[360] Tanks All Around

Taken from here.

Did you have a chance to try the game in beta on during E3 2013? Any thoughts?

I don't own any console and my first PvP experience with WoT 360 happened about 3 weeks ago - found the controls pretty intuitive. Sure thing, gold Xbox Live sub requirement is a kind of entry barrier, unfortunately there was nothing we could. May be MS will drop this as they did with updating fees just recently. :)

And, which side are you on - Xbox One or PS4? 

[WoWP] The Right Stuff

Back in the early days of flight people wrestled with technology they barely understood, with engines that would crash for no reason. Equally the controls were utter nightmares, and would often lock up at high speeds or just do something unpredictable, and pitch you into the ground.

To spur on the early pioneers there were many prestigious prizes.

Now am I talking about WOWP or the real world? The answer is “both”. I was an Alpha Tester for WoWP, and for a couple of months each week I would set a challenge for the players to win, and give it an award. The awards were named after a Person, item or event in aviation history. Required Proof was a screen shot.

So I figure it would be interesting to revisit those early days and immortalize the Winners. Keep in mind this was Alpha Testing so the controls seemed like they were actively trying to kill you, and the graphics looked bad. Of course the game has also evolved so its likely you will be able to better these numbers, but back in March 2012 it was a very different game.

Claimed Prizes:

John Derry Medal:

For achieving Mach 1. Winner: Trebs, clocking a speed of Mach 1.16.

John Derry was the First Briton to achieve Mach 1. In a later flight in the same aircraft it crashed killing him.

The Mario Pezzi Award:

Highest altitude you can reach in a piston aircraft. Winner: Sgt_Bones with an altitude of 2361m.

Lieutenant Colonel Pezzi set the Propeller driven altitude record. He set it in 1937 (in a bi-plane), and it stands to this day! 

Walter Frame Gibb Award:  

Highest altitude you can reach in a Jet aircraft. Winner: MartokY with an altitude of 3706m.
Walter Gibb, set the first Turbojet record in 1953, in a Canberra bomber.

Alan Pollock Award: 

For Low flying, under a bridge. If there is a tie break, the person who is inverted wins. Winner: GrmlZ, with an altitude of 3m and inverted.
On 5 April 1968 Flight Lieutenant Alan Pollock flew his Hawker Hunter under Tower Bridge.

Le Prieur award: 

Get a Air-to-air kill with a piece of Ordnance, not a gun. Winner: GrmlZ.
Le Prieur rockets were a type of incendiary air-to-air rockets. They were invented by the French Lieutenant Yves Le Prieur and were first used in the Battle of Verdun.

Unclaimed awards. 

(remember applications are closed)

Chuck Yeager Medal:
Doing Mach 1 and surviving! Chuck Yeager was the first Person to do Mach 1 and survive in 1947

HMS Argus award:
For the First Landing! The award is named after the first Aircraft carrier, which conducted the first landing on 1 October 1918.

Scott Crossfield Award:
Doing Mach 2. Scott Crossfield was the first person to do Mach 2 in 1953.

From the Mud...

Before the war Captain Donald Richardson was a Greengrocer. So when in 1917 he found himself in charge of a section of Tanks its unsurprising one of them sprouted the name Fray Bentos, a type of canned meat sold in the UK. Or at least that is the story.

Either way Captain Richardson was himself inside the tank during the Passchendaele offensive. It was wettest August on record, and by the 23rd the battlefield was a quagmire.

On that day the section of tanks was detailed to destroy a selection of German held farms. Although these had been farms before the war, they were now strong points/ heavily fortified concrete bunkers. Cpt Richardson led his section from Fray Bentos. Despite the tank never having been in combat, and all the crew being green the tank section destroyed the strongpoint at Somme farm. However all the tanks in the section were bogged down or knocked out, leaving Fray Bentos to continue on alone to destroy Gallipoli Farm.

As the approached the strongpoint a burst of HMG fire hit the driver’s vision port, the spalling from this burst caused injury to the face of the driver. As he fell in shock and surprise he caught the control levers, causing the tank to lurch to one side, and bog down.

Immobilised, high and dry with one sponson pointing into the mud the other into the sky, a Crewman called Brady volunteered to go outside and attach the unbogging beam. As he unhooked the beam the same HMG killed him. However at this point the Sponson gunner spotted the HMG nest and found his 6 pounder gun could just depress enough to hit it, which he did destroying the HMG.

The Germans now brought artillery to bear on the beached tank. A massive shell impacted alongside the tank punching a splinter into the chest of one of the sponson Gunners. As the rounds carried on falling the pounding caused the tank to start to sink sideways. When she stopped sinking the right sponson was utterly buried, and the left could not depress enough to do anything. Furthermore the shaking of the shells had caused Brady's body and the unbogging beam to slide off the tank, blocking the right door, as Cpt Richardson found out when he tried to lead a party outside to attach the unbogging beam. Unable to open the door the crew were unable to free the tank.

In the early afternoon the Germans launched a counter attack to re-take Somme farm. Right in their path lay Fray Bentos. Using her Lewis guns she broke up the attack.

Suddenly the tank came under fire from Somme farm as well as the Germans at Gallipoli and the artillery fire. The British forces as Somme farm were trying to destroy the tank to stop it being captured by the Germans.  Sgt Missen volunteered to act as a runner and return to Somme farm to let the forces there know of the tanks plight. Crossing no man’s land in broad daylight, Sgt Missen was wounded. However he did get the message through.

So for the first day the Germans had been content to bombard Fray Bentos with everything from mortars to larger artillery pieces. However overnight they tried something else. In the early hours after being up for around 24 hours, Cpt Richardson was startled by the Sponson door being heaved open. Silhouetted against the stars was the shape of a German soldier with a grenade. Luckily Cpt Richardson reacted faster, pulling his service revolver and shooting the German. The door slammed shut as the grenade detonated.

On the MKIV tanks was the sponsons could be retracted into the hull for transport. The blast of the grenade forced the left hand sponson to fall into the transport position smashing one of the sponson gunners across the chest.  At this point the Infantry at Somme Farm started firing up flares to illuminate the battlefield. And they kept this up for the remainder of the night. To make use of this light the Left door was used as a hatch, it did involve the crew man tasked with the job to hold the heavy solid armour door up with one hand while aiming and shooting with his pistol. This did enable the Tank crew to engage and rout another sapper party trying to sneak up on them .

At the start of the second day the crew in desperation started to drink the radiator water from the engines.

During the next 24 hours numerous assault parties were broken up by either Lewis gun fire or the use of the crew’s personal weapons. The tank had also provided a bulwark of fire against several German counter attacks against Somme farm. After three days solid in action, there was only one unwounded member of the crew, and they'd run out of food and water.

So Cpt Richardson ordered the crew to abandon the vehicle. They all made it to friendly lines, but to Cpt Richardson’s surprise the crew manning the Lewis guns had, as standing order required, dismounted the guns and brought them out with them. Before collapsing through exhaustion Cpt Richardson turned the Lewis guns over to the infantry's care.

Everyone of the crew later received a gallantry award of some form.

Note: The pictures used in this article are not of Fray Bentos.  Another tank bore the same number (F41), and was captured by the Germans. Or are generic stock photographs from the war.

As far as I've been able to tell there are no Photographs of Fray Bentos, apart from one aerial reconnaissance photograph.

[WoT] 0.8.6 Hits EU

Major 0.8.6 update has just hit EU and it's time for first-hand feedback on it (NA guys, sorry for the release delay this time).

• tier 10 arty branches
• economy changes including switch to free-2-win and credit income boost
• exp income boost for TDs and SPGs 
• game mechanics changes (HEAT, spall liner, camos, accuracy, shell normalization, pen reduction, damage and pen range, velocity reduction for arty shells)  
• dynamic camera
• new Korean-style map
• new birds added to Ruinberg and Lakeville

And how is overall performance after 0.8.6?

[WG] WoWS Is Taking Off

The first WoWS demo took place during E3 and consisted of two 6 vs 6 battles. Players fought US and Japanese destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and carriers.

The scale of action was epic with maps up 100 km in length and width with multiple islands. And there is reason to go large, because battleships (like demoed North Carolina) had effective range up to 40km.

Battles usually began with recon and fighter planes taking off from cruisers and carriers to locate the enemies. While both sides are approaching one another it's time to get a closer look at nicely modeled ships, all based on real-life materials. The attention to detail is impressive, however the decks did look a bit empty without crews dashing about. Well, this is pre-alpha.

Balance is classical: rock - paper - scissors.

Battleships with their heavy but slow guns are weak in close combat, and can't defend against destroyers which are vulnerable against cruisers which have little to withstand battleships' competition.

As for carriers, well, they have no guns worth mentioning. Carriers have a game of their own, using RTS-like UI to control their aerial forces. There is no control of single aircraft of course (go play WoWP), orders are given to entire units.

The goal of the battle is to capture and defend the central area. Players control only main armament - the rest of the guns are automated.

Aiming is done using ballistic reticle that make camera follow shell's trajectory. The trick is to choose the right distance and predict the movement of your enemy so as to strike it hard and not waste your ammo and loading time.

HP bars are in place just like in WoT.

Destroyers are using torpedos which are .. surprised .. powerful. Underwater hits lead to decrease of floatage bar (water incoming!).

Both 10-minute battles were rather fast and dynamic. Who said ships are slowpokes. One of the battles ended with last survived carrier being destroyed by concentrated fire of 2 cruisers and 1 battleship.

All in all it didn't like like swimming tanks, lots of things work differently. The demoed CTF battles took place in the south Pacific and near Orkney islands.

Ready for beta?

Flight of the Young eagle

Today I want to take a quick overview of an armoured vehicle that has one of the most remarkable careers I've ever read about.

At the end of World War One conditions in eastern Europe were unique. The two dominating empires (Ottoman and Imperial Russia) had collapsed. This meant that lots of areas with differing ethnicity from the bigger empire saw the chance to try for independence. Of course, if you're setting up a state what sort of government do you want? So within those separate countries you would have competing factions. There were also scattered groups of Anarchists. As most of the countries in the world were rapidly disarming there was also a massive surplus of weaponry for those groups and movements to equip themselves.
In addition to the above, most western governments decided to supply troops to fight the Bolsheviks.
So in the period for the decade after World War One you had a huge swirling pot of conflicting groups. All trying to kill off the other groups. I would mention, this is a bit of an oversimplification.

The other unique thing at the time was that Tanks and other armoured vehicles were more akin to siege weapons. You use them to break a front line. Trains were the important weapon of the age. You could move armies and keep them supplied by train. Rail networks were much more extensive than they are today.
The "tanks" of this type of warfare, providing massive firepower, while protected against most retaliation, were the armoured trains. While most armoured trains are of the style one immediately thinks off, a number of wagons and a single engine. There was another class, engines and weapons were all mounted on one wagon. These are called "Draisine's". Both types were still in use after world war two.

One such Draisine was built in 1916, and this is the remarkable vehicle I wish to look at. When built she was called Zaamurets. Throughout her history could be used with other rolling stock to form various armoured trains. But during this article we're following the life of the Draisine, either as part of a larger train or operating on her own.

Zaamurets has had many names over her years of service; Glory of Ukraine, Polupanov's Boys, Death or Freedom, Lennin, BP-4, Train No 105. However for this article I will use the name she bore for the majority of her time, Orlik ("Young Eagle"). When built she had two 60 HP engines, 16mm of armour and two turrets with full rotation. In a 1917 refit she had 8 Machine guns fitted at various places. Both turrets were armed with 57mm field guns.

Orliks early history is patchy, she has appeared in the service of Both Germans and Imperial Russians. At the time of the Bolshevik Revolution she was at Odessa rail-yards undergoing repairs. During the next year she appears in the service of Ukrainian nationals, Bolsheviks and Germans.
What is certain is in January 1918 the Germans hand her over to a Ukrainian warlord called Skoropadskiy. Within weeks she gets recaptured by the Bolsheviks and is at Kiev.
During March 1918 Orlik is damaged, abandoned and recaptured in fighting against Anarchists. Then repaired and back in the fight, this time against Romanians. There follows a refit at Odessa. After that she is used to fight against German forces, where field guns damage her. To round up a busy month, another refit and redeployment to the 1st Revolutionary Army.

The Czech Legion were a formation of Czech and Slovaks fighting against Germany hoping to win independence for their  regions. Due to various reasons the Legion ended up fighting the Bolsheviks and taking control of the Trans-Siberian railway. One of the pieces they captured from the Bolsheviks, at the fighting at Simbrisk (22nd July 1918) was Orlik, as they named her. With no supplies of shells for the 57mm guns they re-armed her with 76mm 1902 field guns.

Whilst in service with the Czech legion, she was briefly owned by the Japanese after they sized her in a Manchurian town. As the Japanese were allied to the Czech legion she was returned after negotiations.

When the Czech legion evacuated from Vladivostok they gifted Orlik to the White Russians who carried on using her to fight the Reds until they evacuated into China in 1922. Orlik then entered Chinese service, serving under several different warlords until 1931 when the Japanese captured her and put her into service.

And that's where the trail dries up. No further records are know of the fate of Orlik. While its a nice image to think of her sitting in some siding somewhere just awaiting re-discovery the turbulent nature of the area, both militarily and politically make it unlikely.

[WoTB] Controllers for Blitz

During WWDC in San Francisco Apple announced that it is working on supporting physical controllers in iOS 7.

There going to be at least 3 version of it: 2 form-fitting ones and one standalone. Like this.

Such devices are already in use on Android working via bluetooth for smartphones and tablets.

Or even this.

We are definitely considering going for them (physical controllers) in World of Tanks Blitz, since it can really improve gaming experience a lot, giving the necessary precision especially for core gamers.

Any thoughts on this?  

[WoWP] Planes Go Open Beta

More news from E3 event. World of Warplanes to go open beta early next month (July 2, 2013).

Expect one more update to 0.4.3 client before that.

Open beta video here.

Remember about 700 battles requirement and unified prem accounts? :)

[WoT] Going 360

This might be a bit late cause I'm right on my marathon Los Angeles - San Francisco - Orlando, but

it is finally happening. WG goes really multiplaftorm with with console project officially announced.

Embrace tank action on consoles! Sign up for the beta here. 

Real life Reaper Medal

Michael Wittman, now there's a name to conjure with. I'm sure you're all familiar with his exploits. Wittman has risen to fame, much like Von Richthofen from the First World War. Just like Von Richthofen he has utterly eclipsed the stories of others who had adventures just as startling or heroic. For example how many of you, without googling, can tell me the name of the second highest scoring ace in World War One, or how many victories he had?
Suddenly Von Richthofen’s achievements (impressive though they are) look different. Wittman is the same, he eclipse’s all other tank stories. So to redress the balance, here's the story of 4th troop, "A" squadron, 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards Vs the Panzer Lehr.

The day after Wittman made his charge at Villers-Bocage the Durham Light infantry (DLI) and the 4th/7th Dragoons captured the village of Lingerves. One troop of three tanks from the Dragoons was in the village helping the infantry. The Firefly of that troop was still operational. Its commander was Sergeant Harris, with his gunner Trooper Mackillop. Off in the distance Sgt Harris spotted a Panther tank, and Tpr Mackillop quickly destroyed it.

The DLI had lost their 6 Pounder guns in action earlier, and so Sgt Harris moved up to cover them, and now was pointing down the main road. Suddenly a tank was seen charging down the road towards them. Luckily Sgt Harris identified it as a Sherman before shooting. As it passed the infantry, it turned off to the side. Behind it, chasing the Sherman was another Panther! The Firefly snapped off a shot that disabled the Panther by knocking the track off. This caused the Panther to swerve off into a bush, and out of sight. The DLI's commander, Major Mogg grabbed a PIAT and went after it,. quickly finishing it off (Yes, the Major was armed with a PIAT).

Elsewhere in the village, upon hearing tanks a Sherman, commanded by Corporal Johnson, from B troop went to investigate. Only to be knocked out by shells and several of the crew wounded or killed. The radio operator, Lance Corporal Draper, after bailing out and getting to cover, realized that the driver was still trapped inside by the turret position. Draper raced back across the open ground and rotated the turret and hauled out the wounded driver. He did all this while in full view of the enemy who had knocked out his Sherman.

Corporal Johnson's tank:

The fighting lasted all day, and the two remaining tanks of the troop began to run low on ammunition. So Sgt Harris left the battlefield to resupply. When he returned he faced the Germans final attack.  Parked next to the Church, Sgt Harris looked down the main road to see 4 Panthers approaching! One was destroyed by a shot to its flank from the Squadron's 2IC, immediately the remaining Panthers gunned their engines and charged. Sgt Harris knocked out the first with a well-placed shot, the second and third Panthers swerved round their destroyed colleague. The Second Firefly shot knocked out the second panther.

Panthers Three and Four.

The Third panther raced into the village. Now Sgt Harris had to stalk the Panther through the streets of the village. He eventually managed to get behind it as it entered the main Square of Lingeveres. The tank was destroyed just in front of the villages war memorial, which still stands to this day pitted with bullet holes and shrapnel from this battle.

The Final Panther.

(The war memorial's railings can be seen in the lower left of this picture)


In one day the Germans had lost 5 Panthers, 4 of which to the sharp shooting of one firefly gunner. Sgt Harris was awarded a DCM and MacKillop got a mention in Despatches for destroying 4 Panthers with as many shots. At this time, I haven't been able to find out what (if any) awards L/Cpl Draper received.