Update 0.19 Tanks Reloaded brings one of the most awaited features – Balance 2.0!
The Tanks Reloaded Update and its main feature, Balance 2.0, mark the beginning of a new era for Armored Warfare. Balance 2.0 is made up of many game changes that are described below and it represents a foundation for future game development, consisting of a large amount of content updates coming in the near future.
The Tanks Reloaded Update also brings content updates of its own. They include:
- 26 new vehicles
- New PvP map: Chemical Plant
- New Global Operations map: Barren Divide
- Two new PvE missions
- Skirmish mode
A large number of corrections and bug fixes. We hope you like them and we'll see you on the battlefield.
Balance 2.0
Balance 2.0 is a catch-all for a set of changes coming to Armored Warfare in Update 0.19 that are necessary to solve the challenges facing high Tier gameplay, and to alleviate the power creep between tiers throughout the game. Another major part of Balance 2.0 is the reevaluation of every core gameplay mechanic, including damage mechanics, class abilities, retrofits, upgrades, and crew skills, with the purpose of ensuring these mechanics are working cohesively to deliver balanced and exciting gameplay as we intend.
Learn more about Balance 2.0 in our dedicated portal section.
26 New Vehicles
The new progression vehicles introduced:
- Centauro 155 Tier 10 SPG
- BMD-1P Tier 4 AFV (read more)
- BMD-2M Tier 7 AFV (read more)
- BMP-3M 125 Dragun Tier 8 LT (read more)
- FV101 Scorpion 90 Tier 4 LT (read more)
- FV107 Scimitar Tier 2 AFV
- Chieftain 900 Tier 6 MBT (read more)
- Chieftain Mk.2 Tier 4 MBT
- Leopard 2A4 Evolution Tier 8 MBT (read more)
- M108 Tier 3 SPG (read more)
- M113 ACAV Tier 4 TD (read more)
- M1A2 SEP v3 Tier 9 MBT (read more)
- M48A3 Tier 2 MBT (read more)
- M60A1 Tier 4 MBT (read more)
- OT-65A Tier 2 AFV (read more)
- T-55 Tier 2 MBT (read more)
- T-64A Model 1976 Tier 5 MBT
- T-72B Tier 6 MBT (read more)
- T-80B Tier 6 MBT (read more)
- T-80U Tier 7 MBT (read more)
- T-90A Tier 8 MBT (read more)
- T92 Tier 2 LT (read more)
- Type 62 Tier 1 LT
- Type 69 Tier 2 MBT
- VBL TOW Tier 5 AFV (read more)
- Wiesel 1 HOT Tier 7 TD
New Global Operations map "Barren Divide"
This 1800x1800 map is loosely based off the Caucasus featuring light rolling terrains, small bits of rolling terrain, bordering an urban area decimated by conflict.
During this mission, the Lions of Nequiel have invaded a rural region decimating the city, and taking control of all transportation, a local refinery and setup a militarized presence in the area. Another faction called TRF has taken control of the region, removing the hostile factions and utilizing the resources, even arming citizens to fight back but hasn't done anything to reestablish a safe zone for any non-combatants.
You are trying to take control from TRF to restore order to the citizens in a lawful manner. Hostile forces still remain and are trying to use the scuffle between ISD and TRF to re-establish their presence.
New PvP map "Chemical Plant"
In the decimated world of Armored Warfare, working chemical plants are harder and harder to come by. Two forces clash over one such installation deep in the Mojave Desert.
The past has not been kind to this chemical plant. Toxic spills cover the area and many sections of the factory are damaged by fighting. It, however, still remains one of the most valuable targets in the area.
New PvE mission "Raiding Party"
You have been tasked with infiltrating a rare earth mining facility that has been overrun by the notorious military contractors known as Lang Qun. It is imperative that you prevent the facility from opening, since it would otherwise provide your enemy with a large supply of valuable new resources.
To accomplish your objective, your guerrilla raiding party must sabotage the facility, destroy several of the mine's entrances, cut the enemy off from their prospective supply, then make a quick escape before your adversary can stop you!
New PvE mission "Watchdog"
You were tasked with aiding a local city besieged by long range bombardments. Though it has been under fire for over a week, the local military resistance has been successful in slowing down enemy advancements thus far - but with enemy forces now lying in wait on the border and the local resistance's resources running out, it's only a matter of time before there's a major push.
If the city falls to a large-scale invasion, the surrounding regions will suffer a similar fate soon thereafter. Stop the encroaching forces and drive them out for good!
Skirmish Feature
One of the most common issues encountered by PvP players is the lack of game population to assemble proper 15v15 battles during the less populated hours. To address this issue, we have prepared - along with the other changes, mentioned in Balance 2.0 section - the Skirmish feature. In situations where the matchmaker cannot create teams larger than 5v5 in a timely manner, players will now be placed into a new 3v3 to 5v5 Skirmish match on smaller Skirmish versions of the following maps:
- Cold Strike
- Cerberus
- Reactor
- Pipelines
These matches use standard PvP rules.
List of 0.19 Changes
Balance 2.0
Balance 2.0 is a catch-all for a set of changes coming to Armored Warfare in Update 0.19 “Tanks Reloaded” that are necessary to solve the challenges facing high Tier gameplay, and to alleviate the power creep between tiers throughout the game. Another major part of Balance 2.0 is the reevaluation of every core gameplay mechanic, including damage mechanics, class abilities, retrofits, upgrades, and crew skills, with the purpose of ensuring these mechanics are working cohesively to deliver balanced and exciting gameplay as we intend.
Balance 2.0 Soft Reset
Due to the gameplay implications of Balance 2.0, which includes the rebalancing of vehicle tiers, removal or replacement of certain progression vehicles and an overhaul to all vehicle performance values, we've performed a 'soft' progression reset. As a result, when players log in they will find all of their standard progression vehicles have been wiped and all spent reputation and credits refunded; along with any gold used to purchase camouflage and decals. For more information on this soft-reset, including how this affects purchased premium vehicles, please visit our in-depth Balance 2.0 Compensation Plan page.
Vehicle Progression Line Changes
In Update 0.19, we've updated each dealer's progression lines to better reflect the power and capabilities each vehicle brings to the battlefield. Upon logging in, players will notice some vehicles have shifted tiers while others have been replaced altogether. In doing so, we've also added new variants of existing vehicles as well as several brand new vehicles as well. We've also changed which vehicles players have access to starting at tier 1 in order to provide a more forgiving and enjoyable introductory experience for newer players. For more information on these changes, including pictures of the new dealer trees, please read our Balance 2.0 Progression article.
Graphics Improvements
Improvements have been made to the game render, increasing performance and visual quality.
New ATGM Feature: Missile Noise
All ATGMs are now affected by a new feature called 'Missile Noise', which acts as the ATGM equivalent of bloom. When a player fires an ATGM, it will no longer fly towards its target in a perfectly straight line. Instead, the missile's trajectory will now slightly fluctuate within the aiming reticle until it reaches its target. As players progress up the tiers, historical ATGM improvements will result in higher tier ATGMs exhibiting less missile noise - making it easier for them to consistently hit the targeted area.
Ammo Mechanic Changes
Vehicle ammo damage no longer scales by Tier. Instead, the damage of the shell is determined by caliber along with the following elements:
- Muzzle Energy
- Shell/Penetrator Weight
- Material
To better reflect the nature of modern shells and to introduce more diversity, we are also introducing material changes to shell performance considerations:
- All kinetic shells with Depleted Uranium penetrator will receive a +10% damage bonus
- All advanced guns with very high muzzle energy will receive a +10% damage bonus
Depending on the type, ammo now improves across the following areas by tier:
- Shell velocity
- Shell Distribution (inner circle accuracy)
- Penetration
- Reduced ATGM missile noise
- Increased secondary bonus effects
- Shell normalization removal
Vehicles may now only enter battle with three ammunition types at a time. Each core ammunition type (AP, HE, HEAT, ATGM) has undergone revisions to better reflect their unique properties and situational uses - these changes can be found below.
Bonus
+20% damage when penetrating armor thicker than 100mm (this reflects spalling – the shattered armor fragments inside the vehicle doing damage)
Advantages
- Better accuracy than all other ammo
- Better firing on the move accuracy than all other ammo
- Not defeated by steep angles as much HEAT is
- Less penetration lost when going through spaced armor
- Highest shell velocity
- Not defeated by cage armor, effective against ERA
- Narrow range of penetration spread (+/- 10%)
Disadvantages
- Generally lower base penetration than HEAT
- Shatters against high angles of 70 to 80 degrees depending on shell quality
Bonus
- +20% damage when penetrating armor thinner than 100mm
- +25% chance of starting fire
- +25% more module damage
Advantages
- Generally higher base penetration than AP
Disadvantages
- Super Sloping Mechanism - performs worse when connecting at bad angles than AP where armor will become more effective than the angle would imply. For example, for AP, armor becomes effectively 2x thicker when hitting at a 60 degree angle. When HEAT impacts at a 60 degree angle, the armor is treated at 2.7x thicker
- Has a chance to be triggered early by cage armor causing it to lose a lot of penetration by the time it hits armor
- Less accurate than AP
- Penetration falls off faster through spaced armor than AP
- Strongly countered by ERA (with the exception of Tandem warheads)
- Higher range of penetration spread (+/- 15%)
Bonus
- +20-25% damage when penetrating armor thinner than half the gun caliber
- Massive bonus to module damage
- Massive bonus to the chance to start a fire
Advantages
- Ignores armor angle for determining effective armor thickness
- +35% module damage
- +25% chance to cause a fire
- Narrow range of penetration spread (+/- 10%)
Disadvantages
- Least accurate ammo type both stationary and on the move
- Lowest shell velocity
- Fails to fuse at 70 to 75 degrees depending on shell quality
- Will trigger against cage armor 100% of the time causing it to lose penetration before hitting the armor beneath
- Highest falloff when traveling through spaced armor
- Strongly countered by ERA
Bonus
- +40% damage on full penetrations
- +25 chance to start fires or +50% if a fuel tank is struck
- Doesn't have to penetrate in order to deal damage
- Considerable splash radius to module damage added
Advantages
- Highest potential damage when striking thin armor
- Can deal damage even when detonating in target’s vicinity
Disadvantages
- Will fail to fuse at angles of impact of 70 to 80 degrees depending on shell quality
- Impacting armor of 100mm or thicker will deal little to no damage
- Impacting armor around 50mm of thickness will deal 50% damage
- Less accurate than HEAT (but more accurate than HESH)
- Low shell velocity (but higher than HESH)
- 50% chance of being triggered early by cage armor
- Lowest penetration value of all ammunition types
Bonus
- +20% damage when penetrating armor thinner than 100mm.
- +25% chance of staring fire
- +25% more module damage
Advantages
- Can be guided into targets
- Usually the highest penetration ammo type available
Disadvantages
- Super Sloping Mechanism - Performs worse when connecting at bad angles than AP where armor will become more effective than the angle would imply. For example, for AP, armor becomes effectively 2x thicker when hitting at a 60-degree angle. When HEAT impacts at a 60-degree angle, the armor is treated at 2.7x thicker
- Can be dodged by attentive targets
- Vulnerable to being countered by APS when fired at long ranges
- Has a chance to be triggered early by cage armor causing it to lose a lot of penetration by the time it hits armor
- Penetration falls off faster through spaced armor than AP
- Strongly countered by ERA (with the exception of tandem warheads)
- Higher range of penetration spread (+/- 15%)
Thermobaric Anti-Tank Guided Missiles
These missiles use the same mechanics as HESH/HEP shells, but are more sensitive to the impact angle. Their flight path needs to be controlled manually.
Vehicle Hitpoint Changes
Vehicle HP is now balanced around the internal volume of the vehicle in combination with modern innovations in survivability and internal volume instead of scaling based strictly on tier and vehicle class. In practice, this means vehicle HP will no longer arbitrarily scale in size from tier to tier.
Secondary protection measures including; ERA, Cage Armor, APS and composite armor will continue to improve a vehicle's overall survivability as tiers increase. For more information on changes to vehicle HP, please read our Balance 2.0 Hitpoints and Ammo article.
Vehicle Armor Changes
We've made the following updates to vehicle armor models in 0.19:
- To promote greater armor granularity, vehicle armor models have had their armor thickness fidelity increased by roughly 2.5 times where appropriate
- Suspension components have been added to the armor model for all MBTs and LTs. This means that firing into the struts or visible suspension assemblies will no longer result in shells that seem to pass through without hitting anything. For most vehicles, shots that only hit suspension will count as damage toward that vehicle's wheels or tracks and not inflict hull damage
- Driver hatch weak points have been removed from vehicles that don't have weak hatches in the real world as we are no longer relying on those hatches to be a weak point on well armored vehicles
- Turret hatches and unmanned turrets take 90% reduced damage from AP rounds and up to 65% reduced damage from HEAT/HE rounds
- Unmanned turrets receive less damage
- For most vehicles, armor thickness has increased while composition modifiers have decreased as we bring the armor values closer in line with their real-world measurements. Overall, the final effective thickness will tend to remain roughly the same on the thickest parts of vehicles, but this can result in thicker side armor on some vehicles
- Many realistic weak points in vehicle armor have been introduced, typically around the turret ring and mantlet areas, and most of the lower glacis. The specifics on these weak points will vary from vehicle to vehicle and are something to be learned and mastered by gaining experience with testing them in matches.
For more information on vehicle armor and other core gameplay changes, please read our Balance 2.0 Mechanics article.
Retrofits Changes
We have redesigned retrofits in order to reduce the inherent imbalances the previous iteration of the system caused, and to make the bonuses they provide easier for players to understand. As a result, some retrofits have been redesigned while others have been removed altogether. Here is a list of the specific changes we've made to the system:
- Vehicles now come with 3 retrofit slots stock. There is no longer a need to unlock slots in the upgrade trees
- Slots no longer have any sort of associated "Type". All slots are universal, and can equip any retrofit the player wants
- Retrofits no longer have secondary bonus stats, and there is a greater emphasis on retrofits changing gameplay functionality, rather than just providing a pure stat buff
Commander Skill Changes
All commanders have been updated with a more limited set of skills in order to reduce the amount of bonus stacking that was happening for many specific stats. The two main stats we wanted to prevent stacking were Reload Speed and Maximum Accuracy (small aim circle), so skills that modified these stats were targeted first for removal or reduction. Other skills have also been swapped out while they are being reviewed. Overall, these changes are meant to be a temporary stop-gap as we work on overhauling the commander system with more varied and finalized skill trees based on the changes made in Balance 2.0.
Crew Skill Changes
Similar to the commander skill changes, several of the existing crew skills have been reduced using the same principals in mind. Along with these reductions, the "Marksman" skill, which previously modified maximum accuracy, has been removed from the game, and replaced with a new skill for the gunner called "Preventative Maintenance" which increases cannon hit points by 20%.
Vehicle Module Changes
Track damage behavior has been updated with modified weak spots. The weak points that used to make up the entire front and back of the track have now been reduced to only the front and back sprocket and idler wheels. Since the size of these weak points has been reduced, the bonus damage that can be done to tracks from hitting these spots has also been greatly increased, making vehicles much easier to track if you aim carefully.
External gas tanks have had their secondary damage behaviors removed, and now have a 100% chance to cause a fire on the vehicle when they are destroyed. This fire deals less damage than a fire started by an internal gas tank.
Destroying an ammo rack now causes an internal fire which burns for 40% of a vehicle's maximum hit points unless extinguished. We've also removed the reduced damage taken from shots that hit unmanned turrets.
Smoke Mechanic Changes
In order to encourage more dynamic gameplay, smoke has undergone a number of changes and all vehicles now come with smoke as standard equipment. As part of each vehicle now gaining access to smoke certain vehicles will have access to a new type of smoke, “Engine Smoke”. Unlike traditional smoke launchers which can be aimed and dispense smoke in front of the vehicle, engine smoke comes from the vehicle itself and shrouds a small area around the vehicle in a circular smoke cloud.
Some vehicles now have access to a smoke upgrade (“Upgraded Smoke Launchers”) which provides additional utility depending on the vehicle class:
- Basic MBT launchers and generators provide 2 charges on a 80-second cooldown, the upgraded ones improve that to 5 charges on a 80-second cooldown
- Basic AFV, SPG and TD launchers and generators provide 2 charges on a 60-second cooldown, the upgraded ones improve that to 8 charges loaded in a 2-round clip on a 80-second clip cooldown
- Basic LT launchers and generators 2 charges on a 60-second cooldown, the upgraded ones improve that to 9 charges loaded in a 3-round clip on a 60-second clip cooldown
Camouflage and Vision Mechanic Changes
The camouflage and vision system has been updated to enable players to retain more of their camouflage rating when firing, particularly when they are located behind soft-cover. Previously, bushes lost their full camo rating when players fired behind them. Now bushes retain 33% of their camo rating after firing. After firing, bushes located 15m around the player will also retain 33% of their camo rating. Previously, the camo penalty was tied to the player's vehicle, causing bushes to lose all of their camo rating until recovered. Now, bushes located outside the initial 15m range will not lose their full camo. This change should encourage players to quickly relocate to bushes farther away in order to quickly regain the camo rating they provide.
Previously, individual bushes provided 0.2 camo and camo provided by bushes could not be stacked past 0.3. Now bushes provide 0.3 camo rating and can be stacked up to 0.6 through the use of multiple bushes.
The camo penalty for firing has been lowered:
- TDs and vehicles firing ATGMs will now only lose 0.2 camo per shot
- All other vehicle types will lose 0.25 per shot
Additional camouflage changes:
- Light Tanks no longer lose camo while moving and only lose 0.05 camo rating while firing
- The camo penalty time has been reduced from 7 seconds to 5
- After exiting vision range (either by regaining camo or driving away), vehicles will now fade-out after 5 seconds, down from 8
- Spotting AFV's now get a 30m view range bonus while standing still
All vehicles have had their speed and acceleration values adjusted to more realistically portray their relative power to weight ratio capabilities.
Wheeled Vehicles
There have been some significant changes to the way wheeled vehicles handle. Wheels now turn and relax more slowly, especially on heavier vehicles. Heavier vehicles now also have more “pull” when recovering from a turn at high speed. Wheeled steering is now slower to respond at high speeds to prevent quick 90-degree turns. A side benefit of this change is an increase in overall vehicle control.
Wheeled vehicles now also take more severe penalties to their acceleration, top speed and steering while off road, but perform better on hard surfaces.
Destroying a wheel now invokes a more severe reduction to a vehicle's top speed and handling. If a vehicle loses three wheels, it is now immobilized until at least one is repaired to a damaged or pristine state.
MBT Mobility
In general, MBTs now accelerate towards their max speed much more quickly. As a result, they no longer need a significant stretch of the map to reach their cruising speeds. An MBT's off-road handling is now much better, when compared to wheeled vehicles. MBT acceleration and hull traverse values are now more consistent with their real-world values.
Light Tank Mobility
Light Tanks now have overall increased acceleration values and improved mobility (traverse time, terrain resistance) and offer the best handling on off-road terrain. In order to better promote flanking, the ability for Light Tanks to circle more cumbersome vehicles has been improved.
AFV Mobility
AFV acceleration rates now remain more consistent from zero to the vehicle's top speed.
SPG Mobility
We have removed certain artificial limits previously imposed on their mobility. As a result, they are now generally faster and more maneuverable.
Ramming Damage
Overall ramming damage has been increased. Collision calculations involving mass, armor, and speed have all been adjusted and now greatly favor heavier vehicles. Vehicles of similar mass and armor at point-of-impact should take comparable damage when ramming, whereas crashes between vehicles with drastically different weight and armor values will end disastrously for the lighter opponent.
The speed threshold for triggering collision damage has also been lowered and scaled to velocity. This should help counter “face-hugging” gameplay while brawling as well as discourage using faster, lighter vehicles in kamikaze ramming attacks.
Mission and Progression Changes
We are removing the artillery missions from the game as well as the missions that were often criticized by players as annoying (such as “destroy TDs in a LT in PvP”). Our goal is to make all missions interesting, diverse and generally accessible.
We also changed the “Proven” vehicle progression rewards from Credits to Global Reputation in order to help players unlock additional branches. In Update 0.19, these rewards reset and can be unlocked again on very vehicle.
General Mission rewards will be improved across the board.
Loot Changes
Before Update 0.19, Bronze and Steel crates rewards were practically useless and not valued by players. In Update 0.19, Bronze and Steel crates will no longer drop – the ones in player inventory will stay until opened. The contents of the remaining crates will be improved and will include Credits and Premium Time for Platinum crates – our goal is to reach the state where every crate drop is a reason to be happy!
Miscellaneous Changes
- Added additional feedback to the reticle about shells hitting areas with reduced damage coefficient (hatches, unmanned turrets etc.)
- The following maps are now available in custom matches: Alabino Polygon, Desert Crossing, Barren Divide
- The vehicle bar filter has been updated to allow players to quickly clear individual filters without having to re-open the filter menu
- "Friend Invite Failed" now appears when attempting to invite a player that does not exist
- Custom match observers are now shown the help menu instead of the kill camera when a player is killed while being observed
- Clicking on an Achievement notification will now take players to the dossier
- Added the following flags: Mongolia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Andorra, Malta, San Marino, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
- Players will now have unlimited ammunition on the Alabino Proving Grounds map
The entirety of vehicles has been overhauled to fit the Balance 2.0 concept and new vehicles have been introduced to fill the tree gaps. Artillery has been relegated to PvE role only. New Progression Vehicles
The new progression vehicles introduced:
- Centauro 155 Tier 10 SPG
- BMD-1P Tier 4 AFV (read more)
- BMD-2M Tier 7 AFV (read more)
- BMP-3M 125 Dragun Tier 8 LT (read more)
- FV101 Scorpion 90 Tier 4 LT (read more)
- FV107 Scimitar Tier 2 AFV
- Chieftain 900 Tier 6 MBT (read more)
- Chieftain Mk.2 Tier 4 MBT
- Leopard 2A4 Evolution Tier 8 MBT (read more)
- M108 Tier 3 SPG (read more)
- M113 ACAV Tier 4 TD (read more)
- M1A2 SEP v3 Tier 9 MBT (read more)
- M48A3 Tier 2 MBT (read more)
- M60A1 Tier 4 MBT (read more)
- OT-65A Tier 2 AFV (read more)
- T-55 Tier 2 MBT (read more)
- T-64A Model 1976 Tier 5 MBT
- T-72B Tier 6 MBT (read more)
- T-80B Tier 6 MBT (read more)
- T-80U Tier 7 MBT (read more)
- T-90A Tier 8 MBT (read more)
- T92 Tier 2 LT (read more)
- Type 62 Tier 1 LT
- Type 69 Tier 2 MBT
- VBL TOW Tier 5 AFV (read more)
- Wiesel 1 HOT Tier 7 TD
Removed Vehicles
Two vehicles are getting removed from the game:
- M113 Tier 1 AFV
- AMX 10P Tier 3 AFV
- XM1 Tier 6 MBT
These vehicles will be fully compensated as a part of the compensation plan.
Tier Changes
The following vehicles are switching Tiers:
- Centauro 105 TD from Tier 6 to 7
- Centauro 120 TD from Tier 7 to 9
- BMD-1 AFV from Tier 4 to 3
- BMD-4 AFV from Tier 7 to 6
- Swingfire from Tier 4 to 6, class changes from AFV to TD
- Warrior AFV from Tier 8 to 7
- FV721 Fox AFV from Tier 5 to 6
- LAV-600 TD from Tier 7 to 6
- M1 Abrams MBT from Tier 7 to 6
- M109 SPG from Tier 4 to 5
- M1A1 Abrams MBT from Tier 8 to 7
- M1A2 Abrams MBT from Tier 9 to 8
- M2 Bradley AFV from Tier 6 to 8, renamed to M2A3 Bradley
- M41 LT from Tier 2 to 1
- M551 Sheridan LT from Tier 4 to 5
- M60A2 Starship MBT from Tier 4 to 5
- Palmaria SPG from Tier 6 to 7
- PzH 2000 SPG from Tier 8 to 9
- T-72 MBT from Tier 5 to 4
- T-72A MBT from Tier 6 to 5
- T-80 MBT from Tier 7 to 5
- T-90 MBT from Tier 8 to 7
- Type 69-II MBT from Tier 4 to 3, renamed to Type 79
- Type 80-II MBT from Tier 5 to 4
- Type 85-IIM MBT from Tier 6 to 5
- Type 90-II MBT from Tier 7 to 6
- Type 98 MBT from Tier 8 to 7
- VBL AFV from Tier 6 to 7, renamed to VBL INGWE
- Wiesel 1 AFV from Tier 7 to 5, renamed to Wiesel TOW
High Tier Vehicle Changes
In order to make the Armored Warfare gameplay more diverse, the following changes will be made to Tier 10 vehicles:
- T-14 Armata muzzle velocity of the best shells will increase and will receive better bonus (35% instead of 20%) to their penetration and damage, rate of fire will increase as well.
- XM1A3 will receive a two-round clip based on the real-life Fastdraw concept with time between the two shots in the clip being 2 seconds. This mechanism will make the turret heavier. As a result, the XM1A3 will be a bit more sluggish than its counterparts, but will be very effective at medium distances.
- Leopard 2AX will be the most accurate Tier 10 MBT, especially on the move, making it the “mobile sniper” of Armored Warfare.
- Challenger 2 ATDU will be slow but very durable. Its modified HESH shells (PISH) will allow it to break through even the most durable spaced armor.
Vehicle Re-designations
From Update 0.19 onwards, progression vehicles will be designated based on their stock configurations. To that end, some vehicles are going to be renamed to better reflect their configuration:
- T-64A renamed to T-64 Model 1969
- Leopard 2A7 renamed to Leopard 2AX
- T92 LT (Premium version) renamed to T92 ACAV
- Type 59 Legend renamed to Type 59-IIA Legend
Premium Vehicle Changes
- T-72 ICE improved to T-72AV ICE (added the Kontakt-1 ERA kit)
- T-80 SHARK improved to T-80U SHARK
- XM1 FSED changed to M1A1 AIM, moved from Tier 7 to 8
- Wiesel 1 WOLF changed to Wiesel 1 HOT WOLF
- Object 155 changed to T-55M1, moved from Tier 2 to 4
- B1 Centauro 120 WOLF moved from Tier 7 to 9
- BMPT and BMPT Reaper moved from Tier 6 to 8, class changed to TD
- FV721 Fox SHARK moved from Tier 5 to 6
- M1134 moved from Tier 7 to 8
- WZ-1224 moved from Tier 5 to 6
In Update 0.19, the FV433 Abbot Tier 4 SPG will only be accessible in PvE mode. Due to this major change, the Tier 4 variant will be sold and its owners fully compensated (the price of the vehicle is 1000 Gold). Those players who want it can buy it back from Zhang Feng. Tier 3 FV433 Abbot VE legacy vehicle will not be compensated due to the fact that the players received it for free during the Abbot split. It will remain in the garage.
For more information, please visit our Balance 2.0 Progression Changes article.
Skirmish Mode
In situations where the matchmaker cannot create teams larger than 5v5 in a timely manner, players will now be placed into a new 3v3 to 5v5 Skirmish match on smaller Skirmish versions of the following maps:
- Cold Strike
- Cerberus
- Reactor
- Pipelines
These matches use standard PvP rules.
Cold Strike
- Removed access to the overlooking fortress hill on both sides
- Removed several city blocks in and around cell C8 and replaced them with a more open parking lot
- Added a new below ground construction site around cells B8 and B9 to allow for snipers to cover two flanks more effectively
- Additional cars have been added in various locations to provide more hull cover opportunities
- Revamped the lower left corner of the map to provide rolling hills for additional hull cover opportunities
Pipelines
- Moved both North and South player spawns slightly for better initial positioning
Port Storm
- Fixed an issue that caused one player spawn to be away from the rest of the team
River Point
- Additional cover was added to the eastern route adjacent to the city and more hull-down cover was added to the western highway route
- Removed several buildings and changed certain walls to be destructible in cell F4. As a result, it is now possible to shoot into the center of the town from the eastern flank
- Spawn areas on both sides of the map have been lowered. The middle of the map is now the high-point.
Rougneck
- Fixed and issue that caused metal piping to disappear while on low graphic settings
AI vehicles have been re-tuned to better account for the changes introduced in Balance 2.0. Players who opt to play PvE on medium and hard difficulties will now find themselves facing off against AI units with stats closer to player vehicles.
Further changes include:
- Indirect-fire artillery has been removed as an enemy players can face in PvE
- Players will no longer encounter AFV bosses in PvE
- PvE Hard is now available to all vehicle tiers
- All AI versions of a vehicle will now match the new player tiers of those vehicles with only a +/-1 tier spread for Salvaged or Elite variants
- AI vehicles equipped with Autocannons and ATGMs will now switch weapon groups depending on the player's class
Additionally, AI vehicles will switch between standard ammo types depending on the player's class.
New PvE Objective Icons
Three new objective icons have been added:
- Destroy indicates players needs to destroy a stationary objective
- Kill indicates players need to kill one or more AI opponents
- Interact indicates players need to enter a circle to complete a secondary objective.
Primary objectives will now also always display as red with the exception of defend objectives, those will remain large blue circles. Secondary objectives will always display as blue. Last but not least, AI mini-boss names are now displayed on the mini-map.
Frostbite
- Fixed an issue that caused AI to not capture objectives
Global Operations
We added a new map, “Barren Divide”. We also added a new icon for players spotted by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
Desert Crossing
- Fixed an issue that caused AI vehicles to float when pushed off the aircraft carrier
- Fixed an issue that caused capture circles to not change colors when captured
- Performed a pass to fix several outstanding collision issues which caused shots to be blocked unintentionally
- Performed a pass to fix several outstanding collision issues which caused shots to not be blocked as they should have been
- Fixed an issue that caused persistent SFX to play when dying to falling damage
We added new reload sounds for all vehicles with weapons over 100mm.
- Manual loading weapons with a caliber of 100 to 124mm now have a unique medium caliber reload sound
- Manual loading weapons 125mm and above now have a unique large caliber reload sound
- Auto-loading weapons 100mm and above now have a unique large auto-loader sound
We also added new voiceover for hitting an enemy target.
General
- Fixed an issue that caused players to not take falling damage when landing on a destructible object
- Fixed an issue that caused headlights to turn off when a player entered first-person
- Fixed an issue that caused the cannons and turrets of other players and AI to jitter
- Fixed an issue that caused an FPS drop when switching between team list options
- Fixed an issue that caused the targeting reticle to become offset at specific camera angles
- Fixed an issue that caused the targeting reticle to snap to extreme angles when aiming down
- Fixed an issue that caused Gamma settings to not be saved on client relaunch
- Fixed an issue that caused the incorrect ATGM ammo count to appear during replays
- Fixed an issue that caused players to gain progress on Woodland and Desert Warrior achievement while playing the tutorial
- Fixed the bonuses of Synthetic and Improved Oil. They will now increase the maximum speed acceleration and hull traverse by 5% or 10%
Garage and User Interface
- Fixed an issue that caused platoon members to unready when a new member is invited to the platoon
- Fixed an issue that caused platoon members to unready when a platoon member changes vehicles
- Fixed an issue that caused players to still receive invites from ignored players
- Fixed an issue that caused the preview image for colorblind mode to not update correctly
- Fixed an issue that caused the word "count" to be censored
- Fixed an issue that caused crew experience to not be displayed correctly
- Fixed an issue that caused players to not be able to report battalion members
- Fixed an issue that caused invited members of an old battalion to appear in newly created battalions
- Fixed an issue that caused Platoon member statuses to not update for new platoon members
- Fixed an issue that caused new players to gain access to empty dossier tabs
- Fixed an issue that caused members of a custom match room to not be displayed in chat
- Fixed an issue that caused battalion tags to not be updated properly
- Fixed an issue that caused scroll bars to not work in the upgrade menu
- Fixed an issue that caused locked customization slots to not have a tooltip
- Fixed an issue that caused the Enter key to not function in the Battalion creation menu
- Fixed an issue that caused the vehicle bar to disappear when changing game modes
- Fixed issue that allowed custom match observers to be in Not Ready status
- Fixed an issue that caused sold vehicles to appear in the vehicle selection bar
Global Operations
- Global Operations victory and defeat screens now display the correct descriptions
- Fixed an issue that caused the camera to continuously rotate while waiting to respawn
Player versus Environment
- Performed a pass to fix a number of outstanding prop collision issues across multiple PvE maps. These issues were causing certain unintended objects to be penetrable by both AI and players.
- Fixed an issue that caused AI to get stuck on other destroyed vehicles
- Leviathan – fixed an issue that caused the incorrect minimap image to appear
- Life Jacket – fixed an issue that caused secondary objective failure voiceover to be cut off
- Meltdown – fixed an issue that caused water textures to appear incorrectly
- Snakebite – fixed an issue that caused terrain to impede player movement
Sounds
- Fixed an issue that caused only a single engine SFX to play when audio quality was set to low
- Fixed an issue that caused the loot SFX to play when not opening a loot crate