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World of Tanks PAPOJ EP#48
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M56 Scorpion & T28 HTC Xbox Pictures
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TAP Q&A #2 – Questions sent
The following questions have been asked:
What is Excalibur?
What is WG planning for 2016?
Are there any plans to buff the obj. 268 in the near future?
Answers will come soon.
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TAP Q&A #3 – Ask your questions (now with WoWS!)
Well, my sadness did not perish yet (yes believe it or not I actually cried today). But I really want to get this done, so…
2 WoT questions will be chosen (3 if I spot a really good one)
10 WoWS questions will be picked. *number may raise in the future*
Please mark your question with the name of the game included in the comment. Thanks!
Rules:
-You can post the same question if it was not answered before
-Maximum 2 questions per person (or 4 if you want to ask for both games)
-Questions will be asked only in the comments section, no FB or mail
-No silly or irrelevant stuff
-No questions that were answered 10 times before
-No proposals :( (but you can include a proposal in a question if you know how to put it right)
-Keep it brief (no huge texts please).
You can ask stuff in Romanian if you want to.
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WG RU Fails: Commercials
If you didn’t see the “hidden advertisement” by Wargaming in the movie “Land of Oz” (russian movie), you should, because everyone is discussing it right now, although the reaction is not more positive than the one about the “scandal” advert (the one with the closet and nails). This advertisement already generated a meme and is 16+ rated.
Unfortunately I cannot embed VK videos, but you can click the link instead to see it.
https://vk.com/video_ext.php?oid=-70226354&id=171374648&hash=5ebc3d18549a07e4
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WG Secret Project Question
My fellow commenters have revealed pieces of old info, and it seems that WGs secret project is most likely Total Annihilation 2 (Chris Taylor is working on that), not Excalibur. Honestly, Excalibur is a whole new thing and nothing at all is known about it except what was leaked. It is unknown what WG is really working on, and we will see soon.
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RNG #49
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Q&A – 30th December 2015
– the different penetration values of the M318 shell are not a “fail”, but a balancing decision, the same as the guns having different names – there will be no “fixing”;
– the same applies to the aimtime of the ARL V39 compared to the AC mle. 46;
– the bad terrain resistance of the KV-5 compared to other superheavy tanks on its tier is intended – the KV-5 is balanced with other positive features and many players stil consider it as a great money maker (TN: me too, i love it);
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Hungarian Half-blood: 43M. Toldi III
Finally, a proper historical article!
In the 30s of the 20th century Hungary took it’s time choosing tanks for it’s army. At first, Italy was supplying the kingdom with light tankettes L3/L5. Afterwards, the Hungarians started thinking about producing an ideal vehicle for production in their own country, as the industrial capacity of the country would allow such a project. Like many European countries, Hungary at first wanted to build an “convertible tank” (TN: tracks can be taken off to continue driving on wheels), but after trials in 1936 the Swedish light tank Landsverk L-60 was chosen.
At the moment of the trials the L-60 was one of the best tanks in the world. Quite fast, comfortable for the crew, technologically advanced, this tank, designed by German engineer Otto Merker, was ahead of its contestants. The easiest example of its technical superiority was the first use of a torsion bar suspension. The L-60 was at first armed with the 20-mm automatic Madsen cannon.
In Hungary, the L-60 recieved the designation 38M. Toldi I or Toldi A20. At the beginning of serial production in 1940 its configuration was changed: the Swedish engine was replaced for an German “Büssing” and the autocannon was replaced by the 36M anti-tank rifle. Later on, after being trialed, the 37-mm Bofors cannon was installed. The first contract of 80 tanks was split between Ganz and MAVAG. The second series consisted of 110 tanks, recieving the index 38M. Toldi II, also known as Toldi B20. They had thicker armor, wider usage of Hungarian modules and a new radio station.
But the times were changing fast, and with them the requirements for tanks and tank combat. In the summer of 1941 the Hungarians were already met with significant problems.
The L-60 was created to fight light tanks from the late 30s, which had an armor thickness of about 20mm. The automatic cannon could handle these. Meeting the Soviet tanks however, which consisted of T-34 and KV-1, the 20-mm anti-tank round of the Toldi became powerless. Moreover, it couldn’t even handle the light T-60 and T-70, whereas the 45-mm gun of the T-70 knocked out the Toldi easily.
The military started to think about the armament in the beginning of 1942. This task was faciliated by the release of the new 40M. Turan medium tank. Its 40mm cannon was redesigned, shortening it and installing a muzzle brake. Thus, the 38M. Toldi IIA was born. It was not released separately, but applied as an upgrade to already existing tanks. A total of 80 vehicles were upgraded to this modification.
But this was a half-measure, not a solution. More so because the Hungarian army was losing many tanks on the Eastern front – not only a modification, but a replacement was needed.
In 1943 the Hungarian engineers developed a tank which should take the place of the new standard light tank. Its designation was 43M. Toldi III (Toldi C40). The armor remained at the same level as the previous model, but could potentially be upgraded with armor screens which were tested on the Toldi IIA, providing protection against anti-tank rifle fire.
43M. Toldi III was to be produced by the Ganz factories. Production started in 1944, but only 12 tanks of this series ever left the factory halls. On the 2nd July 1944, Budapest was struck by massive aerial bombardement, destroying all industrial capacities of Ganz, which ended the story of the Hungarian light armor.
But even if the bombs wouldn’t have interrupted the story of the Toldi III, it would not have been effective against any Soviet armor at the time it was released. The engineers developing the Toldi III were just 2 years too late with their creation.
Sources:
- A Magyar Királyi Honvédség fegyverzete, Bonhardt Attila, Winkler László, Sárhidai Gyula, Zrínyi Katonai Könyv- és Lapkiadó, 1992.
- Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence
Author: Yuri Pasholok
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World of Warships Camouflage: Decoded
From Redditor dziban303.
I normally have camouflages disabled altogether, since I use custom skins for many ships. However, with the 0.5.2 release of new, ship-specific camouflages for premium ships (which actually have benefits!), I opened camouflages.xml spent a few hours of my afternoon playing around with the camouflage system.
I wanted to re-enable the camouflage textures only for premium ships, while leaving the rest of the ships blank so my custom skins are visible. That’s not the reason for this post, but if anyone is interested in how to do it, let me know and I’ll share my customized files.
Important!
Before you make any changes to your game files, copy the files in the directory ..\res\content\gameplay\common\camouflage\textures and place it in the ..\res_mods\0.5.2.0\content\gameplay\common\camouflage\textures folder. You will have to create those folders in res_mods. Do the same with ..\res\camouflages.xml and place it in ..\res_mods\0.5.2.0\camouflages.xml. Do not edit any files in ..\res\ or you’ll break your shit and people will laugh at you. To edit camouflages.xml, I recommend using NotePad++, but even shitty ole’ notepad.exe will work.
Camouflages: Decoded
For standard, non-ship specific camouflages (Type 1, Type 2, New Years, Halloween, etc.) the game takes a texture pattern and tiles it onto the ship model. As a tile, it repeats over and over, covering the whole ship. Here’s the texture for USN and Japanese Type 1 camouflage.
Obviously, the camouflage doesn’t look like that in-game. The pattern is the same but the colors are totally different. The colors are specified in camouflages.xml, located in the game’s res folder (or, if mods are used, in res_mods\0.5.x.x). In the xml file, the colors are specified thusly:
<color0>0.008 0.008 0.008 0.900</color0>
<color1>0.631 0.616 0.522 0.700</color1>
<color2>0.045 0.100 0.350 0.850</color2>
<color3>0.154 0.182 0.201 0.650</color3>
But which line corresponds to which color in the texture? What do the values mean?
Here’s a rarer camouflage texture (Dazzle_tile_camo_03.dds) with the colors indicated: Dazzle 3 key.
In camouflages.xml, color0 corresponds to black in the texture, color1 corresponds to red, color2 to green, and color3 to blue. This holds true for all the camouflage textures, including the ship-specific ones.
Again, the colors in the raw texture file have nothing to do with how the camo will appear in-game, they merely specify which regions will be colored a given value.
Looking again at the xml file:
<color0>0.008 0.008 0.008 0.900</color0>
The values are in the standard RGBA format, where the first number is the Red value, second is Green, third is Blue and the fourth is Alpha. Alpha is a measure of how opaque the color is; a high value means totally opaque, a low value means it’s transparent. As this example has very low numbers for red, green and blue, and a high value for alpha, one can expect it to be very close to black.
Here’s a Mogami using the Dazzle 3 pattern with an extensive explanation.
Note: All screenshots taken in the “ocean” port that I modified to give a sun angle of 45 degrees, to better illuminate the scene
I matched the colors to what they are on the texture for easy identification. Changing the values around, you’ll get something else.
More on the alpha channel. Changing the alpha value determines how saturated the chosen color is. A low value will let the ships’ base color show through more than a high alpha value would. To see the effect, here is the Mogami again: Alpha effects. The colors are the same (0.000 0.950 0.000 for a bright green) but the alphas vary as shown in the image. A low value of 0.150 makes the grey hull easily visible, and progressively higher values change how saturated the color is.
So this is how the camouflage system in WoWs works.
How to translate the color values to more common formats
Yes, it’s kind of a strange way to specify colors. Yes, you’ll have to do a little work to translate the values into a format you can use on a color website, like the very good Color-Hex.com. That website allows you to input colors using RGB & RGBA percentage values, but it won’t accept a value like 0.631 0.616 0.522. You’ll have to convert the numbers into a percentage and round them: 63% 62% 52%, so you’d input rgb 63% 62% 52%. Unfortunately, it’s a little more difficult going the other way, since I haven’t found a color resource that will give you a color’s value in RGB percentages. The best you’ll usually get is an RGB value on a scale of 1-256 (e.g. 156,115,55) or the corresponding hex codes, like #9C7337, commonly seen in HTML and CSS. It’s easy enough to convert. If you have decimal values like 156,115,55, just divide the number by 256, e.g. 156/256 = 0.609…which you can put directly into camouflages.xml. Converting hex values like 9C7337 is trivial as well: open Windows calculator, set it to Programmer mode, make sure Hex is selected, type in the hex value of the first octet (9C), and then switch to decimal mode: 9C = 156. (Now you have to divide that number by 256 as described above).
Things you can do
Bored of the same old camouflage pattern, but don’t want to get into the xml file? Copy the directory ..\res\content\gameplay\common\camouflage\textures and place it in the ..\res_mods\ folder. There, rename, for example, Dazzle_tile_camo_02.dds to IJN_tile_camo_02.dds. Now, Japanese ships with the Type 2 camouflage will have a different pattern. Experiment with the other dazzle tiles, seen here in “IJN Green”:
Dazzle_tile_camo_01.dds,
Dazzle_tile_camo_02.dds,
Dazzle_tile_camo_03.dds.
You can edit the textures, too. Just make sure you use the colors already present in the texture, and draw whatever you want.
Examples
By editing the camouflages.xml file, you can change the colors that are rendered. You can copy the color settings from other camouflages listed in the .xml file. Here is Dazzle_tile_camo_03.dds with different color settings copied from other patterns already in the game:
Using these as a template, you can edit the colors to suit your taste. I like this scheme (closeup).
Here are some changes I made to Cleveland’s permanent camo. I set it up so that Type 2 Camouflage displays this pattern (because you must be crazy to spend 1000 gold on this):
- Cleveland in “USN” colors
- Cleveland in “USN” colors closeup
- Cleveland in “USN” colors, remixed
- Cleveland in “USN” colors, remixed, wide
- Cleveland in “USN” colors, remixed closeup
Another experiment: Hiryu using Dazzle_tile_camo_02.dds, with the Soviet colors as found on Murmansk‘s permanent camouflage:
- Hiryu, dazzle 2, Soviet colors
- Hiryu, dazzle 2, Soviet colors, reverse
- Hiryu, dazzle 2, Soviet colors, closeup
It doesn’t always work. Here, I tried to apply the Iwaki permanent camo file to the Albany: Gross.
New (12/29/15): Kiev
This is one of my favorite creations to date. It’s using the Dazzle 2 tile with custom colors.
- Profile
- Derrière
- Closeup Including my visibly edited flags.dds flying the Soviet Nunyan
- “Sunset on Lake Pontchartrain” It’s fun to pretend.
The colors I used were based on actual tints used by the US Navy in WWII, with some modifications:
| Name | #HTML | rgb(x,y,z) | Color code in XML |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark(er) Black | #131313 | 19,19,19 | 0.074 0.074 0.074 1.000 |
| 4A Brown | #9c7337 | 156,115,55 | 0.609 0.449 0.215 0.800 |
| ʤigrün | #576957 | 87,105,87 | 0.340 0.410 0.340 1.000 |
| Ƃłøõƥ | #415e73 | 65,94,115 | 0.254 0.367 0.449 0.850 |
The biggest problem with editing the camouflage colors is that every time you make a change in the xml file, you have to restart the game to see it. This is because the xml file is only loaded when the game is launched (if you’re editing skins, on the other hand, all you need to do is select a different ship in your port, then go back to the one you’re working on, and the changes appear immediately.)
There are some other settings in the xml file. The area under <UV> seems to control the orientation of the texture. In the screenshots above, I left the figures alone, so except for the colors the pattern is identical. But compare this screenshot, where the xml file had different <UV> settings, with any of the others and you’ll see the pattern is considerably different.
Getting a bit more advanced with camouflages.xml, you can specify which ships will use which textures. You can create as many textures as you want, give them all unique filenames, and call them in the xml file. The game will see you’ve chosen Type 2 camouflage for your Mogami, and apply the texture file you specify; the Type 2 for the Ibuki can be totally different. Likewise, you can disable camouflages entirely for certain ships.
Note:
There’s inevitably someone who is confused: Everything you do to your textures or camouflage.xml settings are local. Other people will not see them. It’s for your own personal gratification. Changes will affect both your ship, and anyone else using the same camouflage Type.
Hardcore mode: Editing camouflages.xml
Here’s an example of what you’ll find in the xml file. The following is stock, copied from an unaltered camouflages.xml file. (Because I backed my shit up. Back your shit up.)
<camouflage>
<annotation>Блок тайленых японских камуфляжей для большинства кораблей с квадратной текстурой</annotation>
<name>camo_1_tile</name>
<targetShip>PJSC001_Katori_1940 PJSA002_Hosho_1939 PJSA006_Zuiho_1944 PJSA009_Ryujo_1933 PJSA011_Hiryu_1942 PJSA017_Hakuryu_1942 PJSB001_Kawachi_1912 PJSB007_Kongo_1942 PJSB006_Fuso_1943 PJSB010_Nagato_1944 PJSB013_Amagi_1942 PJSB021_Izumo_1938 PJSB018_Yamato_1944 PJSB008_Ishizuchi_1921 PJSB011_Mikasa_1905 PJSD001_Tachibana_1912 PJSD002_Umikaze_1925 PJSD024_Wakatake_1923 PJSD003_Isokaze_1917 PJSD004_Minekadze_1920 PJSD005_Mutsuki_1926 PJSD006_Hatsuharu_1945 PJSD007_Fubuki_1944 PJSD010_Kagero_1943 PJSD012_Shimakaze_1943 PJSD014_Tachibana_1912_Asus PJSD017_Kamikaze_1930 PJSD025_True_Kamikaze PJSD026_Camo_Kamikaze</targetShip>
<tiled>true</tiled>
<UV>
<Tile>3.7 3.7</Tile>
<Bow_DeckHouse>1.85 1.85</Bow_DeckHouse>
<MidFront_DeckHouse>1.85 1.85</MidFront_DeckHouse>
<MidBack_DeckHouse>1.85 1.85</MidBack_DeckHouse>
<Stern_DeckHouse>1.85 1.85</Stern_DeckHouse>
<Gun>0.6 0.6</Gun>
<Bulge>1.8 1.8</Bulge>
</UV>
<Textures>
<Tile>content/gameplay/common/camouflage/textures/IJN_tile_camo_01.dds</Tile>
</Textures>
<color0>0.086 0.082 0.067 0.706</color0>
<color1>0.035 0.047 0.012 1.000</color1>
<color2>0.125 0.133 0.047 1.000</color2>
<color3>0.263 0.275 0.133 1.000</color3>
</camouflage>
<annotation>can be set to whatever you want.<name>should be set to eithercamo_1_tileorcamo_2_tiledepending on whether you want it to apply to Type 1 or Type 2 camouflage. Other values it could be: camo_halloween_tile, camo_ranked_tile, camo_newyear_tile, camo_supertest_tile.<targetShip>indicates which ship or ships the pattern will apply to. In this case, it covers just about all of the Japanese ships. If you want it only to apply to certain ships, delete the names you don’t want. If you don’t know what the correct code for a ship is…just CTRL+F and search for it (e.g. “Taiho”), then copy the whole string you find (e.g.PJSA015_Taiho_1944).<tiled>specifies whether the texture is tiled or not. This should be false for most ships with custom, bespoke camos. Leave to true for everything else.<UV>Section seems to determine the orientation of the texture. You can fiddle with these numbers to change how the texture appears. Before putting your own values in, copy some from other listings in the xml file to see exactly how it works. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time on this. Someday…<Textures>Here is where you specify the filename of the texture file. You can simply change it to read, for example, Dazzle_tile_camo_03.dds if you want, and it should use that texture for the ships in <targetShip>.<color0....>Color settings for the pattern, as described above.
Here’s an edited section from camouflages.xml. This is the code that produces this pattern on my Mogami.
<camouflage>
<annotation>mogami 2 by dziban</annotation>
<name>camo_2_tile</name>
<targetShip>PJSC009_Mogami_1935</targetShip>
<tiled>true</tiled>
<UV>
<Tile>3.8 3.8</Tile>
<Bow_DeckHouse>1.9 1.9</Bow_DeckHouse>
<MidFront_DeckHouse>1.9 1.9</MidFront_DeckHouse>
<MidBack_DeckHouse>1.9 1.9</MidBack_DeckHouse>
<Stern_DeckHouse>1.9 1.9</Stern_DeckHouse>
<Gun>0.44 0.44</Gun>
<Bulge>1.9 1.9</Bulge>
</UV>
<Textures>
<Tile>content/gameplay/common/camouflage/textures/aIJN_tile_camo_02.dds</Tile>
</Textures>
<color0>0.045 0.190 0.350 0.800</color0> <!-- blue -->
<color1>0.014 0.032 0.041 0.870</color1> <!-- grey -->
<color2>0.000 0.142 0.161 0.750</color2> <!-- green -->
<color3>0.631 0.616 0.522 0.700</color3> <!-- white -->
</camouflage>
Note the filename I used: I chose aIJN_tile_camo_02.dds so that it’d be listed right next to the original IJN_tile_camo_02.dds in Windows Explorer…but it doesn’t matter what you name the file. surprise_boats3x.dds works as well as anything. As long as you have <name>camo_2_tile</name>, it will change how Type 2 camouflage works. If it said <name>camo_1_tile</name> it’d change Type 1 camouflage.
Turning camouflages off
If, like me, you use custom skins, the in-game camouflages interfere with them. Or maybe you hate the camouflages. Whatever the reason, turning camouflages off is simple. First, you could download something that does it for you. Aslain’s Modpack has a camouflage disabler. Alternatively, you can edit the <colorX> lines to 0; this will mostly disable the camouflage:
<color0>0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000</color0>
<color1>0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000</color1>
<color2>0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000</color2>
<color3>0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000</color3>
You may notice a bit of “ghosting”, traces of where the edges are in the camouflage textures. To resolve that, you can use a “blank” texture file. No edges? No problem.
Inspired? Here are some resources.
- Shipcamouflage.com – Great site for USN camouflage patterns.
- Wikipedia has an excellent expanded section on US Navy camouflage of WW2
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M46 KR Coming on NA
…And EU gets nothing of course. Well, this looks more like a lottery than a marathon at least.
While stalking your prey through the jungle, you can make the new feline Patton yours! We’re stoked to give you a sneak peek at the M46 Patton KR, known as the “Ripper Patton” or the “Tiger Patton.” Complete one or both of the two “Tiger Hunt” missions to be entered in a daily draw for the Tiger Patton!
Plus, take on the weekly missions to unlock the 100% trained Crew for this wicked new ride before it goes on sale!
Tiger Hunt | Crew Missions
Tiger Hunt
Starts Friday, January 1 03:20 PT / 06:20 ET
Ends Friday, January 22 03:20 PT / 06:20 ET
|
|
Tiger Hunt Missions |
||
|---|---|---|
| Mission | Restrictions | Reward(s) |
Tiger HuntDestroy one (1) or more of the following enemy vehicles in battle: Tiger I, Tiger (P), Tiger II, M46 Patton, M48A1 Patton. |
|
x2 Crew XP |
Hunt the HuntersDestroy an enemy vehicle while driving one of the following vehicles: Tiger I, Tiger (P), Tiger II, M46 Patton, M48A1 Patton. |
|
+20%  Experience |
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New Ranked Battles Coming (WoWS)
From EU forum user Takru.
Ladies, Gentlemen and the odd shiprats,
the 3rd season has been announced on the Russian forums, so prepare your ships, crews and kitchen sinks, ’cause you’ll be at sea for quite a while. The ranked battles will start on the orthodox christmas eve of 6. January and last until the 17. Febuary. There will be 4 leagues:
Bronze League: Ranks 22 – 16
Silver League: Ranks 15 – 11
Gold League: Ranks 10 – 6
Platinum League: Ranks 5 – 1
Bronze League (grades 22 – 16)
Tiers: 5 and 6
Maps: New Dawn, Fault Line, Break
Advancement: 3 stars per rank
Specials: Ranks 22, 21, 20 and 18 are irrevocable.
Silver League (grades 15 -11)
Tiers: 7 and 8
Maps: Atlantic, Ice Islands, Tierra del Fuego (Fire islands?), Ocean, Split, North and Northern Lights
Advancement: 4 stars per rank
Specials: Ranks 15 and 12 are irrevocable.
Rewards: 3rd season flag
Gold League (grades 10-6)
Tiers: Same as Silver League
Maps: Same as Silver League
Advancement: 5 stars per rank
Platinum League (grades 5-1)
Tiers: Same as Silver League
Maps: Same as Silver League
Advancement: 5 stars per rank
Specials: Supposedly one irrevocable rank, 5th rank?
Russian thread:
http://forum.worldof…age__p__1667856
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EU WoWS fail: Russian description
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Emden has a fake funnel!
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TAP Q&A #3 – Selected Questions
The following questions have been selected and will be forwarded to my contact ASAP (yes I selected more than 2 WoWS questions from some people, mostly because they were really good ones):
WoT:
Other than Historical Battles, will there be plans for any more PvE content? (Which can include: 4-player Co-op, Fun mode – Zombies tanks/P-1000/WoWs-Like Training mode, Boss mode etc…)
Server roaming when?
WoWS:
1. Where is the server located?
2. Are there more plans to optimize the game further to decrease load times?
3. If the ,,Accelerate crew training” is already in WoT for premium tanks, when will it be introduced in WoWs?
4. Will there be a way to choose different names from ships of same class?
5. Many more nations had ships then nations with tanks, will any nations be implemented that won’t reach tier 10?
6.Will more predrednaughts be implemented, premium and nonpremium?
7. Will we see more information on the battle-UI? For example indications on how many secondary guns on each side of the ship are still operational, or how much of the ships’ AAA is still operational?
8. will the release strategy remain one branch at a time or will full trees come together at some stage?
9. will there be more British premiums appear before the first branch is released?
10. will national ensign’s become available as purchasable decorations and can the player community help select what will be available? Some players would prefer to fly a modern Australian ensign and not the ww1 British Empire battle ensign.
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German Historical Tank Destroyer Rework Proposal
Thanks to SovietTenkDestroyer for making this article!
This a rework of the heavy German tank destroyers because the glass cannon versions are mostly historical except for the tier 10 obviously and it’s getting replaced by the Grille 15 (Glasscannon Panther). There’s nothing wrong with the German TDs except for some of the lower tiers… *cough *cough Jagdpanzer IV *cough *cough Anyways, this will make the German TD’s more historical, but I could not find good replacements for the Jagdpanther II. So let’s go on.
Tier 5: Jagdpanzer IV
The Jagdpanzer IV doesn’t seem much of an upgrade from the StuG III. The
StuG III is better for its tier compared to the Jagdpanzer IV. The Jagdpanzer IV does not have the armor to be an assault gun and it doesn’t have the penetration for it to be a long range sniper. It will lose the 8,8cm L/56 and the top gun will be a 7,5cm L/70 with the 7,5cm L/48 being the stock gun. The only real upgrade you gain from the StuG III is a mediocre gun. The StuG III is unhistorical even though it was proposed with the 7,5cm L/70 but it had to have a different casemate to mount it. The StuG III can stay if they gave it its historical casemate if it’s going to mount the 7,5cm L/70.
Health points: 400
Weight: 24 tons
Speed: 40/12
Engine: 300
Power-to-weight: 12.5 (Good terrain resistance to balance it)
Hull traverse: 32
Viewrange: 360-370
Hull: 80/40/22
Gun: 7,5cm L/70
DPM: 1800
Penetration: 150/195/38
Damage: 135/135/175
Aimtime: 1.7
Accuracy: 0.33
Depression: -6/15
Tier 6: JagdPanther or Jagdpanzer IV armed with a 8,8cm L/71
The JagdPanther is mostly historical except for the 10,5cm L/52. The Jagdpanther is a decent vehicle in tier 7 but I feel like it should be in tier 6 because the armor will be useful. Jagdpanther will be nerfed from tier 7 so it can be balanced. Alternatively, we could give the Jagdpanzer IV the 8,8cm L/71. It was a real project. However, it will have to lose hull angling and camo because of the size. I don’t really need to go into detail about a Jagdpanzer IV with a 8,8cm L/71 because it’s basically a Jagdpanzer IV with a 8,8cm L/71…
Health points: 600-800
Weight: 44.5-45 tons
Speed: 45/12
Engine: 700
Power-to-weight: 15.7
Hull traverse: 30
Viewrange: 350
Hull: 80/50/40
Gun: 8,8cm L/71
DPM: 1900-2000
Penetration: 203/237/44
Damage: 240/240/295
Aimtime: 2.3-2.6
Accuracy: 0.34-0.36
Depression: -8/14
Tier 7: Ferdinand
The Ferdinand is one of those tanks that some people love or hate. However, the Ferdinand could never mount the 12,8cm L/55 properly because the breech was to big, bizarrely. You would think that a case mate such as the Ferdinand would be able to mount 12,8cm. The armor isn’t useless in tier 8 but with enough high penetration roles and the 80mm side weakspots, it can be a pain driving in one. It will recieve it’s 8,8cm L/71 which is it’s historical armament. It will have stats that are better or equal to the JagdPanther. It will play as a assault gun with high DPM. I guess similar to the British TDs with some mobility and speed.
Health points: 900-1250
Weight: 66 tons
Speed: 30/10
Engine: 600
Power-to-weight: 9.1 (Terrain resistance to balance it)
Hull traverse: 18-22
Viewrange: 370-380
Hull: 200/80/80
Gun: 8,8cm L/71
DPM: 2000-2350
Penetration: 203/237/44
Damage: 240/240/295
Aimtime: 2.1-2.3
Accuracy: 0.31-0.34
Depression: -8/14
Tier 8: JagdTiger
The JagdTiger is pretty good tank at tier 9 but there’s nothing really unhistorical about the JagdTiger except that it required an extension of the case mate in order to mount the 12,8cm L/66. So in order to not give it a massive weakspot and make it a bigger target. Why not remove the the 12,8cm L/66 and move it down to tier 8. It will perform similar to the Ferdinand without those annoying 80mm weakspots.
Health points: 1500
Weight: 75 tons
Speed: 34-38/12
Engine: 700
Power-to-weight: 9.3
Hull traverse: 20-24
Viewrange: 370-380
Hull: 150/80/80
Gun: 12,8cm L/55
DPM: 2500
Penetration: 246/311/65
Damage: 490/490/630
Aimtime: 2.3
Accuracy: 0.34-0.35
Depression: -7.5/15
Tier 9: StuG E 75
Surprisingly, this is an actual project. The tank seems like one of those tanks you find that claim they’re real but are really not. *cough *cough KV-6 *cough *cough E-90 *cough *cough E-100 “Krokodil” *cough *cough Anyways, it will be armed with a 15cm L/52. So I guess it’ll be a heavy hitter. Maybe for close up engagements. The armor will be better overall for the StuG E 100 compared to the JagdTiger. Similar to U.S. TDs but with more mobility and less armor.
Health point: 1700-2100
Weight: 80-85 tons
Speed: 34-38/12
Engine: 900
Power-to-weight: 10.6-11.25
Hull traverse: 24-28
Viewrange: 380-390
Hull: 150/80/80
Gun: 15cm L/52
DPM: 2500-3000
Penetration: 260-290/320-350/50-90
Damage: 750/750/950
Aimtime: 2.1-2.5
Accuracy: 0.32-0.36
Depression: ?/?
Tier 10: Sturmgeschütz Maus
It’s possible that a design has been made but no picture has survived from the war. It was historically proposed with a 17cm L/53 or a 15cm L/63. So it will be a Jagdpanzer E 100 with less mobility with more overall armor. Here are some artist impressions. The one with the frontal case mate seems like it would unlikely look like that. However, the back casemate one, I feel, seems to probably resemble the real project
Health points: 2000-2400
Weight: 189-190 tons
Speed: 20/15
Engine: 1750
Power-to-weight: 9.2
Hull traverse: 15
Viewrange: 380-400
Hull: 200/185/160
Gun: 17cm L/53 and/or 15cm L/63
DPM: 2550 (17cm L/53) 2800-3100 (15cm L/63)
Penetration: 300/400/90 (17cm L/53) 270-299 (15cm L/63)
Damage: 1050/1050/1400 (17cm L/53) 750/750/950 (15cm L/63)
Aim time: 2.3 (17cm L/53) 2.1 (15cm L/63)
Accuracy: 0.35 (17cm L/53) 0.31-0.33 (15cm L/63)
Depression: ?/?
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How Games Misrepresent Tanks: Visibility and Situational Awareness
Thanks to Mr. Tretiak. Visit his blog here.
In this part of my series on games and how they don’t always (or sometimes outright ignore) how AFVs actually operate, we’ll be covering how games don’t really cover how a tank crew keeps stock of their surroundings.
While I figure it’s usually safe to assume people are aware of this, I’ll just touch on a few basics about how this was and is currently done, both in a modern and historical context.
What we need to keep in mind, starting out, is that a tank is essentially a giant steel bunker with tracks, turret, and a main gun. It is designed to repel all sorts of external threats and damage, from small infantry weapons like pistols and rifles, to shrugging off shrapnel and large bore artillery explosions (in their general area, at least). To do so, even today, tanks limit number of holes or other openings that are readily accessible or exposed, to ensure the strongest possible protection against these various external threats. This means that tanks are relatively isolated, internally, from their external surroundings, especially when it comes to your normal senses, such as sight, hearing, and smell. It may help some to consider that being in a tank is similar to being in a submarine (ok, not really, but bear with me). You are at the mercy of what you can see or detect, but you have a limited amount of tools at your disposal to detect the threats around you or to select targets offensively. This is an issue that has been a long standing issue with armored fighting vehicles since they first started showing up.
Early tanks and vehicles essentially had little vision slits that provided some view of the area directly overlooked by the slit. So drivers could see a narrow little band of space before them, gunners could see little strips of what was directly before their guns, etc. To overcome this, many early tanks would have multiple crew members with multiple gun sponsons (essentially a hull mounted gun turret) laid out around the periphery of the tank to cover multiple angles with fire. They also would have the vehicle commander try to keep an eye out on their surroundings, by using either an armored cupola or similar construct with vision slits to permit them a better sense of their surroundings. These early vehicles, like the British Mk V, were slow, extremely ungainly, and had difficulty maneuvering, though they still made a difference with crossing trenches and helping break some of the stalemate of the war. During the war and afterwards, it was noted that these crude vision slits were very limited in several ways. One, that they were rarely ‘covered’, letting in bullets, snow, rain, ash, smoke and the like into crew compartment. Those that could be closed, were still a weakness in the armor of the vehicle. Long range vision in an early tank was generally accomplished via a man with binoculars, either looking out of an opened hatch, door, or large observation position on the vehicle. Gunnery sights were crude.
As time progressed, leading up to the Second World War, various nations experimented with new technologies and manufacturing techniques to try to provide both good visibility from inside the tank, while improving the protection and security of the crew. The vision slit still remained, early in the war, but was gradually replaced by periscopes and sight prisms that allowed for better protection and fewer points of compromise in the armor layout.
The gun sight on a Panzer III. I am uncertain of either the source of the image or the model of the Panzer III, but one can see through the open hatch, the conventional layout of the vehicle, in accordance with the Heer’s standards during the war.
Guns got better long range performance and sights were improved to increase the effective accuracy of these better weapons. While the Germans produced very accurate and easy to use gunnery sights, they were very expensive and complex, and had a limited field of view. German gunners rarely had any sort of back up sight or wide-view periscope to assist in target acquisition, which limited their effectiveness, relying on the vehicle commander in particular to help guide them on to a target. Other crew generally had very limited options for seeing, though in some cases (such as the hull MG/radioman and the loader) this was not strictly speaking needed for them to do their basic jobs. It was shown, however, that (surprise surprise) more eyes scanning the surrounding area made for much more effective operation of the vehicle, either while it was moving or when it was trying to identify targets.The Allies produced their own gunnery sights that, while generally not as sophisticated, were perfectly functional and also had begun to provide gunners with secondary sights for better situational awareness.
The turret of a ‘Königstiger’ aka Tiger II (H). Position of the various sights and vision systems: bottom right is the driver, seated unbuttoned from his position in the hull. Directly above him, on the turret, is the hole in the turret front where the gunners sight is located. Directly behind that, on the top right of the turret is the commander’s cupola, with the distinctive late-war dome and multiple vision prisms. To the left, located above the gun on the forward turret roof plate, is the loader’s forward vision periscope.
Near the end of the war, multiple sides had nearly finished or started to put out crude night-vision technology, allowing for a limited improvement in night combat abilities.
A late-World War II German infrared night-vision device with an illuminator spotlight. It seems to be mounted on a Panther’s commander’s cupola. While limited in range and offering a poor image, it represents some of the first steps towards improving tank crew’s ability to operate with extended sensory equipment.
Even with the advances and improvements made, it was found that situational awareness, especially for near or around the vehicle, was incredibly poor, leaving tanks extremely vulnerable to flanking and and infantry. The most reliable means for a tank crew to ascertain the nearby conditions and environment is to open their hatches and look around ‘unbuttoned’. This gives excellent situational awareness, though perhaps for obvious reasons, it has major drawbacks. The most cynical among us could successfully argue, for instance, that having a tank commander taken out by a sniper certainly would increase the vehicle crew’s general situational awareness to the threat of nearby infantry. That said, it is not the best course of action when one suspects nearby infantry or enemies, forcing crews to either rely on friendly troops or vehicles to overlap their vision or otherwise protect them from such situations. However, even today, it is easier and most effective to drive a tank or check the local situation by popping your head out of the hatch to have a look around, provided you’re not suicidal or otherwise engaged in combat.
More recent improvements to tanks include a wide range of sensors and devices that allow for better vision during the day and night, full thermal vision, and even devices that can assist in detecting the direction where gun fire has come from. Other improvements, either being developed or tested, including direct feeds from local UAVs, remote cameras mounted to cover various angles of the vehicle, GPS navigation, and military data networking that allows for real-time information being transmitted to various vehicle crews across the field of battle. Yet all of this still doesn’t change that you are still in a giant metal bunker with limited options for viewing or observing your immediate vicinity. It only mitigates this reality and help improve the function and efficiency of the vehicle crew.
So, how do video games usually stack up to this reality? Generally, not very well on average (with some notable stand outs). Let’s see what some of the contenders are!
The Battlefield Series
Perhaps surprisingly, the Battlefield Series has made some efforts to reflect the fact that you can only see a limited amount of space when you’re in a tank, and should be generally commended for that. Are they the most accurate or well-thought out presentations? Ehhh, not perfect. They still do a better job than some other games I’ll mention, however.
World of Tanks
World of Tanks does rather poorly, all told, in how it handles tank visibility and situational awareness, though this can perhaps be written off a little as the game isn’t trying to simulate real tank combat. Rather, it uses game mechanics (vehicle sight vision, making tanks invisible, etc) to ‘simulate’ the limited vision and awareness a tank crew might experience. However, with a third person view and tank gunnery sights that are limited at best, and outright fanciful at worst, it’s not really the paragon of realism (nor does it try to be in most cases). Armored Warfare falls into the same general category, though it gets a special shout-out for it looking into, at least, night vision and thermal devices in the future, which would be pretty neat and allow for night fights in the game.
War Thunder
War Thunder is fairly similar to World of Tanks in some cases, where in others, it can be significantly better. It really depends on what type of game mode and game experience you are looking for as a gamer. Arcade matches feel very similar to World of Tanks in a lot of ways, though there are clear differences in approach (for instance, game balance does not really exist in the same way that it does in World of Tanks). With Simulator battles, however, tanking becomes much more about your own situational awareness and using the tools they provide to make the maximum use of your vehicle and its armor in combat. They incorporate various real-world analogs that would be shared across virtually all tanks of the era. Here’s a basic list of this vision characteristics: the gun sight is adjustable, you can simulate viewing things through a tank commander’s binoculars, seeing through the driver’s periscope/prism, or even being unbuttoned from the commander’s hatch (kinda). The game still has some major issues, though, for the hardcore tank simulation crowd, as the gunnery sights are not unique to the country (they varied in sophistication and operating method for different models and countries in real life) and still feel more tacked on, than as fine-tuned mechanics. Still, the experience is a bit more ‘authentic’ to what it might be like to be in an actual tank and try to take stock of your surroundings than either Battlefield or World of Tanks.
The Red Orchestra Series
Ah, Red Orchestra: Ostrfront, Mare Nostrum, and Darkest Hour. These were, for the longest time, my personal staples for World War II tank combat. I loved how you had to manually dial in the range of a target and sight it, how you were always in danger if you poked your head out for a quick look around at your surroundings. They tried, very, very hard to replicate the sense of isolation a tank crew might feel and the dilemma of exposing yourself to enemy fire in order to gain a better sense of the situation around you. Was it perfect? No, not really. But they did a great job, especially for what were all fairly advanced gameplay concepts for their era and if someone is looking for a cheap tanking simulation thrill, it’s a good place to go if you don’t mind the inaccuracies and more game-y elements you might encounter (or bad armor simulation). Not just that, but you can run most of a full tank crew, depending on the vehicle, with driver, commander, gunner, and hull gunner all being playable by other players (and a positive blast when you have friends who want to join you in running a tank).
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad and Rising Storm do an even better job, albeit with a much, much smaller pool of vehicles and tanks. The internal models of their vehicles (The Panzer IV and T-34, along with a recent expansion that includes additional vehicles) and how they work, the vision slots and your limited options for looking around, all of these can really bring home the isolated world inside of a tank. I frankly adore that they have tried to do this, though I lament their continued lack of additional vehicles, such as the IS, KV-2, or Tiger (to name a few of the, many, many vehicles they’re lacking). However, it’s clear that each one would represent a significant and very time consuming and expensive investment to produce, despite how absolutely gaga I would be for Tripwire Interactive to create them. I can only hope and look forward towards the future and the modding community.
The ArmA Series
I love ArmA. I truly do. But when it comes to vehicles and vehicle combat, it has some major weaknesses and lets armor-orientated players down a fair bit. Yes, it’s mostly infantry focused, yes its not a full on combat simulator. But one had hoped, given that they have done a great job with modeling the interiors of helicopters, trucks, airplanes, and even the transportation compartments of an APC or IFV, they might also model the interior of a tank or other AFVs with the same vigor. Sadly, they have not and probably will not in the foreseeable future, much to my disappointment. That said, the ArmA modding community has made significant efforts to rectify this terrible tragedy, and various mods and efforts have made or are making mods that replicate the interior of these vehicles and how they might or do operate. My only current qualm is third person views, which I think breaks immersion for me and others, though its simple enough to find a server or group that limits vision to first-person only.
All told, games have made efforts to help replicate, if not directly simulate this aspect of operating an armored vehicle. In any game where multiple crew positions are available in a first person mode, it really can immerse players in the unique challenges faced when one is in a tank and it really is quite unlike anything else when its done well.
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Gun Depression of Swedish Tanks
Greetings, tankers. While you are waiting for WG to implement Swedish tanks (and destroy the unified EU tree even more :'( ), Redditor Wheelchair_Warrior has discovered the depression some of them have. M/42 has an unhistorical gun by the way.
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World of Tanks on PlayStation 4 Second Open Beta
If you missed out on the previous Open Beta, you have another chance to avoid such a mistake! The second World of Tanks on PlayStation 4 Open Beta is taking place between January 8-10, but you don’t have to wait until then to download the game. During the Beta, command history’s most legendary and battle-tested tank arsenals such as the United States, Germany and the Soviet Union, and take to the battlefield!
By logging in to their Garage during Beta, tankers receive two Open Beta exclusives: the T1E6-PS which sports stylish blue camouflage and the chrome M22 Locust-PS, adorned with a special color scheme honoring the original PlayStation!
Download World of Tanks on PlayStation 4 Now
Please note: The UK version of this link will be available in the near future.
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Tanktics: Ice Slides
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