WesWorld

An update of what to expect next year.

Units Disbanded
5th Armoured Division (22nd, 23rd and 33rd Royal Tank Regiments)
6th Armoured Division (15th, 16th and 17th Royal Tank Regiments)
33rd Armoured Brigade
12th (Eastern) Infantry Division Second Line TA
15th (Scottish) Infantry Division Second Line TA
23rd (Northumbrian) Infantry Division Second Line TA
38th (Welsh) Infantry Division Second Line TA
45th Infantry Division Second Line TA
46th Infantry Division Second Line TA
55th (West Lancashire) Division Second Line TA

Armoured Vehicles

Three new variants of the FV300 series chassis will enter service.
FV302 GPO/CPO command vehicle with the same hull as the FV306 (
FV305 5.5in self-propelled gun with the gun mounted in a rear armoured compartment
FV306 light ARV with an enlarged hull aft for workshop with 3-ton A-frame jib and 25 ton winch
The model bellows shows the basic hull shape for these variants


Heavy Tank Mk II Centurion (A30/ FV201). Two new variants will enter production:
Mk II armed with the new QF Mk I 20pdr gun, a co-axial MG replacing the cannon and a fully cast turret
Mk III has 95mm howitzer for the close support role and a co-axial 20mm cannon with a fully cast turret

The Armoured Vehicle Research and Development Establishment will begin design work on the next of the 'Universal Tank Series', the FV220 series. No specs or details as yet.

Daimler will begin work on their FV701 to replace the Dingo light scout car. Will have a turret with MG and be compact. To enter service around 1949.

Artillery
[Depending how tank gun made WW goes next year, Vickers might begin work on the 32pdr QF Mk I: Calibre 94mm, weight of shot 32lbs (APC, APCBC, HE), muzzle velocity 2880fps and penetration 310mm at 1000 yards/90 degrees. Developed from the 3.7in AA gun.]

Guns
Work begins by RSAF Enfield and Canadian Arsenals Ltd. on the EM-2 7mm automatic rifle alongside another three EM-series experimental designs.

9mm Machine Carbine No.3 (Sterling), ordered into production for deliveries to commence in 1947 for the British Army.

.280 RSAF Enfield Light Machine Gun No.4 Mk I TADEN, Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield began development of a new light machine gun based around their new .280 7mm (7x43) cartridge, which was accepted as the new standard rifle round of the British Army, in 1940. This gas operated machine gun is 889mm (35ins) long and its rate of fire is 450-600 rpm with belt feed. It entered service in 1946 following extensive trials during 1945.

Quoted from "Hood"

FV305 5.5in self-propelled gun with the gun mounted in a rear armoured compartment

Some say his mother was a Hummel and his father was an ELC AMX. All we know is his name is Bert the Avenger, and he's bad to the bone.

Okay, so it's the FV305 you have instead of the FV304, but whatever!

Interesting. When I planned these I had no real idea how most of the them looked.

I'm hoping the use of two universal chassis will certainly ease procurement and spares costs and make life generally much easier.

Quoted from "Hood"

Artillery
[Depending how tank gun made WW goes next year, Vickers might begin work on the 32pdr QF Mk I: Calibre 94mm, weight of shot 32lbs (APC, APCBC, HE), muzzle velocity 2880fps and penetration 310mm at 1000 yards/90 degrees. Developed from the 3.7in AA gun.]

I've been thinking this one over.

I can't see how the 32-pounder would really be necessary at the present time, particularly with the introduction of the historical 20-pounder - which historically saw Britain through most of the 1950s, and is probably one of the best anti-tank guns of the era. Now, I could see the 32-pounder in the event that we had seen combat between some particularly heavily-armoured tanks, such as the Tiger II. But in Wesworld most powers, particularly in Europe, have elected to disregard heavy tanks entirely in favor of a "universal medium". So far as my memory takes me, in fact, I can't recall a single tank (heavy or otherwise) currently in production that has armour that could reliably defeat a 20pounder shell. While other players might occasionally hint at introducing larger tank gun ordnance, I really think that this is unjustified since the armour thicknesses currently in use still will generally still be overmatched by the later-model 75mm+ guns currently in service.

Quoted from "Brockpaine"

Quoted from "Hood"

Artillery
[Depending how tank gun made WW goes next year, Vickers might begin work on the 32pdr QF Mk I: Calibre 94mm, weight of shot 32lbs (APC, APCBC, HE), muzzle velocity 2880fps and penetration 310mm at 1000 yards/90 degrees. Developed from the 3.7in AA gun.]

I've been thinking this one over.

I can't see how the 32-pounder would really be necessary at the present time, particularly with the introduction of the historical 20-pounder - which historically saw Britain through most of the 1950s, and is probably one of the best anti-tank guns of the era. Now, I could see the 32-pounder in the event that we had seen combat between some particularly heavily-armoured tanks, such as the Tiger II. But in Wesworld most powers, particularly in Europe, have elected to disregard heavy tanks entirely in favor of a "universal medium". So far as my memory takes me, in fact, I can't recall a single tank (heavy or otherwise) currently in production that has armour that could reliably defeat a 20pounder shell. While other players might occasionally hint at introducing larger tank gun ordnance, I really think that this is unjustified since the armour thicknesses currently in use still will generally still be overmatched by the later-model 75mm+ guns currently in service.

I would have to agree. There has not yet been any armored combat that would drive tank armament that far. The last we heard of the Indian Arjun is so long ago that most intelligence services probably dismiss much of it as disinformation. The details of armored combat coming out of the Sino-Chosen conflict are so limited that it is hard to tell exactly what was used when - and considering someone offloaded their scrap iron and it made a difference (or so it seems) that conflict might be dismissed as well. Theoretical studies I could see (we are all probably working on those) and *maybe* a private venture prototype in a few years, but nothing that would demand a new gun in service and a tank to carry it.

Hence the brackets guys. It's not in the official development plans, but its there as an OOC option if things were to get out of hand (a retrospective placeholder).

Generally I have no plans to replace the 20pdr until the later 1950s if things continue on the course as they are at the moment. As you say the superheavy has been replaced by the heavy medium, which makes far more sense. There is a strong possibility the FV221 will remain a prototype only, or procured in limited number with a 20pdr.

Remind me, I need to work up some specs on the 5.5in howitzer for Bert the Avenger!

I can say from personal experience that Bert the Avenger is a pesky little adversary in World of Tanks.....

Hood, if you need specs I can get them from World of tanks, which is accurate for most tanks, at least in specs. The WoT version has a 4.5" so you might have some weight savings to look at.

The specs from World of Tanks are balanced for the purposes of the game. While they may resemble real life, Wargaming is notorious for buffing or nerfing or outright fabricating whatever they need in order to balance the game. And yes, Bert the Avenger is pretty crazy...

Fv304 is basically a shortened, lightened version of the posted Fv305. Fv305 is, in fairness, probably the better choice in this case.

Wot tends to play with penetration and damage values on shells more than anything in order to "balance" gameplay. Also anyone who's played the game hates the dreaded RNG feature as well, which basically takes your well placed shot and places it under the spell of a roll of the dice. That means you have a plus or minus 25% chance of hiting your target. It's fairly frustrating to watch your shot drift 5 yards to the right or left of your target.....who needs skill then?
Weights tend to be fairly accurate from what I can tell.

I thought the FV204 was supposed to have a 25pdr?

My WW 204 will have a 25pdr. Moving to a 4.5in for the FV205 makes more sense than the 5.5in I think.
I'd be interested to see the specs anyway.

Fv304 prototypes had the 25-pounder; Fv305 prototypes had the 5.5" gun.

Quoted from "thesmilingassassin"

Wot tends to play with penetration and damage values on shells more than anything in order to "balance" gameplay.

Most of the time, yes. However, they also have no compunctions about adding whatever they like in order to make gameplay competitive. For instance:
- Historical Panzer IV has a 300hp engine. In WoT, the top engine is 440hp.
- My beloved Cromwell has the 75mm HV gun, when the largest historical gun was the smaller Ordnance QF 75mm.
- The American T-18 tank destroyer, beloved of seal-clubbers the world over (prior to the nerf!) was actually a self-propelled gun. And the US T-57 tier II artillery piece... well, that was the tank destroyer!
- The T-25, a premium German vehicle, should have the 75mm/L55 gun with an autoloader.
- AMX-13/75 has a six-round magazine in the game, when in real life it had two six-round magazines.
- The historical Tiger I had an extremely low rate of fire (on the order of one round a minute or so). So the developers, in order to make the tank competitive at Tier VII, buffed it to nine rounds a minute. (Actually, most of the tanks in game have a heavily-optimized rate of fire - this is just one of the worst examples.)
- Need a Tier X German tank destroyer? Can't find anything historically suitable? Why not invent the Waffenträger auf E 100 from thin air?

Quoted from "thesmilingassassin"

Also anyone who's played the game hates the dreaded RNG feature as well, which basically takes your well placed shot and places it under the spell of a roll of the dice. That means you have a plus or minus 25% chance of hiting your target. It's fairly frustrating to watch your shot drift 5 yards to the right or left of your target.....who needs skill then?
Weights tend to be fairly accurate from what I can tell.

Heh, enjoy the good days while they last. Next patch introduces an accuracy nerf!

All good examples of what WoT has taken liberties with to "improve" gameplay, when the easiest thing to do is adjust the tier the tank is in, not alter its historical stats. Prior to patch 9.0 things were fairly good, now with all the subsequent patches its just gotten silly. The latest example I can find is watching a Bulldog absolutely anihalate tanks way above its weight class like Tiger 1's and Ferdinand's.....

Forgot to add in m first post, next year the Army will begin taking deliveries of Land Rovers. Not sure how many, probably thousands over the coming decade.