Weekly FTR Contributor Review

Hello everyone,

once again it’s the time to thank the contributors, it’s you who keep FTR running after all! This time, following people donated via Paypal:

Allan R. (New Zealand)
wollef (Brasil)
Marvin H. (USA)
crash_core (Germany)

Thank you, guys. I really appreciate it.

Now, for the Patreon cycle – there was something odd about the Patreon system again, but whatever. Today marks the sixth time the Patreon subscription got successfully used, thank you all!

Out of the 588,79 USD pledged at the point of the cycle activation:

- 543,79 USD came in successfully (the rest didn’t go through for some reason on the contributor side, insufficient funds on account etc.)
- out of 543,79 USD:

45,49 USD went to credit card fees
27,23 USD went to Patreon (service fee)

leaving 471,84 USD for FTR – much appreciated! The list of contributors can be viewed here. Once again, huge thanks for the support to all of you :)

How Wargaming Works – Really!

Hello everyone,

do you know how Wargaming works? Well, you could certainly watch the original Wargaming video (and you should, so you know what they talk about – there are English subtitles):

 

 

but one Russian player created an improved and more accurate version (unfortunately without subtitles, but the sound is the same as in the original)…. enjoy :)

 

Kick the Cheater, Burn the Botter, Purge the Unfair!

Hello everyone,

recently, Wargaming started fighting specifically one odd thing: rigged games.

In a post on Russian portal, WG RU explains, that “rigged games” are battles, the result of which is pre-determined by the agreement of both sides. They typically appear in clan and company mode, where the games are more organized than in “random”. Wargaming considers typical reason for rigging battles to be faster vehicle grind for one party, statpadding (SS: a term, which means artificial inflating of player statistics, so the player appears better than he is) or attempting to get a rare ingame medal.

Rigged battles are considered to be “unsportsmanlike behavior” and are against the rules.

Wargaming decided to crack down on the riggers and withing the space of one month, 5000 people on RU server were investigated and punished by a one month ban. It was confirmed that should the offense repeat itself (or, for second time offender), the ban gets to be permanent. Wargaming explains that this is just the first step in fighting the rigged battle phenomenon. The list of banned game riggers was openly published as well.

Continue reading

9.3 Test: Abbey Bug

Hello everyone,

when driving in the 9.3 test on the Abbey map, be careful. There is a new, nasty bug, that causes players to fall through the world. Check this out (thanks to Baubau from US server for the screenies). Let’s hope they fix that before it comes out.

If you are wondering, why I am posting about an individual bug – simple: first, it’s a gamebreaker and it can destroy your battle (it was recently written that 90 percent of players never go there – which means that 10 percent do). Secondly, to give it some publicity, so it does not get ignored (like it sometimes happens, check the RhB WT collision model with a hole in the armor since 9.1 or so).

shot_190

Continue reading

Insider Info

Hello everyone,

a little bit of insider information from Wargaming againg. Had a nice long chat with the insider over the internet, this is my summary of the conversation.

- Sturmtiger will likely not be implemented (or, almost certainly according to what Storm said) because of the issues with the line. The biggest issue is the balance – at one point, developers considered implementing it as an artillery vehicle, but they are afraid of the massive, massive whine. During the tests, the Sturmtiger could oneshot even hightier tanks and developers don’t want “oneshot derp” on high tiers. Another issue is – strangely enough – the fact that the line has some issues on lower tiers, specifically around tier 3-5. There was a thought of separating StuH 42 from StuG Ausf.G (effectively removing the StuG 105mm derp and making it another separate vehicle), but that was not judged a good idea (for undisclosed reasons).

- Sturmtiger might appear in the game still… as a consumable. Developers are working on an “artillery fire mission” consumable for Stronghold mode. Basically what you’ve seen earlier – you aim the fire barrage at some sector or something and off-map artillery battery starts shelling it. The idea is, this consumable would be available in several tiers and the Sturmtiger fire mission would be the highest one.

- the “fun mode” will be indeed a Chaffee race, actually something like Mario Kart – a wacky race on the Port map with various boosts and obstacles and such

Continue reading

9.3 – First Feedback (Part 3: Murovanka)

Hello everyone,

today, we are going to talk about the new Murovanka in 9.3. Until now, it was one of my favourite maps, mostly because of the magic forest camping (I love doing that from the south :D). You have already probably seen any number of videos previewing the map itself, so today, we are going to have a look at how the battle looks.

I played several Murovanka battles on test server and I do think that now, Murovanka is much better than it was before. The forest now turned into a close range combat area, suitable for heavies, while the other side offers more flanking possibilities than before. I made a small video showing one such battle and… well, it’s really one of my first commentaries ever, so there is a lot of “uhmmm” and all that :)

 

 

It’s obvious that the battle tactics are influenced heavily by the previous Murovanka iteration, but even for the future, I don’t think there will be much action going on in the middle – the feeling of “I’m in the open” is quite strong there (what would have helped I think was, if they made the central road inside a corridor, something along the lines of Severogorsk). Overall, it’s a really nice overhaul I think, with the forest giving off the “realistic” vibe, it looks quite cool. I like it.

M56 Scorpion – Two More Pics

Source: http://vk.com/newsblog_wot

Two more Scorpion screenshots. Please note that there are two additional pieces of info about it – well, three actually:

- the fact that the 90mm of the Scorpion has 219mm penetration (which is historical) does NOT mean that the current 90mm American guns will be buffed in penetration, despite the fact their penetration is unhistorical (too low), that would basically break the balance.
- the gun shield of the Scorpion is 5mm thick, the rest is 0mm
- the vehicle might have a limited MM in the end, it is confirmed that the MM it has “now” (on very early supertest) is not balanced yet

Basically, any stats of that vehicle are only a very rough guide to what this tank destroyer might look like in the future.

ogrPngKQCOE

Continue reading