In real life, a vehicle crew would equip their vehicle with modifications based on the environment that the vehicle would be deployed in, for example the WWII German winter tracks, or chained snow tyres such as on the wolfpack, wouldn’t be used on a muddy battlefield or solid roads, so should be optional and removable based on map as this could negatively effect the mobility of the vehicle. chain tyres causing sparks and slipping on roads. If the crew knows they will be operating in an urban environment, they will increase the protection of their vehicle, and if they are working in a more open area, they may choose to remove some of the additional weight, in favour for speed.
Example:
The player spawns on an urban map, on the vehicle spawn menu they could select the vehicle they wish to spawn in, and add an ERA package that would give them better close range protection or remove a camo net (if the vehicle has one) that would not benefit them in an urban environment.
or
The player spawns on an open map, where getting to objectives or key locations faster is more important than armour; so the player can remove their ERA package, such as the challenger 2’s and their composite skirts/ERA skirts, to reduce the weight and go a little bit faster or add a camo net (if the vehicle has one) that would be more beneficial on the distant map.
In lower BR’s, this could apply to vehicles with spaced armour or winter tracks as-well, allowing players to equip their vehicles to the map they are playing on.
So how do we go about this?..
The Armour Package Drop Down Menu
This would be the addition of a simple drop down menu allowing players to change the armour package of their vehicle, based on that vehicles year of production; the challenger 2 is a good example of this so, I will include some pictures of what it could look like, using it as an example. The idea is simple, once the player unlocks the “Additional Armour” modification, this drop down menu would be unlocked in game, allowing the player to use armour packages from older versions of the vehicle. This would not allow armour from anything NEWER as that would potentially change the BR of the vehicle, but if the armour package is older than the vehicle in question and would still fit, the player would gain access to the ability to use it on the vehicle. This could also open up the ability for vehicles to use unique armour packages such as roof protection cages, without having to add an additional modification to the vehicle, or a completely new vehicle.
Once the player unlocks the “Additional Armour” modification, it would unlock this drop down menu. Below I will explain how this would work.
Because this is an early model of the challenger 2, the only armour packages available to it would be the ones upon its introduction, that being the basic side skirts, both short and long (as seen on the 2e) - this gives the player the ability to change what the tank may look like slightly, as well as introducing the ability to add a dozer blade (if the modification is unlocked). This would add a little bit of uniqueness to vehicles, as potentially each one used by a player in a match may look slightly different based on what their playstyle is and what they intend to do.
This vehicle would be renamed to "Challenger 2 (the year of production AFTER the previous one) and then upon unlocking this vehicle, it will have the 2f armour package by default, as currently seen in game; but when the player unlocks the “additional armour” modification, it would unlock the ability to remove pieces of the armour, allowing players to equip their vehicle to be more situational to the maps they are playing on. For example, it could use the armour packages from the previous challenger 2, like the short side skirts, in order for the player to drop the weight of the vehicle to gain some speed, or to add a dozer blade to the vehicle if they plan to entrench, or keep the 2f package if they plan to go into a city for close quarters combat. Each armour package the player selects would make the vehicle less protected and the BR of the vehicle would be based off of its best armour package, but the player has the ability to use worse armour packages if they should chose to do so. In this example we have the KFOR Armour Package; This armour configuration would be the 2f side protection on the hull, with a bare turret and a dozer blade; a unique Challenger 2 armour configuration using the 2f armour package, just an example of the things that could be done with this system.
This vehicle would be renamed to "Challenger 2 (the year of production AFTER the previous one) and then when the player unlocks the, what is currently known as Challenger 2 TES, they would gain access to the ERA package of Challenger 2, but once again unlocking the “Additional Armour” modification would allow them to remove the TES package in favour of the armour packages from the previous variants, such as (2f) or the basic side skirts from the original challenger 2. Once again, this allows the player to modify their vehicle to suit the needs of the map, or to suit the needs of the player on that map, as well as allowing the addition of new armour packages to the vehicle based on its year. All of these armour packages fit onto this vehicle, and would be allowed to be used.
As you can see, the newer the vehicle, the more armour packages it has access to as the vehicle in real life would have been put through its paces and more armour would have been developed for it. HOWEVER, this does not mean that the armour packages from previous models has been completely destroyed or put out of service, and could still be used on the vehicle if required.
The challenger 2 OES (Megatron), Challenger 2 Black Night and the Challenger 2e would stay as they currently are due to the fact they are vastly modified and are only presented with their current armour configurations in real life with the only outlier being the 2e, which could potentially fit some of the additional armour packages as it was based on export. If a vehicle is a huge modification that would potentially no longer allow these older armour packages to fit onto them, then they would stay as they are.
Internally, any upgrades to these vehicles would also stay the same. For example, if the Challenger 2 TES were to have any engine upgrades over the older variants, this engine upgrade would remain, while the armour packages change, as the vehicle under the armour is still a newer vehicle, just with an older armour configuration.
In short, adding this feature opens up a path to being able to add additional armour packages to pre existing vehicles, without bloating the modifications of those vehicles. All you would need in one modification, “Additional Armour” which would unlock this drop down menu, allowing the player to choose between multiple armour configurations based on the map they are playing on. A player may wish to favour speed over armour on some maps, and for vehicles that have that armour locked to them, this unfortunately makes them objectively worse for that; or they may choose armour over speed, but the vehicles that have no armour packages currently, cant do that either. This simple drop down menu allows the player to tune their vehicles to the maps, and also allows Gaijin the opportunity to add more armour packages to vehicles without having to create completely new vehicles, or modifications. Using this drop down menu, late Merkavas and T series tanks could be allowed their roof cages, as an option on this drop down menu. Leopards could gain access to their alternate armour configurations, such as Bar armour. Vehicles like the Warrior could gain access to its WRAP 2 and Bar armour package, and the player can select which they want from this simple drop down menu. Right now, the game forces you to use armour on maps where you might rather not have it to favour speed, or it will force you to use no armour on maps where you require it, and this would help with that.
Merkavas, T-80’s, T-72’s could gain access to their roof cages. Leopard 2a4, 2a5, 2a6 could gain access to their SLAT or cage armour. Leclerc’s, Type 10’s and Ariete could gain access to their own bespoke armour configurations, all without bloating the modifications and tech trees with vehicles that are otherwise the same.
For all my WWII players out there, this would also help you! this would allow vehicles such as the Stug, Pz.iv’s and Sherman’s as some examples to gain their additional armour packages, such as side skirts, concrete armour, or sandbag armour, all without adding more vehicles and more modifications, while also allowing more dynamic player interactions with the vehicles, as people will see them with different looks based on their choice in this menu. This drop down menu could effect Wintertraken, side skirts, and even the covers on the VFW being raised or lowered, all selected by the player once they load into a match, before they spawn.
- Yes
- No
- Full drop down menu please! I want to use all the armour configurations my vehicle had available at the year of its production, and potentially some unique ones!
- I just want to be able to remove the existing armour modification such as the ERA on my T-80 with no care for new things. A simple button would suffice.
- I Don’t want to see this in game and everything is fine as it is. (modifications cant be removed in battle.)
Thank you for reading this post! I hope to see you all in game, and I’d love to hear your ideas and opinions on this!