13Disciple | 1-Feb-20
The sum of the lessons in the Macro Position and Macro Play section are all intended to improve the core idea of trading efficiently. “Macro position” is where you place your tank on the map relative to your objectives. This is in contrast to micro position where you position your tank relative to the terrain its already on and the angle of engagement to enemies. Understanding and applying macro positioning is what will contribute most to your win rate. It's important to have a firm understanding of all prior lessons as these topics will build on all of them.
...you’ll see the strings that connect you to your teammates and begin to tug them to more victories.
Trade Efficiently
If you made it this far after covering all of my previous lessons on micro positioning and micro plays, you’ll know that your goal should be making “best trades.” Here’s a reminder of what differentiates the types of trades.
Macro Positioning and Macro Plays is about putting your tank in a position to maximize your ability to make good micro plays. A better way to put it is - the better your macro positioning is, the easier and more effective your micro plays will become. However that's the simplest way to put it. Good macro positioning goes beyond just making your personal micro position better.
- Best Trade - doing damage without taking any in return
- Good Trade - doing damage that is more than the damage you took in return
- Neutral Trade - the damage you caused is equal to what you took in return
- Bad Trade - you took more damage than you caused
- Worst Trade - you took damage without damaging an opponent
Macro Positioning and Macro Plays is about putting your tank in a position to maximize your ability to make good micro plays. A better way to put it is - the better your macro positioning is, the easier and more effective your micro plays will become. However that's the simplest way to put it. Good macro positioning goes beyond just making your personal micro position better.
Team Trading
...World of Tanks isn't an action game and the best players are actually playing chess. They are in control of one piece and have managed to move that piece to make all the other pieces on their team better.
You may find that when you begin to implement the lessons you learn in macro trades that your win rate goes up and your personal rating / WN8 will go down. This is actually normal and a good indication that you are learning and applying the material. It's a direct result of you beginning to sacrifice your HP for the good of the team. It is difficult to apply a succinct definition because the concept is a bit nebulous - sometimes a good macro trade, costs you a bad micro trade. I’ll try to simplify in the same terms we used above.
Hypothetically - what if your team achieves a neutral trade in damage, but the enemy kills two allies, and you don’t kill any. The HP trade may be neutral overall, however this causes the next trade to be even worse because the enemy has more guns active than your team does. Or - a light tank that receives a shot of damage, and doesn’t achieve any assist - in terms of micro trades this would be a “worst trade.” However, what if that light tank showed on the mini-map that your team had a good over-match on one side of the map. Your tanks on that side saw that over-match and played aggressively into it. As a result that one shot of damage taken; assisted your team in being up by 5 tanks after only 3 minutes.
- Best Trade - Your team does damage without taking any in return
- Good Trade - Your team does more damage than it takes in return
- Neutral Trade - Your team does equal damage to the damage it has received
- Bad Trade - Your team does less damage than the it has received
- Worst Trade - Your team took damage and did not damage the enemy
Hypothetically - what if your team achieves a neutral trade in damage, but the enemy kills two allies, and you don’t kill any. The HP trade may be neutral overall, however this causes the next trade to be even worse because the enemy has more guns active than your team does. Or - a light tank that receives a shot of damage, and doesn’t achieve any assist - in terms of micro trades this would be a “worst trade.” However, what if that light tank showed on the mini-map that your team had a good over-match on one side of the map. Your tanks on that side saw that over-match and played aggressively into it. As a result that one shot of damage taken; assisted your team in being up by 5 tanks after only 3 minutes.
Yep.
These are clearly not hard fast rules. In general you should seek to take positions that enable you or your team to get damage on enemy tanks that also minimizes the risks of damage to yourselves. Knowing where to go is so vague because every battle scenario changes what you need to do. What tanks are still on the map? Where are they? Can I damage them? Can I outspot them? Can I out cap them? In my opinion, this is what gives World of Tanks its staying power. Once you’ve nailed the mechanics, there is still so much to learn, and every match is unique.
When you begin to grasp good macro position and macro plays you’ll start to understand that World of tanks isn’t an action game, and the best players are actually playing chess. They are in control of one piece and have managed to move that piece to make all the other pieces on their team better. You’ll be working your plays and positioning towards the emergent behavior of your allies doing more damage than they receive.
When you begin to grasp good macro position and macro plays you’ll start to understand that World of tanks isn’t an action game, and the best players are actually playing chess. They are in control of one piece and have managed to move that piece to make all the other pieces on their team better. You’ll be working your plays and positioning towards the emergent behavior of your allies doing more damage than they receive.
Teaching Macro Plays and Positions
I hope this article brings you two realizations. 1) Learning this part of the game is going to be challenging and 2) trying to teach something so ambiguous is incredibly difficult. The following lessons will outline some of the basics of traditional macro play, but applying what you learn may be rather confusing. At the end of these lessons I’ll recommend my YouTube series Coach’s Corner. This series takes on user replays and makes attempts at explaining macro plays in the context of the replay. I’ll also recommend my Twitch, where I play live and make an attempt at explaining my macro play during live matches. These resources of practical application should help you better understand and begin to apply these lessons in your own matches.
Why bother?
When you win a match, with the understanding of why you won that match and knowing that you specifically contributed to it is so gratifying. When your allies and enemies respond in the way you predicted, and that prediction resulted in the outcome you desired, you’ll see the strings that connect you to your teammates and begin to tug them to more victories.
Why bother?
When you win a match, with the understanding of why you won that match and knowing that you specifically contributed to it is so gratifying. When your allies and enemies respond in the way you predicted, and that prediction resulted in the outcome you desired, you’ll see the strings that connect you to your teammates and begin to tug them to more victories.
