....

tl;dr: need suggestions, thoughts, comments, augmentations, words, nouns and adjectives....

To start stuff off right, here's a pic of Olivia Wilde:

We did our first clan practice, training, stuff last night.  I must say, it was interesting.  For my part, I tried to prepare myself for the worst:

-Low turn-out
-Low wins
-Argments and hair-pulling
-Run out of beer in-the-middle-of-it....

I felt turn-out was good.  I feel expectations were acceptable.  I must say tho, I was really hoping we would pwnz them all!  I was glad we ended up vs. some clans.  I think tank companies are good for that.

Also, we ran into one or two guys who seemed to understand better the clan stuff and doing the right tiers to get a game going, etc.  Bottom line: we left the pub, random battles and indeed wetted-our-feet into the lands of clans....

And now, the Audi Locus:

And then, we got smacked....

Don't get me wrong.  We won some, and we lost some.  I think it all goes to show that just raw, pure, win rate alone isn't enough.  We got rolled a time or two (or three?) by clans with much lower win rate, that over-powered a sid, etc.

Also, we got rolled cuz we went into battles with:

-No arty
-Way outnumbered (shing: "we're screwed" <-- lol!)
-etc.

Facts:
-We all got together roughly about 8:30is PMish ESTish.  We did indeed kick things off at right about 9PM EST.
-We did 7 battles of one form or another including: Tank Company, Training and Intramural Training (we played vs. each other -- dangchang did me in the butt! with his E-75!)

Here are the screens of each in, I believe, chronological order:


Training Battle
In this training battle, shing asked to be raped -- he so dirty -- sideswipes tried hard to explain strategy and tactics, but ADHD took over, and several people capped the flag, but no one would admit who did it, lol!

Training Battle
Another training battle, intramural, except that one guy (wtf he come from?) Ths is where dangchang did my E-75 in the butt with his E-75's gun.  Again, sideswipes tried words, but people ADHDed rolfcoptered....

Tank Company: Defeat
Ok, they pushed hard on dry-river-valley/big mtn side with heavies; I went mid in my T59 and made it to their side but dies; we lost of course; Note: no clan we played last night had better w/r than we did.



Tank Company: Victory!
This one went well.  I stayed water, and duked it out successfully with a T34; the 3 arty we picked up from outside the clan made the difference; of course, you can see our guys did the lionshare; we were vs. an entire clan here and won; raw talent mighta been the thing.

Tank Company: Defeat
Alright, following the recent pwning we gave, we/I/w/e felt we were The Avengers; we launched into this one with only 8 -- some clannies had left -- and after picking up about 3 strays, we did it with _no_ arty; in the great words of shing, "we're screwed," and we were....

Tank Company: Defeat
Another defeat at the hand of an entire clan-team; their w/r wasn't all that -- I don't remember any of them over 50%; they pushed hard valley/no-rocks side; I believe we spread out equally; once the right (no rocks/hills) side collapsed, it was over.

Tank Company: Victory!
This was acutally our 1st battle of the night in Tank Companies; we tried going absolute, but were advised to drop down in tiers -- called, "Medium" I think; this was a nice victory, and led us to believe we didn't need a full compliment to pwn me thinks; however, we were not vs. a clan in this one -- all randoms looks like: basically like we were fighting as a clan vs random pubs.

Overall, I think we would have done a tad better with more people, as at least one of the defeats -- Sand River -- we stupidly went in without _any_ arty at all, and out-numbered, vs. mostly a single clan.

We basically went 2 for 3 victories/defeats in Tank Companies.  If we count the 4 battles vs. actual clans (the one being _not_ vs. a clan) we actually went 1 for 3.  If you remove the one defeat wherein we were outnumbered _and_ no arty, we went 1 for 2 victories/defeats for the night.

As for strategy, accomplishments for the night, what-did-we-learn, words vs. just playing, etc. -- I think Yamserov put it best:

"Our strategy will most likely come about organically" <-- very well put.

I.e., we will learn how to play together by simply playing together.

Questions I have:
A. Did we lose to the other clans bcs they simply piled-up a side and pushed?  Is the key to just beef-up one flank and push it all the way?
B. What's the ratio of: Heavies, Mediums, Lights, TDs and Arties that we should take?
C. Why does the post office suck at mail?  What else do they have to do?

And finally, apparently Mel Gibson watched our first clan Tank Company stuff last night....

Mel took this pic of himself with the iPhone 4s, "facing" camera

Srsly tho, thx to all who showed up, much appreciated.  I hope we can repeat.

Again, zero pressure clan.

Love, peace and chicken grease....

-FKD