Haswell

Welcome! I can change your name for you if you'd like, just let me know!

Usually 6, 8, 9, 10, mainly because those tiers are the sweet spots for me in terms of power differences across the tier spreads. Prefer squishies and anything with good vision control, hate MBTs.

Off the top of my head right now... -BMP series (including Dragun) -BMD series -M113 ACAV -OT-64 -ZBL -C13 -Warrior -Rosomak series -Bradley -BWP -Griffin -T-15

Horrible, there's nearly nothing I like about it except for the camo percentage. -Important info are too spread out. I shouldn't have to look at 2 different sectors (status panel, health bar) on my screen just to check how damaged I am. -Reticle is too cluttered. I don't need to know how many shots of smoke or APS I have left to shoot the enemy. -Feedback on damage received is nearly nonexistent, the directional indicator is absolutely tiny and I don't even notice it a lot of times. -Hit indicator is just as cluttered as the reticle, I could barely tell whether I'm hitting modules or not until I actually break them I know they want change, but this is downright awful compared to the old UI.

I recognized your name from the in-game chat, so I went ahead and manually approved you. I figured the confirmation email never got through.

More than warranted IMO, but depending on execution they might end up completely useless. Would be nice if they let people know the actual stats of infantry, like view range and damage.

The camo bonus on Erin allows me to pull off the same shenanigans, while letting me get even closer to the enemy without being spotted regardless. I can more than afford to keep firing all day without any fear of getting shot at in return, maximizing my effective DPM. Not all the maps are large enough for me to guarantee that I will be outside of the bots' view ranges when it matters, especially on corridor maps that seem to be all the rage in spec ops. I can maximize my view range using retrofits easily, but camo is something I can't directly increase without stacking commander skills. Erin lets me stack a metric crap ton of camo skills to the point where I can remain unspotted while moving towards and firing at only 150m away from the bots, provided I'm careful enough. Time wasted on trying to avoid damage is time not spent on dishing out damage. Obviously I only use Erin in vehicles that I can't afford to get shot at, hence "squishy".

TL;DR: low tier premiums are not worth it. It makes sense due to how the tier brackets are set up (1-3, 4-6, 7-10), that tier 6 is where premiums start to become worthy of collecting. I daresay however that that XM247 is likely the least terrible premium vehicle out of this sorry bunch due to its raw DPM. I still prefer the AMX-13 over it though.

I had always opted to use paint over gun breech for squishies, vision control is far more important to me than marginal increases in raw DPM. Interesting, I usually prefer to use Erin for all things squishy for maximum vision control, since not trying to avoid damage = higher effective DPM. As a result almost everything squishy in my garage are geared towards vision control. Wilk being the exception with Sabrina of course. I've seen Juan being thrown around a lot for lights, but why? I personally treat the Termi and T40 as MBTs, so I throw whoever I'm trying to grind up in them. I don't feel like commander choice makes too much of a difference for MBTs in general.

I honestly have no idea how crew experience get calculated, the number at the end doesn't seem to match up with the XP I earn no matter how I try to modify the visible multipliers. From what I recall, back when the game had the base system there was a building that gave a bonus to crew XP. I can't remember the precise numbers, but I reckon that has something to do with it.

Definitely a bug, I'm getting rendering issues as well when I ground out arty in SH, since there shouldn't be a hard cap on rendering distance AFAIK. Start placing bets on when it will get fixed, if ever.

Welcome!

I'll start by saying that I free-xp'd to the HEAT shell and upgraded smoke grenades right away, otherwise my sanity might suffer. My first impression is that it's bloody slow and sluggish for a wheeled vehicle, but I came to realize that's just the trend of tier 7s in general. Beyond that, the Type 16 feels quite capable as a high-ish alpha mobile gun platform for a tier 7 (even if everything at tier 7 suck as a general rule). My cheapo setup focuses heavily on vision control. Despite the Type 16 having better than average frontal armor, it's still garbage against ATGMs and most things that will shoot at me. Best way for me to leverage the Type's DPM is still to position myself at locations where I can keep shooting uninterrupted, as is my MO for all things squishy in general. Initial thoughts after a dozen or so games: great HEAT shell, being able to slap things for over 700 every 5 seconds at tier 7 makes it stand out sluggish to accelerate and turn, must read the flow of battle and know when to reposition myself earlier than other squishies far higher view range and slightly higher camo than the PSP and Cent 105, very good at vision control for a wheeled TD lead indicator is annoying and I want to disable it so badly Compared to other related vehicles at tier 7: PSP is just better despite not having a HEAT shell, it has overwhelming DPM and 360 smoke to brute-force its way through everything Cent 105 has better burst alpha, but falls behind in terms of consistent DPM Stingray 2 is like the Cent 105, but slightly better Overall, not a bad sort for a tier 7, but I wouldn't want to play it again once I ground it out. My recommendation is to free-xp to the HEAT shell at the very least, otherwise the Type wouldn't really stand out for anything. It almost feels like a Taifun at tier 7. Sitting at 16k DPG right now, will try to end my grind at 20k at least.

Since the official forum got shut down last year, lots of existing content were lost in that process along with numerous excellent guides and content. Alas, I did not have the foresight or motivation to archive everything back then. If anyone has saved anything from the official forum back then, I (and everyone else) would be immensely grateful if they could be reposted here. New and novel guides are also welcomed so we can build up our library of knowledge. Thanks!

I think I omitted that one specifically, but I can't recall why I decided that when I made the guide. Probably because it was so simple it didn't struck me as needing instructions. :P I'll add that in.

Taken from the official AW page (https://aw.my.games/en/about/game-guides/spotting-and-camouflage), reposting here for better visibility. How fast will enemy vehicles appear on your screen? What if you only see half of them? What if they are hidden behind a rock or a bush? These and many other situations in Armored Warfare are controlled by the Spotting and Camouflage System. The Spotting and Camouflage System (furthermore referred to as SCS) is one of the most important and complex systems of Armored Warfare. To make sure it’s impossible to cheat by using the infamous “wall hacks”, all the important checks and equations are calculated not by your PCs, but by our servers and a large chunk of their processing power – around 30 percent – is dedicated to these calculations. But how exactly does it work? How does the server know what to show you? Basic Principles The entire SCS is operated by a management system called Spotting Manager. As the first step in every battle the Spotting Manager makes sure each vehicle in the game participates in the spotting system by assigning them a server token called Spotting Proxy. Spotting Proxies are basically representations of each vehicle’s spotting mechanism on the server side. In other words, any spotting interactions take place not between your vehicles per se, but between these Spotting Proxies purely on the server side and the SCS then only distributes the data regarding what should be rendered. Any advanced spotting calculations for friendly vehicles are disabled – you always know where your allies are without having to rely on things like line of sight or radio distance. Even today, modern armies rely on battlefield management systems that allow them to do exactly that – keep track of every unit and every vehicle on the battlefield in order to improve situational awareness, assess tactical situations and avoid friendly fire incidents. In this sense, this Armored Warfare model is completely realistic. Enemy vehicles, however, are a different thing entirely. In order to determine whether you see an enemy vehicle or not, the SCS relies on spotting checks. This is how they work. Every vehicle in the game has two “spotter” points that are used to look for the enemies. These are: Gun sights (the gunner looks forward to see whether he can see the enemy or not) Commander hatch (the commander uses the hatch to look outside) Every vehicle also has eleven “spot check” points. These are: Tip of the gun barrel Four corners of the turret Four corners of the hull Two spots in the middle of the hull sides SCS takes both spotter points for your vehicle and tries to trace a ray towards the enemy spot check points (in other words, 22 rays in total). If all of these rays are blocked by an obstacle (a hill, a building, a stone etc.), the spot check failed and your vehicle can’t spot the enemy. If one of the rays makes a connection from one of your spotter points to one of the enemy spot check points, the enemy vehicle becomes spotted. Naturally, this is an example for one vehicle. You may be hidden behind a wall but if an enemy creeps up behind you and sees you, you will get spotted even if no-one else has a direct line of sight towards you. These spot checks are not permanent – to make the system manageable, these checks takes place using a certain frequency that decreases with distance. In the early iterations, spotting checks at long distances were performed roughly once per 2 seconds, the current maximum value is once per 0.8 seconds with the closest checks being considerably more frequent (the frequency of the checks was increased both in Update 0.20 and Update 0.21). The distance the rays travel (spotting distance) is not, however, infinite. The maximum value it can theoretically have (that is equal to maximum vehicle render distance – 808 meters) is reduced by a number of factors that include: Vehicle View Range Vehicle Configuration (modules, retrofits, commander skills) Enemy vehicle camouflage (also depends on many factors) Environmental camouflage (bushes and other foliage) Action (moving, firing a gun) Game Mode (PvE has additional special rules) Please note, however, that the maximum currently achievable view range value is 534 meters. Vehicle View Range Vehicle View Range is a number (its units are meters) that represents the quality of the vehicle’s optics. Generally speaking, it somewhat increases with Tiers (as the technology improves) and ranges from simple gun sights to advanced computer-assisted thermal imager optics that allow you to spot the enemy at very long distances. A Tier 1 Light Tank spotting distance is, for example, 415 meters while a Tier 10 Light Tank spotting distance is 460 meters. View Range is a balancing parameter that heavily depends on a class. Light Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles generally have the highest view range as their role is not only to deal damage, but also to spot the enemy vehicles for their allies. Tank Destroyers usually also have a good view range but Main Battle Tanks have it lower. The Self-Propelled Gun class has it the lowest in Armored Warfare. Vehicle Configuration Basic Vehicle View Range and spotting efficiency in general can be considerably modified by properly configuring your vehicle: Recon Package module, available to spotting-oriented AFVs, increases the view range when the vehicle is standing Thermal Sights modules decrease the effectiveness of environmental camouflage Some Commander Skills (like Sabrina Washington’s Vigilant skill) increase the vehicle view range Improved Electronic Lenses Retrofit increases the view range when the vehicle is standing Augmented Optics Retrofit increases the view range under all circumstances but not by as much Please note that a properly configured AFV or LT will in vast majority of cases have a better view range value than a MBT. This arrangement makes each unique. Small AFVs such as the CRAB are the best scouts in the game. Enemy Vehicle Camouflage Vehicle Camouflage is, in a way, the polar opposite of View Range. It’s a modifier that reduces the enemy vehicle’s view range by a certain amount, specifically a percentage value. In Armored Warfare, this is determined by the vehicle’s camouflage factor. The camouflage factor uses percentage format. Until 0.21, the camouflage factor was determined by a fraction (0.370 for VBL INGWE for example) but we decided to switch to the more comprehensive percentage formatting. As such, 37 percent camouflage factor (earlier 0.37) will reduce the enemy view range by 37 percent. In other words, if the enemy vehicle would be normally able to spot targets at 400 meters (400m view range), it would only be able to spot the VBL INGWE at 252 meters since the number 400 was reduced by 37 percent. Like View Range, Camouflage Factor too depends on vehicle class (AFVs are the stealthiest while MBTs and SPGs are usually the most conspicuous vehicles on the battlefield), Tier and size. Smaller (or lower, height plays a major role) vehicles will have better camouflage factor than large, hulking ones. Additionally, vehicle’s camouflage factor can be modified by: Commander skills (for example, Juan Carlos Miramon’s Blend In improves camouflage factor) Modules (Electrical Starter and Generator increases camouflage factor on the move) Retrofits (Electro-Absorbing Paint increases camouflage factor when the vehicle is stopped) Visual Camouflage (increases the camouflage factor by 0.05 – or 5 percent) AFV Active Ability (decreases targeted vehicle’s camouflage factor) Please note that no matter what, your camouflage rating cannot drop below 0 – in other words, you will never allow the enemies to see you beyond the spotting ranges determined by their vehicles. Environmental Camouflage As it is in real life, foliage such as bushes or small trees makes vehicles harder to spot. In Armored Warfare, hiding behind a bush (so that its outline conceals all your vehicle’s spot check points relatively to the enemy spotter) gives you a major bonus to your camouflage factor – it improves by 30% (0.3 in camouflage factor terms). In other words, the rays between enemy spotter points and your spot check points have to pass through the bush objects. This is called Environmental Camouflage Bonus. Please note that the camouflage bonus is not unified (bushes with fewer leaves for example provide smaller bonuses, as common sense dictates). Multiple environmental camouflage bonuses (for multiple bushes that are between you and a spotter) can stack up to the bonus value of 0.45 (45 percent). In other words, even a Main Battle Tank with very low camouflage value of 0.1 (10 percent) can become significantly harder to detect when hiding behind bushes. Tree canopies work much like bushes but only the part with leaves is taken into account. When you stand under a tall tree with a large crown, it will not help your camouflage in the slightest. But if you stand on the same level as the tree canopy so that it is positioned between you and the enemy, it will work much like a bush. Fallen trees also work like improvised bushes. Please note: Foliage within 15 meters of the spotter do not count towards enemy spotter’s environmental camouflage bonus Your Environmental Camouflage Bonus can be reduced by firing your own weapon (bushes within 15 meters of you lose 66 percent of their environmental camouflage bonus for 5 seconds) Some modules such as the Thermal Imager or Commander Skills also reduce the Environmental Camouflage Bonus The ADAPTIV module, unique (for now) to the PL-01, acts as a “portable bush” and provides environmental camouflage bonus rather than standard camouflage bonus in all directions Action Moving or firing your gun makes you easier to spot. In Armored Warfare, both actions influence your camouflage factor considerably. However, as stated above, camouflage can never drop below 0. Firing a gun not only reduces the environmental camouflage as stated above, but also your own base camouflage, making you easier to spot for 5 seconds, as such (please note that the values are average as the penalty slightly differs from vehicle to vehicle and apply to one shot with exceptions listed below them): Tank Destroyers (Gun and ATGM) and Armored Fighting Vehicles receive low overall penalty (10 to 15 percent per shot) Light Tanks and non-TD ATGM launches receive medium overall penalty per shot (20 percent) All other vehicles else receives high penalty (25 percent) Vehicles that are capable of firing multiple shots in a row without longer reloads (Terminator ATGM volleys, autoloader magazines, ready racks) see the penalty increase gradually (this is actually an improvement since in the previous spotting iteration, their overall camouflage was reduced to 0 with their second shot, leading in many cases to them being instantly spotted). Currently, firing a half of your magazine (that is 3 rounds or larger, excluding for example the XM1A3 FASTDRAW) gives you roughly the same penalty as if you fired a single shot weapon and then grows, eventually bringing your camouflage to 0. Autocannons receive a penalty of 2 percent per autocannon shot that can stack – firing continuously for 3-5 seconds will easily bring your camouflage to 0 – short bursts are now, however, relatively safe (unlike before). Moving also reduces camouflage – please note that even traversing the hull on the spot counts as movement while traversing a turret does not. This penalty isn’t binary – when the vehicle moves, it becomes active and when moving fast, it (quickly) climbs to its maximum value for that given speed. Moving slow reduces the maximum penalty. After the vehicle stops, the penalty (again, quickly) drops to its 0 value. Light Tanks do not lose camouflage on the move and Armored Fighting Vehicles do not lose camouflage when moving slowly. Last but not least, vehicles on fire (any type of fire) receive a major penalty to camouflage. PvE Spotting Spotting in PvP and Global Operations works as described above, but spotting in PvE mode has its peculiarities. First and foremost, AI does not “cheat” – the AI spotting works on the same principle as any other spotting. Due to the fact that the PvE maps are smaller than PvP maps, the spotting range is reduced for all vehicles on the map (players and AI). The view range for all vehicles is reduced by 55 percent. This actually affects the AI opponents more since: Many AI opponents are AFVs They come from multiple angles, making them more efficient in spotting players This penalty is applied to the final check. Furthermore, Update 0.21 introduces additional AI penalties to AI view range depending on PvE difficulty levels: Easy Difficulty: Camouflage reduced by 20 percent and View Range by 15 percent Medium Difficulty: Camouflage reduced by 15 percent and View Range by 10 percent Hard Difficulty: Camouflage reduced by 10 percent and View Range by 5 percent No other changes are currently present in the PvE mode. We are evaluating Update 0.21 feedback. Losing Spotting Check An already spotted vehicle may disappear again from player sights if: It moves behind some cover and the line of sight with the spotter is broken It moves far enough or gains enough camouflage by other means for the spotting check to fail Upon failed spotting check, the vehicle will still briefly (for 5 seconds) stay spotted regardless of circumstances (except for deploying a smoke screen). After that, the silhouette is removed for 1 second and finally the vehicle disappears. This mechanism prevents vehicles from “magically disappearing” in the middle of a battlefield in most cases, or at least mitigates such situations to bare minimum. Advanced Spotting Mechanics Any enemy vehicle inside a certain range (50 meters) is spotted automatically regardless of any other circumstances – this is to simulate the state where the vehicle is so close the crews (or anyone around them) can hear it even over the racket of their own vehicle or the troops accompanying them let them know of the threat. In game terms, this rule is here to prevent situations that could potentially result in enemy tanks appearing at point blank range, which would result in poor gameplay. To a certain degree, the examples listed in the sections above are simplified to explain the basics of the mechanics. In reality, the calculation of the spotting range is a bit more complex. Earlier (before Update 0.20), the general equation for spotting distance was: SpottingDistance = ViewRange*(1 - Camouflage) However, the current spotting distance calculator is: SpottingDistance = 50+((ViewRange-50)*(1-Camouflage)) This change in the way the automatic spotting range interacts was introduced to make sure that the standard spotting distance wouldn’t drop below 50 meters as that produced strange results. For example, 90 percent camouflage against a 400 meter view range worked earlier as such: SpottingDistance = 400*(1-0.9) = 40 meters While now, it works as such: SpottingDistance = 50+((400-50)*(1-0.9)) = 85 meters In other words, earlier, the spotting range could theoretically drop below the automatic 50 meter spotting limit, which produced undesired results where some vehicles were stealthy enough to be completely invisible save for the automatic 50 meter spotting system. Additionally, a spotting ray can only penetrate 10 objects before it disappears. Areas with a lot of foliage are therefore exceptionally hard to scout in. As a side note, early in Armored Warfare development (even before the alpha version), a different spotting mechanism was in place where, the Gun Sights spotter points increases the spotting distance in a narrow cone. In other words, the vehicles could see further if they “looked that way” – this mechanism was never implemented as it was found that it increased static gameplay, otherwise known as “camping”. Additional Spotting Tools All vehicles do have several other tools at their disposal to help the camouflage and spotting. “Spotted” Indicator – an icon that appears on the screen whenever your vehicle is spotted. This indicator is present for all vehicle classes but while for most of them it activates only 2.5 seconds after you become spotted by someone, it is instant for the majority of the Armored Fighting Vehicle class, allowing it a bit more time to retreat to compensate for its fragility (the bonus is in fact granted by the Reckon Package module that many AFVs have). Environmental Spotting Indicator – the indicator provides feedback for the environment in a 30 meter radius around your vehicle. Within that 30 meter radius, it uses the UI element to show the direction of the environmental cover as well as the amount of cover you get from that direction. If you are hiding behind a single bush, you are only getting a small amount of camouflage and the indicator displays a dark gray mark in that direction. The more camouflage you get from the environment, the brighter the mark in that direction. If you are hiding behind a solid object such as a building or the side of a cliff, the indicator displays white to indicate that you are fully covered by the environment from that direction. This feature only provides feedback on the environment in your direct vicinity and does not indicate if you are going to be spotted or not. You still may be spotted by other players depending on your camouflage value, their view range, and lines of sight. Hiding next to a wall may show full cover, but if an enemy is high on a hill and can see you over the wall, you are still going to be spotted. Designate Target – Armored Fighting Vehicles have a special ability called Designate Target. Targeting an enemy with this ability deals massive penalty to his camouflage – additionally, your allies will inflict increased damage to the designated target. Smoke Grenade Launchers or Smoke Generators – for spotting purposes, the smoke from these devices counts as a physical obstacle (a “wall”, if you will) and will instantly break the line of sight. Any deployment of smoke grenades or smoke generator charges invokes a special spotting check outside of the spotting check cycle to ensure that the line of sight loss is instant.

I ended up manually pressing the approve button for you.

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I'll update the guide when I actually know what the new mission requirements in 0.31 are. It would also help if people can screenshot and post them here!

Shameless self-advertisement, get it here: https://github.com/Kasuobes/Rotation-Tracker As part of my super secret evil plan to subvert My.com provide the public service of distributing the daily mission rotations, I've started streaming the tracker itself for live rotation updates. Music is provided, cookies are complimentary.