after (literally) weeks of considering the matter, I have decided to drop the Hall of Shame altogether, despite the outcome of the previous poll. On one hand, it was fun, but I feel that it adds nothing to FTR anymore. I will ask you not to submit any more idiots per mail of Facebook anymore. It is my belief that even the clans, harboring most retards (EFE, FAME and others) don’t need further promotion anyway, everyone knows what kind of people they are anyway.
Storm is asking: “What would you like to see in WoT in general?” – by “in general”, he means stuff like “I want big maps” or “I want more new tanks” etc. – anything, really. So, what would you like?
From the discussion:
- the option to set your activity status in chat (DND, AFK etc.) will be implemented
- new chat is developed, but it was seriously delayed, because it’s difficult to make it work for a million people at once
- an indepenedent, separate client only for chatting with WoT/WoWp users is planned, based on HMRR protocol
- “simulator mode” (hardcore mode without hitpoints): “If we ever do such a thing, it will have minimal priority, in other words ‘hell if I know when.”
- ETA on fortifications? “I won’t say exact time not to jinx it, but quite soon”
- there is a plan to make currently useless skills and equipment more useful, developers are thinking about now
- regarding wishes for large flat maps: “And you have played such maps before? Shooting two pixels is not fun. We tested that many times.”
- big maps are an interesting matters, if the issue with slow tanks is solved, but 2-3km viewrange is questionable - instead of implementing map choosing for random battles, Storm wants to remove 10 least popular maps from the game. This is just an idea and it is not yet sure which maps, but developers like it
- disabling maps you don’t want to play will NOT be implemented. Storm states that they wanted to do it, but they ran some simulations and the waiting queues would be too long.
- WoT will not be integrated into Steam
- fortifications – basically, clan bases with various bonuses, that give various bonuses (for example credits, XP, free XP) to the clan:
- there will be a possibility to fight over clan bases, this will be independent on CW’s
- features in this mode: airstrike, recon, mines, AI pillboxes (acting like artillery apparently)
- historical battles – uneven team numbers, special characteristics for HB tanks (different from the tanks of the same configuration in random battles!), heavies will have less HP, respawn model (heavies don’t respawn, lowtier meds do)
- garage battle mode is coming by the end of the year
- team battle mode will be improved (team names, special awards)
when I saw the abovelinked article for the first time, I thought it would be “one of those British things”, given the fact it was published in the Guardian, but no, it comes from Russia.
Apparently, Russian inventor Aleksandr Georgievich Semenov, invented a brilliant way of disposing ehm… “human waste” in a tank. You fire it at the enemy.
The basic principle is: soldiers shit in shells and then fire them. Nope, this is not a joke or a prank – this guy actually had this seriously patented in 2009 (two drawings – one of them postedabove – and 12 pages of text). Basically, a soldier shits into the open compartment in the shell warhead, loads the shell, and fires it either into “safe area”, or “at targets of opportunity”.
Well… everyone knows Russians are into psychological warfare, but this is brutal… even for them.
there is this notion sometimes being thrown around that Italian tanks didn’t fight as hard as their allied/other axis counterparts. This is obviously not true, Italian armor saw plenty of action in WW2 and despite being overshadowed by their German “cousins”, Italian tankers gave the Allies a run for their money on more than one occasion. In this case, Vollketten will be talking about the M13/40 tank action. I hope you enjoy it.
SS
Vollketten:
Tank Battles of the M13/40
Just to be clear: I did not write this, this is a piece of work from NA player Rivit who did all the work and who deserves all the credit. My assistance is with some minor editing and formatting for the purposes of putting it onto FTR. It appears in full on the NA forum as a thread here and if you have further information I’m sure Rivit would appreciate it. Enjoy.
From the pages of the British war diaries and the official histories of three nations, comes the forgotten story of the battles of Italy’s Fiat Ansaldo M13/40 from Derna Mechili and Beda Fomm, to Operation Crusader, the Gazala battles and El Alamein, through El Guettar Valley and to the hills of Sicily, the M13/40 and its brothers were there. For the men who fought and died, lost and won, and lived their lives within its hull, all that can be offered is the always incomplete, always forgotten, and always surprising tank battles of the M.13/40.
I normally don’t repost Russian documents (that’s Ensign’s domain in general), but every now and then something quite interesting comes up. A lot of people actually ask “how much did a turret of tank XY weight” and the answer is usually not very obvious and not that easy to find. Yuri Pasholok however posted a Russian document, where these weights are written for Soviet purposes.
so, did you sell a premium/gift/reward tank and are sorry you did that? Fear not. US server introduced an automated system, where you can actually recover the tanks lost. These include for example sold Christmas reward tanks, beta-test tanks and many more.
Currently, this system is available only on the US server (not sure about RU, haven’t checked, but not on EU anyway). The policy for restoring vehicles is also changed. US community staff Jewel_Thief:
Along with this service, we’re introducing a new policy on the restoration of Premium vehicles. You’ll have 72 hours to restore any accidentally-sold Premium vehicle. This process can be completed for an unlimited number of vehicles, provided timely use of the tool. You can also restore any number of Unique vehicles one time every 180 days per vehicle.
For those of you unfamiliar with Russian politics, Dmitriy “Nanotolievich” Medvedev is the guy that kept Putin’s chair warm for a while and pretended that he wasn’t Putin at all. Apparently Putin still keeps him around as the lovable clumsy George Bush-like oaf to his cruel and calculating Dick Cheney, so Medvedev gets to talk about things once in a while. Like in this video, where he’s talking about something tedious. No one really cares.
The interesting part is around 4:06 when he’s showing off a portal for government services. Zoom, enhance!
