- Topics - U.S. TDs, new physics, "Frame behind the frame" animation contest, Miss World of Tanks contest
- Miss World of Tanks - 0:15 to 1:30
-- Guys shown are part of the "judging committee". [First prize gets 30k gold, if memory serves, which is not nothing.]
-- "We've received over 1,500 submissions...and verified that they are all girls."
-- "Lots of girls whom...you just want to run up to and hug." End quote. Guy needs a date...
- U.S. TDs - 1:30 to 5:25.
-- Speaker is none other than Zlobny, who is (per SerB) responsible for all in-game balancing.
-- Key distinguishing characteristic of the new TD branch will be a rotating turret.
-- T28 Prototype turret rotation is 286 degrees rather than 360 degrees (seen at about 1:45).
-- Out of the 6 new TDs, the first four (Tiers 4-7 - M8A1, T49, M18 Hellcat, T25/2) have high mobility, "close to that of light or fast medium tanks". Tier 8-9 TDs, however (T28 Prototype and T30) are more heavily armored, less mobile TDs ("maneuverability comparable to that of heavy tanks").
-- Tactical overview - "positives and negatives of turreted TDs". [Positives - better concealment since rotating the turret won't break cover, higher aiming point, better visibility with open turrets, better control over close-in duels. Negatives - usually weaker armament, lower DPM and worse visibility coefficients compared with conventional TDs.]
-- "A few words about each of the new TDs."
---- Tier 4 - M8A1 - "it's like a Stuart M5 that can mount the turret from the Hellcat." Mounts the 57mm M1 gun. "High mobility and low visibility will allow the M8A1 to take positions that maximize the high rate of fire of the M1 cannon."
---- Tier 5 - T49 - "predecessor of the Hellcat, a bit slower at 61 kph but with the same paper armor". "Faster but less damaging version of the Wolverine."
---- Tier 6 - M18 Hellcat - "the bad news - maximum speed will only be 72 kph; good news - the tank will mount the 90mm M3 gun." "Experienced players should have very good results" (emphasis in the original).
---- Tier 7 - T25-2 - "pre-top gun from the turret-less T25, but has comparable characteristics." "Gameplay will resemble that of the Panther with the 7.5cm L100 gun, without the armor but with speed."
---- Tier 8 - T28 Prototype - "open turret, poor mobility, weak sides, and the turret doesn't even rotate 360 degrees...But this vehicle carries the same armament as the turret-less version, and is comparable in terms of size." "Players who've mastered the T28 and the T95 will have no problems."
---- Tier 9 - T30 - "lost turret rotation speed, maximum movement speed, visibility range, HP count, and so on and so on. But the vehicle still carries a 155mm gun, has a heavily armored turret, and became a bit more accurate." "Players who drove the T30 as a Tier 10 heavy tank should quickly get used to the same vehicle - but now in the TD role."
-- "So, as usual, we'll have several very different vehicles...There is still a lot of work ahead, but even now it's fair to say that they are worth the wait."
- 5:25 to 6:05 - the judges of Miss World of Tanks are back. "Tons of photos in military uniforms, with military vehicles...one girl, erm, covered herself with paint, many girls tried to, erm, experiment with their outfits." [There follow descriptions of girls having themselves photographed in lingerie next to tanks - out in the snow. It is winter over there.] Skip, skip, skip...
- New physics - 6:05 to 10:00.
-- Testing is "fully underway".
-- Developer talks about taking standard physics algorithms from other engines and modifying them to reflect "tank-like motion".
-- Physics are currently in Supertest stage. "Players have already reported better control, better feedback from their actions, better and more realistic maneuverability."
-- At about 7:20, they show the "alpha stage" view of the new engine - a tank is represented by a "parallelogram mounted on springs, then we added points of mass to the bottom of each spring, and this allowed us to replicate the effect of velocity loss on inclines".
-- To stop tanks from climbing vertical surfaces, "there are zones allowing one-way passage - you can drop down that surface, but not climb up due to some [complex] physical restrictions. We hope that this will reduce the effort in [adjusting the maps to the new physics] to a minimum."
-- "How this will change gameplay, we can only guess at..." [Note the tank with a "sinking counter" at 8:45. When the tank dies, the audible message is - "crew knocked out!" FYI, by the way, as this will matter for crew XP.]
-- Still "lots of things to work on, for example the damage system is not yet fully worked out, although it's already clear what will happen when the tank hits a water hazard - it will have some time to back out, or it will sink." "Falling from cliffs - depending on how the tank falls, it can lose a track, or if it falls nose first it can lose quite a bit of HP."
-- "We have probably completed more work than is left to complete."
- 10:00 to 11:30 - "Frame behind the frame" animation contest.
-- "The entries have been submitted, and tomorrow we will announce the winners. First place will receive a notebook computer, an iPad, and a video card." [Then she mentions that there are over one thousand entries, so this isn't exactly "easy money"™.]
- 11:32 to...well, in case you didn't know, Wargaming is holding this contest called "Miss World of Tanks"...yeah, this is for a mostly male audience. Shock. Awe.
-- "We originally planned for this contest to be Miss August, but...one thing led to another."
-- The judges will select the top 20 entries (out of 1,500 plus), and players will vote on the top 3, while Wargaming will select (out of the same twenty) the girl who will represent World of Tanks at some...I guess it's a "Miss Videogame Player" national competition they're having over there. Haven't been paying attention much.
-- "A model can't just register, play five games and send us her photo and expect to win...we monitor in-game statistics closely."
And that's a wrap. There are some bloopers at the end. I'm not going to bother translating those...
Danke nochmal.
