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April 23 Update Notes

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https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/maintenance-april-23

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On the 23rd of April 2020, starting from 8:00 CEST (22nd of April, 11 PM PDT), the server will not be available for 5 hours due to the application of Update 0.31.6073

List of Update 0.31.6073 Changes

 

Chinese MBT Improvements

In this update, we are improving the performance of long-underperforming Chinese Main Battle Tanks as such:

  • 9910, Type 99: Overhauled the frontal armor in general to make it more consistent and its weakspots more logical (its sides and rear were generally not changed),
  • 9910, Type 99: Fixed and simplified the armor layout to remove a number of issues that caused strange penetrations or shell bounces
  • 9910, Type 99, Type 99A, Type 99A2, Type 99A2-140: Divided the lower frontal plate into three areas with the upper part of it being more durable and the lower part of it more vulnerable
  • Type 99A, Type 99A2, Type 99A2-140: The protection levels of the front of the turret of these vehicles was increased by removing some weakspots
  • Type 99A2: This vehicle now has 5 percent thicker frontal armor than its predecessor, the Type 99A MBT
  • Type 99, Type 99A, Type 99A2: Fixed these tanks’ gun barrel models

Spirithaven Chapter 4 Improvements

Implemented a large number of fixes for the fourth chapter of the Spirithaven Special Operation:

  • Fixed a number of problems that caused vehicles to get stuck on the edges of the base
  • Changed the position of the “Explore the Base” initial objectives
  • Added a visual and sound cue for when the Enigma flagship is about to attack
  • Several randomized Supply Areas (the zones that replenish your ammunition) in the form of elevators were added to the map – in order for them to appear, they need to be activated by shooting a button next to each respective elevator (please note that these areas do also fix your components but they do not restore your hitpoints)
  • Added an extra indicator for the “Defend Magnus Holter” objective
  • Changed the timings of enemy vehicle spawns on this map in order to make the battle a bit easier
  • Improved the autoaim point function when locking on the turrets of the Enigma flagship
  • Fixed an issue where the flagship would sometimes not lift off and expose its engines after you destroy its turrets
  • Fixed an issue where the flagship would hit your vehicle with the laser-aimed railgun even though the laser was not shown as aiming directly at your vehicle
  • Fixed an issue where some textures of the base were missing during cutscenes
  • Interactive elements on this map now glow red

The following changes and fixes are also present in this update:

  • AS21: This vehicle now has the correct Large Troop Compartment trait
  • Challenger 2: Fixed an issue where this vehicle’s driver’s position on its frontal armor was only 1mm thick
  • Leclerc, T-14 Armata: These vehicles now have a special type of HE ammunition that explodes not only upon impact, but also when there is an enemy vehicle underneath it, dealing damage to the target’s roof
  • Spirithaven Special Operation, Chapter 3: Fixed a visual issue where one of the warships would descend in a jerking manner
  • Raid: Fixed an issue where the amount of Reward Point Insignia tokens was not displayed correctly (Reward Points with Insignias in them correctly reward 10 tokens, not just 1)
  • Fixed an issue where Mechanized Infantry would sometimes not attack enemy targets
  • Fixed an issue where getting destroyed by Mechanized Infantry, a bunker or another environmental object would make the death screen not display the identity of the killer correctly
  • Reduced the sound volume of firing White Phosphorus and Smoke rounds from a SPG
  • Fixed a rare issue causing the game to crash
  • Fixed an issue where some lines and tooltips in the Dossier window showed incorrect values (the “hits” line would only display hits that did damage to the enemy)
  • Fixed an issue where, for some temporary vehicles, there was an incorrect button in their Upgrade window (“Buy” instead of “Return”)
  • Added a number of new assets for upcoming events

Chinese buffs look nice, 99A/A2s will probably be significantly less annoying to deal with while being more frontally durable against bots. As long as they don't mess other things up, that is.

Ammo resupply points in SH4 will definitely be a huge boon, since running out of ammo is a major issue and tactical respawns are practically a requirement if you only have a few T-15s. Bradleys and turrets are bullet sponges.

Top-attack HE for the Leclerc and T-14... I don't know how I feel about this. There's really no need for this since they already have great performing ammo choices (HEAT and AP) to deal with everything they face, but I suppose having a top-attack option might be useful in very specific circumstances. Will have to see how it turns out.

 


Spoiler

 

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it would be nice to make ports to actually reflect the light, as now it looks mostly only black without reflections. Introduced with 0.30 btw ;) and also mud is low resolution and it is actually a downgrade to graphics. It's nice that they are repairing things but it's just sad that tank models used to look better in the past. Now I'm playing tier 7 and it is no fun at all to face only T15 and Bradley and Viesel with rockets all the time, while you can only hide like a covard instead of at least face them and I'm talling about a heavy tanks without aps/era vs rockets. There is 200 tanks in this game and it's getting boring to play only against T15's and Bradley's.

It's still the same situation as it was a few weeks ago and now we are playing without any bonus whatsoever. I also want to thanks AW team for renting obj640, it was a blast and I gained a lot of credits so thank you.

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21 hours ago, Haswell said:

Chinese MBT Improvements

In this update, we are improving the performance of long-underperforming Chinese Main Battle Tanks as such:

  • 9910, Type 99: Overhauled the frontal armor in general to make it more consistent and its weakspots more logical (its sides and rear were generally not changed),
  • 9910, Type 99: Fixed and simplified the armor layout to remove a number of issues that caused strange penetrations or shell bounces
  • 9910, Type 99, Type 99A, Type 99A2, Type 99A2-140: Divided the lower frontal plate into three areas with the upper part of it being more durable and the lower part of it more vulnerable
  • Type 99A, Type 99A2, Type 99A2-140: The protection levels of the front of the turret of these vehicles was increased by removing some weakspots
  • Type 99A2: This vehicle now has 5 percent thicker frontal armor than its predecessor, the Type 99A MBT
  • Type 99, Type 99A, Type 99A2: Fixed these tanks’ gun barrel models

Cool improved protection, they did get a firepower upgrade through changing their APFSDS rounds to a depleted uranium type? otherwise are they light tank MBT hybrids. Jumped on and took a quick look at the armor buff its pretty good. 

TLDR: Improved turret protection around the cannon breach against ATGMs, the turret ring under the cannon is now the weak spot, the weakest spot on the lower plate is around 630mm going up to 760mm on the middle plate then up to 850mm on the upper part. 

 

ScreenShot0025.jpg

ScreenShot0026.jpg

Edited by LeoAegisMaximus (see edit history)

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How does it look after the ERA blows? That's what makes them kinda useless for me, you lose your ERA in the first missile storm, then you've got green all over.

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24 minutes ago, Komitadjie said:

How does it look after the ERA blows? That's what makes them kinda useless for me, you lose your ERA in the first missile storm, then you've got green all over.

Pretty decent 1300mm effectiveness against ATGMs only AFT-10 can go through cleanly with 1400mm of penetration.ScreenShot0027.thumb.jpg.101438af2a8576713b645e33f18bc51d.jpg

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2 hours ago, LeoAegisMaximus said:

Pretty decent 1300mm effectiveness against ATGMs only AFT-10 can go through cleanly with 1400mm of penetration.ScreenShot0027.thumb.jpg.101438af2a8576713b645e33f18bc51d.jpg

Enough to stop T15s, though, which is a primary threat. Not bad!

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This update has uttered destroyed the effectiveness of the high tier (9-10) Chinese MBTs in PvP. The armor "buff" has taken away the one distinguishing feature of the high-tier Chinese MBTs, their frontal armor.

Prior to the update, their LFPs were trollish (especially the LFP of the Type 99A2-140) as their armor values were relatively consistent across the front. This meant that the MBTs were good for brawling, as sometimes RNG would cause lower penetration rounds (800-820mm) to bounce off the LFP (even on the progression Type 99A and 99A2). This is especially helpful against the current CATTB meta, as its nerfed 140mm rounds cannot reliably penetrate the Type's lower plates. 

Did this decent frontal armor make the Type 99A and Type 99A2 overpowered? No, au contraire (in fact, this "buff" was only implemented because the Chinese MBT line was significantly underperforming). You see, the Type's frontal armor was it's only distinguishing feature, it's saving grace for some players in PvP. The rest of the vehicle's characteristics were mostly mediocre:

  • Decent DPM
  • Low Penetration
  • Good Mobility
  • Horrendous Side Armor

Now that the LFP has been "buffed", I am expecting a sharp decline in the number of T9-10 Chinese MBTs being played in PvP modes. Their winrates will also likely remain stagnant or decrease even further. To restate what I've already written on the official Discord, I would rather play a vehicle with "minor/inconsistently penned" turret weakspots than one with "guaranteed/consistently penned" LFP weakspots. I'm sure my opinion is a unpopular one (especially within the English speaking community), as these changes are largely positive for PvE, but I believe I must state my case nonetheless.

On the other hand, the lower tier (T8 and under) Chinese MBTs have been buffed significantly. As @Haswell has noted on the Discord, while still retaining their best-in-class DPMs, the armor profiles on the 9910 and Type 99 have been buffed significantly, effectively crowning them as the MBT kings of their respective tier ranges. 

I hope these changes will be revised and/or reversed. This is not how you "buff" underperforming and underplayed MBTs.  

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In PvE i am not so sure that i am so happy about the buff, as now if i drive a T15 or an other missile tank now my only hope if i face a 99A2 that has it LFP under cover is to hope to hit the very narrow turret ring spot. Driving myself the Type I don't know as with the previous meta I had very mixed results, sometimes getting blue stars, over performing damage monsters like the T15 and bouncing a lot, missiles included, but I had also very bad games, doing few and also being killed often. And I never play a MBT as sniper, I always go forward and play as frontliner as a MBT should imo do. 

So I think that the T10 Type had no need at all of an armor buff, was a perfectly capable tank, powerful in its own way, that only needed some finesse in its use, finesse that I was not able to have all the times. So a very interesting way of being unique, but still balanced and true to its class.

In the PvP modes i was quite pissed by the frontal armor of the 99A2-140, it is a premium with a more powerful gun and higher reload time, and this is ok, but I never saw a reason why its frontal armor should perform better then the progression's one. So good that with some MBTs was almost impossible to pen it frontally, and that imo was to be a little too far in the pay to win side, as it was a Premium. Now probably against one driven by a competent player with an MBT you have more chance, but if you drive a missile based tank, both at short distance with a T15 or a Termi, or at long distance like with a Hellfire I wish you good luck...

But at now I had only one game with the new (progression) 99A2, blue star in Leviathan, my opinion is mainly based on what i can see with the armor inspector. Playing it in the real game can prove my first impression completely wrong.

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Speaking of pve, there were better and are premium mbt than 99A2-140 even before this nerf. Even if consider accurate shooting with HEAT and Cortez commander for higher rolls as his only strong side now, it less comfortable in any combat due terrible gun depression and its ammorack can be hit with little side exposure.

 

 

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As I don't own both the 140 and Cortez i can not tell anything about it, but I believe that high tier Premium tanks should not be more powerful then the progression ones in any mode, as it is pay to win. At least for the CATTB the Altai and the Object the chance to win them in the battle path was given to anyone, but still the ones that could not play enough in those battle paths for whatever reason or the ones that come to the game now have no free chance to get them.

I am fine with the concept that if you pay for a Premium Tank you grind credits, reputation and commanders faster, but this is pay to grind, not pay to win. One of the reasons why I play this game and I never touched an other tank game is because here the pay to win aspect is almost not existing, at least we don't have Premium ammo and similar crap. I was quite annoyed by the too strong frontal armor of the 140 in PvP, if in PvE it was a nerf or a boost it completely depends on where the bots are scripted to aim, now the 99A2 should be more resilient to the AGTMs even if less strong against AP as long as you don't expose your LFP so possibly it is not a nerf as in PvE the rockets are the main treat, a MBT can do you damage, but a T15 or a couple of Bradley can take away much of your HP in seconds.

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