Armored Warfare News

Commanders!

This week, we have a very special offer for you. Long have you asked us to make the previous Premium content – including the Battle Path one – available by other means and, today, we are happy to report that we will do so.



Starting today, for one week, the top prizes of the Warlords of the Wasteland Battle Path will be available on MyLoot and in our Web Shop:

• Commander Alisa Korhonen
• Altay Tier 10 Premium MBT

They will be available between November 21 and November 28, 2019:





Alisa Korhonen hails from southern Finland. She was born in Espoo (near Helsinki) in a family of a neurosurgeon and followed in her father’s footsteps by becoming doctor. When her father was lost on a humanitarian mission in the Middle East, Alisa enlisted in the ISD and went looking for him, only to have discovered him to be murdered by terrorists. Vowing revenge, she joined local tribes to battle the warlord menace.



In Armored Warfare, Alisa Korhonen has a special Basic Skill called Mysterious Stranger. Whenever a vehicle commanded by Alisa damages an enemy vehicle, there is a chance that her mysterious ally from off the map will fire a guided missile that will swoop in from above and hit the same enemy. Another very useful skill of hers is the ability to increase the amount of ammunition carried per vehicle. You can read more about her in a dedicated article.





Alisa Korhonen is available on MyLoot in two bundles, one of them including 50 Loot Crates with the following item:





The Altay is the result of a Turkish program to build a true indigenous MBT. After a decade of development with hundreds of millions of dollars spent, Turkey finally achieved its goal and built a tank that is roughly on par in performance with decades-old Leopard 2 variants while it still uses many foreign components, including some of its most critical systems. Nevertheless, future Altay variants are expected to feature some cutting edge components.



In Armored Warfare, the Altay is a Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank based on the current prototypes, but also upgraded by various hypothetical aftermarket components of the future to surpass its current capabilities and to match its assigned Tier in power. The basic tank is – gameplay-wise – a mobile sniper, much like the Leopard 2 series, relying on its mobility and the penetration of its shells rather than on its armor. There are two key features to this tank: Adjustable Suspension (tilting forward and to the side) and Hybrid Engine with its distinctive electric sound, giving the vehicle excellent mobility and agility.

The Altay MBT is available in our Web Shop via Loot Crates. Collect 100 blueprint pieces from these crates to obtain the vehicle.





We’ve also prepared several other vehicles that are currently available on MyLoot with discounts. These include:

• VT-5 Tier 9 Premium LT
• BMPT Prototype Tier 8 Premium TD
• Marder 2 Tier 8 Premium AFV
• MT-LB S8 Tier 6 Premium AFV

We hope that you will enjoy the offer.

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

The CATTB is one of the last evolutions of the Abrams design from back when a radically different successor to the original M1 tank was sought in the 1980s in order to combat the next generation of Soviet Tanks, internally designated “FST” (Future Soviet Tank) by the Americans. By the mid-1980s, an opinion appeared that the Soviets were building some radically different MBTs that were superior to everything else in the aging Soviet arsenal and (more importantly) to anything the NATO could field. By 1995, the Soviets were expected to operate around two thousand such super-tanks, which would dangerously jeopardize the defense capabilities of Europe.



At first, the developers tried something new – specifically to use a modified Abrams hull to carry an unmanned turret. One of the earliest iterations of such a design was the TTB demonstrator vehicle and the SRV testbed that followed, both intended to test innovative and largely experimental features for the future Abrams, such as an adjustable hydropneumatic suspension or the Cummins XAP-1000 diesel engine that occupied 50 percent less space than the turbine of a standard Abrams while producing equal horsepower. Additionally, this diesel engine was far less fuel-hungry. Drawings of new unmanned turrets also started to appear, each with different armament ranging from 120mm to 145mm caliber.

But, around 1985-1986, the panic about the future Soviet tanks was cranked up a notch. It’s very hard to say as to what prompted this development. By this time, the Soviet Union was basically on its last legs both economically and politically. Since the ill-fated Brezhnev reforms of the 1960s, the Soviets were dependent on food imports and loans from the west and the technology gap between them and the NATO was, thanks to the rapidly developing computer industry in the USA, only getting wider. Additionally, there was much political unrest brewing in the Warsaw Pact satellite states – unrest that the Soviets were not ready or able to handle anymore. Under the circumstances, any Soviet foray into the west was tantamount to suicide.



There has been this strange tendency to overestimate the Soviet (or, specifically, Russian) capabilities amongst the NATO staff, possibly motivated by the opportunities to spend more money on the military as long as the threat was there, regardless of its severity. This tendency is, oddly enough, alive to this day even with the diminished military might of the Russian Federation.

But, regardless, back then, the idea that it was too late to develop a next generation Abrams in time for it to counter the FST threat took root and the Americans scrapped the entirely new platform project. Instead, they would focus on upgrading the original platform in sufficient numbers (which resulted in the M1A2 Abrams model) and on building an “interim” future Abrams that would be based on some experimental technologies combined with the older Abrams platform.



The most important piece of this experimental technology was, of course, the XM291 dual-caliber cannon, also known under its project name Advanced Tank Cannon (ATAC or sometimes ATACS with the S standing for System). The unique feature of this gun was the fact that it could switch between calibers (120mm and 140mm) in the field by replacing its barrel. The 140mm caliber version of the system was the primary one with its two-piece shells (both KE and CE) having double the muzzle energy of the standard Abrams M256 gun. It was more than enough to take care of any future Soviet tank, a task the gun was specifically developed for. The barrel length of the 140mm version was L/47.

Upon switching to 120mm (the L/55 barrel change would take around two hours), the gun could also fire standard 120mm NATO ammunition. The gun would, in both versions, be automatically loaded by an XM91 mechanism from the 17 round turret bustle, which allowed for a rate of fire of 8 to 12 rounds per minute. Additional 22 140mm or 33 120mm rounds would be stored in the hull. It’s worth noting that thanks to its composite design, both barrels were also inherently extremely accurate by themselves, much more so than those of the M256 gun.

Another very interesting piece of technology was a 120mm version of the same gun fitted with ETC technology. ETC stands for “electro-thermal chemical” and is based on the assumption that solid shell propellants have reached their limits with the conventional technology. Instead, using the ETC technology, the propellant would be ignited by an inserted plasma cartridge, leading to a more efficient discharge. In this case, the XM291 gun, fitted with such tech, was allegedly able to achieve the muzzle energy of 17 MJ. In comparison, a standard 120mm L/44 such as the U.S. M256 has the muzzle energy between 11 MJ and 13 MJ. This puts the energy of the XM291 ETC to the levels normally reserved only for 140mm guns. The advantages of such an improvement are obvious.

Between 1987 and 1988, the XM291 was tested (amongst other places) on another of the series of component demonstrators, this time designated the CATTB (Component Advanced Technology Test Bed).

The CATTB was effectively a modified Abrams with a larger turret housing the abovementioned XM291 gun. The vehicle weighed some 60 tons and had a crew of three men (the loader was removed in favor of the automatic loading mechanism).

The vehicle had advanced composite frontal armor with the turret front itself being equal to 1270mm of RHA equivalent while its sides were allegedly equal to 520mm of RHAe. The hull armor schematic can be seen on the image below (thickness in inches).



The gun itself was fully stabilized and could, in both configurations, depress to -10 degrees and elevate to +22 degrees. It would fire either standard NATO 120mm rounds or advanced two-piece 140mm kinetic rounds (XM964) or HEAT-MP rounds (XM965). There was also a training round. Like was mentioned above, the rate of fire was, thanks to the automatic loading mechanism, somewhere between 8 to 12 rounds per minute. The gun was aimed using a highly sophisticated, computerized fire control system with a thermal imager and laser rangefinder. The whole thing was allegedly powered by an AIPS power pack consisting of a 1450hp V12 27.56 liter turbocharged Cummins diesel and an automated Allison transmission.

The vehicle was tested by the U.S. Army as a basis for a future production Abrams in 1990 and was viewed rather favorably, even though some partial problems were noted – the tank felt underpowered and lacked advanced protective measures such as an indigenous APS or remote-controlled machinegun stations.

And then the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991. With the biggest threat gone, the Americans cut the funding of many military programs, the next generation Abrams included, and started focusing on maintaining and upgrading the existing fleet of tanks, eventually leading to the current generation of heavily upgraded M1A2. The CATTB passed into oblivion, even though rumors of its reappearance would occasionally surface on the internet from time to time, especially in 2015 with the Armata unveiling.

The last chapter of the CATTB history was written in the 1990s with the “Thumper” Abrams. The Thumper was effectively a stripped version of the CATTB built by Lockheed Martin. It lacked several advanced (but expensive) systems and was armed exclusively with the 120mm version of the XM291 gun – it was no longer viable to switch to the 140mm caliber. The tank was lighter than the CATTB, but its armor levels reached only those of the M1A2. The Thumper was tested for a while alongside the XM8 (the first one), but, unfortunately for it, shared its fate and would also get canceled. We are adding this information because the Thumper and the CATTB get often mixed up, although they are different vehicles.



However, you’ll have the chance to drive the CATTB in Armored Warfare because this Tier 10 Premium Main Battle Tank will appear soon in Armored Warfare as the ultimate vehicle reward for obtaining levels during the upcoming Last Patriot Battle Path (preceded by XM247 and Griffin 120mm).

In a way, the game will feature two separate branches of Abrams evolution. One, represented by the XM1A3, is a vision of what a future M1A2-based Abrams might look like if the Americans upgrade it with experimental technology. The second one, which will be represented by the CATTB, will show what the Abrams might have been, had the Soviet Union not collapsed and its development had not been cut. Jam-packed with cutting edge tech, our CATTB will be effectively a service Block III Abrams fitted with the technologies of 2020s.



But before we get into any details, the usual disclaimer:

The numbers below are very preliminary as the vehicle has not been properly tested. They are sure to change and should only be discussed as an indicator of how we’d like to set the vehicle up.

With that being said:

When compared to the XM1A3, the CATTB will be a bit heavier (70 tons) and slower. Its armor will be roughly the same as the XM1A3 will have and the vehicle will be protected by both soft-kill APS (AN/VLQ-8A) and hard-kill APS (Trophy) as well as by a retrofitted ERA kit. Additionally, its ammunition rack will have further reduced chance to catch fire and explode due to the experimental nature of the weaponry the tank will carry.



Which brings us to its teeth – and sharp they are indeed! The CATTB will be armed with an experimental 140mm ATACS gun with ETC (electrothermal-chemical) technology and FastDraw automatic loading mechanism.

The ETC technology will allow the vehicle to fire shells at higher initial velocities, leading to high penetration and damage values (APFSDS with 850mm and 880 points of damage per shot, HEAT-MP with 870mm and 900 points of damage per shot). The ETC technology will also allow for a smaller muzzle blast, leading to only one half of the usual camouflage penalty for firing. Additionally, the APFSDS shell itself will be quite special, as it will deal additional 25% damage if it penetrates armor nominally thicker than 340mm (that is, not taking the angle into account).

The FastDraw automatic loader will let you fire two shells in rapid succession before having to be reloaded for a longer period of time (15 seconds).

These advantages will be balanced by the tank’s average to mediocre mobility. The CATTB will be powered by a 1450hp diesel engine, which will be somewhat inferior to the gas turbine of the XM1A3 MBT. Its maximum speed will be 70 km/h but the acceleration and steering rate will both be lower than those of the XM1A3.

And, last but not least, the CATTB will feature a new active ability, pushing – once in a while – the vehicle and its crew to their limits. This ability will allow the CATTB to, once per 60 seconds and for the duration of 10 seconds, increase its acceleration by 300 percent and decrease its reload time by 200 percent. However, when it ends, the vehicle will enter a 10 second downtime, during which the abovementioned characteristics are reduced by 150 percent and 100 percent respectively.



This will put a unique spin on the vehicle’s gameplay.

Much like the other Abrams tanks, the CATTB will be fairly universal, although, for each tactic used, downsides of this tank will have to be carefully considered. Even with its basic characteristics, the tank will be more than capable of tearing its way through most battles or even staying in the second line and using its powerful gun to snipe at longer distances.

However, there’s another, high-risk and high-reward option in play here. Its kinetic shells, combined with the abovementioned new active ability, will allow for some very aggressive tactics. Skilled players will be able to target heavy vehicle armor with the deadly shells, deal a lot of damage and trigger the active ability to finish the target off. However, the obvious downside to such stratagems is the active ability downtime, during which the tank will be left mostly exposed.

Regardless, this MBT has the potential to excel on practically any battlefield, should your choice of tactic be the right one. What choice will it be, now that’s something we’ll leave up to you.

We hope that you will enjoy this vehicle and will see you on the battlefield!

On the 21st of November 2019, starting from 8:00 CET (20th of November, 11 PM PST), the server will not be available for 5 hours due to the application of Update 0.30.5823.





M8 MGM-166 Changes

• Minimum damage distance increased from 200m to 250m
• Maximum damage reduced from 1431 to 1189
• Rate of fire increased from 15 to 20 rounds per minute
• Magazine reload time increased from 48s to 70s
• Missiles now completely ignore ERA as was intended

General Changes

• Fixed an issue that prevented players from activating a temporary Premium vehicle from their Inventory tabs
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from assembling a Premium vehicle from 100 Loot Crate blueprints
• Fixed an issue where some items (typically vehicle blueprints) in your Inventory, specifically the Goods section, would appear split into two rows for no reason
• Fixed an issue with Stryker ADATS where installing the partial reload module would trigger a full reload of already loaded magazines every time you switch between ATGMs and unguided rockets
• ATGM description now has a new value – missile agility (steering rate)
• Object 287 now has correctly named weapon system
• M60A2: Fixed its suspension model behavior
• Shadow RST-V: Fixed several visual model issues (the appearance of optics, wheels clipping through the destroyed model of the vehicle)
• Fixed an issue where the Javelin aiming reticle would lack its central crosshair
• Fixed an issue with the display of dirt on some vehicles when running the game on low details
• Fixed an UI issue where it was possible to push the Incoming and Outgoing Damage panels beyond the screen’s boundaries
• Added a flag of South Africa to the list of country flags
• Added a number of Black Friday and Cyber Monday assets

Born into a wealthy family of a neurosurgeon and a career diplomat in Espoo, Finland during the time of the dark days of upheaval, Alisa Korhonen had a relatively happy childhood thanks to the efforts of her parents. Her father, a kind but stern man, known for both his prowess and the air of authority that made him a natural leader, did his utmost to shelter his family from the riots, violence and food shortages that had been unleashed upon the once-peaceful country. However, the rapidly deteriorating situation forced the family out of the heavily-populated urban areas – with the cities reduced to anarchy, few had a use for a medical specialist.



Fortunately, Andreas Korhonen had his hobbies to fall back to. He was an avid hunter and survivalist, having spent much of his youth outdoor. His skills with a rifle ensured that the family would never go hungry or had to fear for their safety. Eventually, they settled in Karelia and were amongst those who had founded one of many small communes of thousands of. The harsh weather in the region, combined with the indomitable nature of these new age settlers, prevented any big city trouble from reaching them and the family lived a quiet, rural peaceful life for almost a decade.

It was there that Alisa learned to hunt and he and her father, having spent many hours in the wilderness, grew very close. She quickly became a marksman without equal and, together, they formed a strong bulwark against any, who would do the settlement harm. Hunting and farming in the inhospitable northern wastes was a hard life, but Alisa adapted to it well, learning more and more from her parents over the course of her puberty, including the basics of chemistry and healing.

Little in the way of news from the rest of Europe found its way to the isolated Karelian villages, but, in the 2030s, rumors started to go around about a new, powerful corporate-backed force sweeping Europe, putting an end to the worst of atrocities all around the continent. One mild summer, a trading caravan finally arrived with good tidings – the capital of Finland, Helsinki, had been liberated by this organization calling itself the International Security.

After months of debates, friendly yet often lively to the point of rowdiness, the majority of the village, including the Korhonen family, decided to pack their things and take the journey south, back into the civilization and towards the promises of a new, peaceful world order under the benevolent auspices of the ISD. The organizations, now in control of all larger cities, issued calls for any refugees to return in exchange for security, jobs and the way of life just like in the old days before Europe fell apart.

And for a while, it seemed to even be true. Upon their arrival in Helsinki, the family received first shelter, than food and, finally, Alisa’s father once picked up the mantle of a neurosurgeon. His skills helped many an ISD soldier to recover from traumatic injuries and he would gradually become one of the most successful and sought-after experts in the field.

All that time, Alisa would look up to her father and would pick up a quest of her own to become like him and to follow in his footsteps. She dedicated her life to first studying and, later, the practice of medicine.

During those days, her father would be frequently sent on ISD missions all over the world. Alisa and he would not see each other for months, but they kept in touch thanks to the generous communications options, one of the many perks of working for the ISD. She became so used to regular contact with him and her mother, who had resumed her diplomatic career as a part of the ISD peacekeeping and mediation corps.

Only, one day, the call never came and her increasingly agitated attempts to find out what happened came up empty. As the days went by, she and her mother used every contact at their disposal and called in every favor they were owed to find out why Andreas Korhonen would so suddenly go silent.

The truth left them both shaken – the man had disappeared during a mission in the Middle East. To her dismay, the ISD was remarkably unwilling to divulge any more info or investigate the matter. Alisa suspected foul play – perhaps an incident took place that would cause the ISD a lot of embarrassment if it ever came to light.

But Lady Luck is a fickle woman and, in this case, she’d smile on both Alisa and her mother. Alisa was just starting her tenure with the ISD as a medic and, pulling whichever string she could, her mother would have her assigned to the Middle Eastern division. From there, her deployment to one of the worst hotbeds of insurgency was only a few phonecalls away.

For the several months that followed, Alisa was stationed in one of the ISD’s refugee centers as a doctor, spending all her free time asking both soldiers and locals (wherever her language skills allowed it) whether they had seen her father. It was during the final days of the tenure that she came across a sick elderly woman, who told her about a wounded man of matching description being rescued from raiders but left in critical condition. His state would not allow the villagers to bring him to the hospital and all their attempts to get a doctor to come with them were unsuccessful.

That night, Alisa would desert the ISD. Packing only a few things, she climbed out of her window under the cover of darkness, stealing one of the hospital’s spare vehicles and traveling dozens of miles across the largely hostile country. She reached the village described by the woman at dawn, frightening many of the inhabitants in the process.

The man she found on a bedroll in one of the clay huts was indeed her father, but, at first, she barely recognized him. Suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and sepsis, his skin was leathery and stretched like old parchment, his eyes looking feverishly through her as if she was not even there. Deep inside, Alisa knew even then that there was no helping the poor man, but her training would kick in and she started to examine him. Her attempts quickly unveiled the horrible truth – her father was shot and there was little she could do to help.

With the help of the drugs she brought with her, Andreas Korhonen became lucid and the two would get to talk one last time. He passed away later that day, the same day that Alisa Korhonen disappeared and someone else – something else – was born. That day, she vowed to make whoever had done this to her father pay. Her rifle, her skills and her charisma – all tools in her inventory. She would get her revenge, by any means necessary.



Alisa Korhonen is one of the deadliest commanders in the game thanks to her special unique ability to summon the support of the tribe she swore to protect in the form of her skill called Mysterious Stranger.

Whenever a vehicle commanded by Alisa damages an enemy vehicle, there is a chance that her ally from off the map will fire a guided missile that will swoop in from above and hit the same enemy. The more damage you deal per shot, the higher the chance of the Mysterious Stranger missile being launched. The incoming missile is guided to an extent, but its arrival will be announced to its target. It is possible to outrun it and make it miss – that, however, requires the targeted player to immediately start moving. The skill is therefore the most effective when used against slow-moving targets. The missile damage scales with Tier and the skill also has a cooldown.

In addition to this skill, Alisa has the access to a number of other skills, including the following bonuses:

• Increasing the Basic Skill chance and decreasing its cooldown
• Increasing the amount of vehicle ammunition carried
• Hitpoint increase
• Reducing the camouflage penalty when moving
• Reducing the accuracy penalty when moving
• Reducing the accuracy penalty when firing in long bursts
• Increasing maximum speed
• Increasing ramming damage

And several others. She is a popular and universal commander, especially suitable (thanks to her skills that add extra ammunition) for vehicles with limited ammo supply such as the Kornet-EM. For an example build, please visit this page.

See you on the battlefield!

Commanders!

Not so long ago, we launched Mechanized Infantry in the form of a limited test release, aimed at gathering your feedback regarding this feature, which we have promised to act upon. Today, we’d like to tell you more about the testing results and the changes we are planning to implement.



First and foremost, we are happy to announce that the Mechanized Infantry feedback has been mostly positive. The addition was well-received by many of you, which confirmed our opinion that the Mechanized Infantry feature was fundamentally a good idea. It will, therefore, be introduced to Armored Warfare on permanent basis.

However, with that being said, there were some obvious issues that were brought up by many. In order to address these problems, we have decided to temporarily disable Mechanized Infantry until we correct them. It should take us two or three weeks, as some of them are not simple fixes, but also new feature additions. Let’s take a closer look at what are we going to do.

First and foremost, there’s the issue of Mortar Squad. During its deployment, this type of infantry turned out to be by far the most contested one, even though much less than, for example, the re-introduction of SPGs to PvP would have been. Indeed, it turned out that mortars were overperforming somewhat.

Additionally, their range was too high and they were able to threaten practically the entire map without the fear of being discovered. In order to remedy these issues, we will be making the following changes to the mortar troopers:

• Their range will be reduced from 750m to 500m
• The flight velocity of their shells will be reduced, giving you more time to evade incoming fire
• Whenever they acquire a new target, they will spend roughly 3 seconds aiming before taking another two seconds to load and fire (if the target disappears during this phase and a new one is acquired instead, the process will start from the beginning)

These changes will make mortars very difficult to use against mobile targets and their limited range will ensure that just dropping them off immediately after the start of a battle and leaving them at the edge of the map will no longer be an option. We are currently also considering limiting this infantry class to non-PvP modes, but that is not what we are ultimately aiming at.

Secondly, there’s the matter of our beautiful but deadly Sniper. This infantry class was neither the most popular during the test, nor was it the best performer, which is why we want to improve its utility. For starters, snipers will receive a spotting buff, allowing them to see better through and around obstacles.

But, perhaps more importantly, snipers will receive a new ability – they’ll be able to designate targets (the same way as AFVs do) once per 60 seconds for 10 seconds or so. Designated targets will be (just like with the AFV version) unable to hide behind smoke or obstacles and will always receive maximum damage.

And last but not least, there’s the Anti-Tank Squad. Of all three infantry classes, this is currently the best balanced one and is performing pretty well. It only needs some partial tweaks, which will include:

• Higher penetration values on high Tiers (Tier 7 to 10 improved to 700mm and 850mm respectively)
• Somewhat higher shell flight velocity
• Somewhat higher accuracy

There will, of course, also be improvements that apply to all three classes:

• Improved pathfinding will ensure that the troopers don’t get stuck anywhere and are able to better evade incoming vehicles trying to run them over
• We’ll fix the voiceover spam in situations when your infantry acquires different targets over a short period of time
• We’ll fix the problem of unspotted infantry appearing on minimaps
• We’ve heard your complaints about “friendly” players killing your troopers, which is why we’ll disable friendly fire against infantry

There’s also the matter of one of the most frequently asked questions – what of coaxial machineguns that would help kill infantry?

We are investigating that feature for MBTs first but, as you can imagine, it’s not an easy thing to do to make sure it works correctly for all several hundred vehicles in the game. Additionally, they are not critically needed – the testing has shown that if an infantry squad is spotted, it is very easy to destroy and does not survive for long.

As such, it turns out that this feature is not an essential one. We will attempt to introduce it but cannot currently confirm any deadline.

We hope that you will enjoy the release version of Mechanized Infantry that is coming soon along with the changes we are making. Let us know what you think on Discord and, as always:

See you on the battlefield!