Update 0.24 Caribbean Crisis Part II

Features

 * New dealer with a branch of light vehicles
 * VT-4 Main Battle Tank
 * New commander
 * Final mission of the first Special Operation
 * New map “Alpine Valley” for Global Operations

New Dealer
In this update, we’re introducing a new dealer called Oscar Faraday. Born in Warwick, Great Britain, Oscar Faraday is the epitome of a British gentleman. But don’t let his smooth look and calm demeanor fool you – he’s one of the most dangerous people on the planet. Trained by the famous British MI5 secret service, he learned to appreciate finesse, preferring stealth over brute force during his decades-long career as His Majesty’s cold-hearted killer.



His choice of vehicles reflects his nature – he offers machines capable taking out targets quickly but, most importantly, silently. Many of his machines also have unique features, described in existing or upcoming detailed articles.

These vehicles include:

Another Tier 10 Tank Destroyer, the Kornet EM, will appear in one of the 0.24 updates, coming in the near future!
 * Tier 5 AFV: Rooikat (read more)
 * Tier 6 TD: EE-18 Sucuri II (read more)
 * Tier 7 TD: NM142 (read more)
 * Tier 8 TD: Sprut-SD (read more)
 * Tier 8 Premium LT: ASCOD LT-105 (read more)
 * Tier 10 LT: K21 XC8 (read more)

Each of these vehicles is unique to a degree. The Rooikat is slow for its Tier and Class, but it is well armored and has high view range, making it a potent passive scout. The Sucuri II on the other hand is a classic wheeled Tank Destroyer. Its unique ability is its Boomerang suspension, allowing it to reach places where other wheeled vehicles couldn’t go. The NM142 Tank Destroyer is, on the other hand, a typical missile carrier. It is unique in its ability to fire Top Attack missiles that target thin roof armor. This makes it an excellent tool in your fight against static entrenched MBTs. The Tier 8 Sprut-SD is a very agile tracked vehicle with a powerful gun but with very thin armor – in skilled hands, it becomes a truly deadly tool. And, last but not least, there’s the K21 XC8 Light Tank that can use the Designate Target AFV ability and is perhaps the best vehicle in the game when it comes to fast flanking maneuvers.



The ASCOD LT-105 Premium Light Tank, also available in the game for Gold, is the first premium vehicle on which you can select one of two alternative turrets – either a manned one that is larger but has better ammunition, or an unmanned one that can fire in bursts but is inferior in penetration and accuracy.

This dealer himself is also unique in several aspects.

First, it does not start on Tier 1, but on Tier 5 with the Rooikat AFV. In order to start unlocking his vehicles, players have to own at least one Tier 5 progression vehicle.

Secondly, ingame Reputation is not used as the primary currency for this dealer. In order to unlock each vehicle, certain goals (achievements) have to be completed. For example, to unlock the Tier 6 Rooikat, one of the following conditions has to be met:


 * Deal 75.000 damage using a Tier 5 or higher Light Tank in PvP
 * Deal 300.000 damage using a Tier 5 or higher Light Tank in Global Operations
 * Deal 600.000 damage using a Tier 5 or higher Light Tank in PvE

The progression is also not strictly linear:


 * Tier 5, Tier 6 and Tier 7 vehicles can be unlocked independently on each other by completing their achievements
 * Tier 8 vehicle is available to unlock once all three previous vehicles are unlocked
 * Tier 10 vehicles are available to unlock once all four previous vehicles are unlocked



Once unlocked, each vehicle is upgraded by standard means, although, apart from modules, the new vehicles offer a number of interesting bonuses unlockable for Reputation, including:


 * Platinum Loot Crates
 * Base colors
 * Camouflage patterns
 * Decals
 * Player titles
 * Player avatars
 * Unique commander

We hope that you will enjoy this new dealer and his vehicles!

VT-4 Main Battle Tank
In Update 0.24, we are also introducing one new progression Tier 8 Main Battle Tank to Zhang Feng’s vehicle pool – the Tier 8 VT-4!



The VT-4 is a modern Chinese export vehicle. Armed with a 125mm smoothbore gun, it currently represents the best any country without its own tank development program can buy on an open market. You can read more about it in a dedicated article.

New Commander
A new commander called Andrey Zaytsev is available for unlocking all the progression vehicles of the new dealer.

Andrey Zaytsev was born in Baranovichi, Belarus. As a child, he excelled in mathematics and had no interest in a military career. However, during his mandatory one-year service, he has proven himself as an excellent tank gunner. As a result, he decided to stay in the army and gradually shifted his interests towards PMCs. Following several successful operations, he was promoted to the role of a vehicle commander.



In Armored Warfare, Andrey Zaytsev is a sniper commander intended for long range gameplay and offering excellent bonuses for this role as long as the vehicle he commands remains stationary.

Final Mission of the “Caribbean Crisis” Story Arc
Update 0.24 concludes the first Special Operation with a vicious fight for survival against the forces of Clayburn Industries in Jamaica, sent in to destroy all targets regardless of any previous affiliations. The players must ally themselves with Magnus Holter to survive the corporate onslaught. More of the story will be revealed during the mission itself!

There are four new achievements in the mission:


 * For completing the fourth mission of the Caribbean Crisis Special Operation
 * For destroying enemy officers
 * For receiving all other achievements of the Special Operation
 * A secret achievement

Please note that the fourth mission of the first Special Operation now counts as “the last mission of the first Special Operation” for the purpose of achievement requirements (if an achievement needs to be completed in “the last mission”, it will, from the point of 0.24 introduction, be the fourth mission, not the third one).

New map “Alpine Valley” for Global Operations
Narrow gorges of Switzerland, surrounded by titanic mountains, are perhaps not the best terrain for armored vehicle operations, but warriors go where they are needed, regardless of whether they fight out of sense of duty or for cold, hard cash. War has come to this alpine valley and it’s your task to root out the enemy and control this strategic location for your client, commander.



The new large Alpine Valley map for Global Operations features three wildcards, two of which are brand new:


 * Helicopters, flying around while spotting and firing at the enemy
 * Artillery, shelling the opposing forces at long distances
 * Airstrikes by bomber jets

You can read more about the map in a dedicated article.

General Changes

 * AFK and inactive players will no longer receive the base payment for battle participation which would normally prevent them from lose credits in a battle
 * Improved Spall Liner retrofit now reduces internal module damage by 25% or 50% (for v2)
 * Updated the description of PvE consumables to correspond to their actual mechanics
 * Order of the Captor will no longer be awarded for battles that end up with a drew (simultaneous base capture)
 * We changed the way crew saving throws work – in a case of a successful saving throw, the crew will now take 15 percent damage instead of the damage being completely negated
 * Changed the icon of the “Specialist” commander skill
 * Recon and Master Gunner medals are now possible to obtain in Special Operations
 * We changed the way consumable stacking works – if you take two repair kits or med kits to battle (a larger one and a smaller one) at the same time, only the larger bonus of the two will work (they no longer stack)
 * Updated the description of several Epic Medals
 * Fixed the “Stuck on Authentication” issue
 * The In Your Face challenge (dealing damage while being within 150 meters) has been removed from the list of challenges

PvE AI Behavior Changes
In Update 0.24, in order to address the AI ATGM damage output, we are introducing two changes with significant impact on AI behavior:


 * The AI team composition was adjusted to include fewer vehicles that rely heavily on guided missiles
 * We adjusted the rules for AI module damage dealing and targeting in order to eliminate the cases where the AI opponents keep your modules permanently destroyed (this change applies to non-ATGM damage as well)

These changes, along with the previously introduced ATGM rate of fire reduction, will bring the general AI ATGM damage output to the desired levels.

New Vehicles
We are introducing the following new vehicles in Update 0.24 along with a new dealer, Oscar Faraday.


 * Rooikat 76 Tier 5 AFV
 * EE-18 Sucuri Tier 6 TD
 * NM142 Tier 7 TD
 * Sprut-SD Tier 8 TD
 * ASCOD LT-105 Tier 8 Premium LT
 * K21 XC8 Tier 10 LT
 * VT4 Tier 8 MBT (available in Zhang Feng’s vehicle pool)

The following items will also be available from this new dealer:


 * 3 dealer decals
 * 2 dealer avatars (one of them animated)
 * 3 player titles
 * 3 base colors
 * New commander (sniper style, his basic ability is an increase of camouflage factor when stationary)

Gun Materiel Adjustments
The following vehicles had their gun module materiel adjusted in order for their armor to behave as accurately as possible:


 * 2S1 Gvozdika
 * BMPT Prototype (standard, Reaper, Sapphire)
 * BMD-2M
 * BMD-2 (standard, Black Eagle, Wolf)
 * Wiesel 1 HOT (standard, Wolf)
 * FV721 Fox (standard, Shark)
 * BMP-1P
 * M2A3 Bradley
 * BMP-2
 * BMD-1P

Module Changes
The following vehicles had their Improved Ammo Feeder module (reload speed increase) exchanged for a new module called Improved Gun-Laying Drive (aim speed increase):


 * LAV-150
 * Scimitar
 * Rosomak
 * Rosomak M1

Furthermore, the following vehicles receive the Improved Gun-Laying Drive module in addition to their existing modules:


 * BMD-2 (standard, Black Eagle, Wolf)
 * BMD-2M
 * BMP-2
 * BMP-3
 * BMP-3M
 * ZBL-08
 * SPHINX
 * T-15

B1 Centauro


 * Renamed the stock APFSDS ammunition to DM53 for historical accuracy

BMPT Prototype


 * Adjusted the armor to contain more armor zones for increased model accuracy

BMPT Reaper


 * Adjusted the armor to contain more armor zones for increased model accuracy

BMPT Terminator
 * Adjusted the armor to contain more armor zones for increased model accuracy

BMPT Terminator 2


 * Adjusted the armor to contain more armor zones for increased model accuracy

C1 Ariete
 * Rate of fire changed from 5,5 to 6 rounds per minute

Dragoon 300
 * Fixed the issue that caused the guided missile round to reload longer than other rounds

Challenger 1
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 30 to 26 degrees
 * Hitpoints changed from 3000 to 3700
 * Rate of fire changed from 5,45 to 5 rounds per minute

Challenger 1 FALCON Challenger 2
 * Hitpoints changed from 3000 to 3200
 * Fixed the side armor values
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 28 to 26 degrees
 * Hitpoints changed from 3350 to 4000
 * Rate of fire changed from 5,5 to 5,25 rounds per minute

Challenger 2 ATDU


 * Fixed the side armor values
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 28 to 26 degrees
 * Hitpoints changed from 3700 to 4200

Chieftain 900


 * Turret hatch (previously a weakspot that received lowered damage) is now “sunk” into the main body of the tank and receives full damage
 * Fixed the bugged armor around gunner’s sights
 * Hitpoints changed from 2850 to 3050

Kpz-70
 * Hitpoints changed from 2435 to 2600

Leopard 1
 * Renamed the improved APDS ammunition to DM23A2 for historical accuracy

Leopard 2
 * Hitpoints changed from 3050 to 2850

Leopard 2A5
 * Hitpoints changed from 3100 to 3000

Leopard 2A6
 * UI armor values in the Garage corrected

Leopard 2AX
 * Significantly improved the armor of the top part of its gun mantlet

M1 Abrams
 * Hitpoints changed from 2750 to 2850

M1A1 Abrams
 * Hitpoints changed from 2800 to 3050

M1A1 AIM
 * Hitpoints changed from 2800 to 3200

M1A2 SEP V3
 * This vehicle now has its correct engine sound (gas turbine)
 * Hitpoints changed from 3250 to 3400
 * Rate of fire changed from 5,5 to 6 rounds per minute

M551 Sheridan
 * Updated the vehicle icon

M60-2000
 * Hitpoints changed from 2750 to 2950

MBT-70
 * Hitpoints changed from 2435 to 2700

Merkava Mk.2D
 * Hull bottom thickness reduced to 25mm

Merkava Mk.2D Black Eagle
 * Hull bottom thickness reduced to 25mm
 * Fixed the incorrect gun depression value in the Garage

Object 640 Black Eagle Sabra Mk.2
 * The price for which it can be sold was increased to 5.000.000 Credits
 * It’s now possible to actually damage the internal ammo rack

ST1
 * Gun depression (when the gun is facing to the side of the vehicle) changed from -10 degrees to -8 degrees
 * Fixed the incorrect Reputation value
 * Adjusted the M900 shell damage to correspond to that of the WWO Wilk

T-15
 * Fixed the bug where the camouflage incorrectly appeared on roadwheels

T-72A
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 34 to 36 degrees

T-72B


 * Turret traverse rate changed from 34 to 38 degrees

T-72B3
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 38 to 39 degrees

T-72M2 Wilk
 * Fixed the reverse speed of the vehicle
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 34 to 36 degrees

T-80
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 40 to 39 degrees

T-80U
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 40 to 41 degrees

T-90
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 34 to 39 degrees

T-90A
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 38 to 40 degrees

T-90MS
 * Turret traverse rate changed from 38 to 40 degrees

Type 99A2 Wilk XC8
 * Fixed the incorrect hull traverse and acceleration values in the Garage
 * Fixed the incorrect engine values in the Garage
 * Fixed the autoloader damage penalty – with a damaged autoloader, the vehicle now reloads 10 percent slower and with a destroyed autoloader, 75% slower

WWO Wilk


 * Adjusted the M900 shell damage to correspond to that of the ST1
 * Fixed the camouflage that now appears on all parts of the vehicle

XM1
 * Hitpoints changed from 2450 to 2850

Alabino Proving Grounds
 * Fixed the vehicle “drifting” when crossing a bridge

Player versus Player
 * Chemical Plant – fixed the bug that allowed players to drive beyond map borders
 * Chemical Plant – fixed several places that made vehicles stuck when driving over them
 * River Point – it’s possible to drive to the E2-G2 hill from both sides now
 * Ghost Field – introduced several balance changes

Player versus Environment
 * The following missions were completely overhauled: Snakebite, Tsunami
 * Frost Bite – fixed the issue that caused secondary objectives to sometimes become impossible to complete

Global Operations


 * Waterway – fixed a bug that caused the AC-130 to become activated twice

Special Operations

We are introducing the last mission of the Caribbean Crisis. There are four new achievements in the mission:
 * For completing the fourth mission of the Caribbean Crisis Special Operation
 * For destroying enemy officers
 * For receiving all other achievements of the Special Operation
 * A secret achievement

Please note that the fourth mission of the first Special Operation now counts as “the last mission of the first Special Operation” for the purpose of achievement requirements (if an achievement needs to be completed in “the last mission”, it will, from the point of 0.24 introduction, be the fourth mission, not the third one).

User Interface

 * Changed the way the Commander Experience is displayed in the Barrack: the bright red bar now displays the level to which a commander can be promoted using the Advance button for Global Reputation while the pale red bar shows the actual commander experience
 * Fixed the lower buttons in the Barracks window on low resolutions
 * Muted (chat-banned) players will now receive a proper message about their condition
 * Booster timer now updates faster when returning from the queue to the Garage
 * The “Battle” button now shows the status of your selected vehicle (it will not be available if the vehicle has no shells loaded or the selected mode is not available to it)
 * Fixed a situation where the vehicle sale process warnings were not functioning correctly

Issues and Corrections

 * Fixed a bug where players sometimes received a “splash damage” message even though they fired APFSDS shells
 * Fixed a bug where some vehicle models did not display penetration decals properly
 * Fixed the appearance of wooden handles of various tools attached to tanks so that they don’t look metallic
 * Fixed a bug where destroying an autoloader had no influence on an already ongoing loading cycle
 * Fixed a bug where the engine module on the Upgrade screen appeared in the Firepower category instead of Mobility
 * Fixed a bug where completing the challenges that required players to play a certain type of vehicle did not count properly in several cases
 * Fixed a bug that caused the screen to become black if a player changed the graphics settings from minimum to maximum while in night vision mode
 * Fixed the light and mud effects when in the night vision mode
 * Fixed a bug that caused rare crashes when exiting a battle to your Garage
 * Improved the processes to reduce the client size, better optimized the client for 32bit systems