Alright, here’s something I don’t understand.

I have been following the daily giftshop offers (“Winter Surprise Calendar”) every day and it indeed surprises me every day. Not in a good way though. When the last warplane appeared (yet again) in a tank game offer, I was like “meh, whatever”. We all probably know who is guilty of this shit (for those who don’t: it’s Karlie and other community staff, not some “bean counter”).

But there have been things I don’t understand. A few days ago, there was a tank (it was the T-25 on Dec 18 I think), where the discount was stated to be 50 percent and when I went to the shop, it indeed WAS a 50 percent discount – both the tank and its slot were discounted). At that point I thought that if it lasted, I’d be actually writing a post saying that WG EU learned and the “discount” is now more clear. But no, of course they haven’t.

Check out today’s offer. It’s the E-25, 30 percent off. Not only the E-25 was already discounted once (weird, but okay, maybe someone forgot to buy it back then and will appreciate the chance to do so again), but in the shop, it is discounted at 24 percent.

How the hell did they get this number? Count with me:

E-25, that’s 6700 gold. A slot is 300 gold.

If both were discounted by 30 percent, it would simply be 30 percent discount.
If the E-25 was discounted and the slot wasn’t at all, it would be 4690 + 300g = 4990g = 28,8 percent discount
If the E-25 was discounted and the slot was 50 percent discount (like in game), it would be 4690 + 150g = 30,8 percent discount

So why the hell is it 24 percent? Or am I missing something?

Source: wot-news.com

Hello everyone,

some of you might find this useful I think. This is a mod, that allows you to do this:

Continue reading →

…..and don’t forget to buy some bundles for Christmas :)

Another piece of puzzle for the upcoming EU tree… :)

Škoda Pilsen presented in 1947 three automatic cannons, specifically designed for light tank use, using the same autoloading mechanism. These guns were:

A 23 – 37mm, A 24 – 47mm, A 25 – 57mm.

A24 was developed the furthest. It construction was based on the premise that there is not enough room in a light tank for a loader anyway and that the tank must be ready to fire as quickly as possible. It was equipped with a drum magazine for 12 rounds (6 on each side) with a selector, allowing the gunner to “switch” slots in order to fire HE or AP munition. The barrel was made from one piece of metal (monoblock), the rear part however was detachable. It had a vertical wedge breech and a semiautomatic mechanism. The gun was first loaded (activated) by a lever on the right side of the breech. On the left side of the rear part, there was a hydraulic recoil compensator mechanism cylinder, its piston being connected to the gun cradle. Recoil rails are located above the semi-automatic chamber and below the brake cylinder. The gun was discharged electrically.

Continue reading →

Really cool this time…

Source: http://worldoftanks.ru/ru/news/1/810_settings_graphics/

Hello everyone,

this is an important message for all of you about a nasty surprise, waiting for you in patch 8.10.

In patch 8.10, ALL client graphic settings will reset! This exactly happened in the test client. Basically, the game runs an autodetection procedure to determine, what settings are “good” for your computer and changes them. As you can imagine, this can screw up the settings you were used to, so, in order to avoid all the confusion of “how did I have it before”, what you should do is:

Start the client, go to your graphic settings panel (under the settings window) and press “printscreen” key to create a screenshot. When putting your settings back together, you can refer to that screenshot (saved in the world_of_tanks/screenshots/ folder) to see how you had it before. For people like me, who have not touched the graphic settings for quite a while, this is quite important.

Hello everyone,

patch 8.10 did hit the RU server today and it came with a badass trailer. I like it!

Source: The Age “Digital Life” web

Hello everyone,

recently an interview with the abovementioned gentleman came out in the Age Australian magazine. Apparently Mr. Nicholas is Wargaming’s general manager for the Asia-Pacific region. They are talking mostly about ASIA server and Japanese tanks, but the interview is full of really odd answers. For starters, to quote Mr.Nicholas (allegedly a “tank enthusiast”):

During World War II, Germany and Russia had to design petrol-powered tanks, as both countries were often too cold for diesel fuel, which would freeze at low temperatures. With Japan being a warmer country, and operating primarily in Asia and the Pacific region, they were free to enjoy the greater torque granted by diesel, which helped when lugging 40 tons of armour across a battlefield.

As far as I can tell, that is complete garbage. First and foremost, all major Soviet tanks used DIESEL engines. KV-1, T-34, T-54, IS series… diesel. Second, Germans used petrol engines not because of freezing temperatures, but because petrol engines corresponded to the required operating hours per day, as set by OKH requirements. As Hilary Doyle (I believe it was) explained: if the German tanks were required to operate for two hours more per day, they would have gone with diesel. Third, and this is not something I am completely sure of, I do not think that the Japanese used diesel engines because of the torque, but because of the logistics and access to it. Feel free to correct me though.

Another interesting thing:

“We’ve already studied an Australian tank, and we’re considering a multinational tank release, not just a specific country,” Nicholas said. “Australia only has one notable tank, but there are other countries with a few tanks, like Taiwan. Italian tanks didn’t see a lot of action, and development was a bit scarce.”

Well, there were at least two interesting Australian tanks: the Sentinel AC and the Sentinel AC4 “Thunderbolt”. Both already have their models ready actually. Taiwan – yes well, maybe. But Italian tanks not seeing a lot of action? This WG guy is an idiot.

The reporter also stated that he found World of Tanks “very challenging for beginners”. Yes, four keys, a mouse and two mouse buttons for start, that’s a real challenge for someone writing about computer games. Very challenge. Much hard. Wow.

“This system isn’t like anything else that you’ve ever seen in an online game,”

and

“The way things are laid out is completely different from any other online game that you’re used to”

Again, correct me if I am wrong, but pretty much EVERY modern game I played has this control scheme. How else is this guy playing, using arrow keys and no mouse? And the following made me laugh:

“When I started playing the game, it took me about thirty battles before I got to a level where I could say, okay, I’m no longer a newbie”

Ladies and gents, we found ourselves a noob. Not a newbie, a noob. Also:

Once you get into it, it’s a very deep game with a lot of content and a lot of things that you need to understand – which engines to use

Uhhhhhh…. the top ones? And to conclude this article, let’s end with Mr.Nicholas’ in-depth analysis of the game gold ammunition model and its effectiveness:

“Premium ammo isn’t really that great”

Stunning. In the beginning of the article, the reporter was praising this guy for “not being one of the PR guys”, but you know what… there is a REASON Wargaming employs PR people, to avoid interviews like this.