Armored Warfare News

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Commanders!

We’ve discussed new sounds and the drones already but do you know what else is coming in this large autumn update? That’s right, it’s the Pipelines map overhaul.



Now, when it comes to Armored Warfare, one of the most complained about things is the visual quality. The game’s been around for almost a decade and, while its graphics are not completely outdated, there’s definitely some room for improvement. We have decided to start addressing these issues one by one but every (most certainly long) journey starts with a single step. And this step happens to be the overhaul of the Pipelines map.



Why Pipelines? For one, it happens to be one of the top three maps played in PvP because it appears especially often on low Tiers.



And, secondly, because it shares assets with some PvE missions and we’d like to address those too (although not during this initial overhaul). You can see some more screenshots below:









Please note that the map gameplay will not change, the overhaul is a visual one.

Like what you see? Let us know what you think on Discord and stay tuned for more news regarding the update as we will still have more to share.

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

Some of you have been guessing correctly, some of you have been suggesting at as well and we’re happy to adhere to your wishes. Without further ado, presenting the final prize of the upcoming Battle Path, the XK3 Main Battle Tank.



For starters, a little history and background as usual.

Our XK3 is based on a small scale model of the Next Generation Tank, unveiled by Hyundai during the ADEX 2023 expo in Seoul. The model was developed without any doubt to be more eye-catching than anything else, but also to highlight the technologies that are being developed to upgrade the K2 as well as its replacement.

The characteristics of the vehicle, as presented by Hyundai Rotem, are not known, but some can be discerned from taking a look at how the entire model is assembled. It’s clear already that the future doesn’t lie in weight increases so the tank would very likely be very light (we’re going with 35 tons). Pure passive protection is a thing of the past and the vehicle therefore features very advanced APS and jammers.

Several concepts of South Korean “next-gen MBT” were presented with a different one mentioning a 130mm smoothbore gun – so that’s what we went with. The launcher is for advanced Raybolt ATGMs. And last but not least, no next-gen MBT concept would be complete without a hybrid engine (also mentioned in potential K2 upgrades).



Unlike some other games, we’d like to be clear in saying that we made most of the vehicle’s characteristics up. How much “fake” it is when an actual small-scale model exists (along with a nicely rendered video by Hyundai Rotem) – that, our dear players, we leave for you to judge.

This tank has been in our sights ever since it appeared and it was suggested by you many times. We hope that you’ll forgive us the liberties we took in designing it. After all, it’s far more real than the infamous ZTZ-20. With that being said, let’s get to its performance.

In Armored Warfare, the XK3 will be a Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank.

As you can guess from the text above, as MBTs go, the XK3 will be on the light side. The best word to describe it would be “cutting edge” – what it lacks in thick armor it more than makes up in mobility, weaponry and electronics. In other word, it’ll be what MBTs of the future will likely become as well – a hybrid of a battle tank, fire support vehicle and an electronic warfare platform.



Let’s talk specifics. You’ve already read about its weight – mere 35 tons. That’s due to the use of advanced composite armor. Here’s the thing about such composite armor. Even now, it is clear that tank duels are a thing of the past. They simply don’t happen even in widespread conflicts so having incredibly thick frontal armor to protect the tank against another tank (let alone something as obsolete as an anti-tank gun) is simply wasteful. Drones and ATGMs, on the other hand, represent a massive threat to the point of making classic, un-upgraded tanks obsolete. A single drone worth a few thousand dollars can effectively knock-out an Abrams (widely considered one of the best tanks in the world), let along even older machines.

As a result of this line of thought, the XK3 will be extremely well protected against HEAT threats but poorly against APFSDS rounds. The composites will also be complemented by ERA covering its sides (those are the hexagons on the hull). Along with that come two active protection systems – one of the best hard-kill APS in the entire game and a very effective soft-kill APS to boot. These launchers (along with smoke) are hidden in the turret – the hexagonal panels open and close depending on their status. The crew is also located in the hull and the turret is therefore unmanned (taking reduced damage).

But that’s just passive protection – what's more important is the firepower. The tank will have a 130mm smoothbore cannon roughly on par with the KF51 (APFSDS, HEAT-MP and HE shells) as well as a twin-tube Raybolt ATGM launcher in the turret. The missiles will have tandem warheads (1200mm penetration for now), excellent maneuverability and the top attack self-homing feature (think double tap Javelin/Raybolt, although single fire mode can be selected). You don’t have to worry about gun elevation and depression either – the vehicle will have active tilting suspension much like the K2 Black Panther.



It’s probably worth noting that the concept has a remote-controlled autocannon on its roof. We have decided not to introduce it because it doesn’t fit the vehicle’s intended gameplay which we will describe below. In other words, it’s a design choice.

And then there’s the mobility – a hybrid engine producing 1500hp at 35 tons, need we say more? The vehicle will not only be fast, but also agile and, even more importantly, stealthy. Because that is its real ace in the hole – its stealth. Aside from being generally stealthy (20% base camouflage], the vehicle will feature a brand-new active ability called Ambush Mode.

When the ability is activated, the tank redirects its power from the electric generator to camouflage and cooling systems. In game terms, what this means is that its active protection systems (both of them) become deactivated as long as the ability works. On the upside, the camouflage factor jumps to whopping 70%, making the vehicle very hard to detect.

When the ability is active, the gun/missiles gain an overheat meter. It doesn’t prevent you from firing but as long as the weapons don’t overheat, you can fire without a penalty to camouflage. This on one hand severely limits your damage output but it keeps the vehicle practically invisible for as long as the ability is active.

The ability will deactivate either when you disable it manually or when the vehicle gets spotted and the deactivation is followed by a long cooldown.



Now, you might be thinking, this thing’s going to compete for the same spot as the KF51 and EMBT, right? Yes and no. All three vehicles will have their niche. The XK3 puts more emphasis on pure stealth and mobility, the EMBT will offer the Jammer ability and as for the KF51 Panther? It’s getting its Hero 120 drones. How’s that for a pack of changes!

Either way, in capable hands, the XK3 is bound to be a powerhouse. But there’s one last thing. The name XK3 sounds boring, right? It needs a cool name. A strong name. So we’ll let you name it and vote on the best suggestion (with the owner of the winning suggestion receiving something cool). So start thinking about some good names and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

We’re happy to announce that one of your favorite features, the Daily Login Bonus, is back. Only, inside the game instead of the launcher.



The conditions are simple and the rewards remain the same as before. Log in to the game every day to receive a daily bonus in the window that opens upon launching the game client.

Please note:

• One day is defined as 0:01 UTC to 23:59 UTC
  
• Bonus has to be claimed manually by pressing the “Get your Bonus” button in the window
  
• If the window doesn’t appear to you automatically, it can be opened manually by pressing the AW button located next to the server bonus indicator
  
• It may take several minutes for the items to arrive
  

Thank you for your patience and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

As we mentioned in the recent article about new engine sounds, we’re working on a major update to the game that will become available this autumn. And today’s the right time to talk about the first of the “bigger” things that will appear in it, which is the long-awaited Drone mechanic.

We first unveiled that we were working on this mechanic back in January and we wholeheartedly recommend you read the initial article to find out more about this feature (including early drone demonstrations). However, initial testing has shown that the drones need a lot of work so we hunkered down and started fixing things. In the end, the mechanic is similar to what was shown previously but the positioning is a bit different.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Let’s start with the basic mechanic. Much like Mechanized Infantry, the Drones will be deployed as an Active Ability. Once in battle, you can hold the Control button and left-click on the minimap where you want to send the drone. A yellow flag will appear on the map. A countdown will start, after which your drone will appear in flight at the edge of the map (it’ll be initially flying generally from the direction of your base to your position). The drone will then fly towards the designated area and, upon reaching it, will perform its task.

The task depends on the drone type. There will be two types of drones:

• Attack (in the previous iterations we also had three different attack drones but, based on a lot of testing, have for now decided to reduce the number to just one)
  
• Recon
  

The recon drones do exactly what you might expect. They fly towards the designated area and, once there, start spotting the enemies beneath it in a certain radius. The damage to targets spotted by drones is treated the same way as the damage to targets spotted by Mechanized Infantry for the purpose of rewards.



The attack drones fly towards the designated area and attack anything they come across there (within their engagement radius). If the drones encounter an enemy target on their way before reaching the area, they will attack it instead. First they will start circling around it, looking to attack the weak area that’s vulnerable to their HEAT warhead (typically the rear or the engine deck). They will, however, initially only attack when they deem it appropriate so you can evade them by hiding your weaker areas or just moving around. At some point they will attempt to attack anyway – this attack can be evaded by simply moving (in which case the drone will crash into the ground).



Once the drone is destroyed, another one will spawn after a certain period of time and so on. Drone paths can be controlled in mid-flight by simply moving the flag on the minimap. You can therefore guide your drone or move it around as you see fit.

But which vehicles will get this ability?

There are vehicles in Armored Warfare that have grown somewhat obsolete. These are the lightest machines in the game that typically serve as scouts. In real life, however, these are typically not found on any major battlefield during intensive battles – scouting by vehicles is more or less obsolete. Instead, such vehicles are operated by Special Forces who are also in charge of drone operations. It is therefore only logical that we’d give drones to exactly such vehicles.



Drones will initially be available on Tier 8 to Tier 10 on the following vehicles:

• Sphinx
  
• K-153C
  
• CRAB
  
• VBR
  
• VBL Ingwe
  
• Potentially KF51 Panther
  

The last vehicle is a bit different because it will have a special type of drones (larger but slower) that will be launched from it directly instead of arriving from the edge of the map. We aren’t sure we’ll get these ready for the major release but we’ll try.

Please note: this list of vehicles as well as other drone specifics may very well change before the release.

But adding UAVs is just one part of the equation – the other part is defense against drones.

On the most basic level, you can (and should) evade drones just by hiding or driving away. Drones can be deadly when catching you in the open but aggressive maneuvering will make them miss, just like in real life. You can also take cover behind some obstacle and there’s a chance the drone will not be able to get you (the effectiveness of drones in urban areas will be severely limited unless carefully manually guided.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Let’s talk active defense. The vast majority of vehicles in the game have machineguns and you can absolutely shoot drones down with it. In the previous updates we fixed the elevation on many of them so even MBTs can use them to destroy a drone. Autocannon vehicles will have it even easier as they typically offer improved gun elevation.

But there will be specialized anti-drone tools as well. The first will be the new, overhauled Airburst rounds.

These will (unlike their previous iteration) work the way they do in real life – they will explode near drones, downing them instantly. Against other targets, however, they will deal very little damage and offering very little penetration (and, due to a total mechanical overhaul, will no longer cause performance issues).

Not all vehicles will, of course, get them. These will be limited to real life anti-aircraft vehicles (yes, including Draco and Otomatic) and several others such as Puma or KF41 Lynx Prototype.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The second tool will be even more powerful – the Jammer active ability. We have announced this feature for several vehicles already but, so far, it has been useless. No more.

The Jammer ability will, when activated, instantly down all drones in your vicinity. It’ll stay active for several seconds before going on an extended cooldown (we are still tweaking the exact cooldown values). In other words, you’ll have the opportunity to easily defend yourself and others around you.

But this ability will only be available to a very limited amount of vehicles (which will include the Stalker and Shadow RSV-T.

And that’s it for now. Let us know what you think on Discord and stay tuned for more news regarding the update as we will have much more to share.

See you on the battlefield!