Object 430 and 430 Prototype Models Screwed Up

Hello everyone,

remember when I reported that in 9.0, Panzer 38t model is screwed up? To remind you – in 9.0, Panzer 38t model got fucked up thus:

38t

You can clearly see the 0 armor holes in the collision model and to top it off, it has no bottom. Luckily, this was fixed in 9.0 (they screwed it up anyway I think, one part is 2mm thinner than it’s supposed to be but at least it’s not 0). By the way, you know what really made me giggle?

From the European patch notes:

- Fixed minor mistakes in the Valentine II and Pz. Kpfw 38 (t) models

Minor? A third of the fucking armor was missing! *sigh*

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Kharkov Easter Egg

Hello everyone,

credits for this go to player tambardo from EU server, who found it. There is apparently an easter egg on the Kharkov map. When you destroy one of the garages in the A3 sector, inside, you will find a strange vehicle.

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This is the Chtz armored tractor (bronetraktor), built in Kharkov in some numbers as a stopgap measure in 1941, when the Soviets desperately tried to put guns on pretty much everything to stop the Germans. Its low quality model exists in the game for quite some time – for purposes unknown. It’s doubtful it will ever be introduced.

This vehicle appeared once already in March in the developer diary videos.

9.1 – First Feedback

Hello everyone,

so, I installed the 9.1 test client after all (the test was expected today, but its confirmation came literally minutes before it went live, hence no early warning). Installation, as always, was uneventful and smooth.

Anyway, after running the test client, you will not notice anything really new, everything is kinda “same old”, but the important features of this patch are

- optimization
- new gun sounds
- new engine sounds for Hellcat and Jackson
- historical battles

So I decided to check the first three by loading up my Jackson and giving it a spin. Pressing battle aaaand… the map loads really fast. Surprising. Not sure what, but in like 9.0.4 hotfix, Wargaming did “something” that fixed the terrible loading times (that started in 9.0) for me.

Anyway, battle loaded aaaaaaaaand…. it’s perfect. No microlags. FPS is smooth, 40-50, I’d say 5-10 FPS increase (I had 40 in “free” areas and 30-35 in “crowded” ones, now it’s 40 in crowded and 60 or so in “free” areas). This is actually really really great :) Also, the bug with the explosion sounds not pre-loading (first explosion lags the game) that re-appeared after one of the hotfixes was fixed again, so that’s good. The game now runs smoothly. Not as smoothly as pre-9.0, but it’s good.

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Graphically, one more thing is different, the exhaust smoke and explosions. Both now sort of look more pronounced – hard to describe, but the exhaust smoke looks more like in War Thunder, but in War Thunder, the smoke actually looks like if it’s vapour leaking from a hole in a boiler, here it looks more… I don’t know. Realistic. I like it. The explosions are MUCH more pronounced now – when your tank explodes, you will FEEL it. They are huge. Not sure if it’s realistic (tanks look like they have a crate of TNT inside them), but it sure looks nice.

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Okay, gun sounds. The gun now sounds very realistic. That’s a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is the obvious realism. The bad thing is that from Hollywood movies etc., people expect even 76mm-90mm guns to go BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, while in real life, the gun sounds more like “pooof” – it’s an unusual sound and you will not feel like shooting a mighty gun (even the big caliber sound is quite muffled). The reload sound was added and it’s roughly the way Gnomefather has it. Personally, I think WG could go for more “Hollywood” sound, but it’s okay.

I mentioned that two vehicles (Hellcat and Jackson) do have a new soundset and let me tell you now, it’s BRILLIANT. I LOVE the Jackson engine sound, FINALLY something that sounds like a tank, nothing beats that deep roar of the engine, very, very nicely done. I really like it. Combine it with the good performance of the test client and I think this is going to be just great :) Enjoying it a lot. Please, Wargaming, don’t fuck it up.

Anyway, historical battles, another feature:

Balaton stays, Ardennes and Kursk got removed. Okay. Two new historical battles are Tobruk and Bryansk. I haven’t actually played them (noone seems to play them, I will post separate feedback on them tomorrow if I get to try them), but at first glance, both setups look totally fucked up.

Tobruk:

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Bryansk:

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I won’t pass any judgements in advance – I will try the battles first, but if you look at the Tobruk setup, the Germans have practically nothing to destroy the Matilda with (that StuG has L/24, the Panzer IV I am not sure about, but I think it has L/24 as well). The Russian scenario on the other hand has the KV-1 and against it, the Panzer IV with the L/43 gun. What could possibly go wrong…

As I said, we’ll see what happens, I’ll post my HB impressions later on.

9.1 – Kill Marks Feature

Source: http://worldoftanks.ru/ru/news/1/9_1_mark/

Hello everyone,

here is the EU post for the “Marks of Excellence” – basically, kill rings. Since I don’t see it in the EU post, I will add the conditions required for them from the Russian one.

Basically, it is explained on the Russian site that tank kills aren’t always an objective measure of players quality and that in order to judge the quality, other indicators have to be considered: average XP per battle and average damage per battle. XP is already counted within the mastery badges and so the devs have chosen to use the average damage.

Kill marks are recieved for doing more average damage per battle on that respective vehicle than other players:

- 1 mark: more than 65 percent of players
- 2 marks: more than 75 percent of players
- 3 marks: more than 95 percent of players

Light tanks can achieve them as well, as for the purposes of marks, damage done by other tanks from your scouting counts towards this damage as well. The battles count only from patch 9.1 onwards (won’t be awarded retroactively). The statistics are collected on daily basis. The battles taken into account are the last player session and not from ALL the battles since 9.1.

Marks are awarded only in random battles and only for tier 5 and higher vehicles. Furthermore, the players will be able to see their standings in the Achievement window. If your statistics drop, the kill marks will not be removed (just like a mastery badge). These marks can be disabled in settings.

9.1 CT Patch Notes

Patch notes:

Changes betwen version 9.1 Public Test 1 and version 9.0

  • New Kharkiv map added.
  • Improvements and corrections added to the following maps: Arctic Region, Tundra, Komarin, Windstorm, and Northwest.
  • Appearance frequency of Ruinberg on Fire map has been decreased
  • Added new historical battles: Bryansk front (USSR 1942) and Siege of Tobruk (North Africa 1942)
  • Removed two previous historical battles: “Battle of Kursk” and “Battle of the Bulge”
  • Minor visual problems with textures and patterns in a large number of vehicles fixed.
  • Minor visual problems with textures and patterns for certain objects on maps fixed. Continue reading

KTTS/ASAP 9.1

Since the patch test will be really soon (tomorrow?), here’s the ASAP magazine, for now in Russian

 

 

Inside:

- new gun sounds, added sound of shell extraction after shot, added new turret turning sound
- Hellcat and Jackson will have new movement sounds
- the sounds are of real vehicles, recorded in museums
- new medals for arty and for team battles
- camo after shot nerf for TD’s (Storm explains that they were OP)
- buff for LT tier spread (top battletier removed), LT’s 4-8 inc. premium ones (Type 64)
- MT-25 and VK2801 get mobility buffs
- no big performance optimizations, a lot of smaller ones though
- new map “Kharkov”, 5 new maps got balance changes
- two new historical battles: Blockade of Tobruk (1941) and Bryansk Front (Summer 1942)
- of currently available historical battles, only Balaton will be removed (or left alone, it’s hard to understand Storm)
- Stronkhold mode will not come in 9.1
- special video on Stronkhold mode will come (unless he refers to the previous Stronkhold preview video)

Want a free Super Pershing? Use a Bot!

Hello everyone,

it’s been some time, since we talked about bots and how they damage the game. Quite a discussion started around the topic – so today, we are going to talk about one specific aspect of botting – using bots to get free stuff from Wargaming.

As you most likely know, currently, there is a special event running on all the major servers: get a certain amount of XP in all the trees in the game and in turn, you will recieve a hightier premium tank (Americans get the T34, the rest gets Super Pershing). Naturally, this is a great lure for all the assholes out there using bots and yes, unfortunately, it works very well.

All the data below were obtained by Stormshadow, the EU bot hunter responsible for example for the anti-bot mod.

Meet 8toto1. Our 8toto1 here is a damned botter, that’s what he is. Let’s look at his stats first.

bot1

Sharp drop of performance? A clear sign of using a bot, but not a proof of course. Proof comes from three things:

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