In our previous article, we mentioned the mobility overhaul coming to Armored Warfare as well as the changes to weapon stabilization. In this article, we are going to explore the topic a bit further.
Gun stabilization in Armored Warfare refers to the ability of the vehicle to fire on the move and consists of:
- Accuracy penalty for moving forward
- Accuracy penalty for traversing the hull (includes steering while on the move)
- Accuracy penalty for traversing the turret
- Accuracy penalty for firing the gun (recoil)
These penalties stack – what that means is that a vehicle that’s standing still and only traversing its turret will lose only little amount of accuracy while a vehicle that’s going at full speed, steering and traversing its turret at the same time will lose much more.
With that being said, the existing gun stabilization system does not make it diverse enough – simply put, the guns behave in too similar a fashion to each other between specific vehicles and even classes. That’s why MBTs are always are always very accurate on the move, when steering and when traversing the hull. This makes them way too universal.
In Update 0.22, as a part of our efforts to increase the diversity between classes as well as between various branches within one class, we are introducing a number of changes. These changes will deepen the roles of each class on the battlefield and ultimately improve gameplay for all players.
Elementary gun stabilization in Update 0.22 will be based on caliber (and Tier):
- The higher the caliber, the worse the gun stabilization will be to reflect the weight of each weapon (125mm and 120mm guns act as the basis with lighter guns being more accurate on the move and heavier guns considerably less accurate on the move)
- The higher the Tier, the better the stabilization will be to reflect the upgrades to fire control and stabilization systems
The combinations of Tier and gun stabilization values set benchmarks for each Tier, furthermore referred to as Base Values. The Base Values are then further modified to accentuate the class roles as well as national doctrines and design philosophies of different vehicle branches.
The speed with which the accuracy is lost will also differ from vehicle to vehicle – some vehicles that are not extremely accurate by themselves will lose it slowly while other vehicles will lose accuracy more quickly.
As for the classes and branches themselves:
Main Battle Tanks will be, when standing still, fairly accurate, but will lose more accuracy than other classes:
- when firing (20% more than the base value)
- traversing the turret (30% more than the base value)
- steering (40% more than the base value)
The steering and turret traverse accuracy losses will make the MBTs more susceptible to flanking – sharp maneuvers will, make them far less accurate.
Going forward, however, will not make them lose as much accuracy – many tanks are designed to be heavy breakthrough vehicles and need to keep their accuracy when smashing headlong into the enemy.
MBTs are also divided by their nationality to reflect the doctrines:
- Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks are defensive weapons in nature, designed to take out their enemies at long distances. As such, they will be 10% more accurate than the MBT average in all situations (the Leopard 2AX Tier 10 will receive another special 25% stabilization boost, making it perhaps the most accurate MBT in the game)
- Abrams Tanks are universal and generally agile, they will lose 20% less accuracy compared to the other MBTs when steering, promoting active gameplay
- Russian Tanks are assault weapons, designed to go forward and stop for nothing save for the Atlantic – they will lose 20% less accuracy compared to the other MBTs when going forward
- Chinese Tanks are comparable to the Russian Tanks but more versatile and more maneuverable - they will lose 15% less accuracy compared to the other MBTs when going forward and 15% less accuracy compared to the other MBTs when steering
- Challengers are another example of defensive weapons, standing in the way of the enemy like a rock weathering a flood – they will lose 40% less accuracy compared to the other MBTs when traversing their turrets, allowing them to accurately engage different targets while standing still
Compared to the state of the class prior to Balance 2.0, MBTs will remain more accurate on the move, but will lose a portion of their current gun stabilization to prevent them from overshadowing the other classes, especially Light Tanks.
For more information about the upcoming Main Battle Tank changes, please visit our Developer Diary article.
Light Tanks will be the kings of accurate main caliber fire on the move at short to medium distances and while performing wild maneuvers at break-neck speed. Compared to the Main Battle Tanks, they will lose considerably less accuracy when steering (50% less than the base value) and due to the fact that don’t carry – especially on Tier 10 – the weaponry of the same caliber as the MBTs. At the same time, they will lose a lot of accuracy from movement itself to compensate for this.
As a result, they will be very accurate on the move at short to medium distances, but their overall accuracy on the move will be reduced at high distances in order for them not to overshadow the Tank Destroyer class in its niche.
Tank Destroyers will be the ultimate snipers of Armored Warfare. They will no longer work as wheeled Light Tanks – their accuracy on the move and while steering will be considerably worse (especially steering will have major negative impact on accuracy). They will be, however, extremely accurate at high distances when not moving fast or performing wild maneuvers and will lose very little accuracy from traversing their turrets or fixed guns to allow them to effectively engage targets when static.
These changes, along with the upcoming mobility overhaul for the MBT class, will define the battlefield role of each class more clearly.
We hope that you will like them and will see you on the battlefield!
