M103: New American Heavy

M103 is a new tier 9 American heavy tank which will substitute the existing T34. The vehicle practically no one is waiting for.

Current Stock Setup (with 105mm T5E1)

Curret Top Setup (with 120mm M58)

  

ETA - TBA

Look to the Future: Historical Battles and Much More

While general development plan and ETAs are being finalized here are some extracts:

Our current top priority is multi-cluster support. First of it will eliminate any sort of server overload during prime time. The basics of the new architecture are to be introduced in 7.0 update. Multi-cluster will also enable us to introduce cross-server battles (roaming) and future global map merger.

Subdivisions for company battles will be introduced in one of the upcoming updates.

New game modes (Assault, Encounter battles, Escort) are scheduled for this autumn.

We are also working on the necessary mechanics for French tanks: automated loading, oscillating turrets, multi-turret support. Then come British and Japanese vehicles.

Render (engine) optimization. It currently has high priority, however the mission is rather difficult. The first improvements will arrive in 7.0, there are many subtasks here, so an exact ETA, when all the changes are implemented, is still vague.

Additional features for UC battles - fog of war, cooldown period for destroyed vehicles, volunteer functionality.

Camos are scheduled for 7.0.

Realistic physics. The basics are ready and tested, however it is still a lot to be done, so the ETA is unknown.

Additional gameplay elements - new crew skills, new types of shells, etc

A bit more details on Historical battles.
You can create your own team or join another team that is being formed at this time. In general this works as in company battles.

The commander of this "company" chooses what historical battle to join. Accordingly there can be various restrictions on tanks.
- Only certain vehicles are allowed in a particular battle.
- Only certain module setup is allowed.

Each vehicle in each historical battle "costs" certain amount of points. I.e. the cost of Tiger can be different in 1943 and 1945. There is a limitation on total number of points in each battle, so commander using strong language and punches tries to make his team to meet all the requirements, including the ones listed above.

When everybody is ready, commander clicks Battle! button, the system starts looking for the right opponents. So as to decrease the probability of unfair play, there will be certain match-making randomization.

Battles consists of a few rounds. E.g. best of 5. If one team wines 3 rounds in a row, the rewards are doubled, enemy rewards are halved (under consideration). The maps should be appropriate for the historical battle selected. At first stage there will be no specially created maps, however they might be added later, if this mode proves its popularity.

Rewards: experience, credits, achievements for winning historical battle.

Additional restrictions can be introduced on:
- equipment doesn't work
- consumables don't work
- the number of premium shells (the number will correspond to RL value)

Plus there will be win/loss counter for each type of historical battle (will take into account battles for a certain period of time).

ETA - 2012.

September 1-7 Poll Results

4002 players took part in the most recent poll.  86% of them think that new E-series tanks have average or above average performance, while only 14% (604 voters) think that these tanks are poor or bad.

So buff requests won't be considered. Thanks. : )

As always new weekly poll is up.