Over the past few weeks we have talked a lot about the different types of Crew, Module, and Upgrade Cards many of them have had a relationship to the different types of Critical Hits that your tanks might be affected by. Today we are going to take a look at the Critical deck, the cards inside it, and how you may choose to mitigate some of them.
Lucky Hit
Some hits are just better than others, perhaps RNG has your back today, or maybe you just got lucky! Either way this hit doesn’t cause any additional affect, but does double down and cause two damage. Great if you are trying to finish off a tank, but not so good if you are staring down an otherwise untouched Tiger 1!
There is only one way to stop a Lucky Hit, other than not getting hit in the first place, and that is with the Fill Tanks with CO2 card. One point for the potential to stop two damage sounds like a decent insurance policy.
Ammo Damaged
There are few things worse in World of Tanks than getting “ammo racked” and in the board game this is certainly the case! Three damage and extra damage if you have any ammo cards on board! Even without the possibility of extra damage this can finish off most tanks. Luckily there aren’t too many of these cards in the deck!
There are a couple of ways to reduce the risk of watching a tank blow up thanks to this card; Safe Stowage on a loader will let you cancel the card, but you must discard the crew card. Likewise the “Wet” Ammo Rack must also be discarded but comes with the ability to let you equip an extra ammo card to the tank in the first place.
Equipment Damaged
Hope you weren’t attached to that shiny upgrade! That’s right, this one will not only inflict a point of damage but will also ruin that Camouflage Net or Binocular Telescope!
Crew Injured
As they say in the game, “the Loader bought the farm!” On the good side if you don’t have any crew cards on your tank, then this won’t have any effect… except that it still does two damage so it is a bit like a Lucky Hit, but worse! To make matters worse it is slightly more common than most of the other criticals so is that much more likely to turn up.
Nothing bandages up a disabled crew member like a Large First Aid Kit, which for two points cancels the critical. Like to live dangerously? Then the Small First Aid Kit (for one point) gives you a 50/50 shot at cancelling the card.
Engine Damaged
This is our first Repairable card which means that you can repair the loss of Mobility during the end phase, but you cannot repair the two damage. For some tanks this critical won’t be the end of the world, but if you are planning on zooming your Cromwell or T-34 round the table then perhaps some mitigation is needed.
Repair Kits (both the Large and Small) are the only way to increase your chances of repairing a damaged engine, best of all they also help with Jammed Turret, Track Destroyed and Damaged Optics making them good value all round.
Turret Jammed
If you ever wanted to know what it is like to run an Assault Gun in World of Tanks, but haven’t picked up an SU-100 or StuG Ausf. G yet, then this critical will help you learn the pros and cons of fixed guns pretty quickly. Luckily it only does one damage and if you hit a tank that is already an Assault Gun then who cares.
Track Destroyed
This one does exactly what it says on the tin, it stops you from moving! In World of Tanks a stationary tank makes a mighty fine target. Luckily you can repair the critical, but you still keep the one point of damage that it inflicts.
Bailed Out
If your crew are too scared to keep on fighting then you are in a world of hurt. Bailed Out doesn’t inflict any damage, but if you thought not being able to move was bad, then not being able to move or shoot must be really bad! It is repairable, but if your SU-100 gets bailed out by the first shot of the turn it will effectively be two turns (at least) before it is back in the fight thanks to it’s relatively low initiative.
Chocolate, Case of Cola, Extra Combat Rations and Pudding and Tea are all the go-too options to fix a Bailed Out crew. They also help with the Radio Damaged critical making them extra useful – let’s not dive too deeply into how some highly calorific food helps to fix a radio, perhaps the crew just feels better after something to eat?
Radio Damaged
This is a double-edged card as it doesn’t inflict any damage, but it does drop your tanks initiative down to 0. So on the good side it hasn’t pushed your tank any closer to death but it has made it less combat effective. Whether or not you are happy to see this card come out of the deck will be very dependent on how the rest of the battle is going! Chocolate, Case of Cola, Extra Combat Rations and Pudding and Tea are all discard-to-use cards whereas Improved Ventilation gives you a permanent re-roll to fix both Bailed Out and Radio Damaged and only for two points, so can be a useful alternative.
Engine Fire
Potentially the most damaging card in the game (after Ammo Damaged) and definitely the most insidious! An Engine Fire causes one point of damage when initially drawn and then at the end of each repair step, if not repaired, causes another point of damage! If RNG is not on your side then you had better break out the Automatic Fire Extinguisher to cancel the entire critical card right now. If you are prepared to take the risk then a Cyclone Filter can give you a re-roll to repair it. You can also add the Firefighting ability to any of your crew.
Optics Damaged
Another really interesting card, this may or may not be the card you are looking for! Starting out it doesn’t deal any damage, so if a tank is on it’s last legs (or tracks?) then at least it is still in the fight. It does however drop the tanks Firepower by 2 until after the next time the tank shoots. If your tank has already shot during the round then you also have the chance to repair it before it takes effect.
Adding Armorer to your loader can partially mitigate the effects of Optics Damaged and Crew Stunned. It won’t increase your chances of a repair, but will improve your tanks Firepower by one whilst effected by this card.
Crew Stunned
Our last critical card and it is another one that doesn’t deal any damage! It does however drop both the Firepower and Initiative of a tank until it is repaired.
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There you have a quick run down on all the critical cards in the deck and some options on how you can deal with them. Remember that if a card has the Repairable icon on it, you can repair the affect listed on the card, but not the damage and that cancelling a critical is always better than repairing one.
May all your criticals be outward bound!