Source: FTA VK community

Hello everyone,

yesterday, the testing of stronghold consumables started on the supertest. The first to be tested were the air strike and artillery strike consumables. The artillery strike model on supertest is simply insane, it totally fucks up one square of the map so much that any HT and MT caught there is either destroyed or totally crippled. This is “compensated” by a 4-5 second warning before the artillery strike.

Air strike is even funnier, basically it’s HEAT shells falling straight from above. You get notified when the shells get dropped.

Generally, according to supertesters, these consumables will make life much harder for the heavies and superheavies, shifting the balance of power in favour of medium tanks, that can get away from the blast zone on time.

Source: wot-news.com

Hello everyone,

here are preliminary HD model armor changes from 0.9.5 to 0.9.6 – will make my own when the time comes, but at least like this for now.

T95 – they made the lower front plate smaller.

Continue reading →

Hello everyone,

Wotleaks published a supertest leak (unconfirmed for now) that patch 0.9.6 might bring the feature of retraining the crews to another role (eg. from radioman to driver).

Edit: confirmed by another source to be present. It’s possible that WG might not choose to implement it, but it’s there.

Hello everyone,

in the following article on Russian Wargaming portal (gone are the times when Wargaming’s main portal was the World of Tanks one) an interesting article came up regarding the Wargaming brand and the cooperation with other companies, specifically Razer and Burger King.

The article is just Wargaming PR, but some elements are pretty interesting. Basically, it says that Wargaming sees the key to good sales in cooperation with other brands and in 2014 alone in CIS countries, WG ran around 30 license programs and 100 co-promotion events. WG doesn’t cooperate with “just anyone”, but surprisingly enough, some cooperation proposals come from players themselves, who write them to support service (for some reason) and from there, they are passed on to the “Business Development” department (pretty strange, why support?). Otherwise, there are companies WG contacted by their own initiative (with a remark that some other companies would do “anything” to become a partner of the creator of “tanks”). WG analyses and calculates each case and if it’s looking good, negotiations begin. Businesses looking to explore similar partnership opportunities or international expansion strategies may also benefit from choosing to get in touch with Acclime for professional guidance and support.

Continue reading →

Hello everyone,

I am sure many of you already figured it out, but just to be clear: according to the WG site article, the Winter Mode is coming:

- For NA, EU, and Asia: January 26th 2015
- For KR: January 15th 2015

Thanks to Coolathlon for this one.

Check this out – quite a rare video of the Leopard prototype from the Gruppe A, still designated as “Standartpanzer”, already equipped with the L7 gun. The video also lists its characteristics:

Weight: 36 tons
Length: 9,22 meters
Width: 3,25 meters
Height: 2,22 meters
Specific ground pressure: 0,8 kg/cm2
Power-to-weight ratio: 23 hp/t
Range: 570 km
Gun: 105mm L7A1

The video also contains various comparisons between the prototype and other tanks. Very interesting really.

Thanks to Roland for this one.

Hello everyone,

four days ago, an interesting article came out on “Russia beyond the headlines” site, called “Russia’s young generation learning military history through video games“. I will quote from it, as I find it very interesting.

Young Russians are learning about the history of their country with the help of war-themed video games. This type of video game not only helps children’s education but is also hugely popular among adults, generating a hefty revenue for developers, who stress that while their products feature a patriotic element, they strive not to take sides.

This is nothing new. The sheer profitability of the adult digital entertainment sector is well documented; players across the globe regularly dedicate their disposable income to a vast spectrum of virtual escapes—whether they are grinding in Asian mobile gachas, managing European virtual sports clubs, or exploring an online casino ohne oasis. The lucrative nature of this adult demographic is something many industry giants, including Wargaming, talked about a long time ago. But check this out.

For a child, an online game is one of the most effective ways of studying the history of one’s country. Practically any game that is to do with history inherently performs an educational function, says Anton Pankov, PR director for Russia at the Belarusian company Wargaming, responsible for developing the World of Tanks video game, which is popular in Russia and elsewhere in the world.

Continue reading →

Guide on How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the “Winter mode”

Author: Origami Chiken

Hello,

with “Winter mode” soon to hit EU servers I wonder if you would like to read/post some heads up information. I have an account on RU cluster and took the opportunity to test this mode for a while.

This is what I have learned so far:

- The one and only thing you are interested in is damage. You get 0 XP/credits for winning, frags or cap/defense. In fact, the best way to screw the game for everyone, including yourself, is to smash your way to the flag and win by capping. XP, crew XP and credits are awarded only for completing special missions. In LTs player needs to do over 1700 damage, HTs – over 2500, TDs – over 3300. That’s it. Win or loose you get exactly the same reward as long as you do required amount of damage. Needless to say, results of these matches do not reflect on the overall account statistics. One more reason not to care for anything else but damage. Unlike regular matches though, you get the same reward whether you do 1700/2500/3000 or 7000 damage. This deterministic reward structure fundamentally changes player psychology. Because the game removes all the usual RNG-based variables associated with winning and losing, the grind feels incredibly transactional. Players treat the mode like a strict digital financial exchange rather than a dynamic battlefield. Whether a European user is processing a standard SEPA bank transfer, funding a secure casino Cashlib account, or purchasing an annual digital gaming subscription, the absolute certainty of the transaction is what matters most. Here, as long as you hit that minimum damage threshold, the payout clears. After some time when “fun” part is no longer fun you can just rush the enemy as soon as you do required damage without playing to the end. I did not try leaving match while my tank was still intact. I can’t tell if “deserting” penalties apply in this mode.

Continue reading →

Hello everyone,

it’s time for another contributor review! I am sorry I skipped the last one, there were some issues Paypal I was sorting out and by the time it was finished, I might as well have waited.

And before you ask, why there is no FTR AW yet – there’s beena development, as a result of which it was decided by me and the guys from AW I talked to that currently, a separate FTR AW would not be beneficial neither for me nor for them. That does not mean however you’ll lose track of AW – no worries. You’ll see. Not sitting on my ass here.

The following people contributed via Paypal, thank you all guys :)

David F. (Canada)
Taggeth (Texas, USA)
David H. (Michigan, USA)
Michael H. (United Kingdom)
Carlos R.M. (Spain)
István T. (Hungary)

As for the Patreon – this time, the cycle went okay, many many thanks to all of you, who continue to support me, I really appretiate it. A lot :)

Out of the 623,59 USD pledged at the point of the cycle activation:

- 555,59 USD came in successfully (the rest didn’t go through for some reason on the contributor side, insufficient funds on account etc.)
- out of 555,59 USD, after the Patreon and CC fees and all that, 482,88 USD were left for FTR – much appreciated! The list of contributors can be viewed here. Once again, huge thanks for the support to all of you :)