[WoT] New in WoT Digest. Part 2.

This is the continuation of part 1 published a few days ago. Numbers in the headings don't represent priority, they represent order. :)

N7. New physics and maps overhaul

The new movement physics has been in development for quite a while. Testing results, after the completion of the first iteration, showed that, on the one hand, falling from steep hills is obviously great fun, but on the other hand the number of cases when your vehicle gets stuck in an unusual way and can't move has increased big time, and those all were new spots, cause the old ones like tops of huge stones and premises of buildings have been successfully fixed and got rid of. E.g. on Abbey map, there is a particular building one can fall through, getting right to the first floor. And get stuck over there. With somewhat simplified models of buildings, it's hilarious when Tiger tank sits on wooden floor on first storey. And there is a number of similar hm.. not exactly faults, but discrepancies that are to be found and fixed prior to the release of the new physics. The majority of the maps are to be adjusted, eg also on Abbey map, there is a sort of drained bed left from the river, quite a deep one. It's that deep that you can't get out of it once you get there. Disappointing really! In this case, it was decided to create a number of so-called "death zones" marked with special textures, where tanks will experience sudden death be destroyed right when they manage to get there, since there is no way out for them. The required global maps overhaul is currently in progress and is expected to last for a few more months.

N8. EU tree

EU tech tree is a sort of all-star team, comprising vehicles from Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Romania, etc., basically each and every European nation that has produced at least one vehicle suitable for the designated time line. Among those nations there are a few quite big ones in terms of tank production, like Italy, Poland or Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia), we haven't really made up our minds on. There is a possibility that separate trees for at least some of them will be made up. However they still can be incorporated into one common, larger tree. The only real problem with that kind of joint tech tree is that there is an obvious lack of high tier vehicles. Having digged up a bunch of military archives we made the issue less acute. However it still exists. We have managed to complete draft EU tech tree, that's of course raw and not polished at this stage, it can and will be changed hundred of times before the official announcement comes. It's quite safe to say that the tree will get its own (oh yes, it was hard) tier 10 HT, tier 9 MT and TD, and top tier SPG. So the tree is going to be quite branchy, though  getting tighter to the top tiers.

N9. Hardcore mode

Having tried some modifications of it during the alpha back in 2010, with no HPs, crits without saving throws for modules and crews, we have come to the conclusion that it is .. really boring. The idea itself hasn't been dumped completely yet, however the priority is set to low. Even though the basic hardcore variation is not that hard to introduce doing away with HP-system and saving throws, making fire deadly for the crew, etc.

N10. Medals and achievements

The set of medals and achievements is being worked on towards its expansion (and some modification as well) at the moment. So the introduction of mastery badges, which was in my opinion rather successful, is not the final step in this direction. We are planning to introduce some stuff, including things that will be displayed during the battle, allowing to tell noobs from pros assess the performance of team mates and enemies. The details on this will follow later.

N11. New chat system

Upgraded chat system with lots of new functionality, comprising groups and statuses, is currently in the works and can be expected after a few updates.

N12. French TDs

As of now, the use of auto-loader for TDs is still vague, however this hasn't been set in stone and even though at first stage those vehicles may manage without it, the feature can be introduced later. Talking about the peculiarities of TD line as a whole, it resembles the existing French tank lines to a high extent, with pre-war models being heavily armoured and slow monsters, and post-war vehicles with almost no armour at all that are extremely mobile and can bite hard. TDs will be pretty much behave like tanks, which is no wonder since they were based on tanks.

N13. Sturmtiger

The vehicle is somewhat special for several reasons. First of, it fires rockets (which means special effects are required), then goes caliber (380mm is more than any of SPGs currently has) - it causes some balance issues related to amount of damage per round, huge reloading times, and extremely limited ammo (6 rounds). Raise KV-2 with 152mm to the X power and you will get the approx gameplay for Sturmtiger. :) The priority for the vehicle is currently set somewhere between medium and low.

N14. 7.4 update

As announced it will include French TDs and SPGs, a couple of prems, and some functionality including two new variations of standard battle mode and yet not revealed features. Public test will start not before long...