Sunday 22 March 2015

22.03.2015 Q&A

Not much today,

- in test 9.7, AMX ELC was renamed to ELC bis in order for the vehicle to be called historically correctly;
- The sixth sense rework will come "a bit later";
- 9.7 will not bring any "free garage slots" anywhere (RG: Free stuff is good but I agree with WG on this, no reason to give garage slots with no apparent reason);
- It's possible that there will not be the option to buy the German Somua S35 premium tank anymore once the 9.7 comes (RG: It's a very good tank, make sure you don't regret if it gets away);
- The AMX 30 B should not be compared to Batchat according to the developers, the vehicles are fundamentally different gameplay-wise;
- This weekend, Russian players could buy the E-25 for cca 20 EUR, it is not confirmed that this event will come to EU as well (RG: First bring the daily bonus, yes looking at you EU *Creepy smile*).

Wargaming Threatens to Ban Social Groups for Mentioning Armored Warfare

Hello warriors,

a nice little scandal started on the Vkontakte social network. For those who do not know: Vkontakte (transl. "in contact", is also known as "Russian Facebook") is a social network that is widely popular in CIS countries (more than Facebook anyway) and is the major social network to advertise on when doing business in Russia.

Recently, an interesting article with screenshots was published in the SMMshtiki group (https://vk.com/wall-43503600_162265) describing the incident as such:

There is another VK group called "Podslushano World of Tanks" (http://vk.com/overhear_wot) - a World of Tanks fan group by the look of things (jokes and such) and a BIG one at that (146 thousand followers). Recently, an administrator of this WoT group turned to the SMM group (which apparently deals with these matters) with a question. He was contacted by a representative of Wargaming social network department and was asked not to distribute any materials about Armored Warfare (or - specifically - to delete posts about Armored Warfare). When he asked why and whether it is illegal, the representative told him that:

"We as a social network department are following all the major World of Tanks communities and we are not interested in losing players to other projects by the means of communities, using our brand and content, which are subjected to intellectual property law".

In other words - if you write about World of Tanks, you better not mention Armored Warfare. The representative continues that if they do not comply, the group might be cancelled like this group was: (https://vk.com/wotclear) - he specifically mentions this example.

The threatened administrator was NOT happy and turned for help to Vkontakte support service. There they told him that Wargaming has no such right to do that and that you can post whatever you want in the group, on which the Wargaming representative reacted by forcing the administrator to remove EVERYTHING connected to World of Tanks (including the group name) from the group or face a ban.

So there you have it - you better not mention Armored Warfare anywhere or Wargaming will ban your ass.

My opinion about all of this is that they may be both Tank games and direct competitors but also they represent Tanks of different eras. I believe they can coexist. Armored Warfare is not going to steal the love I have for World of Tanks and vice-versa. But Hey! The more they fight the better for us customers right?  What do you think about all of this?

Richard Cutland talks about T-72 (Corrections Included)

Hello warriors,

Richard Cutland flew to Australia to talk about the T-72 there (because, you know, there are totally none in Europe). You can view his video here:




Now, as usual with Cutland's videos, there are mistakes. Here's what was found in this one:

First of all, this vehicle is not just "T-72", it's a T-72M1 vehicle from former Czechoslovakia (produced under license), so not exactly a typical thing.

- Number produces: Russian sources (Pavlov, Baryatinsky) state over 30k;
- The reason was not to replace the aging T-64A, but to provide an alternative to it, T-64A was actually more advanced and was for interior use only, while T-72 was to be exported as well;
- The costs are actually very relative because the "40 percent less" cost concerns the T-72 "Ural" (first model) that did not have composite armor;
- The "V-shaped plate" (plate? you mean the mudguard?) is not distinctive, T-64A has it too. It could however serve as a difference from T-55, if you can't tell at first glance;
- Height is not correct, should be cca 2,19 meters (Source: T-72 Soviet manual), Challenger took his number from wikipedia;
- Evenly spaced roadwheels? Not really, but it's not as pronounced as on the T-54/55;
- 5:50 video - that's a T-64, not T-72;
- The gun actually fires SHITLOADS of rounds;
- OF-26 "ATFT" what the "frack" is that? It's not even an original designation, it's the designation of the shell itself (even that is wrong, should be was 3OF26), the round was called 3VOF36 and it was a HE round;
- Ammo count is not correct: he mentions 22 rounds in autoloader (correct) but also 17 rounds outside of autoloader, which varied from model to model, 39 in total was correct only for T-72 Ural, what he is looking at is T-72M1, which had 44 or 45 rounds;
- Funny part how he talks about an unupgraded T-72 in front of an upgraded Czechoslovak T-72M1...but, whatever.

Restoring the T-20 Komsomolec

Source: http://yuripasholok.livejournal.com/4391429.html

Hello warriors,

Yuri Pasholok made an interesting post about one rare T-20 "Komsomolec" artillery tractor returning from the dead. Two years ago, there were only fragments of this vehicle available but thanks to dilligent restoration process, it is slowly returning to its original shape. The Komsomolec was one of the most common Soviet tracked artillery tractors before the war but not so many remain today. According to Yuri Pasholok, in two more years, it's completely possible this vehicle will be in running condition.

David Fletcher's Tank Chats #3

Thank you "nekojimaWOT".

Check out this video about the Medium Tank MkII presented by The Tank Museum's historian David Fletcher MBE.
I completely adore this gentleman's work, the way he talks about the subject makes him the best bedside tank story teller grandpa!