World of Tanks veterans may remember the fabulous MTLS-1G14, the American Tier III Premium light tank introduced back in 2011. It was the first vehicle with a twin gun in our game and sparked interest among players, as it offered unusual and exciting gameplay.
Many of you have requested on numerous occasions to add more of these double-barreled tanks to the game, and now they’re finally on their way!
We’re still working on their gameplay, features and characteristics, but we can already share some ideas on their mechanics with you. First, a brief historical introduction.
Looking Back in Time
The first designs of tanks with multi-barreled guns appeared back in 1941. Soviet engineers worked on a three-barreled version of the T-34, called the T-34-3, and two- and three-gun versions of the KV-7, but none of these prototypes ever left the drawing board. One of the most famous projects of this type is the two-gun version of the ST-1, named the ST-2. This modification is the most well-known to players, although it was never brought to life in metal.
Several factors kept us from implementing this mechanic in World of Tanks. The first is its historical background, because in real life double-barreled tanks rarely even reached the prototype stage. It was difficult to assemble a whole branch from existing historical vehicles.
Another is game design issues. We wanted to introduce the opportunity to shoot from two guns harmoniously, without disrupting the existing mechanics.
Finally, there were technical considerations — we couldn’t implement these mechanics until the autoloader for Italian tanks was released, so we’ve been waiting for this day to come for a long time.
The Prototype 1: The First and Only
As these are brand-new mechanics, and we’re going to start by trying them out at Tier VIII on Supertests in the near future. Instead of testing specific tanks, we’ve created a test tank: the Prototype 1.
This tank will have two guns of the same caliber and can shoot in three different ways:
1. Cyclic (regular): Firing from one gun which reloads after each shot.
You shoot from the first (active) gun. Immediately after this, the gun begins to reload, and the second one becomes active. You can shoot from the second gun after a short delay. This pause is better known to players as reloading shells inside the autoloader. If you have ever played Italian tanks with an autoreloader, then you should be familiar with this mechanic.
2. Sequential: Shooting alternately from both guns.
Shooting in this mode can work in one of two ways.
- After a pause, you shoot from the second gun while the first is loading. In this case, the reloading of the first gun will be reset, and it will begin to load again. The tank will automatically switch to the first gun. The second gun that we just shot from will not reload until the first one is loaded, because both guns reload in turn.
- You wait for the reload of the first gun to end, and only after that shoot from the second one. In this case, it’s more like the classic "shot-by-shot" mode, but only from different guns.
3. Double shot: Simultaneous shots from two guns.
The most entertaining way. To shoot from two guns at the same time, you will need to hold the left mouse button, and preparation for the shot will begin, taking a few seconds. Reloading progress will be displayed inside the scope area. When the preparation is completed, a double shot automatically occurs. If you release the left mouse button before the end of preparation, the shot preparation will be reset. No shots, single or double, will be fired.
Penetration, Damage & Change of Shells
Penetration and alpha damage for each of the two shells will be calculated separately. Accordingly, one shell may penetrate armor and cause damage, while the second may fail to penetrate or ricochet. A scenario is also possible where both shells penetrate the armor but deal different amounts of damage.
After a double shot, both guns are blocked and do not reload for some time. After unlocking, the guns start to reload alternately.
Gameplay Features
- When playing with the Prototype 1, you will have to situationally choose which guns to fire a shot from.
You’ll need to take into account the specifics of a particular game situation and make one shot somewhere and a double shot somewhere else. For example, if you need to finish off an opponent with a small amount of durability points, it would be logical to make one shot. But if you are faced with an enemy tank driving sideways, it makes sense to take a double shot and roll back to cover for reloading. Try to think in advance which will be most effective in a given situation.
- The main shooting modes should be cyclic and sequential.
Spamming with double shots is not a good idea. A tank with two guns is a versatile vehicle, so you shouldn't concentrate on only one of its features.
- You may have to sacrifice some gameplay comfort for the ability to shoot from two guns.
The concept of a double-barreled vehicle is not final. However, it's very likely that these machines will have mediocre mobility, a high turning speed, etc. We need to test the viability of our concept and refine their mechanics to make sure this type of tank is well placed to fit the World of Tanks ecosystem. The decision to introduce them into the game is not final, and will depend on the test results.
We are continuing to work on this promising class with unique gameplay. Stay tuned — we'll keep you updated as news comes in.