Yuri Pasholok’s Japanese HT Drawings

Hello everyone,

the following drawings were posted on Yuri Pasholok’s blog, check it out.

Type 120 O-I – the blue line, size comparison with T34 (green) and KV-5 (red).

1804158_original

Type 100 O-I – the red line, in comparison with Soviet T-39 heavy

1804585_original

Type 95 Heavy – the blue line, in comparison with Soviet T-28

1801581_original

For extra lulz – under one of the post, SerB was commenting, asking how they were going to implement it. So I guess we know now what Wargaming is working on for summer, eh?

To that end, to find out what’s going on, I contacted Daigensui, who was working on the previous Japanese line with Wargaming. The problem with Japanese heavies is that info on them is notoriously hard to find – Daigensui for example claimed that the scale on Type 120 was off. Additionally, as far as she knows, no new data have been found. That leads me to following conclusions:

- since Yuri Pasholok reconstructed the O-I drawing, Wargaming found some new materials on their own. Unlikely (they have been attempting that for years), but theoretically possible.
- they just took some very basic known dimensions (my guess: the dimensions of the 150mm O-I gun) and “reconstructed” the rest based on them, which means that the line might not be exactly historical.
- tier 10 was already announced by SerB a long time ago, not exactly a well-researched design either.

With that being said, I have the feeling that a lot of these vehicles might be… let’s say “reconstructed” by SerB’s Design Bureau in Wargaming. Previously, I assumed Japanese heavies would not be the “secret” third line of 2015 based on what Daigensui said (as her and Soukou are very busy and were not able to find any additional info), but with the willingness of Wargaming to “reconstruct” vehicles (to the point of practically totally inventing them, see how vague the vehicle linked above is drawn and described – I mean, basing tier 10 vehicle on a drawing from Russian achive, that came god knows from where), this of course changes the situation and the Japanese heavy line is the new hot candidate for the third line of 2015. This of course also means writing about these vehicles is impossible, as there is simply too little info to go with.

My opinion is that the tier 9 and 10 tanks will almost certainly be 80 percent made up (100 percent if you do not consider a vague Russian report on Japanese heavy tanks based on Japanese hearsay a reliable source). Oh well, at least they look cool.

Help the Bastogne Barracks Museum

Hello everyone,

thanks to ColdZero for letting me know about this. If you’re looking for a good deed to start 2015 with, here’s your chance, guys.

Bastogne Barracks museum is a museum dedicated to the last major offensive of nazi Germany, the Ardennes operation and the American troops defending against the German onslaught. The museum itself has a nice collection of armored vehicles as well, some of them were even featured FTR on more than occasion. The base was the HQ of the 101st Airborne in the defense of Bastogne, it also was an aid station and ofcourse the famous response of General McAuliffe on the Germans’ demand for surrender came from this base: “NUTS!”

Now, however, Bastogne Barracks museum needs your help, as the Belgian army (that operates it) is attempting to shut it down as a part of usual peacetime cost reductions.

In order to prevent it, a petition with an open letter, directed at Mr.Steven Vandeput, the Belgian Secretary at the Belgian Department of Defense, was put together by a few fans of the museum

All you have to do is sign the petition, the goal of which are 10k signatures to make the ministry notice it. The description of the entire initiative is written in the petition link.

Personally, I believe that any World of Tanks player and FTR reader, who cares about history should sign it – there’s not that many of us and we have to “stick together” – next military-operated armor museum to be closed could be in YOUR town after all. While the demands to reduce military costs might seem reasonable in the current situation of Europe, we should not sacrifice history and remembrance on the altar of ever lower costs.

Pictures are from Bastogne NUTS 2014 public event.

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More Thoughts of Personal Missions Fail by Tyraforce

Author: Tyraforce

More thoughts on the Personal Missions fails

Before I even start, let me make one thing clear. I do not think WG is generally doing a bad job when it comes to WOT development. Yes, there are bugs, lag and late rebalancing, however, compared to the MMOs I had previously played, WOT is pretty solid. I specifically remember one game (DDO), where you sometimes had a group of 12 people going on a 2-hour-long quest, which found the final boss stuck or there was another reason why the quest couldn’t be completed. The support would say “sorry, but you have to do it again”, which frequently caused an amount of frustration WOT cannot compete with.
That said, I struggle to understand how WG managed to fuck up almost every aspect of the PMs. They had been testing and discussing them for months, activated them weeks after they were installed in the patch, yet they still look like something school kids developed during their 2-3 lunch breaks. Again, don’t get me wrong, I like the general idea of PMs and sure welcome an opportunity to give my T34 credit grind a rest but the extent of the fuck ups is just shocking.

NAME FUCK UP: CHECK

“Personal missions are named so because you have to complete them personally.” I wonder if WG realizes that you have to complete ALL the missions personally. You even have to personally buy the tokens to get your WZ mission done, right? But wait, some of these missions force you to platoon! “There are platoon missions, but those too are personal, because every player has their own personal role even in platoon missions.”

Sure. I guess football is a personal game then, cuz every player has his own personal role. The funny thing is that in the mission menu itself WG uses the term ”campaign”, which surprisingly makes sense when referring to a set of stages with a common goal. Why not use it from the start or at least rename it now?

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18.1.2015

To everyone who got excited about 9.6 supertest data being leaked to gamemodels3d site – don’t. Some of the stuff is wrong, such as the armor models of the HD tanks, those are screwed. Personally, considering most of the stuff was leaked per partes before, I think waiting for the 9.6 CT is better than drawing conclusions currently.

- Storm, commenting on the HT mission where you have to cap the base being too difficult: “There are some complications, but we’ll think what to do with it. No promises though for now.”
- many things were changed in WOT based on player surveys
- French LT’s won’t be buffed apparently, because “their situation is better than those tanks that are getting buffed”
- Aufklärungspanzer Panther (tier 7 LT) will be removed from the game and replaced by SP.I.C. (SS: oh, I proposed that almost two years ago, well, better late than never)
- the change mentioned above will happen in 2015
- it’s possible WT E-100 will be removed from the game as well, WG is considering it, as there are options now (SS: …and they are awesome. Well, okay, one is.)

Posted in Q&A

Evilly Q&A

Source: http://world-of-ru.livejournal.com/3707636.html

Hello everyone,

what follows is the transcription of answers of Anton “Evilly” Pankov, producer of World of Tanks. Most are rehashed old answers. Here’s the more interesting stuff:

- Bigworld was chosen because when the game was planned, the company was very small and there was no option of getting another engine apart from Bigworld. At first, WG wanted to do an RPG with orks based on Bigworld and server and client sides were already ready, when WG decided to switch from elves to tanks and WG continued to work with it, because it was most accessible at the time.
- WG is currently working on chat overhaul, first will be the channels, followed by the contact list system. Players will be able to divide their contact lists into groups (close friends, platoon guys etc.), so it will become more flexible over time
- WG is working on further conversion of the game client for Mac OS
- new version of Bigworld (in patch 0.9.7) should not reduce FPS (WG needs the new version to implement future features), in fact preliminary tests show the performance should increase due to optimizations in the engine
- WG started working on improved tutorial to guide newbies to learn the game, a new tutorial mode is planned where players will be able to train against bots
- 9.7 will bring new regular tanks (SS: the French)
- WG is working on special events for 1st of April (fun mode) and mid-May (celebration of the end of the war anniversary)
- there will also be a new mode for random battles (in summer presumably)

Posted in Q&A

0.9.6 Supertest LT Changes

Source: gamemodels3d.com

59-16

- hitpoints buffed from 580 to 590
- shot dispersion (accuracy on the move) buffed by 10 and 12 percent (for stock and elite suspension)
- stock turret: 57mm 55-57FG reload buffed from 3s to 2,9s, 76mm 54-76T reload buffed from 3,7s to 3,5s
- elite turret: 57mm 55-57FG reload buffed from 2,8s to 2,6s, 76mm 54-76T reload buffed from 3,4s to 3,2s, 76mm 54-76T with autoloader clip reload buffed from 10s to 9s

WZ-131

- hitpoints buffed by 20 hp
- shot dispersion (accuracy on the move) buffed by 12 and 12,5 percent (for stock and elite suspension)
- stock turret:
76mm 54-76T with autoloader clip reload buffed from 8,7s to 8,2s
85mm 56-85JT reload buffed from 5,7s to 5,2s, accuracy buffed from 0,38 to 0,37
- elite turret:
76mm 54-76T with autoloader clip reload buffed from 8,7s to 8,2s
85mm 56-85JT reload buffed from 5,7s to 5,2s, accuracy buffed from 0,38 to 0,37
85mm 62-85T reload buffed from 5,7s to 5,5s
85mm 64-85T reload buffed from 5,7s to 5,5s
100mm 59-100T reload buffed from 9,3s to 8,7s, aimtime buffed from 2,9s to 2,7s, accuracy buffed from 0,39 to 0,38

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17.1.2015

- Russian support service confirms that HT15 mission is bugged (one of the elements of the equation apparently does not count)
- Storm confirms that the AMX-50B in HD doesn’t have the green weakzones on frontal plate (the armor models that were leaked earlier were incorrect)
- HT11 mission is also bugged – it will not complete even if your tracks are damaged, it will be fixed
- the same bug as above applies for other missions as well, such as TD2
- MT12 description is incorrect, in it you personally have to kill 3 vehicles, not the entire platoon
- new premium tanks will be implemented “in near future”
- awarding the girl tankers and tokens needed for StuG IV (specifically, for SPG mission branch) is bugged, WG is working on it
- if you set an enemy on fire and get killed immediately after, the fire damage does count towards your reward even after you die
- there are some mods (SS: obsolete XVM?) that make your client show incorrect IM parameters (they make you see the conditions from 9.5 test, not the final ones), be sure you have the mods updated or remove them
- platoons in IM’s a bad idea? “Those are the conditions in the missions. It’s your right to complete them – or not. And yes – EVERY player has the possibility to play in a platoon”
- in order for the girl crew special perk to activate, the crew has to consist entirely of women
- IM vehicles do NOT have increased profitability, they are not premium tanks, but reward tanks

Posted in Q&A

“Individual Missions” Stream Q&A

Source: http://world-of-ru.livejournal.com/3705579.html

Hello everyone,

recently, there was a stream with the Individual Missions as a topic with Aleksei “Inaki” Ilyin, Roman “Riot_Guy” Tabolin and one other guy. Here’s what was in it, thanks to Maiorboltach (as usual) for transcript:

- about 35k people is using the official WG Stream mod
- personal missions are named so because you have to complete them personally. There are platoon missions, but those too are personal, because every player has their own personal role even in platoon missions – you are completing your personal mission, just within a platoon
- the tier 4 requirement was added not to confuse newbies with IM’s, because it’s this timeframe when they learn to understand the game
- the IM’s were designed to emphasize all the aspects of gameplay mechanics (“so the old players could remember what the hell a scout is, that you need to scout the enemies, to tell the team their coordinates etc.”)

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Posted in Q&A