So long 2016....

Here's to wishing all of you a safe and happy New Year!

Making progress and a few preparations

During this Holiday Season, I have wondered into the other tank lines to prepare for some of the announced changes coming up in the next update. One of those is the removal/replacement of the XM1 Main Battle Tank at tier VI.

I had and still hold out hope that players who own this tank will either be given it back once it becomes a premium (stated many times on the forums this will not happen, but I have this feeling it's not the absolute final word on this matter) or a mission to acquire one will appear in a future update (more than likely, another time consuming grind-fest in PvP, something I will not be interested in).

Time will tell which way things go with this vehicle.

Since I picked up the premium Centauro 120 WOLF during this Holiday offering, I took another look at my progress in the same dealer that has the tech tree version. Although I am a long ways off to the current tier VII model and after the update, will be even further away from attaining it, I figured I would finish off my long abandoned tier IV LAV 300 and move up at least one more tier towards a new goal.

Although a specific date for when the next update is being released hasn't been announced as of yet (vague talk about near the end of January), my progress through the tier VII T-80 is coming along at a comfortable pace. If I go into full-panic-mode, I have more than enough Global Reputation to unlock the next tank in line, the tier VIII T-90. However, I am coming up a little short in the credit department with all my other vehicle purchases and upgrades.

However, I am not too concerned about at this moment. Across the tiers, I believe if I work all my premium vehicles and perform well in those placed battles, I could have this in my garage, before the update deadline.

A quick link for the very short windowed Gold special taking place on December 30th.

Finding the right timing for Final Fire

Today, I logged into Final Fire and my client received a quick and small update. Seems they are have some kind of an event to collect a K1A1 tank.

I queued up for a battle and after a short while, I noticed a red dot in the lower right hand corner of my screen. If I had to guess, a daily a monthly login bonus of some kind.

Sharing a bit of advice here, don't attempt to find a battle around 2:00 pm Pacific Time, it seems they are sleeping over there.

However, 9:30 pm Pacific Time showed a lot more promise with a population and a battle was launched....

I might be a hypocrite in Armored Warfare....

...by purchasing the tier VII premium Centauro 120 WOLF.

Quite some time ago, I started my original fun, wheeled adventures with the tier IV LAV III and by the second battle, I was rather enjoying how it worked and some of the results I was producing. But, I slowly drifted back to Main Battle Tanks and put the LAV on the back burner.

Shortly after the big Christmas sale started, I bought the tier VIII AMX-10 RCR and have been experimenting again with a wheeled "unarmored" playstyle, along side my tried-and-true rolling bunker brawlers. Despite a slow start to things, I have learned much and applied those lessons to selecting more appropriate map positions and enemy targets. I freely admit, I still have a long ways to go.

"One unique case will be Centauro 120 WOLF. To keep the “follow the original” rule, Centauro 120 WOLF will become the first and only Tier 9 Premium vehicle. From Update 0.19 launch, the Centauro 120 will no longer be sold in any form. Period."

Currently on sale for $21.00 in my part of the world, I have already thrown what I had set out to be a limited Christmas budget for Armored Warfare right out the window. I bought it for the simple fact that having a future tier IX premium that fits an enjoyable, alternative playstyle is a no brainer, for me. 

I want to be in the higher tiers for a number of reasons, such as the larger hitpoint pool of enemy vehicles creates the high potential for more damage, which turns into better credit payouts and reputation earned. Also, a stronger possibility of playing with and/or against higher skilled players (might venture back into PvP, if more folks return to fill up the queue). 

One reason I didn't buy it was for the "look at me" factor. I knew very well that is probably the most important motivator for some people out there who bought it during this short sales window. They want the attention of driving around in something that will not be attainable to players coming to the game in the future.

I am predicting now a situation very similar to what I saw in World of Tanks after the removal of the tier VIII premium Type-59 and the first Clan Wars reward tanks, which were advertised as tier X premiums, were released and seen by the public. Last time I recently looked, I saw the same out question of "How do I get one" raised and the ignorant and asinine answers that were given in return.

In fact, as you can see, both have already started.

For now, the Centauro 120 WOLF is still a tier VII premium and here was my first foray with it on the battlefield....

Favor

Min-ji Pho just sat there, staring at the floor, knowing her fate now rested in her father's hands. From the other side of the large, cold, grey metal desk that separated them, Min-ji Joong stood and began to process what he had just heard from his only daughter. She just seemingly appeared out of thin air today, after nobody knew fully where she had been for this last year and dropped an overload of information and emotion.

Min-ji Joong clasped his hands behind his back, pivoted on his heels to the right and as he started to started to pace, his mind sorting things out and placing it all into linear order. 

Min-ji Pho graduates from university and receives a commission as second lieutenant through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. She proceeds to complete her 27 months of obligatory service in the Republic of Korea Army, does not advance in rank and chooses not to extend her military career. Then she disappoints her father by not accepting the offered position within the shipping and receiving company in Pusan, built from scratch by the family and prospering very early from the Korean conflict of the 50's.

Min-ji Joong performed a perfect and crisp "about face", pivoting right around on the heel of one foot, the ball of the other and continued to pace in the opposite direction. He gave his daughter a sideways glance on the second step, she was still staring blankly at the floor.

He returned to his thoughts. Min-ji Pho just vanishes from the face of the earth, soon after declining employment in the family business, where her six brothers and their families appear to be quite happy with the income and the lifestyle supported by it. So, it's not for the money?

The memory of a young man she met and attended university with, came to Min-ji Joong. He had come looking for her, but left without answers and very much empty handed. A shame, Min-ji Joong would have wholeheartedly approved of him and give his blessing to the both of them. Not for love, either?

His eyes shifted over again at Min-ji Pho, she remained as she had been, motionless. He recalled her telling him she went to America and secured employment with a private military company. Modest pay, at best, compared to what she could have made if she stayed in Korea, he thought to himself.

However, it was when she talked about the other women she was associating with and her sudden change in demeanor that made the most sense to him. Growing up in a house of men, with only a mother to offset the gender scales, didn't making up an easy growing up. Min-ji Joong felt a small pain in his heart now from not finding more time to connect with his only daughter then. Instead, he spent most of it shaping her six brother for the world, the rest on the family business.

Another snap "about face", a few more steps and Min-ji Joong sat down. He looked at his lone daughter and asked dryly, "Do you believe this favor you requested of me will bring you the happiness you hope to find with it?"

Min-ji Pho looked up and their eyes met. A single tear fell as she answered, "Yes, it will." He sat there, knowing she would reply with those exact words and said, "If I do this, the slate between us is wiped clean?" She nodded.

Min-ji Joong reached into an inner pocket on the left side of his blazer and produced a small, black notebook. He opened it and turned a few pages, stopping when he found a name he was looking for. He looked up and met his daughter's eyes staring back. With the book in his left hand, he picked up the handset from an ancient, rotary dial phone and turned the necessary numbers with his right.

The female voice on the other end answered, "Yes, may I help you?" Min-ji Joong replied, "I wish to speak with Zhang Feng."  

A little Final Fire for Christmas

Final Fire is a combat game from China that makes use of armored fighting vehicle from around the world. I can't read Chinese myself and not sure if I would be able to navigate through the menus to find out more information to share here, so I will just post the link to the game itself here, for you to follow up on if you are interested http://ff.zqgame.com/

I wrote that February 2016.

Now, during this Christmas Season, I finally have a chance to try this game out. Nothing has changed in the "I don't understand Chinese" department, I am relying more on my own experience acquired from navigating through similar game menus from other titles of the same genre.

I click on the still active link from my previous article, download the game and register an email and easy to remember password. After a rather quick install and update, I launch then game. Thanks to Google Translate, I discover I have to put a username into the login, which accepted an English word, input my password and I was off and running.

Since it's a Chinese game, I figured I would go with the Chinese line. My starter tank is a Type-59E and I really can't tell you more about it, since I am not able to read what is displayed. What I have figured out is the vehicles are balanced using a similar ranking system that War Thunder uses, no tiers here.

Here is a comparison (if there is one that could be made) to the Armored Warfare model and attributes.

If I had to guess, this was the queue for a PvP battle, not very populated when I clicked in (I didn't stick around for long to see if the numbers went up). However, I thought I would see if I could find a tutorial of sorts, just to see how the game actually played, before considering jumping into a player populated environment.

Luckily enough, I found one....

So, why am I trying out Final Fire? Well, much like War Thunder was to World of Tanks (and Warplanes for that matter) I am looking for a secondary/alternative to Armored Warfare, when it comes to a free-to-play, modern vehicular combat game.

As I explore and play more of Final Fire, I will come to the conclusion if it's going to be a hit or miss.

Season's Greetings

Take a break from all things Tank today and enjoy these Holidays with friends, family or whatever puts a smile on you face and some warmth into your heart!

Sayonara, War Thunder

Well, I made an attempt to collect the Type-95 Ha-Go Commander being offered as a prize in War Thunder. Despite the low requirements, I just couldn't fight through the frustrating experience to continue on.

Looks easy, huh? I thought so too, but seems I have been away for too long and forget the major differences on how Gaijin programs their version of the ground game vs WarGaming and Obsidian do theirs. Here is the first battle back, since last playing the game in April....

As you can see, my plan to collect this year's Christmas tank by using last year's didn't work out all too well. After a very brief consideration process, I queued up with some of my Soviet vehicles for attempt number three (number two ended the same way as number one)....

Okay, here is how I perceive things after coming back and just after these three battles. First, armor effectiveness feels like it is merely a roll of the dice, sometimes it works as intended, other times, not so much. However, some players who took me out of action seemed to know exactly where to shot me, if the instant replay is an accurate indicator of "just occurred" events.

Secondly, the drive characteristics of the vehicles and the terrain? I understand that Gaijin wants a certain element of realism to this game, but I wish they might considered toning that down in Arcade Mode at least (it has always been there, but I really took notice of it today), which is designed for the more causal player to go and hang out.

Finally, the aiming mechanism itself. I get the concept of "shell drop" and raising recital to compensate for it, if only I could see the enemy vehicles that are shooting at me first! Spotting is too easily broken once line of sight is lost and being able to maintain any visual contact, via friendly comrades who still have eyes on the target, doesn't seem to exist.

These are my big three dislikes that I took strong notice during my games back. I sit here, even now, trying to figure out how I played Ground Forces before and got any enjoyment out of it.

So, after that, I have no desire to sit through an even longer ordeal in any attempt to collect a LVT ZiS-2 and/or Type 62.

Yeah, I am done here.

These last few days....

So, to bring you up to speed on what I have been doing and other things going on, let's start with today and go backwards....

I decided to give War Thunder Ground Forces another try and this earn a Type-95 Ha-Go Commander Japanese tank is enough reason to do so. I am curious to see what changes have taken place in my absence.

Armored Warfare is having an up-to-the-end-of-the-year sale here. No word or answer to my inquiry about a Christmas/New Year's tank being given out for this year.....

 ....however, I did win a Facebook contest!

I couldn't help myself and downloaded World of Tanks again and collected the free Christmas/New Year's tank, the premium tier II Swedish L-60 Light Tank. Details on that are here.

Just like War Thunder, I am want to see what makes the game any different from the last time I played, all those months ago.

Finally, my son and I decided to finally try out the Global Operations mode in Armored Warfare. I did plan to craft a long write up about my experience there, but just perhaps, the video might do a better job than my words could....

Night of the Terminators

No sooner had I written this post I wanted to make one final purchase of the Season in Armored Warfare that would have lasting value for both me and my son.

I was mostly satisfied with both my new premium AMX vehicles and was somewhat pleased to see to another tank my son and I shared, the premium Chinese tier V WZ-1224 is slated to move up to tier VI in the next update. If these values hold true, the new tier VI version is going to be a lot of fun. Once I told my son this news, he was very pleased, since he prefers the challenges that come with playing the mid tiers, even if it's platooned with his old man in PvE.

The Terminator purchases were a sound and well thought out decision made by my son. I explained to him, to the best of my understanding, the changes to three current premium vehicles we didn't own collectively, the tier VI moving to tier VIII Terminator, the tier VII moving to tier VIII M1134 and the tier VII moving to tier IX Centaro 120 WOLF.

At first, his eyes lit up and opened very wide to the thoughts of jumping right up to tier IX with the next update, something I had feared since neither one of us was there yet through the natural progression of the game. Much to my surprise, he made the wise choice of saying no, after he looked at what it could possibly become (he checked out the tier IX B1 Draco) and the realization of the novelty factor over the fun and function it might not bring.

Also, telling him I wasn't going to by one for myself, leaving him alone with strangers, might have had a bearing on his decision.

With only being armed with missiles, he wasted no time telling me how much he was interested in the M1134 ATGM, so there wasn't much of a discussion about that choice.

Which brings me back full circle to the Terminator, whose image had been haunting me since Armored Warfare began this Winter Season of events and sales. I bought one him and me, queued up for our first battle and....

Reserve

Shawn McCaughey had this feeling that could equate to what a parent would experience, as the loaded their child onto a bus and to be taken off to some distant Summer Camp.

Although McCaughey couldn't agree with the decision from the upper brass at Black Company to declare older armored vehicles as surplus and place them into long term storage, he followed the orders nonetheless. He accompanied the Hercules fleet used to transport the decommissioned armor to strategic cache areas around the world. That expense alone was going to be written off as part of the year end accounting process, he was told.

His crews worked tirelessly to ensure a state of near readiness for each vehicle. By his estimates, a competent team could have any one of these forgotten treasures back into operational status with in a hour, two at the most. Ammunition is placed in safe, long term storage, fuel tanks were drained into containers and a stabilizer is added, software for critical systems was backed up and the onboard computers were wiped of sensitive and operational information, the list went on.

However, the moment that almost brought a tear to McCaughey's eye every time is when he personally put the external barrel cap on, to prevent moisture entering and rusting the bore. He felt like he just took the family dog outside and shot it.

Fortunately, this would be the last vehicle he would be performing that task on, a recently resurrected M60A3 Patton that had been dug out of Egyptian sands. This particular unit was one of those odd "labors of love", especially after he met the all female crew. McCaughey whipped his crew to make an extra effort to make sure this Patton would operate trouble free to the very best of their abilities, more so than the other vehicles they serviced.

Yeah, he would openly admit being smitten by the African-American woman who had commanded it. To him, her smile was the catalyst for that feeling of butterflies in his stomach and the quickening of the old heartbeat. It's just a crush, he kept telling himself, nothing more than a perk of the job.

Despite telling himself that, over and over, he always went an extra step to ensure her and the other two ladies more of a safe return. Since this particular unit was in former Egyptian hands, it missed out on upgrades put forward by the Service Life Extension Program engineered Raytheon of the early 2000's.

McCaughey scoured the world and called on many favors to get the Patton up to snuff with explosive reactive armor, electronic system upgrades, procured modern rangefinders and even installed air conditioning, all to make the crew more comfortable and combat effective. At least, that is what he told others was the reasons.

In reality, it was the smile of Sabrina Washington and the strongest desire to bring her home from every fight she and her crew went into.

The loud screeching sound of closing rusty metal doors rolling on equally rusty metal tracks snapped him out of his daydream. The Patton was to be sealed away from sight and the elements in some old, leased hangar. The huge doors fought this process, mirroring McCaughey's arguements with the powers-that-be at Black Company, about the logical and economic costs of keeping these vehicles in the fight.

The doors boomed closed and McCaughey stood, wondering what was going to happen next.

Something doesn't make cents

The whole idea to purchase a premium vehicle (aircraft, armored land vehicle and/or warship) with real world money, is for the special abilities that come with it. Using World of Tanks and War Thunder as examples, both of their premium offerings provide an accelerated training regime for the crews and extra ingame income from battles.

Armored Warfare should be any different in this regard. But, something up the numbers aren't adding up to me. Curious to see if my investment in the tier VIII premium AMX-10 RCR was going to give back the big payouts I was hoping for, I ran three tests using different vehicles, just to see what the results were.

Now, it is nearly impossible to recreate the same scenario all thee times (same map, same teams, same effort, same results, etc) so, this should be considered more of a causal experiment to statisfy my own curiosity.

Still, the results were....disappointing.

Although I player rather conservatively on this medium mode PvE engagement, I still had to use a Rebuild Kit just to stay in the fight and the bottom line reflects this.

My rolling British bunker, the tier VII Challenger 1 WOLF was my go-to vehicle for making the big credits. I had hopes the AMX would be able to complement the earning potential, if not exceed this "never regretted", but the bottom line figures are amazingly close. And, this battle was fought on Hard PvE?

This vehicle seems to either having a shrinking fan base, or I am reading the forums at the wrong times. The MBT-70 MERC was the very first premium vehicle I purchased in Armored Warfare and now that I think I have it figured out, it is a blast to play. It would also appear the 70 likes to be played, notice the payout from this medium PvE encounter?

Honestly, I can't explain what is going on. Part of the figures are based on my performance, but there is something else that somebody needs to explain to me about the whole equation here, I just can't see it.