Introducing Update 0.16

Gameplay Mechanisms

Shot Delay Improvements

We have improved how shots are modeled in AW in several ways to mitigate the "shot delay" issue players have been experiencing. Players should now find their shots landing in the correct area after firing at a vehicle which is on the move. To accomplish this, we made the following changes:

• We minimized the delay of network packet processing on both the client and server for shot requests by ensuring they are now sent and processed in the highest priority
• We added predictive weapon firing on the local client. In doing so, we also now spawn the fired projectile immediately when the trigger is pulled instead of waiting for the server to first confirm the shot
• We added server-side lag compensation when simulating physics for the projectile to improve the effects of network latency

Altogether, these changes should make the game much more comfortable to play, and we are looking forward to your feedback on this fix.

Normalization Changes

Under the previous implementation of hit resolution, AP (armor piercing) ammo types would normalize upon impact with any part of a vehicle they impacted by up to 5 degrees, meaning the projectile would "turn" in toward the surface normal of the armor. In other words, the steepness of the projectile's angle of impact would be reduced by up to 5 degrees (or more from the effect of Retrofits).

The result of normalization is that it reduces the effective armor thickness that the projectile must pass through to penetrate. However, a secondary effect of normalization is that the projectile's vector (direction of travel) is also adjusted, which means the shell changes direction if it penetrates the first layer of armor it impacts. It was discovered that there were many cases where the normalization effect of re-directing a projectile's path from hitting tracks, wheels, thin spaced armor, and other weak parts of a vehicle would result in situations where weakly armored sections of a vehicle could be hit after normalization even though the shooter would not be able to aim at those weak points directly.

To resolve these issues, armor-piercing projectiles will no longer normalize when impacting thin or weak surfaces on a vehicle, for example:

• Wheels/Road Wheels
• Treads
• Cannons
• "Prop" parts (bags, bedrolls, stowage, etc.) and other non-critical external components

Component and Crew HP Changes

In Update 0.16, we've slightly reduced the hit points for the following components:

• External Gas Tanks
• Internal Ammo racks

In our analysis of module damage, we found a vehicle would often be destroyed before these components were damaged enough to cause any major change in gameplay.

We've also reduced the hit points and saving throws for Crew Members. Prior to Update 0.16, it was incredibly rare to see crew members knocked out in a vehicle. As a result, this made crew skills designed to increase damage to crew members feel very lackluster and made medical kits irrelevant. These changes should make shooting vehicles with the intent to knock crew out a much more viable tactic.

Garage and User Interface

Loot System

We have added the new Loot System to Armored Warfare, consisting of Supply Crates. Boosts awarded by Supply Crates can come in one of five different Quality Levels, with higher quality Boosts providing larger rewards across more progression mechanics than lower Quality Level ones.

Insignias are Vehicle Specific bonuses that players can apply to whatever vehicles they want, but only last one match. Like Boosts, they come in 5 Quality Levels which determine the magnitude of the bonus. However, Insignias will always only affect a specific progression mechanic (Credits, Reputation, Global Reputation, Crew XP, Commander XP).

A new Inventory screen which contains a player’s accrued supply crates, boosts, insignias, consumables and premium time is now accessible via the Supply Crate in the bottom left corner of the garage. A new Insignias tab can now be found in the Vehicle Maintenance tab. 1 of each Insignia type can be activated on a vehicle simultaneously.

Boost Changes

In Update 0.16, we are giving players more control over when their Boosts are activated. Going forward, all Boosts will have 12-hour duration instead of variable durations. Any Boosts that players currently possess will be converted over to multiple 12 hour Boosts that add up to the duration the original Boost had.

For example, if a player had a 3-day 50% Credit/Reputation Boost in their inventory in 0.15, in 0.16 that Boost will be converted into six 12-hour 50% Credit/Reputation Boosts. This way, the player is not penalized for activating a boost and then not being able to play every consecutive day that the Boost is active.

However, now that Boosts will be awarded from various systems in the game, we have had to reduce the number of Boosts that can be active at a time. Players will have 2 Boost Slots which can be used for activating Boosts in the inventory. At least one Boost Slot will be available for free. Activating 2 Boosts at the same time will require a small amount of Gold. Activating a new Boost while another one is still active will require overwriting the old Boost. While we realize that this is removing some of the flexibility that has existed with being able to stack multiple Boosts simultaneously, this change was necessary for us to be able to balance regularly awarding Boosts for free for now on.

Daily Challenge Changes

With the introduction of the Loot System, players will see your non-credit challenge rewards replaced with different quality Supply Crates.

Completing any of the three available challenges in any order will award you with the following:

• Completing one challenge of any sort awards you with 150k credits
• Completing two challenges of any sort awards you with a Bronze Supply Crate
• Completing three challenges of any sort awards you with a Silver Supply Crate

Daily Challenges are now also randomized in difficulty, but you have the highest chance of getting "easy" challenges, then medium and finally, hard.

Assists will now also be counted towards completing Daily Challenges which require players to "kill" enemy vehicles.

Miscellaneous

• Added the ability to dismount equipped retrofits and store them for later use on the same vehicle
• The first win flag icon has been replaced with a reputation icon which varies based on the multiplier currently active
• Added Hull Traverse values to engine tooltips and vehicle stat windows
• Added the ability to disable in-game shadows completely from the options menu
• Added a share button to the replay screen to allow players to share any selected replay
• Players can now use the ‘Report Abuse’ option to report players on their friends list
• A tooltip now appears when hovering over the logistics cost in the PvE Post Match Screen
• To support multiple PvP game modes, a new drop-down menu has been added underneath the PvP battle button
• Updated the Custom Match list to no longer display the number of neutral observers in a custom match

Vehicles

Tank Destroyer Class Ability Changes

We've made some changes to the Tank Destroyer Class Ability, Gun Suppression, to make it easier to use and increase the effectiveness of the ability.

The movement restriction where players must be stationary for 2 seconds before being able to activate the ability has been removed. Additionally, movement while the ability is active no longer cancels the ability.

We've also adjusted the camouflage penalty reduction on shots while the ability is active from 75% to 85%.

New Autoloader Technology Upgrades

We've added new Autoloader technology upgrades for any vehicle that has an autoloader component. These upgrades vary from vehicle to vehicle based on their weapons and class, and are available for purchase in the vehicle upgrade trees. Vehicles with a cannon that usually fire on the move, get a 5% bonus to rate of fire while on the move (AFV, LT, MBT). Vehicles with cannon that usually stay stationary get a 5% bonus to rate of fire while stopped (TD). Auto-cannon vehicles get a 5% overall bonus to salvo reload speed (Auto-cannons, ATGMs). Going forward, all new vehicles with autoloaders will have the above mentioned tech upgrades available for unlock.

The following vehicles now have Autoloader technology upgrades: B1 Draco, Begleitpanzer 57, BMD-4, BMP-3, BMP-3M, BMOP Ramka-99, BMPT-72, Challenger 2 ATDU, Leopard 2A7, M1128 Stryker, XM8, M8 Thunderbolt, T-64, T-72 Ural, T-72A, T-80, T-90, T-90MS, T-14 Armata, Type 85-IIM, Type 90-II, Type 98 and XM1A3

Self-propelled Gun Changes

We felt that SPG mobility wasn't where it needed to be, so we've improved their acceleration just a bit (the detailed changes can be found below). Additionally, we've reduced the cost of all artillery smoke and illumination rounds by 50%.

Leopard 2 Series Changes

We weren't happy with the accuracy of the line with respect to the other Main Battle Tanks, so we've increased the accuracy range of those vehicles. The detailed changes can be found below.

Active Protection System Changes

We’ve rebalanced the number of charges and loading times of in-game Active Protection Systems thus:

Soft-Kill APS

• Adjusted the number of charges to 6
• Increased the cooldown of Soft-Kill APS systems from 30 seconds to 60

Hard-Kill APS

• Adjusted the number of charges to 3
• Decreased the cooldown of Hard-Kill APS systems from 60 seconds to 30

High-Explosive Damage Correction

We fixed an issue with High-Explosive Ammo penetration damage to components. HE spall damage was getting an additional bonus upon penetration that was destroying components such as the ammo rack in one hit.

HE already does bonus damage to components, so we have removed the additional penetration bonus that was being applied to the components. The penetration bonus still applies to the vehicle hull, but components should now be safe for a little longer if an HE penetration occurs.

Abbot

• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration to 9s

Akatsiya

• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration to 8s

AMX-10P PAC 90 Merc

• Fixed an issue where decals were partially missing when equipped in decal slot 1

BMD-2

• Fixed an issue where the Battalion decal was being cut-off

BMD-4

• Fixed an issue where it was impossible to damage the gas tank by shooting the vehicle

BMPT-72 Terminator II

The BMPT-72's survivability, when compared to the others in its line, was not where it needed to be. As a result, we decided to increase its Hit Points to compensate.

• Increased Hit Points to 2360

B1 Centauro

• Fixed an issue where the decal on the rear of the vehicle were hidden

Challenger 2

• Slowed the 0-32kph acceleration to 8s for the stock engine and 7.65s for the upgrade

Challenger 2 ATDU

• Slowed the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 7.65s, and 7.3s for the upgrade
• Fixed an issue where the vehicle could take full damage when being shot near the gunner sight
• Fixed an issue where the textures on the vehicle's optics appeared poorly rendered on low graphics settings

Gvosdika

• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 9s, and 8s for the upgrade

LAV-150

• Fixed an issue where the vehicle’s destroyed state displayed floating tires

Leopard 1A5

Due to its underwhelming armor for an MBT at its Tier, we decide to increase the Leopard 1A5's Hit Points and Acceleration to give it a bit more survivability.

• Increased Hit Points to 1820
• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 5.5s, and 5.15s for the upgrade

Leopard 2

• Improved Accuracy to 0.1155
• Improved Aim Time to 3s

Leopard 2AV

• Improved Accuracy to 0.1158
• Improved Aim Time to 2.8s

Leopard 2A5

• Improved the Accuracy of both guns to 0.11
• Improved the Aim Time of both guns to 3s
• Added a technology retrofit slot
• Fixed an issue where the tow cables would disappear from the back of the vehicle after camo was equipped

Leopard 2A6

• Improved Accuracy to 0.1048
• Improved Aim Time to 2.8s
• Fixed an issue where full damage was being applied to the vehicle after firing at the turret hatches of the vehicle with the EX armor package upgrade

Leopard 2A7-140

• Improved Aim Time of 120mm to 2.6s and 140mm to 2.8s
• Improved the Accuracy of the 120mm cannon to 0.0898
• Improved the Accuracy of the 140mm cannon to 0.0988

MBT-70

• Reduced Aim Time to 3.3s

M109

• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 9.75s, 9s for the first engine upgrade, and 8.5s for the best engine

M1134

• Added the Mobility Retrofit to the Upgrade Tree. The functionality for the slot was always available, but it was not properly reflected in the vehicle's Upgrade Tree.
• Increased the Turret Traverse rate to 35.7 deg/sec

Merkava IIB

We're changing the name of the Merkava IIB to the Merkava IID as part of a larger change to the vehicle that will be ongoing during future patches. After further investigation, we decided that the IID was better suited for the tier that the vehicle is at compared to the IIB. While it is still visually the IIB, we will be updating the armor package model to reflect the IID visuals in a future patch.

• Shrunk the lower front plate weak point in front of the driver by roughly 30% and thickened the armor, making it a bit more difficult to penetrate consistently
• Fixed an issue where animal and emblem decals were appearing flipped on the left side of the vehicle's hull
• Fixed an issue where the light from the vehicle's headlights appeared incorrectly placed

Object 155

• Fixed an issue where some elements of the vehicle's gun mantlet became transparent after the vehicle's destruction
• Fixed an issue where the vehicle’s gunner sight appeared closed

Paladin

The Paladin was over-performing compared to the PzH 2000, so we decided to bring down its damage and penetration a bit in order to bring it more in line with the values we want artillery to have at Tier 8.

• Reduced overall Damage by 10%, and Penetration by 2.5%
• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 9s, and 8.5s for the upgrade

Palmaria

• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 9s, and 8s for the upgrade

PT-76

• Fixed an issue where critical damage was not being displayed properly while shooting at the vehicle's turret hatch

PzH 2000

• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 10.5s, and 8.5s for the upgrade

SPHINX

• Fixed an issue where the vehicle’s destroyed state turret was experiencing Level of Detail issues
• Fixed an issue where the vehicle’s destroyed state was missing destroyed state for vehicle headlightsFixed an issue where the vehicle’s armor upgrade caused the right side turret decal to disappear

Swingfire

• Fixed an issue where camouflage textures were z-fighting on the vehicle's gas canister stand

T-64

• Fixed an issue where the Battalion decal was disappearing from the T-64 on low graphics settings

T-80

• Fixed an issue where the Battalion decal was disappearing after camouflage was applied to the vehicleFixed an issue where grey textures were present on the rear part of the T-80's destroyed hull

T-90MS

This average survivability of the T-90MS wasn't where we expected it to be, so we've raised its Hit Points just a bit.

• Increased Hit Points to 2390
• Fixed an issue where, at a distance, the vehicle's wheels would spin off center

Type-69-II

• Fixed an issue with the upgraded cannon where the camouflage applied to the cannon was incorrect

Type 80-II

• Fixed an issue where the vehicle’s turret could be shot through after the vehicle had been destroyed

Type 85-IIM

• Fixed an issue where the decal on the rear of the vehicle was being cut-off

Type 98

Adjusted the lower front plate weak point to be parity with the Soviet T-Series gradient lower glacis; the lowermost portion will remain green, while the portion above it will now be yellow to the majority of Tier 8 vehicles.

• Improved the 0-32kph acceleration of the stock engine to 7s, and 6.1s for the upgrade
• Fixed an issue where the textures on the destroyed vehicle's tracks were rendering in low quality

XM1A3

The XM1A3's stats weren't in sync with the other M1's of its line, causing the vehicle to comparatively under-perform. As a result, we've adjusted some of its soft-stat values to improve its firepower while slightly nerfing its accuracy to bring it more in line with the rest of the M1's.

• Increased its Hit Points to 3625
• Raised its Vision Range to 375
• Increased the Damage from both guns by 5%
• Increased the Penetration of the 120mm ammunition by approximately 6%
• Increased the Rate of Fire for both guns by approximately 5%
• Slightly lowered the Accuracy of both guns
• Slowed the Aim Time of the 120mm gun to 3s and the 140mm to 3.2s
• Fixed an issue where the vehicle’s destroyed hull appeared a different color than the turret
• Fixed an issue where the TUSK ERA panels near the front end of the vehicle displayed incorrect textures after being destroyed

Player versus Player

Coastal Threat

• Fixed an issue where a building in cell C4 was missing collision and could be shot through

Ghost Field

• Fixed an issue where a building in cell G9 had no destruction VFX
• Fixed an issue where the camera could clip into the destroyed oil tanks in cell I4

Port Storm

• Fixed an issue in cell G3 where trees were growing out of cement

Riverpoint

• Fixed an issue where player vehicles could get stuck under a switchboard in cell E6

Player versus Environment

The following new Missions were added:

• Operation Zero Hour
• Operation Erebos
• Operation Basilisk

Dire Wolf

• Fixed an issue where vehicles could get stuck under the building arcs in cell A8
• Fixed a series of LoD issues that occurred at close range on the faces of buildings in cell B5, F5 and D8

Sapphire

• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on a destroyed truck prop in cell H1
• Fixed an issue where invisible collision in cell B8 was extending beyond the map boundary line
• Fixed an issue in cells B5 and J3 where secondary objectives that border the canal had VFX emanating from the water

Harbinger

• Fixed an issue where a section of gate prop in cell I5 was not sitting flush against the rest of the gateFixed an issue in cell C5 where it was possible for player vehicles to become wedged between tanks and the buildings and get stuck
• Fixed an issue in cell E6 where debug text could be observed on top of the bell tower

Life Jacket

• Fixed an issue where overhanging pipe props in cell D5 would interfere with the camera's position

Albatross

• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on the building in cell F1
• Fixed an issue in cell G2 where AI vehicles would get stuck on buildings while attempting to get to the runway

Phalanx

• Fixed an issue where the map boundary lines in cell H7 were being covered by the road

Prometheus

• Fixed an issue in cell D3 where trees were growing out of rocks
• Fixed an issue with LoD in cell D1 where containers were missing geometry when viewed at a distance
• Fixed an issue in cell F8 where the player vehicle could become stuck on building with the wrong physical model
• Fixed an issue in cell H3 where small vehicles would get stuck under the construction

Cerberus

• Fixed an issue where the northernmost capture point for "Jam Cartel Scans" was overlapping parts of the train prop
• Fixed an issue in cell H4 where the player vehicle could become stuck on the bridge railings

Red Opossum

• Fixed an issue where the map boundary line in cells D9-F9 was disappearing
• Fixed an issue where players were able to drive past the minimap boundaries
• Fixed an issue where the artillery reticle could not remain centered on cell F8
• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on invisible geometry at an angle while driving past the oil tankers

Meltdown

• Fixed an issue in cell F4 where grass was growing through solid asphalt
• Fixed an issue in cell F4 where bushes were growing out of buildings and walls
• Fixed an issue where buildings in cells F3 and G3 had foliage and bushes hidden inside
• Fixed an issue where players were receiving the incorrect reward amounts for completing the primary objectives
• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in the crater at the bottom of the hill in cell C6
• Fixed an issue where the AI was not recognizing map objects such as a forklift as an obstacle and got stuck on them

Ghost Hunter

• Fixed an issue where secondary objective UI was missing from the mission briefing

Starry Night

• Fixed an issue where cage armor on vehicles could slip through buildings in cell I6, resulting in the player being stuck to the building
• Fixed an issue where temporary text was appearing in the battlelog when destroying the Secondary Objectives
• Fixed an issue in cells B1-C2 where the third defense circle appeared on the map before the second defense circle had been successfully defended
• Fixed an issue where the map's layout was confusing and lighting changes were necessary in order to keep players from becoming lost on the map

Anvil

• Fixed an issue with Level of Detail in cell A3 where destroyed buildings showed gaps between textures Fixed an issue where the map boundaries did not correspond with the minimap boundaries
• Fixed an issue in cells C7 and E1 where rocks appeared black when viewed on low graphics settingsFixed an issue where players could get stuck on invisible geometry at an angle while driving past the oil tankers
• Fixed an issue where the primary objective circle was blue instead of read on the minimap

Frostbite

• Fixed an issue where a building in cell H5 was missing textures
• Fixed an issue where failing the first objective resulted in a "Defend Next Zone!" message to appear in the HUD

Rolling Thunder

• Fixed an issue with Level of Detail in cell F7 where a building at close range was appearing distorted
• Fixed an issue in cell D6 where the MGS Stryker prop disappeared at medium distance

Stormy Winter

• Fixed an issue where the artillery aim-line on the minimap appeared off-center

Umbrella

• Updated the playable space to allow players to use the full map once again
• Fixed an issue where the player could drive into non-playable area through cell D6
• Fixed an issue in cell D5 where the camera jumped if the player hovered an SPG reticle over the hangar

Wildfire

• Fixed an issue where SPG could destroy secondary objectives without seeing them

Ricochet

• Fixed an issue in cell E5 where the secondary objective capture circle paint was appearing on nearby map props

Cavalry

• Fixed an issue in cell C6 where the player could get stuck under the collision in the river and end up off the map

Spearhead

• Fixed an issue where the secondary objective remained highlighted after the objective failed

Kodiak

• Fixed an issue where the minimap boundaries were not aligning with the actual map boundaries

Quarterback

• Fixed an issue in cell D8 where the capture point would appear blue instead of red on the minimap

Royalty (Tutorial)

• Fixed an issue where the final capture circle was appearing at the start of the mission

Sounds

• New, bigger, and punchier sounding single shot cannon sounds for all classes and calibers at three levels of distance
• New, bigger and more impactful autocannon sounds for all rates of fire
• New single shot cannon sounds for 152 and 140 mm cannons
• Newly tuned distance volume roll-off behavior for all cannon shots so they can be heard more clearly over greater distance
• Player and non-player cannon sounds now sound more three dimensional and environment filling
• New, clearer, and impactful projectile vs. tank impact sounds for all round and damage types to help improve hit feedback for when you get hit and when you hit another vehicle
• New diesel engine sound set used for all Tank Destroyers and AFVs
• New engine sound behaviors more realistically model engine load, rpm, speed, mass, friction, and climbing angle
• New engine sound behaviors model gear changes for the diesel engine sound set
• Added engine startup sequences that plays during the match countdown timer
• New, punchier, impactful, and world filling projectile vs. terrain sound effects added at three levels of distance
• New projectile pass-by sound effects for artillery, small caliber, and standard single shot cannons
• New tank vs. tank and tank vs. prop collision sounds that also trigger consistently
• New sound effect triggers when sparks appear while scraping against other objects and tanks
• New submerged sound effect triggers while underwater
• New garage ambient sound effects. We taught the technician how to hold a wrench!
• Newly remastered tank explosion sound effects are punchier and easier to hear
• Newly redesigned manual breech reload sound
• New reload sounds for smoke grenades and ATGMs
• Newly redesigned max accuracy sound
• New turret rotation sound effects
• Entire soundscape has been remixed to provide a more immediate and impactful experience
• Tied cannon audibility to spotting mechanic. Cannon sounds will not trigger if an opposing tank is not spotted or if a teammate isn’t rendered
• Updated corporate logo sound effects help acclimate the listener to the final game volume

Issues and Corrections

General

• Fixed an issue which was causing vehicle turret positions to become desync'd between the server and client in both PvE and PvP
• Fixed an issue where the reticle position would not stay at the same position when alternating the camera between first and third-person
• Fixed an issue which caused the camera to corkscrew when zooming in and out at an overhead angle
• Fixed an issue where the string “Daily Rewards” was appearing on the briefing screen for PvE despite being removed

Garage and User Interface

• Fixed an issue with the "Stealth Kills" daily challenge, which prevented it from tracking kills properly - the challenge now properly counts if you were never spotted or if you were spotted but went undetected again
• Fixed an issue where the ‘Reconnect’ button in PvE appeared for a player who was intentionally removed due to being AFK. The intended behavior is for the AFK player to not be allowed back into the PvE mission
• Fixed an issue where some symbols could appear cut off in the custom lobby name
• Fixed an issue where a player could not switch between vehicles while the Commander tab was open
• Fixed an issue where players were receiving notifications about credits having been spent after purchasing a promotional vehicle from the main Armored Warfare website
• Fixed an issue where minimized chat windows placed near the edge of the screen would be unrecoverable after switching the game from windowed to full-screen
• Fixed an issue in Custom Matches where the player was able to clip into building geometry when free camera was active
• Fixed an issue where the camera could become frozen in the garage after a player came back from being AFK

Vehicles

• Fixed an issue where vehicles with multiple ATGMs loaded could sometimes get stuck at 0.0 load timeFixed an issue where decals wouldn’t appear on a vehicle if the decals were set before the vehicle model loaded
• Fixed an issue where decals were appearing too small on some vehicles
• Fixed an issue where the armor indicator showed green when hovering over cage armor with the ATGM reticle

Player versus Environment

• Fixed an issue which caused AI vehicles to 'rubberband' when being spotted on the minimap

Sounds

• Fixed an issue that caused engine sounds to stutter
• Fixed an issue that caused some sounds to sound distorted
• Fixed an issue where autocannon release sounds would sound abrupt
• Fixed an issue where illumination rounds, smoke grenades, and APS sounds weren’t properly assigned
• Fixed an issue where match over music would loop multiple times before transitioning to the load screen
• Limited max playbacks for base capture to kill newest so this sound cannot be spammed
• Fixed numerous map related destructible and cutscene audio bugs
• Corrected reload timing so that all reload sounds end when ready to reload

Miscellaneous

• Fixed an issue with Replays where projectiles and vehicle wheel movements were not playing smoothly in slow motion