[World of Warships] News/Screens/Videos/Infos

[Galien]

Es wird angefangen für die europäische Closed Alpha zu rekrutieren - es müssen nur ein paar Anforderungen erfüllt werden:

Captains!
This is the announcement you’ve all been waiting for! We are starting recruitment for the World of Warships Closed Alpha Test. We’re looking for people dedicated enough to spend time participating in test sessions and write feedback in good English.
If you meet the criteria below, feel free to post your interest in this topic. We will be looking at (in decreasing order of importance):
• World of Warships forum activity (at least 150 good posts, no spamming)
• WoT and WoWp alpha test veterans
• experience in alpha testing other games
• being a professional tester, or an IT specialist
• proactivity and decency
What has NO effect on the application:
• amount of battles in WoT and WoWp
• win rate
• age
• country
• city
A few words of clarification:
You will notice that most of the requirements are the same, but the post count is lower than on the Russian forums – we did this because the overall post count and attendance are higher there, although I don’t think it will make a significant difference.

Unless you meet this minimum requirement you will not be able to post in this topic, but please do not start spamming posts just to meet it – we can see what you post and will verify.
This criterion is there to help us mitigate the risk of leaks by finding people who are really interested in this project and dedicated enough to spend time posting on these forums.
Also, be aware that we reserve the right to add, remove or change these requirements in the future and to withhold access to the CAT.
Access to and participation in the CAT will also depend on you signing a legally binding Non-Disclosure Agreement with Wargaming Europe, accepting test rules and regulations and attendance during testing sessions. Details on this and other particulars will be provided to eligible applicants.
If there are any questions to this, please ask them in a separate thread.
See you on the bridge, Captains.

http://forum.worldofwarships.eu/index.p ... cruitment/

Googleübersetzung (Öffnen)

Captains !
Dies ist die Ankündigung ihr alle gewartet haben ! Wir beginnen Rekrutierung für die World of Kriegsschiffe Closed Alpha Test . Wir suchen Menschen, genug Zeit zu verbringen Teilnahme an Test-Sessions und schreiben Rückmeldung in gutem Englisch gewidmet suchen .
Wenn Sie die unten aufgeführten Kriterien erfüllen , fühlen Sie sich frei , um Ihr Interesse an diesem Thema etwas zu posten . Wir werden ( in der Reihenfolge ihrer Bedeutung ) zu suchen :
• World of Kriegsschiffe im Forum ( mindestens 150 gute Beiträge , kein Spamming)
• WoT und wowp Alpha-Test -Veteranen
• Erfahrung in der Alpha-Test andere Spiele
• ein professioneller Tester, oder ein IT-Spezialist
• Eigeninitiative und Anstand
Was hat keine Auswirkung auf die Anwendung :
• Menge von Kämpfen in WoT und wowp
• Gewinnquote
• Alter
• Land
• Stadt
Ein paar Worte der Klarstellung :
Sie werden feststellen, dass die meisten der Anforderungen sind die gleichen , aber die Post-Zähler niedriger ist als die russischen Foren - wir taten dies, weil die gesamte Post-Zähler und die Teilnahme dort höher sind , obwohl ich nicht glaube, es wird einen signifikanten Unterschied machen .

Sofern Sie diese Mindestanforderung erfüllen Sie nicht in der Lage, in diesem Thema schreiben , aber bitte nicht starten Spamming Beiträge , nur um es zu erfüllen - wir können sehen, was Sie schreiben und überprüfen.
Dieses Kriterium ist es , die uns helfen zu mindern die Gefahr von Undichtigkeiten durch die Suche nach Menschen , die wirklich in diesem Projekt interessiert sind und genug Zeit zu verbringen Posting auf diesen Foren gewidmet .
Beachten Sie außerdem, dass wir das Recht zu ergänzen, zu entfernen oder zu ändern diese Anforderungen in der Zukunft und den Zugang zum CAT zurückzuhalten reservieren.
Der Zugang und die Teilnahme an der CAT wird auch auf Sie Unterzeichnung eines rechtsverbindlichen Non-Disclosure Agreement mit Wargaming Europa akzeptieren Test Vorschriften und Begleitung während Testsitzungen abhängen. Details zu diesem und anderen Angaben wird förderfähigen Antragstellern zur Verfügung gestellt werden .
Wenn es irgendwelche Fragen dazu sind , bitten Sie sie in einem separaten Thread .
Wir sehen uns auf der Brücke, Captains .

[Galien]

Beantwortung einiger Fragen zum Thema Gameplay:
http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/gameplay-department/

[Galien]

Es gibt nun auch einen Block zu World of Warships:
http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/hedgehogs-1/

[Galien]

Modules in World of Warships, pt. 1

Author: Andrey Gashkov, Lead Producer.

Whether in-game or in the real world, military vehicles are highly complex beasts. Outside the game, every real-world vehicle of war — be it ship, tank or plane — consists of numerous inter-connected parts that are required for the normal operation of the vehicle. The game environment doesn’t require military vehicles to simulate real-world mechanics right down to the individual nuts or bolts in order for them to move about and function as expected. But by design we have chosen to recreate some of the most important subsystems needed by real-world vehicles in-game in World of Warships. We call these individual parts modules and each one is capable of doing various things: shooting, rotating, moving. Of course, modules can also be destroyed…

Tanks and planes are relatively simple vehicles in-game and thus don’t feature many such modules. For instance, here’s a list of the main ones in World of Tanks: the gun, turret, engine, suspension, and radio. You might also want to include other important components and gadgets such as binoculars, the fuel tank and the ammo rack. The plane is even simpler: the engine, airframe and weapon. Additionally the wings, tail and fuel tanks are also accounted for in battle.

Warships, on the other hand, are a more complicated situation. One auxiliary twin-barrel turret essentially equals a tank in weight and the complexity of construction is also comparable. Now keep in mind that every ship may carry up to ten such turrets, and there might also be 3-4 even more complex main battery turrets, potentially in excess of 100 anti-aircraft gun placements, and then there’s also the torpedo launchers.

And that’s just the weapons! If we also include engine units (around 10 boilers, several turbines, 2-4 propellers) and the detection system (radars, etc.) the overall complexity expands exponentially. And we haven’t even mentioned naval aviation, with all the inherent aircraft catapults, hangars and deck lifts, making this list increasingly more extensive. So yes, let’s use a little irony and say that ships are “slightly” more complex than tanks and planes.

Now imagine a player who has grinded enough to be able to purchase a more sophisticated module and consequently has to change 30 AA placements manually in the dock. This doesn’t sound particularly fun, right? That’s why we introduced “functional components” instead of the more familiar World of Tanks term “modules”. (Note: Exact terminology may change during development.)

Though the interface will resemble the established and familiar module layout from World of Tanks and World of Warplanes, the large amount of individual modules are instead represented by one single functional component. Initially we came up with ten of these: main armament, auxiliary armament, torpedoes, AA placements, aviation, engines, detection system, fire control system, ship damage control system, and the radio. Additionally we should also mention the ship’s hull, where all the components mentioned above are situated.

As time passed, we decided to avoid using the radio module, as their presence in game would be powerful, revealing a large amount of the map and rendering the mechanic of spotting obsolete. We also combined the fire control system with the detection system, and the damage control system with the hull. This now brings us to 8 functional components: main armament, auxiliary armament, torpedoes, AA guns, aviation, engines, detection system/fire control system and hull.

To provide more detail on functional components, we’ll focus on the main armament component in the next article, available this Saturday.

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/modules-pt-1/

[Galien]

Modules in World of Warships, pt. 2

Functional Components in Detail: The Main Armament

As we explained in the first part of this article, in World of Warships, every functional component consists of a large number of individual modules. For instance, the “main armament” includes all relevant systems, such as turrets, aiming mechanisms, ammunition magazine, elevators for shells and charges, etc. All these individual-but-interconnected systems will be represented in-game in a unified form as the main armament functional component, without any need for the player to attend to each individual module. After research it will be sufficient just to replace the former component “Main Armament 356mm” by, for example, the new “Main Armament 406mm,” and thus causing all the individual modules to be replaced with upgrades in one shot.

During battle, all functional components and their inherent modules will work approximately the same way as they do in World of Tanks. So this will basically mean that hitting the main armament’s battery turret may inflict damage—including critical damage—or set it on fire, if the shell manages to pierce the armor. This is quite hard to do, as historically these subsystems have the thickest armor. The battleship “Yamato” was renowned for the 650mm thick armor plates on her main armament’s battery turret.

Piercing the 410mm armor that covered the magazine was also difficult, but a little easier; in the rare cases that this occurred it could lead to an immediate explosion of ammunition and the potential destruction of the ship. Actually this is what happened to British battlecruiser HMS “Hood” when she got hit by shells fired from a range of around 16,650 meters, by the German battleship “Bismarck”.

Damaged turrets will turn at lower speeds, the rate of fire may also be reduced, or a combination of both. A similar effect will take place in the case of magazine damage, well, if the player was lucky enough to survive the hit. You’re also able to repair some damaged turrets right in the heat of the battle, as long as you possess the required consumable.

However, unlike World of Tanks, a destroyed main armament turret will not be able to be repaired before the battle ends, though of course you may easily fix it in your dock afterwards. So it will be possible for skilled players to disarm their enemies in their initial attacks, or even to destroy the whole ship with a single salvo by carefully aiming in the right place. You should also keep in mind that cruisers and battleships suffer the most from armor-piercing shells, whereas destroyers may be easily handled by high explosive rounds. Such tricks usually demand close proximity: a dispersion ellipse radius of at least 20km range usually exceeds the size of the entire enemy ship.

Fire within the turret of the main armament is not the most pleasant thing for a vessel. Besides the fact that the burning turret will not be able to fire, there’s always the chance the fire will spread to the magazine and bring you to an explosive bitter end. From an outside perspective these fires can look quite realistic: a column of smoke rises, from which periodic flames shoot out. Obviously such fires should be extinguished as soon as possible.

The other functional components in World of Warships will behave in a similar manner. So damaging engines will cause the speed to decrease or may even completely stop you dead in the water, hitting the radar will shorten your sight radius, and damaged catapults cannot be used by reconnaissance planes to get airborne. To understand how every group of ship modules— every functional component —will work in World of Warships, you may want to take a look through historical books or relevant technical documents… or just wait for future articles in which we may explain them ourselves.
-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/modules-wows-pt-2/

[Galien]

Caption Contest pt. 2

Captains!

Do you remember our previous contest? Today again we would like you to submit your cool captions for this picture!

Rules:
It should bring out the sense of the illustration, be brief and non-vulgar, and of course be connected to the World of Warships universe.

Winner:
The chosen winner (announced on Wednesday, December 18th) will get an invitation to the World of Warships Closed Alpha test!

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/caption-contest-pt-2/

[Galien]

Tactical Deployment of Destroyers, pt. 1

Destroyers in World of Warships are designed to act just like the real thing. They are the quickest and most dynamic class of ships, ideally suited for fierce naval clashes. When in command of a destroyer, you won’t have time to get bored, as you will constantly need to make instant and correct decisions, or face becoming drowned under enemy fire.

Destroyers have reduced deadweight compared to other ships. Their high cruise speeds are a result of an inherent lack of armor protection. However, this is compensated for by enhanced torpedo and mine armament. Initially, their duty was to patrol offshore strips and anchorages, but the risk they faced led to a need for the ships to power up or move in squadrons. In a matter of several decades, these tiny torpedo boats transformed into powerful oceanic predators, now called “fleet destroyers” or just destroyers.

Their advantages and disadvantages are specifically due to the role that these ships are designed to fulfill. They are reliable and not too expensive, and can cope with vast majority of various combat missions, making them the true naval “workhorses”. One could easily fall for the fallacy that these small nimble ships are easy prey, but you shouldn’t underestimate them… destroyers are truly fierce vessels, more than capable of taking down ships far greater than their size, much like David defeating Goliath with a single well-aimed torpedo. Of course, smaller ships are even easier to encounter and destroy.

So, how should we utilize these ships to get the best out of them? Destroyers in World of Warships are versatile and quick vessels, requiring a careful strategy. They provide the most exciting gameplay, and will be enjoyable those who like a high adrenaline buzz – there is nothing quite like the mad heartbeat you get when you are on a suicidal torpedo attack run towards an enemy battleship. See the arrays of incoming shells of all calibres hitting the water nearby, all meant for your incessantly advancing ship. You’ll feel grateful that your opponent has a hard time aiming at such a modest target. The captain waits for the right moment to launch the torpedoes as your ship keeps closing in.

A bit closer… just a bit more… aaand… FIRE!

The destroyer turns away, wildly circling, and sets a smoke screen to cover its retreat from the enemy salvos. Now it’s your enemy who faces the threat of incoming torpedoes. The battleship starts turning to minimize the potential damage, but it is no use. The clumsy monster has no chance at all, and takes four solid hits to her broad side. That battleship is history, and this is a victory, a huge victory for a tiny ship.

The second part of this article will be posted on Thursday, December 26.

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/tactical ... yers-pt-1/

[Galien]

Tactical Deployment of Destroyers, pt. 2

This is the second part of this article. You can find part 1 here.

This brief battle story shows the possibilities of destroyers, and how their outstanding dynamics and dexterity can be used to your advantage; these ships really do gain speed easily and turn very swiftly. However, it may not be quite as smooth as think. Contrary to common belief, destroyers are not actually that much quicker than heavy ships, and have an even bigger turn radius. Also remember this law of hydrodynamics: the turn radius doesn’t depend on the speed, but it does drastically affect the ship’s handling. So, while destroyers are quite speedy and can easily change movement direction, you need to handle them carefully, as errors can easily lead you to the sea bottom.

When looking at the combination of the fragile hull, the high speed and the deadly torpedo launchers, certain clever tactics in battle can be considered:

1. Torpedo ambushes in straits and other narrow spaces. These tactics often make enemies dodge from incoming torpedoes, forcing them to run upon aground on the sands.
2. Standard attacks at maximum range for the torpedoes (around 20 km). This is a pretty cautious tactic that allows you to pop off shots with a low chance of accurate return fire. Of course, this trick lack preciseness, but it does give you a chance of hitting an enemy from a safe distance.
3. Close combat engagement. Of course, this is the most dangerous tactic; you have extremely good odds of hitting your target with a precise strike, but you also stand the risk of being hit by your enemies!

As well as the choice of tactics, you can also use smoke screens to increase your chances of survival. It will be possible to use several smoke charges during a battle. These can be used to conceal a torpedo attack or to cover allied ships from unnecessary hits. Don’t forget that World of Warships is a team-based game, so solo attacks may not be a good option against several opponents. It may often be a better choice to cover your allies.

Of course, you shouldn’t forget about artillery armament either. It may be easy to dismiss the value of your artillery, thinking that the low caliber cannons have no chance against the thick armor of a battleship. However, this would be a mistake! There are plenty of unarmored modules and AA guns on the ship’s superstructures that are susceptible to damage by your on-board artillery. Hitting these may reduce your enemy’s defensive capability against aerial attacks. This would make it possible for planes to strike and immediately sink the enemy whilst its weapons like dead. In addition, don’t forget about aerial covering of your allies. Stand in the way of the incoming enemy planes and protect your team-mates from their dive attacks. If you can help to save an allied ship, it could provide your team with a vital edge.

Destroyers are unique, versatile ships. They provide cool dynamics and the shot of adrenaline that makes you balance on the very edge. You shouldn’t treat them as ships for individual play – when these vessels are grouped into a “wolfpack”, they become a real danger, a serious threat to every opposing ship on the sea. In addition, the support that destroyers can provide to larger allied ships can prove truly game-changing, making it possible for them to survive longer under heavy enemy fire.

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/tactical ... yers-pt-2/

[Galien]

What Awaits World of Warships in the New Year? pt. 1

New Year — the perfect time to look back, take stock, draw conclusions, form plans for the future, and… go straight ahead and implement them! Though the game is still in a closed stage of testing, the developers decided to take a moment out to be open about how the project has changed over the past year and what to expect from World of Warships in the near future.

Also, of course, we want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Gameplay

Peter Porai-Koshitc, Head of Game Design

The main achievements that I would like to mention first are related to the creation of the core gameplay, including the introduction of the main game mechanics and subsequent adjustments to systems such as visibility, penetration, ballistics, class distinctions, and control. Just forming these core game systems has already made the game very fun to play.

Of course, many details still need to be worked out, but we will leave that for 2014. We have a large amount of game content incoming. At the moment there’s only a small amount of ships in-game, because we needed to deliberately limit them for our core gameplay tests. Currently we’re deep into the production of lots of new objects, on an industrial scale. There are many new ships to add to the game and all of them will require careful and thorough balancing.

There is also lots of work to be done in areas not as obvious or possibly seen as unimportant to the average player. For example, the dock, control systems, grinding progress, crews, and the economy — all of which are necessary for the game to run.

Andrey Lisak, Head of Gameplay

As well as the big and more notable improvements, we also performed a number of tiny tweaks to the gameplay, from adjustments to the behavior of planes through to visual effects that follow the movement of a ship. We also heavily optimized the game engine so that even despite running an extensive number of processes, the game runs significantly faster and smoother than it did in early 2013.

As for the next year, we plan to pay special attention to all the “trim” around the basic gameplay. Also, we can’t forget mentioning that the training battles and missions are also important and require further attention; we want to ensure that a newcomer experiences gradual and intuitive immersion into the game, including gaining experience with all ship systems and capabilities, before being able to enter truly dangerous waters. These are less obvious to end users, but they will become a prerequisite for the successful completion of the closed and open beta tests, prior to the creation of the final release version.

Historical Realism

Sergey Gornostaev, Historical Consultant

As you might have noticed, 2013 featured intensive collaboration with U.S. archives and researchers; for this we had a lot of help from freelance historian Akosh Gerkeli. Also our Japanese colleague from Wargaming Tokyo, Tadamasa Miyanaga, paid a visit to the Lesta studio this summer and kindly provided us with some rare research concerning the history of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Next year will surely be dedicated to strengthening the collaboration with organizations that we already have become acquainted with during World of Warships development, including archives and private researchers in Japan and countries in the former Soviet Union. The project is now in full swing and requires a large amount of historical information, a need we will certainly be aiming to satisfy!

The article will be continued on Tuesday, December 31.

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/what-awa ... -new-year/

[Galien]

What Awaits World of Warships in the New Year? pt. 2

We continue sharing our New Year’s plans with our players (part 1).
Now is the perfect time to discuss how the World of Warships universe is shaping up!

Graphics

Igor Kuzmin, Visual Design Lead

Last year was known for the introduction and development of new visual technologies, allowing for significant enrichment – in terms of colors, objects/textures, and details – of our game locations. The same changes were pervasive in the in-game special effects as well. We have started work on visual improvements with the goal of smoothly incorporating them into game. Light settings, glare, shadows – all these effects contribute to the overall image quality, step by step. And the community will soon see such changes.

On the other hand, we still have to keep our focus on excellent performance. We want beautiful effects and scenery to be available to all users, including those with lower-end PCs, but we have to consider the best methods to accomplish this goal. We have a distinct understanding of the limitations that we must abide by, so the aforementioned technologies will be included in World of Warships only after being thoroughly tested and optimized. Though there is still a lot of work to do, the end goal is to enable users who possess average-performing PCs to experience beautiful imagery while maintaining acceptable frame rates.


Roman Prozov, Visual Art Production Lead

The technologies that Igor mentioned offer us the potential to diversify maps in World of Warships by including a number of varied surface objects. We have explored detailed architecture based on specific rules. Such an approach allows us to achieve high details while also ensuring optimized performance.

As for the upcoming year, we have major plans involving the creation of maps with unique settings. The possibility to introduce land-based objects will guarantee that all locations will be as close as possible to their real-world counterparts.


Vladimir Gremitsky, Head of Art Department

During this past year, we managed to set a high production tempo, in both ship models and other content. Consequently, this led to an increased number of game models (approximately two to three times as many). Lots of other work was performed, though the major parts of it are not superficially obvious. Conditioned by the fact that we possess two teams of trainees, our 3D department identified designers who are now exclusively responsible for aviation and ground objects. Thus, even miscellaneous objects became more detailed, and the whole world became more diversified and realistic.

We paid extra attention to the quality and historical accuracy of the models that we created. Initially, we arranged two expeditions to American museum ships. These journeys provided us with more than 30,000 photos of military vehicles and vessels, and valuable archive materials that were later used for reference purposes. Moreover, our Art QA department was formed in 2013 – the guys there have perfect knowledge of naval history and vessels, and are capable of ensuring the quality and accuracy of in-game objects. They act as a filter for even the tiniest faults and they correct them swiftly.

So, we’re going to stay the course and continue with mass production of in-game content. World of Warships requires not only a vast number of ships, but those ships should maintain the superior quality and accuracy levels we demand.

Project Stages

Ivan Moroz, Director of Global Operations

One of the important milestones for 2013 was the Closed Alpha Test release – a milestone we proudly achieved. The upcoming year promises to be even more challenging and productive with Closed and Open Beta Testing and, consequently, the final release all on the horizon. These are all stages we plan to fulfill in 2014!

The closest goal for us now is preparing World of Warships for the Closed Beta Test stage. The game’s main elements should be almost finalized by that time, so players will have access to the majority of game components. Ultimately, the most complex part of the process is… the ships themselves. We should have lots of them (astute readers may have already gleaned a clue of their overall number). The development of each of these vessels – along with all cannons, modules, and other internal processes – is quite a job in and of itself. So, to ensure that World of Warships meets the public testing stages successfully, it must be tested and prepared carefully. That’s what we’re busy doing.

The article will be continued on Thursday, January 2.

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/the-new-year-pt-2/

[Galien]

What Awaits World of Warships in the New Year? pt. 3

We continue sharing our New Year’s plans with our players (part 1 and part 2).

Quality

Andrey Bezugliy, Lead Feature QA

I should say that we’ve grown significantly this year. There were only five of us in 2012, and since then, the company inherited a large QA department with a well-organized structure. We have tweaked testing automation processes and initiated the forming of performance QA (that’s where we track how a new feature affects framerates and overall PC performance). We’ve already started to get valuable feedback, so we’re going to track those factors as we progress.

Regarding the influx of players, I can’t help but mention the lead-up to the Closed Alpha Test stage. This year, we also started tweaking our method in providing the game client to our testers. Said method involves people from several different offices, and our activity is focused primarily on effective external distribution of client files, as well as the collection of correct statistics.

What are the plans for 2014? Less bugs, higher framerate!

Interfaces and Interactivity

Anton Artemov, Head of Interaction Development Department

We solved a rather complex task that can be explained in this way: we sought to provide a single person a convenient way to control a huge vessel with a crew of 300 to 3,000 people aboard without turning the game into a hardcore RTS. And, if I may say, we successfully fulfilled this task. 2014 will be dedicated to perfecting the gameplay to make it as approachable as it can be. We want our users not to fight with interface, but rather use it as a convenient tool for playing and enjoying the game.

Overview

Danny Volkov, Development Director



This year turned out to be rather hard. We had lots to do right from the beginning – we arranged focus tests and invited people to our studio. During those times, the game was quite raw and not that user-friendly. But, we managed to bring World of Warships to a significantly more presentable state, at which time the Closed Alpha Test stage started. Now, we watch our testers take their first in-game steps and have fun together. Of course, there’s still a lot of stuff to do! Lots of ideas must be improved to make it all easier, more intuitive and more interesting. We will correct some general issues and do our best to provide the initial tech trees as soon as possible. Other matters under consideration are graphics and performance improvements. Interface tweaking is also in our future plans. So, thank you for your feedback – we get it and consider it all very seriously. We’ll try our best to make sure you are satisfied and as excited as we are ourselves!

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/world-of ... 2014-pt-3/

[Galien]

Beta access – Wargaming Universe Month

Captains!

We’re pleased to share with you the news about our latest contest Wargaming Universe Month!

Celebrate the New Year in the Wargaming world by participating in special cross-game events during January! This special contest is called the Wargaming Universe Month.

The legendary Type 59, Beta accesses to World of Warships, premium planes, tons of gold and premium time are on the line.

Complete Activities for Points

During the entire month of January (January 2nd at 00:00 CET (GMT+1) to 30th at 00:00 CET) you are tasked with competing in various activities in either World of Tanks or World of Warplanes in order to earn points. You can of course complete activities in both games for more points!

Activities that award points include creative contests, regional contests, and in-game challenges. Depending on how well you perform in each activity, you will win a certain amount of points.

Throughout the month we will keep you updated with information on each new activity. Please check the current activities and the amount of points you can win.

For details check this post!

Good luck, Captains!

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/contest- ... rse-month/

[Galien]

Through the Eyes of an NA Alpha Tester – pt. 1

Author: Ariecho

When the signal was received to start maneuvering, the Yamato’s Captain gave the order to set a course that would lead the large ship into a line parallel to the first set of Pacific islands. Switching view, he could see one Iowa and another Yamato following, in line astern formation. On their port side, a few Fletcher and Shimakaze destroyers were also forming their own line, and in the distance, an aircraft carrier was getting in position. A battle was about to start, and already some aircraft were filling the air. Soon, they would be followed by large shells.

Hi! My forum name is Ariecho (pronounced Ariayko) but most people call me Ari. I am a resident of the North American forum, where I dedicate most of my time on daily threads dedicated to the real ships that we will eventually find in-game, or others who also served in the same time frame the game will cover. I had the chance a few weeks ago to be selected as an alpha tester for the game World of Warships, and I was asked if I wanted to share my experience with you.

When I discovered the game’s forum a year ago, I was immediately hooked not only by what I believed the game would be, but also by the community that was being created from scratch by both its members and the Wargaming team around us. A year later, when I was lucky enough to receive an email that many were looking to get as well, my expectations were on the line, but I had almost zero doubt about what I would see.

I said “almost”, because I will admit that I still had one question on my mind. Will the game look as beautiful as the screenshots that Wargaming is throwing at us from time to time? When the developers said that they were actual game footage, I told myself “yeah … right!”

So, when I was done downloading the game and clicked on the big red button that said “PLAY”, I crossed my fingers. The first thing that I did was to circle around the very few ships that were in my dockyard, and to take a good look at them. They looked gorgeous, animated, and alive. When the first game session was set and I could freely zoom at them at leisure, my question was answered. Yes, the screenshots are actual game footage, and yes, the ships look that beautiful.

Game sessions are very similar to World of Tanks, as you can imagine. You pick up a ship, and you are assigned to a team that consists of destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers. Each ship has her own feeling, her own sensations when you maneuver her, just like when you sit in two different cars, and you can feel the difference in power, maneuverability, and acceleration. Yes, get used to it, we call ships “she” for the most part, a naval tradition in most countries.

The first ship I tried was the battleship Yamato. I had to! Whether you like Japanese ships or not, she is a legend, and I wanted to see how impressive she looked. So, I zoomed as much as I could, and I was almost expecting to see little men in uniforms manning battle stations. The details on the ship are that great! When the game timer reached zero, and I ordered the ship to go to full power, I could feel the ship slowly but surely come to life, her turrets turning in the direction I was aiming at, and I could measure how big Yamato was, compared to anything around. Maneuvering the ship was very intuitive, and aiming at the enemy, eventually spotted by scout airplanes from our team also came like a second nature.

If you played artillery in World of Tanks, you will feel at home in World of Warships. It takes some time for your turrets to align (as it should), and eventually, you are being told that you are in a position to fire. My first salvo was directed at a Des Moines-class cruiser who had ventured ahead of her formation to create an anti-aircraft screen. I could see very clearly the wake generated by her hull and propellers, and little things falling from the sky, amid dark clouds generated by anti-aircraft artillery: friendly scout airplanes that the carrier was shooting at. A quick click on the left mouse button, and my first salvo of 18-inch shells was on its way. Within a few seconds, they were landing around the cruiser, creating gigantic geysers. One of them reached its target, and I could see the enemy ship slowing down, smoke coming from one of her turrets. The only thing missing was the smell of cordite…

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/through- ... ha-tester/

[Galien]

Through the Eyes of an NA Alpha Tester – pt. 2

Author: Ariecho


A look at my radar screen told me that I had aircraft inbound. It was time to play dodge. Switching view, I could clearly see torpedo bombers lining up and releasing their torpedoes. I guess I made a big target, now I had to check if it was nimble enough. I took a hit … or two … but Yamato is a big girl, and she survived the first air raid, helped by a nearby Fletcher who laid down a smokescreen to hide me from enemy aircraft. If you thought that team play was important in other games, here it is primordial.

I will pass on the rest of that game. I honestly don’t remember if my team won or lost. Even more honestly, at that time, I didn’t’t care, as I was more focused into looking at my ship, trying out her abilities, and checking out all the eye candy through the different view modes offered.

After (more than) satisfying my curiosity about the graphical delight the game was, as well as its functionality as far as commanding a ship was, I wanted to check other classes, and see if I could “feel” a difference. If you have played World of Tanks, you know that a Maus doesn’t handle like an AMX 13-90. So, I wondered how it would be in World of Warships.

While I’m talking about World of Tanks, the first difference that I noticed was that unlike tanks, ships don’t stop on a dime! When you have a 70,000-ton ship going at full speed, you can hit the brakes all you want (… if you find them…), she will take her sweet time to stop, as she should. Even smaller ships such as a Fletcher destroyer don’t have an emergency hand brake. You will have to deal with the ship’s inertia, whether you want to reverse course, or make hard turns.

The second ship I played was a Shimakaze-class destroyer. The difference was immediate! I ordered her to go to full speed, which she reached in a few seconds (remember that time has to be compressed in the game). When the starting position was clear of other ships, I also tried her turning abilities, and noticed how tight turns could be. In the game, destroyers can be used either defensively, providing smokescreens to capital ships, or offensively, with a combination of their speed and torpedoes. To make a last reference to World of Tanks, if you enjoyed “wolf packs”, destroyers are for you, although coordinating their moves and torpedo salvos will prove a bit more difficult.

While all the big ships were firing at each other, I checked my tactical map, and found an isolated ship, or so it seemed. At 40 knots, I set the destroyer in a bee line towards what appeared to be a Shōkaku aircraft carrier. Between her and I eventually appeared a lone Fletcher who bravely set herself in between the flat top and my destroyer, coming down at her at 40 knots. At a distance of 6 kilometers, my ship hit the rudder hard to port side, unveiling her 15 torpedo tubes. Within a few seconds, the sound of torpedoes hitting the water could be heard, but also the noise of shells from enemy ships trying to defend their aircraft carrier and firing back at me. It was time for a tactical retreat while checking if the torpedoes were doing their job.

Switching view again, I checked the Fletcher, and saw her almost rise in the air before breaking in half and rapidly disappearing. It was my first kill, maybe not an aircraft carrier, but still a good satisfaction. So busy was I checking the Fletcher slowly disappear that I didn’t listen to the warnings announcing the arrival of enemy dive bombers. The screen froze for a second, before I saw my own ship disappear from the surface. It didn’t matter, I was ready to go for the next class.

Part 3 will be published this Thursday, January 9.

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/na-alpha-tester-pt-2/

[Galien]

Through the Eyes of an NA Alpha Tester – pt. 3

Author: Ariecho

I set my mind on an Essex-class aircraft carrier. The mission and feeling were again different. I stayed in the back of the map, and as soon as I felt that my ship was moving (slowly) in the right direction, I set up a scout aircraft in the air to spot the enemy formation. Aircraft carriers are not the only ships to have scout airplanes. Some other large types of ships also have a few.

Through TeamSpeak, I communicated my intentions to my team, and one of my teammates copied my moves with his Des Moines-class cruiser, who we consider THE aircraft killer in the game. After a moment, the icon of an enemy battleship appeared, and it was time to try out offensive aircraft. I selected a torpedo bomber squadron, a dive bomber squadron, and sent them towards the enemy battleship. Again, the interface was easy enough that it was very easy to give the game my orders.

Because it was the first time, I’ll admit that I switched view to see my aircraft take off. Beautiful! Of course, I won’t do that in a “real” game, but I had to do it once. Aircraft carriers are not your World of Tanks’ artillery. They are more than that! Because it was my first battle, I forgot to send some fighter aircraft with my bombers, which didn’t end very well (a lesson well learned since then), but instead formed a cover air patrol on top of our battleships. That was equally important, but since then, I have learned to do both. Rome was not built in one day, right?

I’ll finish with the cruisers, who amazed me. I will admit that I didn’t know how they would perform in the game. You won’t go after a battleship with them, so what to do? This is where the game shines. The selection of cruisers, whether you pick a Des Moines or any other type (whose names I am afraid to reveal and breach any NDA) will provide a different type of game. Some have torpedoes, some don’t, some have pretty decent primary weapons, and others are all about anti-aircraft duties. They all differ, and Wargaming was able to reenact these differences, as well as the different concepts, whether the ships are Japanese or Americans, the only two nations that we test right now.

To conclude, all the questions that I had before the game were answered after one or two sessions:

Are the graphics phenomenal? YES!
Do ships “feel” different? YES!
Do ships of a same category feel different? YES again!
Do cruisers have a role to play in the game? YES!
Is the game’s immersion fast? YES!
Do you feel the difference between tiers? YES!
Is the game ready? … No, but I can assure you that (without breaking any NDA rule), the game is very polished. We are still in the starting part of testing bugs, but it is in better shape than games that I tested in a beta phase.

Despite being very positive about the game, I am not what you can call a “fan boy”, and I let the team know of what I don’t like, whether it is in the forums or in the game. However, I’d like to tell you that Wargaming has put around the testers a team of people who know what they are doing, are not afraid to communicate despite sometimes the language barriers, and even to come at what is an ungodly hour where they live, to help us test in the North American sessions. To those, I’d like to say thank you. The way things are going, and the way testers are serious about hunting bugs … yes … there are some … I’m confident that we’ll have a great game whenever the team decides to release it. I look forward to welcoming you all either in alpha, beta, or when the game is going gold.

Oh, and if you see a guy named JeeWeeJ in your game session, please destroy him first…

Ari out! Thank you for your attention.

-> http://blog.worldofwarships.eu/through- ... ster-pt-3/