5.2.2013

- no exact ETA on the test, Storm states that "In development" portal section will get updated once the test begins (SS: logically that means it's not accurate now and that the february/march ETA for 8.4 is speculative)
- Leopard 1 won't be implemented earlier than summer 2013 (SS: this does NOT mean it will be implemented in summer, only that it will definitely not come till summer)
- Havok won't be implemented earlier than summer 2013 (SS: ditto)
- The graphical things that are going to be gradually improved (SS: not in any particular order): general graphics optimalisation, colour grading, quality and amount of dynamic lighting, tree and grass render, water render, special effects (SS: the video itself was linked by Storm, but he states it doesnt have to look like this actually, the colours can look differently, it's planned for the "medium" future - which means probably around a year)
- it's technically possible to introduce gradual increase in hull rotation in first split second, but it won't be implemented since the players got used to the current system already (SS: what this means is that especially some TDs, that have narrow gun arcs, but great hull turn rate sort of "jerk" whenever the hull moves, even a little, a player suggested that the initial 0,25-0,5s of steering should be smoother)
- massive tank rebalance won't happen in one of the near patches
- IS-7 side armor effective thickness:

- no further crit info on the post-battle debriefing screen planned
- 90-point companies won't return
- there are new medals planned
- Storm's game goal is to level up the British heavies to tier 10
- SerB thinks that the "Archipelago Gulag" book by A.Solzhenitsyn is a "badly written and historically unreliable book"
- it's possible better representation of shell hits (rather than current impact decals) will be introduced "if the videocards allow it"

Retarded Russian projects part 4 - "Crawling fortress"

Earlier: 
Retarded Russian projects part 1 - "Bezdechod"
Retarded Russian projects part 2 - "Broneistrebitel" 
Retarded Russian projects part 3 - "Crusher"

Author: Yuri Pasholok
Original source: http://yuripasholok.livejournal.com/402449.html
Translated by: Silentstalker

In the Kazakh department of the Soviet archives, there's a lot of weird stuff to be found, but this one simply has to be highlighted. This invention seems to be at the moment the heaviest known combat vehicle project.
The proposal, designated "Crawling fortress" was introduced by S.G.Fillipov and S.P.Zhiliniy on 16. September 1941. It's not known where they worked, but judging from the fact the letter came from Alma-Ata, from the nature of the invention and from the fact that the stuff was written drawn on the backside of wet plaster manufacture descriptions, it's possible to draw some conclusions. The Chuy valley is not that far from Alma-Ata, so it can be assumed the inspiration for the project came from there.
And so, they made a proposition for a rolling fortress. According to their calculations (yes, they made "calculations"), the combad weight of the "Crawling fortress" was to be 14000 tons (yes, fourteen thousand tons). The authors understood noone would ever give them that much steel, therefore they planned to make their "project" out of reinforced concrete.

The movement mechanism was also very original. The authors realized the vehicle can't move on tracks and so they planned to move the whole thing with the help of series of flywheels. A pair of them were responsible for lifting the whole thing, two were responslible for moving forward and backward and two were responsible for turning. The speed of the "vehicle" was estimated to be cca 2 km/h.
The authors didn't write anything about the armament of the vehicle, they sketched a silhouette with some kind of turrets. However, considering the fact that with such a weight the movement of such a vehicle would cause earthquakes, the crawl thru the enemy territory seemed rather simple.

SS: The project was considered by serious scientists and naturally rejected. There is supposed to be the hand-written conclusion but I can't really read that.

Retarded Russian projects part 3 - "Crusher"

Earlier: 
Retarded Russian projects part 1 - "Bezdechod"
Retarded Russian projects part 2 - "Broneistrebitel" 

Author: Yuri Pasholok
Original source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/148357.html
Translated by: Silentstalker

This weird tank destroyer project originates in Soviet Kazakhstan and is mentioned in a 1943 letter. It's special in one way - its author wasn't a technically uneducated cook, it was a technician and a designer, by the name of B.D.Lucenko! Let's have a look at how it was supposed to work:

 

Side and upper view

The original description says: "The tank destroyer has to be so heavy, so it could ram the enemy tank and crush it with its weight." Here's how it was supposed to look like:

SS: The author, who found this in the Soviet archives (Yuri Pasholok) is currently working on a whole book dedicated to the retarded, mad or simply desperate Soviet projects. The book is going to be called "Stalin's Steel Balls" - no sexual innuendo, it will deal with the concept of "rolling tanks", something the Soviets apparently came to like.

Chinese Event: how much XP do you need for Top 100?

Just an interesting fact: this is the minimal amount of XP needed to reach the top 100 Chinese tanks on the Russian server

Source: http://wot-news.com/main/post/02042013/1/Akcija-s-Kitajjskojj-tekhnikojj


Renault NC-31 - 1.150
Vickers Mk. E Type B - 1.200
Type 2597 Chi-Ha - 1.300
M5A1 Stuart - 1.40
Type T-34 - 1.500
Type 58 - 1.750
59-16 - 1.600
WZ-131 - 1.900
T-34-1 - 1.500
S-2 - 1.600
110 - 1.800
WZ-132 - 1.750
T-34-2 - 1.450
WZ-111 model 1-4 - 1.550
WZ-120 - 1.500
113 - 1.300
121 - 1.300

Chieftain as a tier 10 British heavy? Not really...

Well, I think this issue is clear now. Blachard (EU server military specialist) explains:

Source

Silentstalker: ....But then - around November 2012, in the developer Q&A thread they mentioned they weren't too happy with the FV215b (that was before the rebalance) and that they sent for some documents in Bovington, regarding the Chieftain and some other things (presumably, the holy grail of FV100).... (partial question redacted)

Blanchard: Oh I know very well, since I am the one who contacted the archives and procured the documents. For info, that was from the British National Archives, not Bovington.
Sadly, the documents didn't contain much documents on the tank technical details. Mostly stuff about financial aspect of the project, logistics and partnerships, so that option went out of the window.

The best Chieftain candidate to be introduced in-game would be this one:

A prototype recently saved by Bovington's Museum.

I will go to Bovington, and I will do research on this tank, just like I did for many others. It's a good tank, it correspond to the time period, so yes, it interest us. That's all there is at the moment. A hint of interest, and people gathering data on every possible tank that could get introduced in-game.

There is no official talk about about replacing FV215b, we are not even talking about implementing the tank in-game at all. Sorry.

4.2.2013

- Soviet "Gvozdika" and "Akacija" won't be implemented
- Q: "Are the models of Japanese tanks already in development?" A: "We already made one, in the Chinese branch" and "When it's done I'll let you know"
- the devs tried making a 20-30 members per team battles on the current maps - it was a mess and the client couldn't handle it technically (SS: as in "too many objects to draw")
- Q: "SerB, have you noticed you look a lot like Nikolaj Bucharin, the bolshevik leader from the 20's?" A: "Well, there was that one time on a business trip after 5 hours of nonstop swearing I did lie down on a couch in my jacket to have a nap and Viktor Kisliy started to bring in "mausoleum excursions"..." :)
- FV4202 shells don't ricochet more than usual
- aim spread is determined by the gun module and the turret module, not by different shells
- regarding the Japanese tanks and Evilly's answer about the 280mm guns (SS: the player who's asking look for that and all he found was the turret from the Yamato battleship). SerB answers regarding the tier 10 tank: "It's not a battleship Yamato turret, it's most likely a turret with the coastal defense 140mm gun. We'll see in a few months how it goes."
- platoon fight statistics are not taken into account when deciding vehicle balance
- SerB states that if he remembers correctly, if you have a full crew BIA as first perk and 6th Sense as second perk trained to 95 percent, it will work when the BIA is active.
- the devs won't disclose now how much XP will be needed to unlock new arty vehicles when the tier 10 arty is introduced ("wait for the test")
- CW tier 6 and 8 battles, like in the lower tier companies? "We discussed it, it was refused. But there might be special events where this is possible."
- devs don't think the gold ammo for credits created a disbalance in the game
- no matter how many trees you bring down at one location, camo-wise all the fallen trees will count as one bush, this is intentional so the players don't create "superbushes" with high camo values
- ammunition price is calculated while taking the gun caliber, gun damage, penetration, year of the gun introduction and balance into account (all at once)
- WoT for tablets would take up to 2 years to develop, it's not only about porting the game, but also about re-working the project.
- it's economically more advantageous to set a tank on fire or ammorack it - it counts as damage credit-wise, but the shells will cost less, it's also better XP-wise, as crits award bonus XP
- Japanese medium branch will consist of known real life tanks (Chi-Ha, Chi-Ri, STA, STB mentioned), while the heavy branch will be more like "unknown" heavy projects, Japanese special consumable is not decided yet, SerB thought about a cup of sake, but that's not possible due to the game age restriction
- Soviet low-level tanks, such as T-60, T-70, T-80, T-19, T-24 and T-46-5? "When it's done it's done"
- Zimmerit is not excluded for the future, but it won't be introduced now
- a "buy back your accidentally dismissed crew" option is not planned
- free camera in replays? "maybe"
- Panther II with Panther I turret won't be introduced as a German tier 8 medium, as this option is already in the game (stock PII)
- there won't be additional crew ranks above "Major", because historically such high ranks didn't drive tanks, even Major is high enough (SS: not to be taken literally, there probably were SOME high ranking officers driving tanks)
- 0.8.4 won't necesserily bring more than 2 re-worked maps (despite the fact 0.8.3 didn't have any re-worked maps at all). "Wait for the patchnotes"
- the fate of Panzer I and Panzer I Ausf. C? "I'll tell you when the time is right"
- after the nerf, it's confirmed less players play arty, no word on any further arty nerfs
- the game client is full of experimental stuff and other mess, that possibly won't be introduced at all, one of such things is the shell icon of a new type of shell, that wasn't introduced yet

The Schmalturm

This is a translation of a Russian post, published on the developer's blog. I think it's actually pretty interesting and related to World of Tanks and it would be a shame not to have something like that in English, so... I hope the author doesn't mind :)

Author: kedoki
Original link: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/150813.html
Translated and redacted by: Silentstalker (please note it's not a perfect translation, I had to redact some sentences to make sense in English)

Background and development

My friend Lyocha truly believes that the Schmalturm was a stopgap measure - there were few resources, there were even fewer workers available, so it was needed to make the turret as simple and functional as possible without hindering the possibility to actually shoot. And shape-wise, the Schmalturm turret was really simple, compared to the Rheinmetall turret (standard Panther turret) and to the Porsche turrets, used on Tigers, it didn't have too many accessories. But that is the truth only partially.

The ideas to modernize the Panther turret reach back to 1943 for three reasons. The first was to improve the weak turret armor of the Panther turret without actually increasing the weight. The second was that by that time, the Panther II project was already scrapped and the soldiers needed something to fight with. The third was, the Panther turret was too complex and too slow to rotate manually - in order to rotate it fast, the engine had to be switched on and revved, which really messed up the ambush tactics. The turret also acted badly if the vehicle was standing on some kind of a slope. As we can see, the Schmalturm development was not an act of desperation.

And so it was that in 1943 the Germans tried to modernize the Panther turret. The main idea was to reduce the possible space where enemy shells could hit the turret, which implied making the frontal armor of the turret narrower. Even then it was planned to increase the frontal sloped armor effective thickness to 120mm, so the shells don't ricochet into the driver's ass. By 1944, Rheinmetall presented drawn development ideas. The first name of the new turret was to be "Turm Panther (schmaler Blende)" (Panther turret with narrow profile). This turret represented a mixture of good traits of the Porsche turrets from the King Tiger, and the Panther turrets - it was compact, light and had a narrow frontal profile in order to minimize the chance of enemy shell impact. It also respected the demand for new armament, which later allowed the Germans to develop a project of 88mm L/71-armed Schmalturm.

On the top of the turret it was possible to install a rangefinder and there was also the possibility of installing the periscope gun sights. Most of the standard Panther equipment did fit into the Schmalturm turret. So, as we can see, the turret equipment was very, very decent, it cannot be simply called an "ersatz" project.

Later, the turret project was handed over to the Daimler Benz company. Therefore, it's no surprise that the Schmalturm turret has a lot of similiarities with the VK3002DB turret. By that time the order for the turret development was updated: it was ordered to implement the possibility to convert the turret into the command version or the night fighting version by the tank crew itself. An interesting fact: the rear hatch was made from a sheet of metal, that was carved out of the rear armor plate itself. This allowed for better resource savings, resources that the Germany was running out of by then.

The first Panthers with new turrets were supposed to come out of the factory in 1945, but that didn't happen for obviously reasons - when the Allies came to the factories, all they saw were unfinished parts of the vehicles.

Comparing the Schmalturm with the Panther turret

Even so, could the Germans have reached their goal? The turret weight did decrease, while the armor protection increased. The turret weighted only 7,5 tons (Panther turret - 7,6 tons). The machinegun was changed into a newer model. Even though the turret was called "narrow", the effective volume was the same, there was no difference for the crew. The commander's copula was "sunk". The turret ring diameter remained at 1650mm.

The turret was hydraulically powered by the engine, but the manual turret rotation drive was enhanced: if the tank was standing on a slope, the loader could install a spare flywheel and he could help the gunner - and so the turret rotated even faster. But the most important fact was that the turret mechanism, despite this enhancement, got actually smaller and less expensive while the rotation of the turret became easier.

The vertical gun aim mechanism was also changed, allowing to raise the gun to 20 degrees up and lower it to 4 degrees below the horizontal axis. This mechanism has also become lighter, cheaper and more compact. The commander's copula also got lighter and more compact while keeping all its previous properties: it was possible to set up the stereoscopic rangefinder, a night vision device or even an anti-aircraft machinegun.

The loader profitted even more: in the initial version of the project, a special periscope was installed for him. Later this option was removed and the periscope hole was covered with an armored plug. But if the periscope was installed, all three of the turret crewmembers would have very good night and day battlefield overview possibility.

A question arises while reading about all these great properties of the turret: is this really such a great turret? Not at all. If you compare the Schmalturm to the King Tiger turret, the Schmalturm doesn't end up as the winner. It was the original Panther turret that was so bad that in comparison to it, the Schmalturm comes out as the winner.

Schmalturm in World of Tanks

The first problem is the weight: the turret weight should be 7,5 tons. In the game it weights in various versions 10,8 tons, 4,6 tons, 12,5 tons, 13,2 tons... that's bullshit.

Second problem: maximum elevation. In real life, it was 20 degrees. In the game:

- Panzer IV Schmal: 20 degrees (as IRL)
- Panther: 17 degrees
- VK3001(H): 18 degrees
- VK3002(DB): 16 degrees

The turret rotation spead was in real life bigger than the one of the standard turret of the Panther: the turret was lighter and there was the additional flywheel. In the game, it's vice versa: the Schmalturm rotates slower and with different speeds:

- Panzer IV Schmal: 24 degrees
- Panther: 26 degrees
- VK3001(H): 25 degrees
- VK3002(DB): 30 degrees
- Panther II: 28 degrees

View range: In real life it was very good: all the crewmembers had their own viewing devices,  night vision devices. In the game:

- Panzer IV Schmal: 370m
- Panther: 380m
- VK3001(H): 370m
- VK3002(DB): 370m
- Panther II: 390m

No complaints about the viewrange, but it's different every time.

Where to install it:

- Panther - as planned in real life
- VK3002DB - it had smaller turret ring, the installation of Schmalturm possible only if the whole hull was re-worked.
- VK3001(H) - I won't even comment on that
- Panzer IV - the Schmalturm was twice as heavy as the usual turret, the suspension wouldn't have survived that, but at least the turret ring is the same - remember the Panzer IV turret installed on the Panther hull.

Schmalturm mit 88mm L/71

Oh, that's a problematic topic. The thing is, in order to provide enough space for the loader to operate with a 88mm gun installed, the turret ring would have to be increased to 1750mm. The weird thing is, in the game the new turret with the new gun weights only like 1 ton more than the early Schmalturm model with the Panther gun.

With the new wider turret ring we can't even talk anymore about the turret installation on the VK3002DB and VK3001H. But the interesting part is, on the aforementioned tanks in the same turret, we have the 88mm. Glory to the great German designer Pasholok & Co.! And so, they glued the Daimler Benz gun mantlet on the short 88 despite the fact the gun mantlet fits only the LONG 88 and the Panther II is running around with the Krupp mantlet for a change. That's how they do it in Omsk. Pasholok wrote himself: there might be inaccuracies and mistakes, but the spirit (TM) is present.