Update 1.55 "Royal Armour"

Update 1.55 “Royal Armour”(changelog) was introduced on 15 December 2015. It is most notable for adding the British Tank Tree into the game.

New Vehicles

Aircraft

United States

• F3F-2

Germany

• Ju-88A-1

Russia

• MiG-17

Great Britain

• Stirling B Mk I
• Stirling B Mk III

Japan

• Ki-61-I tei
• A7M2
• Ki-44-II Hei
• Ki-44-II Otsu (premium)

Ground Forces

Germany

• ​Kpfpz. Churchill (premium)

Russia

• T-44-122

Great Britain

• Crusader Mk II
• A13 Mk I
• A13 Mk I 3rd RTR (premium)
• Tetrarch Mk I
• T17E2
• The following tanks will become available during the course of the British Ground Forces CBT
  • Valentine Mk IX
  • Valentine Mk XI
  • А34 Comet I
  • A30 Challenger
  • Armoured Car AA Mk II
  • Crusader AA Mk I
  • Crusader AA Mk II
  • Crusader Mk III
  • Сhurchill Mk III
  • Сhurchill Mk VII
  • Cromwell I
  • Сenturion Mk III
  • Centurion Mk X
  • AC IV Thunderbolt (premium)
  • 3 inch Gun Carrier
  • Avenger
  • Archer
  • Caernarvon
  • A39 Tortoise
  • Charioteer Mk VII
  • Cromwell Mk V
  • A13 Mk II
  • Sherman VC Firefly
  • Achilles
  • Matilda Mk II
  • Valentine Mk I

Game changes

New Locations and Missions

• Tunisia - New desert location for combined battles (available within the following game modes: Domination, Battle, Capture).
• Second Battle of El Alamein - New desert location for combined battles available within the following game modes: Domination, Battle, Conquest).

Game mechanics

• Battle tasks - personal missions, complete them and get rewards (will become available a few days after the Update release)

Changes in Locations and Missions

• Minimap in the mission briefing screen has been improved

Research and Economy

• M10 17pdr Achilles was moved to 3rd rank without BR changes

Changes in Flight Models

• Click here for more details.

Changes in Ground Vehicles Armament

• Fire rate for the 75mm M6 cannon has been increased from 9 to 9.3 shots per minute (M24 tank).

Control

• Wheeled vehicles driving performance on roads, snow, sand and dirt tracks has been improved.

Sounds

• Sounds for the following weapons have been reworked: D10-T, L7, Oerlikon 20mm cannon, QF6 57mm gun, QF32 94mm gun.
• New sounds for Vickers .303 and BESA MG’s.
• Turret rotation sounds reworked according to their historical characteristics.
• Voice-overs for Turkish localization have been updated.
• M2 MG sound has been fixed (for ground vehicles).
• Engine screeching sounds for the trucks have been removed.

PS4

• Fixed and improved head tracking using Playstation Camera.

Miscellaneous

• Landing or “ditching” on the surface of water is now possible for all aircraft, not only for floatplanes and seaplanes.
• Floating (Amphibious) capability is now available for the PT-76.
• Time required for the vehicle to be covered in dust while moving on sandy and dusty roads has been increased.

Smaller updates that came afterwards

15.12.2015

• Fixed game crashes on old Nvidia drivers.
• A bug which would stop tank battles audio from working properly has been fixed.

16.12.2015

• BR for SPAA T17E2 has been increased from 1.0 to 1.3.
• The slot for decal “White Cross” on captured German Churchill has been changed.
• The gearbox of the Centurion Мk.3 and Mk.10 has been fixed. Neutral gear turning performance and backward movement is no longer limited by reduced gear ratio for backward movement.
• Dynamic and static stroke of the wheels for Centurion Mk.3, Centurion Mk.10, Conqueror Mk.2 and Caernarvon FV221 has been fixed (decreased).
• Consumption of shells from ammo racks for Centurion Mk.10 has been refined.
• Increased speed of the vertical guidance for Centurion Mk.3, Mk.10, Conqueror Mk.2 and Caernarvon FV221 to simulate the operation of the cannon stabilizer.
• KPVT mg ammo load received new ammunition: BS-41 (T10M and SU-122-54).
• L7A1 rate of fire (Centurion Mk.10) has been increased from 8.4 to 9 shots per minute.
• Fire rate of the 75 mm KwK42 cannon (Panther ausf D/A/G series) has been increased from 7.2 to 8.1 shots per minute.
• Fire rate of the 84 mm QF 20pdr cannon (Charioteer Mk.VII) has been increased from 7.02 to 7.8 shots per minute.
• Fire rate of the 84 mm QF 20pdr cannon (Caernarvon and Centurion Mk.3) has been increased from 7.02 to 9.6 shots per minute.
• Fire rate of the 85 mm ZIS-S-53 cannon (Т-44 ) has been decreased from 8.4 to 8.1 shots per minute.
• Fire rate of the 85mm D-5T cannon (Т-34 with D-5T cannon) has been decreased from 7.8 to 7.2 shots per minute.
• Fire rate of the 88 mm KwK 36 cannon (Tiger Ausf H1/E) has been increased from 7.2 to 8.1 shots per minute.
• Penetration value for 57mm ammo (SU-57) М7 has been reduced by 5% for all distances according to Catalogue of Standard Ordnance Items. Second Edition 1944. Volume III. Office of the Chief of Ordnance Technical Division. Washington D.C.
• PT-76 incorrect performance while moving through deeper rivers has been fixed.

17.12.2015

Server Update:

• BR for T17E2 has been increased from 1.3 to 1.7.
• Engine and transmission repair time has been decreased by 35% in all modes.
• Terrain crossing capacity for wheeled and track vehicles on sand has been improved on all maps.
• Time required for a vehicle to be covered in dust while moving on sandy terrain has been doubled.
• Value of the armour thickness in the vehicle card for Сhurchill Mk.VII, AC Mk II AA and Crusader AA Mk.II has been fixed.
• "The Second Battle of El Alamein" now has additional spawn points in Realistic and Simulator battles. The new spawn points are closer to the capture zones
• The "Hurtgen Forest" spawn points in Realistic and Simulator battles has been moved closer to the capture zone (Conquest mode only)
• Note: This server update applies to all platforms unless specifically highlighted.

Client Update:

• Display of camouflages for certain aircraft has been fixed.
• A sound bug when receiving Silver Lions reward has been fixed.
• Bug in display of markers has been fixed.
• Client stability improved

22.12.2015

Changes in ground vehicles:

• British ground vehicles received their first 3 camouflages (two desert and one winter).
• A bug, whereby the tank-sight grass and foliage option may have been reset when the client was restarted has been fixed.
• Armour layout on the Сonqueror Mk 2 has been refined and fixed: in the damage model is now taken into account side skirts and boxes, frontal armour on the turret has been modeled more accurately, armour thickness in the frontal sloped turret profile has been increased from 150 to 250 mm.
• The thickness of some armoured parts on the A39 Tortoise has been fixed: hull top plate, thickness of the side skirts, rear parts of the hull, and thickness of the machine gun turret.
• The name of the 120 mm cannon of the Сonqueror Mk 2, has been changed from L11 to the correct designation: L1A1 (characteristics of the shells and cannon parameters have not changed).
• The sloping frontal armour for the Matilda Mk II has been fixed from 20 to 47 mm.
• The number of crew members in the Crusader Mk.II has been fixed - 5 crewmen instead of 4.
• For RBT-5 it is now possible to automatically reload the rocket payloads in Arcade Battles. Rockets will be reloaded in 90 seconds.
• The errors in the characteristics of the British OQF 6 pdr Mk III cannon (57mm) (Mounted on: Crusader Mk.III, Valentine Mk.IX, Cromwell Mk.I) has been fixed. The characteristics of this cannon were previously corresponding to more powerful cannon Mk V, and the armour piercing parameters of the AP Mk.5T shell were even higher. Now the ballistic characteristics and armour piercing parameters are more closely corresponding to the prototype.
• The fire rate of 17pdr. M10 Achilles has been decreased from 9.6 to 9 shots per minute.
• The fire rate of SP 17pdr. Valentine Archer has been decreased from 9.6 to 8.7 shots per minute.

BR changes:

• BR for the Cromwell Mk V has been increased from 2.7 to 3.0 in all game modes.
• BR for the Cromwell Mk I has been increased from 3.3 to 3.7 in all game modes.
• BR for the Centurion Mk 10 has been decreased from 7.7 to 7.0 in all game modes.
• BR for 3 inch. Gun Carrier has been decreased from 3.3 to 3.0 in all game modes.
• BR for the Churchill Mk III and german Kampfpanzer Churchill has been increased from 3.7 to 4.0 in all game modes.
• BR for the Valentine Mk XI has been increased from 2.7 to 3.0 in all game modes.
• BR for the 17pdr. M10 Achilles (and its premium counterpart) has been increased from 3.7 to 4.0 in all game modes.

Location changes:

• Second Battle of El Alamein:
  • The height of the dunes has been adjusted slightly for a less obstructed field of play and the behavioural aspects of the sand has also been changed.
  • Finer detailing has been added to the desert surface.
  • The terrain has been smoothed out in areas where ground vehicles could get stuck or damaged.
  • Some visual bugs have been fixed.

• Tunisia:
  • Small balance related changes have been applied.

Sounds:

• Dubbing for german localisation has been added.
• The audio for the D10-T cannon has been updated.
• The audio for the Ho-301 cannon has been fixed.

Interface:

• Soldier Trophies have been changed to the new 'Battle Trophies' in the Item Store.

24.12.2015

• Damage of modules and crew during collisions has been improved in some cases.
• Several fixes for MacOS client.
• Client stability and optimization has been improved.
• "Thunder Leagues" achievemnts are moved to a separate tab.

25.12.2015

• Battle task “Vigilante” has been fixed
• Several Battle tasks have been rebalanced so became easier some - more difficult
• Some Battle tasks descriptions have been updated and clarified

30.12.2015

• Mirrors in cockpits have been fixed.
• Client stability and optimization improvements.

06.01.2016

• Changed colour of UI buttons to reflect their purpose (upgrades are blue, purchase\shop gold and “action” buttons are red).
• Added an option to hide information panels in hangar.
• Fixed rare bug in rendering of track marks on landscape (long track marks across landscape).

15.01.2016

• Improved client stability and client optimization.
• Bug fixed on location ‘Tunisia’ in some cases, where ground vehicles could enter and maneuver inside some of the rocks.
• Rare bug fixed where players could not enter aerial flight events in Arcade tank battles.

Changes in Flight Models

• La-7/B-20 - Wing polar for “landing” flaps position has been updated. Fuselage and fin polars have been updated.
• Ju-87d-5/G-2 - Fuselage and fin polars have been updated. The calculation of the transition processes on the wing and fin polars has been refined (The sideslip of the aircraft while maneuvering at low speed has been reduced).
• I-185 M-82/71 - The possibility of getting the aircraft into an uncontrolled spin by using the rudder in arcade battles game mode has been fixed.
• XP-55 - Aerodynamic characteristics of the wing and stabilizer has been refined. The balance of the aircraft has been adjusted, the behavior of the aircraft in the stall on the stabilizer has been refined (“peck” is now more accented).

17.01.2016

• Flickering of shadows in the SLI mode has been fixed.
• Movement fluidity of a tank turret in replays has been improved.
• Some optimization of building destruction has been done.

20.01.2016

• The damage model of crew members has been fixed - rifle calibre bullets and spalling do not pierce through a body and thus do not damage several crew members sitting in one line.
• The parameters of the defense equivalent for the following materials have been changed: tracks - from 0.9 to 0.7, constructional steel - from 1 to 0.45, constructional steel of the chassis from 0.7 to 0.6
• The thickness of specific elements in the Churchill Mk.III (German premium variant as well) has been changed:
  • lower front plate - from 114.3 mm to 76.2 mm
  • hull sponson sides - from 76.2 mm to 63.5 mm
  • hull sides - from 63.5 mm to 50.8 mm
  • front plate of the sponsons - from 76.2 mm to 63.5 mm
  • According to T.D.5912 scheme, The Tank Museum - Churchill Tank. Vehicle History and Specification. The given elements were defended by external plates that were made of steel armour and the internal plating that was made of soft steel, previously the overall thickness was calculated as if it was armour steel.
• The thickness of specific elements of the Churchill Mk.VII has been changed:
  • lower front plate from 152 mm to 139 mm
  • Machine gun protection from 76.2 mm to 25.4 mm.
  • According to T.D.26924, The Tank Museum - Churchill Tank. Vehicle History and Specification
• The thickness of specific elements of the FV221 Caernarvon tank has been changed. Front turret armour and mask thickness is equivalent to the Centurion Mk.3 (since the Caernarvon used the same turret as the Centurion Mk.3 according to “AFV Weapons Conqueror Heavy Gun Tank” by Major Michael Norman, pp. 9-10 ).
• Turning in neutral gear is now available for the A43 Black Prince.
• Turning in neutral gear for the 3-inch Gun Carrier has been fixed
• Maximal turret turning speed for A43 Black Prince has been changed from 15 degrees per second to 17 degrees per second according to (Preliminary trials - Black Prince A43 March 22md, 1945. Application A, tables 5,6).
• Minimal depression angle for RBT-5 has been changed from 0 degrees to +7 degrees since it is the only possible minimum to correct the rocket hitting the rail defenses when launched.
• M8 HE penetration value has been decreased from 32 to 29 mm (Calliope, M26 T99)
• Projectile core for 83mm Shot Mk3 has been reduced to 40 mm from 80 mm.
• Direct kinetic damage bug for 76.2 mm ammo Sh-354T has been fixed (previously it did not knock-out a crew member in the vehicle with an open turret upon direct hit).
• Spalling penetration value and damage sector for APCR, APDS and HEAT rounds has been reduced. Spalling cone parameters of the APCR rounds are similar to those of the APDS rounds. The Spalling penetration value for most fragments does not allow piercing through several crew members and does damage within a lesser sector.
• Ricochet parametres for APC rounds are now equivalent to APCBC.
• Number of respawns for A43 Black Prince has been fixed from 2 to 1 in tank sim battles.
• Visibility parameter for the FV221 has been changed.

21.01.2016

• Rocket reload time for RBT-5 reduced from 90 seconds to 45 seconds;
• Neutral steering added to the following vehicles : A34 Comet, A30 SP Avenger, A30 Challenger;
• Info about minimal distance to use rockets has been added to the RBT-5 info card.

22.01.2016

• Rare bug when starting the 64-bit version of the game has been fixed.

27.01.2016

Special attention has been paid to the balance of the ‘top-end’ ground machines of all nations according to statistics. Those vehicles will once again be situated in their own Matchmaking bracket - 8.0

Overview of changes: Economy Changes Battle Rating Changes for Ground Vehicles Battle Rating Changes for Aircraft

Additional changes:

• M4A3E2 Jumbo and Premium version - Added APCR projectile T45.
• M4A2 Sherman - Added APCR projectile T45.
• T-34E - Due to its increased Battle Rating, this vehicle has received additional 76mm ammunition to its wartime arsenal, as it’s BR is now similar to T-34E STZ, T-34 1942 etc.
• Pz IV / 70 (A) - Added APCR projectile PzGr40 / 42.
• FV221 Caernarvon - Fixed a bug in combined Realistic Battles which allowed the vehicle to rejoin the battle at the same cost of a medium tank of equal BR.
• For ground vehicles of Rank I (except anti aircraft vehicles) with a weapon calibre of 50mm or less, HE shells will be removed for both primary and secondary (e.g. 45mm turrets of T-35) armament. This change has been implemented to make the game more friendly for beginners, who are not yet familiar with the different kinds of ammunition available and were, due to the limited effectiveness of low caliber HE, often dealing no damage to their enemies. We will closely monitor this change, please leave your feedback about it on our forums.
• A bug where rocket tanks were able to launch rockets non-stop while situated within capture zones has been fixed.
• The time it takes to reload a rocket on capture points has been increased: BM-8-24 - up to 8 secs, Calliope and M26T99 - up to 10 secs. The Panzerwerfer 42 reload time for a single rocket has been reduced to 12.
• Turning whilst in neutral gear is now possible for the Jpz 4-5
• A mistake in the AP and APHE ammo info card has been fixed: previously it could show 100% ricochet chance at certain angles - the wrong angle was shown (15 degrees instead of 25).

28.01.2016

• Characteristics of the ТТ-250 rockets mounted on the RBT-5 tank have been updated: calibre, stabilizer parameters, thrust output and its deviation.
• Reloading time for RBT-5 rockets in Arcade Battles has been increased to 70 seconds.
• Depression angle for RBT-5 has been increased to 9 degrees.

01.02.2016

• Client stability has been improved.
• Rare bug where the opponent’s vehicle that destroyed the player wasn’t shown in the killcam has been fixed.
• Rare bug where the representation of the image of the destroyed vehicle in the killcam was missing has been fixed.
• New camera view for hits on an enemy vehicle has been added in replays.

02.02.2016

Gameplay Mechanics

• New thermodynamics system has been implemented* for RB and SB modes.
• Oil cooler flap control option has been added.
• Text indication added when trying to retract missing gear or change the missing flap position.
• It is now easier to identify when fuel starvation for float carburettor engines occurs.
• Rare bug that caused shaking in cockpit view in AB while performing maneuvers with mouse aim has been fixed.
• Rare bug that caused AI aircraft to collide while taxiing or taking off has been fixed.
• Aircraft AI has been improved, they will now chase tactically relevant targets instead of pursuing players at a greater distance.

Interface

• The “social” panel has been relocated from the upper right to the bottom right.
• The armament choice menu has been improved.
• Vehicle info cards now show BR instead of rank.
• The option to choose the game mode in the Research screen that changes displayed information based on the selection has been removed - Now, information is displayed according to game mode selected (below “To Battle” button).
• The selection via dropbox design has been changed.

Misc

• Client stability has been improved.
• Rare bug that showed incorrect turret position in spectator’s view has been fixed.
• Rare bug where the hit-cam did not show the enemy that destroyed a player’s vehicle has been fixed.
• Flickering shadows in hit-cam have been fixed.

*Due to technical reasons new thermodynamics can be temporary switched on and off for first few days.

03.02.2016

• Client stability has been improved.
• Micro Freezes that infrequently happened in air battles have been fixed.

05.02.2016

• Client stability has been improved.
• The “Custom” difficulty setting in custom battles has been fixed.
• The chance of ricochet has been reduced for all armour-piercing shells provided that the calibre of the shell exceeds the armour thickness by 2 or more times.
• A bug that caused spalling damage when penetrating two armour layers has been fixed. Previously it would be occasionally possible that after penetrating the first armour layer and not penetrating the second - interior spalling damage of the vehicle could still occur (e.g damaging a heavy tank whilst hitting its upper side with low-calibre fast-firing automatic cannons on SPAA vehicles).
• The chance of ammo rack detonation has been increased for ground vehicles with separate shell, primer and charges (for example Soviet heavy tanks of the IS series and other vehicles like M103, Jagdtiger).
• For SPAA equipped with automatic cannons, there is now a chance that ammunition can catch light or detonate when hit by enemy fire.
• Spalling effect after solid shells penetrate engines and transmission has been added for vehicles that use truck chassis.

10.02.2016

• Client stability has been improved.
• A bug in AB ground battles where the aiming marker turned green over armour that could not be penetrated has been fixed.
• A rare bug where a player was not able to choose the desired vehicle whilst having correct amount of spawn Points has been fixed.
• Destructible environment optimisation for buildings has been improved.
• Render of FX (particles) has been optimised

17.02.2016

• Client stability has been improved.
• An error which would show water vapor within the cockpit whilst flying through clouds has been fixed.
• An error relating to team selection in the dynamic campaign has been fixed.

18.02.2016

• A rare bug where the minimap for artillery strike was different from the game minimap has been fixed.
• The display of time in the “Repair speed” skill shown in the crew tab has been clarified.
• Shadows on the ground that are not connected to the player have become darker.
• Dropboxes in several menu tabs have been fixed.

19.02.2016

• Armour update for Conqueror Mk.2 (see Developers Diary)

20.02.2016

• Ricochet chance for HESH ammo at angles less than 30 degrees has been reduced
• Number of secondary fragments has been increased for HESH ammo

11.03.2016

The following vehicles have had their Battle Ratings updates:

• The BR of the М26 Pershing has been decreased to 6.3 in all game modes.
• The BR of the ТB-3 aircraft has been decreased to 1.3 in AB and RB.
• The BR of the Tiger II (P) has been decreased to 6.3 in AB and RB.