Hello everyone! I’m Yuriy,
and I work
in the Game Balance Department.
Today we’ll tell you
about the planned branch
of Swedish vehicles.
It may seem strange, but Sweden,
despite being a small country,
has been very prolific
in creating unique and interesting
vehicle models.
During our research,
we realized that there could be
a branch of heavy tanks,
several branches of light
and medium tanks,
depending on what is needed,
an artillery branch,
and two branches of tank destroyers.
All vehicles are interesting
and unique in a varying degree.
Some of them have unique gameplay
and an original appearance
that may be interesting
for many players.
For now, we will add the vehicles
that are the most interesting
for a wide audience.
They are the branch
of medium and heavy tanks,
and the branch of tank destroyers.
The TD branch is crowned
by a vehicle that is famous
among tank fans—the STRV-103b.
One of the main features
of the Swedish TD branch
is that these vehicles can adjust
their gun traverse and elevation
by using their hulls.
You will able
to raise and lower the hull
due to hydro-pneumatic suspension.
The Tier VIII vehicle will be able
to aim using both
its original elevation angles
and its suspension,
raising or lowering its hull.
The peculiar feature
of the Tier IX and X vehicles
is that their gun is sealed
into the hull,
so the gun traverse and elevation
are performed only by hull traverse
and raising or lowering the nose.
The gameplay feature
of these vehicles is that
they will have two modes:
travel mode and firing mode.
In its basic mode,
the vehicle is able to roll and turn.
It can fire of course,
but the dispersion is very high.
The basic mode doesn’t provide
for effective fire.
It’s designed for taking positions,
leaving those positions,
and moving around the map.
After it takes
an advantageous position,
the vehicle,
thanks to its good concealment,
switches into a siege mode
and starts delivering fire
from its very effective gun
at any available targets.
When it deploys,
it becomes a real threat.
It starts firing from long distances,
causes a lot of damage
and it’s hard to get to it.
But it’s not mobile;
It’s worth noting
that the vehicle is planned
with very good firing characteristics:
very high accuracy, good rate of fire,
and high gun penetration.
The only conditional drawback
is low damage per shot.
To switch into the siege mode,
you need to press a special button.
The time of deployment
will be adjustable
depending on the vehicle.
Some vehicles will deploy
in 1-2 seconds,
some will take a bit longer.
After switching
from one mode to another,
you switch into the siege mode,
so you can aim up and down
with your mouse with the help
of hydro-pneumatic suspension.
It changes the vehicle collision
model itself
and allows you to aim vertically
with the help of the hull.
It will be very easy for players to do,
because switching
will take 1-2 seconds.
It only takes one button,
and it’s already intuitively clear
for the vehicles
with limited gun traverse angles
that have a hull lock.
So, for an experienced TD driver,
there won’t be many drastic changes.
But the first important change
is that you will now need
to press the X key,
because previously
it wasn’t necessary.
You could just roll up,
and deliver fire without pressing it.
And another change,
possibly considered a drawback,
is that you need time
to switch into this mode and back.
Players just need
to occupy a position,
press X, switch into the mode,
and deliver fire.
The vehicle itself
will adjust your aiming,
I mean that the suspension
will raise or lower the tank’s front
to follow your aim.
That’s why players won’t need
to perform any additional actions.
Gun traverse is performed
by hull traverse,
also following the aim.
So, in general, the mechanics
are identical to that of other TDs,
but the vehicle will just aim
a little bit more
with the help of its hull,
and change its collision model
by lifting or lowering its hull.
For these mechanics,
when the vehicle moves in this mode,
in the siege mode,
the effects of Camouflage Net
and Binocular Telescope will stay.
So we will be able
to traverse the vehicle left and right
and change gun elevation angles,
but Binocular Telescope
and Camouflage Net will be still active,
so this will be another pleasant bonus
in addition to excellent concealment.
Also, in the siege mode,
the vehicle will be able
to change the slope
of the upper glacis plates
that will allow players,
if they are skilled enough,
to use the hull to deflect shells
and avoid damage.
Or just move away from the position,
depending on
what’s more advantageous
and convenient for the player.
This is an interesting feature,
because the vehicle is able
to change its position
significantly,
and this can influence its protection.
The vehicle collision model
is changeable.
It’s a plus because a regular player
will receive a very interesting vehicle,
while a very experienced player
will also get a protection tool,
since the vehicle can be well-placed
in certain situations.
When standing on the hill,
it can level itself,
while covering its underside completely.
It can turn and lower the hull
to increase the angle for ricochets.
But its sharp angles
and triangular armor
encourage players
to rely on them
to save the vehicle’s HP.
At Tier X,
we have a better protected vehicle.
The STRV-103b is equipped
with an anti-HEAT grid
that will help players
use armor more effectively.
In general,
the concept of Swedish tank building
didn’t use copious amounts of resources,
but instead went
the technological way of using
the available resources rationally.
The Swedish vehicles
had low nominal armor thickness,
but significant angles
of armor inclination
to produce a high number
of ricochets.
Talking about the branch
or even the nation in general,
we should point out the nice,
fairly convenient penetrating guns
of slightly low calibers
and good dynamics,
which many players like,
and the ability to occupy
good positions first
and leave them first as well.
If we talk about the 103b,
I agree with everything said before.
You can add the game mechanics
of a siege-mode,
when a vehicle can’t move
but delivers fire more effectively
than any other vehicle.
And, of course,
it has almost outstanding concealment
for such a high vehicle tier.
Usually, the higher a vehicle’s tier
and size is, the worse
its concealment is.
But concealment of this vehicle
is about the same level as that
of low-tier vehicles.
Players will be able
to use it very effectively.
Three vehicles from the TD branch
will have the siege mode mechanics.
They are Tier VIII, IX, and X vehicles.
The difference in mechanics
at Tier VIII will be
that the gun of this vehicle
will have a certain degree
of freedom in elevation,
but to aim horizontally
and for effective shooting in general,
players will have to switch to the mode
with additional depression angles,
additional vertical freedom.
This TD will prepare players
for the fully fixed gun.
This is a brand new mechanic.
Firstly, it’s calculated by our new physics,
so all this happens on the server.
Secondly, the gameplay on this vehicle
will change from battle to battle
depending on how the player uses it.
Some players will use it
just to deliver fire,
others will put the vehicle hull
higher or lower in emergency situations
to cover its lower or upper glacis plates
and protect it from penetration.
There are plenty of opportunities.