- historical battles mode (Kursk, Balaton operation, Ardennes)
- graphic changes: new shaders, allowing for more realistic graphic sufaces (wood, metal etc.)
- following models will be available in HD: T-34/85, IS, T-54, Panther, Tiger I, Maus, Sherman, Hellcat, M103, Churchill I, Centurion 7/1, Tortoise
- turrets flying off during ammo rack explosion
- active independent suspension (each wheel reacting on surface)
- new graphic settings window
- fixed following maps for better gameplay balance: Serene Coast, Pearl River, Malinovka, Severogorsk
- improved soundtrack quality
SEA server has an interesting mission from February 28th to March 28th: if you earn 50k XP in each tree nation in this one month, you get a KV-220 for free. Usual conditions apply (tier 4+, only top 10 XP slots, random battles only).
Not bad!
However…
If it comes to EU/US, so much for Christmas “OMG BUY KV-220 ONE TIME IN LIFE CHANCE ONLY” advertising… I am sure those guys who bought a tier 5 tank for 50 Euro will be positively thrilled…
I usually don’t write “buff my tank” posts (I leave it to Zarax, Priory and EnsignExpendable), but this time, I think it’s warranted, because we are going to talk about a Czech vehicle, that is implemented in the game as tier 5 premium tank – Škoda T-25. Naturally, given the fact it’s actually a premium tank, the chance of it getting a significant buff are quite low, especially since there are other circumstances as well (I’ll get to that a bit later).
what’s your opinion on ads and ad spam in general? I personally hate it. I understand the importance of having ads for example on small independent sites, but in general… well, you know how it is on the internet. I am equally as annoyed by Wargaming advertising stuff not related to (me playing) World of Tanks by those messages in lower right corner, for example
Well, the Russian server reached kinda “new level” with advertising Sergei Burkatovsky’s (SerB’s) book “Main Date” within World of Tanks.
It says “The book of the main game-designer of World of Tanks, Sergei Burkatovsky’s “Main Date” is available for online purchase in book stores. More details on the portal!”. Hmmm… I hope it’s not a sign of things to come.
By the way, the book itself sounds interesting (if I recall correctly, it’s about a man falling through time to the time of WW2, warning the Soviets about impending German invasion), but this is not something I would read in original (reading cyrillic is okay for FTR, but it’s tiring for a late-evening sit-down with a book) and I doubt it will ever be translated to English, because from what I heard, SerB’s literature has the “RUSSIA MUCH STRONK” elements, that would… not sit well with western audience. But that’s just hearsay.
Check out a few photos from Bovington by Listy, some interesting stuff here
- roaming coming until summer? “Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that. When it’s done it’s done”
- during roaming, the packets will go “directly to the regional server” after logging on your “home” server
- roaming will be available in the beginning only for WoT
- WoWp will get another RU server “when the time is right”, multicluster mechanism will be introduced in one of the upcoming patches
- SerB states that the differences between actual battle FPS and the replay of the same battle FPS on the same computer should theoretically be negligible
- the E50M mantlet is covering a large hole, so basically the thickness of the mantlet is just 185mm
- no exact conditions for recieving bans after 8.11 will be disclosed, as it would allow players to make strategies for teamdamaging/teamkilling safely without punishment
By the way, if you think there is little new info every day, it’s always like that before a major patch. I call it “calm before the storm”.
a video was linked on Yuri Pasholok’s blog about the first test drive of the BA-10 armored car. BA-10 was a WW2 Soviet heavy armored car, armed with a 45mm gun. It was developed in 1938, produced from 1941 and served until 1945. Can’t help it, the car looks pretty badass I think.
looks like the Russian version of WoT Wiki is now functional and updated. Check out the new design, it looks quite nice. I wonder if any such a thing will be available for the EU/US one soon…
to finish the series of obscure Czechoslovak projects, here are two interesting vehicle proposals you might have heard about – but you probably haven’t.
10,5 cm le.F.H. 43 auf Selbstfahrlafette T-25
This is a proposal (as the name suggests) to mount the 105mm light field gun LeFH43 on the T-25 chassis. LeFH 43 was newly developed Škoda project by the way, not the old 105mm LeFH 18 howitzer. It was created by Škoda as a part of the light artillery competition probably in late 1943 – in this case, its competitors were Krupp (with its Heuschrecke IVb) and Alkett (with its 10,5cm le.F.H. 18/40/2 (Sf) auf GW III/IV). Drawings were made and a wooden mock-up was built, but the project never progressed beyond the mock-up stage. The vehicle was designed to weight 24,2 tons and had between 16mm and 30mm of armor on various places. The howitzer was removable from the mount (much like the German proposals had it). The 105mm howitzer could fire a 14,8kg HE shell at 610 m/s velocity.
Special Panzer Variants by Spielberger state the parameters of this vehicle as such:
Gun:
105mm LeFH 43 L/30, 14,81 kg shell weight, 610 m/s maximum muzzle velocity, -5/+75 elevation, 60 rounds carried
Vehicle designation: Grille 12
Crew: 5
Weight: 24,2 tons
Maximum speed 60 km/h
Engine: 450 hp
Hull armor: 30/20/20
Turret armor: 30/16/16
15 cm s.F.H.43 auf Selbstfahrlafette T-25
This is a “sister” project – a proposal to mount the 150mm howitzer on the same chassis. Technical drawings are confirmed to exist, but a mock-up was probably never made.
- the KTTS (ASAP) video for patch 9.0 will come out “quite soon” (no exact date though)
- Storm states that it’s not known, when the drawing distance will turn to the circle
- Apparently the drawing distance circle will be of 565 meters radius, not 600 meters, so that the area drawn remains the same
- there are issues with traffic apparently (SS: connected to the size of 9.0 patch? Not sure I understand the context)
- apparently, the 6.3. date of 9.0 test is incorrect (SS: oh well, I said that it’s from an unverified source)
