Update 1.13: Common Test 2 Is Here!

Common test 1.13 continues with CT2 going live! More additions to the mechanics of inflicting damage with HE shells will be introduced with CT2 and here’s what you can expect!

What will change during CT2?

The effective penetration of the HE shell after passing through spaced armour will be reduced. In the previous version of the mechanics, the drop in armour penetration depended on the thickness of the screen. Now, the reduction will depend on the thickness of the screen and a multiplier.

The probability of penetrating the main armour after the HE shell penetrates the screen will greatly decrease, especially for vehicles with weak side armour. Therefore, the likelihood of receiving a lot of damage when penetrated by a HE shell will also be lower. The effective penetration of the HE shell after passing through spaced armour is reduced by the thickness of the spaced armour, times three.

• In CT1, a HE shell with 100 mm penetration once it passed through 20 mm of spaced armour was left with 80 mm of penetration to the main armour.
• In CT2, a HE shell with 100 mm penetration after it passes through 20 mm of spaced armour will be left with 40 mm of penetration to the main armour.

What will change after changes are applied to the live server?

Introducing any changes to artillery and HE shell mechanics will affect the entire game environment. Collection data is crucial and more will be collected for different groups of vehicles, including changes in inflicting damage, efficiency, tanking damage, etc…, and consider which changes are necessary for an individual vehicle or groups of vehicles. The process will consist of three stages:

• Collection of statistics from the live server
• Identification of specific vehicles that require edits
• Preparation for and testing of those edits
• Implementation and announcement of the edits

HE shell changes

• Medium and low tier vehicles with HE-based gameplay. There is currently not sufficient data on these vehicles from the sandbox and CT1 to decide on any changes to the performance characteristics of these vehicles. This will be carefully monitored after the release and implement changes if necessary.
• Changes in the performance characteristics of HE vehicles. Based on the current data from the common test, changes had a positive effect on the efficiency of these vehicles. These changes will stay but also will be carefully and separately monitor the performance indicators on each vehicle after the release.
• Heavily armoured vehicles, in particular the Object 279 and Chieftain. The main damage caused to these vehicles is not typically from HE shells. Therefore, the impact on the combat effectiveness of these vehicles should be minimal. Inflicting damage on the vehicle’s frontal armour with HE shells will become more difficult, but this is the expected outcome from a design point of view.

SPG Changes

• The value of armour penetration for alternative HE shells. In general, SPGs exhibit no deviations or increases in efficiency. Wargaming will consider the penetration values of the alternative HE shells to ensure they remain functional, comparable to the standard HE shells. Wargaming would like to maintain parity in the use of HE shells and not such significant changes in performance characteristics will require additional monitoring of the effectiveness of individual SPGs both during the common test and after make one more effective than the other. With this in mind, they do not plan to make any changes to the stun potential of the standard shell. Of course, the release.
• Personal Missons. Wargaming agrees that the changes could potentially affect the complexity of the Personal Missions. To understand the specifics and degree of change after the release, they will collect data and make edits where necessary.
• Sound intelligence and other mechanics. Currently, two of the three mechanics for counteracting artillery are available to players by default. These are bright shell tracers and field of fire markers on the minimap. The third mechanic is available as a commander perk. Wargaming considered the possibility of giving this skill to the radio operator, but not all vehicles have a radio operator, and in those cases, the role is given to the commander. However, they understand that the commander is currently the busiest crew member, and this will force players to choose between other useful perks. This is why we are now actively reworking Crew 2.0. Our efforts there are also aimed at resolving the workload problem among crew members.
• The American branch of the SPG. Wargaming will make adjustments to the M44 before going to release. Wargaming will then monitor the statistics for the other American SPGs and make changes where necessary.

About Author

Harkonnen

Tank Nut and Gamer Wannabe! Huge fan of tanks and World War II history. Playing video games since I was six years old, from Streets of Rage on my Sega Mega Drive to World of Tanks, I’ve never stopped since and will always love games.

See author's posts