I’d like to bring your attention to this really interesting piece of software I was informed recently about. A group of Chinese programmers (who proposed earlier the Personal Rating you might remember), who call themselves Smellyriver Studio, did put together new software to actually inspect tanks in game. I tested it a bit and to me it seems really easy to use and user friendly in general, that’s why I am giving everyone heads up. It’s called Tank Inspector. Currently however, it is in beta stage and thus it’s not universally available: you need “beta keys” to access it. I will get to that in a moment.
The main idea behind it is to have all the info about WoT vehicles on one place:
as you probably know, both the US and the EU server have a special event, where you can (for limited time only) buy the KV-220. For those who don’t know, KV-220 is a tier 5 heavy tank, previously exclusive to the Russian server. It’s main advantages are thick hull armor and the fact that it has a limited MM (it will not see tier 7 vehicles). Please note that the fact EU wikipedia doesn’t mention this fact means only that EU wikipedia has it wrong. It does have limited MM.
So, what IS the KV-220? Basically, it’s a KV-3 hull with KV-1 turret and a rather poor 76mm gun. If you are interested in its real life history (yes, this vehicle actually existed and fought), have a look at Ensign Expendable’s KV-220 article. It’s worth reading.
On European server, KV-220 is offered as a part of the “Collector’s Delight” for 49.95 EUR (along with a garage slot, 30 days of premium and 10500 gold). As you can see, that’s a lot of money for a tier 5 tank, especially for hardcore players, who usually don’t need gold or premium account time. It’s an obvious moneygrab, aimed at people, who want to have something special – and that’s fine, in real life you also pay for exclusivity. To me the price feels really steep (30 EUR with adequate gold/premium would be IMHO more adequate). But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about its performance.
Yesterday, a bunch of guys with access to special accounts that have this tank took this vehicle for a spin to test what it can do. First, let’s have a look at its basic parameters. Here is the wikipedia page about it, you can see the basic parameters there.
Armor
As you can see here, the frontal hull armor is 100mm thick and somewhat sloped. This is one of the rare instances where the lower frontal plate is actually better armored (due to the slope) than the upper part of the plate. The upper plate also has driver’s hatch and the MG shield 80mm weakspots, so aim for the upper plate (it is better sloped):
what, you thought WG EU wouldn’t have any fails on weekend events? Come on, you know better than that! So, remember the really nice promised discounts on premium tanks (even in gift shop), despite Wargaming employee claims the discounts apply on gift shop vehicles all? This is the event version from yesterday:
So, you were planning to buy your shiny new Chi-Nu Kai with a discount? No discount for you! Today, the portal was backedited (surprise!) with the following: Chi-Nu Kai and Type 64 are not included in discounts.
Edit: I was apparently wrong – US server discounts don’t seem to apply to gift shop vehicles at all. Weird.
So yes, you might have heard about the bad screwup of the weekend event on US server. Basically, this time US server dropped the ball and screwed the event description: instead of tier 6-7 tanks being on 30 percent discount, they in fact earn 30 percent more credits (which is actually better). EU server has it right this time strangely enough (although I am sure we will see some sort of fail tomorrow).
As you can see, it has already been corrected on the portal, but it means tier 6 and 7 vehicles are NOT discounted (which is kinda weird, because tier 8 vehicles are – 15 percent), so before you buy anything, doublecheck the price and decide whether you are okay with that!
just so you don’t miss it, I am putting the new tank info together. It’s a mess, sort of. Evilly (the chief of Russian community) wrote at first that in the beginning of 2014, there will be tier 8 premium Japanese medium tank:
Which one could it be? It’s possible it will be a STA-B prototype (picture by Daigensui – when asked, Daigensui just shrugged and said it’s an option). But it seems to be moot, as Storm specifically wrote on the same day that there will be no premium tier 8 tanks anytime soon:
here’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while. The other day, I pointed to Vallter’s new blog, specifically this post and it made me think. We all know Wargaming is a big promoter of the free-to-play game model. But is F2P really the ultimate future of all MMO games? Or are there instances, where subscription model (such as there is in World of Warcraft for example) is better?
If you are interested in this issue, go check the arguments Vallter proposes. They are valid, but they are not in my opinion complete. Let me tell you why.
Wargaming’s “legendary tank” turned out to be the KV-220. How appropriate that a “legend” should be worthy of what today’s hip youth would describe as an “epic fail”. First, some background.
The KV-220 (otherwise known as KV-220-2, T-220, Object 220, or just 220 in factory documents) was proposed in 1940, as a replacement for the KV-1 that was already considered inadequate by the Red Army. The T-150 was ordered in the same document. The T-150 was meant to have a 700 hp engine and KV-220 an 850 hp engine, but problems were encountered in building such powerful engines. By May of 1941, the KV-220 only had a V-5 engine turbocharged to 700 hp. The in-game T-150 gets that engine under the index V-5F (“forsirovanniy”, turbocharged). You’d think that the KV-220 would get its 850 hp engine too, right? Or at least the 700 hp one? Nope! It gets…650 hp. That’s kind of a downer, seeing as how the tank isn’t exactly tiny, and an extra 200 hp (or even 50 hp) would have come in handy.
The KV-220 and T-150 didn’t meet the Red Army’s expectations, and bets were hedged on the KV-3, 4, or 5 as the Red Army’s heavy tank for the years to come. However, the war began, and dreams of shiny new KVs vanished. As the Germans neared Moscow and Leningrad, everything with a gun and tracks was thrown into battle. Both SU-14s and the SU-100Y defended Moscow. The reject T-50, T-100Z, and other strange vehicles defended their factories at Leningrad. The would-be KVs were no different. The KV-220′s turret (available in game as the top turret of the T-150) defended the city separately from its hull, taking place in a gun battery. The tank itself fought with the 124th tank brigade.
