Vehicle Crew

The vehicle crew in World of Tanks is represented by virtual tankers, and no vehicle can go into battle without them. The crew's level of mastery determines the vehicle's performance on the battlefield.

Crew Functions

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

• Commander: the chief crew member in any vehicle. Their 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: affects the vehicle's view and signal range. This determines the distance at which enemy vehicles are displayed on the minimap.
• Loader: influences the gun loading time and shell type switching.

Crew members can perform several functions. For example, the Commander of the I MS-1 performs the functions of Gunner, Loader, and Radio Operator. The crew's influence on a vehicle's technical characteristics increases with various perks that the crew can master.

If one or more crew members become injured, the technical characteristics of the vehicle are reduced until they 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 always present in the first vehicles available at the start of the game. When purchasing a vehicle, you are offered to recruit a crew for it 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.

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

1. Click the empty crew member slot above the vehicle panel.
2. Click the Recruit button at the top of the screen.

The recruited crew member 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: Crew members can only operate vehicles of their own nation and cannot be retrained for other nations.
• The vehicle's type: If you transfer a crew member 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.

Here is how to transfer a crew member to another vehicle:

1. In the Garage, select the vehicle to transfer a crew member to.
2. Above the vehicle panel, click an empty slot for a crew member. Or, if the vehicle is already equipped with a crew, right-click on the crew member and select Replace Crew Member.
3. On the screen displayed select a crew member from another vehicle. To select crews from specific vehicles, use the filters on the right above the crew list.
4. If you select a crew member with an incompatible specialization, you will be prompted to retrain them immediately. Select a training level on the screen displayed and click Retrain.

To retrain an already transferred crew member:

1. In your Garage, select the vehicle that has a transferred crew member in it.
2. Click the tanker's image on the crew panel and in the Profile displayed click 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 crew members decreases to 30%.
• Regimental School: Retraining a crew member for 20,000 and also allows you to change their 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 crew member is retrained for a new vehicle without any penalties for 200.

Managing Perks

Each crew member has perks that can be improved or changed. To manage this game feature, you should first enter the crew member's Profile .

If you want to improve the crew member'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 a crew member'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 100,000, but the total perk experience remains unchanged.
• Retraining: requires a Retraining Order and does not change the total perk experience.

Barracks

Barracks are used for crew management and can be accessed via the menu on the left side of your Garage. 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. Be sure to have enough free bunks in the Barracks for this.
• Retire unnecessary crew members.
• Recruit special crew members (called Recruits) gained in missions, events, or game specials.
• Enlarge the Barracks to keep additional experienced fighters

Sending a Crew to the Barracks Upon Selling a Vehicle

When selling a vehicle, it is 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.

You can send the whole crew to the Barracks without selling the vehicle as well. To do this, click (Crew Management) in your Garage and select Send to Barracks.

Crew Member Retirement

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

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, select 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 tab on the left side of your Garage.
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 are based on the XP accumulated:

• 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 is 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 crew member 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 crew members 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, but you can enlarge it anytime by adding bunks. Note that the Barracks can be enlarged by 16 bunks for 300.

To enlarge the Barracks, do the following:

1. Go to the BARRACKS tab on the left side of your Garage.
2. At the top part of the Barracks screen, 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 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 this personal data in the crew member's Appearance tab.

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

To replace your crew member's name or appearance:

1. Click the crew member's image in your Barracks or Garage. In the crew member's Profile, 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. Note that all nations have their own individual name, surname, and image sets.
3. Click Replace.

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 to each nation, but non-historical skins are applicable to all nations. All unused images are displayed in the Appearance tab.

To apply a crew skin:

1. Go to the crew member's Appearance tab.
2. Select a crew skin and click Apply.