Friday, May 31, 2013

[WoT] How Great Is 0.8.6?

What are your first impressions of 0.8.6 testing?

- new SPG lines
- visibility mechanics (bushes ok?)
- new damage mechanics, penetration, HE
- sounds
- dynamic camera
- new map
- performance on new drivers

Any other issues/comments? 

Thursday, May 30, 2013

[WG] Single Premium Account

WG is going to introduce single premium account system for our PC trilogy, which will create a brand new ecosystem.

With the introduction of single premium account, players will get access to all premium features in all three games, regardless of where it was purchased. E.g., if you buy premium account for World of Tanks, it will be active for both World of Warplanes, and World of Warships.  

Regarding World of Warplanes, single premium account will appear during open beta (soon!). Open beta testers, who are active, will be daily given special tokens, that can be used to purchase premium account. Upon release tokens will be replaced by in-game gold.


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

[ALERT] Yet Another Feedback Topiс. IMPORTANT!

Asking for your opinion, guys, since I'm kinda in between regarding this blog right now. It has been a long 2+ years long road, and it's obviously time to change. Or quit... First is better, though :)

So,

Point ONE. What topics would you prefer to be covered in here in near future? Share your thoughts, I will make a list, and do my best to provide the requested materials. Just don't ask for impossible. :)

Point TWO. On a related note, what do you think of making this blog a platform for user-generated content as well (I will still be around)? Are there any potential contributors among you willing to participate? What topics you cover as an author? Or can you recommend others as authors? Give them link to the post then!! 

If the whole "platform" idea is welcomed, I'm going to share my contact details to talk things through. 

Discuss in comments. Your opinion counts!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

[WoWs] USS Texas

Since my last post on the Tank Museum seemed to get some attention, I thought I’d mention some of the kind of in-depth research we’re doing for World of Warships. In this case, I traveled to the USS Texas, a battleship permanently docked in Houston as a floating museum. Along with a few developers from another studio, I went on a “hard hat” tour belowdecks to some of the areas too unfinished or inaccessible to be part of the public tour. The volunteers also filled us in on the ship’s history for a total of over 5 hours inside the hull!

The USS Texas served with distinction in both World War I and World War II. In between the wars, she even served as the flagship of the US Navy for a time! In the Second World War, she escorted convoys and supported amphibious landings in North Africa (Operation TORCH), Normandy (Operation OVERLORD), and Southern France (Operation DRAGOON). In 1945, she transferred to the Pacific and supported the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa by the US Marine Corps. For more information on the history of this fine vessel, see this Wikipedia article or visit the museum website.

Once again, I must warn you, there are lots of pics below!

Weapons

What's a warship without weapons? The USS Texas was at various times outfitted with different weapons than she is now (including torpedoes!). At the moment, and presumably for posterity, she sits with her ten14" guns in five turrets,  six 5" guns in barbettes, ten 3" AA guns on pedestals, ten quadruple-40mm AA guns on pedestals, and 44 pintle-mounted 20mm AA guns.

20mm AA Gun on pedestal mount - note how hard it would be to fire from this position (the shoulder rests are practically laying on the deck!)

Another 20mm AA gun from the front, in a more usable firing position

The sights on the 20mm AA gun - line them up and fire!

Quad 40mm Bofors AA gun - although it can be manually operated, the crew mostly just loaded it and it was fired remotely from a panel on the deck above it

3" AA gun

Yes, the advanced sights on the 3" AA gun were no better than the ones on the 20mm!

One of the six 5" guns in the barbettes just below the main deck

5" guns in barbettes, viewed from the front on the main deck

A variety of ammo was available for the 5" guns

The forward 14" guns in their turrets

View from atop the forward turrets

The safety for the 14" guns inside the turret

14" shells are stowed belowdecks point-down (one of only two ships to store shells this way, the other was her sister ship, the USS New York), and hoisted up to the turrets as needed

Two powder charges are rammed into the breech behind each shell with a rigid chain rammer - each barrel was only good for around 250 shots!

Belowdecks

Most of the crew works belowdecks in support of the operations of maintenance, navigation, fire control, power generation and distribution, crew services, supply, ammunition handling, and other functions not directly related to firing the guns.

The bridge, where all of the important decisions are made

Fire Direction Center controis for the main guns

The complicated firing sequence for the main guns

The ballistic charts used to calculate time of flight and drop of shell for the 14" guns

This "computer" helps calculate the firing solution for the main guns

This is one of the furnaces used to run the steam generators - originally fired by coal, it was later fueled by oil instead
The power bank, where the distribution of power was handled manually

Gunpowder charges for the main guns were stored belowdecks in tubes of two. Each charge weighed 105 lb and was manhandled to the hoist to lift to the turrets

Powder charges were passed through this safety barrier in the bulkhead on their way to the turret to prevent fires from spreading via explosion to the powder magazines

A few of the radios in the radio room amidships

Some more radios; encrypted messages were passed to the Commo Chief for decoding, then he would bring them to the Captain

A typical electric call box in the work areas

Assorted Oddities

Yeah, you may not be old enough to recognize these.

Yes, it's a water fountain - called a "scuttle" on board, leading to the term "scuttlebutt", which meant rumors overheard at the water fountain

A really simple old intercom phone - pick it up and talk, it's powered by the vibrations of your voice!

Glad I didn't have to type this post up on one of these...

And a final shot of the starboard bow, showing the majestic silhouette of this Great Texan Lady of the Seas at berth...


[ALL] WG at E3

This year Wargaming is going to show up on E3 in Los-Angeles (June 11-13) with the line-up of projects including World of Tanks (surprised?), World of Warplanes (waiting for open beta?), World of Warships (1st time!), and yet announced console project that is being developed by Wargaming West (ex Day 1 Studious).

That will be enough to fill in 900 sq meters of space. Excited?