W.o.T for Dummies ... a reference for the rest of us 
Okay ... when I started to play World of tanks, I faced some things, that have not been too obvious and it took a while to clear things.
Maybe, it is is worth to drop some lines here to help others to get into the game faster.
I only have a "free to play" account, so some things may appear different, when you have a premium one.
Some facts about ...
CREW
When you start the game (or buy a tank without excluding crew), you will get a crew, that fits the tank and they are normally at a skill-level of 50%.
During the matches, the skill levels goes up step by step towards 100%.
When you sell the tank (to get a better one), you have a option to send the crew into the barraks and stick them to the next tank.
Maybe interesting for higher leveld crews. When you start with the first tanks, you can sell the crew with it and get a new one.
Why?
After you move them from Barraks to the tank, they are not trained for that specific tank (see the red percentage values) and they will not perform good on battlefield plus they get no new skill-percents added.
You have to move into their id-card and set the dropdown for the tank to the right value.
After that, you will loose skill-percentages. In the first time of playing, you will get enough research and money to buy a better tank, before skill level reaches something over 70% (normally - except you enjoy the Leichttraktor so much *lol*).
When you have to change traing for a new tank, the crew will be at 50% again. Nothing you have won - except three or for pixel-friends in the game :-)
When you are at a higher level (for example Hetzer to StuGII), it will take a longer time to get everything together.
Esp. for the Hetzer it is mandatory to send your crew to a training (free to play can buy 75% for 20.000 ingame-silver per crew member).
The guys will get better at aiming! Start with the commander, because when the commander has more experience, it is a benefit for the whole crew.
And always keep in mind, that you can't move the crew from one country to another (I never tried, but I read it in the web ;-) ).
TANKS
There are 5 tank-families in W.o.T.:
Light tanks, medium tanks, heavy tanks, tank destroyers and SPGs.
When you start playing W.o.T., it might be a bit confusing to see all these different parts in the tech-tree and sometimes, the behaviour on the battlefield reflects that confusion ;-)
Every tank-family has its own assigned task and that is, what they are really good in.
Light Tanks:
They are the eyes of your team. Small, fast and build for scouting. Never try to take down a KV with your light tank. Find his position and take cover.
Let arty (SPGs) or your heavys do the job. Heavy don't shoot at light tanks ... they just roll over them. Frustrating - isn't it? 
Medium Tanks:
Something between light and heavy. They can move fast and they are something like "allrounders". You can use them for scouting, taking down enemies SPGs or as company for your heavy tanks.
Heavy Tanks:
Look and feel like they behave sluggishly. I don't have one now, but they are not the most agile vehicles on the field. But most times, they don't need to hurry :-)
They stand like a castle and it takes a lot of shots to eliminate them. They are the ones, who can protect the own base or move slowly (but surely) to the enemy base.
Tank Destroyers:
They are only cool, if you know how to use them. The best thing is to hide somewhere and shoot the enemy from your hiding-place. Ambush strategy ;-)
Another possibility is to guide a group of heavys and/or mediums. But same here: stay in the background, don't let them see you.
Destroyers are not that well protected, when they are attacked from the side or back. So when a enemy makes it behind you, you are dead in the most times.
SPGs (Arty):
SPGs are a very important group on the battlefield. They have a large striking distance and they give a lot of damage to the targets.
Even a small SPG can take out a heavy. The negative thing is, that they are more or less sitting ducks, when a fast enemy tank makes it into the base.
So it is always a good idea to protect them with a heavy or a tank destroyer.
Ingame money and Experience points
Gold:
The only way (as far as I know) to earn gold for W.o.T. accounts is to buy it for "real money". There has been a 250 gold per day phase during the beta, but that ended, when the final was released.
Maybe you will have a chance to earn some gold in special events, but normally you pay for it.
What is gold good for?
The most important reason for buying gold is the ability to buy a "premium account". Hit the button "BUY PREMIUM" to do it. With that account, you can create bigger platoons (Züge) of three members.
You get 50% more credits and 50% more experience per battle and a nice, big garage. *lol*
Here is the momentary price list:
Another reason for getting gold is, that you can buy some premium tanks, that are only available for gold.
These tanks are in the ingame shop and you can not buy them for the credits you get after every match.
Whenever you see a Löwe on the battlefields, you know, that someone paid a lot of money for it
Changing crew names
You can change the names and photo of your tank crew members for just 50 bucks:
Convert gold to silver-credits
If you need some more credits to buy something in the store and you have some gold left, you can trade it:
A sweet point is, that you can move experience points, that you have earned with a tank.
Seems like you can convert tank-experience to free experience, that can be used on all tanks.
Credits (silver money):
tanks, equipment, repairs
Free Experience:
free for all tank-researches
Experience (Research Points):
necessary for developing new tanks and modules ....
Also visit this page: W.o.T - Earnings
other miscellaneous things
Blue Player name
Sometimes you will see a blue player name ingame. Nothing to worry about (as long as you name is not blue ). The blue color shows a player, that has caused team-damage.
Always keep in mind: Friendly fire is never friendly :-)
Work in progress ...
