WoT: fatkiddown’s List of Cool Links:

It's all about stats right?

Honestly, I am neither promoting nor demoting the principle that stats matter.  Having said that, I provide the following:

Dossier munchers:
http://tank-tracker.com/Default.aspx

Enter a user ID from WoT into this, and wait.  It'll track stats, avg xp, dmg, etc.  It also provides a nifty graphic lots use in their forum sigs, etc.

http://wot.ctocopok.ru/load_cache_e.php

One of the oldest dossier munchers.  I like it lots and still use.  It provides tons of info, including achievements, types of tanks destroyed (good to have for "Master Tanker" achievement), etc.

It is a Russian-based site.

No, that's not the guy who runs it, but it's the first pic when I googled, "Russian flag."

http://wot-dossier.appspot.com/dossier

Another dossier muncher akin to the one at ctocopok.  It provides cool tabs, graphics (tank icons) and some info that the former does not.

In order to use the last 2 mentioned, you have to know the location of your dossier_cache file.  It will here:

Dossier cache location:
%appdata%\wargaming.net\WorldOfTanks\dossier_cache

(Both sites do indeed reveal this UNC path too)

One thing I began doing some time back, was making copies of my dossier file, and archiving by renaming with date at the end.  That way, I can see more granulated info on my progress in individual tanks or overall.

Compare players:
http://wot-news.com/index.php/stat/compare/us

This last site provides a very cool way of comparing yourself to other players, as well as seeing your "weight" or "worth" within their system.  Some have complained that it measure these values by top tiers, and gives less worth to lower-tiered vehicles.  Still, fun to use.

WoT: German Disruptive Camo Paint In 7.2

I decided to comment on the up-coming, new, German camo paint patterns in World of Tanks release, 7.2.  I have, so far, not been overly impressed with the German paint offered in the first release (I feel the U.S. and Russian patterns are very nice); albeit, I realize they are apparently original, WG.net simply left out my fav.  I am happy to see this changing, and they are adding my all-time favorite pattern of, not just the war, but ever!

German Disruptive Camo!

Disclaimer: I'm calling it "Disruptive Pattern" as that's the term I've seen used a lot for it and/or, I personally like it.  I do not know if this is what the pattern is truly called.  Any help is invited.  It seems most refer to it as simply, "Diagonal Pattern."

Mind you, I am not _certain_ that WG.net is going for the same pattern, as they have not separated the colors via the white lines/stripes.  Still, it looks close.

Also, another thing I feel missing from the patterns WG.net is offering is adequate weathering.  The examples below -- especially the modeling -- does a lovely job of fading the paint as it gets closer to the ground.  As someone told me recently of modeling: weathering is everything.  Without it, it just looks like a toy....

I have longed to see this paint pattern in game, for the German tanks (especially the Panther I), and it is now here (for the most part) ... the legendary, German, late war, Disruptive Camo.  I read about it some time back via several sources, one here (also, this is where I took several of the images below from).  If anyone has/finds others, please send along.  Until then, enjoy:

From WG.net:

Other examples of this pattern done in fine CGI:

Some rare, original, images of this camo:

One of my fav iterations of this design comes from a Japanese magazine:

Here, a professional modeler put this camo to work, and nails it:

Some snippets from previous-mentioned source site:

implemented late in the war (March-ish 45, to be exact) was a protocol calling for an olivgrun base coat with hard edged dunkelgelb over, in a disruptive pattern; somewhere I got the idea it was in great angled areas. 

Perhaps it's this very-late-war dark yellow-over-olive green scheme?

And:

Those Panthers are from Pz. Abt. 25, 15.Pz. Gren. Div. in the Oderbrueck near Kuestrin in very early 2/45. The images are grabs from a clip that I think you can find on Youtube. The diagonal striped camo was used by MNH for the entire factory-camo period. No, it didn't extend to upper surfaces (compare the hardedge pattern used by MAN and DB, which did, as far as I can tell.) As the color profile at your link shows, the stripes divide apparent dunkelgruen RAL 6003 areas from areas of rotbraun RAL 8017. The photo from the Jakl book posted above to show the plain upper surfaces (PR27/19.PD [?] in Czechy) doesn't show the brown-green difference nearly as clearly, but that may well be because that photo was taken with western panchromatic film instead of German orthochromatic film, which makes anything with red values very dark. Green is the base color.

Every day...

World of Tanks: British Tree

The EU Forums -- as the U.S. and I'm sure Russian Forums -- has yet another iteration of a fan-based British Tank Tree.  I for one have always thought it rather tragic, that the nation first to utilize tanks in combat, have yet to have their own tree in the game:

Does it make you Randy baby?...

Evidence of Scrat

Russian Scientists Grow Pleistocene-Era Plants From Seeds  Buried By Squirrels 30,000 Years Ago.

This is way cool IMHO.  When these little seeds were bornded, Smilodon (the Sabertooth) and Mammuthus primigenius (Woolly Mammoth) were walking along the earth.

And, some where, a frozen Scrat is twitching in his iceblock....

Gamespot.com: World of Tanks developers expanding to Southeast Asia

Wargaming.net to open new offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand

World of Tanks is now even more global, with developer and publisher Wargaming.net planning to expand its operations to Southeast Asia.

The company will be opening offices in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The regional headquarters will be located in Singapore, with its main responsibilities being regional promotions and activities coordination. Southeast Asian gamers will be using the Singapore server group when playing this local version of World of Tanks.

World of Tanks was reviewed last year with positive acclaim. Critics have praised it for its accessibility, layers of depth within its genre, and its variety of different vehicles for players to unlock and use on the battlefield.

I wonder what impact this will have on the future tanks we can expect in WoT?

I am looking forward to new trees and premiums. Lately, I have found tanks of more recent decades and nations alluring:

There is the Vijayanta of India:

And the Chonma-ho or Pegasus of North Korea:

Remember, it is World of Tanks, not "World of WW2 Tanks."

-FKD

R2D2: Where to place

To all vehicles (*cough* KV-5 *cough*) and space ships using an R2D2

The makers of R2D2 have asked me to send this friendly reminder. R2D2 is a great asset to your combat experience. However he, I mean it, is also a very sensitive device. Please do not place him out front, where he will get shot. Put him some where safer, like, behind glacis or angled armor.
Note the following:

Proper placement of your R2D2 combat assistant:

Note in the pic above, the R2D2 is at the top of the sloped armor of the X-Wing fighter. Rounds will most likely skip over his head. He will continue to function normally, throughout the duration of combat.

Improper placement of your R2D2 combat assistant:

Note in this pic, that the R2D2 sits out front, in front of everything. He will die quickly. He will get shot at first. This is improper. Do not do this to your R2D2.

Thank you for supporting the R2D2 combat assistant program.

-FKD