everyone knows Leopard as the German main battle tank, that won the competition and became a mass-produced vehicle, used throughout Europe. However, there is this impression that apart from the Leopard, the Germans did not develop anything else on the tank field in the 60′s. That is not true. Check this out.
This is the Blohm und Voss company proposal for a main battle tank, developed in the 60′s and patented in 1970, as found by Vollketten (Patent Application No. #2066169 from 21st April 1970). Its full name (in the patent) is “Armored Vehicle with Low Silhouette”.
Russian portal has one quite interesting article about how the World of Tanks has changed in 4 years. Unfortunately, I cannot replicate its contents here (you’ll see why), but here is the link – it does not require you to read the Russian text, the pictures are pretty self-explanatory.
- first picture is the hangar change, new hangar was introduced in 9.0
- second picture shows the evolution of “anniversary” hangars
- third picture shows the changes in graphics, noting that despite the improvement, the game remains playable on low end PC’s
- fourth picture shows the crew UI changes, the post says that back then in 2010, the crews only had three skills, now it’s 25
- fifth picture shows the evolution of vehicles, back in 2010 the game only had German and Russian tanks, now it’s over 300 vehicles
- sixth picture shows how the maps were reworked in 0.8.0 with the introduction of physics to look more realistically
- seventh picture shows the changes in Himmelsdorf, the post notes that more city maps were added (Ruinberg, Ruinberg on fire, Winter Himmelsdorf) to bring more variety to the game
- eighth picture shows the difference between SD and HD model
- so does the ninth
so, here’s a little video from the series called Extra Credits. In case you don’t know it, Extra Credits is a series of videos, dealing with various aspects of video games in general and with their design. While I do disagree with some of their conclusions and view them as too optimistic, the core of the series is sound and I like the format very much (I was even thinking of creating something like that about various WoT aspects, but my lack of art skill kinda prevents me from it, so if you are more skilled than I am, go ahead, that would be very popular I think).
I am honestly surprised that Wargaming hasn’t contacted or worked with these guys before, they seem to be… how should I put it… easily available for hire. Not that it’s a bad thing, they seem to be quite competent.
Anyway, back to topic. A lot of people over time have complained about the randomness of World of Tanks in various competitive modes, especially in e-sports. And it’s true, there is always the 25 percent RNG factor and all that, but that’s not all there is. This video explains very nicely, why randomness in games (in our case, World of Tanks) is actually not a problem. Just… watch it and tell me, what do you think.
remember how yesterday, I posted about a truck called BelAZ being implemented as a 1st of April prank during the World of Tanks alphatest? Well, apparently, there was even trailer for that update :)
It says:
- Force that cannot be tied
- dimensions that cannot be imagined
- work monsters are unleashed
- to clash against one another
- Who said “tanks”?
a bunch of unused invite codes, sent to me by the guys who redeemed them from the Razer website. They contain 1000g + 7 days prem if I remember correctly. You can also get a 300g bonus code.
Codes from: halfdead, oduro, IGL, Daniele, Petar K., Espri, BoskoSLO, stalker528, MightyHaegr, Bryden38, Floodi, ApolloF117, Simon VanDerBacon, Max P., Felix M., BlacKHeaDSg1, Ciprian I.B., Erald G.
exclusively for wot-news server (Edrard can into WG) – a parade of vehicles, that were planned, but never made it for one reason or another. Behold the steel monsters that were modelled, but never implemented and weep, for we shall likely not see their kind again.
In case you are wondering, the map they appear on is the Imperial Border (Chinese server exclusive, not popular even there).
Warning, picture heavy post
Neubaufahrzeug
Tier 3 heavy tank, scrapped due to the fact the game has no multigun support (it had secondary 37mm gun).
Please note that this list is NOT COMPLETE and NOT FINAL!
There is a list of fake changes in 0.9.3, that appeared on RU forums. The list is mostly a fake, but some parts are true.
T57 Heavy will be nerfed in 0.9.3. Specifically:
- accuracy on the move nerfed by 25 percent
- aim time and accuracy loss from turret turning will be nerfed as well
Hellcat will be nerfed thus:
- stock tracks accuracy on the move and when turning nerfed by 60 percent
- terrain resistance for stock tracks nerfed (soft/medium/hard) by 9/14/9 percent
- elite tracks accuracy on the move and when turning nerfed by 57 percent
- terrain resistance for elite tracks nerfed (soft/medium/hard) by 10/17/10 percent
- maxium reverse speed nerfed from 20 to 12 km/h
- 76mm M1A2 AT accuracy loss from turning the turret nerfed by 12 percent
- 90mm M3 reload time nerfed from 8s to 8,5s, accuracy loss from turning the turret nerfed by 25 percent
T18 recieved a (yet unspecified, but big) nerf.
The Tiger P, Chi Nu Kai, Hetzer and Churchill Gun Carrier changes from the original post are fake.
ever heard about Neubaufahrzeug? Well, in case you haven’t, it’s a pre-war German medium/heavy tank, that was actually used during the invasion of Norway by the Germans. In case you are interested in its detailed history, I wrote about it here (just scroll down a bit).
Neubaufahrzeug (Nbfz) was also at one point intended to be a tier 3 German premium heavy tank. The first mention of this vehicle (in the game) came in October 2013 with the 8.9 ASAP video, where it was “accidentally” shown as having a place in the tree:
Ever since, players have been asking, what happened to it – well, for some time at least, after some months, it was forgotten. It was never apparently implemented due to the fact it carried more than one gun and became the victim of “no multigun mechanism” issue. An interesting thing though: apart from the mention in the tree, a model seems to have existed as well.
This is actually a Krupp version of the Nbfz, the Rheinmetall one was kinda different. Unfortunately, the chance of seeing this tank before the multigun mechanism is implemented is quite low.
Thanks to Dead_Skin_Mask for sending me the video!
Hello everyone,
recently, Poland celebrated 70 years from the Battle at Studzianki. For those who do not know what it was – a part of the Soviet units, attacking the Germans in 1944 was the Polish 1st Armored Brigade, equipped – amongst other things – with T-34/85 tanks. The Polish armored units in Soviet Union were fighting the nazis ever since late 1943 and participated in some of the toughest fighting late in the war, such as the battle of Lenino and the liberation of Poland all the way to the fall of Berlin.
The battle took place between 9th and 16th of August, 1944 near the village of Studzianki as a part of the Lublin-Brest operation of the Soviet forces. The Polish 1st Brigade was a part of those units, tasked with securing the bridgehead over the river Vistula. The Polish and the Soviets came to bear the brunt of the German “Hermann Göring” armored division. The Germans managed to capture the village of Grabnowole on 9.8. and their intent was to destroy the forward Soviet forces, holding the Vistula bridgehead. This plan was however thwarted by the attack of the 3rd Tank Company of the 1st Brigade and on 11.8., the Germans were thrown back from the village of Studzianki by the 1st Tank Company assault of 2ndLt. Świetana. That stalled the German attack, but fierce fighting in the area continued to 14.8., with the Polish forces having to fight for the village no less than 7 times. The battle finally ended on 15.8. with the Polish and Soviet forces encircling the Germans and destroying them, although sporadic fighting continued for one more day.
In the battle, the 1st Armored Division managed to destroy 10 tanks, 16 guns and mortars and captured a gun battery as well. The Polish losses were however 18 tanks destroyed and 9 damaged, making it the largest Polish-German armor clash on the eastern front. Altogether, including the infantry, the German losses were over 1000 men (killed, wounded and captured), the Polish losses were 484 men killed, 1459 wounded and 63 missing.
The battle was shown in the famous Polish TV series “4 Tankers and a Dog”, but there was recently also a re-enactment, showing no less than 6 T-34/85 tanks in motion, an amount not exactly common for any single re-enactment.
