Armored Warfare Q&A 2

Hello warriors,

Armored Warfare developers made another Q&A session with players - in case you are interested, here it is. Also, Silentstalker ("Frank Davis" in comments) will be answering the questions you might have in the comments as well if you want.

First session can be found here.

Question:  How will player statistics be handled? Will clan commanders be able to see the statistics of their prospective recruits?

Answer: Players will be able to see the statistics of other players only outside of battle. We do not want to implement any functions that would display player skill in battles due to the detrimental effect it would have on player behavior in the game.

Question: Is there any mechanic in the matchmaking that will prevent a very good player being teamed with very inexperienced players all the time to 'balance' him? It wouldn't be fun for the good player to constantly have unreliable teammates nor will it be fun for the worse players to have a guy on their team who does most of the damage and who will also be frustrated with them.

Answer: The matchmaker won't make any special effort to lump good players with bad players into matches. That distribution will just be based on who queued in what vehicle at what moment. The only time player ability is taken into consideration is when it comes time to divide the pool of players into two competing teams to pit against each other. During this pass, the matchmaker is taking into consideration vehicle class, tier, and player skill to create teams of balanced vehicles and overall average player skill on each team.

Question: Will large caliber HE shells be able to 'relieve' enemies of their ERA?
Answer: Yes, HE blasts will damage the ERA system.

Question: Will we get vehicles with adjustable suspension in game? If so, how will it be controllable?

Answer: Currently, adjustable suspension is not scheduled but it is something that we would like to implement in future updates.

Question: Will there be an armor and module viewer in the game?

Answer:  We are planning such a feature when it comes to armor models.

Question: When the game moves from Early Access to Full Release, will we keep our progress?

Answer: There will be a progress wipe between early access and release – stay tuned for details in our future articles.

Question: Will vehicle classes get more experience and credits for fulfilling their role in the game regardless of the match outcome win/lose (for example, AFV’s and scouting with indirect damage)?

Answer: Succeeding at the role your vehicle is designed for will always result in strong rewards for your matches. It is important to us that all vehicles, when performing what they are designed to do well, will earn roughly the same Reputation and Credits. We will be evaluating different formulas for this system during Closed Beta testing to make sure that we are hitting our goal of having all vehicle roles equally rewarded.

Question:  How do you acquire data about tanks?
Answer: We use numerous publications as well as publicly available sources to bring the tanks in the game to life. 

Question:  When designing maps, will the developers model their maps based on real world locations or will they be simply just design the maps to suit the game?

Answer:  Balance and playability are the two most important factors when creating a map. Real life battlefields have a nasty habit of favoring one side over another and that is why we create our maps mostly from scratch. Maps are however inspired by existing areas and environments and we aim to make the game maps as diverse and interesting as possible. You will find all kinds of environments in Armored Warfare – from snowy Russian tundra to deserts of Africa.

Question:  Is it possible for very soft vehicles such has HMMVW with TOW launchers to appear in the game?
Answer: It is possible vehicles like the HMMVW will find a place in Armored Warfare. We have not ruled out any military vehicle additions for the future.

Question:  What strategies are being considered to prevent toxicity in the game? Reporting offenses is great but likely too inefficient cost wise for staff to manually review all reports.

Answer: We perceive fighting toxicity in battles as one of our most important tasks.  To that end, filters will be in place, preventing players from insulting others and punishing players attempting to use the worst kinds of insults. Unfair behavior in the game will not be tolerated either and players will face strict punishments for harassing others.  Intentional team damage and team killing will be punished by an automatic system.

Question:  Do you plan to continue adding maps after release?

Answer: Yes, adding new maps is a natural part of the game development. We do not however want to release too many maps at the same time to give players a chance to learn the existing ones properly without becoming overwhelmed.

Question: Was mounted infantry ever considered as tool/kind of controlled weapon/skill for IFVs?

Answer: The “presence” of infantry is already nominally a part of the IFV statistics. Any other infantry presence however is not planned, although it is possible (in PvE mode) that we will implement UI-controlled bunkers as defensive structures the player will have to overcome.

Question: How do you select what class a vehicle gets put into? How do you decide a vehicle is a tank destroyer, an AFV or a light tank for example? Some vehicles can clearly fit multiple categories.

Answer: For most vehicles, we can just use the official designation of the vehicle. In other words, what did its manufacturer call it? This usually makes it easy to identify Main Battle Tanks, Light Tanks, and Self-Propelled Guns. Where things require more analysis is when it comes to the vehicles that we group into Armored Fighting Vehicles and Tank Destroyers.

Both of these terms can encompass a wide variety of different vehicles and both of them are rarely the official designation of the vehicle. Essentially, if a vehicle is not a MBT, LT, or SPG, then we know that it must be either an AFV or a TD in our game and it's a matter of deciding on which class it should have based on its characteristics.

For AFVs and Tank Destroyer candidates, we largely pay attention to what the primary armament of the vehicle is designed for. If the primary armament is an anti-armor, anti-vehicle cannon, we will likely classify the vehicle as a Tank Destroyer. If the primary armament is an autocannon, we will usually classify the vehicle as an AFV. For vehicles that are only equipped with Anti-Tank Guided Missiles, we have been assigning them to the AFV class though we are currently reevaluating whether they should be considered Tank Destroyers instead.

Question:  Will different types of ammunition have different effects on ERA? How will AP, HE and HEAT ammunition interact with it?

Answer: HEAT shells will mostly be negated by the presence of ERA. Armor-piercing and HE ammunition will affect ERA, triggering the explosion, but some advanced heavy ERA systems will also reduce the penetration value of AP shells.

Question: What will be the difference between premium and normal tanks? Will they be intentionally weaker than fully upgraded "normal" tanks?

Answer:  Premium vehicles will be generally weaker than fully upgraded regular vehicles of the same tier. They will not have optional modules and therefore will effectively be “stock”. On the other hand, they will also have lower combat rating which will result in preferred matchmaking. Premium vehicles will earn more credits for the owner, which is their primary purpose.

Question: Will the game physics allow for vehicles to roll on to their sides or even roll upside down?

Answer:  By default, the engine's physics will happily allow vehicles to flip over or roll onto their sides. We have actually put a lot of work into the physics system to prevent vehicles from rolling onto theirs sides or flipping over. When realistic physics are applied to the way players actually tend to drive vehicles in video games, it is extremely likely that the vehicles will be flipped as players try to take turns at speeds that are too high or careen off elements of the environment in ways that would be catastrophic to vehicles in the real world. In internal playtests before we added some limiters to the physics, players were often rolling their vehicles over due to driving off steep edges at a bad angle or from taking a sharp turn irresponsibly fast. Ultimately, this experience was more frustrating than it was fun and so we took measures to prevent vehicle rolling for now. It's always possible we could re-enable rolling for a special event or for custom games, but it was our decision that the normal game experience is much better without your matches being ruined due to driving around faster than you would in real life.

Question: Will there be some reward for players who do excellent damage per battle, such as the “kill rings” on the barrel? What about missions?

Answer: Yes, but not only that. Excellent players will have through a variety of achievements the option to obtain various attractive visual elements such as special markings and camouflages There will always be a goal on Armored Warfare – one of the things to do will be to complete series of difficult missions in order to gain substantial rewards, including camouflage, special decals, and other cosmetic trophies.