Vehicle Crew

The vehicle crew in World of Tanks is represented by virtual tankers. No vehicle can operate without a complete crew. The mastery of the crew determines a vehicle's performance on the battlefield.

Crew Positions and Functions

Depending on the vehicle type, a crew can consist of between two and six members. Each tanker has a major qualification that influences certain vehicle parameters, as follows:

• Commander: The chief crew member in any vehicle whose training level influences the vehicle's view range and the general performance of the crew.
• Gunner: Influences the gun traverse speed, aiming time of the reticle, and gun accuracy.
• Driver: Influences the maneuverability of the vehicle.
• Radio Operator: Influences the vehicle's view and signal range, which determines the distance at which enemy vehicles are displayed on the minimap.
• Loader: Influences the gun loading time and shell type switching.

Tankers can perform several functions. For example, the I MS-1 's Commander performs the functions of the Gunner, Loader, and Radio Operator. The crew's influence on a vehicle's technical characteristics increases with the major qualification level, as well as with perk levels.

If one or more crew members become injured, the technical characteristics of the vehicle are reduced until the tankers are healed. An artillery strike stuns the vehicle's crew for a particular period of time, and the vehicle's performance is reduced for the same period. Use a First Aid Kit to heal an injured or stunned crew member. If all crew members are injured, the vehicle is considered destroyed.

Recruiting Crew Members to a Vehicle

A crew is present on Tier I vehicles at the beginning of the game. When purchasing a vehicle, the crew is recruited automatically by default.

If you checked the "Purchase without crew" box when purchasing a vehicle, here's what you can do:

• Recruit the crew to the vehicle you already have in the Garage.
• Transfer the crew from another vehicle using the Barracks.

Here is how to recruit a crew member in the Garage:

1. Click the crew member slot in the Crew Members panel in the upper-left corner of your screen.
2. Click the Recruit button at the top of the screen.
3. Choose the type of training for your new crew member and click Recruit.

The recruited tanker will have 100% Crew Efficiency and 0% XP for the first perk.

Crew Transfer

To maximize the battle performance of a new vehicle purchased without a crew, you can transfer experienced crew members from another vehicle in your Garage or from a sold vehicle.

When transferring your crew, consider the following:

• The vehicle's nation: Tankers can only control vehicles of their own nation. For example, is impossible to retrain an American Gunner to control a German tank.
• The vehicle's type: If you transfer a tanker to the same vehicle type or to another vehicle type altogether, their Crew Efficiency will remain at 100%, but all the perks will be disabled. In order to avoid this, retrain your crew members to a new vehicle.

To retrain the tanker to a new vehicle, do the following:

1. In the Garage, select the vehicle to which to which you transferred the tanker.
2. In the Crew Members panel, right-click the tanker you want to retrain and select Retrain.
3. Choose the training level of your tanker and click Retrain.

You can choose one of the following three training levels:

• Rapid Courses: These courses are free, but the Perk Efficiency of tankers decreases to 30%.
• Regimental School: Retraining a crew member for 20.000 credits also allows you to change their Major Qualification.
  • Perk Efficiency is lowered to 60% if a crew member is trained for a different vehicle without role change.
  • Perk Efficiency is lowered to 40% if a crew member is trained for a different vehicle with role change.
• Tank Academy: A tanker is retrained for a new vehicle without any penalties for 200 gold.

Managing Perks

Each tanker has perks that can be improved or changed. To manage this game feature, you should first enter the tanker's Profile and then select the desired action.

If you want to improve the tanker’s perks, click Accelerate Training. To do this, you will need Free XP, training materials such as a Universal Manual, or a Mentoring License.

You can also reset your tanker's existing perks at any time by clicking the Reset button and choosing one of the following four options:

• Rapid Courses: Free of charge, but the total perk experience is reduced by 20%.
• Regimental School: Costs 20,000, but the total perk experience is reduced by 10%.
• Tank Academy: Costs 200 and does not change the total perk experience.
• Retraining: Requires a Retraining Order and does not change the total perk experience.

Barracks

The Barracks tab is under the Battle! button in the Garage. Barracks are used for keeping, recruiting, and retiring your tankers. In the Barracks, you can find both your current and unclaimed crew members and apply filters based on their specialization, nation, qualification, vehicle type, etc. The main filters will retain their settings even if you exit the game.

In the Barracks, you can do the following:

• Accommodate a crew after selling a vehicle or when transferring it to another vehicle. (There should be enough bunks in the Barracks.)
• Retire unnecessary tankers.
• Recruit special crew members (called Recruits) gained in special missions, events, or specials.
• Enlarge the Barracks to keep additional experienced fighters or to freely transfer crews between vehicles.

Sending a Crew to the Barracks Upon Selling a Vehicle

When selling a vehicle, it’s recommended to send experienced crew members to the Barracks and retrain them to a new vehicle. The "Send crew to Barracks" box is checked by default upon selling a vehicle.

If there are no free bunks, you can enlarge the Barracks for gold or retire unnecessary tankers.

Crew Member Retirement

You can retire unclaimed tankers. You can select this option when selling your vehicle, or you can retire the tankers in the Barracks.

Here's what to do to retire the crew when selling a vehicle:

1. On the vehicle panel in your Garage, right-click the vehicle you wish to sell and select Sell.
2. In the Crew section, click Retire.
3. To confirm, enter the sale price (if required) and click Sell.

To retire a crew member from the Barracks, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Barracks.
2. Hover over a crew member and click Retire.
3. In the confirmation window, enter the requested information and click Retire, or cancel the operation.

Retirement rules based on XP accumulated:

The confirmation process varies depending on the crew member’s experience (XP):
• Up to 210,060 XP (equivalent to one 100% perk): The crew member can be retired with a simple confirmation, without needing to enter an experience value.
• From 210,060 XP to 630,180 XP (equivalent to two 100% perks): Confirm the retirement by entering the level value of the last perk.
• Above 630,180 XP: Confirm the retirement by entering the level value of the last perk. The crew member can be restored within one month after retirement.

Only those crew members who have enough experience to train at least two perks to 100% can be found in the Retired section in the Barracks. You can recover these crew members within a period of 32 days. It's free during the first two days after retirement, but it will cost 60,000 in the next 30 days after that.

Less trained crew members are retired immediately, even if a tanker only needs a couple of percent to train the perk to 100%. Treat your crew carefully.

Barracks Size

The size of your Barracks determines the number of tankers you can keep after selling a vehicle and how freely you can transfer your crew from vehicle to vehicle. There are 16 bunks in the Barracks by default. You can enlarge your Barracks by adding bunks. Please note that the Barracks can be enlarged by 16 bunks for 300.

To enlarge the Barracks, do the following:

1. In the Garage, go to the Barracks tab on the panel under the Battle! button.
2. At the top part of the Barracks window, click Enlarge Barracks.
3. In the confirmation window, click Enlarge.

Your Barracks will be enlarged by 16 additional bunks for 300.

Recruits

Recruits are crew members gained in missions, events, or specials. All available recruits are displayed in the Recruits section of your Barracks.

When recruiting, you can choose the nation of your recruit. As a rule, recruits have enough experience to start training a perk and/or have already trained a perk. Moreover, among the recruits, there are unique crew members with special personal data.

Crew Member Appearance

Appearance includes the name, surname, and image of a crew member. You can find all of these parameters in your tanker’s Appearance tab.

The name, surname, and image of a crew member are randomly selected upon recruiting. Appearance does not influence your tankers performance. You can personalize your tanker’s appearance at any time by changing their name, surname, and image for free.

Here's how to replace your crew member’s appearance:

1. Left-click the tanker’s image in your Barracks or Garage. In the new window, go to the Appearance tab.
2. Choose the desired new appearance for the crew member. You will then also be offered to choose a new name and surname. Please note that all nations have their individual name, surname, and image sets.
3. Click Change.

Crew Skins

Crew skins are special sets of characteristics containing the following:

• Unique image
• Unique name and surname
• Short character description

You can replace your crew member with a real historical figure or a modern, popular, or even unusual character.

All skins can be removed and applied to other crew members. Historical skins are unique for each nation, but non-historical skins are applicable to all nations. All unused images are displayed in the Appearance tab.

Here's how to apply a crew skin:

1. Open your crew member’s Appearance tab.
2. Select a crew skin and click Apply.