[WoWP] New WoWP Interview

Maybe you will find something new over here.

[WoT] Public Test of 8.0 is On

Public test of 8.0 started with several known and (unfortunately) noticeable issues that are not critical, but important. Here are they:

• new post-battle statistics is not displayed after the battle (most likely will be fixed today)
• penetration holes are hilariously marked with clan logos (for clan members)
• base capture doesn't work on Cliff and Wide Park maps

Unfortunately, fixes to the aforementioned problems haven't made it to the release version of initial build. Please don't report them, so as not to spam (cause they are so obvious). :)

Apart from that there is a number of smaller and less noticeable issues, feel free to report them as well as post your general feedback on the major update.

[WoT] Public Test of 8.0. First Try

This week. :)

Rates, credits and stuff:

- all tanks won't be unlocked
- all accounts will be as of date when database replica was created (a few days ago)
- everyone gets 100 000 000 free exp, 100 000 000 credits and 20 000 gold
- x1 rates will be in place

Summary from the 7.5-8.0 patch notes (not all the points mentioned! full version is to come):

- added new USSR TDs: SU-100M-1, СU-101 (Uralmash-1), СU-122-54, Object 263.

- added new premiums (for testing only!): Panther-M10, Pz IV Schmalturm, СU-122-44.

- British Matilda Black Prince added to Store 
- added new "deffered" graphic render ("advanced graphics" in settings) - this will improve the graphic quality big time!

- old "forward" graphic render can be enabled in settings ("standard graphics") - its performance has been increased substantially
- the following maps have been adjusted for the new render and lighting effects (terrain, lighting, sky, and other): Himmelsdorf, Mines, Karelia, Lakeville, Sand River, Cliff, Fjords, Mountain Pass, Arctic Region, Westfield.
- all other maps only had lighting effects reworked.
- changed physics of vehicle movement. Now it's possible to jump from hills, sind in water, push enemy tanks, leap on rough terrain, drift, etc
- fixed bug with sudden turn of both tanks while continuously ramming each other
- fixed most of the known issues with tanks getting stuck in objects and terrain
- added new functionality allowing to add emblems/logos and text on your vehicle (predetermined sets)
- reworked camo system
Old camos sold at buying price
Each tank now has 3 camo types: summer, winder, and desert which are changed based on the map.
Each camo gives 5% camo bonus.
- fully reworked the design of tech trees in UI. Now it's horizontal and contains prems.
- Assault and Encounter battles are now selectable
- added new post-battle stats. Now they are way more detailed and displayed in hangar after the battle.
- new radial command menu added (press Z to activate)
- in after-death mode it's possible to select vehicle to spectate using CTRL+LMB on team list
- reworked special effects when driving through water
- reworked basic UI elements: buttons, windows, backgrounds, check boxes, etc
- improved UI of exp conversion: added filters, total sum of exp to convert.

- in training battle window it's possible to swap teams

- added "improved suspension" equipment for French and USA tanks

- added new "report player options", you can send up to 5 per day now
- reworked rescaling of mini-map and its markers and symbols
- map ping is played only once per indication of a particular mini-map sector

- fixed the effect when gun goes up when swtiching from sniper to 3rd person view near buildings and big objects

- improved firing/shooting sounds. There are 11 categories based on caliber and muzzle brake factor (yes/no)

- added new sounds for tracks. There are 4 categories based on vehicle class. Sounds differ based on terrain and speed.

- added extra sounds when driving on wooden bridges, sand, and other

- added multiple new sounds for new physics: turning, drifting, ramming various parts of the vehicle etc

- improved sounds for "penetration", "ricochet", "detracking"

- other "sound" improvements

- Added 12 new medals

Balancing:

- changed accuracy and penetration of all German 7.5cm L43, L48, L70 guns
- Pz IV: top turret changed, 7.5cm L/70 removed

- T-54: new gun 100mm D-10T2S added

- Normalization of all AP and APCR shells reduced to 4-5 degrees.

- T-54: reserach cost via T-44 decreased from 160100 to 142000

- T-43: Increased armour of top turret.

- Tier 7 and 8 SPGs: substantially increased repair costs.

- Rebalanced multiple tanks. Full details will be available upon the final release of 8.0 update.

More detailed patch notes and more info on public test will be on the websites soon. :) 

[WoT] Misc Info. Updated

Updated. Added stuff in red. 

This post contains some misc information of World of Tanks.

Penetration mechanics is one of the hottest topics in WoT. Below is the summary of the most widely asked questions with answers, of course. :)


AP and APCR penetration and normalization:

• There is no normalization when hitting external modules - tracks and gun.
• Rounds ignore the armour slope when hitting external modules - tracks and gun.
• Rounds get normalized only when hitting main armour or spaced armour
• Normalization doesn't change the real round trajectory. This simplifies the calculation.
• Normalization is taken into account to calculate penetration / non-penetration at the point of impact (where round meets armour).
• If round penetrates the outer spaced armour and after that penetrates the inner main armour, it doesn't get normalized twice on the main armour. In both cases, when penetrating spaced armour - regular normalization value is used, for main armour - the same one is in place (no xN increase). The real round trajectory again stays the same for both penetrations. 
• Normaliztion value for all rounds will be substantilly decreased in 8.0 update: approx it will go down from 7 deg (on average) to 5 deg (on average).
• Ricochet angle is 70 deg. 
• Overmatch is the situation when round caliber is 3+ times bigger than armour. In this case, there is no ricochet. Round tries penetrate the armour regardless of the angle.
• After the ricochet, round changes its trajectory and continues its journey. Its penetration power is reduced by 25%. Only 1 ricochet is calculated by the server.
• Semi-overmatch is the situation when round caliber is 2+ times bigger than armour. In this case, normalization is increased proportionally to the semi-overmatch value, ie x2, x3, xN.

Saving throws and gun hits:

• Being inside the vehicle round can go as long as 10-caliber distance inflicting damage to modules and crew.
• If module/crew is lucky to get saving throw, round doesn't go further
• If module/crew doesn't produce saving throw, round goes further having its damage reduced by the amount of HP module/crew had. If the remaining damage is <= 0, round doesn't go further (it gets stuck)
• Gun also has saving throw, but if it dodges, round goes further. However if round has penetrated the armour and inflicted damage before hitting the gun / gun dodging, it won't go further
• When gun (gun hitbox) is penetrated (2 outer spots of the model hit), round gets its penetration reduced accordingly
• Crew members don't stop AP rounds under any circumstances

Publicly available hitboxes

It is planned to display hitboxes (without internal stuff) in the game client, specifically in hangar submenu. Clicking on a particular spot, one will get its exact armour thickness and possibly angle of possible impact (based on camera angle) - thus it will be more clear what and where you can penetrate and when you have little chance.

Voiceover

The current algorithm (or sequence) of hit and penetration messages will be reconsidered. Yes, "we are on fire" shouts will finally get higher priority. Additional sounds will be added when hitting tracks or gun. ETA - soon! :)

PS. Latest poll results (votes / %):
Your opinion on "Digging Through Archives" posts.
keep them coming!  - 866 (50%) - sure thing, will do!
propaganda! - 371 (21%) - come on! :)  
don't care  - 333 (19%) - that's the right approach
let them be - 153 (8%) - see above
 
The new poll is up.

[WoWP] Upgrading Your WarPlane. How Easy It Can Be (Featuring Bf-109E)

Messerschmitt Bf-109E (Emil) was main German fighter of early WWII. Bf-109E has provided success for "Luftwaffe" in flights above Poland, Scandinavia and Northwest Europe during the period between September, 1939 and June, 1940. 

In real life Bf-109E has seen a number of modifications, stretching from E-0 to E-9 with different airframes, armament, engines, and bomb racks, etc. 

The Bf-109E we have got in game is placed at tier 5 of German fighter branch, following tier 4 Bf-109C and leading to tier 6 Bf-109G. Its draft module layout is represented below.

 
As you might know, the following main modules are currently upgradable in WoWP:

• airframe
• engine
• armament

Only three groups all in all, but they provide a lot of room for various combinations (much more than in tanks, cause the links and dependencies are far more complicated), especially keeping in mind that the "Armament" group includes wing and main guns, bombs, and unguided missiles. 

So for the aforementioned Emil it would like the following:

Two pairs (airframe+engine) and lots of armament options. For this particular plane we have predetermined the following presets (upgrade options):

• Bf 109V14 (stock - 2x7.92 MG-17, and 2x20mm MG-FF)
• Bf 109V15 (getting an extra 20mm MG-FF)
• Bf 109E-3 (2x7.92 MG-17, 20mm MG-FF, and 20mm MG-FF/M)
• Bf 109E-4 (2x7.92 MG-17 and 2x20mm MG-FF/M)
• Bf 109F-2 (2nd engine, 2nd airframe, 2x7.92 MG-17, 15mm MG 151/15)
• Bf 109F-4 (2nd engine, 2nd airframe, 2x7.92 MG-17, 20mm MG 151/20)

Manual module change is also possible and intended mostly for those who know exactly what they are doing or ready to experiment and eventually (in case of bad luck) get a weird setup. It's rather obvious that you can pretty much trade speed and agility for fire power and vice versa, you can get even more options playing with bombs and rockets. That's why in many cases you can end up with not one but two or three top configurations that suit different playing styles.

Which one should be broken down next? P-51?

[WoWP] German Bias

Soviet bias! From Russian devs to Russian players! etc 

Those are often heard in WoT. Tank performance stats are know made public thanks to community efforts, while aerial data are still unknown for many.

I have taken a brief look at the current performance charts of World of Warplanes 0.3.2 beta, and am completely astonished now.

Just have a look at this

Soviet bias has fully gone and there is a strong German bias instead. Among top 20 performers we have got 11 jerries and 6 yanks, while only 3 ruskies (and LA-15 is not at all representative here!!!).

On a seriuos note, at this early stage of the game, balancing is rather rough and will be improved by a mile even before open beta comes. 

[WoT] On German Tech Tree

So, let's turn on creative and slightly crazy mood, assuming that the data provided here is not a second-class Soviet propoganda, but something that has ties with the reality, and try how it could work out.

JagdPz IV will lose its 8.0, however the importance of L/70 with 150mm pen will grow. Certain RoF buff might be required, all in all, the vehicle will be good. Stug will go totally OP, and we might want to cut L/70 off. Have to maintain Soviet bias theory after all.

Both Tigers can't mount anything  better than 8.8. It would be easier to file down the long one and lift them one tier up in the tree. All VKs would lose 8.8 guns and Schmalturms, having L/70 as top mounted in standard 3001 and 3601 turrets. Minor agility buff would also come in handy. Thus we are getting fast and furious machine guns and slow heavies with huge alpha-strike.

Heading to higher tiers. KTs (and up) and Porsche vehicles would also go one tier up, loosing overbuffed guns. KT loses its 105mm, VK4502 B - loses 128mm and gets armour reduction (there is another version of it). Free slot at tier 8 (tiger line) would be filled by Lowe (yes, no more farming for it) with its native 105mm.

That was easy indeed. Now, we are facing some issues. We need 2 more tier 6 vehicles, keeping in mind that Tigers should be descended from Pz. IV as a replacement of that sub-heavy. Doing some shifting in the tree and eventually getting that Pz. III/IV path leads to its complete strangers - 3001 and 3601. Not good at all. Ok, introducing DW here, which in reality was an interim vehicle. It can mount L/48.

And Ferdi! Ferdinand is no longer connected to its direct ancestor - that's bad. Ok, decreasing its tier and removing this sci-fi 128mm thing. Should it keep the 105mm? Hm, prolly. Testing will show, anyway the armour it too good and can be decisive.

And yes! Now we've got two mice: the 2nd Maus at tier 10 with 150mm gun and E-100 turret.

And now the final German tech tree ...

Note: Легкий танк - light tank, Средний танк - Medium tank, Тяжелый танк - Heavy tank. 

a competely idiotic one that will never come true, I must say. Looks hilarious, though! :)

[WoT] For Better Armour!

It was decided that in 8.0 update the normalization value will be decreased to 4-5 degrees for all rounds.

The change is supposed to raise the importance of armour in the game, leading to increase of "we-didn't-even-scratch-'em" shots.

Aiming weakspots and not shooting blindly will become even more beneficial.

Precise vehicle control and aiming FTW!

[WoT] Digging Through Archives: We've Hit Them Hard

The first firing tests with King Tiger playing key role took place on September 2, 1944, it happened right where the vehicles were stopped in battle.

This King Tiger was hit near Polish town of Sandomierz. After that it was used as a testing target for artillery to try the armour.

N4.

1. In the photo: right side of the vehicle and the gun pointing to the left.
2. Huge dark spot is a reach-through breach made by 152mm artillery round.

Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence, fund 38, inventory 11355, case N2548, p.252

[WoT] Improving Physics of 8.0 Update II

As many of you already know currently we are testing new physics model for 8.0 update. I have given a small update on the progress here. Below is the most recent things that are being worked on (tuned):

• Tuned and adjusted ramming damage. The goal to make it predictable.
• Decreased damage when falling from small heights and when driving cross-country.
• Fixing issues with tanks stopping close to minor objects (rocks, etc)
• Increased "drifting" ability. By the way, T-50-2 turning ability was decreased by 20% to fit the current physics model.
• Increased vehicle turning when being detracked on the move.
• Increased acceleration (approx by 25%) when climbing hills. There was too much gravity.
• Fixed bug with tanks getting stuck on bridges (near the edges) and cliffs.
• Fixed bug with disappearing destroyed tanks and "alive" tanks getting stuck in the spots where destroyed tanks were initially
• Currently fixing bug with no damage being inflicted when landing on a destroyed tank.
• Currently fixing the "flood" bar which doesn't work properly in some cases.
• Currently removing the rest of invisible walls that have been mistakenly left.

Physics is really a key feature of the 8.0 update that is going to affect gameplay greatly, thus we are determined to polish it out 100% before the release. Your feedback is welcome.

PS. Latest poll results (votes / %):
What's the best tier 10 medium?
M48  - 802 (31%) - nerf incoming?!
BatChat - 729 (28%)   
T-62A  - 594 (23%)
E-50M - 444 (17%)
 
The new poll is up.