Introduction

If You Don't wish to waste your time with reading, skip the introduction to get straight to the
important stuff.
CloudHavoc Here, I am currently a lowly member of the clan steel wolves. I hope to become a
senior officer eventually, but currently wish only to present several ideas to the current officers of this
clan. For the time being, I am working full time, and it is second shift. This makes it nearly impossible to
become a leader of any type, since I miss the majority of ideal play time during the day. However, I think
our clan needs some help, and some direction. I have been a member of many clans, in many games. I've
also been a strategy game enthusiast for as long as I can remember, starting with games like age of
empires, and Warcraft where a good player could win single handedly against several enemies, but often a
great combo would come along that could provide the ultimate defense and the ultimate offense in perfect
sync and you couldnt even imagine how they were able to wipe you out so fast. An unlikely alliance in
free-for-all matches was a frequent occurrence. But what if it was all planned? Spoiler alert: it probably
was.
And so as I moved on to RPGs, I found world of Warcraft, and guild wars, each with their own
unique elements, and the wide variety of clans that could be found. I played in several clans, and
discovered what I liked: generosity, encouragement, and friendship. These things always took first place
when deciding to stay in a clan. But these are not the things I thought I was looking for. I wanted active
players, participation in the highest level of competition, and huge rewards, payouts, and free stuff.
In the end, I found that friendship in a clan was a great asset, but it could not keep clans from
falling apart. Nor could it keep players returning to the game. Players quit playing, to go try new games,
and I couldnt drop the cash to keep up with them. Even huge rewards or free stuff couldnt keep players
interested. The key, I believe, is competition. Players join the game looking for fun, they join the clan
looking for more reward, they stay with the clan because of friendship, but what causes players to keep
coming back to the game even AFTER they had their fill of playing? New updates and expansions? Huge
rewards and free stuff? Great Friends and leaders? Nope. None of those things. BUT competition does.
Excitement does. If you can make a player look FORWARD to the next clan training, then you can
literally keep them coming back over and over, and they often bring friends.
Even better, if they show excitement of their own, skill and willingness to lead, invite them to be
junior officers or whatever your low ranking officer may be called. It encourages them to become more
mature, encourage others more, and develop their own skill more. Power is infectious. Give someone the
ability, and they literally go out of their way to use it, and improve it. And if a clan has amazing skill
together, and always pushes the limits of what is possible, they can keep finding enjoyment in the game,
regardless of how repetitious it may seem. We no longer play to have "the best crew, or the best tank"
things like "his tank is just better than mine" or "this match was lost from the start" no longer matter,
because "we can turn this around" and "Let's make them work harder for this one" become a mindset. The
way our players complain about every poor role of the dice and unfair match is a corrosion that has
infected everyone. We argue about things like lag, matchmaker, xvm, wn8, mod hacks, blablabla... but the
reality is this: skill CAN, and DOES beat ANYONE, newbs, bots, pros, and hackers alike.
The point is, I've seen clans doing so well, but they decline and fall apart anyways. Usually
because a key player has to leave, which causes other players to stop showing. But what if EVERY player
was a key player. What if every player sought for stronger opponents, more competition? What if every
clan member was encouraged to do better, and they did better, until it was them who were the next pro
encouraging the new guys. It would be an addiction that would keep players coming back, and make
players watching want to join. A single clan could revolutionize the game of world of tanks.
Steel Wolves Changes Ahead: Ideas and Proposals
And so In Quick Summary Of everything pointless that I just rambled about... here are my
proposals. These are things that I WOULD do, IF I was the clan leader. However, I present them to you,
the other officers, to give your input and add/remove all the great/poor ideas that are desired, until we
reach a point where we can say: "this is it. Lets do it."

How do we REWARD and ENCOURAGE players at the same time?

Section 1.1 Joining
We should encourage players from outside of our alliance to join our TeamSpeak and hang out to
platoon. This would mean giving permission to share our ts address and pass, but also could widen our
ability to find good players as well as future allied clans.
In Order to join, a player should have to meet one or more of the following conditions:
1. Permission to join from the Commander and *1 Executive Officer
2. Permission from any 5 of the following: Recruitment Officer, Quartermaster, Intelligence, Officer,
Combat Officer, Personnel Officer, or Executive Officer
I highly recommend that each time a player is invited, the officers get a chance to platoon and TeamSpeak
chat with that player before the ok is given. I have been finding new players joining our clan, and no one I
talk to knows who they are, or what they are like.
*note: A Commander giving his 'Thumbs up' holds a lot of weight, but shouldn't automatically allow a
player to join. Hence the 1 Executive Officer.
Section 1.2 Rank
Ranking sets a clans dedicated players apart from your run of the mill pub peeps. Heres my take on the
current available ranks, and what we could do with them.
Reservist - "you've been invited" "gratz"
Recruit - now you are an official member, been here at least 2 weeks and are no longer on probation (or
however long probation is)
Private - 3 month promotion (without participation in clan wars, this promotion is just ranking fluff)
Junior Officer - promotion by player request If a player is interested in becoming a leader, we put him at
this rank, (again, it is just ranking fluff, and is actually identical to the private for privileges) Here we
make him do simple leader-stuff such as leading a training session or calling a strongholds team to prove
he's got the grit to be a leader. This promotion could also be an automatic after 1 year of being in the clan.
Recruitment Officer - This position is for someone with way too much time on their hands; someone that
can be available to talk with anyone and everyone wanting to join. Being a people person is a big plus.
Quartermaster - Seems kind of like a treasurer. Has fund allocation permissions, prob not gunna get used.
Intelligence Officer - This rank is similar to a private, but has the ability to recruit.
Combat Officer - This is the Senior Officer Rank. Ability to manage Clan War map and edit clan message
board, and manage military personnel.
Personnel Officer - Same as a Recruitment Officer, but with permissions to the Clan Wars Map. And
editing clan message board...
Executive Officer - Highest Ranking Officer. Practically has all rights to the clan except disbanding it.
Commander - Has all rights to the clan including disbanding and promoting a new commander
Note: players like tankerbell and slyxxter have been with the clan for close to a year, but are also actively
being leaders already, I think they should be combat officers. Also, several players being with the clan for
several years may be happy with private as a rank, but some of us, myself included have already asked for
a promotion, and should be given some immediate feedback with regards to becoming junior officers. as I
mentioned before, simply showing interest after having been in clan for 3 months should be enough to get
you junior officer and a chance at leading some training nights or taking charge of strongholds whenever.
aurarexregis for being here almost 3 fucking years. We have DAMAGE911 still in our clan, but HIS
ACCOUNT IS BANNED. For the LOLS, kick him already.... and none of our reservists are new players...
Section 2 Forums

First off, I went to the forums to find a post that I read a few days ago... CANT FIND IT. For one, it is
not posted in the correct area, or I would have found it immediately. And there is SO MUCH STUFF that
I have NEVER EVEN READ, that I don't know where to start catching up.
HOW can a new player join our forums and know what he needs to read or care about without panicking
and just giving up?
so, I am going to go over our current forums and what I think they should contain, including any
unnecessary forums and any forums that we don't currently have that I think we should.
NEWS AND INFORMATION
Clan Notices and Important Information!
This is a great category to have, but it has all kinds of things that do not belong here.
Aslains update info, WoT update notes, WoWS, on track info, etc.
I should be able to open the clan notices and see everything that is IMPORTANT and pertaining directly
to the clan here. Like: TeamSpeak info, team training regime, and any changes made to the way things
operate in steelwolves. Unless something was posted YESTERDAY, every player should have read every
topic in this forum.
Oh, and Wargaming Posts
SO, I personally guarantee that EVERYONE uses the World of Tanks launcher to start the World of Tanks
GAME... So, they see. Like... literally. Every. Post. From. Wargaming.
And they probably choose not to read most of them.
So, personally, I would not repost them on thesteelwolves.com because:
1. The posts are not formatted for our webpage. In other words, they look like shit,
2. They take up a lot of room and
3. Everyone who didnt read them the first time is probably going to not read them the second time.
News
This is where all the Wargaming posts belong, if you choose to keep posting them. Again, personally I
would not post every update here, but probably just tell people to go read them at the Wargaming site.
Aslains updates are also unwanted, and probably everything else that updates every day. It starts to look
like my Facebook, where 1000 posts an hour I can't even read 10 before another 1000 posts come in. If
you have something important to post that doesnt relate to the clan, it would work out here. Again, news
is things that are new. Reading everything that I just read at wargaming.com and aslains.com is not really
something I want to do.
Events and Missions
This is the place to post any impromptu events or missions that you think the clan should participate in,
such as the reddit gaming night. I think this should be renamed: Clan Events, since we already have a
Battles category further down which fulfills the point of posting missions/ skirmishes. General
General Discussion
Seems kind of repetitive... I think this forum is unnecessary
Videos and Replays.
I like this forum, but would like to expand it. Instead I think we should have a "World of Tanks Media"
Category with the forums contained being called: Screenshots, Replays, and Videos.
Separately, since we have a variety of YouTube videos our player like to post as well.
Off-Topic
This is a good forum to have, but it seems like people are not using it, rather they are posting off topic
things in other forums. Need to remedy that.
Game Discussion
I like this topic, but I think it needs to go to a forum title beneath general
Battle Tactics.
Another Good One, but again, under general

Map Discussion
Not necessary, if we REALLY have to discuss a map outside of the game we have maptactics.
Suggestions.
Good category. Put under general
Questions and Answers
I think this is a useful forum, but it doesnt seem to have any questions in it. ALOT of posts about other
stuff. Public test, Aslains, helpful guides. But I dont think these belong here.
Training
This is an unrequired forum. Any changes to the regular training times should be posted in Clan Notices
and Information.
Recruitment.
This entire category is pointless at the moment. To apply to the clan you need to contact marbles, and
apply on the Wargaming site. This is merely our forum, and doesnt really need to be applied for.
Battles
Please move Battles section nearer to the top so it is more visible. Keep the current forums, Clan Wars
and Skirmishes. Clan Wars is for making announcements allow players to post the teams they are forming
and ask for additional players to join their skirmish group. And FYI, anyone can form their own skirmish
group at any time, and the forum, being a communication tool, is there for anyone to use when looking
for other players.
Archives
These are useful for things that are no longer important, but still hold value to the clan. Not
everysinglewargamingpostfromlastweek.
Section 3: TeamSpeak
Needs to be updated weekly so players are aware of status and ranking. Its much easier for new players
to show respect when they recognize the leaders. Also, we should be able to invite non clan players to join
us for training and or skirmishes, and they should be able to see who to talk to.
Section 4: Training/Meetings
Training is currently in limbo. The trainings are all starting to feel the same, and they arent actually
teaching more than 1 person at a time. Often players are showing up for training, and then deciding what
to do, instead of having a schedule prepared with a game plan ready to go. I suggest that we get ALL
basic training OUT OF THE WAY for every player who joins the clan. In order to do this, we need to
know exactly what we want our players to know. This means we must decide what terms should be used
when calling.
I have been making a list of terms and their definitions, based on what I know bigger clans such as otter,
simp and reddit use.
Once each player has been taught these terms, he should agree via the forums that he understands them.
This will inform the leaders that he is ready to join clan skirmish, strongholds, and advanced training
sessions. If we have a large group of players that need to learn how to simp, we can make it a training
night. If everyone already knows and we just need to teach Joe shmoe who just joined, then we take 2-3
officers and teach him whenever he has the time.
Advanced training will consist of creating 3-5 different strategies for the map currently being used for
the next skirmish or upcoming clan war battle.

Section 5: Commands

So Here Goes, these are the terms I have so far:

Engage: shoot at the enemy from where you are or nearby cover.
Disengage: stop shooting at the enemy (do not run away, but move to a spot you cannot be seen, if
possible in the immediate area.) a caller might use these when a tank is spotting enemy team and
continuing to shoot might cause the enemy to retreat before the rest of the team has a chance to deal
damage to him. Example: enemy is revealed and only 1 player has a shot, but 3-5 allies are nearby and
can quickly get to a spot to shoot him. Instead of shooting him once and dealing approximately 20% of
his hp, (or less) wait for several allies to shoot simultaneously and potentially kill the enemy. This
strategy may not work if the enemy is cautious and/or has sixth sense. Exceptions could larger tank
destroyers or arty, who only have a brief chance to shoot the enemy and can deal the majority of his hp at
once.
Retreat: turn around and run away as fast as possible until you are told where to stop.
Push: drive your tank onwards without stopping until you are dead or the enemy is dead or the caller
states otherwise.
Flank: Move in a circle around an enemy.
Scout: Go and find the enemies positions. Make every attempt to spot the enemy without dying.
Hull Down: This means use whatever you can find nearby, a rock, a house, a pothole or small hill even, to
hide your hull, or lower your hull so that the enemy cannot shoot the flat front of your tank. This works
with any tank, not just heavy tanks. There are also several ways to hull down, some tank have unique
models that allow you to hull down better by facing uphill instead of the typical hull down, but saying
hull up would be weird. There is also a technique called reverse angling, which involves showing your
side to the enemy, but is complicated, and I dont recommend using it. Figuring out your tanks aspects is
up to you, so I would recommend finding a player who has the tank and is already really good with it.
Odds are, they have already found the best ways to use the armor of the tank.
Simp/Simping: simp means to park directly next to an allied tank to protect the vital parts of your allies
hull and turret. Simping is used when rounding corners, pushing alleys, and saving an ally on low health.
Side-Scrape: side scraping is when your tank is flanking the enemy and you get right next to them so they
cannot aim at your tank well. This is especially effective against heavy tanks with slower turrets, or turretless tank-destroyers, because you can move back and forth and keep them from shooting you or prevent
them from shooting you completely.
Focus Fire: When a caller picks a target, everyone who is able to shoot that target should try to take shots
at the target, not other targets.
Battles-comms: listen up, but dont respond unless your gamer-name is used, and you are asked a
question. Special exceptions for sub-callers and in certain scouting situations.
Note: Crucial information that seems unnoticed should be mentioned, but preferably via the mini-map.
Callers should always use vocal commands when giving directions for destinations. Example: heavy
tanks go to A-1. Instead of saying go here and pinging the mini-map.
These are the commands I believe we should put into practice, both as callers and as players.

Additionally, I think it should be discussed with every player how to:

Leave cap: I have a different opinion of leaving cap than some people. I think this should be discussed in
pre-battle practice based on the map. Sometimes it is most important for a scout or group of mediums to
leave first, and heavies or tds should make way for them. Other times, the mediums are purely flankers,
and should allow the main pushing force to make their way out of cap by backing up and going behind.
Arty should almost always just wait for other players to leave cap.
Lock-on: right click while aiming at an enemy. This is very useful when flanking, and is much easier
when you are zoomed out in arcade mode.
Use Cover: bushes and trees both provide additional camo, but if you are a certain distance behind them,
they can also reduce the amount of camo lost when firing.

Thats it for now, thank you for your time. And I look forward to the day that I can actively lead training
sessions. Oh, and I vote Saturday night as fun night (since its the only night I can play on time)
CloudHavoc