Upcoming Chinese BP: Rise of the Dragon

[Haswell 299]

As confirmed previously from the Chinese leak, the next BP will be Chinese-themed. Still no dates though.

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/summer-dragon

Quote

As you are probably already aware or have deduced from the name, the next Battle Path named “Rise of the Dragon” is going to be Chinese-themed with four new Premium vehicles hailing from the Middle Kingdom. However, some content in the Battle Path will be tied to China’s best-known and perhaps most important armored vehicle, the Type 99 series Main Battle Tank, so let’s refresh our memory about what the vehicle is.

 

Type 99

 

As is common with many Asian vehicles (the Chinese in particular), there is very little official information and much of what we know is based on various estimates from military analysts working for reputable sources.

The general consensus is that the production variant of the Type 99 MBT was developed from the Type 99 prototype as China's first true third generation MBT. A prototype called 9910 (often – incorrectly – labeled as Type 98) was first shown in public on the Chinese National Day military parade on October 1 1999. The prototype and production Type 99 both abandon the Soviet concept of tanks in favor of more western technology, even though traces of Russian designs can be found deep inside the vehicle.

 

Type 99 Prototype during parade rehearsals, 1999

 

The hull is low and generally typical of Chinese tanks but, unlike the previous Chinese MBTs, the turret is welded. The vehicle is protected by composite armor and by an advanced spaced armor kit and ERA (allegedly comparable to Russian Relikt), resulting in an estimated frontal protection on par with the newer variants of the Russian T-90 MBT (roughly 1000-1200mm of RHAe versus HEAT rounds).

Type 99 is equipped with a JD-3 laser system that allows it to send high intensity laser bursts (dazzling) at targets that are using their own lasers to target the Type 99 MBT. The desired effect of this is the damaging of enemy optics and temporary blindness of the enemy gunner.

The main armament is the automatically loaded fully stabilized Chinese 125mm ZPT-98 smoothbore gun, capable of firing 9M119M Invar and 9M119M1 Invar-M missiles (the often-cited Refleks designation belongs to the launching system, not the missiles themselves) along with other standard former Warsaw Pact 125mm ammunition. Some sources claim the gun is a license-produced version of the Russian 2A46M, but that is not the case – the gun is longer.

The effective rate of fire is around 8 rounds per minute. The Fire Control System is indigenous and – allegedly – highly accurate, although how exactly it fares compared to other contemporary systems is not known.

 

Type 99

 

The vehicle is powered by a 1200 horsepower 150HB diesel, giving it decent mobility (the maximum speed of 80 km/h, cited by Wikipedia, is, however, speculative). The acceleration is said to be very good as well thanks to its power-to-weight ratio of approximately 23 hp/t (the vehicle weighs around 52 tons).

Performance-wise, Type 99 should be on par with other third generation tanks such as the T-90 or Abrams, but it has never participated in any armed conflict and therefore it's very difficult to evaluate its performance. Some Chinese sources are known for notoriously overestimating domestic tanks to the point of absurdity and the only lead the public has to Chinese vehicle performance beyond the truly obsolete types participating in Middle-Eastern wars is the Chinese participation in Tank Biathlon.

In Chinese service, approximately 1200 Type 99s of several variants have been built since 2001 and production seems to continue still. It is, however, unlikely that this particular vehicle will ever be exported and various speculations about export deals to Pakistan and other countries that can be found on the internet are almost certainly false. Other advanced Chinese vehicles, such as the VT-4, are, however, available for export.

 

Type 99A

 

As for the Type 99A sub-variant – the Type 99A is an improved model of the Type 99, first tested in August 2007 and entering service in 2011. It shares most of its predecessor's features:

• A western-style welded turret
• 125mm ZPT-98 autoloaded smoothbore gun, capable of firing Invar and Invar-M missiles
• Powerful diesel engine giving it excellent mobility

But there are improvements. For one, the vehicle is powered by a 1500hp 150HB-2 diesel engine, an improved variant of the older 1200hp 150HB model used on the original Type 99. This gives it excellent mobility and acceleration, although the numbers available publicly (maximum speed of 80 km/h and acceleration from 0 to 32 km/h in 12 seconds) are unofficial and most likely speculative. The weight, however, increased from approximately 52 tons to 54 tons or even more (sources vary).

The turret was also enlarged and fitted with a more effective, redesigned ERA kit and possibly a soft-kill APS system.

Precious little is known about this most modern Main Battle Tank of the People's Republic of China. Type 99A supposedly has more advanced electronics (including a GPS system and an indigenous battle management system), but details are very much classified.

It's worth noting that while many online sources use names such as Type 99A1 and Type 99A2, these names are incorrect and (much like the Type 98 designation) probably made up by analysts or even journalists. What is sometimes referred to as Type 99A2 is in fact the Type 99A while the Type 99A1 is still "just" a Type 99.

China is currently estimated to operate around 500 of these modernized Type 99As with more being converted from the standard Type 99 MBTs. Type 99A, just like the original Type 99, is not offered for export and will very likely remain only in Chinese service.

 

Type 99B

 

In Armored Warfare, the Type 99 MBT exists in several forms:

• 9910 Tier 7 MBT (a predecessor to the Type 99 series)
• Type 99 Tier 8 MBT
• Type 99A Tier 9 MBT
• Type 99A2 Tier 10 MBT (the name here is historically incorrect but has been in use for so long it makes no sense to rename it)
• Type 99A2-140 Tier 10 Premium MBT armed with a largely fictional 140mm gun (a 140mm gun was never installed on this chassis and was only mentioned in passing by certain Chinese sources)

In the near future, these will be joined by a previously announced (and unfortunately also fictional) Type 99B MBT.

On the bright side, the Battle Path will offer skins and other suitable visual elements even for the progression Type 99 series and we can’t wait to start showing you in the near future.

In case anybody is wondering if the 99B will be included in the BP:

 

[Yxlouvia 1]

Wow new tier 10 is not a bp vehicle

Edited January 23, 2023 by Yxlouvia (see edit history)

[Haswell 299]

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/rise-dragon-battle-path-part-1-wartime-china

Quote

From our previous introductory article, you know we are working already on the Rise of the Dragon Battle Path for this summer and in this article we’ll tell you more about it.

Reward-wise, the Rise of the Dragon Battle Path will be a bit different. There will be four Premium vehicles as usual:

• ZBD-04A Armored Fighting Vehicle
• VN17 Armored Fighting Vehicle
• ZTL-11 Tank Destroyer
• ZTZ-20 Main Battle Tank

But the other prizes will follow a certain topic as well – as its name suggests, the Rise of the Dragon Battle Path is all about the rise of China as a world superpower. As such, the prizes were overhauled with fewer not-as-valuable ones such as multiple-stage avatars, and more requested ones such as historical camouflages.

This Battle Path’s rewards will be separated into several parts based on China’s historical context and you’ll get to pass those parts in chronological order. In game terms, all these items will appear as a part of the standard level progression. The first part is dedicated to pre-war and wartime China.

 

 

Renault FT, Republic of China era (1912-1916)

 

When it comes to China, the first decades of the 20th century were an absolute mess. The year 1912 marked the end of the Qing dynasty rule after nearly three hundred years. China was subsequently reshaped into a republic but one man, Yuan Shikai, ruled it as a de-facto dictator. After his death in 1916, China entered the so-called Warlord Era as various remnants of the once massive Chinese imperial army (the Beiyang Army) vied for supremacy for over a decade. Only in 1928 did the Chinese National Party’s military forces bring them to heel during what was called the Northern Expedition. The campaign was supported by several large factions, including the Chinese Communist Party and, from the outside, the Soviet Union, which sought to increase its influence over the most populous country of the era.

 

Shanghai police cars, Republic of China era (1912-1916) via Tanks Encyclopedia

 

The peace was, however, short-lived. The country plunged soon after into a massive civil war that left millions dead and tens of millions displaced or wounded. It was a brutal conflict on an epic scale, in which the Chinese Communist Party took on the forces of Kuomintang (or the Chinese Nationalist Party), the ruling party of the Republic of China. The war was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and resumed immediately after Japan’s surrender. The land only knew peace from large-scale warfare in 1949 with the defeat of Kuomintang and their exile to the island of Taiwan.

But let us return to the Warlord era for a moment, and its subsequent suppression. All pre-war Chinese armies were generally very poorly equipped and often poorly trained. To remedy the situation, some very light armor was ordered by Kuomintang along with European weapons, equipment (including the iconic German steel helmets) and, most importantly, advisors, including a German general of all people. That’s how China ended up with some Panzer I tankettes along with a few other German armored cars. In retrospect, it is fairly obvious that the whole German purchase was made for one reason only – German advisor kickbacks.

 

Panzer I, Nanjing, 1937 via Tanks Encyclopedia

 

At first glance, tankettes were fine when the enemy (be it the CCP or warlord armies earlier) was armed with obsolete rifles. In reality, they arrived in a terrible shape, had to be completely refitted and were constantly overheating. Luckily for the Chinese, this wasn’t the only tank purchased. In the 1930s, Kuomintang obtained around sixty various armored vehicles from Vickers, including the popular Vickers Mk.E (or Vickers 6-ton) light tank. These were armed with short 47mm cannons with 20 purchased between 1934 and 1935.

 

Vickers Mk.E, Shanghai, 1937 via Tanks Encyclopedia

 

The Vickers light tank was a potent vehicle for its time and was amongst the best equipment the Chinese had. It was therefore logical they’d use them during the ill-fated 1937 battle of Shanghai where Kuomintang forces (the best-trained divisions) defended the city from a Japanese onslaught. Unfortunately, the deployment was a disaster. Brave Chinese tank crews advanced through the city without cover only to be flanked and picked off one by one. Other tanks were lost in heroic but pointless charges. During the battle, all Chinese Vickers Mk.E tanks were destroyed or captured by the Japanese. But why are we discussing this tank in this article?

 

Vickers Light Amphibious Tank "Dragon" in early camouflage

 

The reason’s simple. The first three assets are connected to it. Kuomintang tanks were painted in a rather beautiful camouflage consisting of sand, green, brown and grey spots and this Chinese (Early) camouflage will be available as a prize of the Battle Path. Additionally, Chinese troops adorned their vehicles with various names and inscriptions. Two of these will be represented in the form of decals.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

They are real tank names and both appeared on different Vickers Mk.E’s:

• Dragon
• Tiger

For the final prize of this section, let us fast forward a decade to the final stages of the Chinese Civil War. By 1945, the hostilities between Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party forces resumed with both sides using captured equipment left behind after Japan’s surrender.

 

Vickers tank named "Tiger"

 

In late 1945, the Chinese captured a pair of Japanese Shinhoto Chi-Ha’s in the city of Shenyang. These tanks were relatively obsolete compared to late-war Allied equipment but were still considerably better than the pre-war stuff. Armed with long 47mm guns, they packed quite a punch. But before they could be used in the fighting, one of them was sabotaged by the captured Japanese engineers, leaving only the second vehicle (tactical number 102) operational.

The tank was repaired and transferred to the Chinese Northeast Tank Regiment, where it led a breakthrough during a massive battle of Jinzhou. As a mark of honor, the vehicle was renamed to “Gongchen” (“Heroic Tank”) since it became extremely respected and famous within the Chinese ranks.

 

Gongchen tank, Beijing Military Museum

 

The tank survived the rest of the campaign and would become so famous that it would lead the victorious military parade in Beijing on October 1, 1949 – the day the People’s Republic of China was founded. It was retired from service in 1959 and can be seen in the Beijing Military Museum to this day.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

While we won’t be introducing the Shinhoto Chi-Ha tank for obvious reasons, the “Gongchen” will be a skin for the Type 99A2 MBT.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

And that’s it for the pre-war and wartime era’s rewards – next time, we’ll discuss the first prize vehicle of the Battle Path (the ZTZ-20 MBT) as well as the next time period on our list: the early People’s Liberation Army era. Until then:

See you on the battlefield!

At least now we know for sure what the BP vehicles will be.

Also, more info from SS:

 

[WLWYW 0]

Is the "Gongchen" skin of ZTZ-99A2 (ZTZ-99A 2015) wrong

ZTZ-99A2 (ZTZ-99A 2015年型）的功臣号皮肤是不是错了

 

 

[Haswell 299]

The inscription probably got moved to the hull from the chassis because it was on the ERA blocks that could be destroyed. I'm more bothered by the fact that the skin is incredibly bare and boring, it's just a flat base paint with three Chinese characters on it.

@boymahina123 made this awesome edit of the promo pic.

 

[LeoAegisMaximus 6]

where are the Chinese MBT buffs? can't have a BP pushing them if the tech tree ones suck. 

[Qbicle 108]

3 hours ago, WLWYW said:

Is the "Gongchen" skin of ZTZ-99A2 (ZTZ-99A 2015) wrong

ZTZ-99A2 (ZTZ-99A 2015年型）的功臣号皮肤是不是错了

 

 

The skin is based on the first Gongchen tank (Type 97 Chi-Ha), not the current 99A that inherits the title. That said, I won't mind seeing skins of other tanks that also inherited the title, namely Type 59 and early Type 99.

[WLWYW 0]

15 hours ago, Qbicle said:

The skin is based on the first Gongchen tank (Type 97 Chi-Ha), not the current 99A that inherits the title. That said, I won't mind seeing skins of other tanks that also inherited the title, namely Type 59 and early Type 99.

Got it, thanks

Edited June 10, 2022 by WLWYW (see edit history)

[HRDSTL 0]

The main price MBT tier X looks good, the other vehicles from this BP a waste!

[Haswell 299]

Some more info from SS. All the proposed characteristics sound pretty useless to me, or that they are very PvP-oriented.

Still no info on the ZTL-11.

[Haswell 299]

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/rise-dragon-battle-path-part-2-building-pla

Quote

--- stuff ---

 

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

This story was used extensively in Chinese propaganda and became a part of the Chinese mythos surrounding the war. Numerous different accounts of that battle’s events exist (sometimes with the events taking place in a different order), all of them most likely not true as no such loss records could be find in the American war records. Nevertheless, amongst the Rise of the Dragon’s prizes, you may find a special skin for the Type 96 MBT – Type 96 “215”.

This skin changes the appearance of your Type 96 by applying the appropriate base paint (PLA Green), the PLA symbols, the tactical number “215” as well as six red stars on the barrel.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

Other prizes of this era include:

• Red star of the PLA decal
• No. 215 decal (applicable to any vehicle)
• PLA flag
• Decal with the name “Lei Feng”, another mythical soldier figure of the PLA displayed as an avatar of the People’s Republic of China’s virtues

Next time, we’ll finally take a look at the vehicle prizes as well as the prizes of the next era called Rapid Development.

 

[Haswell 299]

  

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/rise-dragon-battle-path-part-3-rapid-development

Quote

Previous articles:

• Part 1: Wartime China
• Part 2: Building the PLA
• ZTZ-20 – Tier 10 Premium MBT

Commanders!

In our previous Battle Path articles (linked above), we have unveiled the basic concept behind the upcoming Rise of the Dragon Battle Path – to implement various rewards related to different eras of China in chronological order, starting from the pre-war period. In this part, we’ll tell you more about the prize bloc dedicated to PLA’s rapid development.

 

Type 59

 

As a result of the Soviet help with Chinese arms industry, China received a large number of T-34 tanks (designated Type 58 in Chinese service) followed by a large number of T-54A tanks, which served and were later license-produced under the name of Type 59. By the time they reached China, these tanks were hardly the most powerful ones in the world, but were still quite sufficient for their purposes and taught the Chinese engineers valuable lessons in tank design, influencing the Chinese tank industry for decades to come.

 

Camouflaged Type 59

 

The Type 59 was first introduced to the public during the great Chinese national parade in 1959. The original model production, however, only took place between 1957 and 1960 in Baotou (located in the Beijing military area), although more advanced models were in mass production ran until the 1980s, with an estimated 10 thousand vehicles with various modifications produced, becoming the most numerous tank in Chinese service for the next few decades. Originally, these tanks were painted in the usual Green color, but later on the factories switched to the three-tone camouflage that became extremely common in the PLA.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

This camouflage will be the first of the prizes introduced in this Battle Path reward part. It consists of black, sand and olive green stripes and was applied until the dawn of digital camouflages in the 1990s. You’ll be able to apply it to all vehicles as usual.

But let us get back to the story of China. In the late 1950s, clouds started gathering over the two great allies. Due to their ideological differences, the relations between China and the Soviet Union deteriorated in the 1960s practically to the point of open conflict. A side-effect of this situation was that the Chinese were left in a bad place, unable to get access to advanced Soviet technologies while being alienated from the west at the same time due to their support of communist regimes in Asia and the Vietnam War. For the Chinese armor industry, there were several pivotal moments, most notably the Damansky Island incident and, the Vietnam War with all its lessons.

 

T-62 "545"

 

Let us stop here for a short moment though – the Damansky island incident. In the March of 1969, the Chinese and the Soviets were practically in a state of open warfare around the Ussuri river border. Skirmishes were relatively commonplace and the events culminated on March 2 in nearly a two-week-long full-scale conflict over a river island called Damansky (or Zhenbao in Chinese).

 

T-62 "545"

 

The battle involved APCs, tanks and even heavy artillery and resulted effectively in a draw with both sides claiming victory. Both sides lost roughly 60 men, but, more importantly, one of Russia’s relatively new T-62 tanks was disabled in the fighting and despite the best Soviet efforts to retrieve it, it was captured by the Chinese and brought back to Beijing. This T-62 No.545 then became a valuable source of research information as it was taken apart and studied extensively by the Chinese military and scientists. Afterwards, it ended in a museum.

Which brings us to the second prize of this segment – the T-62 No.545 will be a skin for the T-62 Tier 3 progression Main Battle Tank.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

It’s a simple skin consisting of the Soviet khaki color and the white tactical number “545” along with its battle-worn surface. As the tank was so important for the Chinese development, we couldn’t have passed the opportunity to introduce it to Armored Warfare in this form.

The lessons learned from the T-62 as well as the Vietnam War and the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese war unveiled a number of issues with the tactics and armor the Chinese deployed and led to the rapid development of both. Even though the Chinese military industry tried to get their hands on modern technologies however they could, the isolation left some Chinese technology branches a decade or more behind their Soviet and western counterparts. During this era, China mostly focused on upgrading what they had, especially the Type 59 tank.

 

Type 79

 

This would only change during the Thawing era as the relations between China, the Soviet Union and the west improved Especially the late 1970s and the 1980s saw a military development boom with more and more advanced technologies becoming available to the Chinese, both from Europe (105mm NATO standard gun) and from Russia (125mm smoothbore). The development ran in two directions:

• Upgrades of existing tanks (Type 59 upgrades leading to the popular Type 69 export tank)
• Design of new weapons (wheeled tank destroyers, modern domestic tanks such as the Type 88, modern export tanks such as the Type 85 and Type 90-II)

During this period, China became a major armor exporter with massive amounts of tanks sold across the world.

 

Type 99 prototype 9910, experimental camouflage

 

But let us get back to the prototypes because the third phase we want to tell you about is the Chinese Experimental camouflage as seen on a Type 99 prototype called 9910.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

While not historically valuable (this type of camouflage never went into mass use), we hope that you find these gorgeous spots of sand color over a green surface as pretty as we did.

And that’s it for the main prizes. Other prizes of this segment include:

• Flag of the PLA Ground Forces
• Decal with the name “Dong Cunrui”, another mythical soldier figure of the Chinese Civil War

Next time, we’ll continue taking a look at more vehicle prizes as well as the prizes of the next prize segment called Chinese Marines.

The camos look nice, but I'm starting to see a trend here with the skins: they are literally just flat base paints with some decals baked in.

I have to question why the "545" isn't just a decal, even if the default decal placements are very shoddy.

[Zafir 15]

Most likely answered your own question, putting the decal in a certain place can be done outside the game in a graphics editor of your choice, no fiddling with anything inside the game needed.

[Haswell 299]

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/rise-dragon-battle-path-part-4-marines

Quote

Previous articles:

• Part 1: Wartime China
• Part 2: Building the PLA
• ZTZ-20 – Tier 10 Premium MBT
• Part 3: Rapid Development
• ZTL-11 – Tier 9 Premium TD

Commanders!

In our previous Battle Path articles (linked above), we have unveiled the basic concept behind the upcoming Rise of the Dragon Battle Path – to implement various rewards related to different eras of China in chronological order, starting from the pre-war period. In this part, we’ll divert a bit from that concept because the next prize section will be dedicated to the Chinese Marines forces.

 

PLAN marines of the 1st Marine Brigade, 2006

 

The Chinese Marines have a rather interesting (albeit short) history. This branch of the Chinese Navy was established in the April of 1953 as a reaction to the Nationalists keeping the control of several islands even after the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. The idea was to have a well-armed and elite force capable of storming the beaches of these islands, meeting the best the Nationalists had to offer head to head. Their baptism by fire followed soon afterwards when a force of roughly 200 Marines reinforced by a thousand militiamen defended the island of Dongshan against a Nationalist attempt to invade. The Nationalists had lost the island three years prior and in the July of 1953, they decided to take it back.

 

Battle for the Yijiangshan islands

 

The plan was fairly simple – the island was protected by light infantry only and the attackers would overwhelm them with regular infantry, armor and an elite paratrooper division. During the initial phase of the conflict, the island’s port was destroyed by Communist mortar fire but the defenders continued being pushed back by the onslaught. The advance was finally halted by the Chinese fortifications of the Eight Feet Gate stronghold manned by the Marines. The elite paratroopers suffered extremely heavy losses while attempting to take the fortifications, marking the high point of Nationalist advance during the battle.

The reinforcements from the Chinese mainland would force them to retreat, leaving over 2500 dead behind. Another such battle, just reversed, took place in 1955 during the Communist invasion of the Yijiangshan islands. While the losses on both sides were lower, the fighting was incredibly brutal with flamethrowers being deployed en masse and melee combat commonplace.

 

Chinese marines in the 1960s

 

During both engagements, the PLA Marines displayed uncommon heroism. Nevertheless, the branch was disbanded in 1958. The reason for that was fairly simple – they were no longer needed as the invasion of Taiwan was not seen as a viable prospect. Instead, the Chinese Navy would retain several infantry and tank regiments. These were technically Marines but weren’t organized so. They participated in the successful seizure of the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam in 1974.

 

Chinese marines in the 1980s

 

The Marines were re-activated as a separate branch under the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in 1979 with the 1st Marine Brigade becoming active in 1980 on the island of Hainan as a response to the increasing tensions between the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan. Another motive was the launch of Chinese expansion attempts into the South China Sea where several small islands and atolls had their status disputed by multiple parties (including Vietnam and the Philippines). One such dispute escalated into an armed skirmish when the Vietnamese and Chinese Marine forces clashed over the Johnson South Reef, a part of the Spratly Islands.

 

People's Liberation Army Marine Corps, 164th Marine Brigade, 1990s

 

Our first prize of this segment is an early PLANMC camouflage likely introduced back in the early 1980s on both vehicles and uniforms. It consists of blue, grey and white spots and, as usual, will be available for all environments.

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

The PLAN Marines would once again be re-organized in the 1990s. The Iraqi defeat by the Americans caused a worldwide shock in the countries armed with Soviet-era equipment and the PRC was no exception. Modern arms programs were accelerated and a great re-arming process took place. For the Chinese tankers, this meant the launch of the successful Type 96 and Type 99 series MBTs, but the Marines only had lighter armor at their disposal. Currently, the PLAN Marines are armed with the following armored vehicles:

• Type 15 Light Tank
• ZTL-11 wheeled FSV (amphibious)
• ZBL-08 wheeled IFV (amphibious)
• ZSL-10 wheeled APC (amphibious)
• ZBD-05 tracked IFV (amphibious)
• ZSD-05 tracked APC (amphibious)

In total, the PLAN Marine Corps use several hundred armored vehicles of the abovementioned types. If you’ve seen the photos of these vehicles in a bright blue digital camouflage – those belong to the Marines. We have a version of this camouflage in the game already (on the Type 99A2-140 MBT) and we’re happy to let you know you’ll be able to use this modern Marine camouflage for all your vehicles!

 

Click the image to open a larger version

 

Despite the garish palette, this digital camouflage is fairly effective as it’s not supposed to blend with trees or grass, but with the sea. Amphibious vehicles are at their most vulnerable when performing a landing since you can’t dodge or hide in water. It is therefore extremely important to have any advantage you can during this perilous phase.

 

ZBD-05

 

And that’s where we are right now in history – the camouflage is still in use, the list of vehicles posted above is the current one and the entire branch is currently roughly 20 thousand men strong. After the 2017 military reform, it is divided into 8 brigades. Aside from China, a PLANMC force is currently permanently stationed in Djibouti, the first Chinese overseas base of its kind. A Marine contingent is also taking part in anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden.

 

Beijing military parade, 2015

 

And that’s it for the main prizes. Other prizes of this segment include:

• Flag of the PLA Navy
• PLAN Marine Corps crest decal

This segment technically contains the ZTL-11 as well since it is a vehicle used by the Chinese Marines, but this vehicle will very likely be only available via blueprints instead of standard level progression.

Next time, we’ll talk about the VN-17 IFV that is also a prize of this Battle Path. Until then:

I don't like the blue too much even if it made sense IRL, bright blue camo just looks gnarly in the game.

[Zafir 15]

Update:  News In Development: Rise of the Dragon Path

Two things seem to stick out:

Quote

The Rise of the Dragon vehicles will not feature Overprogression modules, although the older Battle Path vehicles will still be possible to upgrade using the Workshop feature for the duration of this Battle Path.

Not 100% sure, but I think past Workshop features on vehicles could be unlocked in other BP sessions as well, this time it is just limited to the RotDP-BP.

Quote

The Battle Path is currently planned to launch in August. If anything in this article caught your eye and you haven’t done so already, you can still purchase discounted access via MY.GAMES Market.

Not sure, if they double down on the “Fear of missing out” here, but not mentioning the ability to gain access via Gold is a bit fishy.

[Haswell 299]

So the ZTL-11 will get a 125mm gun, hopefully.

[Zafir 15]

I wonder if they still bother to address the incorrectly issued coupons from the loot crate, before the BP starts?

[Haswell 299]

Confirming the ZTL will get a 125mm gun option.

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/developer-diary-ztl-11-upgrades

Quote

The Rise of the Dragon Battle Path draws close and we have one last update for you regarding its vehicles.

The ZTL-11 Tank Destroyer is receiving a new weapon – a 125mm smoothbore cannon that will be firing Tier 10 Chinese shells (including the dreaded HEAT round).

 

The game reason is simple – our testing and your feedback showed that the firepower of the original gun just wasn’t cutting it on Tier 9 and, at the same time, reducing this vehicle’s Tier was not really an option. That is why we decided to upgrade its firepower with a slower-firing weapon, giving you a choice in the process (the 105mm gun will remain a better choice for PvE due to its higher damage per minute value).

But is this change realistic – as in, based on real-life? Could it work?

Well, sort of.

After the need to upgrade ZTL’s firepower was discovered, we’ve held long discussions regarding the boundaries of realism. One argument was that since we have a completely fake tank in the Battle Path already, we might as well give the ZTL an MBT-class 125mm gun. This argument was also supported by the fact that realism ranked fairly low as a requirement in the recent Armored Warfare player poll.

The other argument emphasized previous community feedback regarding the topic of realism and claimed we shouldn’t recklessly abandon it. After all – if one tank can have an unrealistic gun, why wouldn’t players be able to demand unrealistic guns for other underperforming tanks? We don’t really want to open that can of worms, at least not fully.

 

In the end, a compromise was reached. First, we established that having a 125mm smoothbore gun on a wheeled chassis was possible. Here, a Russian project called Sprut-K served as an inspiration. The Sprut-K was a wheeled version of the Sprut-SD 125mm self-propelled gun. Instead of using a modified Object 934 chassis, it would use a modified wheeled BTR-90 chassis. In other words, using a 125mm gun on a wheeled chassis is possible providing some measures are taken.

That is why we based our 125mm gun on the Sprut one and fitted it with a massive muzzle brake of the Russian pattern used in the 1990s on Object 187 (which is something the Chinese could have received a license for). And that’s what will be available as an alternative to the 105mm gun.

Unfortunately, we haven’t finished the new gun’s model yet so for the time being, you might see it with the old one. This is, however, only temporary as we will fix the model in the near future.

 

[ceejee007 9]

Thanks for this info, and why I'm not surprised with (again) a " issue" on a coming BP??

Looks to me that we are going to face more " unrealistic items". This because this is apparently accepted as a " solution" in case om misbalance or " no pool to gain out" .

Pity to read such things. But the future will tell us.

[Zafir 15]

Rise of the Dragon BP update: Update 0.38.9199 now available

Quote

Battle Path Launch

With this update, we are launching the Rise of the Dragon Battle Path. Please refer to the dedicated article for more detail.

General Changes

• Compensated players for the incorrect Battle Coin tokens and Crates from weekend Special Operations
• Namer: Rebalanced this vehicle’s modules and fixed some of its issues
• T-15: Fixed the Dragonslayer skin appearance
• T92 ACAV: Fixed this vehicle’s camouflage
• Type 74 Snow Tiger: Fixed this skin’s appearance
• Removed the incorrectly issued Hidden Foe decal
• Fixed a number of small visual model issues
• Fixed a number of localization issues

Just checked, compensation did not happen for me. 

In fact, all the Coupons are currently worthless, since they are either for “the upcoming Battle Path” or “Wars of the Past Battle Path”.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Zafir (see edit history)