Hello everyone,

the following info has been found in the VSAM (Verein Schweizer Armeemuseum, Switzerland), credits go to Vollketten. I am not sure this was ever published in English anywhere, so – another premiere for FTR :)

Now, you might recall what the G-13 is – that’s right, it’s the modified post-war Jagdpanzer 38t (“Hetzer”), built in Czechoslovakia for the Swiss army. Between December 1946 and February 1950, 158 were built and sent to Switzerland, where they served until 1971-1972, when they were replaced by the Centurion tanks. From that point on, many were sold to the collectors and even more were converted to look like the wartime Hetzers for museums, private collections and movie prop purposes. The majority of private “Hetzers” currently are converted G-13 vehicles.

You can tell the G-13 from a Hetzer by the muzzle brake (German Hetzers used PaK guns, G-13 used the 75mm StuK 40 guns, the Swiss tanks also have different engines). While effective and relatively cheap to build, the Jagdpanzer 38t (I hope history buffs can forgive me the use of the word “Hetzer” – no, the Japa 38t was never called Hetzer historically) was also not exactly high-tech and in many first world armies, it was supposed to be replaced by either tanks, or other, more powerful self-propelled guns (such was the case of Czechoslovakia, using the SD-100 SPG). A question arose, what to do with the Hetzers then, because there were quite a few around.

In Czechoslovakia (and I am adding this so you see that the development went through similiar ways), following proposals were made:

- conversion to ARV’s
- 105mm SPG
- 150mm SPG
- a turretted flame tank, PM-1

In Switzerland, they did not reach the similiar conclusions, but they did consider using the G-13 for a self-propelled gun. The reason for this was simply the fact that the G-13 was available for a very cheap price from Czechoslovakia, while their own artillery-field (SPG) development (the Nahkampfkanone program) proved to be quite expensive. This project from 1946 however did not pass the proposal stage, as the army in September 1946 decided to order all the G-13 in their TD configuration. It is not clear whether this SPG proposal first came from the Swiss, or the Czech side. The Swiss nevertheless continued to work on in until 1947, when the program was cancelled.

The 105mm howitzer was apparently the same type as the one used in Nahkampfkanone 1 (10,5cm Haubitze 42)

And here, in comparison, how did the Czechoslovaks solve the same issue (November 1946)

A player named Side Strafe reviews the Grosstraktor tank, implemented some time ago into the game. Currently it’s unknown how will the players be able to get this tank.

Hello everyone,

Rita (the streamer featured here on FTR) recently visited the Militracks 2014 event in Overloon (also visited the Overloon museum itself), here’s first part of the video – enjoy!

PS: I was confused by the M36 Jackson as well, had to ask myself (thanks, Cannoneer) – however, that Jacskon actually allegedly comes from Yugoslavia, which used both the B1 and B2 version.

PPS: In case you are interested what is written on the T-34, it’s “fight the fascists”

Source: http://tech.onliner.by/2014/05/21/wargaming-7 (via Brenwen_lj)

Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) suspended the trading of Wargaming securities after Wargaming failed to publish its financial data for year 2013. CSE promises to resume the trading as soon as the reason for the suspension ís resolved. This was also reported by the vedomosti.ru portal.

According to the CSE data, Wargaming share ownership (April 2013) is as follows:

- Viktor Kislyi: 38,5 percent
- Vladimir Kislyi: 25,5 percent
- Nikolai Katselapov: 17 percent
- Ivan Mikhnevich: 17 percent

The rest (2 percent) of shares is in free circulation. Wargaming representatives doesn’t offer any comments on the situation. The last time Wargaming published the financial info on the CSE site was August 2013, revealing that the revenue for first half of the year 2013 reached 234 mil. Euro, with net profit of 25,6 mil. Euro. Analytical company “SuperData” estimates total Wargaming revenue in 2013 at 475 mil. USD (347 mil. EUR) and estimate that 2014 revenue might reach 509 mil. USD (372 mil. EUR).

Source: http://www.mmorpg.com/giveaways.cfm/offer/519/World-of-Tanks-Gift-Key-Giveaway.html

Hello everyone,

on the MMORPG.com site, there is a giveaway of invite codes, that contain:

- Premium T2LT Tank
- 3 Days Premium Time
- 500 Gold

You have to register on the portal to get it. At this moment, cca 4600 codes are remaining.

Hello everyone,

I posted a shorter version of this text on the EU forums yesterday and even though I didn’t intend to before, I decided to repost that here with some changes and corrections.

Disclaimer: It’s a personal opinion, not a fact post (some people recently whined that FTR gets “too many personal opinions” – well yea, it’s a blog, I run it from the start that way and it won’t change). It’s also quite long, sorry. I will also try to be constructive, so bear with me.

Okay, here’s a feeling I’ve been having for quite a while now. Usually, for all my criticism of WG EU and whatnot, I was always quite content with the way the game development was proceeding. I mean – when the game was released, the concept was very clear. Tanks fighting other tanks on a battlefield. Simple, clean, easy to understand but difficult to master, which is exactly what I like in games. Sure, there were issues such as the infamous tank disappearing, spaced armor eating shells etc. – but it was very playable and it turned the game into one of the best free to play games ever created.

Continue reading →

Hello everyone,

this is the exclusive Wot-News interview with Ivan Morozov, one of the World of Warships developers. Please note that I tried to translate everything correctly, but I don’t know the naval terms even in English. Also, if you are confused by some of the answers (like “what did he mean by that”) – well, so am I. Here’s what he said:

Do you publish a lot of info about World of Warships?

We publish several entries per week on our blog, we do tell about the game and its development. There, you can find out about the game mechanics, get an idea about the state of the game from fresh screenshots or read regular reports from alphatest either from tester reports or from the infographics. Apart from various kinds of content posting, the developers simply talk directly to the blog readers, answering their questions using videos or interviews online. So, to answer your question – yes, we publish a lot about World of Warships. Especially given the fact that the project is still in the alpha testing stage.

Can you tell us what the WoWs ship classes will look like?

We can tell, but you have to see it with your own eyes. Of course a tanker will get the associations immediately: battleship – that’s a heavy tank, destroyer – that’s a “scout”, aircraft carrier is “artillery and cruiser is like a tank destroyer. But after even a few battles in WoWs, it becomes clear that using WoT tactics will surely lead to defeat.

Continue reading →

Hello everyone,

once again, this info is unconfirmed, so take it with a bit of salt, but looks like Wargaming noticed the football (soccer, if you prefer) World Cup in Brazil (12.6.-13.7.2014). A new map and a new “medal” appeared in the supertest client:

Allegedly, it’s supposed to be some kind of special event á la Karl. The description of the medal in the test client says:

“For winning in the foodball match, while driving T-62A SPORT. Overall standings consist of longest winning streak in a row. The streak is ended by a loss. It is awarded to all players of the winning team during the time of the event, that is to coincide with the football World Cup 2014.”

The description of the map allegedly is: “Meet in honorable combat for the first place in the Himmelsdorf championship”

Source: VK WotLeaks community

Hello everyone,

one of the alleged features of the upcoming 9.1 patch (well, unless they scrap it like they did with other features) are the barrel kill marks.

According to the leak (I can’t guarantee its legitimity though, so don’t take it for granted), these kill rings will not be awarded for kills or XP, but for average damage on this tank and will work something like the mastery badges, only with damage, not XP. They will be visible on the gun barrel.

One mark (ring, star etc.) will be awarded for having average damage better than 65 percent of the players on the vehicle
Two marks will be awarded for having average damage better than 85 percent of the players on the vehicle
Three marks will be awarded for having average damage better than 95 percent of the players on the vehicle

These marks can be recieved only on tier 5-10 vehicles, they are displayed on the gun. It will be possible to disable displaying them in settings. Only damage from random battles counts, the marks will not be displayed in historical battles.