Thursday, 22 May 2014

Patch notes 9.1

Changes betwen version 9.1 Public Test 1 and version 9.0

  • New Kharkiv map added.
  • Improvements and corrections added to the following maps: Arctic Region, Tundra, Komarin, Windstorm, and Northwest.
  • Appearance frequency of Ruinberg on Fire map has been decreased
  • Added new historical battles: Bryansk front (USSR 1942) and Siege of Tobruk (North Africa 1942)
  • Removed two previous historical battles: “Battle of Kursk” and “Battle of the Bulge”
  • Minor visual problems with textures and patterns in a large number of vehicles fixed.
  • Minor visual problems with textures and patterns for certain objects on maps fixed.
  • Fixed minor mistakes in the Valentine II and Pz. Kpfw 38 (t) models
  • Effects of exhaust gases for all vehicles reworked.
  • Emblem location on certain vehicles fixed.
  • Vehicle explosion effect changed.
  • Display of Marks (rings, stars, etc. depending on the nation) on guns added for damage caused.
  • Functionality of a blown-off turret “slipping” from tank hull added.
  • Collision of a blown-off tank turret with surface now depends on the surface type.
  • Five new awards introduced for SPGs: Rock Solid, For Counter-Battery Fire, Gore’s Medal, Cold-Blooded, and Stark’s Medal.
  • New awards added in Team Battles: Fire and Steel, Heavy Fire, Pyromaniac, Promising Fighter, No Man's Land. 
  • Conditions for Billotte's Medal, Bruno's Medal, and Tarczay's Medal clarified.
  • The Operation Nostalgia award moved from the Commemorative Tokens category to the Special category.
  • Conditions for the Armored Fist award changed: it is now granted even if the player’s vehicle was destroyed.
  • Fixed awards condition for ‘Tactical Genius’ achievement that might not have been credited before in a case when users fulfilled the awards conditions.
  • Version of FMOD sound library updated.
  • Gunfire sounds completely reworked for testing purposes.
  • Sound effect of gun’s resonance when firing added (when firing is observed from the side of the gun).
  • Gunfire sound muting added in Sniper mode (from the turret).
  • Different tonal characteristics added to gunfire sounds, depending on the side from which gun-firing is heard (front or back of the gun, etc.).
  • Sounds of turret traverse and after-firing shell cartridge ejection added in Sniper mode or at maximum zoom of the camera to the turret.
  • For testing purposes, engine and suspension sound patterns for the U.S. M18 Hellcat and M36 Jackson tank destroyers completely reworked.
  • Reach of sound distance increased from 300m to 600m
  • Reworked tracer sounds
  • Reworked sounds of destroying vehicles according to players’ feedback
  • Online/offline status of a friend in the chat will now be displayed correctly regardless of which server the friend is using.
  • Maximum number of characters in chat messages in the Garage increased to 512.
  • In the Summary tab of the Achievements window, the clan icon and the date when the player joined the clan are now displayed.
  • Corrections and improvements affecting interface in Team Battles implemented. 
  • Display of the time period for Historical Battles added.
  • Dialog windows for confirming changes in Graphics settings changed.
  • In Tank Company Battles, it is no longer possible to start a battle without a Commander.
  • Display order of parameters in the Summary tab of the Achievements window changed.
  • The Gametrix JetSeat settings section moved from the General tab to a new settings tab. 
  • License agreement is now displayed after login, before loading the Garage. 
  • The Dynamic FoV option added.
  • Certain settings in the Graphics tab rearranged.
  • Start time for display of tracer effects changed.
  • Crew members can be trained for skills and perks even if the vehicle is damaged. 
  • Quality of basic Emblems for nations improved.
  • Certain game client crashes and hang-ups fixed.
  • “Shaking” of tracks when switching between HD vehicles in the Garage fixed.
  • Certain bugs and defects in the Graphics settings window fixed. 
  • Fixed issue with excessive load on video card when game client is minimized.
  • Certain bugs during battle playback fixed.
  • Certain bugs in the missions interface fixed.
  • Issue when in certain casesricochet effect was displayed on penetrating armor fixed.
  • Vehicle burning effects optimised for better performance.
  • Fixed the bug that caused equipment mounted on a vehicle to be displayed in a random order in battles. 
  • Fixed incorrect displaying of tracers (some of them might fly through a vehicle before fix implementation) 
  • Fixed some issues with camera movements in the arcade mode

Vehicle changes:

  • Upper limit for the range of battles for Tiers IV to VII light tanks reduced.
  • Afterfire visibility factor for all tank destroyers (except Premium) aligned (mainly increased) with the factors for the same guns on other types of vehicles.
  • Damage with UBR-354KA shell fired by 76 mm L-10, L-10U, L-10S, and KT-28 guns changed from 105 to 110 (a bug with Premium shell dealing 5 points more damage than ordinary shells fixed).
VK 28.01:

  • Crossing capacity for VK 28.01 suspension on solid terrain increased by 20%. 
  • Crossing capacity for VK 28.01 suspension on medium terrain increased by 18%. 
  • Crossing capacity for VK 28.01 suspension on soft terrain increased by 10%. 
  • Crossing capacity for VK 28.01 verstarkteketten suspension on solid terrain increased by 22%. 
  • Crossing capacity for VK 28.01 verstarkteketten suspension on medium terrain increased by 20%. 
  • Crossing capacity for VK 28.01 verstarkteketten suspension on soft terrain increased by 11%. 
  • Maximum forward speed changed from 60 km/h to 68 km/h.
M4 Sherman:
  • Aiming time for 105 mm M4 gun changed from 2.3 sec. to 2.5 sec. 
  • Reload time for 105 mm M4 gun changed from 8 sec. to 9 sec.
A-20:
  • Two upper battle levels removed.
MT-25:
  • Crossing capacity for MT-25 suspension on solid terrain increased by 12%. 
  • Crossing capacity for MT-25 suspension on medium terrain increased by 11%. 
  • Crossing capacity for MT-25 suspension on soft terrain increased by 6%. 
  • Crossing capacity for MT-25 reinforced suspension on solid terrain increased 14%. 
  • Crossing capacity for MT-25 reinforced suspension on medium terrain increased by 12%. 
  • Crossing capacity for MT-25 reinforced suspension on soft terrain increased by 6%. 
  • V-16 engine (600 h.p.) replaced with V-16M engine (700 h.p.).


Well the Fat Leo and MT-25 buffs are well and good. Toubruk however? With no Italians? Oh come ooooon!

Well New Map is well and good, the Damage marks is nice too actually ^^ Buuuuut no new tanks, well maybe except some reward tanks available to super testers that we don't know about....

Monday, 19 May 2014

Wot funnies 16


Patch notes for 9.1:
"Poor grammar" will be added as option to the automated Complains reporting system.




The turret of the M3 Lee comes into play only when you ammo-rack it.


Arty destroys the last enemy heavy tank with his last round. He starts running from the surviving enemy med tank(who's been idle the whole game). The med tank catches up and starts doing circles around him. Eventually the med starts ramming the arty, killing him slowly.
- Pervert! - says the arty
- Nah, forgot to buy ammo! - says the med. tank

Sunday, 18 May 2014

From one disaster to another - Nation vs Nation and historical battle mode

It seems Wargaming just can't get it right.
First it was the Nation vs Nation mode - a bit fun until you realize that its all Hellcats, KV1Ss and various other one-type-of-vehicle-only teams. Which obviously made it quite one sided in certain cases.

Aaand now Historical mode. On paper - Hell, its about time.
In reality - the same damn problem. Case in point - I've been unable to play historical battle mode since it was released. There's barely any interest it in it seems. I mean - there are like 5 guys in the queue and they are all sitting in King Tigers, waiting for the Ardene operation or lake Ballaton. See the problem here? There isn't much incentive for players to go with allied/soviet vehicles only to get curbstomped. There is a limit on how well you can do in your tier 6 tanks versus tier 7 and 8. While you could outmaneuver and maybe win versus a tier 7 Panther if you had an elite Hellcat, good luck doing it with just 76/75mm guns! Aaaand you can forget going after the King Tigers. He only needs to be lucky once. You need to be lucky 5-6 times to do some damage and make him retreat.

I will be trying to get into it again soon, right now I'm busy with War Thunder Ground forces. Its good comparison honestly....

War thunder tanks

Sooo I've been playing War Thunder ground forces....gotta admit I like it a lot. There are no invisible tanks, You fight at proper tank combat ranges, the tanks themselves feel much better.

Also - since its all about penetrating hits and not about hit points, you stand a decent chance of killing something big with something small. I mean - let's be reasonable - only ways for you to nail a 2-3 tiers bigger tank in World of Tanks are kill stealing. In War Thunder its doable. Yes, it takes luck and tactics and a little bit of daring but your dinky panzer III can take out a King Tiger on its own.

The way artillery works could use some fixing - especially the time delay - its too short. its a great way to remove campers though and you need to get close to be able to deliver a precise strike.

Paper model Tetrarch



Long time no see. Had personal problems.

Anyway - next paper model - the prem lend lease Tetrarch.

Have fun making it!

https://worldoftanks.ru/dcont/fb/document/022_mk_vii_tetrarch_v10.pdf