Work has been insanly crazy and I've been attempting to adapt to everything that has been happening in the last couple of months.  I'll have one done by next Sunday for March 26th!

Thanks everyone for their support!

CrimsonChaos
Since the HE nerf is it still worth going down the American arty line?

Hey CrimsonChaos!

I want to thank you for your question via the World of Tanks Forums!

Even thou I hardly ever use any high explosive shells within most of my battles, most of my fellow clan members that I speak with have seen a drop in the overall amount of damage done with splash damage.  As a Field Commander I feel that artillery still makes up the backbone of any Clan Wars team when deploying for battles.  I still see them doing hundreds, if not thousands, of points of damage on a regular basis, and pulling victory out  of the jaws of defeat.  So the need for 360 pounds of 240mm of thundering death is still on-demand for any Clan Wars Team in the foreseeable future.

"If God ever needed a cigar lit, he'll find himself the flame from the 240mm to do the job."

It looks like Wargaming heard us out!  They're going to have a Battle of the Bulge Special on January 23rd till January 26th!  These are the following discounts and bonuses available for the special.

•  3x experience for the first day victories of all tanks.
• 50% off the enlarging of barracks.
• 50% off the credit cost of the M7 Priest, M5 Stuart, M4A3E2, M10 Volverine, Panther, Tiger I, Jagdpanther and Grille (Surprised the Tiger II wasn't included.)
• 50% off the cost to buy the T14 Tank.

Hope everyone makes the best use of this!

U Mad Bro?

I don't think the Type 59 is the problem. I believe your issue is related to the person aiming your tank's gun.

I don't want to point any fingers at Wargaming purely because they're a business, and anyone who works for a living will know that the primarily goal for any business is to make money.  Not many people in the community seem to understand this concept, especially since Wargaming is nice enough to let us play on their servers, on their game.  Personally, I enjoy my Type 59 for the purpose of making credits, and I thank Wargaming for providing me a chance to purchase one.

I wouldn't worry too much about this Wargaming.  Haters gonna hate.  I still love you.

I'm not looking to make this a teenagers blog where I talk about everything that happens to me on a hourly basis, but something more related to my activities online and things that I happen to find interesting.  What will be most likely posted are questions directed towards me, pictures of women, things I've found interesting and... stuff.

So, we'll see how this goes and if it goes well.

The Type 59 Main Battle Tank is the Chinese produced version of the Soviet T-54A tank, with improvements developed for the T-54/55s.  About 9,500 of these tanks were produced by the time production ended in the 1980s, with only 5,500 of them serving with the Chinese People's Liberation Army till 2002.

After the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, the Soviets assisted the Chinese in developing and building a tank factory to build the T-54A Main Battle Tank.  At first these tanks were assembled with Soviet-supplied parts, and later replaced with Chinese-made parts.  The Type 59 was officially accepted into the People's Liberation Army in 1959.

The first line of domestic and western upgrades made their way into the Type 59 through the capture of a Soviet T-62 during the Sino-Soviet border conflict in 1969.  The Type 59 model (upgraded Type 69s and Type 79s included) were later superseded by the Type 80.

A total of 18 countries were operators of the Type 59 Main Battle Tank:
People's Republic of China (6,000), Iraq (1,500*), Pakistan (1,300), Iran (300), Albania (721), Vietnam (350), North Korea (175), Myanmar (160+), Afghanistan (100), Sri Lanka (80+), Bangladesh (80**), Cambodia (50), Zimbabwe (30), Democratic Republic of the Congo (20), Tanzania (30), Zambia (20), Congo-Brazzaville (15), and Sudan (10)
*Former
**Estimated

Variants:
Type 59: 1957
The most basic T-54A clone without IR searchlights.

Type 59-I:
Fitted with an improved Type69-II 100mm rifled gun, laser rangefinder, hydraulic servo-system, improved fire control, automatic fire supression system and rubber track shirt.

Type 59-II: 1982
Mounted with an 105mm Type 81 rifled gun provided by Austria.

Type 59-IIA
Fitted with thermal sleeve for the 105mm gun with some composite armor.  It also fitted with a 120mm smoothbore gun comparable to the general performance of the 120mm gun used with the Leopard 2.

Type 59D: 1990
All aging Type 59s were upgraded with the newest and greatest technologies, including explosive reactive armor, new tank gun, passive night vision and new fire control.  These upgrades also including several different types of engines.

Type 59G: 1996
A new welded turret was fitted and placed on the Type 59 to fit a 125mm main gun with a semi-automatic loader.

The T-44 was a Soviet medium tank was  produced towards the end of World War 2.  It became the official successor of the T-34, but less then two thousand were actually built.  The overall design became the formal basis for the T-54/55 Main Battle Tanks.

The first generation of T-44 began development in the fall of 1943 at Stalin Ural Tank Factory No. 183 in the Ural Mountains.  The development intent was to retain the high mobility of the T-34 while providing heavier armor protection against the heavier German tanks.

The first prototype was completed in January 1944 and two more were completed in February.  The first two were armed with the 85mm D-5T and was designated as the T-44-85.  The last prototype was armed with the 122mm D-25-44T and designated the T-44-122. 

This new medium tank design had skeptical responses.  It was believed that putting a high-speed 12-cylinder engine with a running displacement of 40 liters in a forward direction would cause problems.  One of these problems were major and was related to breaking the connecting rods.  They resolved these issues by rotating the engine and using a transmission that introduced an additional reduction gear, gear train and fan drive.  This rotation also allowed for easier access to the engine, tramsmission and batteries to more easily maintenance.

The first trials of the T-44-122 prototype took place in between February and March of 1944.  These trials proved to be unsuccessful due to gun failures.  Trials were resumed in April and May 1944 after the gun was repaired.  It was found that the practical rate of fire was two to three rounds per minute due to the cramped area in the turret due to the long and heavy ammunition.  Mainly due to limited stowage for 122mm shells led to the T-44-122 prototype being cancelled.

One of the first generation T-44-85 prototypes went through competitive trials along with the T-44-122 and a Panther tank.  The second prototype uncovered many additional faults that the T-44-122 trials had missed.  Many of these problems were resolved and passed trials on the proving rounds near Kubinka in June and July 1944 as the second generation prototypes.

The third generation prototypes were designated the T-44A.  With thicker armor the T-44A was given a larger engine to push it along at 60.5km/h.  Trials for this generation started in August and September 1944.  Several upgrades later allowed the T-44A to officially enter service with the Red Army on November 23th, 1944.

Even with the T-44A in service with the 85mm ZiS-S-53 tank gun, the same one fitted with the T-34-85, the Red Army still needed a tank armed with a more powerful 100mm main gun.  Designers came up with three types of 100 mm guns that were considerably capable of increasing firepower to the T-44.

The first 2 T-44-100 prototypes was ready in February 1945 armed with 100mm D-10TK  and ZiS-100 tank guns.  Trials were conducted between March and April with positive results with both guns, however the D-10TK was chosen for production.  The T-44-100 entered service with the Red Army at the same time as the T-54.

The T-44A officially started production in October in 1944.  The original plans called for 300 T-44As to be produced per month.  Only 25 were built by the end of 1944, 940 built in 1945, and 858 in 1946-1947.  The T-34 continued to account for 85% of medium tank production till 1950s.  Production was halted by the end of 1947 with a total of 1,823 built.  The main reason for slowed production numbers were due to teething problems, and design's inability to efficiently produce the T-44-100.  The T-54/55 with the more powerful 100mm main gun in all respects replaced the T-34 and T-44 in production in 1950.

The T-44A was issued out to three tank brigades in September 1944 for training.  The T-44A was not used in combat operations during World War 2 due to the lack of sufficient spares, and specialists who can repair and maintain the new tanks.  The T-44As were sent out to the Far East for operations against the Japanese, however theres no official reports of the T-44A taking part in actual combat.

The Soviet Union decided to keep the tank secret, and pictures were never shown to the public into the secrecy was dropped.  There was no evidence of T-44s being deployed in East Germany, or during the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956.  It is known that T-44s were sent there, but no official reports of actual combat service.

A number of T-44As were modernized with parts from the T-54/55s.  These T-44As were redesignated the T-44M.  Many of these T-44Ms were converted into command tanks making them into T-44MKs.  Many of the T-44As and T-44Ms received the "Cyclone" gun stabilizer and were redesignated the T-44S and T-44MS respectively.

Many sources show that the T-44S, T-44M and T-44MS tanks remained in service with the Soviet Army until the end of the 1970s.  It remained in storage till the beginning of 1990s.  Many T-44Ms were converted into artillery tractors, tank tractors and engineer tanks.  Many other T-44s of all types were converted into fixed defensive positions along with their border with China.

The development of the Panther II came about when Hitler insisted on an increase in it's armor during the development of the VK3002 (MAN).  During a meeting in January 1943 a new upgrade project for the Panther II had started.  This design upgrade saw an increase of it's glacis plate by 100mm and side armor by 60mm.  Production for these upgrades were slated to begin in September of 1943.

In a meeting on February 10, 1943, there has been further design changes proposed.  These changes were to critical parts like the steering gears and final drives.  Further meetings focused on sharing and standardizing parts between the Tiger II and Panther II.  Items like the transmission, all-steel roadwheels, running gears and the 88mm L/71 Kwk 43 main gun.

The development of the Panther II came about before the Panther even saw combat action.  But when June 1943 came around work on the Panther II ceased to focus on expanding production on the original Panther tank.  There was no official reason for the cancellation, but the most common theory was that the Rech Ministry of Armament and War Production was looking for a mass-produced tank instead of developing 'special' tanks.

One Panther II chassis was completed and captured by the United States Army.  An Ausf G turret was mounted on the chassis, however rumors about how it got there is still up in the air.  The most common theory is that the United States Army mounted the turret on the chassis for show purposes.  The most logical theory, for me at least, was that the Germans mounted the turret on the chassis for combat usage.  Either way the one and only Panther II is currently on display at the Patton Cavalry and Armor Museum in Fort Knox, KY.

The Sturmeschutz III (StuG III) was an assault gun for Germany's most produced armored fighting vehicle during World War 2.  This tank destroyer was built on the chassis of the Panzer III tank, and was initally intended as an infantry support mobile assault gun.

The StuG III was developed when it was discovered that during offensives that Infantry lacked the means to effectively knock out fortifications.  With artillery not being mobile enough to keep up with advancing infantry to destroy bunkers, pillboxes, and other obstacles with direct-fire, an another solution was needed.

General Erich von Manstein developed the initial proposal for Assault Artillery for General Ludwig Beck in 1935.  He suggested that these assault artillery guns should be used in direct support for Infantry divisions.

Daimler-Denz AG received an order to develop these armored infantry support assault guns capable of mounting the 75mm artillery piece.  The chassis and running gear used was just recently developed for the Panzer III with a fully integrated casemate superstructure.

 The StuG III first came out with a low-velocity 75mm StuK 37 L/24 to destory soft-skin targets and fortifications.  In Spring of 1942 the StuG III's were getting equipped or upgraded with the high-velocity 75mm StuK 40 L/43 main guns.  These then were upgraded to the 75mm StuK 40 L/48 in late 1942.

When the StuG IV entered production in late 1943 and early 1944, the "III" roman numerals was added to the end of it's name to separate it from the Panzer IV-based assault guns.

The Stug III proved to be an extremely successful assault gun across all fronts against all different types of targets.  The Tiger and Panther tanks have earned more fame during their service life, but Tank Destroyers and Assault guns have earned more tank kills collectively.

The StuG assault guns were also cheaper when compared to heavier German armor, therefore more cost-effective.  As the war dragged on towards early 1945, the StuG III found itself being used to replace losses and bloster defences against the massive Allied armies.

In 1943 and 1944 the Finnish Army received a total of 59 Stug IIIs from Germany to be used against the Soviet Union.  The Stug III remainted with the Finnish Army until the early 1960s.

100 StuG IIIs were delivered to Romania in the autumn of 1943.  13 Units were still in use with the 2nd Armoured Regiment by the end of the war.  All German equipment was scrapped in 1954 due to the Army's decision to use Soviet armour.

The StuG III (unknown number) were used in Yugoslavia after the war until the 1950s.

StuG IIIs were also exported to other nations like: Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Spain.

Syria continued to use the StuG III and other armor fighting vehicles during the Six Days War.  At that time, either all of them were destroyed, stripped for parts or used as static pillboxes after 1967.

Camouflage: I've been playing World of Tanks since July 2010.  One of the first things I've wanted to see is the ability to customize my tank's camouflague so that other players can see my paint job.  It looks like my wish, along with everybody elses, is going to finally come true.  It does appear that Adaptive camouflague will not be featured unto later.  All things consider, this is where players can now give their tanks they're own unique look and feel.

Ultimate Conquest Updates: I think I would get involved into Clan Wars again when the tank freezing goes into effect.  This will prevent larger clans with many more larger tier tanks simply plowing their way through terrorities tactically.  This would force players to use their tanks as if they're chess pieces now.  I believe this would add more dept in the strategy of the game instead of dominating tactically during each battle, requiring actual management tactics and skills to effectively deploy units correctly.

Française véhicules blindés de combat: Of course!  More tanks for me to make videos for!!!  France in the 1940s had a very formidable tank force.  If we take a little bit of a history lesson, the French Army preferred to fight a defensive battle and built all their tanks accordingly.  So... I believe we're going to see some thick ass armor on these Heavy Tanks, Maus style with an hint of French.  One thing I've found interesting, Heavy Tanks at Tier 4?  Medium Tanks at Tier 2?  Light Tanks till Tier 7?  Just seems really wierd, but wierd is always interesting. Go check out the French Tech Tree and tell me what you think, it's a bit crazy.

Overall!  I am extremely happy for this Patch!  Two big things to me in 7.0 Patch, and something Huge in 7.1 Patch.  Great days are a-coming.