Today, Will Kerrs from Tanks-Encyclopedia, presented us with an exclusive look at a truly odd tank destroyer of Chinese origin (the one above). This is one of the first times it has been shown to the public. He has also given us a chance to interview him about the vehicle.
Continue reading “A Real Chinese TD – Interview with Will Kerrs”
Thanks to TollhouseFrank for allowing me to repost this.
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend as I sure did. We once again return to the miniseries where you do some reading, I do not offer you a TL;DR, and people reminisce about how much better World of Tanks used to be, because every single patch that WG has ever brought out has been the death-knell for the game, and it will never recover and people will abandon the game in larger and larger droves.
Though to be honest, if patch 9.0 couldn’t kill the game (and trust me, it seriously tried), then all the others will not kill the game. Just look past the hysterics and the fear-mongers and hate-mongers and realize that the average person just loves the game and just wants to play and make something go BOOM.
Sorry for being so long-winded. Where was I? Oh yes, this time, I will go over the year 2015 and why it was the downfall of WoT and why nobody plays this game at all anymore. Ever. The numbers in the queue are Alternate Facts and made up.
Patch 9.6 We start off 2015 with the first patch in February. Artillery Strike and Airstrike are introduced to Strongholds. Reddit Main posts videos of them being used to hilarious results on Mines.
This patch was a nerf to the Accuracy/Sigma change that made tanks super-accurate. The amount of shells going towards the center of the aiming circle was way too high, so WG nerfed this a bit so that fewer shells flew directly at the center.
Continue reading “Some Hard Facts: Back to the Future – Part 4”
The AC IV prototype, based on the AC E1 – Illustrator: David Bocquelet
Article by Thomas Anderson from Tanks-Encyclopedia
Part I: AC I Sentinel
Part II: AC II Cruiser Tank
Part III: AC III Thunderbolt
Another offspring of the AC I Sentinel was the AC IV, which was to be equipped with the new British Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun. After the July 1942 decision to proceed with increased armament for the Australian Cruisers, a plan for expedited local production of 17 pounders was initiated to replace the previously planned 6 pounder production.
Artists rendition of the AC IV. Source: National Australian Archives MP730 10
Continue reading “Australian AC Tanks – Part IV: AC IV 17-pdr armed Sentinel Cruiser Tank”
Part I: AC I Sentinel
Part II: AC II Cruiser Tank
In 1941, The QF Vickers 2-Pounder had been recognised as likely to become obsolete by the time that the AC tanks were scheduled entered production. The armament of the Mark I “Sentinel” was seen as transitional since the beginning, and the tank had been designed and balanced with the intent of mounting the Ordnance QF 6 Pounder (57 mm/2.24 in) gun before said gun was even available, shadowing the evolution of the British cruisers such as the Crusader.
Artists rendition of the AC III Tank. Source: National Australian Archives MP730 10
Continue reading “Australian AC Tanks – Part III: AC III Thunderbolt”
Written by beachedwhale1945
There are few things as disappointing in World of Warships as going from full health to no health from a single shell. Unlike in World of Tanks or War Thunder, where some skill and vehicle knowledge can improve your chances of causing or preventing a detonation (knowing what to protect/aim at), detonations in World of Warships are almost completely up to RNG due to dispersion. Even people, like myself, who think magazine detonations should remain in the game want the system improved.
When I initially drafted this post, beyond making the detonation more interesting (bigger boom, damage nearby ships) I had not seen a proposal that solves this problem beyond reducing the frequency or removing detonations entirely. Since then some have come out, with some interesting ideas of their own. Many center around two major fixes: making the explosions larger and removing the random splash damage detonations. While in theory a nearby shell might detonate a smaller ship, in my research I have found no historical cases of a detonation from a near miss.
While researching the Battle of Jutland, I came up with a possible solution that is heavily based in history.
Continue reading “WoWS – A Possible Solution to Detonations: Ammunition Fires”
Thanks to TollhouseFrank for allowing me to repost this.
In the prior post, I discussed the the year of 2013 and what it brought to World of Tanks in the terms of patches and changes. This time, we are going to take a hop, skip, and a jump up to gaze into the crystal ball and see what the year 2014 has in store for World of Tanks.
Patch 8.11 This was a much smaller patch, considering the massive and sweeping changes of the year before. Windstorm and Ruinberg on Fire were added to the map rotation. Some tanks in the game had their sizes changed.
This patch also brought about an across the board nerf to tier 10 TD’s. Alpha on the guns was brought down from 850 a shot to 750 a shot. Many of the TD’s had other changes/nerfs. This is the patch that “killed” the French TD’s.
Also coming in this patch was the ability to turn off battle chat for the first time.
Patch 9.0 I’ve talked about the “best” patches before. This one is hands down one of the worst, if not the absolute worst patch to this game. It has nothing to do with changes to tanks. Nothing to do with buffs or nerfs, or new tanks added, or new maps added or old maps removed.
This patch single handedly was almost responsible for the largest exodus of players from this game. “How can this be, Private_Public? What was so bad about this patch?” It can be surmised into a single word: BUGS. This patch was so buggy, that easily a half of the entire worldwide playerbase was unable to play the game for nearly a month. I was one of the ones caught up in this. There were several micropatches to try to fix the issue, but they only alleviated it for small amounts of people at a time. WG quickly worked on getting out Patch 9.1 with a lot more bug fixes (which honestly did fix at least 95% of them).
Besides the terrible bugs/crashing related problems, what else came in this patch? National battles. On the few occasions I managed to get the game working before the micropatches eventually fixed the worst of the bugs, I was able to participate in some National Battles. You basically queued up, and if you were in an American, Soviet, German, or French tank, you had a chance to be on a team composed entirely of your nationality. It was actually a highly anticipated mode, yet people quickly found out that it was extremely unbalanced, and it lost its fun very quickly. As far as I can recall, this mode was removed before patch 9.1 came, it was that unpopular.
Patch 9.1 Welcome to one of the most celebrated patches in the history of World of Tanks, if only because it fixed the worst of the bugs from patch 9.0. We also saw the introduction of the Kharkov Map in this patch.
Continue reading “Some Hard Facts: Back to the Future – Part 3”
Artist’s rendition of a production AC II
Contrary to a popular misconception the AC II was not a design for the installation of an Ordnance 6 pounder gun in the AC I Sentinel cruiser. Such a design did exist, entitled AC IA, but this is covered more appropriately with the AC III Thunderbolt. In reality the AC II was a simplified design intended to expedite production of the tanks Australia so desperately needed.
Due to the lack of progress by mid-1941, doubts were raised about the practicality of Australia attempting to manufacture such a complex tank design as the AC I. As a result, Australian AFV engineer Alan H Chamberlain proposed a competing design in June of 1941. The proposed design, entitled AC II, was intended to overcome the limitations of Australian industry by substituting the complex M3 drivetrain and gearbox for a commercially available Mack truck gearbox and drive, imported from the USA.
Due to the Mack components not being required for US munitions production it was estimated that deliveries could begin in October of 1941 with series production of the AC II beginning in January of 1942 at a rate of 8 tanks per week. Compared to 5 tanks per week in mid-1942 for the AC I. The Mack components however required a reduction in the weight of the vehicle and were limited in the horsepower that could be used to power the tank. It was alternatively mooted that the Mack gearbox could simply be substituted into the AC I design. However concerns that in a 28 tonne tank the Mack gearbox would be overloaded, risking the gear teeth stripping at low gears, put an end to this idea. As proposed, the AC II weighed 19.5 tonnes with a hull armor basis of 2 ¼ inch (57.15 mm) frontal and 1 inch (25.4 mm) side and rear, and 2 ½ inches (63.5 mm) of all around turret armor.
The intended engine was to either be a twin mounting of the same Cadillac V8 engines used in the AC I or a 225 horsepower GM 6-71 diesel engine. A Curtiss aircraft engine was also investigated but found to be overly powerful for the Mack gearbox and thus unsuitable without substantial modification . Despite the decreased weight, the corresponding decrease in engine power resulted in an estimated top speed of 19 mph (30 km/h). The armament was the same as on the AC I.
Line drawing and armour specifications of AC II. Source: National Archives of Australia MP730/13 14
Continue reading “Australian AC Tanks – Part II: AC II Cruiser Tank”
Source: TollhouseFrank
Welcome again, to another post where I pretend to be smart and reap the pretend internet points from it! But seriously, I love going back in time and looking at the game as it used to be compared to now. I also enjoy the usual handful of stories about memories from those patches.
Anyhoo, last time, I went over the year 2012 in World of Tanks. This time, we will gaze back through the foggy mists of time and gaze into the future that is 2013. What is coming up for World of Tanks in the far off future’s past of 2013 that might just shake the game to its core, and convince the worldwide audience that it is doomed and that the game will fail any day now? Let us see.
Patch 8.3 The Chinese really and truly are added. I made a slight mistake last time, as they were on the test server, but did not make final cut until this patch.
This patch also was the FIRST nerf to arty. Most of them had lots of things nerfed, from aim time, to dispersion, to mobility, and more.
Patch 8.4 The old tutorial for new players replaced with a newer tutorial. This was universally applauded at the time (as it really was a huge upgrade over the original). However, as time has gone on, this tutorial hasn’t aged very well. Dragon Ridge and Serene Coast game maps are both temporarily removed for the first time.
This patch also brought to us British TD’s. They were universally considered OP at the time, from tier 5+. That sentiment has changed drastically over the years, though at tier 5 and 10, they are still monsters that cause salty tears for more than one reason, for pubbies.
For those that remember, this was also the first patch (that I can find) that officially supported NVIDIA SLI.
Continue reading “Some Hard Facts: Back to the Future – Part 2”
This will be a small series made to refresh your memory on WoT’s development, which I found really interesting.
Source: TollhouseFrank
Howdy folks! This time, I am not using this for facts about how much certain tanks have been used on which server. This time, I am using this space to take a look back into the past of World of Tanks, especially for those of you who haven’t been around since near the beginning, or right close to it.
As for my history with the game? I’ve made no bones about it in the past. I first played the game in 6.7 on my dad’s account while he was off work for a long time, recovering from cancer. The game gave him something to do to alleviate boredom – he even still occasionally plays it, though not as often as he used to. While helping take care of dad, he offered to let me play his account some, and it got me the urge to play the game. I finally got my own account when patch 7.0 came out (the day of, in fact), and started grinding Soviet Tanks while waiting on the upcoming French Tree (patch 7.1, in January of 2012).
So, what does my reminiscing have to do with World of Tanks? GET OFF MAH LAWN, YOU WHIPPERSNAPPERS!!!!!! But seriously, this game has come a long, long, LONG way from its early days. Let us go over 2012.
Patch 7.1 Welcome to the game, France! The forums back then were chock full of people screaming about how OP the autoloaders were, and how they ruined the game and that WG was killing/destroying the game. Not long after that, the BatChat 25t ended up becoming not only a Clan Wars staple, it has stayed as one throughout the years. It is probably the most enduring tank in CW that has resisted all challengers to the Meta and its position in it.
Side note – The Type 59 was taken off the store not long after this patch. Anyone you see driving them in the game has either had them for 5+ years, or has won them in contests (I’ve been in the game long enough, but won my in a contest last year).
Patch 7.2 Get skillz, fam. This patch took us from having only 3 skills in the game – Firefighting, Camo, and Repairs – to having the wonderful amount of skills we have now. I can still remember people discussing the uselessness of 6th sense (how can it be any good, letting you know you are spotted several seconds after the fact?), and debating about whether it was worth the time to take BiA or not, especially since nobody knew at the time if a crew member ‘death’ knocked out your ability to use BiA or not.
This patch also saw the first major shuffling of tanks with the T30 being removed as the Tier 10 American Heavy and instead being changed into the Tier 9 TD, to be replaced by the T110E5 (which people at the time talked about how horrible it was and how weak it was and would never be good enough for Clan Wars).
Patch 7.3
This patch brought us a HUGE tank shuffling. I personally benefitted by earning my first tier 10 by having the IS-4 get moved to Tier 10. I also ended up earning an extra 3 garage slots from owning certain heavies. This was the death of the original tier 5 KV that was so monstrously powerful, and the birth of the Legendary King of Derp, the KV-2.
This one also brought one of my fave maps to the game (that was later removed because of Memory Leak Issues, and then brought back, and then removed again for balance issues) – DragonRidge.
Patch 7.4
French Tech Tree has TD’s and Arty added. No longer just Heavies/Mediums/Lights. This patch also added in Assault and Encounter game modes.
Patch 7.5
The introduction of Tier 10 Mediums and TD’s. This was a massive shakeup not only in pub-matches, but for CW as well. The IS-7 and T110E5 and Bat Chat 25t dominated CW, while tanks like the E-100 and the 50B fell out of favor for not being good enough.
Patch 8.0
PHYSICS! This was the first introduction to physics in the game. No longer would a 150+ ton Maus be stopped and held in place by a tier 1 sacrifice tank. No longer could people hang almost upside down off a ledge and shoot at tanks below them. No more were the rivers barred to arty, and no more were tanks stuck on small rocks and defeated by the smallest ledges from passing by.
All new tanks and other such things aside – this one single patch is easily in the top 3 for the most influential patches of all time on this game, only behind the initial Sigma Buff (to make tanks a lot more accurate) and the Premium Ammo/Items for Silver patch (so ANYONE could use them, not just people playing clanwars).
Patch 8.1
British Tanks (mediums and heavies) were added this patch. People hated the grind then, just as much as they do now. The FV215b was not well liked. People generally disliked the entire tree aside from the Cromwell and Centurion 7.1.
Some things haven’t changed with time, though since this patch, the FV215b got some nice buffs, the Conqueror got some really big buffs, and the 4202 got replaced by the Action X, which people seem to generally like.
Patch 8.2
Chinese Tanks (that were not the Hype 59) added. The Initial WZ-111 5A replaced by the 113 on Test Server to much hatred of the community. 113 spends the next several years being universally hated by all and people only research it to unlock the top gun on the WZ-120 “for free”. People recommended the WZ 121 for a tier 10 if you wanted a tier 10 Chinese tank, because it was in all respects superior to the 113 (and was for several years until the 113 got buffed, recently).
I know there are people here that love numbers (and you got them with Patch Numbers, this time), but I believe there is some good room for information about the game in the past – especially from someone who has played it since near the beginning.
Any stories about the patches, how they changed the game for you, or other similar comments are more than welcome. I love hearing stories from others about how patches changed how they viewed the game, played the game, etc.
