Tuesday, 31 May 2016
War Thunder: Sturer Emil
Dear friends!
Recently, we introduced a new line of open-cabin German SPGs to the game. Most players liked this new addition: the powerful rank 3 vehicles – the Dicker Max and Nashorn – may be lightly armoured, but on the other hand they can shred any opponent that gets in their sights with a single shot. However, the line is unfinished, so we’re here to present to you an essential new hero of the upcoming update. Meet the Sturer Emil!
Recently, we introduced a new line of open-cabin German SPGs to the game. Most players liked this new addition: the powerful rank 3 vehicles – the Dicker Max and Nashorn – may be lightly armoured, but on the other hand they can shred any opponent that gets in their sights with a single shot. However, the line is unfinished, so we’re here to present to you an essential new hero of the upcoming update. Meet the Sturer Emil!
Work on the Sturer Emil began in as early as 1939, when the German army had need of an effective weapon against the reinforced Maginot Line. But by 1942, the situation had changed fundamentally: France had already fallen, and Germany was waging an entirely different war against the USSR. At the start of the Great Patriotic War, when the Germans first clashed with the newest Soviet KV and T-34 tanks, the question of creating an effective weapon against them became critical: no German tank cannon at that time could effectively penetrate their armour. Only high-calibre anti-aircraft weapons showed good efficiency in penetrating Soviet heavy armour, such as the 12.8 cm FlaK 40.
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A self-propelled gun based on the experimental VK3001(H) tank and armed with a 128 mm anti-aircraft cannon adapted for SPG usage had every chance to be the silver bullet against Soviet tanks that the Germans needed. For that reason, the Sturer Emil, once an assault tank, was reclassified as an anti-tank SPG.
As expected, the weapon installed on the SPG demonstrated incredible efficacy against thick armour in tests. However, the ‘Stubborn Emil’ never reached mass production: the Germans bet on the Tiger tank instead (also armed with an adapted anti-aircraft cannon, but this time with a calibre of 88 mm). This meant that the two already built Sturer Emil SPGs that were sent to the front in 1942 were the first and last of their kind.
As expected, the weapon installed on the SPG demonstrated incredible efficacy against thick armour in tests. However, the ‘Stubborn Emil’ never reached mass production: the Germans bet on the Tiger tank instead (also armed with an adapted anti-aircraft cannon, but this time with a calibre of 88 mm). This meant that the two already built Sturer Emil SPGs that were sent to the front in 1942 were the first and last of their kind.
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The role of the new SPG in tank and mixed battles in War Thunder isn’t hard to imagine: they’re intended to support attacking allied forces from a safe distance. The ‘Stubborn Emil’ lacks heavy armour, and its driving performance leaves something to be desired. On the other hand, its 128 mm cannon has no equal in battle against any opponent. The PzGr shells for the 12.8 cm K.40 L/71 are similar to those used on the Jagdtiger, and incidentally, they are some of the most powerful shells in the game for post-penetration effect due to the huge amount of explosives inside them. Finally, the weapon has excellent elevation angles: the SPG can fire its deadly 128 mm shells at a -15° angle, and is every bit the equal to its counterpart, the Dicker Max, in this respect. That said, be careful not to waste your small ammunition complement of just 15 shells – returning to base or moving to a point to reload on this vehicle is a long and potentially dangerous process.
Take a look at the German open-topped SPG tech branch and train yourself to conquer in these very special vehicles while you wait for the Sturer Emil in the upcoming Update 1.59 “Flaming Arrows”!
Upcoming content for Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows" :
Armored Warfare: COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHT - PT.23
Welcome to the twenty-third issue of the Community Highlight series, dedicated to the community members of Armored Warfare and their contributions. Find out more about the game, learn something new and check out the cool community content!
In today's Community Highlight issue, we will focus on player-made guides and two awesome wallpapers!
COMMUNITY CONTENT
Check out SirHavoc's Light Tank guide, featuring the VFM5 Light Tank!
Soapwarrior's guide focuses on the Leopard 2A7-140 Main Battle Tank!
Armored Warfare Leagues published a guide to Custom Matches, very useful for players who are interested in organizing their own tournaments!
Tigerclaw89's XM1A3 vehicle weakspot guide is also worth checking out.
The Firm shows how to play the Merkava 2B Tier 7 Premium MBT in his epic 7940 damage battle!
And last but not least, interested in a hot wallpaper with the Terminator or Centauro 120? Zarrick has you covered!
Available in the following resolutions:
Available in the following resolutions:
That's it for today, looking forward to seeing you on the battlefield! You can submit your community contribution to our dedicated forum section, perhaps it will be your work featured next time!
Monday, 30 May 2016
War Thunder: M48A1
The American M46 Patton and M47 Patton II tanks are greatly respected among players in high-ranked War Thunder battles. These powerful vehicles stand out for their flexibility and utility: their good vertical aiming angles, solid frontal armour and an excellent chassis allow them to adapt for any conditions and complete any task.
Very soon, the list of these wonderful machines will be bolstered by an additional one: the developer team has finished working on the M48A1 Patton III.
Very soon, the list of these wonderful machines will be bolstered by an additional one: the developer team has finished working on the M48A1 Patton III.
The second Patton model, the M47, was initially designed as an intermediary point in the series, so before even finishing its development, General Motors began to design a new vehicle with an improved 90mm cannon. The project was designated T48, and subsequently became the M48. The prototype was a development of the M46 and M47 ideals; it received a 90mm M41 cannon with an ammunition complement of 60 shots and improved armour. A version with a rotating machine gun turret with large-caliber M2HB received the series designation M48A1.
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The first series-produced M48 left the factory in 1952, and were deployed only in 1953. The M48A1 modification was, in short, developed even later. This meant that the Patton III was unable to participate in the Korean War. However, the tank’s service record is rich in other combat episodes: the vehicle was used during the wars and conflicts in Indochina, in the Middle East and in North Africa. It was used in numerous battles from the mid-1960s to the present day. The last M48 was assembled in 1960.
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What awaits the M48 in War Thunder? First of all, this tank logically links up the M46 and M47 line with the M60: moving from the Pattons to the top vehicle will be a more fluid process. Secondly, the M48 will strengthen the American side in high-ranked tank and mixed battles, becoming a valued ally in the fight against any opponent from other nations.
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The frontal armour plates of the Patton are set at a good angle, which makes the tank more resistant to hits from armour-piercing, APCR and HE shells. Its 90mm cannon has wonderful ballistic characteristics and among all its contemporaries, it is inferior in destructive force only to the Soviet D-10T. Finally, the tank’s maneuverability in combination with its other characteristics allows it to impose its strategy against the opponent and adapt for any situation that emerges during battle.
This fantastic tank will arrive in hangars after the soon-to-come huge update 1.59. Keep an eye on our news!
Upcoming content for Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows" :
Armored Warfare: MAINTENANCE - HOTFIX 0.15.2177
On the 31st of May 2016, starting from 08:00 AM CEST (EU server) and 00:00 AM PDT (NA server), the Open Beta servers will not be available for four hours (until approximately 12:00 CEST - 04:00 AM PDT) due to the application of Update 0.15.2177, bringing corrections to some of the critical issues in Armored Warfare.
LIST OF UPDATE 0.15.2177 CHANGES
- Fixed the bug where Global Reputation could under certain (very rare) circumstances drop to negative numbers
- Fixed the bug where the Taifun II gun did not lock correctly when holding the Right Mouse Button
- Fixed the User Interface bug where Daily Challenges sometimes displayed incorrect text
- Fixed the User Interface bug where Reputation conversion window sometimes displayed incorrect text
Please note that the maintenance can be extended beyond the abovementioned timeframe. We apologize for the inconvenience
Armored Warfare: DEVELOPER DIGEST - PT.3
Welcome to the third issue of the Developer Digest series. In this issue, Senior NA Producer Joshua Morrisanswers some of the most commonly asked questions by the community!
What are your plans for reviving the community?
Thanks for starting out with the easy question =)
There is no silver bullet that fixes the current situation and will require many steps to revitalize the community. As NA producer I am painfully aware that many of the the player on our server can not get viable PvP matches during many hours of the day.
The correct solution involves 5 things:
- Fix outstanding bugs and balance issues in the game
- Add a competitive mode to the game to give players longer term goals
- Provide in game incentives through events, to provide motivation to current and past players
- Provide a recruitment program to reward players for bring friends/clan mates to the game
- Advertise
1) Number #1 is being handled over the next upcoming patches, for example we have dedicated resources to kill the "shot delay bug" and will be testing these changes soon. We will also be putting resources on other long standing bugs and you should see changes as these bear fruit. As for balance changes we now have all 10 tiers in the game so we can work to find an overall balance between tiers. We have several issues we would like to tackle: Class Balance (Not about nerfing MBT's, but bring other classes in line), Time to kill, AC and ATGM balance and balance issues. (there are more but those are the highlights)
2) Our first competitive mode will also be making a debut within a next few updates, giving players an incentive to to participate and earn unique rewards for competition. More information on this mode will be shared in the near future, and testing will ensue.
3) We have ran many events thus far and have data on what has worked and what you like. We have giving away premium tanks, gold, Premium time, and credits for just playing the game. Some events have been more popular than others and we will work to balance these events so the rewards equal the time invested (I'm looking at you May Marathon!)
4) A recruitment program has been something that has been in the works for a while, and we would like to time it to correspond to the above improvements, so that players we bring in will stay and play for a very long time.
5) Like the recruitment program, its important that time this with other improvements and programs so that the players we gain continue to play past these promotions. The more success we have with the other areas the more that can be spent in this area.
I just want to confirm we are aware of the large task at hand and that it will take time to implement everything that is needed. That being said we have many of the core systems in place and can now work towards filling out and polishing the systems throughout the year, while continuing to add more content to the game.
Now that SIMM has been removed from the game and you've had the chance to observe the results, are you confident that it will be gone for good?
We will need more time with the current system before coming to any conclusion. I think there are still areas to improvement MM regardless of "skill" and we can look into those tweaks first.
As a producer, what do you consider to be the biggest challenge AW is currently facing and how do you plan to address that challenge?
Resources. Even on a large product like this there is never enough time in the day to do everything you want. The important thing is now that we have all tiers of vehicles in place we know what our "high end" is, and we can now balance everything with this in place. It’s most important that our future updates move the game in a positive direction.
Re-skinned Premium Tanks are bad!
I'm not sure I can agree with that statement as players have no need to buy any vehicle they don't want to; in some ways these are the most "fair" premium vehicles as anyone is able to buy the core vehicle within the game. You just decide if the vehicle skin and premium bonus is something that aligns with a vehicle you would like to own. That being said, more Collectors’ Edition tanks will be created, exploring some unique limited production and prototype vehicles.
The huge gap between Tier 9 and Tier 10 is like day and night. Are you guys considering doing something or is the current power jump intended?
This goes to my point before; we now have all the tiers in the game and can look at gaps and power progressions between them.
What do you think the problems are about high tier gameplay?
Short list?
- Main Battle Tanks versus other classes balance/role (improving all classes while not gimping MBT's fun)
- "Sameness"
- "Time to kill"
- ATGM/Autocannon weapons balance
- Map design
Do you believe the current time to kill is too short or too long?
Definitely too short for some classes at higher tiers.
What kind of measures will be implemented to increase quality of the patches and hotfixes?
We now have access to a test server in NA/EU that will allow staff to check updates before they go to any PTS. This will hopefully lead to catching many issues before they go live. This will also allow us to test larger features further in the future to ensure maximum "fun".
Are you happy with class balance in PvE?
No. PvE needs to be viable for all classes; the HP and Armor of MBT's make them very efficient in PvE. I think over the long term creating more and different types of missions that caters to all classes, while improving the capabilities of non MBT classes will lead to better balance in both PvE and PvP.
What about making the maps bigger?
There are two directions to take. One is to open up maps going forward and the 2nd is the rework some existing maps. We need to figure out which gives us the most bang for our buck while still keeping the game fresh!
Any news on a French MBT line?
Yes, can’t tell you when yet.
How are you planning to fight player toxicity?
I think we have a pretty good record of resolving player issues like this when support tickets are created, and it should be much easier to report now that our tool are working and you have the ability to send in replays as proof. Give it a try; you might be surprised with the result.
Do you plan on improving your in house 'tools' to allow migration between servers / shared progress?
The game wasn’t designed in this way, and cross server play or accounts isn't an "easy" fix.
Tell us more about high-tier competitive content.
First of all, competitive content doesn't have to happen only at tier 10. Our first game mode will in fact let players much lower compete without having to reach tier 10. "End game" can be a poor word to use overall, I think its most important to give multiple ways of progression, that could be through friendly PvE matches, pick up PvP, or a more competitive mode. Overall I think players do want a way to compare their performance to others and utilize the vehicles they have unlocks to show that skill.
The producers and developers should focus on what’s going to bring back your average player base and ensure them battles they can enjoy!
Agreed. Every battle from tier 1-10 needs to be fun, everything else is just icing.
Don’t you feel the patches are a bit rushed?
Well, there are updates and hot fixes. Honestly, if anything the pace may be a bit too rapid, leading to more hotfixes than needed. The a balance between there being too much time between updates and the updates not having enough polished content to be interesting. The community thoughts on pacing would be great.
What’s up with the long artillery reload times in Update 0.15?
This was not an intended effect; artillery will be adjusted separately to take this change into consideration.
Aren’t you concerned the Tier 4 Zhalo-S is a bit too powerful? Experienced players use it to hunt down newbies.
This is an issue of trying to make premium vehicles good and worth it to buy, we have long take a stance that we will balance any tank as needed. As for tier 4 specifically, any skilled player in many tanks, premium or otherwise can dominate, let’s make sure it’s about the tank and not the inherent skill before jumping to any conclusions.AW is very skill dependent, and this can lead to frustration while this learning curve is overcome. I like that we have PvE in our game as it give players a place to learn the ropes and this skill benefits other players on the team.
How long does it take to get to tier 10 from new account?
Armored Warfare is super skill dependent, so it varies from way less than the equivalent of World of Tanks grind, to a bit more if the player is really unskilled. I won't be able to share the actual numbers but that should give you a good indication.
That's it for today. See you in the next issue!
Sunday, 29 May 2016
War Thunder: “Panfilov’s 28” to be released on the 24th of November 2016
Gaijin Entertainment and 28 Panfilov’s men studio are proud to announce the premiere of a long anticipated war movie. Panvilov’s 28, with Universal Pictures Russia as the film provider. The premiere in Russia is estimated to take place around November 24th 2016.
| Panvilov’s 28 is a movie devoted to a famous act of bravery by the Soviet soldiers that managed to protect Moscow back in 1941. |
Panvilov’s 28 is a movie devoted to a famous act of bravery by the Soviet soldiers that managed to protect Moscow back in 1941, with most of them paying the ultimate price for this deed. The movie has been created in partnership by the 28 Panfilov’s men studio and Gaijin Entertainment, the video game developer that created the famous MMO - “War Thunder”.
You can turn on subtitles for this video by clicking on the cog-wheel in right bottom corner. |
The project has been developed by a small independent studio in St.-Petersburg and Gaijin Entertainment, with support from their war-related massively multiplayer online game, War Thunder. The movie became a unique project. It received a record breaking crowd-funding in Russia as well as several CIS states and was supported by other investors such as the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Kazakhstan Ministry of Culture after huge fundraising success.
Andrey Shaliopa. “Panfilov’s 28” producer:
«We are happy to announce that we have found a wonderful partner in Universal Pictures Russia. The premiere will take place on November, 24th 2016. Finding a trustworthy distribution partner requires a lot of effort, it took us many months, but I believe that Universal is the best film provider we could ever hope to find. Together we will make sure that the movie will be available for the widest possible audience. I will share all the details in the closest future on our website and on our social media groups»
Anton Yudintsev, co-producer of the “Panfilov’s 28” movie and Gaijin Entertainment CEO:
«Our project is entering its final stage and we are very happy to finally announce the date of the long anticipated premiere. It is symbolic that it will take place on the 75th anniversary of the famous battle near Dubosekovo and will become a true memorial to the heroic deed of the brave men.»
Watch the official trailer and subscribe to the Youtube channel - follow the news!
The War Thunder and 28 Panfilov’s Team
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