Sorry, today it's just a bunch of trollstuff:
- Q: "Why are people with less than 1000 games played driving around in Object 907?" A: "I beg for forgiveness that we forgot to consult with you the criteria for distributing the test vehicles and the testing methods"
- when SerB is playing, he carries cca 10 golden shells with him and shoots them when needed, but Victor Kisliy is apparently shooting gold shells all the time: "He's not a poor man, he can afford it"
- Q: "Will you introduce account unification? I am asking because a friend of mine moved abroad and I use his account" A: "People ask for a long time about this option. That is people like account hackers, greedy players, who want to transfer tanks exclusive to newbies to their main account and people breaking the EULA, like you and your friend. What do you think, should we grant their request? :)"
As for that twat reviving the old Q&A thread on the EU forums, up to you, whether you want to read your news there or not, but that guy is one of the butthurt Czech trolls and one of the worst pieces of shit from CZ forums (and that's something already), and since I've been getting some "nice" Czech fanmail lately again, you can imagine what is the motivation behind the thread necromancy.
Apr 26, 2013
Sharing the misery part 2 - EU Q&A proposal
Alright, getting back to the "sharing the misery" post from yesterday evening about how the proposed EU Q&A could work (this is the thread the whole issue is about), because an interesting post appeared:
Gnomus wrote:
What would be tremendously helpfull would be one person, that speaks English and Russian with following jobdescription:
1. Follow RU side Q&A and compile and translate most intresting info to English (and then to other languages by other WG emplyees or community as necessary). Basically what Silent Stalker is doing now in his blog.
2. Follow EU side Q&A and give answer to questions that have been already answered on RU side by devs (no need to reask them). Possibly give also his own opinion and generally make us feel that someone is listening to us. (Currently some feedback is acted upon and some not, but there will go months before anything happens and people don't even know if any WG employee has read their concerns. Then all of a sudden something changes. This is quite frustrating. Simlpe "noted" would help in this.)
3. Gather intresting unanswered questions on EU Q&A and send them to developers (and translate them to Russian if needed) for answers.
This could be done with US side, so that same person would do same job for them also. Basically just liasoning job between English speaking community and Russian speaking developers. I wouldn't mind having same with other supported languages also, but EN-RU is the most important because most of community can speak English.
Why do I get back to this? Because this is the best proposal/summary I've seen to date. This is how I would want it to look like, if it was up to me. A few points to "polish" it a bit though:
For one, translating is really not enough. Overlord stated today that he'd like for the translations to be a start. I disagree. Literal translations wouldn't work, the person responsible has to interpret too. Why? Two reasons:
- first one is a bit complicated: during one translating session, a question is answered with statement A, a page later another question is answered with statement B, that effectively denies statement A, thus statement B is correct, but literal translation would include both statements A and later statement B. Typical example: SerB/Storm "premium account buff" exchange this wek. It's confusing as hell. Ideal solution therefore is for the translator to read statement A, to read statement B and interpret both the A and B as only B. This is by the way where most of the whine about my incorrect translations comes from: something is later denied, I combine both statements into one answer, which is "B" and people whine "A" wasn't translated. It was, I just decided to ignore it in favour of B. Of course, I CAN interpret things wrongly, but it's not because of the language. Well, not mostly anyway (from what I heard from Russian players who aren't inherently hostile to me, the mistake ratio is quite good).
- another reason for interpretation is that during the literal translations, SerB/Storm would end up sounding like aggressive morons. What works for RU doesn't work for EU/NA
Obviously, one way would be to skip the answers where SerB/Storm is trolling, but that's hardly possible. Why? Because even negative answers ("this won't be implemented") have their value, if only for players to know what not to expect and not to ask such stuff again.
Another important part Gnomus caught very well is the constant communication. It's important to keep talking (writing) even when there is not that much to say, because players won't feel abandoned that way.
Naturally, the person who would do such a thing would have to recieve a "developer" status in order to make the things he/she says "legit" (if someone random started doing this, the reaction would probably be "fuck off, we want developers").
But yes, I believe what Gnomus proposed is exactly what EU server needs. Plus, it would put no additional requirements on the developers (unless the amount of questions passed from the EU server would be too big - but that would be that person's job to sort out the useless crap). Obviously, all this would have to happen only in English, there is NO way how to do this in all the supported languages. That's simply not doable, that would be up to the people stepping up (as mentioned in the first post on this topic).
Gnomus wrote:
What would be tremendously helpfull would be one person, that speaks English and Russian with following jobdescription:
1. Follow RU side Q&A and compile and translate most intresting info to English (and then to other languages by other WG emplyees or community as necessary). Basically what Silent Stalker is doing now in his blog.
2. Follow EU side Q&A and give answer to questions that have been already answered on RU side by devs (no need to reask them). Possibly give also his own opinion and generally make us feel that someone is listening to us. (Currently some feedback is acted upon and some not, but there will go months before anything happens and people don't even know if any WG employee has read their concerns. Then all of a sudden something changes. This is quite frustrating. Simlpe "noted" would help in this.)
3. Gather intresting unanswered questions on EU Q&A and send them to developers (and translate them to Russian if needed) for answers.
This could be done with US side, so that same person would do same job for them also. Basically just liasoning job between English speaking community and Russian speaking developers. I wouldn't mind having same with other supported languages also, but EN-RU is the most important because most of community can speak English.
Why do I get back to this? Because this is the best proposal/summary I've seen to date. This is how I would want it to look like, if it was up to me. A few points to "polish" it a bit though:
For one, translating is really not enough. Overlord stated today that he'd like for the translations to be a start. I disagree. Literal translations wouldn't work, the person responsible has to interpret too. Why? Two reasons:
- first one is a bit complicated: during one translating session, a question is answered with statement A, a page later another question is answered with statement B, that effectively denies statement A, thus statement B is correct, but literal translation would include both statements A and later statement B. Typical example: SerB/Storm "premium account buff" exchange this wek. It's confusing as hell. Ideal solution therefore is for the translator to read statement A, to read statement B and interpret both the A and B as only B. This is by the way where most of the whine about my incorrect translations comes from: something is later denied, I combine both statements into one answer, which is "B" and people whine "A" wasn't translated. It was, I just decided to ignore it in favour of B. Of course, I CAN interpret things wrongly, but it's not because of the language. Well, not mostly anyway (from what I heard from Russian players who aren't inherently hostile to me, the mistake ratio is quite good).
- another reason for interpretation is that during the literal translations, SerB/Storm would end up sounding like aggressive morons. What works for RU doesn't work for EU/NA
Obviously, one way would be to skip the answers where SerB/Storm is trolling, but that's hardly possible. Why? Because even negative answers ("this won't be implemented") have their value, if only for players to know what not to expect and not to ask such stuff again.
Another important part Gnomus caught very well is the constant communication. It's important to keep talking (writing) even when there is not that much to say, because players won't feel abandoned that way.
Naturally, the person who would do such a thing would have to recieve a "developer" status in order to make the things he/she says "legit" (if someone random started doing this, the reaction would probably be "fuck off, we want developers").
But yes, I believe what Gnomus proposed is exactly what EU server needs. Plus, it would put no additional requirements on the developers (unless the amount of questions passed from the EU server would be too big - but that would be that person's job to sort out the useless crap). Obviously, all this would have to happen only in English, there is NO way how to do this in all the supported languages. That's simply not doable, that would be up to the people stepping up (as mentioned in the first post on this topic).
D.L.43 Nahuel - possible American tier 5 premium
Hello everyone,
today we are going to have a look at one tank that appears on the WoT forums in regular intervals (quite correctly) as a candidate for a tier 5 premium tank - the Nahuel. When I wrote about the Patagon tank some time ago, I wrote that the Nahuel is basically a Sherman knock-off. This caused some amount of disagreement - and rightfully so, because I was wrong. But let's have a look at this interesting vehicle.
The full name of the vehicle is "Carro de Combate Medio Nahuel D.L.43" and it is one of the first Argentinian armored vehicle attempts. Pre-WW2 Argentina generally wasn't exactly the most industrially developed country in the world, therefore it was capable of producing only generally very simple designs and constructions. It's no wonder that the army was - by the time WW2 broke out - equipped only with foreign made vehicles. By that time, the army sought to purchase the French, British or even Czech vehicles to arm itself, but as the war came closer, no tanks were available to buy, since all the armies tried to arm themselves at all costs. Some serious negotiations took place between Argentina and Czechoslovakia over the purchase of the LT-38 light tanks, but before any agreement could be reached, Czechoslovakia was already occupied and produced tanks exclusively for the Germans.
Other attempts to acquire modern technology were practically thwarted by Americans, who suspected Argentina of nazi sympathies and were not interested in strengtening the Axis forces any further - that's why they basically blocked any Argentinian attempts to buy armor abroad.
This import quasiban led to the Argentinian decision to actually develop their own medium tank. The decision took place in 1942 (a committee to ovesee the development was estabilished) and in 1943, the actual project was accepted. Lt.Col. Baisi was charged with its proper development. This man would later become celebrated as the "father of the Argentinian armored corps" and handled the development well.
The project itself was definitely inspired by the M4 Sherman design, but the similiarity was only superficial - the "guts" of the vehicle were completely different. The design work went really fast, even for 40's standards: a wooden mockup was ready in 45 days and the first prototype saw the light of day in only 2 months. The project was named "Nahuel". Apparently, it's supposed to mean "Tiger" in the language of Argentinian natives (Indians), but after looking for a while, I discovered that there can be an alternative translation as "Jaguar". Indeed, some sources translate it as "Jaguar", but that's not really important.
The hull of the Nahuel was welded from armored plates. The turret was cast - a technology which did cause the Argentinians some trouble, but in the end, they managed to make it. The armament was a 75mm Krupp howitzer.
The first prototype trials - at first the hull was tested without the turret attached - ended well, the vehicle performed admirably. The vehicle was presented to public during a 1943 coup anniversary military parade on 4.6.1944 in Buenos Aires - first 10 Nahuels were ready by then. In the end, a total of 16 vehicles were produced in the Arsenal Esteban de Luca in Buenos Aires between 1943 and 1944. By 1944 however, Argentina officially "switched sides" and became an ally of the USA. As a result, American surplus Shermans were imported en-masse and there was no need to produce more Nahuels (especially since the late model Shermans were superior in most respects).
In the end, the Nahuel served until 1962, when the last one was decommissioned. Most were scrapped, some served as training targets and sadly not a single vehicle survived until now.
Parameters
Weight: 35 tons
Engine: 500hp Lorraine Dietrich 12E.B.
Maximum speed: 40 km/h
Armor: 25 to 80mm
Armament: Krupp model 1909 field gun (75mm L/30) with the ROF of 10 shots per minute, according to some sources these guns were replaced after the war by Bofors 75mm L/40 guns, 1x 50cal MG, 3x7.62mm MG's
In World of Tanks
Since the probability of introduction of some South American tree is very, very low, this vehicle would make a nice tier 5 American premium medium tank. Its mobility is decent and while the gun is inferior to the Sherman, it could still work. Plus, I think I recall correctly that some developer said at some point that Nahuel might appear. In any case, it's a nice piece of South-American engineering and it shouldn't be forgotten.
Source
http://forum.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/title/ARG-Nahuel/t/34483
today we are going to have a look at one tank that appears on the WoT forums in regular intervals (quite correctly) as a candidate for a tier 5 premium tank - the Nahuel. When I wrote about the Patagon tank some time ago, I wrote that the Nahuel is basically a Sherman knock-off. This caused some amount of disagreement - and rightfully so, because I was wrong. But let's have a look at this interesting vehicle.
The full name of the vehicle is "Carro de Combate Medio Nahuel D.L.43" and it is one of the first Argentinian armored vehicle attempts. Pre-WW2 Argentina generally wasn't exactly the most industrially developed country in the world, therefore it was capable of producing only generally very simple designs and constructions. It's no wonder that the army was - by the time WW2 broke out - equipped only with foreign made vehicles. By that time, the army sought to purchase the French, British or even Czech vehicles to arm itself, but as the war came closer, no tanks were available to buy, since all the armies tried to arm themselves at all costs. Some serious negotiations took place between Argentina and Czechoslovakia over the purchase of the LT-38 light tanks, but before any agreement could be reached, Czechoslovakia was already occupied and produced tanks exclusively for the Germans.
Other attempts to acquire modern technology were practically thwarted by Americans, who suspected Argentina of nazi sympathies and were not interested in strengtening the Axis forces any further - that's why they basically blocked any Argentinian attempts to buy armor abroad.
This import quasiban led to the Argentinian decision to actually develop their own medium tank. The decision took place in 1942 (a committee to ovesee the development was estabilished) and in 1943, the actual project was accepted. Lt.Col. Baisi was charged with its proper development. This man would later become celebrated as the "father of the Argentinian armored corps" and handled the development well.
The project itself was definitely inspired by the M4 Sherman design, but the similiarity was only superficial - the "guts" of the vehicle were completely different. The design work went really fast, even for 40's standards: a wooden mockup was ready in 45 days and the first prototype saw the light of day in only 2 months. The project was named "Nahuel". Apparently, it's supposed to mean "Tiger" in the language of Argentinian natives (Indians), but after looking for a while, I discovered that there can be an alternative translation as "Jaguar". Indeed, some sources translate it as "Jaguar", but that's not really important.
The hull of the Nahuel was welded from armored plates. The turret was cast - a technology which did cause the Argentinians some trouble, but in the end, they managed to make it. The armament was a 75mm Krupp howitzer.
The first prototype trials - at first the hull was tested without the turret attached - ended well, the vehicle performed admirably. The vehicle was presented to public during a 1943 coup anniversary military parade on 4.6.1944 in Buenos Aires - first 10 Nahuels were ready by then. In the end, a total of 16 vehicles were produced in the Arsenal Esteban de Luca in Buenos Aires between 1943 and 1944. By 1944 however, Argentina officially "switched sides" and became an ally of the USA. As a result, American surplus Shermans were imported en-masse and there was no need to produce more Nahuels (especially since the late model Shermans were superior in most respects).
In the end, the Nahuel served until 1962, when the last one was decommissioned. Most were scrapped, some served as training targets and sadly not a single vehicle survived until now.
Parameters
Weight: 35 tons
Engine: 500hp Lorraine Dietrich 12E.B.
Maximum speed: 40 km/h
Armor: 25 to 80mm
Armament: Krupp model 1909 field gun (75mm L/30) with the ROF of 10 shots per minute, according to some sources these guns were replaced after the war by Bofors 75mm L/40 guns, 1x 50cal MG, 3x7.62mm MG's
In World of Tanks
Since the probability of introduction of some South American tree is very, very low, this vehicle would make a nice tier 5 American premium medium tank. Its mobility is decent and while the gun is inferior to the Sherman, it could still work. Plus, I think I recall correctly that some developer said at some point that Nahuel might appear. In any case, it's a nice piece of South-American engineering and it shouldn't be forgotten.
Source
http://forum.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/title/ARG-Nahuel/t/34483
SU-2-122 SPG (twin barrelled)
Author: Yuri Pasholok
Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/188750.html
In December 1942, the Technical committee of the Main Artillery Command of the Red Army developed technical/tactical requirements for a self-propelled artillery gun, equipped with a twin-linked pair of 122mm M-30 howitzers. These requirements then went to the OKB-172 factory, based in Perm, where by the end of April 1943, a project for the twin-barrelled SPG based on T-34 was developed. It recieved a factory designation of SU-2-122.
Just like with the KV-7, the main point of the idea was the possibility to fire in salvos. In order to implement this idea, a price had to be paid: the T-34 hull was prolonged by one roadwheel and the weight was increased to 35 tons. After considering advantages and disadvantages, the aforementioned committee decided to scrap the SU-2-122 project, not even a prototype was built.
Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/188750.html
In December 1942, the Technical committee of the Main Artillery Command of the Red Army developed technical/tactical requirements for a self-propelled artillery gun, equipped with a twin-linked pair of 122mm M-30 howitzers. These requirements then went to the OKB-172 factory, based in Perm, where by the end of April 1943, a project for the twin-barrelled SPG based on T-34 was developed. It recieved a factory designation of SU-2-122.
Just like with the KV-7, the main point of the idea was the possibility to fire in salvos. In order to implement this idea, a price had to be paid: the T-34 hull was prolonged by one roadwheel and the weight was increased to 35 tons. After considering advantages and disadvantages, the aforementioned committee decided to scrap the SU-2-122 project, not even a prototype was built.
Sharing the misery...
Warning: this article represents my opinion only
So, it was past midnight and I was just browsing the EU forums and stumbled upon this thread. The thread itself - while justified - is not exactly groundbreaking, but Ectar's answer in it (grats on the new avatar picture, EU flag - lovely, it fits WG EU more than you know) is interesting. Basically, it's just another batch of moaning as to why they can't do officially what this blog does unofficially - but it's all nicely put together.
I will quote Ectar from the abovementioned post:
"Feedback is very important, however the English speaking community on this forum isn't the only community we have to look out for. Because the English speaking section covers multiple countries its a very busy forum section, however the German and Polish sections for example are also pretty massive, get a lot of traffic, and their feedback, questions and views are also important. For everything you want to see for the English speaking section, consider also that our other language communities also deserve that level of interaction. Seven officially supported languages, that each deserve to be treated equally. We appreciate that across our national forums not everything is in line with each other and we're doing what we can to bring things together."
What he wrote, does that sound right to you? Well... it reminded me of another quote, this time from Winston Churchill:
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Now, I won't put the connection between a (Bela)Russian game and socialism (that would be way too obvious), but - isn't the thing going on on EU forums simply equally sharing of misery? Like socialism, this forum attitude started with a reasonable idea: "Let's make everyone equal". Well, yes, the thing is, not everyone IS equal. Sorry, if that comes as a shock to you, but it's like that. People who don't speak (at least) English are simply limited. English is the world language, not Russian, not Chinese (well, not yet anyway), but English is.
Therefore, it's absolutely justifiable in my eyes for English-speaking people to have more attention (news, developer answer etc.) than various language mutations, because it's the one world language people of Europe learn at schools. Western feedback, guides, videos, streams... a lot of that is in English. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume English speaking people are better informed anyway than the various language forum mutations, visited by people who actually don't speak English. What does this mean for the Q&A? It means one thing: English speaking people have much higher chance of asking reasonable questions than people who don't speak English. In other words: restricting the Q&A questions to English-only would actually most likely improve their quality.
But for some reason, this doesn't apply to Wargaming EU. Wargaming EU seems to think that since it's not right to prefer one "supported" language over another and since they can't do a quality Q&A in all supported languages (which is completely true, they can't, that would be crazy), instead of offering ONE quality Q&A in English, they decided for a socialistic solution of equal misery sharing: noone gets shit. The current Q&A just sucks and it won't improve, because Wargaming is restricted by their own rules.
The obvious counterargument is: "But if we do it in English, info won't get to all the languages, right?"
Wrong.
Look at this blog for example: it gets translated (practically daily) to Czech, Polish, German (I haven't visited your community ever since the ban, but they actually had guys such as Raguel and Stormshadow doing this even before I started myself last year), French (hey Lactose), Spanish (if I remember correctly), but also Chinese and Vietnamese, funnily enough. Each community has "their" person, who stepped up and started translating it to their native language and those people have my respect too for doing it.
The same thing would happen, if what this blog does was done officially. Or if Q&A was available only in English. Players from various nations would simply step up, WG EU would get happier customers and overall the info level would rise all across the board. Instead of official sharing of... well... nothing, you'd get unofficial sharing of information, which in turn helps to build the community around the fans who step up.
But of course, that won't happen.
Why? Because (unless WG EU hires an extra person to do the Q&A), it would actually require an EFFORT. Yea, I know, this is the part where I get told WG EU guys are working very hard and all that. Not convinced. It would be doable and I could retire :) (yea, been thinking about that a lot lately).
PS: Ectar's moaning about NA developers not being developers is also BS. Technically, he's "right", but the difference is, The_Chieftain speaks with NA players practically daily (and as a human being too, not "this won't happen and fuck off" SerB-style) on various development topics (for example, today, he said an interesting piece of info that apparently, Tiger might get a rebalance eventually - no, I don't know anything more, but he's working on something). It works there. It can work on EU too.
So, it was past midnight and I was just browsing the EU forums and stumbled upon this thread. The thread itself - while justified - is not exactly groundbreaking, but Ectar's answer in it (grats on the new avatar picture, EU flag - lovely, it fits WG EU more than you know) is interesting. Basically, it's just another batch of moaning as to why they can't do officially what this blog does unofficially - but it's all nicely put together.
I will quote Ectar from the abovementioned post:
"Feedback is very important, however the English speaking community on this forum isn't the only community we have to look out for. Because the English speaking section covers multiple countries its a very busy forum section, however the German and Polish sections for example are also pretty massive, get a lot of traffic, and their feedback, questions and views are also important. For everything you want to see for the English speaking section, consider also that our other language communities also deserve that level of interaction. Seven officially supported languages, that each deserve to be treated equally. We appreciate that across our national forums not everything is in line with each other and we're doing what we can to bring things together."
What he wrote, does that sound right to you? Well... it reminded me of another quote, this time from Winston Churchill:
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
Now, I won't put the connection between a (Bela)Russian game and socialism (that would be way too obvious), but - isn't the thing going on on EU forums simply equally sharing of misery? Like socialism, this forum attitude started with a reasonable idea: "Let's make everyone equal". Well, yes, the thing is, not everyone IS equal. Sorry, if that comes as a shock to you, but it's like that. People who don't speak (at least) English are simply limited. English is the world language, not Russian, not Chinese (well, not yet anyway), but English is.
Therefore, it's absolutely justifiable in my eyes for English-speaking people to have more attention (news, developer answer etc.) than various language mutations, because it's the one world language people of Europe learn at schools. Western feedback, guides, videos, streams... a lot of that is in English. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume English speaking people are better informed anyway than the various language forum mutations, visited by people who actually don't speak English. What does this mean for the Q&A? It means one thing: English speaking people have much higher chance of asking reasonable questions than people who don't speak English. In other words: restricting the Q&A questions to English-only would actually most likely improve their quality.
But for some reason, this doesn't apply to Wargaming EU. Wargaming EU seems to think that since it's not right to prefer one "supported" language over another and since they can't do a quality Q&A in all supported languages (which is completely true, they can't, that would be crazy), instead of offering ONE quality Q&A in English, they decided for a socialistic solution of equal misery sharing: noone gets shit. The current Q&A just sucks and it won't improve, because Wargaming is restricted by their own rules.
The obvious counterargument is: "But if we do it in English, info won't get to all the languages, right?"
Wrong.
Look at this blog for example: it gets translated (practically daily) to Czech, Polish, German (I haven't visited your community ever since the ban, but they actually had guys such as Raguel and Stormshadow doing this even before I started myself last year), French (hey Lactose), Spanish (if I remember correctly), but also Chinese and Vietnamese, funnily enough. Each community has "their" person, who stepped up and started translating it to their native language and those people have my respect too for doing it.
The same thing would happen, if what this blog does was done officially. Or if Q&A was available only in English. Players from various nations would simply step up, WG EU would get happier customers and overall the info level would rise all across the board. Instead of official sharing of... well... nothing, you'd get unofficial sharing of information, which in turn helps to build the community around the fans who step up.
But of course, that won't happen.
Why? Because (unless WG EU hires an extra person to do the Q&A), it would actually require an EFFORT. Yea, I know, this is the part where I get told WG EU guys are working very hard and all that. Not convinced. It would be doable and I could retire :) (yea, been thinking about that a lot lately).
PS: Ectar's moaning about NA developers not being developers is also BS. Technically, he's "right", but the difference is, The_Chieftain speaks with NA players practically daily (and as a human being too, not "this won't happen and fuck off" SerB-style) on various development topics (for example, today, he said an interesting piece of info that apparently, Tiger might get a rebalance eventually - no, I don't know anything more, but he's working on something). It works there. It can work on EU too.
Apr 25, 2013
25.4.2013
- the option to restore sold tank crews after you get your account back (if you become a victim of account theft/hacking) will be implemented relatively soon
- there will be a protection from accidental crew dismissal implemented, but not soon
- today's RU server minipatch doesn't cause 8.5 replays not to run (SS: not sure this concerns EU/NA)
- the possibility to load the autoloader with various shell composition (SS: for example 2 AP and 3 HE) will not be implemented
- the possibility for players to make maps won't be implemented: "To be original and interesting is not enough, they have to be worked-on. And to search amongst the thousands of "my school and house" map proposals for one decent proposal and to polish it for gameplay on top of that is much more expensive than to make the map ourselves"
- the M4A2E4 Sherman elevation/depression rollback in 0.8.5 (from 0.8.4 values back to 0.8.3) happened correctly: the depression was returned to the old one too (from -5 to -10), it was just forgotten in the patchnotes
- according to devs, Maus is doing fine statistically. It will be buffed just a bit (not significantly) and it won't happen too soon, the buff has low priority
- premium tier 8 vehicles won't come in first half of 2013, but in second they will
- Serene Coast and Komarin will return in 2nd half of 2013, they will both be changed a lot
- Sexton was moved to 8.6, because just like the rest of the arty it will be rebalanced
- all arty vehicles will be completely rebalanced in general
- there will be a protection from accidental crew dismissal implemented, but not soon
- today's RU server minipatch doesn't cause 8.5 replays not to run (SS: not sure this concerns EU/NA)
- the possibility to load the autoloader with various shell composition (SS: for example 2 AP and 3 HE) will not be implemented
- the possibility for players to make maps won't be implemented: "To be original and interesting is not enough, they have to be worked-on. And to search amongst the thousands of "my school and house" map proposals for one decent proposal and to polish it for gameplay on top of that is much more expensive than to make the map ourselves"
- the M4A2E4 Sherman elevation/depression rollback in 0.8.5 (from 0.8.4 values back to 0.8.3) happened correctly: the depression was returned to the old one too (from -5 to -10), it was just forgotten in the patchnotes
- according to devs, Maus is doing fine statistically. It will be buffed just a bit (not significantly) and it won't happen too soon, the buff has low priority
- premium tier 8 vehicles won't come in first half of 2013, but in second they will
- Serene Coast and Komarin will return in 2nd half of 2013, they will both be changed a lot
- Sexton was moved to 8.6, because just like the rest of the arty it will be rebalanced
- all arty vehicles will be completely rebalanced in general
A "Short" History of Anti-Tank Rifles
Author: Priory_of_Sion
Instead of tanks, I would like to discuss the Anti-Tank Rifles(ATRs) of the world. The ATR was designed to kill tanks, a job that most failed to due reliably. After it became clear that these weapons were more of a burden than a help they disappeared from the battlefield.
The first ATR originated in Germany, the Mauser "Tank-Gewehr" Model 1918. The Mauser 1918 was an enlarged Mauser pattern rifle with a very long barrel, a heavy butt, a bipod, and a 13x92SR T-Patrone round. It was very large weighing 39 lbs(17.7 kg) and was 66.13 inches long(1680 mm). The Mauser 1918 allowed German Infantry to battle against the Allied armored vehicles which were immune to most machine gun and rifle fire. The Mauser 1918 fire the 13 mm round at 913 m/s and could penetrate ~25 mm of armor at ranges up to 200 meters. It was a single shot design.
The Mauser 1918 evolved into the standard German ATRs of WWII, the Panzerbuchse Modell 38(PzB38) and the Panzerbusche Modell 39(PzB39). The PzB38 combined a necked down version of the 13 mm round of the Mauser 1918 and combined it with a new 7.92 mm design(7.92x95 Patrone 318). The PzB38 and the PzB39 were single shot designs. The PzB38 saw service in the Polish campaign and had marginal success. The PzB39 was a simplified version to ease production. The PzB38 was 51 inches(1295 mm) long and weighed 35 lbs(15.88 kg) while the PzB39 was 62.25 inches long and weighed a little over 27 lbs(12.35 kg). These ATRs had little success versus any vehicle with actual armor only penetrating ~30 mm at 100 meters with an impressive 1210 m/s to 1265 m/s muzzle velocity.
A little more detailed look at the ammo shows that the Germans actually copied Polish ATR ammo and started using Polish type ammunition instead of theirs after realizing the Polish ammo was clearly superior. The Germans also had developed a tear gas capsule which was a complete failure, no reports of enemy soldiers being exposed to the tear gas have ever surfaced. The Allies only found out about the tear gas round by capturing ammunition.
The SS41 is a very rare German ATR design which was actually developed by the Czechs in Brno. It was made in very small numbers by the Waffen SS and is one of the first bullpup designs that was ever used by any military. It had a 5 to 10 round magazine and a very awkward reload system(see below). This complicated the manufacturing and exposed the breech to more dirt and dust. It had sightly less muzzle velocity compared to the PzB38/39 and was obsolete by the time it saw combat in 1941.
Here is how you reload the SS41, brought to you by world.guns.ru:
"to open the breech, shooter first has to unlock the barrel from the breech by rotating barrel counter-clockwise; this is done by turning the pistol grip, which is attached to the barrel, right and up. Once barrel is unlocked from stationary breech, it can be pulled forward by pushing the pistol grip to the front. If the spent case is present in the gun, it remains stationary against the breech, held by extractor. Once the barrel is fully forward, the spent case is free to fall out of the gun. Barrel then is pulled rearward, and upon this movement it picks up the fresh cartridge from the box magazine, which is attached to the stationary stock / cradle at the angle. Once the barrel is in its rearmost position, enclosing the fresh round in the chamber, it can be locked to the breech by turning the pistol grip down. Now the rifle is ready to be fired."
Instead of tanks, I would like to discuss the Anti-Tank Rifles(ATRs) of the world. The ATR was designed to kill tanks, a job that most failed to due reliably. After it became clear that these weapons were more of a burden than a help they disappeared from the battlefield.
The first ATR originated in Germany, the Mauser "Tank-Gewehr" Model 1918. The Mauser 1918 was an enlarged Mauser pattern rifle with a very long barrel, a heavy butt, a bipod, and a 13x92SR T-Patrone round. It was very large weighing 39 lbs(17.7 kg) and was 66.13 inches long(1680 mm). The Mauser 1918 allowed German Infantry to battle against the Allied armored vehicles which were immune to most machine gun and rifle fire. The Mauser 1918 fire the 13 mm round at 913 m/s and could penetrate ~25 mm of armor at ranges up to 200 meters. It was a single shot design.
The Mauser 1918 evolved into the standard German ATRs of WWII, the Panzerbuchse Modell 38(PzB38) and the Panzerbusche Modell 39(PzB39). The PzB38 combined a necked down version of the 13 mm round of the Mauser 1918 and combined it with a new 7.92 mm design(7.92x95 Patrone 318). The PzB38 and the PzB39 were single shot designs. The PzB38 saw service in the Polish campaign and had marginal success. The PzB39 was a simplified version to ease production. The PzB38 was 51 inches(1295 mm) long and weighed 35 lbs(15.88 kg) while the PzB39 was 62.25 inches long and weighed a little over 27 lbs(12.35 kg). These ATRs had little success versus any vehicle with actual armor only penetrating ~30 mm at 100 meters with an impressive 1210 m/s to 1265 m/s muzzle velocity.
A little more detailed look at the ammo shows that the Germans actually copied Polish ATR ammo and started using Polish type ammunition instead of theirs after realizing the Polish ammo was clearly superior. The Germans also had developed a tear gas capsule which was a complete failure, no reports of enemy soldiers being exposed to the tear gas have ever surfaced. The Allies only found out about the tear gas round by capturing ammunition.
The SS41 is a very rare German ATR design which was actually developed by the Czechs in Brno. It was made in very small numbers by the Waffen SS and is one of the first bullpup designs that was ever used by any military. It had a 5 to 10 round magazine and a very awkward reload system(see below). This complicated the manufacturing and exposed the breech to more dirt and dust. It had sightly less muzzle velocity compared to the PzB38/39 and was obsolete by the time it saw combat in 1941.
Here is how you reload the SS41, brought to you by world.guns.ru:
"to open the breech, shooter first has to unlock the barrel from the breech by rotating barrel counter-clockwise; this is done by turning the pistol grip, which is attached to the barrel, right and up. Once barrel is unlocked from stationary breech, it can be pulled forward by pushing the pistol grip to the front. If the spent case is present in the gun, it remains stationary against the breech, held by extractor. Once the barrel is fully forward, the spent case is free to fall out of the gun. Barrel then is pulled rearward, and upon this movement it picks up the fresh cartridge from the box magazine, which is attached to the stationary stock / cradle at the angle. Once the barrel is in its rearmost position, enclosing the fresh round in the chamber, it can be locked to the breech by turning the pistol grip down. Now the rifle is ready to be fired."
Before I talk about the last German ATR I must talk about the Swiss Solothurn S-18/100. The S-18/100 was developed in the early 1930s and was to fire the massive 20x105B round. The S-18/100 fired semi-automatically from either a 5 or 10 round magazine. It was 69 inches long(1760 mm) and weighed 99 lbs(45 kg). The S-18/100 fired the massive 20 mm round at 762 m/s and could penetrate ~27 mm of armor up to 300 meters. The S-18/100 was used by Italian and Hungarian forces in WWII.
The reason why I talked about the S-18/100 first is that the German Panzerbuchse Modell 41(PzB41) was a German modification of the Solothurn. The PzB41 made it into production due to the realization that the PzB38 and 39 would be obsolete within a year. The PzB41 fired a 20x138B round at 731 m/s which could penetrate 30 mm of armor at 250 m. The PzB41 however was a complete flop. The main Soviet vehicles including the T-34 were all but immune to the PzB41. The Italians used it in 1943 with limited success.
The Finnish developed one ATR of note, the Lahti Model 39. The Lahti was modified from a 20 mm AA gun and fired the same round as the Solothurn ATRs. The Lahti had a 10 round magazine and was suppose to fire semi-automatically, however it is entirely possible fire automatically with a cyclic rate of 500 rpm(which helped convert the Lahti bak into an AA weapon). This weapon was 88 inches(2232 mm) long and weighed 94 lbs(42.1 kg). The Lahti fired the 20 mm round at 900 m/s and should have superior penetration compared to the Swiss/German 20 mm designs. Only a couple of Lahtis saw service in the Winter War and were moderately successful versus early Soviet armor. By the time of the Continuation War the Lahti was useless versus T-34s and mainly used versus lightly armored vehicles and emplacements.
The British meanwhile developed their own ATR in the mid 1930s called the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle designed by Enfield. It was originally called the Stanchion but was later renamed the Boys after Captain H.C. Boys, one of the chief proponents in the weapon's creation. Issued in 1936 the Boys saw service in France, North Africa, and the Far East. The Boys fired a .55 caliber(13.99x39B) round at over 800 m/s, this allowed for penetration upwards to 23 mm at ranges up to 100 meters, it did this via a bolt-action system with a 5 round magazine. The weapon weighed 35 lbs(16 kg) and was 64 inches(1575 mm) long. The Boys was produced up until 1943 and was a staple weapon of the Home Guard. The Boys also saw usage versus weakly armored early panzers and Italian tanks in France and North Africa. It was also used by the USMC Raiders which actually reported the destruction of Japanese flying boats by the Boys ATR. The Desert Rats also carried the Boys ATR. Both Finnish and Russians also received shipments of Boys ATRs. The last known usages of the Boys dates to the Korean War when the Boys where converted to fire .50 BMG rounds and were successful long range weapons against Chinese forces, even later some saw usage in the Yugoslav Conflicts.
The Polish ATR which used high velocity lead rounds which performed much like HESH rounds. Maroszek Kb Ur wz.35. This ATR was developed in secret in late 1935 and over 6000 copies were issued to Polish Forces before German/Soviet Occupation. The Maroszek fired a 7.92x107 round which could penetrate 20-30 mm of armor at up to 100 meters at 1290 m/s. It held 5 rounds in a detachable magazine. This was more than enough to defeat German Panzer Is and IIs. The Polish tried their best to create the lightest ATR in the world, the Maroszek was 69 inches(1760 mm) long and weighed just over 20 lbs(9.1 kg). In my opinion the Poles created the best ATR ever made and could have been very successful if its use was more widespred.
The Japanese also tried to produce an ATR but ended up making a small support weapon. The Type 97 was a huge weapon weighing upwards to 152 lbs(68.93 kg- almost as much as me) and was 82.5 inches(2095 mm) long. The Type 97 was an automatic(usually fired semi-automatically) weapon firing 7 rounds from a vertical magazine, these rounds were 20x124 mm rounds. The 20x124 fired at 693 m/s and could penetrate some of the USMC light tanks in the Solomon Islands and were reported to be in use in 1939-40 in China. The Type 97 was quickly put out of service and many were converted to the Type 98 which fired a more powerful 20 mm round and was mounted on a wheeled carriage.
Lastly we have the Soviet ATRs. The Degtyarov PTRD and the Simonov PTRS were both developed and put into production around the same time right after the start of Operation Barbarossa. The 14.5x114 mm round fired by both rifles proved very effective, penetrating armor up to 40 mm at 100 meters. The Dehtyarov PTRD was a much more simple design compared to its brother and was more reliable in combat. These ATRs also made the usage of side skirts widespread among German AFVs and was one of the causes that led to the Panther II project in 1943. These guns were known to be used by the Chinese/DPRK forces in the Korean War and it is entirely likely that small numbers have seen action throughout the Cold War and into the Yugoslav Conflicts. The PTRD was a single shot weapon while the PTRS fired semi-automatically from a 5 round magazine. The PTRS weighed ~46 lbs(20.9 kg) and was 82.9 inches(2108 mm) long while the PTRD weighed ~38 lbs(17.3 kg) and was 79 inches(2000 mm) long.
Hey DeathMongrel
Feel free to add/correct my info.
Sources:
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century by Hogg and Weeks
world.guns.ru
rifleman.org.uk
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century by Hogg and Weeks
world.guns.ru
rifleman.org.uk
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