Thanks to some diplomacy between Poland and Norway, a wreck of the classic Polish TKS tankette was imported from Norway to the Poznan armor museum. The wreck was in terrible condition due to the harsh norther weather it was exposed to.
Within one and a half year, the tankette was disassembled and restored completely. Some parts of it (like the roadwheels) had to be made from scratch, but in the end the result was a success. Unfortunately the originl engine could not be obtained and the tankette now runs with a post-war car engine. The tankette was test driven for the first time now, in September 2013.
Hard to believe anyone used such a cute little thing for war, isn’t it?
It was confirmed yesterday at Tokyo Game Show that Wargaming would be doing an official Girls und Panzer voicepack. This voicepack will be free to download. The first person to do the voiceover will be Mai Futigami (the voice of Miho Nishizumi). Other actresses will make voiceovers later after that. Also, the players have been assured that the cooperation does not end with the voiceover and manga.
Answering: Daigensui (“the Mother of Japanese tanks”) :)
Hello everyone,
Yesterday, Daigensui promised to answer some questions and here are the results. Keep in mind that she can’t say everything, especially when it comes to ingame matters – due to agreements with WG.
1. Regarding Japanese tanks – what will be their specifics in World of Tanks? How will they differ from other branches?
Balancing isn’t really my jurisdiction, since I’m mostly working with the historical research area. Still, from what I’ve been hearing, generally we’re looking at vehicles with good terrain passibility, good depression (-10° minimum except for a few exceptions), lower penetration but higher alpha when compared to same caliber guns, and possibly generally good camouflage.
2.How soon (if at all) can we expect the heavy line?
I don’t schedule the releases, so basically I cannot say. I am working on those two lines at the moment in the research capacity.
Welcome to the 14th Q&A! A reminder as to how this works: send me questions about Soviet tanks and related topics, and I will answer them here (unless I forget, in which case you’re welcome to send them again).
Q: Were there any prototype or experimental tanks with double barreled guns?
A: Of course! A favourite of mine is the ST-II, with two 122 or 100 mm guns in one turret. Sadly, it was never built. Its half-assed implementation is currently present in the game. The extra loader is there, but the second gun is not, and the ROF has been drastically reduced. There was also the SU-2-122, which was a SU-122 with two guns instead of one, KV-7 (one version had 2 76 mm guns), and many double barreled SPG prototypes, currently terminating with the double barreled Russian Koalitsiya 152 mm SPG.
That’s just for tanks with two cannons of equal calibers. A great deal of tanks were equipped with dual machine guns, and with a smaller caliber gun or autocannon instead of a coaxial machinegun.
First, check Overlord’s post on Tokyo show… here’s a teaser:
Regular QA:
- limited MM for M6A2E1? “Don’t play M6A2E1″ (SS: no, it won’t get limited MM)
- in one of the WG streams, Viktor Kisly stated that when the suspension gets yellow, the tank agility (dynamic) is reduced. SerB states that this is not true and that V.Kisly simply didn’t know the mechanics in details, as he is the director of the entire company, while SerB leads the game mechanics development
You know, when you make a game about tanks, make sure you employ people who understand them and don’t post garbage:
STB1 was a Type 74 prototype, not Type 64 (there was no such thing) and it’s not from the 50′s, it’s from 1969. Just to be clear, this incorrect information is not WG EU’s fault, it appeared in the official press release too.
Daigensui from the US server agreed upon doing this. For those who do not know Daigensui: she and Soukoudragon worked closely with Wargaming to make the Japanese tree happen (for EU players: something like Listy and the Nuffield line), so she’s very qualified to answer anything you might be interested regarding the Japanese tanks.
She agreed to answer questions for you guys. So anything you are interested in regarding the Japanese tanks, you can ask in the comments. I will then take sort out trolling and send the most interesting questions to her for answering. Feel free to ask! :)
Mind you, she will not be answering via comments under this article, I will post the questions and answers in a separate post once they are ready (a day or two, depending on how is she with her time).
Came from Tokyo Game Show. Also, there is apparently going to be an official Girls und Panzer voicepack. Yea, I know…
Official release:
Wargaming, the leading free-to-play MMO developer and publisher, today announced that its highly acclaimed action game, World of Tanks, will soon be joined by war machines from Japan.
“The introduction of Japanese tanks allows us to explore the design and innovation of a number of legendary armored vehicles and give players the chance to experience their technological evolution throughout the mid-20th century,” said World of Tanks Producer Mikhail Zhivets. “Tank models based on original designs of Japanese engineers will offer players a wide selection of authentic upgrade schemes, each tailored for particular combat objectives.”
The Japanese line will initially field two branches with nine medium and five light machines, including such fabled models as the Chi-Ri prototype, the first post-war Japanese design Type 61, the light Type 95 Ha-Go and the medium Chi-Ha tanks. Developed during the late 1950s, the Type 64 (STB-1) will become the Tier 10 medium model.
Along with existing armored vehicles from the USA, China, France, Great Britain, Germany and the USSR, the new tech tree coming one of the forthcoming updates will become the 7th national line introduced into the game.
Apparently, the British love the tanks too. In Germany, the police stopped a family car, that was “converted” to resemble a tank, driven by a British driver near Darmstadt:
The vehicle had a fake turret made of wood with a plastic barrel and was pained in camo. However, the attachment of the turret to the vehicle was flimsy and the brakes of the “tank” were not satisfactory either. The 26-year old driver said he was driving a “rallye” from London to Prague, where he was to participate in the “most original vehicle” contest.
