[2019] ST, Gamescom announcements

Gamescom

Gamescom is taking place today, and we would like all the information about World of Warships from this event to be available to you in a convenient way. We are announcing new ships, unique historical commanders and the Halloween event. Have a pleasant reading and remember that plans can change.

German Battleship Odin, tier VIII.

She has 3 turrets with 3x305 mm guns in each of them, 2x4 torpedo tubes and 320 mm armor belt.

Odin was one of the prototypes of the Scharnhorst class battleship. She was supposed to counter the French battleships - Dunkerque and Strasburg. Guns with a caliber of at least 305 mm were required to fight them, but in reality their development was delayed, and it was decided to use 283 mm guns with a possibility of further rearmament with 380 mm guns. By lowering the displacement to meet the limitations and using the same dimensions as Scharnhorst, it was possible to increase the main caliber and to achieve good operational range - a good combination for actions against the enemy's communication lines.

In game, a relatively quick reload but without the largest caliber for a battleship, dictate the primary task for this ship - fighting against cruisers. At the same time, Odin's armor, despite being not bad, is still inferior to more classical battleships such as Tirpitz.

German cruiser Mainz, tier VIII.

She is armed with 12x150 mm guns in 4 turrets and 4x4 torpedo tubes. The thickness of the armor belt is 80 mm.

Mainz is the original version of the Seydlitz and Lützow cruisers (Admiral Hipper class) as they were planned in the June of 1936. After deciding to equip Admiral Hipper, Blücher and Prinz Eugen with 203mm guns, it was planned to build two more cruisers of this type, armed with 12x150 mm guns. But the decision was changed and Seydlitz and Lützow were to get the same guns as other ships of this class.

In game, Mainz will have good range and relatively good survivability for a ship armed with 150 mm guns, familiar to players of Nürnberg and Königsberg.

Heroic Commanders

We are working on Italian and German heroic commanders:

Günther Lütjens - Kriegsmarine admiral. During World War 2 was commanding the successful Scharnhorst and Gneisenau raid in Atlantic, was leading the operation of the legendary Bismarck. Went down with his ship in May of 1941 fighting the British Royal Navy.


Luigi Sansonetti - admiral of the Regia Marina, later - of the Italian Navy. During World War 2 was commanding a cruiser division and participated in several important battles in the Mediterranean. Later, was one of the key naval staff officers.

We will share the details about their traits later in the development blog.

Halloween 2019

Every autumn we hold a Halloween dedicated event, and it always gets positive feedback from players. This year won't be an exception: the story of the fictional world will continue to evolve. Players will enjoy both the familiar operations and a new game mode, where they can fight each other. The event traditionally includes new mechanics, which we will present later.

Please note that the information in the Development Blog is preliminary.

Kuznetsov will also be avaibable for purchase via coal in one of the coming updates, similar story with Auboyneau - he will appear in Armory after a few updates and will be avialable for one of the resources.
Similar method is probably going to be used for other legendary commanders.

The Hull is based on Eugen, quite a sturdy ship.

In 1935-1936 germans haid laid down three first Hipper-class ships - Hipper, Blucher, and, with a modernized hull Prinz Eugen. In the june of same year 1936 2 more cruisers were ordered - Seydlitz and Lutzow.
In the of the same year 1936 two more cruisers were ordered, and as a gesture of goodwill, they were planned to be armed with 4x3x150 mm guns and Hull simuilar to Eugen. But on 14th of November, 1936, because of the political situation changing, the decision was changed again, and Seydlitz and Lutzow were to be completed with 203 guns.
Both ships weren't fully completed, Seydlitz wasn't commisioned, and Lutzow was sold to soviet Navy in an incomplete state and was used as a floating battery during WW2.
Mainz shows how Seydlitz and Lutzow would've looked if they had been completed according to the original June 1936 plan.

This approach was also considered, but those are two different approaches, one shouldn't cancel the other.

Problem with Tsushima is not some saltiness, political reasons or other stuff - it just most of the ships which were in the battle don't fit in the game.