The New Year holidays are over,
so let's take a moment to find out what lies ahead.
Numerous changes are coming to World of Tanks in the first part of the year.
You'll be able to try some of them during the Common Test of Update 1.4:
French wheeled vehicles;
changes to the conditions of the Chimera operation in the Second Front campaign;
improved characteristics of the Chimera and Object 279 (early);
the Ghost Town map reintroduced into World of Tanks;
and the improved performance on some computers
thanks to the full support of multi-threading.
Keep watching for more details.
Update 1.4 Review
We'll start with the feature that many players are interested in:
the wheeled vehicles. How will they fit into Random Battles?
Will they bring new strategies to the battlefield?
We bet that you’re craving the answers to these and many other questions.
At the moment, these vehicles are still in active development,
but the time has come for all willing players to test them.
You may have watched various videos of them,
but we can tell you that driving them yourself is an entirely different story.
The new French branch of wheeled vehicles
starts with Tier VI and comprises five tanks.
Players can start researching them
starting with the famous Tier V French light tank—the AMX ELC bis.
Players will experience the world of wheeled vehicles in gradual steps,
with new features becoming available as the vehicle tier grows.
The first wheeled vehicle is Tier VI Panhard 178B.
It's an ideal vehicle for transitioning from classical light tanks
to wheeled vehicles.
While it doesn’t carry all the advantages of top-tier wheeled vehicles,
it has its own advantage which differs it greatly from tracked light tanks.
The specific example of this is its lock-on feature, which allows
for snapping onto enemy vehicles while moving at very high speeds.
The difference from the standard auto-aim feature
is that you don’t even need to aim directly at the vehicle silhouette
to snap onto it. It does not provide any other advantages.
The Panhard 178B doesn’t have tracks. Instead, it features a wheeled chassis.
Each wheel can be destroyed independently,
and when each is destroyed, the vehicle stops.
The more wheels that are destroyed, the more the vehicle’s speed reduces,
eventually reaching a standstill once all of them have been taken out.
The Hotchkiss EBR occupies Tier VII.
It’s a light tank that features six wheels on three axes.
In addition, it has Boost. Press and hold W and the Spacebar at the same time
and the engine rate will increase.
When the Spacebar is released, the vehicle boosts forward.
When in battle, use this feature
to dash between points of cover or escape enemies.
However, please note that using Boost too often will damage the engine.
At Tier VIII we have the AML Lynx 6x6. It also has six wheels on three axes.
Moreover, it boasts all of the unique features that wheeled vehicles carry.
The lock-on feature, Boost, and two driving modes: Cruise and Rapid.
When in Cruise mode, the vehicle moves slower but has better maneuverability.
As for Rapid mode, the vehicle moves much faster,
but becomes rather difficult to maneuver.
Press X to switch between modes on the move.
The Panhard EBR 90 is available for researching at Tier IX.
It features four axes, eight wheels, and has perfect dynamics.
Its speed is beyond all praise, and the vehicle design
allows it to move backwards as fast as it’s able to move forwards.
The most outstanding vehicle becomes available at Tier X:
the Panhard EBR 105. It boasts the highest speed in the game.
At the same time, the difference in vehicle movement speed
is most significant between the Cruise and Rapid modes.
The new vehicles bring the potential for a brand new experience within the game.
Wheeled vehicles move fast, but have thin armor.
Their high speeds combined with a poor viewing range
do not encourage passive spotting.
It’s imperative to ensure that these vehicles are always on the move,
spotting enemy vehicles as they go.
In battle, they rely on their guns,
which feature good stabilization and accuracy, though low damage per hit.
While exchanging fire might not be the best idea,
they are capable of placing the final blow to an opponent
or biting some HPs off an enemy vehicle before vanishing.
We keep improving Personal Missions.
In this update, we have changed nearly 20 missions from the Chimera operation.
As a result, they have become easier to complete, meaning that players
will be able to get hold of the unique Tier VIII medium tank, Chimera, faster.
Moreover, the reward vehicle itself has been reworked.
We've improved the accuracy of the Chimera's gun,
and decreased the aiming time and dispersion
during movement and hull traverse.
The velocity of both standard and Premium shells has been significantly increased.
Penetration of standard shells has been increased from 202 to 218 millimeters.
Besides these changes,
we've increased the vehicle’s view range up to 380 meters.
You might ask why we’ve improved these particular characteristics.
Well, the main advantage of the vehicle is its gun.
The Chimera already features sufficient speed,
and its armor is not that important in the case of the Chimera.
However, its gun required some improvements,
due to it not bring efficient enough.
Now, that players have a higher chance of hitting their target,
the Chimera has become an even more dangerous opponent.
Finally, its capability corresponds to its status and name.
We have also improved the Object 279 (early) reward
for completing the third operation of the Second Front.
Players who have earned this tank
believed that it was not 100% worth the effort required to obtain it.
As a result, we decided that it was time to rework its characteristics.
To achieve this, we've improved the aiming time and accuracy of its gun,
and the dispersion on turret traverse has also been decreased.
We've also increased the hull bottom armor from 30 to 55 millimeters.
This should prevent shells from penetrating the bottom of the vehicle
according to the three-caliber rule in some particular cases.
In Update 1.4 we are reintroducing the Ghost Town map
that many of you know from the past.
Previously it was limited to particular game modes,
but now it will be available for Random Battles.
You will easily notice the changes that we’ve implemented,
with the map borders having been extended,
making its size one square kilometer.
New attack lanes have also been added.
The town remains an important strategic area,
and is most suitable for heavy tanks and assault medium tanks.
The hills to the west of the town are good for fast medium and light tanks.
Still, there aren’t many reliable points of cover.
Encounters are not as intense to the east of the town.
This area is better suited for positional battles.
Ghost Town has changed,
and you’ll discover how from the very beginning of a battle.
Apply new tactics, improvise, and win!
In addition to these changes,
Update 1.4 will see restricted access to non-playable areas on maps.
If an area on the minimap is hatched, it means
that it’s not intended for players according to the original map design.
Players will not be able to get to these locations after Update 1.4 is released.
And here's some technical information about the game:
when transitioning to the new Core engine,
we introduced multi-threading support to the game.
In principle, this allows for using all available processor cores
instead of just the primary core.
Unfortunately, during tests it was discovered
that the feature didn't work to the full extent we planned.
However, together with our good friends from Intel
we've finally introduced full support for multi-threading.
In particular, we've added a feature
that allows for multi-threaded rendering of a 3D scene.
This feature helps us to allocate the load more reasonably
across the processor and graphics adapter.
While the system requirements remain the same,
players will notice an increase in performance on many PC configurations.
The point is that the multi-threading feature
is supported by all modern processors.
The FPS increase depends on each particular configuration.
The more powerful and well-balanced your PC configuration,
the smoother the game will run.
Will you personally experience an FPS increase?
How will wheeled vehicles feel in Random Battles?
Find out on our test servers and share your feedback on our forum.
Together we'll make our game better.
Good luck on the battlefield!