28.1.2014

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Just a quick update: this post will appear on FTR Facebook page with delay, as I got a 12 hour ban for that “well-wisher” post, apparently someone reported it :)

- Q: “How come you reduced the alpha to 750 when the Soviets have 750 alpha on tier 8 already?” A: “Suffer, sovietophobe!”
- national battles were implemented because “Storm wanted it”
- Q: “National battles were proposed in 2011, but back then, you said no. What changed?” A: “I got promoted”
- if the national battles prove to be imbalanced, they will be fixed
- WoWs has its own version of the engine
- WoT will be re-worked to run with WoWp render apparently
- if you get teamkilled by an ally, you won’t recieve the bonus XP for surviving battle
- apparently, the national battles were not developed for a long time, it’s an “experiment” (SS: spur of the moment so to say) – later, when the player asks whether it was a sarcasm, Storm answers that no, not really, it was not much work – just one change in the MM mechanism and a few interface changes
- the tankist-sniper medal (for dealing damage at over 300 meters of distance) will be changed to require at least 8 shots (SS: a player on RU forum demonstrated, how he got it for two shots with FV215b 183)
- the “High caliber” medal 20 percent HP requirement won’t be lowered
- Storm states that the old render will not be supported, it will die out over the years
- if I understand it correctly, the manual vertical aim will be implemented the way it is in Battlefield tank battles now (SS: sorry, never played BF3 or BF4) – not now, but by the end of the year most likely. It will be optional.

Posted in Q&A

Storm posts about 8.11

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Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/273818.html

Hello everyone,

this Thursday, there will be the second round of the test and Storm is posting a bit more about 8.11:

- Waffenträger E-100 will be nerfed by 200 hitpoints, otherwise everything will stay the way it is in round 1 of the test
- developers are working on various 8.11 issues, such as client crashes and interface bugs, practically every problem reported will be fixed, how exactly and what exactly – Storm will tell that later
- T-54 model in test 1 was apparently unfinished: it will get the same height as Type 59

From discussion:

- Storm states that the new Soviet premium medium tank will most likely be the “light” T-54 with 80mm frontal hull and 180mm turret, but it’s not yet entirely sure, the developers haven’t started working on it yet
- the log on T-54 was moved to the side, because that’s where it was on the 120mm frontal armor T-54 model
- T-54 model change is finally “historical” after 3 years, Storm states it’s not in order to prepare for HD client, it’s just a fix
- apparently the gold camo on test server (SS: the announced change with gold camo staying “saved” even if you sell the tank) is working correctly
- Storm states that it’s not like WTE-100 allows 40 percent WR tomatoes to deal 5k damage, he adds that there is a difference between WT E-100 and other TDs in damage, but much smaller

Continue reading →

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Richard Tesařík – Czechoslovak tanker and a Hero of the USSR

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Hello everyone,

today, we are going to talk about Richard Tesařík – possibly the best (and certainly best known) Czech tank commander of all times. As one of few Czechoslovaks, for his heroic exploits during the liberation of Kiev, he was awarded the title of the Hero of the USSR and with the Soviet order of Lenin.

t_hrdina_sovietskeho_zv_zu_gener_l_major_richard_tesa__k_v_roku_1957_____eskoslovensk__arm_da_1957_147

Richard Tesařík was born on 3.12.1915 in Prague. His father was a small businessman, his mother was an opera singer. From 1921, his family lived in Příbram in central Bohemia, where Richard Tesařík went to the elementary school and high school, later he studied arrangment in Prague. Later on he worked as an arranger (advertiser) in Příbram, Milovice, Velvary and Pardubice.

Richard Tesařík enlisted (or rather, was conscripted) in October 1937 in Beroun, from where he moved to the NCO school in Kladno. After successfully finishing it, he was sent back to Beroun with the rank of a corporal. During the 1938 mobilization, he was moved to Postoloprty u Žatce, where he led a guard squad. After the Munich treason, he was once again transferred to a batallion of rangers to Carpathian Ruthenia, where he fought the Hungarian fascists during the clash near the Domaninsk bridge. Shortly after he was transferred again (this time to Pardubice), but seening what was happening to Czechoslovakia, he decided to join the anti-nazi foreign resistance. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, he left Czechoslovakia and went to Poland, where he wanted to join the Czechoslovak Legion in Krakow. As a part of it, he fought the Germans during the Polish blitzkrieg as an anti-aircraft machinegunner.

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So, who wants to own a tank museum?

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Source: Armchair General website (thanks to Listy for sending me a link)

Hello everyone,

now, this is an interesting (and a bit sad) piece of news. To quote from the article

William Gasser, a semi-retired businessman who often call himself “a former millionaire,” is seriously searching for an individual or organization that would be interested in receiving a tax free donation of his huge Tank Museum located currently in south central Virginia in the town of Danville. This museum is situated on an 89 acre site that includes a 330,000 square foot building which houses 118 armored and artillery vehicles, 160 mid-size weapons (Bazookas, Flame Throwers, Recoilless Rifles), 60 rifles (some rare, others current), an International Hall of 340 Generals in uniform, and a unique 1/16 scale 6000 square foot indoor battlefield for radio controlled tanks. The collection also includes International Tank & Cavalry artifacts from many time periods, plus support facilities that serve as a gift shop, classrooms, research library, cafeteria, and workshops to maintain the artifacts.

So yes, basically Mr.Gassner is looking for someone, who would carry on his legacy, since he opened the museum more than 30 years ago, in 1981. The vehicles are allegedly 30 mil USD worth in total according to Mr.Gassner’s wife, who is the museum’s director and the collection includes 40 vehicles loaned from the US Department of Defense. For more details, please read the original article.

So, what do you say, Mr.Kislyi – do you REALLY need that one more building on Cyprus? :)

Windstorm architecture inspired by Ghent

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Hello everyone,

two days ago, I recieved an e-mail by a player with the nickname of super_de_boer, who lives in Ghent (Belgium) and claimed that some of the buildings on the Windstorm map were inspired by his home city. I was a bit skeptical at first (since it was earlier uncovered there might be an inspiration by Trondheim and the map is supposed to be in the north), but… well, you be the judge.

This is a building in Windstorm….

postgebouw in wot

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World of Tanks for Xbox going live in February

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Source: http://www.3dnews.ru/798648 (via world_of_cactus’ post on LJ)

Hello everyone,

Wargaming recently released an information that the Xbox beta servers for World of Tanks will go offline on January 29th in order to prepare for final release, that is apparently scheduled within few days from this event. There is no definitive date yet, but it most likely will happen in the beginning of February.

Gamescom-World-of-Tanks-screenshots-show-heavy-tanks-in-Xbox-360-version-1-1024x576

27.1.2014

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Hey guys, check out Listy’s article about one special German pilot!

You can also check The_Chieftain’s “Hatch” on Firefly real life tests…

Part 1
Part 2

- for now it is not planned to change vehicle characteristics between random battles and upcoming historical battles (SS: as in, if you have a Panzer IV in certain setup, its characteristics will be the same in both modes, if you use the same modules)
- the recent interface upgrades were not done earlier, because “other interface works had to be completed before”
- the probability of causing minimum and maximum damage is not linear – there is a lower chance to cause extreme end damage and higher chance to cause average damage.
- regarding one nation being better than other in “national battles”: “A nation as a whole isn’t worse, actual tanks are. These tanks will be fixed, if necessery”
- (SS: in 8.11, the teamkill and teamdamage bans will be much harsher) – regarding the fear of unjust bans for random hits, SerB states: “We will not ban for random hits on allies”
- Storm states regarding the differences between gaps between roadwheels on T-54, Type 59 and WZ-120 in 8.11 that they are different hulls, these gaps don’t have to be the same
- Storm states there will be no compensations for Type 59 changes
- Type 59 was changed “so that the tanks based on T-54 were done correctly”
- the T-54 in the game from 8.11 will be “early hull variant”
- IS-3 mantlet was not changed (SS: some player was complaining it is now too easy to penetrate)

Funnily enough, a player submitted his “M6A2E1 sucks” whine in verses. SerB’s only answer was “Not a Pushkin”

Posted in Q&A

Weekly FTR contributor review

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Hello everyone,

as promised, here is the overview of this week’s FTR contributors. I value all your help equally, no matter how small, so I just want to thank you all once again.

Contributors

J.K. (Ireland)
S.D. (Belgium)
Richmi (Czech Republic)
Webium s.r.o. (http://www.mywotmods.com/) (Czech Republic)

Please note that if you want your full real name or nickname listed, you have to write me your nickname (or your consent for full name publication) :)