Author: AgaresTretiak (NA) Introduction Like many of us here, I play games with tanks in them. Not just one game, like World of Tanks, but others. Some, like Darkest Hour and the original Red Orchestra, provided many a happy hour of game-play (though not strictly the most accurate at times). Others, like War Thunder have provided me with equal measures of frustration and triumph. Yet others, like World of Tanks have been a long standing source of entertainment and fun with friends through Clan Wars. One of the key aspects however, of any presentation of World War II armored vehicles for myself, has been the accuracy and detail of what was being displayed. Part of this, I suppose, is in part due to my training as a historian, part due to my love of modelling, and I suppose a third is my pretention of artistic ability. Regardless of the motives though, I find myself irritated by inaccurate representations or information. Authenticity can be replicated through details, and when it comes to any fighting vehicle from a given nation, there can be quite a few details involved. Things like the right colour for camouflage, the placement and correct tactical markings on a vehicle, and even little personal touches crews might have added are all part of the details that can bring that much more authenticity into a game, a model, or even just for the pleasure of knowing someone took the time to make it that detailed.

Hello everyone, the individual missions have been around for a while now. Many players have their StuG IV’s already, some have the T28C, some have the T55A and more than a thousand (on RU server anyway) have Object 260. I am sure many of us noticed the change in gameplay style in randoms, occasional retarded behavior of a player, who wants to complete the mission at all costs and all that. It was to be expected and I am sure Wargaming counted on it. But there’s another really serious side effect the individual missions have, the rigging. Rigging is a process, during which the players on both teams, instead of fighting one another are working together to complete the mission objectives, screwing the rest of the team in the process. The most notorious mission to be rigged (as far as I can tell) is the last mission of the heavy tank series, where a lot of bounced shells is required. The standard rigging process of this mission looks like this: – you take three (or five, works better) friends (clanmates) and form two platoons – you wait until very late in the night for the best chance to appear in the battle together – you coordinate (via Teamspeak for example) it so that both platoon leaders click “battle” at once (simply by counting down on TS). In late night hours when very few players play, the chance to appear in one battle (on the opposite sides, one platoon each side) is very high – you meet on some spot in the battle (preferably without witnesses) and you shoot each other’s tank strongspots (frontal turret, mantlet, spaced armor parts) to accumulate as much “damage saved by armor” as possible. There we go, mission done!

Hello everyone, following is the complete list of individual mission objectives, pulled out from the EU client scripts, courtesy of Edrard from wot-news (whereas yesterday’s list was based on translations of Russian portal). Each mission listed has 4 sections: the first two rows are for StuG, second for T28C, third for T55A and fourth for Object 260. The first line is the primary, the second line the secondary objective. LT Mission #1 At lower tiers, your light tank can easily neutralize every other type of vehicle. Advise – Try to avoid head-on confrontations. Instead, try flanking your enemy or attack them from the rear. Observe carefully where the enemy vehicle’s gun is turned. Additional – Win the battle. Be among the top 10 players on your team by experience earned. Additional – Survive the battle. Additional – Win the battle. Be among the top 5 players on your team by experience earned. Additional – Survive the battle. Additional – Win the battle. Be among the top 3 players on your team by experience earned. Additional – Survive the battle. Additional – Win the battle. Finish the battle as the top player on both teams by experience earned. Additional – Survive the battle.

Hello everyone, so, the individual missions are here. Yesterday, I played a bunch of battles (maybe 30 I think) and completed the StuG IV TD missions up to the point where platoon is required, after that I moved to medium tanks, where I am about half-way through. The missions aren’t that hard and if you optimize them (for example by not attempting to complete the “hit the moving target” TD one in a 150mm derp vehicle), you can be there in no time. After the StuG it gets harder of course, but hey, it’s something. That’s not the real problem of the IM’s anyway. I have to admit, I was very much looking forward to the individual missions (or personal missions or whatever it is called these days, there’s nothing individual or personal about them anyway since everyone has them), but I have to wonder, whether that was actually the right thing to do. You might have noticed that the gameplay of the random battles changed – and it changed forever. Some – perhaps many – of you have seen it yesterday, situations such as these: – a medium tank suicide rushed enemy artillery position because he needs to kill at least one – a medium tank killing two enemy tanks and then bugging off, since the requirement is to survive, leaving the rest of the team dies – scouts suicide rushing (“must spot first”) or doing nothing, trying to “survive” – artillery firing all over the place, trying to hit mission specific targets, while critical spots are left without support (in worst cases, your artillery is on some mission while the enemy one isn’t, so you don’t have support while the other team does) Those are just examples, two of which I saw. Maybe it’s just me, but I did notice more strange or retarded behavior in randoms yesterday, even during times (after prime time), when battles usually start making at least a bit sense. I do blame the missions for that. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not COMPLETELY unplayable, but it definitely made the situation worse.

Another video by Challenger.     Enjoy! As usual, there are small things that are not historically totally correct (like the conversion of StuG III into AT role meaning the infantry was left without infantry support SPG, it was not), but compared to the last G-13 video, it’s better. The “three M4 Shermans killed by Sturmtiger” is – as far as I know – a hoax, either started by some unreliable books or the internet.

Hello everyone, here’s the (Russian for now) video for Individual missions. English subtitles are available.     Notice how Wargaming plays the “this tank is a reward only for skilled players” angle. Well, it might certainly be true to some extent, but the first set of missions for StuG IV doesn’t seem that difficult. The important part is that if you don’t manage to fulfill both primary and secondary objectives, it’s possible to re-select the mission and try it again. Oh yea and the special girl crew perk activates only in girl-only crew, it does NOT mix with BIA.