Storm talks about 9.1 Test 2

Source: 
http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/294238.html
For The Record

Storm is asking for Test round 2 feedback (performance, bugs etc) – he adds that the gun and Hellcat/Jackson engine sounds were returned to 9.0 standard because they were added to the test mostly to gather player feedback, there was no plan to release them in 9.1 live patch. The feedback on the gun sounds is conflicting, for the engine sounds it’s positive. Wargaming will take these opinions into account when developing the game further.
There is also a bug that changes the screen side ration, it will be fixed in the live server.
From the discussion:
- the 9.1 test sounds will be polished and they will return in one of the upcoming patches
- more tank engine sounds than Jackson and Hellcat are being recorded
- Storm states that the “moving corpses” bug was already fixed (players claim it is still there)
- engine sounds for exotic tanks will be recorded from “a similiar type of the engine”
- Storm doesn’t consider it a problem that the GPU is stressed in the new hangar more than in combat
- Chat 2.0 – “medium perspective”
- HD model mass-production system is not yet finished
- the mechanism of automatic platoon searching is not being developed yet
- the file “availablecontent.xml”, that appeared in the test client, does not mean there will be DLC, it is tied to the split of the HD and SD client
- the HB crew transfer without penalties “cannot be guaranteed for now” (SS: there was a plan for some of the tanks to act like “premiums” by being able to use crews from different tanks)
- there is little data collected from the test on the 9.1 historical battles
- reworking the decals and hit effects is not in near plans

[WoT Awesome Replays] World of Tanks Awesome Replays Episode 192 - T-62A vs 8 enemies

PROScout Tutorials: Welcome to Scouting!

Source: http://forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/355321-proscout-tutorials-welcome-to-scouting/

You have just acquired your first true scout tank; a Luchs, Pz38nA, T-50, A-20, M-5 or M5A1 Stuart – it doesn’t matter which Tier IV it is – and press “Battle!” in your garage.  Moments later, the map loads and…

 “WTH?!?!  Tier VIII tanks?  WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???”

If you are foolish enough to ask or complain in chat, you are immediately labelled a noob, or worse, and informed you are a Scout. 

By this time, the 30 second countdown timer hits :00 and off go the other tankers while you, still somewhat confused, creep forward to the nearest rock, bush, or building you can find, all the while trying to figure out how in heck your baby tank can possibly help your team while fighting those Tier VIII behemoths.

Before you can come close to deriving an answer, team mates start complaining to you and order you to “Go Scout!”.  30 seconds later, while you still confusedly try to grasp what is going on, someone yells at you again for not scouting and TKs you.

CONGRATULATIONS!  You are now an official member of World of Tanks’ Fraternity of Scouts!

The good news for some of you is running a Scout tank is a temporary affliction; grind through a few and you are closer to your goal of owning some higher tier Medium or Heavy.  The bad news for those of you who purposefully choose to run recon tanks, the disease scientifically named “smalltanx spotomania” (commonly known as “Scouting”) is NOT covered by the Affordable Healthcare Act; even Obama was scared to address people crazy enough to WANT to play Scouts.

So what is a new Scout, voluntary or involuntary, to do? 

The forums are full of advice, some good, some bad; often both mixed together in a single post or thread.  Tankers in battles are full of advice, usually bad, however well-intentioned.

PROScout is one of your answers.  The original Word/pdf Scout Guide passed 2,000,000 downloads long ago.  After migrating online, the PROScout website has far surpassed that, reaching out to help neophyte and veteran Scouts alike.

In the upcoming WOT Forum series, PROScout will look at all aspects of Scouting, 1 detail at a time.  If you don’t want to wait for it all to come to you, feel free to go to it.  Head on over to the  PROScout website and watch as it updates as the series unfolds. Not only will you find pages of information and ideas to browse through, but you will also discover hundreds of narrated YouTubes featuring many of the best pub Scouts from the NA, EU, and SEA servers.

Count on a new update at least once a week but the pace will normally be more rapid than that.

The first topic will hit the forum this weekend.  Until then,

HAPPY HUNTING!

9.1 ASAP

World of Warships Developer Diaries 1

[Asia Pacific] Vietnam, China trade accusations after Vietnamese fishing boat sinks

(Reuters) - Vietnam and China traded accusations on Tuesday over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat not far from where China has placed an oil rig in the disputed South China Sea, as tensions fester between the two countries over the giant drilling platform.

Hanoi said some 40 Chinese fishing boats had surrounded the Vietnamese craft before one of them rammed it and it sank. Vietnamese fishing boats operating nearby rescued the 10 fishermen on board, the government and the coastguard said.

China's official Xinhua news agency, citing a government source, said the vessel capsized after "harassing and colliding with" a Chinese fishing boat.

Scores of Vietnamese and Chinese ships, including coastguard vessels, have continued to square off around the rig despite a series of collisions earlier this month after the platform was towed to the site.

Each side have blamed the other over those incidents. Until Monday, no ship had sunk.

The incident took place around 17 nautical miles from the rig, which is drilling between the Paracel islands occupied by China and the Vietnamese coast. China calls them the Xisha islands.

"A Vietnamese boat from the central city of Da Nang was deliberately encircled by 40 fishing vessels from China before it was attacked by a Chinese ship," the head of Vietnam's coastguard, Nguyen Quang Dam, told Reuters by telephone.

Xinhua said: "Crew aboard the boat were saved after their ship jostled a fishing boat from Dongfang City in southern China's Hainan province and overturned in the waters near China's Xisha Islands."

Vietnam has said the Haiyang Shiyou 981 rig is in its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone and on its continental shelf. China says it is operating within its waters.

The rig is 240 km (150 miles) off Vietnam's coast and 330 km (206 miles) from the southern coast of China's Hainan island.

The $1 billion deepwater rig is owned by state-run China National Offshore Oil Company Group, parent of flagship unit CNOOC Ltd.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week said his government was considering taking legal action against China following the deployment of the rig.

That drew an angry response from China.

Earlier this month, mobs angered over the rig attacked mostly Taiwanese factories in Vietnam. Many of the rioters mistook Taiwanese companies to be owned by mainland Chinese. At least four workers were killed.

China claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, displaying its reach on official maps with a so-called nine-dash line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to parts of the potentially energy-rich waters.

9.1 Model Changes

Source: For The Record

Regular model changes – not much has changed in this patch, apart from one quote big one. There have been a lot of really tiny changes, most of them are completely unrecognizable, like textures fixes, here for example a small texture fix on AMX50B turret:


Several (about a dozen) tanks recieved a small graphic overhaul – their non-HD model got back their shading, like in this case the Batchat 25t:

Several tanks had their tracks texture changed, like the RhB here, nothing really important:

But… now it gets more interesting. T82 model was fixed – now the sprockets correctly “bite” into tracks:

The Birch Gun model was fixed – now the gun has a proper mechanism model

And now comes the best part. M8A1 US TD (“Scott”) model was completely overhauled. The armor thicknesses did not change, but the layout and 3D model did.
Stock turret version (the one with the machinegun is new)

Elite turret version (the one that looks like stock is new)

Armor model – elite turret version (the smaller rounder is new obviously, thicknesses stay the same)

As for the HD models, these can’t be opened in the tank viewer, so as you can imagine, the comparison is quite harder. Allegedly there were some changes in the Centurion 7 model, but I can’t spot any. T-54 elite turret side armor changed from 180 to 160 nominally. As far as I can see, the actual layout of armor did not change at all.

Map Changes in 9.1

Source: For The Record

Arctic was strongly reworked. The popular south base camp position on the cliff above the base is practically gone – bushes were removed. North-western base was also reworked, now there is a hill obstructing the view. New paths opened for attack.


Tundra changes – the west is quite different now, didn’t test.

Komarin – a lot of bushes was removed, the map is flatter, more accesses and the infamous camping forest in the corner disappeared. The map now has less cover, the “villages” are denser.

North-West – the northern path got reworked, it’s much more open now.

RNG: No Comments Ep. 24

Early Map Revealed

Source:
SEA Forum
For The Record

World of Tanks Facebook page (and it was reposted on the forums somewhere, CBA looking for it) revealed an unfinished map. Nothing more, nothing less, here’s what they are working on.

- doesn’t it look like some early Westfield prototype?
- am I the only one, to whom the two balls and the village resemble a…

Maybe Province ver 2.0, eh ?