Top of the Tree: T110E5

Hello warriors,

From 1 November at 06:10 until 15 November at 06:00 CET (UTC+1), the next Top of the Tree (tier 10 discount) on EU server will be the T110E5.
This is a tank I've had for nearly 3 years and recommend, specially after its recent buff although is very likely it will be nerfed so enjoy an OP vehicle while it lasts.

Other vehicles of the branch on discount are:

50% discount on purchase:

• T2 Medium Tank
• M2 Medium Tank
• M3 Lee
• T1 Heavy Tank

30% discount on purchase:

• M6
• T29
• T32
• M103
• T110E5

+ 50% Crew XP bonus for all vehicles included in the special.

Equipment Recommended: Gun Rammer, Ventilation and Vertical Stabilizer.

Armored Warfare: Token System

Hello Warriors,

In Armored Warfare, the patch 0.11 will bring tier 9 vehicles like the Challenger 2, however they will only be unlocked with a new feature called the Token System.

Source: https://aw.my.com/gb/news/general/introducing-tier-9-token-system

"Each Tier 8 vehicle will have a Tier 9 Token available as a part of its progression. By unlocking the Token, available for reputation just like other vehicle upgrades, the player will get to choose from all the Tier 9 vehicles from that respective Dealer. After spending Reputation to research a "Tier 9 Unlock" upgrade in the Tier 8 vehicle's upgrade tree, players will be presented with an interface that allows them to select any available Tier 9 vehicle in the same Dealer.

The Tier 9 unlock upgrade can only be researched once per Tier 8 vehicle. After unlocking the Tier 9 vehicle, it must still be purchased with credits as usual. The advantage of this system is that Tier 9 progression is not bound to particular branches or groups of branches, it will for example be possible to unlock an AFV by collecting reputation on a Tier 8 Main Battle Tank of the same Dealer.

Please note:
It will not be possible to unlock regular Tier 9 vehicles from Tier 8 artillery. When Tier 9 self-propelled guns are introduced in the future, it will only be possible to unlock them from Tier 8 artillery vehicles. This decision was taken to reflect the drastically different gameplay of the SPG class compared to the other classes in the game.
Vehicle lines which currently end with a Tier 7 vehicle will have Tier 9 Unlock upgrade. Tier 9 Unlock upgrades on Tier 7 vehicles will have an increased Reputation cost to balance the ability of a Tier 7 vehicle to jump directly to a Tier 9."

Do you like this system?

IS-6 HD Screenshots

Hello Warriors,

here are the screenshots of the IS-6 in HD:

31/10/2015 Stream

Hello Warriors,

its time for streaming!

Tonight will start with WoT, just got the SU-85 as I'm currently grinding for the ISU-152 and SU-101 (which will be getting back its tier 10 gun).

Later on will be doing my Halloween dailies to earn the seasonal decals andddd just maybe some Diablo III (Seasonal Demon Hunter- Hard Lvl) dailies as well.

Lets do this: http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2

07

30/10/2015 Q&A

- Storm has nothing to do with the allocation of finances for World of Tanks
- Stronghold interface was fixed in 9.10
- IS-7 and Object 260 have different layout of rear armor, they are correct apparently
- Earlier, Storm promised that players over 2000 battles will have the unpopular map tiering disabled, this however was not done in 9.10, it is still planned
- Storm's earlier statement on this topic: "We decided to release the patch with all the emblems giving the same bonuses and introduce the full set of bonuses only later"
- Patch 10.0 cancelled? Storm: "Wait for official information"

Dammit Carl!

WoT Blitz: Canal Map

Hello Warriors,

WoT Blitz has a new map called Canal which at first I imagined it to be an Artillery's wet dream Dutch map with plenty of water but no:

Desolate and with rainy weather...

10.0 Cancelled

Hello Warriors,

according to sources, 10.0 has been cancelled.

Rubikon got cancelled along with the new inscription system and the gas cloud of the Rampage mode.
This is actually good news, according to Storm, the 10.0 patch was being rushed upon us with its new bugs fixed or not as well, something that he was against.

Wargaming took the wise decision to listen the community and pull back the 10.0 patch as this could have been a major flop.

However, the FV4202 replacement and the new Rampage mode will be coming as a micropatch.

Are you happy with this decision? I sure am...

Armored Warfare: Pumpkin Blood

Hello Warriors,

As someone who dislikes Halloween I'm glad to announce that's official, Armored Warfare has declared war against the pumpkins, good lads!

And now I'm craving for home made pumpkin & walnut jam... *sigh*

The strangest fighting machines: Flying Tanks

Hello Warriors,

a new episode of "The strangest fighting machines", this time they talk about Flying Tanks:

(Very "me Tarzan you Jane" English subtitles, would be nice if EU or NA would step up and maybe add voice over? Seems like a waste to only upload this type of videos for RU.)

Zen Garden

Hello Warriors,

another commercial from Wargaming, is a bit weird but because it happens in Japan its acceptable:

Banzai!

M46 Patton KR Tier 8 Medium

Hello Warriors,

here are the statistics and screenshots of the new tier 8 Medium, M46 Patton KR:

Description:
M46 is an American medium tank from the second half of the 1940s. It was also called General Patton in honour of George Patton, which was usually shortened to Patton. It was the first tank built in the USA after the end of WW2. The M46 was developed in 1948-1949 and was a modernized variant of the M26 wartime tank. M46 was different from the M26 by having a new engine and is considered to be the first of the "Pattons" - medium tanks and MBTs produced until the early 1980s.


Statistics:
Tier: 8 MT
Hitpoints: 1450
Engine: 810 hp
Weight: 44 tons
Power-to-weight: 18.41 hp/t
Maximum speed: 48.3/20 km/h
Hull traverse: 38 deg/s
Turret traverse: 39.6 deg/s
Terrain resistance: 1,247/1,438/2,397
Viewrange: 390
Radio range: 776.9
Hull armor: 101,6 /76,2 /? mm
Turret armor: 101,6 /76,2/? mm

New Premium Shop Look

Hello Warriors,

The Premium Shop on the NA server received a revamp this is how it looks like:

The simple but sleek design matches the new WoT's launcher which by the way, when it got leaked the screenshots didn't made it justice, I actually like it more than the previous one.
It also seems like they fixed the badly translated tank descriptions.

Hello there, HMS TOG II. ;)

Do you like it?

10.0 Emblems Cancelled

Hello Warriors,

Since the 10.0 test server went live many Community Contributors like Quickybaby, Jingles and I have spoken against the current P2W state of the new inscription system and I'm very pleased to tell you that due to the large amount of negative feedback it is now cancelled and will be reviewed to hopefully be back in the future.

MrConway, a EU CC Manager wrote today on the forum:

"First of all we want to thank all of you that took the time to not only test the 10.0 update, but also shared your feedback with us. It is important for us that you guys understand that we do care and listen to this feedback and pass it on to the developers.

As you might have noticed, two of the new features in particular received a large amount of negative feedback. We took this to the devs, made the case for you and are happy to report that decisions were made based on this feedback.

In particular this concerned:

• Crew bonuses in the new tank customization feature
• Gas cloud mechanics in Rampage mode

These features will not be included in patch 10.0 as a result. They will be reviewed and reworked and hopefully come back in the future with the issues addressed.

We will be keeping the new and improved customization UI, as well as the new Steel Hunt game mode with the new maps.

Please make sure to keep sending us feedback when issues like this come up!" 

Party time!

28/10/2015 Stream

Hello Warriors,

It's Wednesday and time for my scheduled stream.

Some of you emailed me asking for the days I stream and they are: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I usually start at random hours, depending how busy the blog work gets.

Tonight I will be starting with Armored Warfare, just got my Chieftain Mk 5 and working my way to the Challenger 1 which is my favourite tank in-game. Later on, will be playing World of Tanks, normal server.

Steady as she goes: http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2

Armored Warfare Halloween Rewards

Hello Warriors,

to celebrate the Halloween AW has this set of missions ready for us where we can get some decals:

Thursday, 29th of October
Condition: Win three battles
Reward: Evil Pumpkin Decal for every vehicle in your garage

Friday, 30th of October
Condition: Win three battles
Reward: Frankenstein's Monster for every vehicle in your garage

Saturday, 31st of October
Condition: Win five battles
Reward: Two decals for every vehicle in your garage (Bat and Pumpkin with Logo Decal)
Additional bonus: 50 percent extra Reputation and Credits from battles

Sunday, 1st of November
Condition: Win five battles
Reward: Two decals for every vehicle in your garage (Ghost Shell and Ghoul Commander)
Additional bonus: 50 percent extra Reputation and Credits from battles

Note: Have in mind that the missions start/expire at midnight CET and PDT.

Its almost like a guilty pleasure but I love to collect free seasonal rewards in games... :)

Antonio Banderas Plays Artillery in WoT

Hello Warriors,

check out Antonio Banderas playing as an SPG in World of Tanks:

Love it! :D

WoT's Incriptions NOT Refundable

Hello Warriors,

the upcoming inscriptions in World of Tanks have become a tad too controversial, after arriving from London my first step was to download and stream the 10.0 Test Server and ended up having the same conclusion as The Mighty Jingles (and even QuickyBaby), take a look at this video:

The inscriptions at the moment are a clearly pay-to-win system. I personally, who plays World of Tanks for a living cant afford for all the Exterior consumables, how can you, normal players who usually have just 1 or 2 hours to play after coming from work/school afford it as well? This is just insane...

But wait there's more!

Diego Longo who was a long time Patron of RSR has contacted WG's support team asking for a refund, this is what he emailed me:

"You see, I have 286 tanks with 636 emblems+Inscriptions that gives 3% bonus to radio operator !!! (I want to cry). This is worth 51945 gold (yes, I counted).
So I contacted WOT EU Support to ask them for a solution and that I wanted to change the emblems or a refund ...and they told me that there was nothing they could do."


Support ticket:

New Ranzar video

Hello Warriors,

Ranzar arrived at the right time to light today's blog mood:

Enjoy!

M18 Hellcat Incident Update

Hello Warriors,

I knew that had seen this M18 Hellcat previously in multiple occasions but couldn't remember, Volketten, who writes articles for RSR and a frequent viewer/reader Earwaxian have helped me.

This TD was at the TankFest Northwest so you may have spotted it on WG's NA videos and photos and it was featured recently on The Wall Street Journal.

Earwaxian, who among many of you took photos near/in it and shared it with me earlier this year.

Its also now known that one of the occupants of vehicle at the time of the incident was its owner Steve Preston who had nicknamed the TD after his wife, Rachel.

The incident happened during an historic military vehicle demonstration.

The MVPA (Military Vehicle Preservation Association) has asked to keep Steve's wife and 2 daughters on our thoughts.

Skoda T 40 on Sale

Hello Warriors,

from today until 30 of November, the Skoda T40 will be sold on the EU server for €19.99.

The package also contains:

• 1 Garage Slot
• 250 Gold
• 7 days Premium Account

This is a tank I definitely will get and play with.

I'm actually amazed that EU is not selling this tank on a expensive/unwanted 50 Euro bundle like they have been doing with new premium tanks for a long time and this may be a step in the right direction but let's wait and see if they keep it up..
And by that I meant that lets wait to see how WG will sell their tanks in the future, wouldn't be the first time they say or do something to appease the masses but then nothing changes...Remember when we got promised that swift action against illegal mod users would be taken after an E-sports player got caught using them and it stirred the community? Over a year later and they still can't control the foxes in the chicken coop.

Anyways, good job WG EU!

Blast inside M18 Hellcat kills 2

Hello Warriors,

in a fire range 24 miles east of Bend, Oregon, 2 people have died by an explosion inside an M18 Hellcat.

"One of the victims was still alive (when police arrived), and they were able to speak with that victim," "Bend Fire Department did attempt life-saving efforts on that victim, but the victim died." Sheriff Shane Nelson said.

The incident got caught on video which as taken by the authorities to learn what took place and why.
It was most likely the gun breach that blew and probably the first time in awhile someone had to clean the crew out of a WW2 Tank.

Names and other details were not released.

My deepest condolences to the families and friends.

Source.

Grille 15 Update

Hello Warriors,

the Grille 15 aka replacement for the WT E-100 has received a couple changes in the last few hours:

- Terrain resistance, 1 (previous 1.1)
- Accuracy loss from moving, 0.24 (previous 0.2)
- Accuracy loss from turning hull, 0.24 (previous 0.2)


Gun traverse buffed by 5 degrees to each side
- Accuracy loss from turning the turret, 0.2 (previous 0.18)
Reload time, 14.6 (previous 15)
Aim time, 2.3 (previous 2.8)

AP shell
Muzzle velocity, 1350 (previous 1000)
Minumum penetration, 209 (previous 203)
Maximum penetration, 349 (previous 338)

HEAT shell
Muzzle velocity, 900 (previous 890)

27/10/2015 Q&A

Here it is:

- 122mm U-11 on KV-1 is correctly sized
- The 50 vs 50 mode is not even a mode yet, it's a technical test of what happens when a large number of players plays on large maps, to find out issues and bottlenecks in order to understand the possibilites of further development in that direction
- Centurion Action X turret armor is based on real life turret measurements
- There will be second round of 10.0 test
- The Domination modes do not earn less XP per unit of time than random battles, in fact they do earn a bit more

Yuri Pasholok Q&A

Hello Warriors,

Yuri Pasholok, Wargaming's history consultant answered to a new Q&A:

- Of mass-produced autoloading tanks, the Kuerassier is still available for WoT, as is the Somua SM. There were plenty project-only autoloader tanks, including Soviet ones
- The difference between T-54 and T-55 is that the T-54 comes from A.Morozov (who later returned to Kharkov) while the T-55 is purely from Nizhny Tagil. In reality, the T-55 is simply an upgraded version late T-54
- Regarding vehicles armed with naval guns, one of them is the SU-100Y, but both the D-10T and the S-70 have naval roots
- The Japanese Tiger designation Heavy Tank No.VI is realistic, WG historians agreed with the Japanese
- The Japanese Tiger model belongs specifically to the vehicle the Japanese bought in real life
- There are enough French heavy tank projects for second and third branch
- M.Svirin writes about a project of SU-122-44 but with a 100mm D-10 gun, called Grom-1, Yuri Pasholok cannot confirm the existence of this vehicle
- Borgward EP-1 (one of Leopard prototypes) had (a bit strange) automatic loading mechanism
- 15cm L/63 gun was planned to use in the Maus and E-100 tanks (or, rather, SPG's based on these vehicles)
- The most powerful tank engine ever made was the one of Maus
- The Germans not only planned but also used (even in combat) tanks powered by wood gas generators
- The most Soviet-refitted captured tank was the Panzer III (SU-76I)
- Norwegians only had one tank in WW2, the Belgians had several English T-15's, French ACG-1 and T-13 tank destroyers.
- Yugoslavs have few candidates for lowtier tanks, but after the war they designed a whole bunch of interesting tanks
- The info about Chinese vehicles is gained from WG's Chinese partners
- Chinese arty branch will come (when it's done it's done), there is enough info to build it
- If we count SPG projects as well as modern tanks, Yuri Pasholok found around 1500 vehicles in archives
- For now there is no candidate for British tier 8 heavy premium
- If the planned Soviet re-arm program took place before the German attack, the Germans would be meeting the tanks such as SP-126, KV-220 and T-34
- AMX 13 105 in WoT? Unfortunately there are no tier 10 LT's, it has the same gun as the M51 Super Sherman
- The M50 and M51 Israeli designations are fake: the Super Sherman is M4A1E8 and the M50 + M51 are made up by some non-Israeli historian
- Lorraine 40t with a 120mm gun? "Haven't seen such a thing"

KV-4 KTTS Screenshots

Hello Warriors,

have some screenshots of the tier 8 Soviet tank destroyer КV-4 КТТS:

And hold tight, making some other screenshots of this tank for you...

26/10/2015 Q&A

Here it is:

- Will the ridiculously expensive pay to win emblems and camos in 10.0 reviewed? Storm: "I cannot say anything", the final decision is not there yet however
- Storm is aware of the clusterfuck the 10.0 emblems caused, WG is still deciding what to do.
- According to Storm, the choice of Emblems UI in 10.0 is much simpler than before
- Q: "WG servers will never support 50 vs 50 without optimization!" A: "Nice to see a specialist in the thread, a professional aware of all the pitfalls of game design..."
- Storm is not very happy that the 10.0 ASAP video on RU server gained a huge number of dislikes but thinks the feedback wouldn't be so bad if the patch was not named 10.0 and wasn't called Rubikon - that is what annoyed most people
- Q: "What prevents you from adding the render range to the minimap?" A: "The fact we didn't start working on it yet"
- The 10.0 numerous game crashes are being fixed
- The bug where the tanks sink into the ground in 10.0 was already fixed
- There are no more ghost shells in 10.0 than there were before
- The "flying trees" bug is present in older versions as well, not just 10.0
- Some maps are bugged in the patch because developers do not want to fix maps partially so each patch doesn't contain the same map update over and over, making it too big. Maps are fixed only once per several patches with all the smaller issues (like flying trees) being fixed at once
- Q: "My T-55 is sealed against nuclear particles, how does it die from the poisonous gas?!" A: "Quickly"
- It's likely the XP gain in Domination was not nerfed but Storm is not sure

26/10/2015 Stream (Ended)

Hello Warriors,

I'm back from some London fun and ready for my scheduled stream. Little preview:

Tonight I will be played on the 10.0 test server for as long as I and the viewers find it interesting.

Steady as she goes: http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2

Let's do this!

Ravaged Capital Trailer

Hello Warriors,

check out the trailer that DezGamez made of the "Ravaged Capital" map, coming in 10.0:

 "This took me... Well, a lot of time! :D Hope you enjoy!" - DezGamez

FV4202 (P) Premium Tier 8

Hello Warriors,

here are the statistics and screenshots of the upcoming British Premium FV4202 (P):

Tier: 8 MT
Cost: 8000G
Hitpoints: 1400
Engine: 510 hp
Weight: 41,59 / 44,75 tons
Power-to-weight: 12,3 hp/t
Maximum speed: 35 / 20 km/h
Hull traverse: 40 deg/s
Turret traverse angle: 36 deg/s
Terrain resistance: 0.6/0.7/1.2
Viewrange: 390
Radio range:750
Hull armor: 50.8 / 50.8 / 31.8
Turret armor: 170 / 90 / 90

Burn rubber on us WG

Hello Warriors,

here are the screenshots of the tanks we are not having the opportunity to play on Test Server:

WG indecision with its WoT vehicles reminded me of the lyrics from "Burn Rubber On Me" song...

"Gave you my money, I gave you my time

Why you wanna hurt me, WG"

Welcome to Dead City

Hello Warriors,

Xbox WoT Devs are at it again, check out their Halloween event, Dead City Halloween Mode:

Really wish the PC version would have fun temporary events like this, things became stale since Karl 8-bit, Chaffee Race and Football/Soccer mode; Domination is sure not making up for it...

Video

Screenshots

Storm Q&A

- Storm confirms: developers are working on 50 vs 50 battles
- Developers are currently testing the mode prototype - whether the server can actually withstand such a strain etc.
- This will require new maps, but there will be no more answers for now (things such as "will there be 6 man platoons" were not solved yet)
- The main part of the developers however is working on fixing the issues of the game in parallel (arty etc.)
- Storm emphasizes: it is NOT sure that this mode will appear in the game, it's possible that the servers will not be sufficient to support it - such as the case of Havok for example, that too was researched and the implementation was not bad, but it didn't make it due to excessive server load

I Wanna Ride That

Hello Warriors,

now this is a commercial I like, with a girl after my own heart!

To be perfect, we could be the one driving that tank, crush the silly guitar and table and take the girl away on the glorious sunset!

25/10/2015 Q&A

- Q: "Why don't you implement viewrange circle into minimap? Or better tank carousel in garage?" A (Storm): "I will refrain from answering. Thread closed."
- One Himmelsdorf building is now missing some textures, it will be fixed
- Q: "Will you make tier 10 tanks more different from each other?" A: "Not in 10.0"
- Centurion Action X having gold HEAT instead of HESH is the final decision
- Q: "Will Listy's Super Conqueror come?" A: "Not in 10.0"
- The WT E-100 replacement is historical, its drawing was found in the Bundesarchiv (German archive)
- PVE: 50 vs 50 may happen.

Meanwhile on RU server - "Rubikon"...

Red, White, Black and Blue, Part 2: In Search of the Game Changer

Part 1: http://ritastatusreport.blogspot.cz/2015/10/red-white-black-and-blue-part-1-pattons.html

Author: Ck16

(Above: M60E1)

Hello once again!

Welcome to part two of three articles covering the development of the American medium tanks of post World War II to the early 1960’s, and how this pertains to WoT. We continue off with the cancellation of the T54 project to find a way to mount a 105mm gun on a medium chassis. It had already been decided by the US that the M48 with it’s 90mm M41 was not enough for the modern battlefield and a successor was wanted, but it was still undecided what the identity of the next tank to serve the US Military would be. The gears would continue to turn and more developments were pushed forward to find the answer to the Medium tank “issue".

New Effects in 10.0

Hello warriors,

several maps in 10.0 have interesting graphics effects - namely the lightnings. They can be seen on Fisherman Village and Karelia maps.

Grille 15 in WoT - Screenshots

Hello warriors,

here are a few Grille 15 (WT E-100 replacement) screenshots, courtesy of WoT-News.com

24/10/2015 Q&A

- Storm does not believe that the 10.0 domination repair costs are too high
- according to Storm, only 10 percent of World of Tanks players have at least quadcore processors and 8GB of RAM
- Steam statistics about average PC configurations cannot be used for WoT. There are many, many people who do not play anything else but WoT. The WG devs would be grateful if the average WoT user PC configuration was the same as the one presented on Steam as average
- multicore WoT support will come relatively soon
- Q: "WoT sucks, I will play AW!" A: "I am glad you managed to find your ideal game."
- Type 59 gun to get a buff? "No comment, this is a topic about patch 10.0"
- in 10.0, the render range will turn into circle, as per patch notes
- for now no additional functions to minimap will be added

Meanwhile in 10.0 Test...

Hello warriors,

the developers continue to tease the players by driving the vehicle they will not implement anytime soon, the Chieftain, in test 10.0 battles:

Wanted to try the Chieftain too? Tough luck. According to Storm, this tank will not be available even for testing in immediate future.

Grille 15 - WT E-100 replacement

Hello warriors,

so, it's here. The WT E-100 replacement, Grille 15.

Description:

By the summer of 1942, the German land forces command made a contract with the companies Krupp and Rheinmetall to create a SPG on the Panther hull. Several variants with 128mm K43 gun and 15cm sFH 43 howitzer were considered. These projects were called Grille 12 and Grille 15. Their armament was located in the back of the vehicle and they were different from each other only by the type of the gun. Later on, requirements were issued to install the 15cm L/63 gun on Grille 15 chassis. This gun could penetrate 200mm of armor at 4000 meters. The project was however stopped and no prototype was built.

Tier: 10 TD
Hitpoints: 1900
Engine: 900 hp
Weight: 40 tons
Power-to-weight: 22,5 hp/t
Maximum speed: 60/20 km/h
Hull traverse: 26 deg/s
Turret traverse angle: 90 deg/s
Terrain resistance: 0,959/1,151/1,918
Viewrange: 400
Radio range:750,9
Hull armor: 30/16/?
Turret armor: 20/0/?

Swedish tanks part 25: Landsverk Pricken

Hi everyone. Thanks to a recent find we are finally going to take a look at one of the tank projects that I skipped earlier in the series due to a lack of information. With this article I also intend to cover the Swedish tier 8 medium problem. I hope you will find this convoluted story interesting, i know i certainly did.

History

In mid-1943 a Swedish army delegation got the chance to study captured T34 tanks in Finland. The heavily sloped armor and the mobility of the T34 came as a shock to the Swedish delegation. It had become clear that even the modern tanks they had were completely outclassed. As a response KATF (the army ordinance administration) issued a demand for the development of a 30 ton medium tank to match the T34. The new tank was to be a further development of the Strv m/42 which was just entering service at the time. Proposals had been made previously for upgrading the Strv m/42 but had been dismissed due to strict weight restrictions. In comparison to the Strv m/42 the 30 ton was to use thicker and better sloped armor. It would be armed with a long 75mm gun developed for the Pvkv m/43 tank destroyer and use a new gearbox and engine under development by Volvo. Considerations were also made for the use of an autoloader for the main gun. Development would be handled by Landsverk who internally designated the tank Pricken (the dot).

Earlier Landsverk drawing for an improved strv m/42

Christie Tanks Part 2

Author: Vollketten
With help from CaptainNemo

Part 1: http://ritastatusreport.blogspot.nl/2015/10/christie-tanks-part-1.html

So Part 1 covered Christie's multitude of Tank designs, Part 2 here will cover the artillery options. It is extremely unlikely World of Tanks will ever have more artillery added, maybe even for new trees, at the moment as it is very contentious for some. So please read this as a history piece rather than like Part 1, which was about trying to show that there are enough interesting designs to add some extra content.

Part 1 – Tanks
Part 2 – Guns and sources

Roman Tabolin Q&A

Hello warriors,

this is a summary of an interview with Roman Tabolin, WG RU community manager from WG FM radio.

- the 10.0 patch is called "Rubicon" because it represents the beginning of major changes, it will come in autumn
- the "deathmatch" event mode will appear on regular basis
- there will not be many people who will be able to unlock the T-22sr.
- the T-22sr. missions might still be changed before the 10.0 release
- T110E5 will not be touched for now
- the T-22sr. missions have no time limit
- one more patch will most likely come until the end of the year
- premium T-25 will not be removed from the game
- developers are testing new game mode prototypes (for now without details)
- it's not true that 10.1 will bring new motion physics

23/10/2015 Q&A

- there is still a bug in 10.0 test where the camera position in the hangar get screwed under certain circumstances, it will be fixed
- Storm is not really excited about SW Battlefront
- several players claim that the profitability of tanks was nerfed in 10.0, Storm states it's just a conspiracy theory
- Domination mode profitability is set to correnspod to the one in random battles at the same tier per time unit, on average Domination battles last longer
- the bots in WoT are not serious, their task is to present targets for the total newbies, but they also serve Wargaming for testing bot server load
- Storm really hopes the bugs will be fixed by the time 10.0 goes out because 10.0 will not be delayed and if the game is bugged, it will come out with bugs
- there are no changes in FPS in 10.0, but one of the upcoming versions will bring complete loading/display tank mechanism overhaul that will hopefully eliminate the issues some players have whenever new tank is spotted
- there are no plans for emblem/camo reset in 10.0
- Storm is completely fed up with the current level of negativity and the insane amount of player whine, he might take time off from it
- one Russian Youtuber (Murazor) is especially vile, attacking Storm every day, Storm states that he doesn't pay attention to that (or other such attacks)

New Wargaming Building on Cyprus - Almost Done!

Hello warriors,

as you probably know, apart from making parties with high alcohol consumption and hiring half-naked girls to dance, Wargaming also invests money wisely - they are building a large seat on Cyprus. Here are some of the new photos of the building.

- building name: "President"
- developer: Rotos Developers
- cost: 20 mil. EUR
- original deadline: May 2014
- actual opening date: unknown
- stage: interior works (partially open?)
- height: 75 meters
- class: "energetically effective building of First Class"

Yuri Pasholok Q&A

Hello warriors,

Yuri Pasholok, Wargaming's chief historical advisor, answered a bunch of player questions (mostly about real life tanks) - here's what he said:

- YP doesn't know whether Mausturm II is planned for Maus in the game. In theory, it's possible to fit several turrets to it but the problem of the vehicle is the gun, not the turret, specifically the lack of normal 149mm L/37 or L/38 gun, that was planned for Maus until Spring 1943. WG did not task the historical department to find alternative Maus turrets.
- many soldiers in WW2 called the tanks by different nicknames (for example Yuri Pasholok's grandfather defended Leningrad and called the T-60 and T-70 "bugs")
- when IS-3 was designed (1945), the 88mm PaK 43 could penetrate the roof of the hull around the driver's hatch. The vehicle was however vulnerable to 128mm shells, that's why the IS-7 project was started (to remove such vulnerability)
- the Ho-Ri TD is a real model (mockup) from archives

- Panzer III/IV was planned historically with 75mm L/48
- apparently the T-22 Sr. hull was too small/cramped to put all the crewmembers and modules inside it, that's why the project didn't go forward
- in 10 years, the Germans changed their base tank color 4 times, while the British changed it 3 times and there was a period when they had two of them. Yuri Pasholok however is not convinced that WoT needs so many base colors - that's why one was selected so that each nation is easily identifiable
- there were some text hints in documents that something like FV215b existed and the WG creative department took care of the rest
- regarding the way the British evaluated the Churchills during the fighting in Europe - the fact that most of them were III to VI variants did affect the evaluation
- the main issue of the German super-long 88mm guns was not the barrel itself, but the mobility
- the archive documents do mention the 17cm gun installation in the Maus - they also mention that in such a case the turret could not rotate (Jagdmaus)
- a SPG on Maus chassis was proposed, but it was never really designed
- Yuri Pasholok is not sure, but apparently one of the most unhistorical tanks in the game is Centurion Mk.I, it's really overbuffed
- the most common captured tanks used by the Soviets were Panzer III and IV, the most common ones used by Germans were T-34 and to lesser extent KV
- E-50M does not need historical replacement
- there are candidates for alternative tier 10 French HT's, such as AMX 50 and AMX M4 variants
- the 3cm aircraft gun on Luchs and Leopard is a fake, added for the sake of game balance

22/10/2015 Q&A

- Storm states that Chieftain's fate needs "more considerations"
- Storm "loves WoT and wants it to become better"
- there is nothing new in 10.0 compared to the previous technical test according to Storm, just a bunch of bug fixes from the technical test phase
- Storm is not allowed to say why the "free" FV4202 will come only in January (as in, not allowed to, it's a marketing matter)
- Storm does personally actually not know what the FV4202 conditions will be, he did not participate in the decision making, but another developer confirmed it's possible they will either depend on skill, or will be in the form of a marathon
- in 10.0, FV4202 (even the premium one) will be temporarily removed from the game
- in the 10.0 test, new clan window sorting by player rating does not work yet, it will be fixed
- Czech tanks will come this year if nothing bad happens
- there are currently no plans to increase credit and XP income on higher tiers

KTTS 10.0

Hello warriors,

Wargaming has shown its newest KTTS/ASAP video and it looks like it's going to be the most popular one yet!

Or not.

Anyway, here's what's cooking - English subs available. Subtitles that is.

Inside:

- new rampage and steel hunt modes
- T-22 sr. missions
- improved customization
- clan functions
- change in render range (square to circle)
- Berlin and Paris maps (domination only)
- FV4202 switch
- new HD tanks

"Free" FV4202 Incoming! Or not.

Hello warriors,

as announced on the RU server and as you very well know, the FV4202 will be in 10.0 switched for Centurion Action X and will become a tier 8 premium. The Action X owners will get the premium for free...

Hahaha. Kidding.

You're not getting anything for free. Instead, on 19.1.2016, WG will announce "series of missions" that will be available to Centurion Action X owners. After completing these missions (rumor has it they will be comparable in difficulty to the personal missions), players will receive the tier 8 premium. But perhaps there will be tokens...

The article ends with the statement that no more info will be published until 2016.

Armored Warfare - XM8 Trailer

Hello Warriors,

so many videos today... AW just introduced the tier 8 XM8 Light Tank, check out its trailer:

More information about the vehicle can be found here: http://aw.my.com/gb/news/general/introducing-xm8

The strangest fighting machines: Lebedenko's Tank

Hello Warriors,

newest episode of  "The strangest fighting machines" is now available, this time they talk about the Lebedenko's Tank:

Enjoy! :)

Strykers And T-72 Tanks Play In The Mud

Hello Warriors,

check out this slow motion video of Strykers And T-72 Tanks playing in the mud...

 I highly suggest to watch the video while listening to "Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Baby" from Barry White. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

*chuckles*

And by the way, what people say about being impossible to get out of the T-72 Driver's compartment when the turret is facing forward is a lie, I got out of one easily a month ago.

Wargaming EU Events

Hello Warriors,

lately Wargaming EU been very busy around Europe with their WoT and WoWS events, these are some of the videos from where they have been:

Czech Republic, Nato Days:

Munster:

Gdynia, Poland

(Zamtrios, never seen him before, good eye candy for the ladies)

Centurion Action X and T-22 sr. Armor

Hello Warriors,

Thank you to Anh Tuan Duong who is back once more with his lovely screenshots:


Centurion Action X

T-22 sr. 

WoT Xbox screenshots

Hello Warriors,

have to admit, the devs from the Xbox and Blitz WoT are rocking with their content, some screenshots from the 2.3 Xbox update which brings a new mode, new LTs, altered maps (Airfield, Siegfried Line and Live Oaks) and improved graphics:

10.0 Test Server

Hello Warriors,

small update, its likely the 10.0 test will come tonight.

Are you ready?

US "Invades" Portugal

Hello Warriors,

Thank you to José Olivença!
I usually don't post things like this but it really brightened my morning:

U.S. Marines, PT Fuzileiros and other NATO troops staged a mock amphibious assault on Portugal's coastline on Tuesday as part of the alliance's biggest exercise in 13 years but there a tiny bit that some media is not telling and that Portuguese couldn't resist making fun of...

It all starts on a beach with the arrival from 2 hovercraft from the USS Arlington who weren't able to land at first attempt as the beach was too steep requiring them to go back out to sea and try again and once they were ashore, their robust Humvees tried to disembark and got bogged in the sand!

The best video I could find but couldn't embed it on the blog: http://observador.pt/2015/10/20/nato-atascada-pinheiro-da-cruz/

This is pure gold for the Portuguese humour, people been commenting on social media things like : "Nothing stops the Marines! Well, except Portuguese sand... What they think this is? Iraq? This is Portugal my friends! Its hardship!"

Of course they didn't meant it seriously and this was a good exercise to share tactics, techniques and procedures and the marines expressed that it was a pleasure to cooperate with Fuzileiros. :)

Some extras:

21/10/2015 Stream (ended)

Hello Warriors,

its time for my scheduled stream.

Today will be doing my usual warm up and platoon with the "RITA" clan in World of Tanks.

As usual, 200 tank and EU: http://www.twitch.tv/ritagamer2

Mr. Data bring a bottle from the replicator!

21/10/2015 Q&A

Oh boy... can already hear a horde of enraged players marching into the WG Misnk office over the Chieftain.

- The next round of the 10.0 testing will likely come this week
- Storm confirms: the fate of the Chieftain was already decided. Chieftain will not appear anytime soon, neither in 10.0 nor in 10.1. WG will announce what will happen to it when the time to implement it comes near.
- The Panzer 58 will not be able to shoot with the secondary 20mm autocannon
- According to statistics, the winrate of HD T110E5 skyrocketed on RU server from 49 percent to 52,6 percent, it's possible it will be nerfed, developers will have a look at it
- Storm confirms: the "leaked" Chinese and Japanese TD branches are fake, they will not be implemented (RG: What did I told you...)
- T-22 sr. won't have premium status

Second Day at Junipers Leisure

Hello Warriors,

made public the video of my second day at Juniper Leisure (First Day):

Maintenance work in a Chieftain? Check. APC nipples (yes, nipples) greased? Check. Camera came with me while I was driving? Check.

Had to be there by 6-7 am and performed the first parade and ready up the vehicles before the public arrival. Made sure Oil and Water levels were okay in the FV432, manually lifted the Abbot gun and just generally helped around when it was necessary and without being asked, just trying to fit in and not expecting any sort of special treatment as it was requested initially.

Didn't drive the Chieftain like I said that would, it was a busy day and to be honest got the best end of the bargain, Robbie took me over to do maintenance in one of the Chieftains instead, which in my opinion is way more valuable and enriching.

Although he is kinda of a shy and calm man, he does have a sense of humour and asked me, with a smirk on his face, to manually turn the Chieftain turret in order to get engine bay access. I absolutely complied but wasn't counting on how slow it turns and how much strength it required, at one point a muscle of my right arm completely gave up and froze, I had to slap it back to operations and at the  end, I was so warm and sweating that desperately took off my overalls in the comfort and privacy of the tank! Still, I'm not a wussie and offered to turn it back into place once we were done! As usual Robbie kept on explaining every bit of what he was working on and answered my questions.

It was nice to have Ed Francis who works for The Tank Museum at last minute deciding to come to Juniper Leisure to give me company and do camera work.  At one point I was so immersed in the vehicles that I started worrying that he'd gotten bored but I was given the chance to drive the FV432 with Ed as a passenger, another huge trust given by the staff, he definitely seemed to be enjoying himself in the commanders hatch! :)

Also check out what Ed Francis & The Tank Museum gifted me:

Precious "light studying"...

Things went very well but still have to go back to Juniper Leisure one more time to get my "instructor blacks". Enjoyed it so much that on the way back home couldn't stop feeling depressed and wasn't able to contain my sad kitty eyes when saying goodbye to Nigel, my instructor.

So yeah.. this is what your Rita does on her free time.

New Ranzar

Hello Warriors,

new Ranzar video:

Enjoy! :)

Christie Tanks Part 1

Author: Vollketten
With help from CaptainNemo

Those of you with long memories may recall that WoT once showed a US tech tree  with Christie tanks on it. On that tree there was the M.1919, and M.1921 at tier 2, the M.1931 and M.1932 at tier 3 and the M.1935 at Tier 4.
Since then not a lot has changed but I have gathered together as many of the sources reputable and otherwise on the subject to give a run down for people as to the totality as far as possible of the vehicle options we have.

Part 1 – Tanks
Part 2 – Guns and sources

WW1: Trials on the Ford 3-Ton M1918 Light Tank

Hello Warriors,

Decided to share this video of the Ford 3-Ton M1918 Light Tank trials in Highland Park, Michigan, U.S.A.(1918). Its a silent video but you can always add Benny Hill or "They see me rolling" to the background. :)

"During World War I, American forces in France used either French light tanks or British heavy tanks.
In 1918, Ford copied the design of the French Renault FT-17 to create an American two-man tank, the Ford 3 Ton Tank.
Although it was called a tank, it was really a machine gun carrier.
The Ford 3 Ton Tank was the smallest and least expensive tank built in the United States. It had two Model T Ford engines that together produced 45 horsepower."

15 were made and 2 still exist.

Tiger II Changes

Hello Warriors,

as things have been oddly quiet last days, I'm keeping on making screenshots and Gif. of the major tank changes for the next patch. This time, Tiger II:

Let's recapitulate what was posted previously:
- UFP is now at 51° instead of 50°.
- LFP is 50° instead of 48°.
- The very top part of the LFP is now 150mm too.
- Side hull is now sloped at 25° instead of 26°-27°.
- Rear hull is sloped at 30° instead of 26°.
- Extra sloped parts on the UFP for the periscopes to look over are now slightly smaller.
- Stock turret cupola is now 100mm at best with the sloped part being 60mm instead of it being a 150mm hunk.
- The bump on the turret side for the cupola on the stock turret is now 90mm instead of 80mm.
- Front of stock turret ring is 100mm now instead of 80mm.
- Random 140mm part on the top turret's side near the turret ring is gone, though a lot of areas on the side are now 100mm thick from spare tracks.
- The armor behind the mantlet now looks like a ball, with an overall smaller area being a 0 armor hole.

3D Model

Gif.

Leopard PT-A Supertest Changes

Hello Warriors,

these are the changes made to the Leopard PT-A, supertest:

Turret: Porsche Standardpanzer

• The rotation speed: 37 (36 Previous) 
• +50 HP

Tracks: Leopard Prototyp A1

Shot dispersion factor:

• Movement 0.20 (0.22 previous)
• Rotation 0.20 (0.22 previous)

Leopard Prototyp A2

Shot dispersion factor:

• Movement 0.18 (0.20 previous)
• Rotation 0.18 (0.20 previous)

Turret – Porsche Standardpanzer - Cannon 10,5 cm L7A1 (Elite)

• Shot dispersion factor: turret rotation became 0.14 (0.16 previous)
• Reload time: 10.3 (11.1 previous) 
• Aim time: 2.1 (2.3 previous) 

Proving Grounds

Hello Warriors,

as you may know, to catch on with the competition, World of Tanks will be introduce PVE mode.
As for now, we are being given an PVE tutorial mode called "Proving grounds":

What do you think about PVE in WoT?

Armored Warfare: Patch 0.95

Hello Warriors,

this is what the next AW patch, 0.95 has to offer (no date yet when it will come), I like a lot some of these changes, specially the PVE part:

Progression Changes - PvP

• Increased base match participation Reputation reward for playing PvP matches from 90 to 135
• Decreased base ammo costs for Tier 5 by 20%
• Decreased base ammo costs for Tier 6 by 30%
• Decreased tier 6 upgraded ammo cost multiplier by about an additional 8%
• Decreased base ammo costs for Tier 7 by 25%
• Decreased tier 7 upgraded ammo multiplier by about an additional 12%
• Decreased base ammo costs for Tier 8 by 40%
• Decreased tier 8 upgraded ammo multiplier by about an additional 14%
• Decreased tier 5 repair costs from 16000 to 12800
• Decreased tier 6 repair costs from 28000 to 19600
• Decreased tier 7 repair costs from 44000 to 26400
• Decreased tier 8 repair costs from 60000 to 36000