It's out! 9.3 is ready for download

WOT 9.3 hit the air today.  Get to loading it, this weekend should be a blast.  With a whole new line of American light tanks to play.

1st ride out in my Panther II

Not bad for first time out, into battle.

9.3 and Strong Hold

As most know we have had a hell of a time getting a full 6-7 players online for stronghold.  In 9.3 however they will now allow up to 5 players not in the clan to join.  This could help us out.

Playing 9.3 test

Most of you working on 8-10 tiers and buying, may want to hold off.  There are going to be some nice 5-8 tanks coming out in this update.  I was playing the new light U S tanks and they are some real threats.  In 1 tank the T-49 Bulldog, I was behind enemy lines before I knew it.  Moving at over 70 I caught the enemy not even moving off base when I showed up.  I shot the art, td, and hvy, and still took 3 hits before I got it.  This tank is a danger when 3 or more are on the field.  They run in wolf packs, and can do some heavy damage.  The USSR got some changes coming too.  KV-1S moves down to a tier 5 tank now.  Germans get a high speed light with a big gun.  Will keep testing and let you know.  Remember the test sever is open to all to test out the new tanks.

Why bother with Team Training

In this mode, you can make your own room and select the map you wish to play. Then, decide if you want the game to be open to the public, or use the "invite" feature to play only with friends. After the player has responded and joined, drag their name to the appropriate team and start your Battle. Many players use this mode for experiments with various tank mechanics, learning new maps, strategic planning and movement, and the teaching of those new to the game in 1 vs 1 matches. You will not gain any experience points or credits in this mode and your vehicle repairs are free, but you will still need to pay for expended shells and equipment (consumables used).

A better understanding of Strongholds

In release 9.2 Strongholds was added to World of Tanks. Strongholds is a game mode available to clans and limited to members of the same clan. Strongholds enables clans to build structures using the "Industrial Resource". In release 9.2 structures built in strongholds can be leveled up from 1 to 4 and will each provide a different benefit to the clan. In future releases structures will be able to reach level 10. The type of structure will determine the benefit to the clan and the level of the structure will determine the amount of that benefit.
Strongholds is planned to have 3 battle modes however the introduction of Strongholds in 9.2 consists of only the Skirmish mode. Similar to Tank Companies, clans that wish to participate in skirmishes will select a level of a skirmish battle (Medium, Champion, or Absolute). Medium will include tiers 1-6, Champion will include tiers 1-8, and Absolute will allow all tiers from 1-10.
Clans will form up a detatchment of up to 7 tanks for Medium, 10 tanks for Champion, and 15 tanks for Absolutes. Once formed the leader of the detatchment will enter a battle queue. They will fight a randomly matched team from that queue. Currently there is no matchmaking component.
Each Skirmish battle will provide your clan with the Strongholds currency, known as "Industrial Resource". When you build up this resource, clans can develop "Reserves", which are basically boosts to your earnings in all types of battles (including random battles). Industrial Resource also allows you to level up your structures, which makes your Reserves give you bigger boosts. You can use the Reserves whenever your clan decides will be most beneficial to you. To see a full list of the Reserves that are available, see this page (about 2/3 of the way down). Only one reserve can be used at a time and once triggered the benefit will last 2 hours.
The following is a list of how clan roles apply to Strongholds:

Commander - Create/Delete Stronghold, Manage Clan Settings (such as time for defending one's own Stronghold), + everything below

Dep Comm - Open/Close a "Zone" (each road), build structures, manage Reserves, Attack enemy Strongholds, + everything below

Field Comm - Manage Skirmish teams, + everything below

All others - Ability to choose which structure their share of battle earnings apply to, create Skirmish teams, view information about your own clan's stronghold

Here is a list of Structures and the bonuses they can provide.

Structure	Reserves	Bonus Type	Maximum Value*
Financial Unit	Battle Payments	Increased earnings for all battles (Credits)	Up to 50%
Tankodrome	Tactical Training	Increased earnings for all battles (XP)	Up to 50%
Military School	Military Maneuvers	Increased earnings for all battles (Free XP)	Up to 50%
Training Unit	Additional Briefing	Increased earnings for all battles (Crew XP)	Up to 100%
Transportation Unit	High-Capacity Transport	Increased earnings for all Skirmishes (Industrial Resources)	Up to 100%

In a future release Strongholds will be able to reach levels 5-10 and will open the Attack and Defense battle options in the Strongholds game mode. If a Stronghold is upgraded to level 5 other clans will be able to utilize the Attack battle option to target the Stronghold. The clan owning the Stronghold will have a preset Stronghold defense time window and will need to defend it from attack during that window. The effects a successful raid or a failed defense is still being determined.

Why Play StrongHold

You must understand some things about strong hold.  1st if you play as a clan there are bonuses to be had.  2nd the more you play and the clan earned in resources the more bonuses you earn.  This can push you up faster in crew training, credits for a new tank, an so on.  So yes at present we lose a lot of rounds.  However you are still gaining the bonus factor to your tanks and crew.  I ask myself, how is it we can play in platoons and win most battles with only 3 together?  Yet as 4 platoons working as 1 we fail each time!  1 idea is to go to a training battle, and break up in to 4 teams of 3 and go after each other.  then breakup in to 2 teams and see what happens.  Another is we force ourselves to use comms.  Still this does not solve a lot of play issues.  We have the tanks, we have the skills, we just don't have the play down.  I invites all members to come up with ideas a place your comments here so we can come up with a plan of action for the whole group.

Good Luck and Good Hunting.