The Problem of Special Ammunition,
Why Proposed Solutions Don't Work,
and How I Would Solve It
13Disciple | 13-Jun-19
Shout out to @TragicLoss for challenging my ideas, and suggesting alternative methods for change!
Armor models and statistics provided by tanks.gg and wotinspector.com
Armor models and statistics provided by tanks.gg and wotinspector.com
The Problem
|
|
Before we can address a solution we must identify the problem.
The difference between standard and special ammo (apart from shell characteristics) is that one simply has better penetration than the other and thus you will penetrate more rounds than you normally would with standard rounds. The only trade off being that they cost substantially more than standard ammunition. Since special ammunition is balanced by its cost, that gives an indirect advantage to those players that have premium tanks and/or premium accounts. Premium account time and premium tanks are (mostly) purchased with real money. That means a free to play player must either avoid the use of premium shells, or grind more credits than players that are paying for these features. |
There is an 'in battle advantage' that is balanced by the game economy, which is directly influenced by real money content.
Put simply special ammunition in its current state is indirectly a “pay for advantage” mechanic.
Every complaint about gold rounds and gold spam, fundamentally stems from this basic problem.
Dear reader, I’d like you to take a moment and recognize that this is a genuine problem for the health of the game. Continuing to operate a free to play game with pay for advantage mechanics thins out the player base. Free to play and paid for content players should all be on a level playing field. Now take a moment and consider this issue from the developers standpoint. Keeping the system as it is, is a problem. However when any attempt to make a change arises a firestorm of anger and disapproval rains from the sky. No matter how Wargaming (WG) addresses this problem, there is always going to be somebody that is upset.
I ask you to keep an open mind as we talk about some of the proposed solutions that I've come across so far and how I would make changes if I could.
Put simply special ammunition in its current state is indirectly a “pay for advantage” mechanic.
Every complaint about gold rounds and gold spam, fundamentally stems from this basic problem.
Dear reader, I’d like you to take a moment and recognize that this is a genuine problem for the health of the game. Continuing to operate a free to play game with pay for advantage mechanics thins out the player base. Free to play and paid for content players should all be on a level playing field. Now take a moment and consider this issue from the developers standpoint. Keeping the system as it is, is a problem. However when any attempt to make a change arises a firestorm of anger and disapproval rains from the sky. No matter how Wargaming (WG) addresses this problem, there is always going to be somebody that is upset.
I ask you to keep an open mind as we talk about some of the proposed solutions that I've come across so far and how I would make changes if I could.
Proposed Solutions
Limit the amount of special ammo you can carry
If this was the solution how do you determine the breakdown of how much each tank can carry? Some have suggested a percent of the total number of shells, but if this were the case it would be vastly unbalanced as some tanks could carry vastly more potential damage in special ammo than others. In my mind the most level playing field would be by total alpha potential. So theoretically you limit at tier 10 the total alpha of premium shells you can carry to 3000. Well most aren’t even divisible by that number, so we round up. That means the Obj 140 can carry 9.375 or 10 rounds total. If the T110E4 has the same restriction then it gets to take exactly 4 rounds. Anybody that has played the T110E4 can tell you of those 4 rounds you’ll probably hit with 1 or 2 of them. The point I’m making is that the Obj 140 gets 200 extra alpha, and relies less on accuracy RNG.
Limiting the total number of premium shells will be extremely difficult, or impossible to balance across every tank in the game. The ramification being that you’ll have to be selective on when you can fire premium ammo, and if the matchmaker (MM) sets you up against more than a 2 or 3 super heavies you might be unable to do anything about it - even if you did spend your shells effectively. If you could produce a balanced system of limited special ammo - it would indirectly buff super heavy tanks. If there are too many getting played then naturally the player base will react with queuing in tank destroyers with super high penetration standard rounds.
This would morph the meta to a new rise in super heavy tanks, which would then cause a rise in high penetration tank destroyers. Thus limiting what is viable to play in random queue. Consider it - if you keep queuing for a week in your Obj 140, and began to see half of the enemy team driven by Maus, E100, Type 5 etc. Suddenly you run out of your limited premium rounds very quickly and discover your Obj 140 is simply not viable or fun to play anymore. The devs will either have to adjust the premium ammo you carry, or the penetration of the standard round.
Even then there is still one more argument against this. It still doesn’t change our original problem. Special ammo is still balanced by cost, and now additionally, limited in supply.
Limiting the total number of premium shells will be extremely difficult, or impossible to balance across every tank in the game. The ramification being that you’ll have to be selective on when you can fire premium ammo, and if the matchmaker (MM) sets you up against more than a 2 or 3 super heavies you might be unable to do anything about it - even if you did spend your shells effectively. If you could produce a balanced system of limited special ammo - it would indirectly buff super heavy tanks. If there are too many getting played then naturally the player base will react with queuing in tank destroyers with super high penetration standard rounds.
This would morph the meta to a new rise in super heavy tanks, which would then cause a rise in high penetration tank destroyers. Thus limiting what is viable to play in random queue. Consider it - if you keep queuing for a week in your Obj 140, and began to see half of the enemy team driven by Maus, E100, Type 5 etc. Suddenly you run out of your limited premium rounds very quickly and discover your Obj 140 is simply not viable or fun to play anymore. The devs will either have to adjust the premium ammo you carry, or the penetration of the standard round.
Even then there is still one more argument against this. It still doesn’t change our original problem. Special ammo is still balanced by cost, and now additionally, limited in supply.
- The dev's have already addressed this - they don't consider it an option.
- You push the meta towards high pen tank destroyers, super heavies, and HE tanks. Leaving most other tanks un-viable (unless you increase their limited supply of premium ammunition rendering the original change pointless).
- You are limiting player choice which ammo is best for a situation, and indirectly by which vehicles are viable to play.
- You still don’t address the main problem which is special ammunition is balanced by cost. You are only addressing this by simply lowering the grind for credits by both free to play and paying players.
Limit matchmaker to 1 or 2 tier spread
This change would reduce the number of tanks you can potentially see in battle. I believe you need at least a 2 tier spread. Being in a lower tier tank will always drive you to want to obtain the next tier up. That being said, even with 1 tier spread there are still many tanks that cannot penetrate a tank frontally without special ammunition. This solution doesn’t eliminate a need for special ammunition, it only lowers how much you need, which helps push to a more equal playing field for free to play and paying players, however it still doesn’t fix the problem. Matchmaker changes like this would cause higher queue times for the lower server populations. In my personal opinion matchmaker has never been in a better state than it is now.
- Lowers the variety of tanks you can see in a match
- Eventually you will see an increase in queue times
- You still don’t address the core problem which is special ammunition is balanced by cost.
Current Iteration of Sandbox Server (1.5.0.1423)
To summarize what the sandbox server is testing is instead of simply reducing the damage of premium shells, they’ve decided to simply increase the damage of regular shells, and then increase HP across the board to compensate. I understand why WG wants to do this. They don’t have to touch the alpha on premium tank's special ammunition so in essence there can be no argument “you lowered the statistics of my purchased tank.” On top of that - people in general don’t like to see reductions in things they have, so instead they re-framed the balance as an increase in damage for standard rounds. I get why they did, I just don’t think its necessary. Since the sandbox is ever changing I’ll just do a couple bullet points on why this current iteration only partially addresses the issue.
- The increase in HP at higher tiers does NOT match the increase in alpha. In high tier battles the 'time to kill' is a lot lower than it used to be.
- We will have to toss out all previous statistics (not necessarily a bad thing)
- It accentuates the impact of (+ or - 25%) RNG in the game.
- Adding HP and adding to alpha damage will accentuate the impact of + and - 25% RNG.
- Current 390 alpha | +25% is 488 | -25% is 292 | the RNG range is 196
- Sandbox buffed to 525 alpha | +25% is 656 | -25% is 394 | the RNG range is 262.
- You still don’t address the main problem which is special ammunition is balanced by cost.
WG can raise all the alpha and HP above special ammo, or they can lower the alpha of special rounds. Either way it doesn't matter if they do not address the cost. Everybody will be required to spend more credits to accomplish the same damage.
This actually makes the problem worse, not better.
This actually makes the problem worse, not better.
We have the problem identified. We looked at several solutions that at least by themselves aren’t viable for addressing the problem at hand.
My Solution for Special (Premium) Ammunition
Buckle up
I’ve broken my solution into 2 sections. First is the adjustment of ammunition, and second is the adjustment of armor. My suggested changes aim to address two goals:
I’ve broken my solution into 2 sections. First is the adjustment of ammunition, and second is the adjustment of armor. My suggested changes aim to address two goals:
- Remove cost as the balancing factor in Special Ammunition.
- Make ammunition selection meaningful and rewarding.
Ammunition Change
If you go in and simply alter the cost of special ammunition to be the same as standard, then you make standard ammunition and special ammunition essentially redundant, and you remove player choice from the game, and create a 1 dimensional mechanic. My proposed change would resolve the cost, and would keep the choice of ammunition meaningful. The goal of this section is to remove cost from your decision making between which ammunition type is the most appropriate for a situation.
Let's start by completely removing special (premium) ammunition entirely. Remove the notion that any round has a higher cost than any other round. Look at that, we've already achieved the first goal! Now we need to make sure that ammunition selection is meaningful.
I want to see most tanks have some form of 3 ammunition types (apart from arty).
Standard round - average alpha, average penetration
High Pen round - 15-25% less alpha, high penetration
Low Pen round - 20-30% higher alpha, low penetration (capable of splash damage)
Each of these rounds should also have attributes of one of the ammunition types
Standard rounds - AP/APCR/HEAT
High Pen round - AP/APCR/HEAT
Low Pen round - HE/HESH (HEP)
Each shell should cost roughly the same. Right now the cost of special ammo starts around 4 times the cost of standard and can be as high as 32 times the cost of standard ammo. I won’t speculate what the costs should be adjusted to or how much each shell should go down and come up in cost.The economy doesn’t really need to change, my goal is that when selecting ammunition in a match, the cost of a shell shouldn’t be part of your consideration.
The reason why I say that the economy doesn’t need to change much is that you can bring the cost of the other 2 rounds up as well as changing the repair costs in order to compensate for the lower cost of the high pen round. Ultimately you can maintain roughly the same economy while also generating shell costs that are relatively equivalent to each other. This is not a trivial fix, but enables the developers to better tune their credit drain at tier 8, 9, and 10 with out sacrificing the game balance.
Let's start by completely removing special (premium) ammunition entirely. Remove the notion that any round has a higher cost than any other round. Look at that, we've already achieved the first goal! Now we need to make sure that ammunition selection is meaningful.
I want to see most tanks have some form of 3 ammunition types (apart from arty).
Standard round - average alpha, average penetration
High Pen round - 15-25% less alpha, high penetration
Low Pen round - 20-30% higher alpha, low penetration (capable of splash damage)
Each of these rounds should also have attributes of one of the ammunition types
Standard rounds - AP/APCR/HEAT
High Pen round - AP/APCR/HEAT
Low Pen round - HE/HESH (HEP)
Each shell should cost roughly the same. Right now the cost of special ammo starts around 4 times the cost of standard and can be as high as 32 times the cost of standard ammo. I won’t speculate what the costs should be adjusted to or how much each shell should go down and come up in cost.The economy doesn’t really need to change, my goal is that when selecting ammunition in a match, the cost of a shell shouldn’t be part of your consideration.
The reason why I say that the economy doesn’t need to change much is that you can bring the cost of the other 2 rounds up as well as changing the repair costs in order to compensate for the lower cost of the high pen round. Ultimately you can maintain roughly the same economy while also generating shell costs that are relatively equivalent to each other. This is not a trivial fix, but enables the developers to better tune their credit drain at tier 8, 9, and 10 with out sacrificing the game balance.
Armor Change
The current sandbox server is adjusting the HP of every single tank in the game. I think it indicates that WG is willing to make some sweeping changes to make special ammunition viable.
First I would categorize armor by its vulnerability with in its own tier which by happenstance also corresponds to the required same tier ammunition! Here is my suggested grouping of armor, and it's corresponding protection level.
First I would categorize armor by its vulnerability with in its own tier which by happenstance also corresponds to the required same tier ammunition! Here is my suggested grouping of armor, and it's corresponding protection level.
|
Paper Armor - Armor that is so thin it has above a 90% chance of HE penetration
|
|
Light Armor - Armor that will block 90% of HE penetrations but above an 80% chance of HESH/HEP penetration
|
|
Standard Armor - Armor that will block 90% of HE/HESH rounds, but standard rounds will penetrate more than 90% of the time
|
|
Moderate Armor - Armor that will block 30-70% of standard ammo, but will be penetrated by over 90% of high pen ammo
|
|
Good Armor - Armor that will block over 90% of standard ammo. But will be penetrated by 30-70% of high penetration rounds
|
|
Strong Armor - Armor that will block over 90% of high pen rounds
|
|
Impenetrable Armor - Armor that cannot be penned by same tier high pen rounds
|
Every tank model in the game should be viewed from a level point, perpendicular to the front, side, and rear, and when observed you’ll see it is composed of different levels of armored defense.
Then when we look at the armor from the perspective of a gun that is two tiers higher, then each armor group should be shifted around 1 armor group down. This should also work vice versa. If we view this same model from the position of a gun that is two tiers lower, then each armor group should be shifted around 1 armor group up. When looking at 1 tier split, then the armor model will be somewhere between the two.
An example will help demonstrate what I’m talking about. Let's take a look at the Caernarvon (Tier 8 British Heavy) and convert its armor profile to my system.
Then when we look at the armor from the perspective of a gun that is two tiers higher, then each armor group should be shifted around 1 armor group down. This should also work vice versa. If we view this same model from the position of a gun that is two tiers lower, then each armor group should be shifted around 1 armor group up. When looking at 1 tier split, then the armor model will be somewhere between the two.
An example will help demonstrate what I’m talking about. Let's take a look at the Caernarvon (Tier 8 British Heavy) and convert its armor profile to my system.
Same Tier Gun against Same Tier Armor
If we look at this tank from the perspective of a typical tier 10 gun the armor profile should change to something like this. Each armor group should move about an entire tier down. This leaves your tier 9 gun and armor profile some where between the image above and the image below.
2 Tier Higher Gun Against Same Tier Armor
If we look at this tank from the perspective of a typical tier 6 gun the armor profile should change to something like this. Each armor group should move about an entire tier up. This leaves your tier 7 gun and armor profile some where between the first image above and the image below.
2 Tier Lower Gun Against Same Tier Armor
Of course a skilled player will make their armor work for them. This means most of these armor groups should allow a player some opportunity to angle their tank in such a way that it shifts the armor groups up, even partially.
Same Tier Gun Against Same Tier Armor - Angled
The hope is that WG will look at every armor model starting at tier 10 and work their way down. Adjusting the armor to a profile that makes sense. Allowing weak spots in the armor in my mind is also a very good idea. Let's look at the Type 5. Its overall armor is various forms of Strong Armor, with a driver hatch of moderate armor.
Same Tier Gun Against Same Tier Armor
If we drop that drivers hatch to same tier standard armor group - it won’t get penned by HE rounds, but will be easily penned by same tier standard rounds. That means if I’m fighting a Type 5 frontally and I'm in a tier 10, I now have a choice to make. If I think I can hit that weak spot, I can do a little bit higher damage per shot. But this will cost me aim time, and I’m gambling my accuracy. If I’m trying to hit a weak spot and miss the Type 5 gets more blocked damage and survives that much longer. However if I chose to do less damage I can sling a high pen round with a 15-25% alpha (DPM) penalty in order to go through his hull’s Good Armor. This creates a more interesting engagement for me, and him. He can make an attempt at hiding or making his weak spot hard to hit by moving, or the Type 5 gets the HP and a DPM advantage if I chose to ignore his weak spot. This also rewards a player with strong armor knowledge, but gives players without that knowledge a chance at reduced damage.
The second impact of reducing that driver hatch is now a tier 8 has a decent chance to penetrate the weak spot with high penetration ammo, but cannot really penetrate the hull at all. As a tier 8 I like at least some opportunity to damage a super heavy head-on. The super heavy has the advantage in that it's a small target, and I’m doing 15-25% reduced damage on an already lower alpha/dpm tier 8 gun. The tier 8 is happy that they can contribute by plinking off a few hit points here and there, and the tier 10 heavy is happy in that this bottom tier tank is having a hard time even hitting the weak spot, and when they do its at a reduced damage. Also in this case the tier 8 player with strong armor knowledge gets rewarded by getting to plink hit points off, where as someone without the knowledge would likely be unable to damage the Type 5.
The second impact of reducing that driver hatch is now a tier 8 has a decent chance to penetrate the weak spot with high penetration ammo, but cannot really penetrate the hull at all. As a tier 8 I like at least some opportunity to damage a super heavy head-on. The super heavy has the advantage in that it's a small target, and I’m doing 15-25% reduced damage on an already lower alpha/dpm tier 8 gun. The tier 8 is happy that they can contribute by plinking off a few hit points here and there, and the tier 10 heavy is happy in that this bottom tier tank is having a hard time even hitting the weak spot, and when they do its at a reduced damage. Also in this case the tier 8 player with strong armor knowledge gets rewarded by getting to plink hit points off, where as someone without the knowledge would likely be unable to damage the Type 5.
Suggested Driver Hatch Armor - Perspective Tier 10 Gun
|
Suggested Driver Hatch Armor - Perspective of Tier 8 Gun
|
The point I’m making is that weak spots would make the game far more interesting! Tankers would need to choose between higher damage weak spot or lower damage with an easier to hit larger target.
The bottom line is this system would give players more options in ammunition choice, and reward those with deep knowledge of armor layouts. It also sets up a general template for armor values. Of course an armor plate can be different shades with in its own armor group. The penetration values also fall on a scale, but pretty much this scale simply changes my original percent chance of penetration while maintaining the armor groups.
The bottom line is this system would give players more options in ammunition choice, and reward those with deep knowledge of armor layouts. It also sets up a general template for armor values. Of course an armor plate can be different shades with in its own armor group. The penetration values also fall on a scale, but pretty much this scale simply changes my original percent chance of penetration while maintaining the armor groups.
Putting it Together
The beauty of my solution means you can implement the ammunition changes, and then go through and rework armor models as needed.
WG has been reviewing and re-balancing tank lines since the beginning of 2019. My suggestion is that they continue on this path, but instead of looking at tank lines in a whole group, they look at a tier in a whole group and balance it against itself. The key is to start your balance of the game at tier 10. Each tank should be reviewed for it's gun, and armor profile against all same tier guns. Then look at tier 9 and balance this tier against it's tier 10 counterparts, and it's same tier tanks. The game should be balanced from tier 10 down.
WG has been reviewing and re-balancing tank lines since the beginning of 2019. My suggestion is that they continue on this path, but instead of looking at tank lines in a whole group, they look at a tier in a whole group and balance it against itself. The key is to start your balance of the game at tier 10. Each tank should be reviewed for it's gun, and armor profile against all same tier guns. Then look at tier 9 and balance this tier against it's tier 10 counterparts, and it's same tier tanks. The game should be balanced from tier 10 down.
The idea is that vehicles are balanced based on their same tier armor profile and same tier gun. You can always put a tier 7 gun on a tier 5 tank. Or put a tier 7 armor profile on a tier 9 tank. Every tank should be balanced on this standard average same tier armor and penetration profile, with the exception of some deviation from the average. Deviations from the averages of it's own tier are of course balanced against other parameters such as mobility, concealment, view range, DPM and accuracy.
What about tanks that combine high HP pools, and Strong Armor?
OK - when I said you can implement the ammunition change as is, I was wrong. You will need to address at minimum tanks that combine high HP and strong Armor.
Changing the game in this fashion solves the problem with special ammunition being balanced by its cost. However the reduction in alpha for high penetration ammunition is an indirect buff to tanks that boast high armor and high health profiles. To bring these tank’s “time to kill” back into balance in the new system, they will likely need to either adjust the armor profile, or reduce the hitpoints, I see this being the case with tanks such as the Maus. However tanks such as the Kranvagn likely wouldn't need changing. Most armor when it was angled appropriately was impenetrable to both standard and special ammunition. The armor that was penetrable was able to be penetrated by both standard and special ammo. Thus reducing the special ammunition alpha bears very little impact on the survivability of the tank in general.
Changing the game in this fashion solves the problem with special ammunition being balanced by its cost. However the reduction in alpha for high penetration ammunition is an indirect buff to tanks that boast high armor and high health profiles. To bring these tank’s “time to kill” back into balance in the new system, they will likely need to either adjust the armor profile, or reduce the hitpoints, I see this being the case with tanks such as the Maus. However tanks such as the Kranvagn likely wouldn't need changing. Most armor when it was angled appropriately was impenetrable to both standard and special ammunition. The armor that was penetrable was able to be penetrated by both standard and special ammo. Thus reducing the special ammunition alpha bears very little impact on the survivability of the tank in general.
Beyond the Armor and Penetration - How to make Ammunition Selection Meaningful
Lets review the attributes that differentiate between our 4 ammunition choices.
|
AP (Armor Piercing) Velocity: ★★★★ | Penetration: ★★★ | Damage: ★★★
Low penetration loss over distance Normalization: 5° Auto Ricochet: 70° and higher Penetrates fences, cars, and spaced armor 2 and 3 Calibers rules apply |
|
APCR (Armor Piercing Composite Ridged) Velocity: ★★★★★ | Penetration: ★★★★ | Damage: ★★★
High penetration loss over distance Normalization: 2° Auto Ricochet: 70° and higher Penetrates fences, cars, and spaced armor 2 and 3 Calibers rules apply |
|
HEAT (High Explosive Anti Tank) Velocity: ★★★ | Penetration: ★★★★ | Damage: ★★★
No penetration loss over distance Normalization: 0 Auto Ricochet: 85° and higher Cannot Penetrate fences, cars, and spaced armor, as it detonates on impact. These shells have no normalization, but will maintain their penetration at up to 85° before they will auto ricochet. |
|
HE/HESH/HEP (High Explosive/High Explosive Squash Head/High Explosive Plastic) Velocity: ★★ | Penetration: ★ | Damage: ★★★★★
No penetration loss over distance Normalization: 0 Auto Ricochet: None Cannot Penetrate fences, cars, and spaced armor, as it detonates on impact. These shells have no normalization, and no auto ricochet. Will do damage on penetration or based on a splash radius upon detonation. |
I believe we can make ammunition choice even more meaningful by accentuating the differences between AP/APCR/HEAT.
AP - a solid moving slug with reasonable speed that punches through defences up to Moderate Armor. Good velocity, reasonable penetration, good normalization, and good alpha damage. To accentuate AP’s role, I would improve its normalization to around 7 degrees. This would help it penetrate armor that is more steeply angled and make it far more reliable at penetrating lower glacis plates or cupola weak spots. I would also consider bumping up its auto ricochet angle to 75 degrees. This will help it catch a few more pens on lightly armored vehicles with steep angles.
APCR - an exceptionally hard shell that moves at incredible speed. It sacrifices Normalization and Auto Ricochet to obtain such speed. Since the AP round we looked at earlier bumped the normalization and Auto Ricochet angle I see no need to change the characteristics of APCR. This round when compared to AP is more likely to ricochet and requires higher penetration to make up for the low normalization and higher penetration drop off.
HEAT - a round that moves noticeably slower than AP shells and uses a chemical munition to damage its target. I wouldn’t change any of the standard characteristics of HEAT rounds. I think there are many that move a bit too fast. I would like to see this ammunition be noticeably slower than AP rounds. A shell velocity somewhere between HE and AP would be appropriate. I would like to see tankers have to make a choice between higher penetration round with no loss to penetration over distance, versus a higher velocity round when shooting targets that are on the move and at range.
AP - a solid moving slug with reasonable speed that punches through defences up to Moderate Armor. Good velocity, reasonable penetration, good normalization, and good alpha damage. To accentuate AP’s role, I would improve its normalization to around 7 degrees. This would help it penetrate armor that is more steeply angled and make it far more reliable at penetrating lower glacis plates or cupola weak spots. I would also consider bumping up its auto ricochet angle to 75 degrees. This will help it catch a few more pens on lightly armored vehicles with steep angles.
APCR - an exceptionally hard shell that moves at incredible speed. It sacrifices Normalization and Auto Ricochet to obtain such speed. Since the AP round we looked at earlier bumped the normalization and Auto Ricochet angle I see no need to change the characteristics of APCR. This round when compared to AP is more likely to ricochet and requires higher penetration to make up for the low normalization and higher penetration drop off.
HEAT - a round that moves noticeably slower than AP shells and uses a chemical munition to damage its target. I wouldn’t change any of the standard characteristics of HEAT rounds. I think there are many that move a bit too fast. I would like to see this ammunition be noticeably slower than AP rounds. A shell velocity somewhere between HE and AP would be appropriate. I would like to see tankers have to make a choice between higher penetration round with no loss to penetration over distance, versus a higher velocity round when shooting targets that are on the move and at range.
A Word on RNG (Random Number Generator)
Players dislike how wide RNG is because it makes their play feel inconsistent. A reliable hit and pen in one instance will bounce or miss in another even when the circumstances are the same. I like the RNG factor in the game as it generates those crazy moments of impossible pens or impossible bounces. It also somewhat simulates the variation in munitions in that era. My suggestion isn’t to get rid of it, but alter the values to make things feel a touch more reliable, and create a wider difference between ammunition choices.
The current RNG is so wide that it produces overlap in both penetration and alpha damage. If we reduce the RNG of penetration and damage to something like 20% or 15% we tighten up the bell curve for each shell type and we’ll see less overlap which will also effectively accentuate the differences in the shells. The below graphs show 3 bell curves that represent each ammunition type.
The current RNG is so wide that it produces overlap in both penetration and alpha damage. If we reduce the RNG of penetration and damage to something like 20% or 15% we tighten up the bell curve for each shell type and we’ll see less overlap which will also effectively accentuate the differences in the shells. The below graphs show 3 bell curves that represent each ammunition type.
Normal RNG
|
Reduced RNG
|
Alternatively you could change the deviation RNG has as well. When it comes to penetration, alpha damage, and accuracy the RNG distribution is described by a 2 sigma (σ) bell curve. You could modify this bell curve to a 1.5 or 1.0 sigma for distribution causing more of your RNG rolls to be concentrated around the average. The result is graphed below, but it would translate to a penetration alpha, and accuracy that feels far more consistent - with out sacrificing the width of +25% and -25% RNG.
Normal RNG
|
1.5 or 1.0 Standard Deviation RNG
|
You could also change the RNG based on shell type. Keeping the RNG the same for high pen rounds, however for standard ammunition you could both change the percent of RNG or the sigma of the RNG. The point is you don't have to do a sweeping change across all, you can select by ammunition types the RNG they are subject to! Imagine not only alpha, but RNG differences you have to consider when selecting shells. The opportunities are really endless when it comes to making ammunition selection more meaningful.
Normal RNG
|
Changes to both RNG size and Deviation
|
Final Thoughts
The point of this article was to fully explain the problem of special ammunition, why some of the suggested changes don’t address the problem, and provides some of the ideas that could push the game toward a more viable and fun to play solution.
I hope some of the dev’s manage to get my article (translated to Russian) so that maybe they can consider some of my ideas in future sandbox iterations. I want them to realize from this, that there are many knobs and sliders they can use and adjust to fine tune the ammunition and armor system. I also hope they will understand why special ammunition is a problem and that if we don't address it's cost all of these changes are pointless.
This is still an open discussion and I’m willing to hear out your well considered suggestions for resolving the problem of premium ammunition (would prefer you leave your vitriol at the door).
Wargaming has a massive change in mind for WoT and I do not envy the task that is in front of them.
I hope some of the dev’s manage to get my article (translated to Russian) so that maybe they can consider some of my ideas in future sandbox iterations. I want them to realize from this, that there are many knobs and sliders they can use and adjust to fine tune the ammunition and armor system. I also hope they will understand why special ammunition is a problem and that if we don't address it's cost all of these changes are pointless.
This is still an open discussion and I’m willing to hear out your well considered suggestions for resolving the problem of premium ammunition (would prefer you leave your vitriol at the door).
Wargaming has a massive change in mind for WoT and I do not envy the task that is in front of them.
