Tips and Tricks

General

• Teamwork, teamwork, TEAMWORK... on any side, using any unit, communication and cooperation with your teammates is essential for victory. Use chat channels or TeamSpeak to keep in communication and join a squad to find other players.
• Patience - one shot can kill you, no massive health bar or healers in this game. Play it like you would a real war game and you'll live longer. Use cover, run, dodge etc. don't just rush in like Rambo.
• Watch what the older players do they know (mostly) how to play well and you will learn from them and how they play.
• You have to invest time and effort to learn in this game but the payback is a real blast.
• Play with the best visual settings for you, lower graphics is better than being killed as your lag is bad. * It’s not all about graphics its about staying alive.
• Think about joining a squad, you'll benefit hugely plus you have people to protect you and you’ll make friends.
• Don’t be afraid to use the .ignore command. Like all game we have our fair share of whiners, whingers and moaners, don’t get distracted by their idle chat.

Infantry

• Try to keep in cover as much as possible. Avoid church towers and berms.
• Give ammo to motars, smgs or whoever requests it. If you need ammo, call for an ammo request.
• Try not to form an 'ant hill.' This is a line of infantry that flows out of an MSP, leading the enemy right to it.
• This isn’t like a typical first-person shooter deathmatch: there are no health packs scattered around the battlefield, and one shot will likely kill your character in most circumstances. Proceed with caution from the spawn point and crouch or go prone often, or an enemy will likely spot you before you see him.
• As you make your way to your target, stop often in stands of trees and hedgerows. Right-click to look through your gun’s sights; this will magnify the background a little bit, giving you a better chance of spotting enemy movement. When you achieve a certain rank, you’ll earn a pair of binoculars; you’ll also get the chance to wield more dangerous weapons, such as submachine guns.
• Keep your current mission objective in mind at all times, and make sure you work with your fellow soldiers as you carry it out. Just like in a real war, success depends on teamwork. Your side won’t make any progress if you run around aimlessly.
• If your goal involves taking an enemy location, don’t head straight for it — you’ll likely run right into a tank or a platoon of soldiers setting up a defensive position. Flank the location and approach from the side, which will give you the greatest chance for surprise.
• If you simply press the Return key to chat with your teammates, you’ll run the risk of a nearby enemy “hearing” what you’re saying. Talk on a secure channel instead.
• The game does an excellent job of making sounds seem far away or near, depending on their proximity to you. Pay close attention to your environment and look for cover if you hear a shot go off nearby. And if you’re driving a vehicle, make sure you cut the engine once you’ve moved into position, or you may alert the enemy to your presence.
• Save your ability to sprint for the times when you really need it, such as dashing across an open field or moving away from enemy fire. You can only sprint for a certain length of time, after which you’re forced to walk until you regain some stamina. You’ll regain stamina faster if you stop walking.
• When swimming across rivers, make sure your stamina is full. You will cross much faster then if you had low stamina.
• Never fire your last bullet, reload before your empty and it may save your life.
• Stay out of the church tower (one of the first place people look).
• Think before typing in spatial (open chat e.g. no channel) chat during battles it gives away your position.
• Touching any enemy moving vehicle or gun will kill you instantly.
• ATGs take more then one bullet sometimes. 3 shots each crew does the trick till later when you’re surer of your aim.

Armor

• If you are in an area with heavy enemy activity, try to get a couple of infantry players to cover you to keep sappers away (or better, dead).
• Always have your commander up unless you are being bombed, or you are in a town with an ei infestation. The only exception is if your commander is also your gunner.
• Use your commander to scan. Do not scan with your gunner. Even while moving, try to be in the commander position and scan for threats.
• If your commander is killed, try to rtb. Situational Awareness(SA) is incredibly important.
• Avoid roads and obvious direct routes when travelling, unless you know them to be safe.
• On attack never drive your tank into an area which does not already have lots of friendlies in. Ideally you should be in the "flow" of friendly infantry and behind other tanks.
• Let other tankers go ahead and clear the way. Always be a few 100m behind them. If they die, dont go there and back up. Try to cover tanks in front of you from sappers and other threats.
• Try not to park your tank near friendly ATGs or next to msps. Your tank is big and noisy and attracts attention, MSPs and ATGs doing ambush work may get killed as a result of bombs and shells intended for you.
• It is sometimes worth stopping every few 100m to scan ahead and around you for threats. Where possible always stop hull down, behind a berm.
• Invest in a surround sound speaker setup or good headphones, so that you can place targets by audio.
• Learn the sounds of different types of tanks, so you know whats coming before you see it.
• Learn the capabilities of your gun, learn the weakspots of enemy tanks.
• NEVER engage frontally unless you have no option. When you shoot, always be confident of a one shot kill, which is usually to the side or rear. If you have not been seen, you always have the option of holding fire and letting the target pass for a different unit to deal with.
• Always mark targets on the map. Even if you intend to kill it. This helps prevent other units from getting killed in the meantime and also allows them to help you kill the enemy unit.
• When on town defence use the AI MG towers & pits to your advantage, they are the best sapper cover, but always be sure to know when they are destroyed.
• Use the right tool for the job. Do not use heavy tanks to surpress enemy spawnables in a friendly town. Use armored cars and light tanks which are just as effective, park a good distance away from the spawnable, and where enemy atgs and sappers spawning from that depot will find it difficult to kill you without you killing them first.
• If you are tempted to spawn a tank on town defence, always spawn in first as a rifleman to give yourself an appreciation of the situation. If the AB is under shell fire do not spawn your tank until the threat has been dealt with.
• Regularly check your map for updates. If there are very few or no marks on the map, but ews is heavy then spawn infantry instead, its likely the defence is uncoordinated and you will die in your tank to something that has not been marked.
• Look at the top tankers on CSR. If you see them in game look at what they do and learn from them. Most are happy to help if you have questions. There are more bad tankers in game than good ones, do not follow the herd.
• Learn the best spots for defence or attack in various towns. There are places which give you views into the vehicle spawns of the ABs, but never put your tank directly looking into the VS as its highly likely something will spawn and kill you before you can kill it. Best positions are looking into the vs from an angle.
• Join a squad specializing in armor. They will have very good tankers who will be able to train you. Teaming up with your squaddies will allow you to support each other.
• If there are lots of enemy bombers overhead, try to use bushes and trees as cover. Never park in the open, and avoid parking very close to other tanks.
• Everytime you get a kill, or fire your gun, its likely that your position has been marked on the enemies map. Be especially alert for new threats and move if you dont feel safe.
• Always flank. Imagine the routes the enemy tanks might take, then move out by 1-2k. Pick off enemies with flank shots.
• If you see the hulk of a friendly tank, then its probably a good idea to avoid that particular area.
• When you engage targets try to have your front facing them, if possible offset slightly to improve chances of shell deflection.
• If an enemy tank is travelling directly towards you and you are not confident of a frontal kill shot, shoot him in one of the tracks to make him spin, then shoot him in the side. I wouldn't attempt a detrack with small caliber guns(<50mm) unless I was desperate.
• If you want to spawn armour or an ATG then spawn infantry first and see if its safe.
• Multicrew with an experienced player, he can then tell you some tips and tricks.

Air

• Before trying to fly in game, practice offline. It will save you many embarrassing moments.
• Before you take off, check the map (M) and determine where the action is and where to find friendly aircraft.
• Climb! Pilots found below 2 km (6000 ft) are easy prey for seasoned veterans who lurk above, and for the very deadly anti-aircraft gunners who abound on the ground.
• Friendly aircraft have blue halos and name tags. Don’t shoot at them (it will not hurt them but annoy them immensely) – save your ammo for the aircraft with red halos and aircraft type tags.
• Look around you at all times. The enemy has a tendency to park behind you before shooting you down, so look behind your tail every 5 seconds.
• Fire only at short range. You will want to fill the gunsight with enemy before letting rip.
• Keep your speed up. Low, slow and turning is a free ticket to the nether regions.
• Fly gently. If you pull too hard on the stick, you will black out and possibly crash.
• If you manage to shoot down an enemy, flame a truck or bomb a bridge, return immediately to base to collect your mission success points. Thus you will soon gain rank and access to better performing aircraft.
• Whilst your tail gunner can be useful its often more prudent to only use him when the EA are at mid-long range and are not likely to catch you. Reason for this being the drag created by the open rear cabin will slow you down and a lack of joystick inout from your pilot will make a kill shot much easier for an enemy aircraft on your 6.
• The Me110 has 360 rounds of cannon in 3 belt-pairs of 120. At each interval of 120 your guns will need a few moments to reload. If you find yourself just short of your next belt, at 247 rounds for example, it is often prudent to fire off the last 7 rounds in the previous belts so that you have a full 120 rounds ready when you next have a firing solution.
• Stay civil. No amount of moaning, cursing or belly-aching will help you improve. Learn from your mistakes and keep your chin up.

Read more about everything pertaining to air combat in the Air Force section.

Map

• Mark contacts on map so all players can see them.
• Learn the range ring on the map for range estimation. From center of circle to the outside is about 100 meters or 1km depending on map zoom.
• Use your map in cover and don't stand around in the open checking it.

Mobile Spawns

• When defending towns look for friendly MSPs outside of town. That will usually get you out of the attack area long enough to get your first kills.
• Always ask the mission leader if you can put an mobile spawn up before you do it (sometimes a mission is made for a specific task and a ms on it will "ruin" the purpose of it)
• Never put up a MSP on the "main defence mission" in a town. It’s extremely frustrating when you for example are defending the AB/bunker area and someone set up a "defensive ms" on that mission and you end up in the middle of nowhere.

Training

• Practice offline & on training server with weapons, planes, tanks etc. rather than on live game.
• Get your head round keymapper, the edge it can give you playing is great.
• Ask for help from trainers (see below)

Help and Reports

• Report (.report) any stuff that could be fixed or is bugged in game.
• The help channel has many helpful and knowledgeable people tuned to it. Use it.
• Don't worry about asking for help (on help channel) or on forum, we were all new once.
• Make use of private messages (for those afraid of asking for help publicly)
• .Help is also useful, many people don't use that.