Meplat

Is it a Lowe?

Inviso rocks and netcode teleportation is still very much "a thing"..

"You have 8,000 battles but you didn't play three games today? YOU DON'T GET TO HAVE OPINIONS."

That is putting it mildly in some cases. 

There are some players who have been involved since the game's inception, trying to make the game better and help others have fun in it, and this one stupid act by Gaijin seems to have pushed them over the edge.

I'm betting the staff at WG are "Sensibly Chuckling " at what Gaijin has done. Between how they're nerfbatting U.S TD's, and chasing people out of their forums, they are basically chasing customers toward Wargaming's offerings.

It's amusing to think that the one thing that saves WoWP is Gaijin shooting itself in the foot, then expiring of the resultant customer exsanguination, because they were too stupid and stubborn to do anything about it.

Who knows? Maybe there were instances of Germans using blank rounds as a way to distract enemy troops or cover a retreat. And with the supply situation being as dire as it was for the average German infantryman at the end of the war, maybe there were situations where they had literally nothing left. Or, given the quality of some of the SS and Volkssturm units, it's possible they didn't know the difference.

 

I can imagine the reaction, though, of some canny American NCOs when they realized that the machine-gun nest in front of them was using blanks.

 Because the BFA for the '42 is a clunky affair, and was usually kept well guarded by the local waffenmeister, lest some hamfist mount it and try to fire service loads.

It's not like clipping on the BFA for a '60 or M-16. You were replacing the booster assembly.

I used to work in a gunshop/surplus store.

It was like a singularity of absurdity when it came to attracting bullshitters and range-commandos.

Gaijin has a new feature on the Russian forums to discourage people from bitching about the quality of the game: play three games a day, or you don't get to post.

They are trying to implement it in the NA forum as well.

http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/240857-news-game-activity-and-forum-permissions/

Early AR-15's were nasty because the projo was marginally stable in atmosphere, not because it was tumbling after it left the bore. People who believe it's coming out like some kind of methed up acrobat are also the first to claim the AR "shits where it eats" and that the AK/AKM will chamber and fire 7,62 NATO because "they was in da 'Nam".

All gunshop/range bullshit aside-

That yawing is not as uncommon as one would think. An interesting study done by Julian Hatcher on the M2AP round found that it's penetrative abilities were reduced somewhat, inward of 300 yards, because the projo had not yet stabilized.

Semi-related, as far as slogans...

There is an add-on for Firefox that will let you view 1080, at a "normal" framerate.

The one I use is "youtube flash video player", I'm sure there are others..

IIRC the videos will also work with Chrome, but I've been using FF for a long time now.. Not going to change because of youtube vids.

Gaijin has some of the most hilariously screwed up gunnery and shot damage modelling I've seen yet. 

M-18 bouncing a Pzgr39? Check! (I had to stop playing, I was laughing so hard)

PzKfwII bouncing the 76mm M62? Check! (seen it numerous times..)

38T unaffected by a 105mm HE shot? Yep, checkamundo.

And the real winner- I-15 unaffected by 105mm HE.  Hit indicated by game, shell makes a big fluffy cloud, plane continues on unimpeded.

Basically it's a game of "pin the tail on the donkey", except you have to pin numerous tails on the same donkey, in specific places, (and it's a real donkey.)

Just some nice photos (and art)-

Interesting guns, the bedding is semi-critical to their operation though.  Great candidates for pillar bedding.

Making a second forward handguard and relieving it to allow gas adjustment was another modification I've done.

The sole problem I had reloading for the '49, was primer cup hardness.

Even then seems the '49 is rather controllable, in an uncontrolled slam-fire condition....

I haven't got the leaflet. It was in English, not German, aimed at Allied troops, not German ones. I can not find a link.

 

Meplat, let me just edit this as I think you misunderstand my intent - 

 

1. I do NOT believe that the Sherman was referred to as a Ronson by Allied troops during the war. Possible exceptions being the flamethrower variants and then used in a complimentary manner rather than a dismissive one.

 

2. I was merely pointing out that the expression "lights every time" was a wartime advertising slogan, but for Zippo, not Ronson lighters.

 

3. I am 60 years of age and have being doing historical research in military affairs long before the internet and probably long before you were born. I am pretty sure I have seen a German propaganda leaflet referring - in English - to Sherman's lighting every time. I do not have a link to said leaflet

I was just hoping you had a copy of the paper...

I did not know this.  I have been in four Hellcats in the US, all in movie use, and I actually spun the turret on one, and the turret was a shock at how accurate you could move it. I assumed its light feel was the gyro.  An here I mean when the M18 was moving I was able to not only keep a crosshair on a stationary target, but swing between two targets.  I wonder if the quality of the turret movement is related to weight of the turret?

Oh no, the stabs of that era would only operate in elevation anyhow, and in the '18 it's manual El, power/manual Az. 

Now a lot of the live M18's have the power traverse deactivated for "normal" use, because it's stupidly fast.  Like carnival-ride quick. SO depending on which gear you have the manual traverse in, it can spin pretty fast.  I'm told the SOP was to leave the manual in high ratio, and use the power for quick/coarse adjustment and the manual for fine.

The only time I'm cranking on it though is when the silly thing is broken down.. Usually to get to the batteries.. It's easy to spin because the mount is well balanced, and there's a huge assed radio in the bustle.

I have no intention of getting too involved in the "Ronson debate", nor complicate matters further.  However, have a look at at wartime advertising for Ronson's competitor, Zippo. You will find the expression "lights every time" used as an advertising slogan. In addition, I am pretty sure that I have seen a Nazi propaganda leaflet referring to Sherman's with the phrase "lights every time"

 

Just for the record, I do not think Sherman's were more likely to burn than other WWII tanks, especially once wet storage of ammunition came into use.

 

Cheers

Marsh

Post the leaflet. Easy enough. I read German.

In the case of a serious scenario sim, I agree, you are simulating a set of events.  You can "bias" to try and enhance the realism.

However that is not the case with Warthunder.  It's a vehicle simulator where you are facing opponents in numbers the real vehicle never saw.  (Me262's facing F86's for example. Yes, it happens.)

I know what you mean about the "maintaining the image" as well, but at that point can you call it a "historically accurate simulation" ? Eventually you chase all your customers off (Something Gaijin seems unusually apt at)

An aside-

the M-18 did not mount a gyrostabilizer. Just a scarily fast power traverse. (image related)- The handwheel to the far right is the manual elevation (very light and fast), then you see a knob on a lever, that's the manual firing lever. Then the pistol-grip of the power traverse, and the vertical crank off the manual traverse (two speed).

That's no different from the dumbass who shows up to said DQ or highway with their bro-truck, showing off and generally acting a tool.

The focus though is not on "Morons will be morons", rather their posessions while acting like morons.

Apparently it's socially acceptable for them to act like attention hogs in a shadily modified vehicle of dubious safety, than it is for them to walk around with a demonstrably less lethal firearm.

They did this to the M4 as well. Had the radiator horizontally mounted across the top of the engine. The current M41 still has some wacky "radiator".

More howlers in that M3 image are the locations of the fuel cell, and the munitions racks.  It's like they just threw parts in the hull and gave it a brisk shake.

The really stupid part is- They implemented the vehicles this way.

It was as if the people they paid to make test and approve the models could not be bothered to crack a book, of any kind, to proofcheck their work before introducing some ridiculous modelling such as that.

Eventually after many many bug reports they -kind of- fixed some of the really glaring bugs, but it's as if they literally have nobody checking the finished work before rubber-stamping it out the door.

The M-18, the model looks okay, but because of the 'cat's performance it quickly became a source for complaint because of how Gaijin cobbled it's ground forces terrain modelling (and their ridiculous maps/missions, and laughable damage modelling. All that aside-).

A vehicle that could do 50 MPH over flat terrain is going to win a countdown based capture the flag map far more effectively than a Tiger I or IS..

That's not the fault of the vehicle, that's crappy implementation and map design.

SO how does Gaijin address this?

Nerf the M-18. In numerous ways.

Brilliant!

No, let's not take a step back and try to fix the numerous glaring faults this vehicle presented with our game mechanics, instead let's ignore historical data and make the machine fit those ridiculous parameters. It's not as if anyone will notice! (Five + threads and hundreds of pages of posts, and still climbing..)

This is a company who's sole difference from Wargaming's offerings is this facade of "historical accuracy" , when in practice they are more than willing to claim "secret test documents" when beaten over the head with a copy of "Armored Thunderbolt" or "Sherman".  (Or actual A/C flight manuals.. Their flight model justifications for many soviet aircraft consist of a two sentence paragraph, usually "The aircraft displayed superb climb and performance tendencies", while doing things like introducing the P-38J with the flight parameters of the non turbo-supercharged Mod 322 then basically ignoring the bug reports for over a year).

Wargaming at least took the road of "Hey, it's a game, we'll keep em close but expect "balance".

Gaijin on the other hand made a huge deal of "historical accuracy" then fails to even crack a book to proof their models.   

The sad thing is I'm not even talking doctrinal useage.  It's basic things, like... Well, here, this is an example of the "quality" of research--

Yes.

Those are radiators.

In a M3 Stuart...

Is that including ancillaries like the radiators? Water cooled engines ought to have a better engine block volume : displacement ratio, since you can pack the cylinders closer together.

Kind of-

It depends on how the liquid cooled mill is designed and what it's intended fuel is. Dry sleeved Diesel engines for example can be surprisingly bulky for their displacement.

Also- Continental had pretty much figured out how to make an air cooled mill very compact, by the time that engine was made.

Should have been arrested for that stupid haircut.

 

I hate open carry types. They're pretty much universally doing it for attention, and help increase the gap between anti-gun believers and responsible gun owners.

Stay out of Arizona then. It's pretty common here.

The only time I find it ridiculous is if the person is not using their head. Like the guy OC'ing a PM in some goofy low ride tacticool holster.

The reactions from the tourists in the Prescott area to the ranch-hands that come into town is pretty hilarious as well.

They usually think the guy is some kind of re-enactor, and that the revolver on his hip is a dummy or replica. Once witnessed some doofus chastizing a guy because the SiG he was carrying "was not a proper gun for the era he was representing". 

The cowhand was looking very confused as to who this moron was, and why he was impeding his progress into the Fry's for his 30 pack of Coors.

The public image of OC folks being represented by people like "Fatty&Snowboots"  is the result of a lot of media spin, and not an actual unbiased sampling.

There are a lot of places in the U.S. where OC is a non issue.

How are they?

' Disregard historical documents, obtain "balance" '.

Gaijin literlly pulled out the "Secret Russian tests" card to justify the changes, though that seems to be par for the course for that group.

Aytime conflicting data is presented, for the most part they refuse to change it, or term things like P38 flight manuals and Hunnicutt's works as " Not of a historical nature" or some nonsense.

Yes, you see this with the modeling of the Hellcat in most games.  In real life the Hellcat was only defeated 80 times by other tanks (mines and infantry weapons did another 80 or so).  There are more than a dozen AARs where M18 platoons took 5 to 1 against Panthers, Tigers, and MkIVs including Arracourt and Noville.

 

Play an M18 platoon in ASL or CM and you basically will get killed by a single MKIV, even if you use realistic tactics.  Your MkIV is impervious to the 76mm at unrealistically long ranges, and even though its turret cannot spin fast enough to rack a hit on the M18 few games will simulate this.  

Just look at how Wargaming and Gaijin are handling it now...

Funny, that's basically a gun regulation argument.

Anyway, people who treat their technology like magic annoy me. If you own and operate something, you should at least be capable of performing basic maintenance on it. This includes cars, computers and houses.

When I was in HS, you hd to take a semester of basic autoshop, before the school would let you take driver's ed.

That went away pretty quickly in the 90's.

Autoshop is icky and gross you know, and all mechanics are dumb, so I'm sure it made "sense" to some schoolboard admin.

.....My, Fucking, God.

 

There really needs to be tighter regulation for who can be granted a license at the DMV. for more reference to why, see: any Driver in Chicago, NYC, or anywhere in California ever.

 

Though, have a gun on me has never proven a problem yet, I usually have it completely concealed.

Open carry is easier to demount if you have to crawl under something.  UM84, just unsnap, and the piece never leaves the holster.

When I was not having to crawl around stuff as much, I just dropped a Walther PPK or Cz50 in my pocket.