World of tanks patch 8.6 - changed tank models

A number of tanks in world of tanks 8.6 will look slightly, or in some cases quite differently.


In some cases changes are minor - in some they could be quite crucial. First comes E-100 - turret is moved forward a bit.

Matilda black prince gets a smaller turret with greater gun depression. A buff to it through and through. No one ever said no to greater gun depression.

AMX 50-B gets slightly smaller as a whole. Not much but it might save you from a few shots.

 Very minor difference in the Su85B - the gun shield.

 Now leopard is another deal - we get a new model of it. Oh well, can't be all roses right?

Finally - Super pershing. A slight change in the front welded armor - the angle is reduced a bit. This will make it less effective, but on the other hand with all the penetration and HEAT/APCR shells nerfs, its debatable exactly how much will its effectiveness be reduced or if at all.

It seems things are not what they seem to be with artillery by the way...Still, plenty of time - Patch will be in testing for at least a week.

World of tanks 8.6 test - new shot dispersion video example

Note - preferably watch it on full screen.

First thing to try for me, was the new shot dispersion system. For this I used the Leopard scout, with the mk 108 cannon. With its 3 round burst it made it easy to show the difference.

First part of the video is from 8.5 on Karelia. As you can see with the old system, usually 1 out of 3 shots flies at the edge or near the edge of the aiming circle. However then we switch to the new system - with test shots fired on Murovanka and Redshire. The bursts are much better grouped - where were even a few "triple" taps when they hit almost the same spot. The final test was actual accuracy against the new SU 14-1 at a range of 380 meters - the 30mm autocannon behaves like the other small calibers and the shot  disappears after 400 meters so you can't provide a better example. Like I said - the new system benefits machinegun, autocannon and autoloader tanks greatly. The effective range of the Leo is now equal to its max range of 400 meters.

Unfortunately the test server is again clogged with 50-60 thousand long queue so its unlikely I will be able to dig out something else soon.

World of tanks 8.6 testing has begun!

The test server just opened! I'm downloading the patch atm so expect news soon.


For now, the notes in their current form. Again - I'm adding in red the interesting stuff.

New features of the first test of the version 8.6

Changes in SPGs:

USSR SPG line has been reworked:

• New SPGs added: SU-122А (Tier V), SU-14-1 (Tier VII)
• Now the tree will look like this:
  • Tier II SU-18
  • Tier III SU-26
  • Tier IV SU-5
  • Tier V SU-122A (new vehicle)
  • Tier VI SU-8 (moved from Tier V)
  • Tier VII SU-51 (moved from Tier VI) ======  Tier VII SU-14-1 (new vehicle) 
  • Tier VIII SU-14 (moved from Tier VI)
  • Tier IX Obj. 212 (moved from Tier VII)
  • Tier X Obj. 261 (moved from Tier VIII)

German SPG line has been reworked:

• New SPGs added: G.Pz. Mk. VI (e) (Tier II), Pz.Sfl. IVb (Tier IV), G.W. Tiger (P) (Tier VIII)
• Now the tree will look like this:
>ul>
• Tier II G.Pz. Mk. VI (e) (new vehicle)
• Tier III Sturmpanzer I Bison (moved from Tier II) ==== Wespe
• Tier IV Pz.Sfl. IVb (new vehicle) ====== Tier IV Sturmpanzer II (moved from Tier II)
• Tier V Sturmpanzer 38(t) Grille (moved from Tier IV)
• Tier VI Hummel (moved from Tier V)
• Tier VII Gw Panther (moved from Tier VI) 
• Tier VIII G.W. Tiger (P) (new vehicle)
• Tier IX Gw Tiger (moved from Tier VII)
• Tier X Gw E-100 (moved from Tier VIII)

USA SPG line has been reworked:

• Added new SPGs: M44 (Tier VI), M53/M55 (Tier IX).
• Now the tree will look like this:
  • Tier II T57
  • Tier III M37
  • Tier IV M7 Priest
  • Tier V M41
  • Tier VI M44 (new vehicle)
  • Tier VII M12 (moved from Tier VI)
  • Tier VIII M40/M43 (moved from Tier VII)
  • Tier IX M53/M55 (new vehicle)
  • Tier X T92 (moved from Tier VIII)

French SPG line has been reworked:

• Added new SPG: AMX 105 AM mle. 47 (Tier IV), Bat.-Châtillon 155 55 (Tier IX)
• Now the tree will look like this:
  • Tier II BS
  • Tier III Lorr.39LAM
  • Tier IV AMX 105 AM mle. 47 (new vehicle)
  • Tier V AMX 105 AM (moved from Tier IV)
  • Tier VI AMX-13 F3 AM (moved from Tier V)
  • Tier VII Lorraine 155-50 (moved from Tier VI)
  • Tier VIII Lorraine 155-151 (moved from Tier VII)
  • Tier IX Bat.-Châtillon 155 55 (new vehicle)
  • Tier X Bat Chatillon 155 (moved from Tier VIII)

• Added new camouflage patterns for the following nations:
  • USSR: 1 winter and 2 summer.
  • Germany: 1 desert and 2 summer.
  • France: 3 summer.
• New map added "Sacred valley" (Korea)
• Encounter battle has been added to the following map: Mines, Lakeville, Redshire.
• New birds have been added to Ruinberg and Lakeville
• Improved after-battle statistics
• Reworked the list of WoT achievements on login screen
• Removed the following inscriptions: "Popeye", "Mickey Mouse", "Betty Boop". All players with these inscriptions will receive compensation corresponding to the method of purchase (credit or gold) and time remaining (in case of inscriptions purchased for credits)
• Small improvements of special battle's screen (display of nation, type or Tier limitations)
• All new accounts will now receive Tier I tanks with 100% crew

Game Mechanics:

• Collision model of the following tanks has been improved: SU-8, SU-85B, Cromwell, Comet, Matilda Black Prince, SU-5, SU-76, Т95, Т92, M12, M41, M7 Priest, T57, G.W. E 100, G.W. Tiger, Hummel, Pz.Kpfw. V/IV, IS-6, Pz.Kpfw. III/IV, Object 268.
• Reworked additional absorption bonuses for Spall Liners:
  • Small Spall Liner 15%.
  • Medium Spall Liner 20% (was 15%).
  • Large Spall Liner 25% (was 15%).
• For heavy tanks of more than 70 tons added super-heavy  spall liner with additional absorption coefficient of 30%
• All spall liners on vehicles with weight above 70 tons were dismounted, moved to depot and changed on ‘Super-Heavy spall liners’
• New rules of how HEAT shells work:
  • HEAT shells will start to ricochet if the impact angle is greater than 80 degrees. (please note that every shell can have slightly different settings). The armor penetration after ricochet will remain the same.
  • After successful penetration, a HEAT shell cannot ricochet inside the tank (as the shell is transformed into a continuous stream.)
  • After successful penetration, the HEAT shell will lose 5% of armor penetration value for each 10cm of travelling distance
  • After successful penetration, the force with which the HEAT shell continues to travel through the armor will take into account the angle of impact between the armor and penetration spot.
• Suspension now also counts as spaced armor
• Changed mechanism of camouflage calculation when using camouflage pattern and camouflage net:
  • From now on, the values for vehicles with camo patterns and camo net will be cumulative.  This means that now the camouflage net and camouflage pattern will provide fixed bonuses which will only differ based on the class of the vehicle (for example, TD's will receive the highest bonus)
  • To avoid side-effects of having nearly invisible TD's, it was decided to decrease the overall camouflage bonuses provided by bushes and fallen trees.
• Increased income for high tier tanks (the full list of changes will be available later in a special appendix):
  • For tier 10 vehicles (except for SPGs) income increased in average by 10%.
  • For tier 9, 8, 7, 6 vehicles (except SPGs) income also increased but not as much as for tier 10 vehicles.
• Tracers have been temporary turned off:
  • Removed all tracers from unspotted enemy vehicles, except of SPG’s tracers
  • The area in SPGs aiming mode, where tracer of non-spotted SPGs is being shown, has been reduced.
  • Changed the mechanism of shot accuracy calculation. Now amount of shells falling on side of the aiming circle will decrease by 20%. Shells will fly more accurately and closer to the aim center
• Changed the mechanism of calculating damage and penetration. The extreme numbers will be seen 5% less, while the average amounts will be seen more often
• Removed decreasing coefficients of XP received from dealing damage on TD an SPG. TD’s will receive 33% XP from damage, while SPG owners will notice 50% boost in the same parameter
• Added ‘assist’ bonus for tracking enemy: if you track enemy and allies deal damage to it, or even destroy it, you will receive an XP bonus. Mechanism will work similarly to current damage on spotted vehicles mechanics
• Shell normalization of all ACPR and ARCP shells decreased from 5 to 2 degrees
• Mechanism, which allows to determine what bonuses (XP, credits, frags count) will be received for damaging or killing tanks using physics (pushing to water or from the cliffs etc.) and by whom, was added
• Added compensation mode for vehicle moving in Sniper mode (can be enabled in setting by selecting ‘Use dynamic camera’ option)
• Rebalanced Tank Company requirements for different types of tanks. Now all ‘divisions’ will have same requirements for Medium and Heavy tanks, TD’s and SPG’s. Limitations for light tanks will still be in place

Rebalancing:

• Inclination and declination angles of Matilda Black Prince have been increased.
• Balance changes have been made on map ‘Fjords’. Also one-storey wooden houses can be now destroyed.
• Balance changes have been made to the “assault” game mode on Westfield.
• Full rebalance of SPGs was made (full list will be available closer to the update)
• Overall velocity of SPGs’ shells decreased (10-15% for regular guns and 50% for short ‘mortar’ guns)
• Most of SPGs receive an increase in reloading time by average of 10-20%
• Rebalancing of premium shells has been performed (the full  list of changes will be available later in a special appendix):
• Price adjustments have been performed according to the efficiency value, which was calculated for each type of shells minding its penetration value and damage.
• The price for some APCR/ACRP shells has been increased and for some of them reduced.
• The price for almost all HEAT shells has been increased because they turned out to be cheaper despite the same efficiency as for APCR/ACRP shells.
• Almost all premium HEAT shells remain without any changes except for some HE shell types.
• Rebalancing of HE shells has been performed (the full list of changes will be available later in a special appendix):
• Armor penetration of high Tier HE shells was decreased
• Middle Tier HE shells (105-122 mm) armor penetration was significantly decreased
• Premium shells, which characteristics were changed, were compensated with credits according to the shell purchase price

Visuals:

• VK 16.02 Leopard tank model has been significantly improved.
• Visual models of the following tanks have been improved: Matilda Black Prince, SU-85B, SU-14, T26E4, GW. Panther, SU-26, Hummel, Е-100 (turret has been moved 10 cm closer to the front), SU-18, Object 212, Т-54, BТ-2, АТ2, Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. G, Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf. C.
• Graphics has been improved on the following maps : Murovanka, Widepark , Airfield.
• Visual changes have been made to ‘Ruinberg’ map.
• Reworked animation on base flag

Sound Improvements:

• Sound processing module has been reworked. Now it’s possible to play more sounds without sound distortions and while using less system resources.
• Changed mechanics of ambient sounds placement on the map. Removed ‘dead zones’, increased volume of wind in SPG-mode of view, created new events for water, industrial objects and fire
• Decreased amount of sounds of tank ground hits while driving though curvy areas
• Increased distance of fire sound, changed dependence of sounds on camera position, added physical model of hearing sounds from a distance
• Increased distance of other tank sounds to add ‘Doppler effect’ to increase reality of two vehicles moving side-by-side
• Increased variety of tank hit sounds
• Changed sound of tank destruction
• Added 3D parameter. All players, who have 5.1 multimedia system will experience greater realism of the game.

Technical Improvements:

• Reworked mechanism of informing about memory lack
• Added an automatic quality regulation system of tuning special effect depending on resources usage and system performance, which will reduce quality of effects (explosions, smokes and fire) automatically if fps drop is detected

Fixes:

• Corrections have been made to names of French tanks and their modules.
• Fixed the low turning speed of some vehicles on bridges
• Added small corrections to battle and video tutorials
• Fixed collision models of small objects
• Fixed errors and improved display of dynamic shades
• Partly fixed issue of NVIDIA 309 and newer drivers conflict with WoT client

Torrent is at 20%. Oh boy here we go again :) 

Things that buff the Maus in 8.6

Gentlemen.

I like the Maus. I love the Maus. It was my first tier 10 tank back in closed beta and my first tier 10 after world of tanks was released. It was sad to see it decline to the role of a speed bump and dust collector.

This became its most common form  on the battlefield... A wreck.

However the incoming patch brings us oh so many things that will improve its performance that one just has to gather the old gang and put them back in the 200 ton beast.

The global arty nerf

Pretty self explanatory. The global arty nerf helps all tanks equally, but some tanks are more equal than others...or at least used to be easier targets and thus were targeted by arty more often. Sadly, even T92 often manages to reload before the Maus could reach the next  solid cover.

The "Superheavy" spall liner

Reducing incoming artillery splash damage by 1/3, this would help even further in that regard. The Maus would be able to comfortably handle 150/155mm guns and smaller HE shells might as well be firecrackers.

The global penetration nerf

German 128mm guns are one of the few unaffected. With about 10-20mm less penetration on almost everyone else, the raw numbers of armor thickness that the Maus has will be effective again in duels with other tier 10s.


The new HEAT shell mechanic

If it wasn't enough, the new HEAT shell mechanics mean that the huge tracks of the Maus will be quite the obstacle for HEAT shells, especially combined with the side skirt. Maus and E-100 are the tanks that benefit most from this.


All in all This...

Would again become an impenetrable steel wall - not an XP pinata

The gun accuracy buff

Both a boon and a curse - other tanks will be better able to hit your weak spots, but then again they did it easily enough before that or had higher penetration on all shell types so this will hopefully even itself out. On the other hand the Maus always had the same gun, which quickly became obsolete and better overall accuracy will help it.

The new camo mechanic
Its not much, but having camo paint will actually give you a few extra meters...meanwhile bushes won't be so effective - so everyone else will be easier to spot. It may sound small, but every little thing helps when they all combine.

Well then, time to buy some cheese and set the mouse traps?

WoT funnies 5

Most jokes about T95 are made by T95 drivers themselves. They have plenty of time. 

random fight

Arty: - Gentlemen! I'm willing to sell my teammates positions for 500 gold apiece!

T-34 - He's on K8, no need to send gold! 

Random fight

A: - Recruiting for clan Bla bla bla,

18+ 2xT10 and TS3!

B:- and whats the pay rate?

C: - Perhaps you want summer vacation too huh? 

Detailed info on the First global map campaign.

After the grand announcement with trailers and all - new info has come out for the grand campaign.


The first stage is called "Landlords"



Here's the WG announcement. I'm marking points of interest.

Ahem - to quote.

"

1.At the start of the first campaign’s initial stage the global map will be temporarily locked, starting from 08:50 to 13:00 CEST (GMT+2) on the 10^th of June.
 2. At this time, a full wipe of the Global Map will be performed:

• All provinces will become neutral
• All scheduled battles will be cancelled
• All chips will be returned to clan reserves and made available (their cooldown will be reset)
• All spies and counter-spies will be removed from the map
• Riots will be disabled. This also includes riots that have already started
• Ransacks will be disabled
• The income of ransacked provinces will be restored

3. The ‘Re-division of the World’ mode will be enabled. All provinces available on the Global Map will receive the status of landing province and will be available for landing applications.
4. All battles during ‘Re-division of the World’ will be performed on Tier I vehicles.
5. During ‘Re-division of the World’ the maximum number of applications for each landing tournament will be limited to 32. Every hour, the system will randomly shuffle last turn’s applications and add them to the end of the accepted applications. Once the limit is reached, all applications beyond 32 clan-participants will be cancelled. All chips used for such unsuccessful applications will be sent to the clan’s reserve without additional penalties (no cooldown).
Please note that NPC’s (neutral province owners) will lose in the case of a draw in the final battle with the landing clan.
6. The colour of the province background will chang from grey to pink and red, as available landing slots are filled. More clans applying for the same tournament will result in the colour changing to a darker red.
7. The global map will be closed for players on June 11^th for one hour in order to start the  stage.
8. The ‘Re-division of the World’ mode will be turned off. All standard provinces will lose their ‘landing’ status and all chips that have not participated in landing tournaments will be returned to the clan’s reserve without additional penalties. The number of applications for each landing tournament will be extended to 256.
9. Victory points will be credited to all clans that have conquered at least one province during ‘Re-division of the World’. Clans will receive 1000 Victory points for each province owned.
10. Victory points will be credited to all clans that own provinces when the ‘Re-division of the World’ mode is disabled. All key provinces will have a 6 000 Gold daily income and have a special icon: 

• 5 000 Victory Points for each regular province
• 15 000 Victory Points for each ‘key’ province

A List of ‘key’ provinces may be found below:

• Arkhangelsk Region (East)
• Tatarstan
• Stalingrad
• Najaf
• Southern Finland
• Kiev Region
• Transylvania
• Thrace
• El Alamein
• Finnmark
• Stockholm
• Mazovia
• Brandenburg
• Central England
• Switzerland
• Lazio
• Castile-La Mancha
• Mascara
• An Nuqat al Khams
• Western Al Wahat
• El Aaiún
• Western Adrar
• Louga
• Centre-Ouest Region
• Bauchi
• Northern Agadez
• Fada
• Eastern Cameroon

11. Automatic Victory Points distribution is enabled for each step until the end of the stage. Rules are as follows:

• Capturing a regular province grants 5000 Victory Points
• Capturing a key province grants 15000 Victory Points
• Losing a regular province takes away 5000 Victory Points
• Losing a key province takes away 15000 Victory Points

12. During the first stage Tier limits will start at Tier I and will be gradually increased during the stage. The schedule for these changes:

• 10th of June. ‘Re-division of the world’. Tier I limit
• 11^th of June. Tier II limit
• 12-13^th of June. Tier III limit
• 14-15^th of June. Tier IV limit
• 16-17^th of June. Tier V limit
• 18-19^th of June. Tier VI limit.

13. After the first stage ends, Clan Wars will be locked in order to prepare for Stage II.
14. All clans that have owned at least one province during Stage I will receive 500 Victory Points. This amount does not depend on how many provinces the clan owned or the length of time they owned them.
15. Players of the clan that received the highest amount of Victory Points by the end of Stage I will receive a ‘By Iron and Blood’ achievement. To receive this medal, the player has to have participated in at least 5 battles in the first stage of the Campaign.
16. Players of clans that have the Top 5 Victory Points scores for the first Stage will receive a special clan tank (M60). To receive this tank, the player has to have participated in at least 5 battles in the first stage of the Campaign.
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that all special clan tanks will be credited after the Campaign ends.

17. Special achievements will be given to players of clans that are owners of specific territories by the end of the ‘Landlords’ stage. To receive one of these achievements, the player has to have participated in at least 5 battles in the first stage of the Campaign.

"


Ahem. 2 main points - one - the tier limits. We fight with tier 1 to 6! Awesome. I can dust off my hellcat and associates.

And also - the bit with the special tanks. I am not sure...but as far as I can see you need to be part of the clan, take part in battles AND stay as part of the clan for the whole campaign to get an M60.  That means the "hoppers" who'd join (or pay to join) a big clan to get an M60 will be limited. We don't know how many stages there are and a clan can't afford to pick a lot of average and bad players and let them play all the time. That could risk the entire enterprise.

Still - I find it decent at least. Its not impossible to win a landing in these circumstances and even hold it. A lot of small clans might get their first taste of global map gold. Don't forget that the event is, as far as schedule goes, staged to go AFTER patch 8.6, and in 8.6 its said a lot more global map regions would be open. Time will tell. There is barely 2 weeks until then.

The new map in 8.6 - Korea

With the advent of so many vehicles from the Cold/Korean war, having a map for them to play in is a logical next step.

So, the new map in World of tanks 8.6 is called Korea.

It looks nice especially with those blossoming trees, but don't let looks deceive you...I spy with my little eye an open map without much hard cover. A way of saying "Sorry" to arty players for the big nerfs they get.  There is going to be variation at least I hope - if the minimap is any indication - the map has plenty of possible routes and its likely a good number of those low hills will be easy victories for light tanks who like mountain climbing.

So many roads, means fewer possible choke points. Can't say I'm complaining. Test is coming very soon anyway so we will see it first hand.

Preliminary patch notes for 8.6

• Changes in SPGs:
• USSR SPG line has been reworked:
• New SPG added: SU-122А (5 level), SU-14-1 (7 level).
• Following SPG has changed their levels: SU-8 is level 6, SU-14 is level 8 and S-51 is level 7.
• German SPG line has been reworked:
• New SPG added: G.Pz. Mk. VI (e) (2 level), Pz.Sfl. IVb (4 level), G.W. Tiger (P) (8 level).
• Following SPG changed their levels: Sturmpanzer I is level 3, Sturmpanzer II is level 4, Sturmpanzer 38(t) Grille is level 5, Hummel is level 6, Gw Panther is level 7, Gw Tiger is level 8 и Gw E-100 is level 10.
• USA SPG line has been reworked:
• added new SPG: M44 (6 level), M53/M55 (9 level).
• The following SPG level has been changed: M40/43 is level 8 and Т92 is level 10.
• French SPG line has been reworked:
• Added new SPG: AMX 105 AM mle. 47 (4 level), Bat.-Châtillon 155 55 (9 level)
• Following SPG changed their level: AMX-13 F3 AM is level 6, Lorraine 155-50 is level 7, Lorraine 155-151 is level 8 and Bat Chatillon is level 10.
• For testing purposes supertesters received the following tanks:
• German premium TD E-25 (Level 7).
• Chinese premium heavy tank 112 (level 8).
• Added new camo for nations:
• USSR: 1 winter and 2 summer.
• Germany: 1 desert and 2 summer.
• France: 3 summer.
• inclanation and declanation angles of Matilda Black Prince has been increased.
• Collision model of the following tanks has been improved: SU-8, SU-85B, Cromwell, Comet, Matilda Black Prince, SU-5, SU-76, Т95, Т92, M12, M41, M7 Priest, T57, G.W. E 100, G.W. Tiger, Hummel, Pz.Kpfw. V/IV, ИС-6, Pz.Kpfw. III/IV, Object 268.
• VK 16.02 Leopard tank model has been sugnificantly improved.
• Visual models of the following tanks have been improved: Matilda Black Prince, SU-85B, SU-14, SuperPershing, G.W. Panther, SU-26, Hummel, Е-100 (turret has been shifted a bit), SU-18, Object 212, Т-54, BТ-2, АТ2, Pz.Kpfw. II Ausf. G, Pz.Kpfw. I Ausf. C.
• Corrections has been made in names of french tanks and their modules.
• New map added "Sacred valley" (Korea , Winter/Spring).
• Graphics has been improved on the following maps : Murovanka, Widepark , Airfield.
• Visual changes has been made on Ruinberg.
• Balance changes has been made on map Fjords. Also one-storey wooden house can be destroyed.
• Balance changes has been added to the “assault” game mode on Westfild.
• Encounter battle has been added to the following map: Mines, Lakeville, Redshire.
• News birds have been added to Ruinberg and Lakeville
• Reworked additional absorbation bonuses for Spall Liner:
• Small Spall Liner - 15%.
• Medium Spall Liner - 20% (was 15%).
• Large Spall Liner - 25% (was 15%).
• for heavy tanks more than 80 tons added superheavy spall liner with additional absorbation coefficient 30%. New rules of HEAT shells work:
• HEAT shells will start to ricochet if the impact angle is greater than 80 degrees. (please note that every shell can have slightly different settings). The armour penetration after ricochet will remain the same.
• After penetration, a HEAT shell cannot ricochet inside the tank (as the shell is transformed into a continuous stream.)
• After penetration, the HEAT shell will lose 5% of armour penetration force for each 10cm of travelling distance
• After penetration, the force with which the HEAT shell continues to travel through the armour will take into account the angle of impact between the armour and penetration spot.
• Suspension also counts as spaced armour Changed mechanism of camouflage calculation when using camouflage pattern and camouflage net:
• From now on, the values for vehicles and camo pattenrs and camo net will be cumulative. This means that now the camouflage net and camouflage pattern will provide fixed bonuses which will only differ based on the class of the vehicle (for example, TD's will receive the highest bonus)
• To avoid side-effects with having nearly invisible TD's, it was decided to decrease the overall camouflage bonuses provided by bushes and fallen trees.
• Full rebalance of SPG’s was made (full list will be available closer to the update)
• Overall velocity of SPG’s shells decreased (10-15% for regular guns and 50% for short ‘mortar’ guns)
• Most of SPG’s receive an increase in reloading time by averagely 10-20%
• Rebalancing of premium shells has been performed (the full list of changes will be available later in a special appendix):
• Price adjustments have been performed according to the efficiency value, which was calculated for each type of shells taking into account its penetration value and damage.
• The price for some APCR/ACRP shells has been increased and for some of them reduced.
• The price for almost all HEAT shells has been increased because they turned to be cheaper despite the same efficiency as for APCR/ACRP shells.
• Almost all premium HE shells remain without any changes except of some HE shell types.
• Increased income for high tier tanks (the full list of changes will be available later in a special appendix):
• For tier 10 vehicles (except of SPG) income increased in average by 10%.
• For tier 9, 8, 7, 6 vehicles (except of SPG) ) income also increased but not as much as for tier 10 vehicles.
• Tracer has been temporary turned out:
• All types of tracer have been temporary turned out for all types of vehicles except of SPGs (visible and invisible).
• The area in SPG aiming mode where tracer of invisible vehicles are being shown has been reduced.
• Sound improvements:
• Sound processing module has been reworked. Now its possible to play more sounds without sound distortions and taking less system resources.
• Changed mechanics of ambient sounds placement on the map. Removed ‘dead zones’, increased volume of wind in SPG-mode of view, created new events for water, industrial objects and fire
• Decreased amount of sounds of tank ground hits, while driving though curvy area
• Increased distance of fire sound, changed dependence of sounds from camera position, added physical model of hearing sounds from distance
• Increased distance of other tank sounds to added ‘Doppler effect’ to increase reality of two vehicles moving side-by-side
• Increased variety of tank hit sounds
• Changed sound of tank destruction
• Added 3D parameter. All players, who have 5.1 multimedia system, realism of the game will increase greatly.
• Changed the mechanism of shot accuracy calculation. Now amount of shells falling on side of the aiming circle will decrease by 20%. Shells will fly more accurately and closer to the aim center
• Changed the mechanism of calculating damage and penetration. The extreme numbers will be seen 5% less, while the average amounts will be seen more often
• Removed decreasing coefficients of XP received from dealing damage on TD an SPG. TD’s will receive 33% XP from damage, while SPG owners will notice 50% boost in the same parameter
• Added ‘assist’ bonus for tracking enemy: if you track enemy and enemies deal damage to it, or even destroy it, you will receive an XP bonus. Mechanism will work similarly to current damage on spotted vehicles mechanics
• Shell normalization of all ACPR and ARCP shells decreased from 5 to 2 degrees
• Mechanism, which allows to determine what bonuses (XP, credits, frags count) who shall receive for damaging or killing tanks using physics (pushing to water or from the cliffs etc.)
• Added compensation mode for vehicle moving in Sniper mode (can be enabled in setting by selecting ‘Use dynamic camera’ option)
• Improved after-battle statistics
• Reworked list of WoT achievements on login screen
• Reworked mechanism of informing about memory lack
• Added an automatic quality regulation system of tuning special effect depending on resources usage and system performance, which will reduce quality of effects (explosions, smokes and fire) automatically, if fps drop is detected
• Removed following inscriptions: "Popeye", "Mickey Mouse", "Betty Boop". All players with this inscriptions will receive compensation corresponding to the way of purchase (credit or gold) and term remaining (in case of inscriptions purchased for credits)
• Small improvements of special battle screen (display of nation, type or Tier limitations)
• All new accounts will now receive Tier I tanks with 100% crew
• Rebalanced Tank Company requirements for different type of tanks. Now all ‘divisions’ will have same requirements for Medium and Heavy tanks, TD’s and SPG’s. Limitations for light tanks will still be in place
• Fixed the low turning speed of some vehicles on bridges
• Added small corrections to battle and video tutorials
• Fixed collision models of small objects
• Reworked animation on base flag
• Fixed errors and improved display of dynamic shades.
  
  
  Apart from the things we knew already - the repricing of prem shells is new, the economy boost for high tiers is nice the 100% crews for new accounts is definitely nice, the reworking of Spall liners is new. Super heavy tanks will definitely benefit from it - 30% from arty damage can be a very noticeable drop. The model revisions though, might be a hidden booby trap. Lets hope there are no nerfs hidden in there. 

The global map campaigns

Well then it seem that WG is finally trying to make something out of Clan wars, that will, in fact attract people.

http://worldoftanks.com/news/2339-clan-wars-campaigns-announcement/

The "Global Map campaign" announcements just flied in on all servers.

Essentially - its a staged Global Map event, as far as one can say so far. It will be...a campaign - with specific goals, so I believe certain territories will have to be captured or defended etc. The prices seem to be good at first look. The so called victory points will be converted into gold - let's hope they are given for battles won, not just for objectives completed and top players can get an M60 Patton. Well there are some unique medals flying in too, but I doubt many people care for a piece of colored ribbon...especially a digital one. Looks promising so far - especially the info that all tier of tanks will be used. Let's hope they are true to that word. Many of us have lower tier "pub stompers" that we are keen to employ.

However - 1 more fact must be noted - after the event, the Global map will be wiped (!)  old clans that have been sitting on some provinces for years will have to reclaim them. If they can that is. I think this is well, the most important thing from the announcement. It also suggests that there will be more wipes after every such Global map campaign...

The new EVERYTHING in the coming patches

You know - that word I said in the previous post about the FB page - Revolution? Yes, its kinda like that.

So many things change at once that well, most of the already known patterns in World of Tanks will have to be relearned.

We already know about the artillery nerfs.

The global penetration nerfs of most tier X cannons.

New gig though - HEAT shells will become noticeably less effective against spaced armor- losing 5% penetration for every 10 sm traveled after impact. Now consider how far outreaching are the E-100's skirts, the fact that tracks also count as spaced armor, and suddenly your German tank driver face cracks a smile for the first time in years. Makes sense, considering how HEAT shells work. Hell, they were already called Best method for tracking enemy tanks in RU server...

Reworked camo system. - Nets and paint will provide a fixed bonus - not a percentage. Concealment in bushes will be harder. Basically big vehicles will actually get some benefit from having camouflage, but overall, staying hidden might get a bit trickier than before. Hard to say yet.

Overall accuracy change.

This is probably not entirely correct, but still something. Auto loader and machinegun tanks will love it. Basically the faulty shells flying to the edge of the aiming circle will be reduced almost 4 times.


I mean come on - how do you even start handling all this at once, without a supertest server up so that we can see it first hand? Thats pretty much the majority of the game mechanics - spotting, camo, penetration, gun behaviour, artillery.

So I got this blog a facebook page. Blogs love facebook pages.

Eh, well exactly what it says on the tin.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Scrapyard/500278430026851


Of course its still empty. Be the first to like it and...uh I dunno, I promise I won't blow up your tank if  I see you in EU server?

Lots of new info has come out for the coming 1-2 patches. I'd say too much. Hard to make conclusions when the whole system is changing. One word describes it best at the moment.

Revolution.


p.s. Let's hope its all for good. Revolutions have this kind of habit to turn upside down in the end and kick you in the ass.

Wargaming's attempt to bring aggressiveness back in World of tanks with patches 8.6 and 8.7

Because...well, thats what it is.


I believe everyone by now knows what will happen in the coming 1-2 patches.

Artillery will get the big nerf bat. Aim time, accuracy, reload speeds...they all get reduced by at least 25%. The God guns (200mm+)  all have RoF starting 1. something, accuracy has reached values like 0.9 on some. Hell - the Batchat 155 has a base reload speed of 80 seconds. Sooo basically arty gets it. Biggest coffin nail in the game's history, but thats not all.

Almost all high tier guns(on HTs and MTs) get their penetration values reduced. No more 400 mm HEAT shells. No more 350mm APCR shells. Point and click shooting will have to be abandoned. All derp guns also take a big kick in the HEATS. No more Sherman derp, Panzer Derp or KV 1 Derp. Or at least not with the same impact.


What does this mean? It means artillery will no longer enforce camping everywhere - only tanks that camp in bushes will be vulnerable - good luck hitting a moving target with a 0.5-0.9 accuracy gun. It means Tank destroyers become highly valuable, due to being the only ones left with 400mm penetration guns. The power creep in the game will take a severe blow. When EVERYONE is getting nerfed - no one can complain about being singled out. Survival chances will increase I'd say by an order of magnitude.

It means you might wanna do like me and dust off one particular fellow that has been sitting in my garage, lonely and abandoned for many months - the crew serving in other vehicles. German 128mm and 150mm guns keep their values. Rather the rest are being brought down to (nearly) their level. When Serb and company promised a buff to the Maus, they were not kidding.

Joke aside - its a very very very bold decision. No argument here. That's not a minor +0.5 RoF -0.1 second aim time change. They are pretty much changing the whole game! I'd say for the better too.  The current situation was a Gordian Knot. Wargaming plans to solve it just like Alexander did. If they stay true to this course, I'd give them some leeway for trying to cash in with the 112 heavy tank. If nothing else the decision and the bravery behind the decision deserve it.

World of tanks 8.6 Chinese tier 8 premium tank - 112

Wargaming is not like Blizzard. When Blizzard's mountain of cash starts looking smaller than Mount Everest, they just ask themselves - okay what we have NOT done yet? Thus we get things like king-fu pandas. Of course they might run out of ideas at this rate but hey, thats their problem. Wargaming on the other hand knows exactly what to do. When in doubt - release another premium tank with the potential to overshadow regulars from the same tier. It was tried and tested with the T59, the SU 122-44 and IS6 and now we get the chinese 112.


But what do we get actually?


First of all - we get a very well armoured tank.  120mm UFP with decent slope, I think its 55 degrees but I can't be sure. That your front will be invulnerable to anything under 200 mm penetration, and even to those at a distance. The turret is very respectable - even the commander cupolas are well protected. Basically we get a vehicle with very tough front - better than the IS 6 and roughly equal to the IS 3, though in some areas it beats the IS 3 too. You just can't find a fault here.

Things would be fine, except that the 112 has a top speed of 45 kmph too - enough to push it forward, even if only downhill. All in all its going to be at least as fast as the IS 6. If not faster...

Biggest gripe now...the gun. Yes its a good olde 122mm(175mm pen - 390 dmg for AP) of sorts...5 RoF, very good aim time 3.1 seconds. Aaaand a 300 mm HEAT shell....and high ammo capacity - 45 shells. Combine this with all above and add the decent view range - 380m and well, I believe everyone can connect the dots. The 112 has the potential to dominate tier 7-9 at least judging by the stats.

Not funny Wargaming...not funny!

Supertest leak - the E-25

2 words people!


Its...beautiful!

 Ahem, but I get a bit over excited, especially over a premium tank... But hey, we get one hell of a sniper package.

Anyway. The E-25 in its current form will be a tier 7 premium tank destroyer. It will cost about 3k gold aaand its natural competitor will be the SU 122-44. But can the German steel stand up to the russian totally not OP tier 7 TD? The answer is...It has a decent chance actually.

The E-25 is at mere 26 tons, carrying a 700 horsepowers engine. That gives it 25 hp/ton, more than enough to use its top speed of 65 kmph(20 reverse) Hello Hellcat 2.0! Tracks traverse at 42 degrees so its going to be speedy enough alright  Its hard to say yet, but afaik - its going to be like a shorter Jagpanzer IV, so you are in luck - good camo rating, and being a hard target at distance will be 2 of its perks. Taking forward positions fast, won't be a problem. Just make sure you don't get shot because...

Armour wise - the E-25 is again like a shorter Jagdpanzer or rather, a bigger Hetzer, except a tier higher... so basically - everything you meet will penetrate you frontally. The gun shield might bounce a shot on a lucky day but thats it. with 830 health you can't afford to tank shots either. The 25 tons become a problem in this area too - don't get rammed.

And now the juicy part - the gun. -8 +15 degrees depression. Allmost 19 RoF, 0.31 accuracy, 1.5 aim time...198mm penetration with AP rounds....and its a 75mm so ammo will be cheap. Sold already? Wait there is more - view range is 360 meters, bonuses and equipment not included - that means a binox can make you your own scout if need be, especially when we mention the size and speed. Basically the only bad thing about the gun right now is the ammo capacity - 60 rounds, that will run out in no time, and (perhaps) the gun horizontal traverse, which we don't know yet.

Will it be good? Yeah - you get a fast, nimble, probably stealthy machinegun sniper. A Panther with a TD's camo rating and freakish RoF. The good penetration and accuracy will likely even out the alpha damage of the Su 122-44, because you won't have to use gold shells often(if at all) and you will rarely miss a shot.

World of tanks - British Artillery - the tier 2 Loyd Gun carrier

Unlike with the Birch gun, here we can with certainly say - this one will be tier 2.

The Loyd (Shortened from Carden-Loyd) Gun carrier will be the humble start of the british artillery line...when we get it that is. 

The only problem at hand is...eh which conversion are we talking about? The British made a lot of then in the early days of the war, using both the Carden Loyd carrier and the universal carrier. I think this one might be what we are looking at, or at least one of its versions. 

The Loyd carrier is mostly identical to the Bren gun carrier, so much can be deduced by looking at the existing British tier 2 tank destroyer - the Universal carrier 2 pounder. With the same top speed - 48 kmph, same size, same weight (well probably a bit more...the gun will be heavier but I doubt it will be more than 5 tons tops) and hell, even the same V8 Ford engine, we are looking at a small, nimble and fast moving artillery piece. Of course armour wise you will be dead if someone just looks in your direction. 

Still, it will be fast, light, hard to spot (same size as the Universal carrier) and probably armed with something shooting very fast. I do believe we are looking at T57 "light" - you will be able to move together with the main force, rather than stay behind. Needless to say - the Loyd Gun carrier will probably be the ingame vehicle with lowest HP, or at least sharing the first place. 

As for the guns....Arrrgh, now thats the biggest problem with speculating about British SPGs! They loved their 25 pounders and thats it...

World of tanks - British artillery - the Birch gun (tier 3-4)

Ok, I know not so many people are interested in low tiers, I know we are all looking greedily towards new awesome tier 10s, preferably ones that will allows us to own the battlefield...Buuut its a long road to tier 10 after all. Besides as everybody knows - fun is often found in the low tiers.




This is the Birch gun - one of the first actual SPGs in the world(the first one being the british Gun carrier Mark I- a WWI modified MKI tank - no we won't see it at low tiers, it carried a 60 pounder). Apart from the purely historical interest, here's what it will(probably)  offer.

At almost 12 tons and with a 90 HP engine, even with upgrades and an elite crew we are unlikely to get more than 10 hp/ton, Top speed is listed as 45 kmph, whether one would be able to reach it is another matter. Of course those things hardly matter for an artillery vehicle most of the time. Same goes for the armour which is...barely enough to keep rifle rounds away.

Now, about the guns... Guns, guns, guns - that's the most important bit since we are talking about artillery. Alas there isn't much to work with.

The initial weapon of the Birch gun is a QF 18 pounder - 83mm caliber. That suggests no more than 200 points of damage. It is likely this will be the weapon of the Tier 2 SPG, though its early to say anything.
My guess, is that the top will be the 3.7 inch howitzer, already in game. That would make it a faster firing Wespe of sorts, and give it a heavier hitting gun than the Sexton. The Sexton's 25 pounder, might be listed too - as an intermediate gun.

Ok let's sum it up - basically we'd get a Valentine gun carrier of sorts, with 0 armour, and long distance shell lobbing. I'd say the british SPG line will NOT get high calibers for quite a while...

World of tanks 8.5 T-80 light tank review

How to describe T-80 in short? T-70 on steroids - same package, but better in every way.

The T-80 takes a very strange spot in the Soviet tank tree, actually behaving quite eh...abnormally for a russian tank. Its not a dedicated scout - you get normal matchmaking, facing up to tier 6. Nor do you get any notable view or radio range. Thus the T-80 is not a scout, but a light tank, and one with a very interesting role.


The T-80 has the same top speed - 45 kmph but more power to weight - almost 18 hp/ton when elite and good turret and hull traverse speed. In terms of agility the tank is a definite improvement over the T-70 even if it has the same low ground clearance. Its certainly able to circle-shoot a bigger tank in close combat, though of course the average top speed makes it hard to get there, not that you should in the first place unless threatened.

Armour wise things are a both improved and worsened. You get better side armour, 25mm, aaaand much bigger guns to fear, which laughs at you. The T-80 regularly goes after tier 5 and 6, where the layout of the T-70 is no longer going to protect anyone. The turret gun shield might still save your commander every now and then but that's it.

The gun is the one that should tell you whats the T-80s role. the 45mm VT43 gun has an impressive 0.34 accuracy and 1.7 aim time and almost 30 shots per minute. Unlike the T-70, you get 3 crew members, the new addition being a gunner, who'll benefit from the commanders bonus. Basically that means you get one hell of a sniping machine gun - a mini Panther I if you can call it this way.  Thus the T-80 gets to be a veeery strange animal that I would call a sniper light tank. The accuracy, aim time, light tank camo bonuses and large ammo supply (100 shots) means that you can provide a lot of fire over long range. One might say that the sniper role is already taken by the T28 with the 57mm ZiS 4, however keep in mind that the T28 is a glass canon the size of a train car - the T80 is a small, nimble light tank. Only problem of the VT43 is the low damage - 55 points. Considering that you need to pack some APCR for KV 1s and 2s and tier 6 tanks, that can put a strain on your budget if you are not careful. All things said, I must say I liked the T-80 more than its predecessor, despite the tougher enemies.