In Development: Season 2 Vehicle Dealer

Commanders!

The second part of the Arabian Nights season is bringing one of the most awaited features of the recent months, perhaps even years – a new progression line consisting of French and Italian vehicles along with a brand-new dealer, Francine De Laroche!

Few people belong to the corporate world the way Francine De Laroche does. Born to a high society family, she has always been sophisticated but also cold and aloof, indifferent to the plight of what she likes to call “unwashed masses.” Her life choices reflect that attitude – she is very picky about who she wants to offer her services to and you, commanders, are lucky indeed to have attracted her attention by your excellent performance so far for the circle of people she trusts is very small indeed.

Armored Warfare dealers are unique in their own way as well as by the options they offer. Solomon Schreiber, for example, is highly suitable for new players and offers a number of opportunities for them to try out various different vehicles and styles by the means of access to other branches and to multiple rental vehicles, each with a different style of play. He is, however, based on tanks that are sturdy and easy to get into. Oscar Faraday is, on the other hand, his polar opposite with his vehicle pool consisting of unique, high-end vehicles that are difficult to master but devastating in skilled hands. But not to worry, Francine De Laroche has a unique thing of her own.

What makes Francine unique is the overarching idea of choice. This, of course, will make the vehicles more suitable for advanced players, which is why we have chosen to start the branch on Tier 3 instead of the usual Tier 1.

The vehicles offered by her can generally be configured to fit more than one battlefield role depending on your preferences by the means of mutually exclusive module mechanics and alternative module progression branches. Some of them also offer some very unique active abilities and other upgrades that we will get into with each of the vehicles, so let’s discuss them first, one by one.

The branch will start off with a Tier 3 MBT called AMX-50. The AMX-50 was a French post-war heavy tank project with two distinctive features – an oscillating turret and an automatically loaded gun from a drum-like magazine. You can read more about the history of this tank in a dedicated article.

Gameplay-wise, it will be a fairly conventional MBT with good mobility (when upgraded) and the ability to deal burst damage thanks to its clip-like autoloader for its 100mm gun. It will be possible to configure either to deal a lot of damage while having mediocre mobility, or for considerably better mobility at the cost of firepower.

On Tier 4 we have two versions of the same tank – the first mass-produced post-war French MBT called the AMX-30, born from the same program as the German Leopard 1. You can read more about their history in a dedicated article but the important bit is, one of these tanks will be a Tier 4 Premium vehicle available in the game client for Gold, while the other one will be a Tier 4 progression MBT.

Both tanks will be roughly similar. In fact, the only big difference will be that the progression version will have access to an ERA kit. Both will be lightly armored, well-armed and mobile with some unique features, including:

• Coaxial 20mm autocannon as an alternative weapon to its 105mm gun
• Powerful Obus G HEAT ammunition
• High reverse speed

They will be highly configurable with the options being the roles of a highly mobile sharpshooter or a classic stealthy sniper.

Additionally to these two, the Tier 4 of this dealer will contain two previously existing Italian and French Premium vehicles. The AMX-10P PAC 90 Tank Destroyer will be moved to this branch and the OF-40 progression MBT will re-appear in this branch as well as an alternative to the AMX-30B2 Brenus.

The AMX-40 was an unsuccessful export tank project. Heavier and better armed than the AMX-30B2, the biggest difference was the presence of a 120mm smoothbore cannon (predecessor to the Leclerc one) and a new welded turret and hull design with air gaps similar to the Leopard 2 layout, offering better protection. You can read more about it in a dedicated article.

The Armored Warfare version will be similar gameplay-wise to the AMX-30B2 with to possible configurations being available – mobile sharpshooter or a classic sniper. The 20mm coaxial autocannon will also make a re-appearance.

The AMX-13 DCA is in fact a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun built on an AMX-13 chassis, featuring two rapid-fire autocannons. It’s light, fast and capable of tearing through ground targets as well as low-flying air ones. You can read more about it in a dedicated article.

The Armored Warfare version will feature two different configurations – either a highly mobile active scouting one, or the one of a long range passive spotter. The latter will be aided by its special active ability – the Black Eye radar. Activating the radar will increase your spotting distance significantly, but will also make you stand out on the battlefield by reducing your camouflage factor value.

The C-13 TUA is a tank destroyer version of the failed Italian C-13 IFV project. Roughly similar in appearance and role to the NM142 that already is in the game, it will be a Tier 6 ATGM Tank Destroyer. You can read more about it in our dedicated article.

In Armored Warfare, the C-13 TUA will have two configurations – either a mobile ATGM platform one or a long-range launcher one featuring additional stealth bonuses. But that’s not all – in its fully upgraded form, you will get to choose between two different firepower configurations as well – the ability to fire top-down attack missiles that strike the vulnerable MBT roofs, or the ability to “double tap” (fire two missiles at once and have them impact in quick succession).

These vehicles will be introduced in the initial version of Update 0.28 and will be followed by the second part of the branch with a slight delay. The second part of the branch will include:

• Tier 7: Char Leclerc Prototype MBT with a unique active ability in the form of an advanced FCS – once per several minutes, the tank will have the option to mark all enemy targets within 100 meters. These marked targets will then take higher damage (the same way as with the AFV class ability).
• Tier 8: VCAC Mephisto TD, a light wheeled vehicle with a HOT missile launcher, offering you various configurations and the choice between extremely high penetration ATGMs, thermobaric ATGMs or a four-missile salvo of standard ATGMs. This vehicle will be joined on Tier 8 by the C1 Ariete MBT, moving to this dealer from the British branch. In the British branch, it will be replaced by the Al-Hussein Challenger built for Jordan, another new tank coming in the Arabian Nights season. We are taking the opportunity to significantly improve the visual quality of the Challenger 1 models in Armored Warfare, including better textures and additional details. The Challenger series is an iconic one and we want our players to enjoy its visual quality just like they enjoy the new models with improved textures. And last but not least, the AMX 10 RCR Premium Tank Destroyer will also be moved to this branch.
• Tier 9: Char Leclerc AZUR MBT – this is the “true” Leclerc, available for all French tank enthusiasts. The combination of a powerful 120mm gun, excellent frontal armor and good mobility will make it a potent tank on the battlefield. Tier 9 will also feature the Leclerc T40 Premium vehicle, proposed by the Armored Warfare community.
• Tier 10: Char Leclerc T4 MBT, otherwise known as “Le Terminateur” – a Leclerc hull with a larger turret carrying a 140mm gun. This vehicle will be fairly unique thanks to, amongst other things, its Battlefield Management System passive ability that will reduce its aiming time for each ally in its vicinity.

However, please note that these vehicles are still deep in development – we will share more info in the future.

This dealer will, however, not feature only vehicles, but also a lot of other items. The Tier 10 Leclerc will, as one of its unlockable options, feature a brand new French commander called Vincent Girard, intended for high-end MBT gameplay. His main ability will decrease the vehicle’s reload time upon successfully bouncing off an enemy shell. His tree skills (including a hitpoint bonus, repair speed bonus and others) will also be MBT-oriented, making him an ideal choice for the French Tier 10 MBT.

And last but definitely not least, this dealer will bring more than two dozen new achievements (osme of them hidden), containing unique rewards, including:

• Animated player avatar
• Unique camouflages
• Two player titles
• Numerous decals

We hope that, given the high amount of options in this tree, you will find your favorite vehicle that will suit your playstyle.

See you on the battlefield!