Very soon, we'll launch a Sandbox iteration
dedicated to one of the most important game elements—
the new High-Explosive shell mechanics.
The Sandbox server in World of Tanks is a test range of sorts,
where we test the most complex and nuanced mechanics
in conditions that are as close to real as possible.
We gather feedback from players and conduct surveys.
Test participants influence the future of the game
with both their words and actions.
They help define what mechanics need improvement,
what needs to be removed, and what should be added to the game.
After HE shells, the crew and artillery features will be tested on the Sandbox.
These tests will be combined into a single cycle.
For your active participation in the tests,
you'll be rewarded with different in-game items
which will be added to your main game accounts.
Learn more about rewards on the game’s website.
The changes to HE shells have already been tested as part of Balance 3.0.
Now we're back with an improved mechanics variant.
Our goal is to alleviate the negative aspects of HE shells, such as:
dealing a significant amount of damage
to well-armored vehicles from the front;
the lack of use in small and medium caliber guns;
and unpleasant artifacts of the current mechanics.
For example, causing a fire by hitting the commander's cupola.
At the same time, we'd like to save all the positive aspects of HE shells:
fun gameplay, ease of use, and a high chance of causing damage.
There is much that’s attractive about vehicles carrying howitzer guns.
First of all, they cause massive damage upon penetration.
Any paper-thin target is a tasty morsel.
And the values of damage caused to it
produce the most striking and pleasant impression during a battle.
Or even during a session.
In addition, HE shells are very easy to use. You just fire them.
Even if the target is not penetrated, some damage is caused.
Not much, but still more than a ricochet.
Other times… the damage is enormous!
It's difficult not to love HE shells
when you fire almost randomly and deal full damage.
Although, those who TAKE damage
have something to be unhappy about with HE shells…
The main reason for this antipathy is the capability of HE shells
to cause quite high damage to the front of well-armored vehicles.
To put it simply, in a fight between two large-caliber, well-armored vehicles,
there may occur a situation
when one vehicle tries to aim carefully at vulnerable spots
and wait for the chance to penetrate them for certain,
while the other vehicle simply fires HE shells at the frontal armor
and steadily stresses the opponent out by slowly yet surely reducing the HP bar.
The situation is reversed for small and medium calibers.
Quite often, the damage caused by guns of caliber lower than 130 mm will be…
zero.
Well, relatively good damage can be caused occasionally,
but more often the result is frustrating.
Also, remember that an HE shell, regardless of its caliber,
is the most unpredictable shell type in the game.
Damage values in two practically identical situations
can differ significantly.
In some rare cases, the unpredictability of HE shells can be really shocking.
For example, when you fire at the commander's cupola and…
set the ENGINE on fire!
How does this happen?
Currently, the damage inflicted by HE shells is based on volume.
Each shell has a specific shell burst radius.
After penetrating the armor,
an HE shell gets inside the vehicle and bursts there,
causing maximum damage to the vehicle
and damaging the internal modules and crew within the burst radius.
When a shell fails to penetrate the armor at the point of impact,
it explodes and generates a sphere corresponding to the shell’s burst radius.
Within this sphere,
the shell mechanics looks for a spot on the vehicle’s armor
where the highest damage will be inflicted.
Quite often, this spot is not the same as the impact point,
which leads to an unpredictable result.
Let's look at an example. Here's the Maus and the FV4005.
With the current HE shell mechanics, the British vehicle
can easily cause 570–850 damage to the Maus's frontal armor per shot.
And that's why.
When the FV fires at the German vehicle's cheek,
that very sphere is generated.
The mechanic looks for the most suitable part to cause damage to,
finds the hull roof, which is 50 mm thick, and causes damage through it.
We think it’s undesirable to be able to cause significant damage with HE shells
just by shooting at the front of armored vehicles.
We have a solution for this issue.
The idea is that HE shells will stop dealing damage based on volume.
Instead, damage will be calculated at the point of impact.
At the same time,
the ability to cause damage without armor penetration will be preserved.
Now that we’ve changed the HE shell mechanics,
we’re ready to test them out!
The plan is to stop taking shell burst into account
when calculating damage to armor
in cases where an HE shell hits the armor, but fails to penetrate it.
When hitting armor, a shell will still try to penetrate it
and, if it fails, will detonate on the armor.
But the resulting shell fragments
won't search for the most advantageous spot to cause damage to.
Instead, the shell mechanics will cause spalling:
armor fragments breaking off inside the vehicle.
It is spalling that will cause damage to armor,
and armor fragments scattering inside the vehicle
can inflict damage to internal modules and crew members.
The technical characteristics of shells won't change.
Armor penetration and damage will remain the same,
and the spalling radius will be equal to the shell burst radius
in the current technical characteristic.
Let's get back to the Maus and FV.
In the new system, when hitting the Maus's cheek,
the HE shell fails to penetrate the armor and simply detonates.
But now, it doesn’t seek out the weakest spot in the splash radius,
which was the 50 mm thick hull cover.
Instead, it directly engages the armor at the point of impact:
the Maus's cheek, which is 260 mm thick.
Now, the Maus will receive a lot less damage than with the old mechanic.
This new system also helps avoid some logic gaps.
For example, when you fire at the side of the Maus's turret, not the front.
Here, the German’s armor is 50 mm thinner,
and it would be logical to assume that the damage caused would be higher.
But with the current mechanic, it’s not the case.
This happened because the game's mechanics
can’t find a 50-mm-thick spot within a spherical radius
when shooting at the turret's side
that would be as advantageous as shooting at the turret's front.
The new mechanics will cause a shell to detonate upon contact with armor,
spall inside the vehicle,
and, thanks to its effect on the armor at the point of impact,
do greater damage than a shot to the turret's front would do.
Therefore, we'll have a direct correlation
between the armor thickness at the spot where the shell hits,
and the amount of damage inflicted.
To put it simply, the thinner the armor, the higher the damage.
How does it work when there are screens between the armor and the shell?
Now HE shells can penetrate small objects and screens the same way AP shells do.
HE shells will lose a part of the armor penetration
after interacting with an obstacle or a screen, as AP shells do.
But AP shells might not penetrate the armor after piercing through a screen,
while the spalling mechanic still works for HE shells.
This means that if an HE shell reaches the armor, damage is guaranteed.
Let's get back to our poor Maus.
With the current mechanics, when the FV fires at the German's gun mantlet,
the same principle of the HE shell works as if we fired at its cheek.
In the new revision of the mechanics,
the FV won't cause any damage when it shoots at the mantlet.
The shell lacks the armor penetration capability to pass through the screen.
And since there's no spalling off of screens, there will be no damage at all.
Now, if you don't penetrate a screen, you don't cause any damage.
Let's take another example. The O-Ho and SuperPershing.
The O-Ho caused 200–300 damage to points 1 and 2 consistently
at this angle in the old revision of the HE shells mechanics.
While firing at these points with the new mechanics in place,
the shell will try to penetrate the screen, but it will fail.
In this case, the shell will cause zero damage.
But what will happen if you shoot at point 2 from another angle?
The effective armor of the screen at this spot
will be penetrated by an HE shell fired by the O-Ho.
Next, the shell reaches the vehicle's turret, detonates,
and fragments are scattered inside the SuperPershing,
causing between 150 and 200 damage to the vehicle.
The new shell system will provide the same interaction with tracks.
We already know that an HE shell will cause zero damage
if it doesn't penetrate a screen.
But the same result can be achieved even if it’s penetrated!
If an HE shell penetrates a screen, it will continue its motion.
If there is no armor behind a track,
an HE shell won't hit anything and won't detonate—
it will just pass through and cause no damage.
If an HE shell penetrates a track and reaches armor, damage is guaranteed.
The same rules also apply to wheeled vehicles.
It's important to remember several things:
All these changes are applicable to tanks' HE shells ONLY
and have nothing to do with the artillery
that will be tested during one of our future Sandbox iterations.
The HE splash will remain capable of affecting objects.
You will still be able to use it to destroy a building or fell a tree.
The "stoplight" system will be improved.
Now it will correctly display the damage from HE shells:
red—no damage, yellow—partial damage, green—penetration with full damage.
The notifications will also appear for not penetrating a screen,
a wheel, a track; and also for a shell not hitting the armor.
We'll also pay special attention to Premium vehicles
and vehicles with "High-Explosive shell gameplay."
The changes to HE shells in the Sandbox
are a hypothesis that we need to check together.
Now we need to test the main mechanics.
Only after that can we apply detailed settings and specific numbers.
Remember that no changes will be made to the main game client
until we're totally sure that the new mechanics work well.
It's very easy to take part in the testing of the new HE shell mechanics.
Follow the link in the video description.
Download and launch the special file.
If you don't have Wargaming.net Game Center installed,
it will be installed along with the test version of the game.
If you already have WGC installed, it will automatically
let you install the test version after you launch the file.
Then, on the World of Tanks page, in the Game Instance menu,
select the New Balance test and click Play.
We want to receive feedback from you.
Join us, take part in the tests,
get in-game items on your main account as a token of our gratitude,
and make sure to take the surveys.
Every player involved in testing will receive a satisfaction survey to take.
We'll process all your feedback and comments.
Only after that, we will make any final decisions.
We can make the game even better together!