Feb 19, 2013
19.2.2013
(not many today)
- according to Storm, ramming collision model works fine (SS: player was complaining that tracks eat up way too much ramming damage)
- Storm is testing, whether the new Nvidia drivers from yesterday work properly with WoT (SS: so far, according to Russian feedback, the new drivers work just fine)
- apparently, there is no "excessive" damage, external modules don't eat damage (SS: players were complaining about tracks and gun eating damage and only the leftover damage being transferred to the enemy tank HP, Storm says there is no such thing)
- track repair time based on the speed the vehicle was going when detracked won't be implemented
- later vehicles such as Abrams, Challenger and T-72 will NOT be implemented
- it's not yet decided how the EU tree crewmembers will work, it's too soon to tell
WoT and Nvidia drivers v. 314.07
Yesterday, Nvidia released their new driver version, the 314.07. According to Storm, the 310 series contained a bug that made World of Tanks crash. Storm opened a topic, where he collects feedback on the performance of new drivers, so far the feedback seems to be positive.
Polls, polls, polls...
Hello everyone,
as you might have noticed, I added the first poll. What inspired me to do it? In fact, it was Overlord, who posted a poll on what the players would like to see. Personally, I am interested mostly in the EU tree, which I'd definitely prefer to see before the Japanese tree, despite the fact the Japanese vehicles are actually very interesting. Either way, European tree (I really gotta stop using the "EU" as in "European Union", I really hope noone in WG is stupid enough to try to implement the EU flag) will come eventually, sooner or later.
For those who care: which form would you prefer? One big mashed-up supertree, or smaller national trees (even though some nations might not get all the branches)? The poll is on the right side!
PS: how do you like the new banner? :)
as you might have noticed, I added the first poll. What inspired me to do it? In fact, it was Overlord, who posted a poll on what the players would like to see. Personally, I am interested mostly in the EU tree, which I'd definitely prefer to see before the Japanese tree, despite the fact the Japanese vehicles are actually very interesting. Either way, European tree (I really gotta stop using the "EU" as in "European Union", I really hope noone in WG is stupid enough to try to implement the EU flag) will come eventually, sooner or later.
For those who care: which form would you prefer? One big mashed-up supertree, or smaller national trees (even though some nations might not get all the branches)? The poll is on the right side!
PS: how do you like the new banner? :)
Feb 18, 2013
18.2.2013
- the 7,92mm EW141 penetration comes from the fact it did not use regular 7,92mm ammo, rather than long Panzerbüchse 38 cartridges (7,92x94 Patrone 318)
- the gold camo price for VK2801 won't be returned - when it reaches tier 6, you actually get free T6 camo for the price of T5
- all WG projects will have at one point a single player account
- according to SerB there is no need to implement an autoloader tank for every game nation tree
- ingame Centurions won't be modified to recieve less crits
- British arty branch will be "historical", when it comes to compatibility of modules with current British tanks/TDs (SS: however, from what I understand, currently the British arty is in "general balancing" stage, eg. the models are already made)
- Japanese tree doesn't have LTs all the way to tier 8
- the way the Soviet arty branch will look after tier 10 arty is introduced is "still secret"
- Q: "Will there be some drastically new modes introduced?" A (SerB): "Sure, tanks will grow gardens, collect harvest and visit each other in their homes" (SS: the real answer is no)
- no ETA on 1x1 maps (Q: Can we expect them this year? A: Well, you can always expect...)
- camo mechanics reworked? "As always, I'll tell when the time is right"
- regarding hightier Soviet and British LTs: "Soviet LTs were just on paper - there is little data on them. The British have nothing comparable to - say - AMX-13/90" and "FV300 LT can make tier 6, Scorpion tier 5 max, Sheridan is unlikely to make tier 8", Soviet LTs will be revealed "later, wait for announcements". The T7 and T8 US vehicles might be the Walker Bulldog and the T92.
- the FV4005 Stage 2 183mm introduction confirmed by SerB in British arty branch (SS: god knows why, the 183mm was not a howitzer)
- British arty branch: it will not be like the French one, it's possible it will fire HESH shells, it will have some autoloaders (which most likely will not be displayed), it will come with or after the introduction of tier 10 arties, they will have from +-35 to +-45 degrees gun arc
- RU server started its 6th cluster in test mode, it's in Moscow (no server in Ukraine planned due to bad infrastructure)
- there will be no XP compensation for XP spent on current T5 LTs
- not ALL the current blind t5 LT branches will end with T8 and not all will be merged back with other branches (some will stay blind)
- Storm says that the White Tiger in the movie was driven by a demon
- there will eventually be new camos introduced, but not in any of the near patches
- there are no special torque differences in game (SS: eg. a diesel tank doesn't overtake a gasoline tank just because diesel engines have higher torque)
- server lags are "being studied" (SS: Storm acknowledges the issue)
- developers can't use "cheat codes" to add gold/anything for themselves
On censoring comments here
Hello everyone,
a little technical clarification. Last night, I recieved a following commentary from some moron (judging from how he writes of himself, he's Czech). It made me think. I'll leave it at the end of the post for your consideration.
Very few people come to realize what freedom of expression really means. It means that for what you write (unless it's something defined by law as criminal behavior, for example celebrating nazis), you won't be prosecuted by state, but there WILL always be consequences. By consequences I don't mean "punishment", I mean the fact that people will react. With that in mind I'd like to make one thing clear:
This is MY blog. There is no "absolute freedom of speech" here, it's up to me what comments I leave and what I delete. Last few days there has been an increased number of insults, flamewars, people calling each other names. Knock it off. I won't censure it, the only stuff I will delete is blatant trolling, spamming or insults such as the belowmentioned crap, but please be so kind and try to behave, I really don't want to start actively deleting stuff and I don't want this site to turn into 4chan.
Thank you
Silentstalker
Here's the unabridged commentary (surely from a smart person) itself. You can find the original under the "Filth of EU community" article.
a little technical clarification. Last night, I recieved a following commentary from some moron (judging from how he writes of himself, he's Czech). It made me think. I'll leave it at the end of the post for your consideration.
Very few people come to realize what freedom of expression really means. It means that for what you write (unless it's something defined by law as criminal behavior, for example celebrating nazis), you won't be prosecuted by state, but there WILL always be consequences. By consequences I don't mean "punishment", I mean the fact that people will react. With that in mind I'd like to make one thing clear:
This is MY blog. There is no "absolute freedom of speech" here, it's up to me what comments I leave and what I delete. Last few days there has been an increased number of insults, flamewars, people calling each other names. Knock it off. I won't censure it, the only stuff I will delete is blatant trolling, spamming or insults such as the belowmentioned crap, but please be so kind and try to behave, I really don't want to start actively deleting stuff and I don't want this site to turn into 4chan.
Thank you
Silentstalker
Here's the unabridged commentary (surely from a smart person) itself. You can find the original under the "Filth of EU community" article.
4. Nobody gives a flying fuck
about the Polish Independence holiday bullshit and the event. Why can't
people voice their opinion on that? It's fucking ridiculous. Why should a
country like this get their own event, while other countries don't?
Just because their nationalistic cunts would rot if they didn't have it?
Fuck them.
5. You're exactly the reason why Poles and Slovaks keep spewing hate towards us. It's not that people hate them here, so they hate us back. No. It's people like you, who gladly ignore them hating us, you just like being assfucked by other nations (that's a Czech specialty), so you let them do whatever they want, but the moment a Czech person voices their discontent with them, you spring into action and start your butthurt rants. This is exactly the reason why they keep coming here to study and work (because their countries fucking suck and it's better here), but they still keep complaining and insulting us - people like you are letting them.
6. Anyway, your self-entitled, kiddish brain is probably too retarded to comprehend any of this, so you'll just respond with some stupid shit about how I'm exactly what you're talking about and how we are the problem. To that I say, congratulations in advance on not being able to understand written language, dickwad.
Oh, and you're deleting disagreeing comments, I see. Go ahead, delete this one too, enough people have read it already, prove me right so they can see what a fucking communist you are, censoring what you don't like to hear.
Bitch.
5. You're exactly the reason why Poles and Slovaks keep spewing hate towards us. It's not that people hate them here, so they hate us back. No. It's people like you, who gladly ignore them hating us, you just like being assfucked by other nations (that's a Czech specialty), so you let them do whatever they want, but the moment a Czech person voices their discontent with them, you spring into action and start your butthurt rants. This is exactly the reason why they keep coming here to study and work (because their countries fucking suck and it's better here), but they still keep complaining and insulting us - people like you are letting them.
6. Anyway, your self-entitled, kiddish brain is probably too retarded to comprehend any of this, so you'll just respond with some stupid shit about how I'm exactly what you're talking about and how we are the problem. To that I say, congratulations in advance on not being able to understand written language, dickwad.
Oh, and you're deleting disagreeing comments, I see. Go ahead, delete this one too, enough people have read it already, prove me right so they can see what a fucking communist you are, censoring what you don't like to hear.
Bitch.
Feb 17, 2013
17.2.2013
- in the future there might be working machineguns, SerB is considering options, for example to use them for target designation. But nothing is certain (they certainly won't work as "usual" weapons, as SerB states the amount of projectiles calculated would crash the server)
- a player complained that when he is in a platoon, the platoon is very often on the bottom places of the team - Storm answers that the vehicles are balanced according to their weight and not to correspond in each team, it's not a bug
- there will be no special battles without arty, arty won't be removed from the game (SS: sorry, Garbad)
- the 1750 HESH for FV215b will stay
- tutorial fights with bots won't be for all players, only for beginners
- gold for VK2801 camo will not be refunded (SS: a player whines he wants his gold for permacamo back because the VK2801 sucks now)
- 8.3 is NOT working without problems with 310.90 Nvidia driver, 8.4 won't work with it either - it's not a WG bug, it's a driver bug, WG can't do anything about it, Storm recommends older versions (SS: Im using 306, without problems)
- (any) tank is evenly spread across its MM tiers
- the difference between MM weights of two teams can be 10 percent at the most
- all the tier 5 light tanks will be converted (to T6 and MM-wise) the way VK2801 was, both T-50-2 and Chaffee will be pushed to T6 (and nerfed) when their light branches are expanded
- German LT branch will be expanded in 8.5 (SS: T7 - Aufklärungspanzer Panther, T8 - RU251)
Czechoslovak tree part 5 - Premiums/Summary
Previous parts:
Part 1 - Tank Destroyers
Part 2 - Artillery
Part 3 - Light Tanks
Part 4 - Medium tanks
Part 5 will be the final part of the Czechoslovak tank tree series. In the previous parts, the most important and unique vehicles were displayed. This last part will deal with some of the more obscure vehicles and with how it would all fit together.
A summary
This is how it would basically all fit together (click the picture for bigger version). It's not perfect, but it would work. If you are interested in details, refer to the individual parts.
Extended edition
As Billy Mays would say: "But wait, there's more!". It is possible to make the tree with following additions:
- tier 8 light tank, Leták 85. Basically, there are two versions of Leták: one with straight frontal armor and one with segmented "pike nose" frontal armor. The latter one could serve as a tier 8 LT. The goal was to make it as much compatible with the Soviet designs as possible (for example by using the same engine as T-34). The following version could be also armed with the Soviet 85mm gun.
- alternative Soviet medium branch - most Soviet designs, license-produced in Czech republic were modified - some more, some less, but the differences were there. Probably the most different is the T-34/100, which is NOT the LB-1 T-34/100, so popular on WoT forums these days. This was an indigenous modification, proposed by Konštrukta Trenčín (a Slovak company) from 1953, there were two variants with slightly different turrets (never reached serial production, as it had some flaws and it was generally easier to just start producing T-54's later on. There might be a separate article on Czech tank modifications later on from me. Also, as you can see, the Leták vehicle would be compatible with this alternative branch, as it was historically constructed to use the Soviet components
- tier 10 artillery - this was achieved by simply pushing the whole branch one tier up. Two vehicles were added: SD-76M (Czechoslovak version of SU-76M in its SPG configuration) and Turán (105) - a Czechoslovak post-war construction, an attempt to mate a 105mm howitzer with leftover Turán chassis.
This is how it would look "on paper":
Premium tanks
There is a broad scale of vehicles I haven't implemented in this tree, including the whole Škoda T-2X line (T-21, T-22, T-23M), the LT prototypes, the "heavy" tanks (T-III, Š-III), obscure prototypes and stuff, that was simply weird (Atypický tank Tatra).
Let's have a quick look at some of the vehicles, that could become premium tanks. Please note that as the proposed Czechoslovak tree has no heavy branch per se, it's kinda pointless to make heavy premium tanks, as there are no regular heavies to train the crews for. They could however be used for the EU tree.
Heavy tanks
Škoda Š-III was a from the early 30's (first drawings are dated to 1931). The work however took quite some time (until 1936). The vehicle was very bad - underpowered, the engine overheated, undergunned and by 1940 (when the Germans took over the prototype) totally obsolete. Roughly 18-19 tons (two different prototypes), 180hp-220hp engine, 32mm armor, 25km/h, A9a 47mm cannon. One prototype was taken over by Germans and probably scrapped after 1942. Looked like this:
Tatra T-III was an alternative design from Tatra (the roman III number means "heavy" in Czechoslovak tank designation), designed as a heavy breakthrough vehicle in early 30's. The prototype was ready in 1936 and it was designed to hold the same turret as Š-III. Tests were conducted in early 1937 and the two prototypes turned out to be plagued with faults and broke down all over the place. The army didn't accept the vehicle (by 1938 it was totally obsolete) and the prototype got to Germans, who tested it. 16,4 tons, 16-32mm armor, 276hp engine, 35 km/h, 47mm gun. Only turretless hulls existed AFAIK.
Tiger 75 - after the war, Czechoslovak army used one captured Tiger I vehicle as a weapons testbed. Notably, it was equipped and tested with the 75mm A18 gun with an autoloader (the gun intended for the ill-fated T-25 project). No pictures exist as far as I know. Could work as a tier 6 heavy.
Oh yes, and there's also "Atypický tank Tatra", an ugly vehicle based on the T-III suspension. The basic idea behind it was that in any usual tank, the driver can't see shit and has to rely on the commander to tell him what to do. So the engineers in Tatra came with a brilliant solution - put every crewmember into the turret and the driver on the roof (he'd sit in the small cabin designated 7 on the drawing):
The sensitive parts were armored quite well: for its 16 tons, the vehicle had up to 50mm of armor and a 47mm gun. Luckily, this vehicle stayed on the drawing boards.
Medium tanks
Škoda T-21 (Š-IIc) was a mediocre medium tank from 1937. 16,7 tons, 237hp engine, 50km/h, cca 30mm armor (10mm on the back), 47mm A9 cannon. Could make a T4 premium medium tank. Several axis countries (Hungary, Romania, Italy) tested it, but most found it unsatisfactory and the vehicle prototype was returned to the Škoda company. T-21 was also license-manufactured in Hungary later under the designation "Turán". This is how it looked:
Škoda T-22 was a slightly improved version of the previous vehicle, made by Škoda in 1941 after the failure of the T-21 - it was one ton heavier, had a 250hp engine, but it was a bit slower. It wasn't a bad tank per se, but it came too late, it was obsolete by the time it was introduced (late 1941), it was also plagued by a huge number of technical problems, causing the Germans to lose interest in its development. A variant thereof was the T-23M prototype. The main difference from the T-22 was a different steering system (not hydraulic, but mechanical, servo-assisted). Just like the T-22, it was plagued with problems, which caused the Germans to stop the development. The prototype survived the war and it was presented to the new post-war Czechoslovak army, but by then it was terribly obsolete (47mm A11 gun, 50mm armor, 18 tons) and was scrapped soon afterwards. All of them could make nice lowtier medium prototypes.
S.U. ("Střední Útočný", "Medium Assault" also designated Š-II) could also work as a tier 2 light premium tank. It was the predecessor of the famous LT-35 from 1933. It was designed as a response to the LT-34 and tested in 1934 by Czechoslovak, Romanian and Yugoslav army. Results of those tests are not known, no army bought this vehicle - but it paved the way for the LT-35. It weighted 7,5 tons, had 8-15mm armor, a 109hp Škoda V4 engine and it could reach 30 km/h. It was armed with a low-velocity 47mm A2 cannon (later 37mm A3). It was armed with Schwarzlose machineguns - a lot of them stayed on Czechoslovak territory after the Austrian Empire dissolution and they were used deep into 30's. Picture:
Panzer IV and Panzer V Panther could both serve as Czechoslovak medium vehicles. Panzer IV was pressed into service in 1947 under the designation T-40/75 - only long-barrel variants were used (in 12/1949, the army had 82 Panzer IVs in service, 21 of which were Ausf.G, 43 were Ausf.H and 18 were Ausf.J). There were even hybrid models - one had Ausf.J hull, Ausf. D turret with 75mm L/48 installed. None of these vehicles were improved by the army (there were projects to for example use ČKD steering system, which was deemed better than the original German one), as it was decided these tanks were only temporary. Last of the vehicles were pulled out of service in 1955/1956 and in 1955, 45 were sold to Syria. Turrets from scrapped or damaged Panzer IVs were also used as fixed structures for border protection, there were plans to use them on river boats and armored trains. Czech Panzer IV also appeared in war movies. The picture is from 1966:
A picture from "Liberation of Prague" movie
An interesting moment: destroyed Panzer IV in the movie. Yes, it was a real working Panzer IV and yes, the moviemakers really destroyed it
This Panzer IV was sold to Syria
Destroyed Czechoslovak Panzer IV at Golan Heights, notice the Ausf. D turret with long 75mm gun
Panzer V Panther was not actively used by Czechoslovak army as a frontline vehicle, but several dozen were restored in 1949-1952 and stored in warehouses as second-line unit equipment in case Czechoslovakia gets attacked (under the designation T-42/75). By 1952, 32 Panthers were refitted and stored this way, but after that, the licensed production of T-34/85 was underway and there was no need to use captured German vehicles anymore. A lot of Panthers were stripped and used as improvised "Bergepanthers", or engineering vehicles. Last of the Panthers were pulled out of the reserves in 1959, some were sold to civillians and at least one Panther was used this way in the 70's (with a Soviet V-2 engine instead of the ogirinal Maybach).
Here, a Bergepanther helps to dislodge a train, that was pushed into the river by flood in 1958:
Another Bergepanther - 1957
Panther in a Czech 1955 movie
Light tanks
There are quite a few options for the premium light tanks. Most aren't very interesting, as they form lowtier failed alternatives to their more successful competitiors. Namely, the Praga P-IIb, T-11 (an improved LT-35 for export - Afghanistan (cancelled), Bulgaria), T-12 (also designated Š-II-j, an improved LT-35 for Yugoslavia from 1937, different turret, only prototype), T-13M (upgunned LT-35 prototype), T-14
Bulgarian T-11
Artillery
Personally, I am not a fan of premium artillery vehicles, but there were several candidates, mostly Russian designs used in Czechoslovak army, or some indigenous designs such as the (possible high tier) 240mm "Kominík" self-propelled mortar designed in 1957.
Tank Destroyers
Again, there are more options here - Czechoslovak SD-76 (licensed SU-76), SD-100 (licensed SU-100, produced from 1953 till 1957 in ČKD Prague - 771 were made, out of which 460 were used by the army and the rest was exported. They served till early 60's, when they were gradually pulled out of service and sold to other countries. Czechoslovak export SD-100's, sold to Syria and Egypt, fought during Suez Crisis in 1956, the Six Day War and the Yomkippur War).
Another interesting possibility is the StuG III re-armed with Soviet 85mm gun (unknown, which model exactly) - there was a project for that, stayed only on paper though. The same goes for 85mm Hetzer. Another interesting project was the VOSS I and VOSS II. VOSS I was a 1941 Škoda project to mount the Czechoslovak 75mm A16 gun on the T-21/22/23M chassis and use it as a tank destroyer. The development was scrapped very soon, but the original drawing was found in the Škoda archive. A wooden mockup also existed. VOSS II was the similiar vehicle with the 150mm S.I.G 33 instead of the 75mm gun.
Czechoslovak SD-100
VOSS I
Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the series :) Let's hope some Czechoslovak vehicles make it to the game and we'll get to drive some in World of Tanks.
- Silentstalker
Part 1 - Tank Destroyers
Part 2 - Artillery
Part 3 - Light Tanks
Part 4 - Medium tanks
Part 5 will be the final part of the Czechoslovak tank tree series. In the previous parts, the most important and unique vehicles were displayed. This last part will deal with some of the more obscure vehicles and with how it would all fit together.
A summary
This is how it would basically all fit together (click the picture for bigger version). It's not perfect, but it would work. If you are interested in details, refer to the individual parts.
Extended edition
As Billy Mays would say: "But wait, there's more!". It is possible to make the tree with following additions:
- tier 8 light tank, Leták 85. Basically, there are two versions of Leták: one with straight frontal armor and one with segmented "pike nose" frontal armor. The latter one could serve as a tier 8 LT. The goal was to make it as much compatible with the Soviet designs as possible (for example by using the same engine as T-34). The following version could be also armed with the Soviet 85mm gun.
- alternative Soviet medium branch - most Soviet designs, license-produced in Czech republic were modified - some more, some less, but the differences were there. Probably the most different is the T-34/100, which is NOT the LB-1 T-34/100, so popular on WoT forums these days. This was an indigenous modification, proposed by Konštrukta Trenčín (a Slovak company) from 1953, there were two variants with slightly different turrets (never reached serial production, as it had some flaws and it was generally easier to just start producing T-54's later on. There might be a separate article on Czech tank modifications later on from me. Also, as you can see, the Leták vehicle would be compatible with this alternative branch, as it was historically constructed to use the Soviet components
- tier 10 artillery - this was achieved by simply pushing the whole branch one tier up. Two vehicles were added: SD-76M (Czechoslovak version of SU-76M in its SPG configuration) and Turán (105) - a Czechoslovak post-war construction, an attempt to mate a 105mm howitzer with leftover Turán chassis.
This is how it would look "on paper":
Premium tanks
There is a broad scale of vehicles I haven't implemented in this tree, including the whole Škoda T-2X line (T-21, T-22, T-23M), the LT prototypes, the "heavy" tanks (T-III, Š-III), obscure prototypes and stuff, that was simply weird (Atypický tank Tatra).
Let's have a quick look at some of the vehicles, that could become premium tanks. Please note that as the proposed Czechoslovak tree has no heavy branch per se, it's kinda pointless to make heavy premium tanks, as there are no regular heavies to train the crews for. They could however be used for the EU tree.
Heavy tanks
Škoda Š-III was a from the early 30's (first drawings are dated to 1931). The work however took quite some time (until 1936). The vehicle was very bad - underpowered, the engine overheated, undergunned and by 1940 (when the Germans took over the prototype) totally obsolete. Roughly 18-19 tons (two different prototypes), 180hp-220hp engine, 32mm armor, 25km/h, A9a 47mm cannon. One prototype was taken over by Germans and probably scrapped after 1942. Looked like this:
Tatra T-III was an alternative design from Tatra (the roman III number means "heavy" in Czechoslovak tank designation), designed as a heavy breakthrough vehicle in early 30's. The prototype was ready in 1936 and it was designed to hold the same turret as Š-III. Tests were conducted in early 1937 and the two prototypes turned out to be plagued with faults and broke down all over the place. The army didn't accept the vehicle (by 1938 it was totally obsolete) and the prototype got to Germans, who tested it. 16,4 tons, 16-32mm armor, 276hp engine, 35 km/h, 47mm gun. Only turretless hulls existed AFAIK.
Tiger 75 - after the war, Czechoslovak army used one captured Tiger I vehicle as a weapons testbed. Notably, it was equipped and tested with the 75mm A18 gun with an autoloader (the gun intended for the ill-fated T-25 project). No pictures exist as far as I know. Could work as a tier 6 heavy.
Oh yes, and there's also "Atypický tank Tatra", an ugly vehicle based on the T-III suspension. The basic idea behind it was that in any usual tank, the driver can't see shit and has to rely on the commander to tell him what to do. So the engineers in Tatra came with a brilliant solution - put every crewmember into the turret and the driver on the roof (he'd sit in the small cabin designated 7 on the drawing):
The sensitive parts were armored quite well: for its 16 tons, the vehicle had up to 50mm of armor and a 47mm gun. Luckily, this vehicle stayed on the drawing boards.
Medium tanks
Škoda T-21 (Š-IIc) was a mediocre medium tank from 1937. 16,7 tons, 237hp engine, 50km/h, cca 30mm armor (10mm on the back), 47mm A9 cannon. Could make a T4 premium medium tank. Several axis countries (Hungary, Romania, Italy) tested it, but most found it unsatisfactory and the vehicle prototype was returned to the Škoda company. T-21 was also license-manufactured in Hungary later under the designation "Turán". This is how it looked:
Škoda T-22 was a slightly improved version of the previous vehicle, made by Škoda in 1941 after the failure of the T-21 - it was one ton heavier, had a 250hp engine, but it was a bit slower. It wasn't a bad tank per se, but it came too late, it was obsolete by the time it was introduced (late 1941), it was also plagued by a huge number of technical problems, causing the Germans to lose interest in its development. A variant thereof was the T-23M prototype. The main difference from the T-22 was a different steering system (not hydraulic, but mechanical, servo-assisted). Just like the T-22, it was plagued with problems, which caused the Germans to stop the development. The prototype survived the war and it was presented to the new post-war Czechoslovak army, but by then it was terribly obsolete (47mm A11 gun, 50mm armor, 18 tons) and was scrapped soon afterwards. All of them could make nice lowtier medium prototypes.
S.U. ("Střední Útočný", "Medium Assault" also designated Š-II) could also work as a tier 2 light premium tank. It was the predecessor of the famous LT-35 from 1933. It was designed as a response to the LT-34 and tested in 1934 by Czechoslovak, Romanian and Yugoslav army. Results of those tests are not known, no army bought this vehicle - but it paved the way for the LT-35. It weighted 7,5 tons, had 8-15mm armor, a 109hp Škoda V4 engine and it could reach 30 km/h. It was armed with a low-velocity 47mm A2 cannon (later 37mm A3). It was armed with Schwarzlose machineguns - a lot of them stayed on Czechoslovak territory after the Austrian Empire dissolution and they were used deep into 30's. Picture:
Panzer IV and Panzer V Panther could both serve as Czechoslovak medium vehicles. Panzer IV was pressed into service in 1947 under the designation T-40/75 - only long-barrel variants were used (in 12/1949, the army had 82 Panzer IVs in service, 21 of which were Ausf.G, 43 were Ausf.H and 18 were Ausf.J). There were even hybrid models - one had Ausf.J hull, Ausf. D turret with 75mm L/48 installed. None of these vehicles were improved by the army (there were projects to for example use ČKD steering system, which was deemed better than the original German one), as it was decided these tanks were only temporary. Last of the vehicles were pulled out of service in 1955/1956 and in 1955, 45 were sold to Syria. Turrets from scrapped or damaged Panzer IVs were also used as fixed structures for border protection, there were plans to use them on river boats and armored trains. Czech Panzer IV also appeared in war movies. The picture is from 1966:
A picture from "Liberation of Prague" movie
An interesting moment: destroyed Panzer IV in the movie. Yes, it was a real working Panzer IV and yes, the moviemakers really destroyed it
This Panzer IV was sold to Syria
Destroyed Czechoslovak Panzer IV at Golan Heights, notice the Ausf. D turret with long 75mm gun
Panzer V Panther was not actively used by Czechoslovak army as a frontline vehicle, but several dozen were restored in 1949-1952 and stored in warehouses as second-line unit equipment in case Czechoslovakia gets attacked (under the designation T-42/75). By 1952, 32 Panthers were refitted and stored this way, but after that, the licensed production of T-34/85 was underway and there was no need to use captured German vehicles anymore. A lot of Panthers were stripped and used as improvised "Bergepanthers", or engineering vehicles. Last of the Panthers were pulled out of the reserves in 1959, some were sold to civillians and at least one Panther was used this way in the 70's (with a Soviet V-2 engine instead of the ogirinal Maybach).
Here, a Bergepanther helps to dislodge a train, that was pushed into the river by flood in 1958:
Another Bergepanther - 1957
Panther in a Czech 1955 movie
Light tanks
There are quite a few options for the premium light tanks. Most aren't very interesting, as they form lowtier failed alternatives to their more successful competitiors. Namely, the Praga P-IIb, T-11 (an improved LT-35 for export - Afghanistan (cancelled), Bulgaria), T-12 (also designated Š-II-j, an improved LT-35 for Yugoslavia from 1937, different turret, only prototype), T-13M (upgunned LT-35 prototype), T-14
Bulgarian T-11
Artillery
Personally, I am not a fan of premium artillery vehicles, but there were several candidates, mostly Russian designs used in Czechoslovak army, or some indigenous designs such as the (possible high tier) 240mm "Kominík" self-propelled mortar designed in 1957.
Tank Destroyers
Again, there are more options here - Czechoslovak SD-76 (licensed SU-76), SD-100 (licensed SU-100, produced from 1953 till 1957 in ČKD Prague - 771 were made, out of which 460 were used by the army and the rest was exported. They served till early 60's, when they were gradually pulled out of service and sold to other countries. Czechoslovak export SD-100's, sold to Syria and Egypt, fought during Suez Crisis in 1956, the Six Day War and the Yomkippur War).
Another interesting possibility is the StuG III re-armed with Soviet 85mm gun (unknown, which model exactly) - there was a project for that, stayed only on paper though. The same goes for 85mm Hetzer. Another interesting project was the VOSS I and VOSS II. VOSS I was a 1941 Škoda project to mount the Czechoslovak 75mm A16 gun on the T-21/22/23M chassis and use it as a tank destroyer. The development was scrapped very soon, but the original drawing was found in the Škoda archive. A wooden mockup also existed. VOSS II was the similiar vehicle with the 150mm S.I.G 33 instead of the 75mm gun.
Czechoslovak SD-100
VOSS I
Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed the series :) Let's hope some Czechoslovak vehicles make it to the game and we'll get to drive some in World of Tanks.
- Silentstalker
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I'm going to clarify a few things for you, since you are obviously lacking the brain capacity needed to understand basic facts of life.
1. Poles are a bunch of inbred, nationalistic, self-centered pigs, living in the medieval ages, thinking they're the center of the world. They still haven't abandoned digrams (you know, like we did, some 500 years ago), 90 % of them are devout Christians ("hurr durr I believe in an imaginary guy thought up by some sand niggers in the bronze age"), and they're completely pointless - have you heard about the last great thing coming out of Poland? Yeah, me neither. All the anti-Polish sentiment is completely justified by them being absolutely irrelevant.
2. They fucking hate you. They hate the Czech Republic, they hate Germany, they hate Russia (but honestly, who doesn't), they hate Slovakia (same as Russia, though), they hate everybody. Why? Because their small nationalistic brains are telling them that, even though their country sucks big hairy balls, they're the best. The only time I hear Poles say something nice about the Czech Republic is when they come here to occupy our concerts and festivals (because, obviously, no bands ever come to Poland, since it's just a waste of time), waving their fucking flags, and getting drunk as fuck, like the under-developed monkeys they really are. Other than that, all I ever hear is how much this place sucks and how "Polska" is better in all aspects. So stop defending them, they wouldn't do the same for you.
3. Do you have any sense of hyperbole at all? Can you wrap your head around the concept of dark humour, sarcasm, and similar things? Apparently not, seen as you are a butthurt little kid, crying about "jokes in bad taste". Fuck you. Fuck political correctness. I can say whatever the fuck I damn well please, and all you can do is shut the fuck up and get over it. Stop caring about what somebody else says, it's none of your goddamn business. Unless they actually go to Poland and wipe them out (I wish), there is nothing wrong with them talking about whatever they want to talk about, in whatever manner they like. PEOPLE CAN SAY ANYTHING THEY WANT. IT'S CALLED "FREEDOM OF SPEECH" YOU CUNTFACE. You and people like you are the reason freedom of speech is being limited to politically correct bullshit like "the n-word" instead of NIGGER, and "special" instead of RETARDED. You are contributing to the demise of free speech as we know it, congratulations, you special guy.