Commanders!
We are happy to announce another addition to Armored Warfare – Update 0.20! Update 0.20 is following the course set by Update 0.19 “Tanks Reloaded” by introducing more features based on Balance 2.0 foundations.
Update 0.20 features include:
- New User Interface
- Updated Garage
- Tropical Coast PvP Map
- Gameplay Updates
And a large number of corrections and bug fixes. We hope you like them and we'll see you on the battlefield.
New User Interface
The Garage is the first screen any new player sees and is therefore one of the most important elements of Armored Warfare. This includes both the Garage looks and its interface. In Update 0.20, the User Interface is undergoing a significant overhaul – here are a few examples:
- Player name and portrait were moved to an independent sub-page called Dossier
- The crew and commander block was moved to the left side of the screen
- Vehicle characteristics were moved to the right part of the screen
- Complete overhaul of the UI graphics
And much more. We do hope that both new and old players will find this new UI more comfortable and intuitive.
Updated Garage
With the new User Interface comes a new Garage version – now you can check out how your vehicles look parked outside the garage. But that's not the only Garage we have in store for you – you can look forward to more seasonal Garages coming in the future!
Tropical Coast PvP Map
Welcome to Port Antonio, commanders! This tropical paradise hides a secret – one that several major mercenary groups are willing to kill and die for. Our intel suggests that a former Lodestar Tech Division scientist escaped here with several of his colleagues and took sensitive documents and designs with him as life insurance. The man is long gone by now but the rumor is he hid the data somewhere in the area. Secure the target zone and recover that data at all costs!
The Tropical Coast map is fairly open but the urban central area provides plenty of cover for heavier and slower vehicles to advance through. Flank your opponents using the beautiful long beaches or slug it out amongst the buildings – every class will find its role on the battlefield. Both regular and encounter modes will be available.
List of 0.20 Changes
Anti-Tank Guided Missiles
Missiles are now accurate when fired while stationary and can be fired on the move as well, but firing on the move makes the missile far less accurate and more difficult to control. The amount of control loss depends on the technological level of the missile and its guidance system.
Spotting Changes
The server now performs spotting checks 2.5 times more often than before to reduce the “disappearing or suddenly appearing tank” issue. Where it previously took up to 2 seconds for a vehicle to appear following an event that would reveal it (for example firing the gun), now it only takes 0.8 seconds at most (the frequency of spotting checks was improved). Additionally, we fixed several issues, the combination of which resulted in strange spotting behavior in both PvE and PvP, such as the disappearance of tanks at very short distances or cases where vehicles should clearly be spotted but were not (“invisible bots”).
Engine Fire System
We reworked the engine fire mechanism. The chance for an engine to catch on fire will now depend on the type of the engine more.
Miscellaneous
- Fixed the issue where ramming a friendly target accidentally at the start of the game could result in a massive loss of hitpoints
- Fixed the issue where dropping from small heights resulted in massive hitpoint loss
- Fixed the ATGM firing mechanism on the move
- Fixed the issue with ATGM reload after firing being delayed
- PvE no longer has SPG class AI
- Pressing F1 in the Garage now activates the Help mode with tooltips and feature descriptions
- Voice Chat is now available
- Added new Labor Day and Victory Day decals
- Optimized the minimap and aim reticle render
- Fixed the issue with two identical commander portraits
- Removed the random emoticons that appeared in several texts
- Cutscenes can now be interrupted by pressing Escape
- Fixed the issue where enemy vehicle’s marker dropped down when the vehicle was hit
- Fixed several UI issues with damage and penetration feedback
- Improved the UI feedback for reduced or increased damage
Tank Destroyer Improvements
In Update 0.20, the Tank Destroyer class was underperforming and was hard-pressed to find its niche on the battlefield. We have decided to improve the situation by introducing the Ready Rack mechanism to several Tank Destroyers as well as to increase the accuracy of the class overall. This will allow it to stay hidden and to deal a lot of damage in a short period of time.
The Ready Rack mechanism will be added to:
- LAV-600 (4 shells)
- Centauro 105 (3 shells)
- AMX-10 RCR (2 shells)
- Centauro 120 (6 shells)
Other improvements to the Tank Destroyer class vehicles include:
- Zhalo-S rate of fire increased
- M1128 Stryker accuracy increased
- ERC-90 F4 accuracy increased
- B1 DRACO now has 12 shells
Shell and Armor Rebalance
In Update 0.20, we are rebalancing a number of armor and shell characteristics based on collected statistics and player feedback:
- M1A1 – slightly reduced side armor
- M1A1, M1A2 – fixed the anti-KE frontal armor coefficients, both currently overperforming tanks are now more vulnerable to Tier 9 and 10 shells
- Abrams series ERA effectiveness against tandem HEAT increased, against KE decreased
- Leopard 2AX improved 130mm shell penetration increased to 900mm
- M8 Thunderbolt II applique armor kit effectiveness against KE shells decreased
- Fixed a large number of armor issues on Type 85-IIM and Type 98 tanks
- Rebalanced the Armata upper front plate armor, now it will in most cases withstand the fire of Leopard 2AX improved KE and Challenger 2 ATDU’s PISH shells
- Fixed the T-90 and T-90A armor (ongoing process)
We rebalanced the T-90, T-90A and Armata shells due to the fact the Russian vehicles were not performing statistically well:
- Stock T-90A KE shell changed to 3VBM20, penetration increased to 680mm
- Improved T-90A KE shell changed to 3VBM22, penetration increased to 720mm and damage to 660
- Stock T-90MS KE shell changed to 3VBM22, penetration increased to 720mm and damage to 660
- Improved T-90MS KE shell changed to 3VBM23, penetration increased to 780mm
- Stock Armata KE shell Vacuum-1 damage increased to 660
- Improved Armata KE shell Vacuum-2 penetration increased to 830mm
Weight to Hitpoints Conversion Formula Improvement
For the lightest vehicles of the game, we decided to adjust the weight to hitpoint conversion formula due to the fact they were too durable and therefore overpowered.
- VBL TOW hitpoints reduced to 1080
- VBL INGWE hitpoints reduced to 1080
- Wiesel TOW and Wiesel HOT hitpoints reduced to 1000
T-72B3 Changes
- T-72B3 now fires 3VBM22 KE shells, penetration increased to 720mm and damage to 660, muzzle velocity increased to 1750 m/s
- HE shell 3VOF36 penetration increased to 38mm and damage to 660
- Gun stabilization improved
- Improved Autoloader module added
Artillery Class Changes
We are adjusting some artillery reload times.
- 2S3 Akatsiya reload time between shells in magazine increased to 4 seconds, magazine reload time increased to 25 seconds
- Palmaria reload time decreased to 12 seconds
- M109A6 Paladin reload time decreased to 11 seconds
- PzH 2000 reload time between shells in magazine increased to 2.5 seconds, magazine reload time increased to 22 seconds
- Centauro 155 reload time decreased to 9 seconds
General
- Fixed the issue with blinking text during on the Global Operations loading screens
- Fixed the text displayed when a tank is destroyed by enemy bunker in Global Operations
Coastal Threat
- Considerably improved the look and playability of the map
- Fixed the fords and residential areas, added cover to the house walls to reduce the feeling of empty space
- Added more destroyable obstacles
- Fixed the textures of several buildings
- Fixed the destruction effects of several objects
- Fixed the rocks levitating in the air
- Improved the areas under the bridges (drowning is now harder and it’s easier to recognize the shallow areas)
Barren Divide
- Fixed the unbreakable trees
- Fixed the voiceover during the capture of Objective 10
- Improved the fire effects
Cold Strike
- Fixed the levitating pipe objects
- Fixed the textures of some house windows
- Fixed the border textures
- Fixed the textures of some buildings
River Point
- Fixed the trees that were not falling when hit
Chemical Plant
- Fixed bunker textures
Port Storm
- Fixed the crane hitbox
Reactor
- Optimized a large number of objects for better performance
- The following PvE missions were optimized for better performance: Hydra, Cavalry, Albatross, Anvil, Spearhead, Stormy Winter, Wildfire, Umbrella, Quarterback
Spearhead
- Fixed the house piping models
Snakebite
- Fixed the issue with the appearance of a two-story building
General
- Fixed the issue that cause the client to crash after changing the game resolution in fullscreen mode on low settings
- Fixed several issues that caused the client to crash at battle’s end and when quitting the game
- Fixed the issue that caused the client to crash when several air strike wildcards were triggered in Global Operations
Sound
- Reworked the environmental sounds
- Reworked the interaction sounds between tracks or wheels and surface
- Reworked the reloading sounds
- Reworked the hit sounds, allowing you to discern from which side was your vehicle hit
