Armored Warfare EA4 mini-rant

One thing that drives me nuts about Armored Warfare is currently the arty system.

Yes, you get an indicator that the arty is shooting at you... but to escape any hit you have to pretty much instantly start driving. That is not a problem for most of those players, who randomly camp at a certain spot and wait for the enemy to appear in front of their crosshair; but if you are actually engaged in combat and can only maneuver to a limited degree without exposing yourself to easy shots of the enemy, you'll get hit.

In my experience the artillery in AW has been quite problematic in EA4 and also the previous versions. The artillery can hit vehicles behind cover to a much larger extend than in WoT, because the firing arc is different. So even if you are sitting behind a large rock which covers even two or three feet above your roof, you'll still get hit and penetrated by artillery.

But even if the artillery misses, you'll still take damage. Because AW has increased spall damage for artillery while nerfing the direct damage (at least this was the case in EA3, I haven't noticed any difference in this aspect in EA4), which means that you'll slowly get blown apart piece-by-piece even when staying in cover - as long as the enemy artillery has nothing better to do.
Loosing 20% of your hitpoints without being directly hit? Not funny.

I think the artillery needs still quite a lot of work. It's current implementation is not fun to play with/against and does remind me way too much of the hated WoT artillery.
The maps are too small for realistic artillery behaviour and the current arcade system is not good from a gameplay point of view.
One problem is that artillery has a much higher impact on certain vehicles than on others. I am not talking about the damage (which will be influenced by armor), but rather on the gameplay. An ATGM-carrying tank destoryer like the FV438 Swingfire will in most cases stay out of the effective viewrange of other vehicles, will still participating at combat. So despite the lack of armor, the Swingfire will be saved from artillery fire. A highly mobile Fox or Wiesel will also not be troubled by artillery. A tank with limited viewrange (compared to the AFVs and TDs) like the Leopard 1 or M48 on the other hand will be punished by artillery even when playing correctly.

At least Obsidian has tried to do things better... so let's hope that they somehow maange to make the artillery a working element in the gameplay.

PS: Probably just frustrated about getting targeted by artillery three games in a row when being unable to maneuver thanks to camping enemies.

Amored Warfare Early Access Phase 3 starting tomorrow

The third phase of the early access programme from Armored Warfare is starting tomorrow on 1st of July.

The new version will add a new top tier (tier 8), improved settings and code optimizations, decals for all vehicles and the PVE mode.

I am looking forward to play PVE.

Source: aw.my.com

My new blog "Below The Turret Ring"

I have decided to start a blog. As you most likely don't know me, let me tell you a bit about my experience with blogging or hosting my own websites:
I am usually quite enthusiastic about it on the first few days, but after a certain time I might get distracted and end up posting just once every few months. Maybe this blog will die after a weeks of posting, maybe it will stay here for a year or more. Let's see where this journey leads!

What is this blog about? 

This blog is about tanks and modern weaponry mainly. The whole topic might be cross-linked to the new game Armored Warfare from Obsidian, which is currently in the early access stage (and quite fun to play).
I try to write articles based on my amateur knowledge of modern vehicles, modern technology and politics. If I find some interesting news topics, I might post them here and discuss them.

Why the name? 

Well, obviously I am very unimaginative. I failed at coming up with a better name within the 15 minutes of deciding to start a new blog. I wanted some name that is a methapor for being inside the topic and this was the first idea that has anything to do with tanks. E.g. several tanks - like the Isreali Merkava and the British Chieftain - are designed to store potential sources of explosion (propellant charges and ammunition) below the turret ring to increase the chances of the crew surviving after the armor has been penetrated.
I don't know if this is possible with blogger, but in case of me finding a better name, I might rename this blog.

Anything else to know?

I am not a very fluent speaker or writer of the English language, as it is not my mothertongue. Please feel free to correct and criticize me when I make horrendous gramatical or spelling errors - otherwise I'll never learn to do it correct!

- blogger_mm