"Buff my tank!" - Panther

By Zarax

Hello and welcome to "Buff my tank!"

The "Buff my tank!" articles are meant as an historical way to look at some tanks considered underpowered in game and ways to improve their combat abilities discussed by the original german engineers.
Beware that while being sometimes ironic in tone, the article treats about both costs and benefits of every choice and it most likely will never be listened by WG as suggestion.

Today we will take a look at another popular german tank, the Panther.
A classic sniping medium, the Panther has often been object of complaints for being poor at closer ranges and having low agility.

Historically, the Panther was a proto-MBT, basically halfway between medium and heavy tanks.
Agile enough for fast tactical relocation, reasonably armored and with good firepower for its introduction, its main enemy was often the unpolished status of many components, rushed to the battlefield without being properly tested and resulting in many tanks being lost before contact with the enemy.

Of course that did not stop german engineers to keep improving on it and even bringing some wildly experimental technology on it, including but not limited to IR sights for night fighting.
Using Spielberger's "Panther & its variants" and "German Jet Engine and Gas Turbine Development 1930-1945", we will explore some solutions adopted or planned in order to push the Panther forwards to its very design limits.

Protection:

On June 4th 1942, Hitler expressed doubts about the 80mm inclined armor and requested that all vertical front surfaces should be at least 100mm thick.
In February 1943 it was also proposed to increase the front glacis plate to 100mm thickness, which would have added approximately half ton of weight.
This would basically give the tank near Panther II protection levels and definitely make the tank unbalanced as tier VII medium as it would be better armored and more mobile than the Tiger.

Mobility:

The HL 230 engine was originally planned to be made from light weight alloys (alluminium?), so some engine weight could be shaved off in theory.
An hydro-dynamic transmission like that of the E-Series was also planned, increasing tank agility on soft terrain.

In December 1943 Daimler-Benz planned to use a MB-507 engine with 850HP on the Panther chassis.

In January 1945 the 850 HP Maybach HL 234 was planned to be mounted.

Those modifications would basically be the ones implemented in game for the Panther II, yet something even crazier was considered:

From 14 Semptember 1944 until February 1945 experimental development went into trying to fit a gas turbine the Panther's engine compartment.
The turbine development went into different stages from GT 101 to GT 103 and while successful into mounting the engine, fuel consumption  was about twice as the original engine, leading to putting fuel tanks in most free space in the tank.

This engine would provide an amazing 1150 HP but as it was bigger than the standard engines and took a lot more fuel storage, it would be balanced by an high fire risk, likely at least 50%.
This would make the tank even more of a glass cannon, meaning that exposing anything else other than the turret would mean a huge fire risk.
IMHO this last solution should have gone into the recon Panther in order to compensate for the hopelessy huge size as anyway light tanks have to rely on not being hit.

As a bonus, it would have its own unique engine sound:

Firepower: 

The planned 75mm L/100 is already in WOT, however it's not the only gun improvement planned for the Panther.
In November 1944 the 88mm L/71 was planned to be installed in a Panther schmaulturm, although this was already in game when Panther was one tier higher.
Given that the long 88 was being redesigned for the task to improve shell handling, it would translate into a pretty low DPM in game.

A semi-automatic loader was also proposed and the prototype manufactured, which would have allowed a ROF of 40 RPM as long as the loader could keep the pace.
Now, this could be implemented as a new gun and balance as a 4 round drum loader or with some worsened soft stat, depending on developer mood.

In June 23 1944 a 15cm STUH 43 was proposed to be mounted in a standard Panther turret:

This would make the Panther an excellent troll tank although with likely huge reload times.
I'd personally see the SturmPanther as a TD, where it could be otherwise balanced.

Conclusion:
IMHO the tank is balanced for its specialist role of sniper medium.
A slightly different gun choice could help the tank in the brawling role, however most upgrades would basically cross the tier balance, meaning it would have to give up somewhere else.

Extending the WOT german tech tree - Porsche heavy tanks

By Zarax

 Disclaimer: 
This is a purely speculative article that takes into account WOT German tech tree and uses historical tanks to speculate possible new tank additions.
While trying to keep the articles faithful to history some room for inaccuracy is allowed within these rules:

1) No tank or tank part will be 100% made up, at least a mention about tank role and vague specs are needed

2) Components not planned for the tank are allowed, provided it wouldn't create grotesque inaccuracies like putting a gun that would obviously cripple a tank under its weight

3) This will be limited to WWII plans, anything post war risks to be too arbitrary to properly balance

No serious expectation of anything listed to appear in WOT as described is applied, but as we're discussing about implementing history into an arcade game some items will be controversial.
This is unavoidable as WOT tech tree rules need a tank to be better than the previous one and ergonomics are not exactly cared about, meaning that most designs are over-performing their real counterparts.



This article of mine will also be slightly different, first of all because it is aimed at revolutionize an already existing tree, but also because unlike the previous ones it will start in reverse, from tier X.


The "Porsche unleashed" articles brought a lot of attention towards the good old German colossus, a tank that many feels is becoming obsolete in a world of fast, hard hitting tanks where armor is loosing importance.

Initially I wanted to do a "Buff my tank!" about the Maus, but with the recent news influx I instead decided enough material for a massively reformed tank tree.

Note: A similar article will follow for the Henschel branch, please bear with me some odd-looking things when compared to the actual trees.


So, how do you improve a tree in which so many tanks are already overstretched from their historical counterparts?

Simple enough, you nerf them back to history:

Don't worry though, the nerfs are in reality buffs, as a massive down-tiering will also follow.

The main aim of this reform is twofold:
restore the specialization of the Porsche tree and improve historical accuracy.
This way, they will behave close to the soviet IS-4 line, in which you have slower, heavily armored tanks that also can retaliate nastily, although possibly not as well as their lighter armored cousins.

Tier X: Maus II

 

The picture says most of it.

The pinnacle of the long Maus development, this version was to receive a newly designed turret with an enlarged turret ring and several other minor improvements.

In game this would allow to keep similar mobility to the current Maus, with the possibility of installing the 128mm L/61.

This would allow the Maus to improve its ability to fight off other heavy tanks, although the price for increased penetration would likely be in DPM, soft stats and/or HP.

Tier IX: Maus

The historical Maus and current tier X.
While keeping its mighty armor, it pays an hefty price for it in terms of mobility.
The extremely optimistic 1750HP engine is kept for tier X and replaced by a weaker one.
Starting from the absolutely terrible Porsche Typ 205/2 rated at 780HP, it follows to the MB 509 at 1080 HP to the final 1200HP MB517, for a top speed of 13kmh.

Armament wise, the stock cannon could be the 105mm L/68 (basically the production version of Lowe's cannon), followed by 127mm "KWK 41" (derived from naval artillery and discussed during development) L/45 to the classical 128mm L/55 that was finally mounted on the prototype.

We even have historical stock and elite turrets:

 

This would make Maus a real grind, where you will have to rely on armor but at the same time a force to be seriously reckoned with when top tier as most tanks won't easily penetrate you without gold ammo.

Tier VIII: VK 100.01 (P)

An early Maus draft,design specs were fluctuating wildly at this stage so we can take a few liberties to use different pieces of the early Maus development  to fit it on tier VIII.

Derived from the Porsche/Krupp VK 70.01 Lowe project, this 100 ton tank was to be heavily armed but with less than spectacular armor.

Basically a Lowe on steroids, frontal armor was planned to be 120-140mm with sides at 80-100mm.

The Porsche Typ 205/2 rated at 780HP will serve as stock engine, replaced later on by the Porsche Deutz Typ 180/2.

Mobility would still be relatively low, around 20-25kmh but this would be compensated by the armament side.

As neither armor or mobility for its size are especially spectacular, we can slightly compensate with armament.

88mm L/71 will serve as stock gun, with a first upgrade being the 88mm L/100.

105mm L/52 and 105mm L/68 will serve as upgrade path towards the Maus, however we can allow ourselves one optional gun.

Depending on chosen armor thickness, either the 127mm L/45 or the 15cm SFH L/30 could be used.

One is a naval gun firing semi-AP shells, while the other would be a tank version of Hummel's upgraded gun, so an howitzer with a semi-decent gold round.

Tier VII: VK 45.02 (P) Ausf B

The good old tier IX tank was in fact so overbuffed by Wargaming that it's almost unbelievable.

Historically, both ausf A and B were designed for the 88mm L/71 and sported a meager 80mm frontal armor.

While being sloped means that it would be marginally better than Tiger's, by WOT standards it's just paper.

It was planned to increase it but no amount is given, although we can be sure it wouldn't be as much as right now.

A more realistic amount could be anything from the original 80mm up to 130mm depending on effects on mobility and additional plating availability.

For balance purposes, I will allow myself to use an additional 30mm plate (the most common size for this purpose), bringing protection to a decent 110mm.

Keeping top speed the same, the engine grind will be the same as the current Tiger P, with the Porsche Deutz Typ 180/2 as top engine.

Armament wise, the 88mm L/71 is kept as top gun, while the 88mm L/56 will serve as stock gun.

A middle gun option can however be introduced in the form of the 105mm L/47 (source: Jentz, historically planned for the Porsche Typ 100/101), which for simplicity sake could share ammunition (and penetration stats) with Dicker Max gun, of course with lowered firepower and accuracy.

Tier VI: Tiger (P)

As this tank is quite popular I'm going to leave two paths: armor OR firepower.

In both cases the last engine has to go, along with the 88mm L/71, but don't despair yet.

Option 1: Armor

Simple enough, as tier VI heavy with such awesome armor, the long 88 has to go.

200mm at tier VI is simply excellent and a gun selection like the current VK 3001 (P) will be more than enough, transforming your tank into a strong anvil that can still pack decent firepower although lowish penetration.

Option 2: Firepower

A more balanced setup, this will leave you with a decent 100mm frontal armor, which will help making the tank lighter and keep some mobility.

The new top gun would be the 105mm L/47, which would basically make the tank comparable to ARL 44 or T-150 in game play.

Tier V: Porsche Typ 245

Outshone (or maybe shadowed is a better way to describe it) by the heavier Porsche designs, this Porsche-Rheinmetall light tank is another pretty "original" design in line with most Porsche proposals.

Apparently supposed to double as AA tank and armed with a 55mm auto-cannon, it was planned to be equipped with a Porsche Typ 101 engine with an advanced hydraulic transmission.

This 18 ton light tank was also well armored with a sloped 60mm glacis armor and interesting enough, it already was planned to use rubber-saving steel wheels, all in slightly under 5 meters length.

In game it could play a similar role as the british cruiser tanks, basically a light-medium tank with normal MM, armed in a similar way to the tier VK 1602.

 Of course, this leaves out two tanks from the existing tree.
I personally envision them as a connecting branch to the Henschel line, specs for them follows below:

Tier VII: VK 45.02 (P) Ausf A

The good old tier VIII tank was in fact so overbuffed by Wargaming that it's almost unbelievable.

Historically, both ausf A and B were designed for the 88mm L/71 and sported a meager 80mm frontal armor.

While being sloped means that it would be marginally better than Tiger's, by WOT standards it's just paper.

It was planned to increase it but no amount is given, although we can be sure it wouldn't be as much as right now.

The historical 80mm armor will be kept for this tank, maintaining its "fast heavy" role.

Keeping top speed the same, the engine grind will be the same as the current Tiger P, with the Porsche Deutz Typ 180/2 as top engine.

Armament wise, either the 105mm L/47 or the 88mm L/71 can be used as top gun, while the 88mm L/56 will serve as stock gun, although I'd favor the first.

As top of the "linking branch" this tank would be able to upgrade towards both VK 45.02 (P) Ausf B and either tier VII or VIII of the Henschel branch.

Tier VI: VK 3001 (P)

I really wanted to bring this tank down to tier V, however historical specs are in such a way that the tank is already where it belongs. Blame on WG for the horrid grind, it's completely unjustified from an historical POV.

Top specs for the tank are already quite good, so there is no need of changing them.

What is possible however, would be to ease the pointless grind that forces the player to research both tracks and turret to mount anything better than a 75mm L/48.

WG just conveniently buys on the myth that the original turret wouldn't fit a bigger gun, however the Krupp design shows an 88mm L/56 on it.

Tank upgrades would be the Tiger (P) naturally and VK4502 (P) Ausf A.

I also wanted to bring the VK 72.01 as tier VIII but unfortunately WG took it as made-up tier X.

It would also have been extremely hard to balance as tier VIII, as thin armor coupled with E-100 top gun are an extremely odd mix for a heavy tank, even balanced by awful DPM.

With this, our article ends and I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading about the mix of odd and utterly crazy Porsche designs.

E 50/75 Weserhütte

By Zarax

Note: much credit goes to Thor_Hammerschlag for noticing the hull size differences.
As usual, don't expect anything published here to be implemented in WOT.

Today I got an interesting message from Thor, saying that there was something unusual on page 75 of "Special Panzer Variants" by Spielberger (btw, did you know that he actually worked as engineer for Porsche and was involved in the Ferdinand project?).

The page shows the E 50/75 hulls, however aside from the two well known Adler layouts there is another, slightly different one by Weserhütte:

 

Not much is known about it other than the company was responsible for E 50 and E 75 but the interesting bit is that the chassis is about 15cm longer.

It is not known either if this was an early draft or a later development, however this extra space was likely to be enough to accomodate the planned rear drive transmission. 

All in all, this is yet another shadowed corner in the already pretty obscure development of the E-Series.

I will further investigate but it's unlikely anything else will be found, especially as even Jentz and Doyle seems to have given up on this (or maybe Doyle is keeping any new data for the next issue).

Addendum:
I've received several comments in the FTR blog about the WOT frontal transmission debate.
I originally did not want to get involved on it but given that it's been brought forward, I will try using several sources to make estimates.

First of all, Wargaming argues that the rear transmission wouldn't fit  as the Tiger II was too short, and brings the longer (I'll take as granted their 7.35m hull measurement) AMX 50B as example of follow-up design.
So, basically their argument can be summed up by two pictures:

I will also bring a larger, detailed AMX picture:

Problem is, how long effectively the tanks were supposed to be?

Wargaming states first that Tiger II was 6.4m long, then corrects itself to 7.3.

The first number would indeed prove WG right, however the latter would basically give identical measures to the french design, thus allowing rear drive beyond doubt.

 

Using Jentz & Doyle's Tiger II book, we obtain the following:

At 7.38m we have basically the same size as  the french AMX, meaning that a rear drive on Tiger II would be possible indeed.

Later measurements however are slightly different:

This gives a range from 6.8m (Krupp late improvement estimate) to 7.1m (Heschel 1944 measurements), still significantly longer than Wargaming's initial estimate.

Now, how long was E 50/75 supposed to be?
The answer here is much more complicate, as data is extremely scant.
The only measurements safely obtainable are the ones on the top, which only gives suspension length.

Thus, to compare we need the same measurement from the Tiger II.
Henschel measurements gives 4120-5400mm depending on terrain (up to 20cm of track sinking).

Comparing to the Adler data, it seems that their E-50 would be just slightly shorter than Tiger II (possibly going towards later Krupp Tiger II proposals?), while Weserhütte design seems to be in line with the Henschel Tiger II or slightly longer.

So, what does this tell us?

1) Tiger II hull is a lot closer to AMX M4/AM 50 in size than initially estimated by Wargaming
2) There likely were attempts of shortening (thus making it lighter) Tiger II hull by germans
3) Kniepkamp and Wa Prüf 6 possibly estimated larger sizes than production models

In my opinion, giving rivalries in tank development WG implementation is partially correct, although they explained it in the worst possible way.

Here's what I think could have happened:

Early prototypes would likely have been produced by Adler with forward transmission in an attempt to keep tank weight as low as possible and reusing as many Tiger II/Panther components as possible.
We also have to consider that Adler itself was working on a rear drive though, the "Projekt B" Hydro-mechanic drive and transmission, so later models might have succeeded in following engineer's will.

Weserhütte and other minor manufacturers in the meantime would likely have tried to keep closer to engineer's specs as they had less political clout and were keen to get a slice of the tank production business.
This would have resulted in a longer design, possibly with initially worse mobility (and reliability) and heavier weight for sure.

All in all, both might have converged in a final design possibly closer to the french implementation but as the very nature of the project itself was highly speculative we'll never know for sure as it's likely single components would have been implemented in existing tank designs instead.

Sorting out the 210mm Ferdinand

 By Zarax

The introduction of "GW-Ferdinand" by Wargaming left me scratching my head.
The first reaction was "yet another fantasy tank!", but I had an hitching feeling about reading a "21cm auf Elefant" somewhere.

The first hint came from the forums, where "Panzer Leader" by Guderian was mentioned as a source.
It is there indeed mentioned as a proposal (among other things, like additional front plating for Tiger, Panther and Panzer IV)  but I still was not sure as he seemed to be mixing out stuff. The fact that the 210mm mortar itself was nicknamed "Elefant" due to its weight didn't help of course as it could have allowed further confusion.

"Gunpower 22", by Tadeusz Melleman briefly mentions that heavy self propelled guns on Tiger P chassis were proposed for 150 and 170mm heavy howitzers on page 7, however no source is given, leaving me skeptical about it, although it mentions the same reason for dismissal as Guderian's, economic cost. 

This led me to dig deeper into the main authors. A deeper check into "Special Panzer Variants" by Spielberger revealed a "Elefant 21cm on Hummel chassis" proposed on March 1945 but it turned out to be talking about the mortar itself rather than the tank.

"Panzer Tracts 08" gave a precious start, saying in thr Sturmpanzer IV chapter that succesfull production of the model would stop the need for a 21cm Tiger (P) based Stug. This, and the fact that Sturmtiger itself was initially considered to use a similar howitzer, made me consider the possibility of a "Sturmtiger (P)", although still not direct enough to be certain.

"Tiger und seine abarten" by Spielberger finally hit the nail. On pages 104 and 105 (translation courtesy of Silentstalker) it says Hitler wanted the conversion of Porsche Tigers into Sturmgeschütz vehicles with 200mm frontal armor and a 88mm L/71 gun. He also ordered the research of the possibility of installing a 210mm French captured mortars into them. For that, the hull and the superstructure was to be strenghtened. 

The order to rebuild one (Porsche vehicle) into a Sturmgeschütz was given by the army high command to Porsche on 26.9.1942.  On 14.10.1942 Hitler said that if Panzer IV could have the SIG gun installed, the need for the 88 or 210mm Porsche Tiger Stug has no longer priority and only constructive suggestions should be given from now on. 

What does this mean?

Basically, a 210mm assault mortar used as howitzer on a Ferdinand. Same armor, likely slightly different superstructure but definitely a front line tank, not an artillery unit. So, after VK 7201, Wargaming did it again and utterly misread a german design.

Will they ever learn?

Bonus detail: On 5.1.1943 Hitler requested the trials of a 88 L/100 on Tiger P chassis.

Addendum for those that argue about its use in WOT

My articles are purely on an historical perspective although usually based on WOT tanks or events.
My aim is to rectify historical accuracy mistakes, not to create WOT tank designs.

Someone pointed that the armor on a "mortar carrier" would be useless thus it's not logical.

This tank was not meant for facing other tanks tanks but rather bunker defences (which included anti-tank guns) in an urban settings, while the tank role was simply to bring the biggest gun close enough to do the job.

I'll try to explain the role in simple words:

1) Pick a big city (historically, Stalingrad).
2) Infantry discovers a fortified building that indirect fire artillery cannot reach
3) Tank caliber guns fails to breach the reinforced walls
 
At this point a solution is needed:

Hitler proposed a ramming Tiger vehicle that would act like a motorized battering ram.
Someone a bit less insane proposed a vehicle armored enough to withstand anything thrown at it by bunker defences and with a large enough gun to crack it.

Implementation phase 1: a SIG heavy howitzer is mounted on a Panzer III chassis with 80mm front

Implementation phase 1.5: Hitler wants something bigger and orders the heaviest gun on his favourite engineer's (Porsche) platform

Implementation phase 2: someone saner persuades Hitler that a panzer IV with a 15cm STUH 43 short howitzer and 100mm frontal armor is enough

Implementation phase 2.5: Hitler gets angry and states that nothing less than a Tiger will scare away enemy soldiers from position

Implementation phase 3: Sturmpanzer Bar and Sturmtiger competes for the heavy sturmpanzer role, with Sturmtiger winning the competition.

How would it work in battle in its concept?

The tank would simply approach the enemy strongpoints relying on strong frontal armor to resist anti-tank guns, grenades and anything a fortified position cold fire at it.
Once within range (from a few hundred meters to 1-2 kilometers) the tank would fire with a heavy howitzer and demolish the enemy bunkers either with HE or with a large HEAT demolition shell.

Tanks were not their primary targets and they were not meant to be used as tank destroyers primarily, although that role was occasionally envisioned.





Would they wreck any tank if they fired on it? Yes if close enough to score a direct hit with their low velocity guns.
Would they be optimal for the task? No, as everything in the tank is optimized for short range use against static targets. Perhaps they would be devastating in an ambush, but with the naturally slow rate of fire it would be a waste of heavy shells.

Someone likened heavy sturmpanzers to  the soviet SU-ISU 152. It is an analogy with limited purpose, as the german tanks were much more specialized in their role than the soviet design and would be out-ranged by them.




 

Extending the WOT german tech tree - Porsche Tank Destroyers

 By Zarax

Disclaimer: 
This is a purely speculative article that takes into account WOT german tech tree and uses historical tanks to speculate possible new tank additions.
While trying to keep the articles faithful to history some room for inaccuracy is allowed within these rules:

1) No tank or tank part will be 100% made up, at least a mention about tank role and vague specs are needed

2) Components not planned for the tank are allowed, provided it wouldn't create grotesque inaccuracies like putting a gun that would obviously cripple a tank under its weight

3) This will be limited to WWII plans, anything post war risks to be too arbitrary to properly balance

No serious expectation of anything listed to appear in WOT as described is applied, but as we're discussing about implementing history into an arcade game some items will be controversial.
This is unavoidable as WOT tech tree rules need a tank to be better than the previous one and ergonomics are not exactly cared about, meaning that most designs are over-performing their real counterparts.


Although Porsche is best known for the Ferdinand and the Maus, he worked on a plethora of lesser known designs, although most of them never left the paper stage.
Starting from 1943 and as the war material situation worsened he focused on lighter designs, some of which were tank destroyers.

By using the best sources at our disposal we're now able to attempt to reconstruct a Porsche TD line.
Beware, some designs are quite exotic but all of them are based on "Panzer Tracts 6-3", "Panzer Tracts 20-1", "Panzer Tracts 20-2"  or "Special Panzer Variants".

Due to a lack of early designs, this tree will start from tier V, in my mind branching from either the Hetzer or the Panzer 38 Neuer Art:

Tier V: Porsche Typ 245/2

Based on the Porsche Typ 245 light tank design, this light assault gun was meant to double up as recon tank and use belt-fed weapons, eliminating the need for a loader.
Designed to be fairly well armored (60mm sloped frontal armor), it was planned to be fast with a 250HP air-cooled  Porsche engine, which pushed its 15 tons at a top speed of 58 kilometers per hour, granting a pretty good 16HP/ton.

At around 1.5 meters of height and being shorter than the Hetzer, it was pretty short and hard to detect, making it a potentially great ambush tank.
Its planned armament was a 55mm Rheinmetall M112 autocannon with a traverse of 5° on each side, coupled with a light MG in the cupola.

We could estimate as upgrades that the tank could receive a Porsche Typ 100 engine variant, and keep relatively light armament.
I initially thought about 55mm Gerat 58 but it would look ridicolous on the tank, as well as its early relative 5cm Flak 41.
Considering larger guns, the 75mm L/48 would look quite big on the tank already, so it's likely we'll have to be limited to howitzers and short guns.

An autoloading variant of the 5cm L/60 cannon could be used with a 5 round drum, although lackluster penetration would not improve the situation by much.
105mm L/28 would match the tank pretty well, but it will likely mean giving up most traverse.


Stretching up a bit more, one could consider the 8cm PAW 600, which would give slightly better HE damage than a 75mm gun, however gold ammo is limited to 140ishmm HEAT penetration.
Alternatively, the 30mm MK103 or an autoloading 37mm with the uranium rounds could be considered, but this is borderline with history.

All in all, an excellent "flanking TD" useful for hunting scout tanks and protecting artillery but not exactly a pleasant grind.

Tier VI: Porsche Schwerer Kleiner Panzer

Possibly one of the first drafts of the Porsche Typ 250, the Porsche Kleiner Panzerkampfwagen was an interesting project, based on the use of cast armor to speed up building.

Another relatively compact design, it was supposed to be 2.2m tall in it's largest version, 6.75 meters long and 3.15 meters wide.

Fairly well protected by an 80mm sloped front, it sported a 345HP Porsche V-10 engine pushing 25-26 tons, making it a still relatively agile vehicle at 13HP/ton, while crew was now composed by 4 members.

Its initial armament was supposed to be the 105mm L/28, with a 30mm autocannon as secondary weapon.

Top speed is not given but one could estimate around 45-50kmh on ideal terrain.

During its development upgrading the cannon was considered.

Sources are slightly sketchy on this though, as they state a 10.5cm PAW firing fin-stabilized ammo at 900m/s was planned.

Now, this leaves us in a bit of a conundrum:

While there was a 10.5 PAW firing fin-stabilized ammo (called 10H64, it reached prototype stage), it was rather a low velocity gun-howitzer meant to fire HE and HEAT than a long gun.

On the other side, the only gun in the german arsenal that could match the performance specs (105mm and 900m/s) would be the 105mm L/68 proposed for the Tiger II, which in its rifled version was estimated to reach around 860 m/s, but on the tank with a front mount it would make the tank almost twice as long, not to mention making it nose heavy and unmaneuverable in city or wooded terrain.

This leads me to two hypothesis:

1) The 10H64 was meant for a front mount, while the long 105 for a rear casemate. It could fit with some difficulty but there are no designs to support this.

2) Speculating on a wrong translation and given the british authors, it is more likely 900 feet per second were meant, a performance quite close to the 10H64 cannon.

Personally, I think the latter option is more likely, but given that in WOT smoothbore guns are not a welcome option (although in this case it would be a "derp gun") we could speculate the tank would mount yet another design as top gun, the 105mm L/47.

Rougly as long as the 88mm L/56, it was designed by Porsche to fit the VK 3001 (P)/Tiger (P) turret and we could estimate a similar performance as the russian 107mm or french 105mm of tiers V-VI.

As for mobility, it is likely the V-10 engine would be later replaced by a 500HP V-12 that was in development, granting it nearly 20HP/ton, pushing the top speed to over 50kmh.

Tier VII: Porsche Typ 255

Sometimes confused with the E-25, this 1944 design was the ultimate "light" tank destroyer by Porsche.
Roughly the same size as its tier VI predecessor, it was designed to sport 120mm frontal armor, 4 man crew and a semi-automatic (mentioned as "belt-fed", likely an auto-loader) cannon plus a 30mm MK 103/108 in the small turret above.

A 500HP V-12 engine was supposed to push its 27 tons of weight to a top speed of 57 kilometers per hour, which at around 18HP/ton would have made the vehicle quite agile, although it's likely the weight was under estimated.

Weapon-wise, Spielberger states that the 105mm L/28 was originally planned, but later to be replaced with a semi-automatic 10.5cm cannon of higher performance.
In this case, one could assume we'd end up with a similar armament as the WOT Jagdpanther, although given the better chassis specs gun would inferior in performance, with in my opinion a final choice between a drum loaded version of the howitzer and the 88mm L/71 or 105mm L/47 if the 10H64 is not picked.

Engine-wise, we could maybe expect the same choice as Ferdinand or a bit lower in HP as the initial mobility is already quite good, with the possibility of the historical engine being the top one.


Tier VIII: Ferdinand

As the tank is already in WOT and no tier changes are expected, only minor adjustments are foreseen.
WOT already upgrades this tank above historical plans so not much could be said.
If one wanted to improve slightly historical accuracy an 88mm L/100 or 105mm L/68 could be used instead of the 128mm L/55 as they would be more plausible as upgrade but still fictional.

Tier IX: VK 70.01 (P)

The biggest historical stretch of this tree, but necessary to find a proper design for the tier, this was supposed to be Porsche proposal for the Lowe tank, dated 11 may 1942.

Coinciding with the "Schwerer Lowe" specifications, it was a 90 ton tank design, with 120mm front armor, 80-100mm side and armed with a 15cm L/40 (likely E-100s L/38) cannon.
2 Porsche engines of unknown power were supposed to push the tank at 30 kilometers per hour.

Now, for the speculative part:

A chassis length of over 7.7m is given, making it likely rear turreted, something that is to be expected by a Porsche design.
A width of around 3.8m is given, touching slightly above 4m with what is expected to be side skirts, or possibly with tracks mounted.

This would give it a pretty familiar look, one that WG took for tier X:

Playing with similar designs, one could imagine the final product as something close to this brutal merge:

The image above is of course NOT historical and it's merely speculation on how the Schwerer Lowe turret would look with a chassis similar in size to the Porsche design, in this case the Sturmpanzer Bar.

120-140mm frontal armor and E-100 level gun selection, it wouldn't be exactly top spec in either armor or firepower, so we could argue that this tank would be a turreted TD.

Starting with the 105mm L/68, one could likely grind the 128mm L/55 up to the 15cm L/38 or L/40.

Limiting slightly the turning ability an heavier gun could be likely carried, such as the 128mm L/61.

Tier X: Sturmgeschutz Maus

The above is an artist impression, however it's pretty likely the Sturmpanzer Maus would have looked like that.

Developed in tandem with the JagdPanzer E-100, it was supposed to be pretty similar in gun selection, with a choice between the 15cm L/63 (or L/68) or the same 17cm carried by the Jagdpanzer E-100.

A relatively simple trade-off, it would get slightly better armor in exchange for slightly worse mobility.

Aside from the above mentioned guns, extra long 128mm cannons up to L/76 were mentioned, however it is unlikely they could bring much tactical benefit, although one could prefer an extremely precise low alpha cannon.

With this, the line ends.

Although some pretty heavy streching from history has been taken in some cases, all tanks above existed at least in plan form as a list of specification.

No fantasy tanks or Wargaming developers have been harmed in the making of this article.

Extending the WOT german tech tree - artillery branch

By Zarax

Disclaimer: 
This is a purely speculative article that takes into account WOT german tech tree and uses historical tanks to speculate possible new tank additions.
While trying to keep the articles faithful to history some room for inaccuracy is allowed within these rules:

1) No tank or tank part will be 100% made up, at least a mention about tank role and vague specs are needed

2) Components not planned for the tank are allowed, provided it wouldn't create grotesque inaccuracies like putting a gun that would obviously cripple a tank under its weight

3) This will be limited to WWII plans, anything post war risks to be too arbitrary to properly balance

No serious expectation of anything listed to appear in WOT as described is applied, but as we're discussing about implementing history into an arcade game some items will be controversial.
This is unavoidable as WOT tech tree rules need a tank to be better than the previous one and ergonomics are not exactly cared about, meaning that most designs are over-performing their real counterparts.

In this article we will tackle the most controversial WOT tank class: artillery.
Right now there is a full branch spanning from tier II to tier VIII, however we do already know that WG will extend it to tier X, rebalancing tanks in the process.

Starting from this, we'll try to guess how this will happen:

Tier II: Sturmpanzer I

No radical changes are expected other than minor tweaks.
WOT made its gun unhistorically weak and used it as low tier artillery, while in reality, the SIG 33 was a quite powerful gun made for infantry companies.

The heaviest gun in its class, it was a very powerful howitzer, although inferior to rivals of similar bore due to low range. The short barrel was the price to pay for having a high caliber howitzer manageable by non motorized troops, which made it powerful but short ranged.
It ended up being replaced by a copy of the russian 120mm mortar, which offered only slightly inferior firepower in a lighter and longer ranged platform.

The very first attempt to motorize the gun was based on the obsolete Panzer I chassis, but it resulted in an extremely overload vehicle.
Somewhat compensating this was the fact that the original mount was kept, making the gun easily dismountable should the chassis break down (as it often happened).

Tier III: Sturmpanzer II

No radical changes are expected other than minor tweaks.
WOT made its gun unhistorically weak and used it as low tier artillery, while in reality, the SIG 33 was a quite powerful gun made for infantry companies.

Historically, WOT configuration was only moderately more successful than its predecessor.
Production was pretty limited and most Panzer II chassis were converted to use the 105mm L/28 field gun.

Ironically, the Sturmpanzer II with SIG 33 was found to be most effective in a direct fire role, with the 15cm shell angled in a way that made it ricochet over soft ground and explode in mid air, becoming deadly against infantry.

Unfortunately the vehicle was still under powered for the weight and its weak engine ran hot in the African climate, resulting in the following report in late October 1942:

The weapon has proven itself to be very effective, especially when using ricochet fire.
The Panzer II chassis is insufficient and didn't proves successful.

Tier IV: Grille

Unlike its predecessors, the Grille has been upgraded beyond historical parameters.
In WOT it's a tank both loved and hated: it packs a strong punch for its tier, yet the limited traverse makes it difficult to use.

We can also speculate that MM will be made slightly easier and the tank itself nerfed, but how?
Going into a stricter realism path, the 10.5cm LeFH 18 is the closest option in weight and would basically make the tank a faster-firing Wespe (which would be likely rebalanced by lower ROF as well).

A less likely but still possible alternative would be to use the 12cm GrW 42, which actually is a mortar, but it has a preceding case in WOT already (crusader's howitzer was a mortar) and would allow the tank to retain a reasonably stronger punch than the Wespe.

Tier V: Heuschrecke 10

Su-26 OP! Nerf it!

I'm sure most of you read that sentence at least once in WOT.

The Heuschrecke (Grasshopper) 10 was a prototype tank that brought both the concept of self-propelled gun and german over-engineering to new levels.

Not only the 10.5cm LeFH 18M cannon was supposed to be in a fully revolving turret, but it was also planned that it would be dismountable and used as a separate field gun:

Don't be fooled by the pic above, firing while on board was in the specs, which of course made them complicated enough to produce that it never went beyond prototype stage.

The GW Panther in WOT  that many players love is part of the same family of vehicles.

Let's talk specs: 

The base gun would be a slightly improved version of the 105mm L/28 used on the Wespe (and on many tanks in the german tree) and historically an improved (L/35) version was proposed by Krupp.

This would give it lowish alpha for tier V, but one has to consider the advantages of a turret and the fact that MM spread will be lower in a full tier configuration.

Unhistorical but possible options would be the 12cm GrW already discussed for the Grille or the 15cm STUH 43, used historically on the Brumbarr:

This would be a powerful gun, balanced by lower ROF and shorter range.

Tier VI: Skorpion

After planning a turreted SPG on Panzer IV chassis as Heuschrecke 10, an Heuschrecke 12 based on the Panther chassis was discussed in 1943.

Krupp and Rheinmetall both proposed different designs, respectively called "Grille" (which was part of a planned line from 10 to 21, with the numbers being the cm of gun caliber to be carried) and "Skorpion".

The pictured design, classified as Gerät 5-1213 is very close to the original Panzer IV based concept, while carrying a 128mm cannon capable of indirect fire.

This was a variant of Jagdtiger's gun, which was extremely accurate even in indirect fire, to the point that it was often pressed into the counter-battery role.

Again, this would be a design with a lowish starting alpha but decent upgrades.

The starting gun could be the top one of the previous tank (as often with artillery), with a 128mm L/55 as first upgrade.

As top gun, I'd like to consider two options:

The first would be the historically planned 15cm SFH 43, aka Hummel's gun. This would entail a very short grind for seasoned players and give a familiar gun in a very powerful platform.

A less realistic but still not impossible in WOT would be to follow Rheinmetall guns and use their long 128mm (aka Sturer Emil's gun) cannon as alternative.

This would give a very flat trajectory gun with excellent range and short travel time, although with less punch than a 15cm howitzer.

Tier VII: Hummel

No radical changes are expected other than minor tweaks.

Historically the Hummel was  born as an interim solution to the necessity of a self-propelled mount to the 15cm heavy howitzer.

In WOT the tank is portrayed as a well-rounded mid-tier artillery and fulfills its role pretty well with its historical gun.

Tier VIII: GW-Panther

No radical changes are expected other than minor tweaks.

The Heuschrecke 15 (known in-game as GW-Panther) was the natural follow-up of previous Panther-based proposals.

The design in WOT was made by Krupp and classified as Gerät 5-1528.

It was initially designed to use a fully enclosed turret, but as this would have made the design too heavy, a partially open superstructure was chosen instead and use of the Panther II chassis was planned for production.

Gun-choice wise, it was planned to use a 15cm howitzer, just like the Hummel.

A 21cm mortar (21cm GRW 69?) was discussed but it's likely the chassis would have needed to be redesigned for the purpose (plus it would be OP in game or balanced by horrible accuracy and travel time).

Tier IX and X: GW-Tiger and GW-E

No radical changes are expected other than minor tweaks.

Historically the GW-Tiger in WOT is the Grille 17 and 21 designs mixed in one tank.

The project started in mid-1942, where an heavy self propelled gun based on Tiger components was requested.

It was then delayed in order to be redesigned for the use of Tiger II/Panther components and the first prototype was to be expected in mid-1944.

The allied bombing campaign however caused further delays, with the single prototype not yet complete in early 1945, when work on it was ordered to be ceased.

There were plans to extend the Grille series to 30 and 42cm heavy mortars (likely related to the sturmpanzer Bar project, which will be covered later on), but those were eventually abandoned in favor of rocket artillery like the Sturmtiger or railroad cannons, while the Karl-Gerät covered the self propelled siege mortar needs.

"Buff my tank!" - Panzer IV

By Zarax

Hello and welcome to the third edition of "Buff my tank!"

The "Buff my tank!" articles are meant as an historical way to look at some tanks considered underpowered in game and ways to improve their combat abilities discussed by the original german engineers.
Beware that while being sometimes ironic in tone, the article treats about both costs and benefits of every choice and it most likely will never be listened by WG as suggestion.

 Panzer IV is yet another excellent "MMO tank", which saw a good deal of upgrades and plans during its service life. Even in its WOT life it saw a pretty big transformation, where the turret often mentioned as "vaderturm" with the 75mm L/70 removed and replaced with a close combat focused configuration.

Currently this tank is not exactly seen as weak but it is still controversial as many consider it dependent on HEAT rounds to be truly competitive, an extra edge that some even consider excessive.
Still, this popular tank was the object of many engineering projects, often left in the drawer.
Panzer IV & its variants by Spielberger plus some material from Panzer Tracts 20-1 will be used as historical support for this article.


 This time we will take a slightly different approach and divide the possible upgrades by section.

Protection:

One often heard complaint is about insufficient protection, leaving the tank vulnerable to almost anything that shoots at it, especially with the new top turret. Side skirts were often suggested, but their contribute to armor against direct shots would be minimal, while artillery is not yet a problem at this level.

Another problem is of course the flat armor, something that makes shot deflection even more unlikely and angling discarded due to weak side armor.
In this respect, an alternate Panzer IV H was proposed in drawing W1462:

A sloped 80mm front would have given the tank excellent protection and with the long gun it would have been competitive until the end of the war, and Hitler asked this to be increased to 100mm.

Unfortunately this design was estimated to bring the weight to over 28 tons, which was too much for the suspensions.

This would of course leave the turret still weak, but there is room for improvement.

The best known project is the Panther narrow turret on Pz IV chassis, but this configuration was already deemed not balanced by WG:

A more realistic although still effective solution would be to use Krupp AKF31941turret drawing:

This would still give an excellent turret front without looking like a certain famous helm, although it's likely there would have been just a manual traverse system for it.

Mobility:

The late war Panzer IV was already an overweight tank and WG took all possible steps to improve it from historical stats.
One historical plan was to install a torsion bar suspension on Panzer IV chassis. This was designed by Kniepkamp, who later will be one of the inspirators of the E-series.
This could have helped with the increasing weight, as well as the interleaved wheels and larger tracks discussed later.
However, all of this is already in WOT in one form or the other, thus making this section nearly redundant.

Firepower:

Historically, the best cannon mounted on a production Panzer IV was the 75mm L/48.
The experimental 75mm L/70 is the most known configuration and this was also attempted to mount in the standard Pz IV turret.
Tests gave negative results, although it's possible a rigid mount like the one tried in the Hetzer could have worked.
This wouldn't be without drawbacks though, as a much heavier gun coupled with the necessary turret reinforcements would result in a significant hit in tank ergonomics.

A possible realistic alternative for large guns would be to use the Heuschrecke 10 turret:

This would realistically allow for larger guns (including the 105 L/28 as shown) while keeping weight acceptable.

Of course there is a price to pay, in this case a maximum turret armor of 30mm.

The last, more exotic solution would be to opt for something completely different:

A Mk 103 autocannon coupled with two 75mm recoilless rifles would have given this prototype a pretty respectable firepower, but we'll never see this configuration in WOT (although it would be a decent grinding gun). Twin 30mm as in the "Kugelblitz" configuration would make the tank a feared "knife fighter" as well.

Going into extremes, the 3.7cm flak 43 could be used as well, possibly in a similar configuration as the Mk103.

Nearly going into science fiction but still possible: Tungsten APCR used as silver rounds would have decent penetration, while uranium rounds were also available:

It also is very likely that the 8H63 and 10H64 guns were proposed as well in the Krupp november 1944 panzer rearmament project, but by that time all Pz IV plans were discarded.

Conclusion:

Historically, the Panzer IV was optimized to the very limits of its chassis and any further improvements would have necessitated of a deep redesign, something that the germans never afforded during the war, especially later on when the Panther chassis was only slightly more expensive for vastly better performance.

By combining various proposed improvements one could make a compact heavy tank with great firepower and armor but bad mobility or an excellent but very vulnerable sniper.

This leads for the final verdict: 

Any improvement in one area would lead to weakening something else, thus only a "focus shift" would be likely.

Something very similar to Heuschrecke 10 is planned for the open top TD tree, while combining the sloped chassis with the Panther turret and 75mm L/70 would imho make a slow but rather interesting possibility for a tier higher, although with extremely bad mobility.

Thank you for reading and see you in the next article!

"Buff my tank!" - E-100

By Zarax

Hello and welcome to the second edition of "Buff my tank!"

The "Buff my tank!" articles are meant as an historical way to look at some tanks considered underpowered in game and ways to improve their combat abilities discussed by the original german engineers.
Beware that while being sometimes ironic in tone, the article treats about both costs and benefits of every choice and it most likely will never be listened by WG as suggestion.

The E-100 is often defined as "Gold Ammo" tank in game due to high reliance on the expensive HEAT shells.
In this article we will use Panzer Tracts 6-3 to explore the most extreme features the german engineers discussed during the tank implementation, while for the tank's history SilentStalker's article provides already excellent information.

As the E-100 never reached operational status and only a half-finished hull was done, we have no battlefield experience outside of virtual one to gather information from.
In the end it's likely E-100 and Maus would have worked as propaganda tanks or used as bunkers during the defence of Berlin rather than actively on the battlefield due to their logistics issues as those tanks did not exactly sip fuel which was extremely scarce in 1945 and I wouldn't want to be assigned to their maintenance.

First of all, E-100 is already somewhat above historical specs as side turret armor was planned to be a scant 80mm unlike the 150mm thickness in game, this removes a quite large potential weak spot as even scouts could have hurt it.

Of course, one could consider the original Krupp Tiger-Maus turret:

It has however the "slight" drawback of being 12.5 tons heavier and having a decently sized cupola as weakspot plus the viewports on the side, limiting tank agility and likely being slower to turn.

Another option that was considered is the MB501 engine planned at 1500HP output, which would bring the power to weight ratio from approximately 9.2HP/ton to 11.5HP/ton, making the tank slightly more agile although the torpedo boat engine was quite a bit bigger than the Maybach HL 234/295.

This means that the engine module would get bigger (would it even fit without major hull modifications? It was meant for the earlier, longer-hulled project) and I'd be willing to bet WG would also slap an higher fire chance.

Now, about firepower, what is often considered the biggest problem.

First of all, longer 15cm cannons and the 17cm one were considered for the STUG E-100, aka the Jagdpanzer E-100 we have in game.

On the contrary, during development the 128 L/55 cannon was strongly suggested as an alternative as the shells were lighter and easier to handle while more than adequate against anything it was planned to face.

The answer here probably lies in ammunition choice, but as the 15cm L/38 (which is often mentioned as L/37) does not have a penetration table from WWII we cannot realistically say. In my opinion, by the time the gun would have been ready it would have used either a modified 15cm SFH 18 concrete-piercing round or just a mix of HEAT and HE ammo, which was enough to mission kill any WWII era tank as shown by the russian 152mm howitzers.

 So, here comes the final verdict:

Very little room for improvement is left.

Unfortunately the fact that it was meant from the start to be a cheaper, easier to produce Maus means that engineers focused on things that could have been produced sooner with available means rather than making a super-tank, especially as the E-series were often seen with hostility by many both in the army and in competing firms.

Thank you for reading and see you in the next article!

"Buff my tank!" - Panzer III

Hello and welcome to the first edition of "Buff my tank!"

The "Buff my tank!" articles are meant as an historical way to look at some tanks considered underpowered in game and ways to improve their combat abilities discussed by the original german engineers.
Beware that while being sometimes ironic in tone, the article treats about both costs and benefits of every choice and it most likely will never be listened by WG as suggestion.

Panzer III... almost the perfect MMO tank.
It has been "buffed" several times during its historical operational life, but ultimately it faced its demise as it was hopelessy outgunned by T-34 and KV tanks, while being in trouble returning fire as both 5cm and 7.5cm L/24 cannons were effective only when firing special ammunition such as APCR or HEAT.

In game the situation is pretty much the same and we will be using Panzer Tracts 20-1 to showcase a possible tank modification.
While being an agile and reasonably armored medium good versus its tier IV peers, its gun selection is rather anemic against most tier V enemies.
This made many players (especially the less experienced ones) ask for a buff of the tank as it can be rather dependent on "gold" ammunition when not top tier.

Historically, german engineers faced similar troubles and of course raced to find alternate solutions.
APCR was a short term patch, although an expensive one, while operationally the Panzer III ended up being replaced by the rearmed Panzer IV with the 75mm L/43 and L/48, while the chassis itself found its second life as STUG III.

The Panzer III/IV was another solution that found itself on prototype stage while its chassis powered again some (rather good) self propelled guns, but in game it is already represented as a tier V tank.

Still, this was not the first attempt to merge the two tanks:

In december 1941 Krupp was requested to mount the Panzer IV turret in a Panzer III chassis, and by the end of the year a preliminary design was ready:

Thus, the Panzer III Ausf K was born.
As "pimp my ride" was not on TV yet, calculations were started and the price to pay was a large increase in weight, meaning new tracks and suspensions were needed, as well as the fact that mobility was surely impacted despite the best design efforts.

In game terms this is a very similar situation to the old Pz IV with Panther narrow turret.
Estimating with game stats, it means over half a ton extra weight without taking into account any ancillaries and going by "Wargaming Engineering".
As the in game improved suspensions limit is set at 22.65 tons so it could be doable and using the top 440HP engine even power to weight ratio still looks good enough so mobility shouldn't be affected overall.


It looks almost too good to be true, right?

To balance this, unfortunately reality strikes with a huge nerfbat.

Mounting a bigger turret without serious modifications to the hydraulics means that rotation will become a lot more sluggish, prone to failure or will plainly require manual cranking.
This means in game a greatly reduced turret rotation.

Mounting a more powerful gun on a lighter chassis that is already unbalanced by an heavier turret means that recoil will have a stronger kick.
This translates in lowered accuracy, increased aim time and gun dispersion.

Oh, did I mention the designers saw the modification would affect the center of gravity?
Say hello to terrain passability and track rotation nerf.

Finally, bigger gun on a smaller tank?
Less ammo of course.

The final verdict:

Doable, but it will transform german ergonomics into a disguised mid-tier french tank.

Are you sure you want to pay the price?

Thank you for reading and see you in the next article!

From VK 7001 and Tiger-Maus to E-100 Ausf B: Making sense in Krupp super heavy tank development

While Maus history is more or less known in detail, the Krupp side of the story is murky at best.
As highlighted in the first article, Yury Pasholok of Wargaming claims a direct line from VK7201 to a 120 ton tank, while I claim that it's a completely different project and the 120 ton tank is possibly a VK 100.01.

This article is an attempt to sort out the mess, although I suspect only Hilary Luis Doyle could clear it once for all.

So, as usual, here's the call:

Let's start from the Lowe development:

VK 7001/7201 were in all likeness competing designs for the same final tank, the Panzer VII Lowe which was expected to be into the 70-90 ton class as a superheavy tank.

There were several design proposal and it's likely the full list is actually lost, Panzer Tracs 20-1 reports some of them:

However, what is usually not considered is the development dates:

As you can see Lowe development started in 1941 and back then the heaviest engineering on suspension and drivetrain was based on VK4501 (H) and VK4501 (P), better known as Tiger and Tiger (P).

One also has to consider that Porsche dedicated facility at Nibelungenwerk was not completely ready until 1942, thus Krupp facilities had to be used for the Porsche design team as well.

With reports of more soviet heavy tanks pouring in, Hitler expected that a 70 ton super heavy would soon be outclassed and by mid 1942 the decision was taken that instead of a 70 ton class design a 100 ton tank was needed to maintain superiority.

Between March and April 1942 both Porsche and Krupp obtained a contract to develop a VK100.01tank, with the turret design that was to be ready by may 15, while 3 days later the order to stop work on Lowe components arrived.

It appears however that Krupp kept working on the Lowe turret until september, where again it was ordered to stop working on the Lowe and that the Maus turret had to be finished with high priority.
After this, we know that by January Porsche was able to draft a concept design with the early Krupp Maus turret and from this moment the two branches split as Porsche drew from its own expertise with the Tiger P project.

In september 1942 Krupp was informed by a "careful implication" that Porsche was having development issues due to having to use many new components and the enthusiastic reply was that they were ready to design a 150 ton hull using a modified Maybach HL 230 that reached 1000HP with high octane fuel.

To speed up development Tiger components were to be used and a maximum speed of 20kmh was estimated, reduced to 13 if the same engine was used as well.
Components from the R1 and R2 self propelled coastal artillery projects were also to be used plus a host of marine engines was considered as well.

By november at least 2 drawings were ready, for a 150 and 170 ton tank and both central (W1674) and rear (W1681) turret were considered, with a long Tiger style suspension made with 16 650mm roadwheels per side.
The central turret design was presented to Wa Pruef 6 in december 1and dubbed the "Tiger Maus".

Krupp was deemed as capable to be the fastest in delivering the tank and requested an immediate design update, this time using Tiger II drivetrain components and by december 8 a new proposal was presented.
This time a lighter, 130 ton design was presented using Tiger II components and a somewhat shorter hull, while the rear turret design was definitely discarded and a prototype was estimated to be ready by fall 1943.

However, a few days later in december 15 Wa Pruef 6 informed Krupp that they had to cease work on their own Maus project as the Porsche version had been selected and concurrent development forbidden.
Krupp of course protested and in December 31 obtained that their design should be at least proposed to Hitler, but all was in vain.

By January 5 Hitler replied that after a "careful evaluation" Porsche design was chosen.

Krupp was defeated and the story of the Tiger Maus seemed done, undoubtely leaving a bitter taste in their mouth.

A twist of fate however resurrected the project. Wa Pruef 6 started designing tanks itself and its head (Kniepkamp) included the old Tiger Maus in the E-series, this time using the conical spring suspension shared by all designs and a lighter derivative of the Maus II turm.

In 18 march 1944 Krupp learned that Wa Pruef 6 was playing with the design since spring 1943 and not only that, they assigned the task of building a prototype to another company, Adler, because they deemed Krupp to be overburdened but asked them to contribute to the designing and by mid may the turret was finalized, which led to the start of the 130 ton prototype powered by a 700HP Maybach HL230.

The final act however was not done and in the meantime a project B was started for a new drivetrain.
This would have implied a modified hull layout with both engine and transmission at the rear and a 1200 HP engine. Unfortunately no further data is known but it's likely the turret would have been moved slightly forward.

All in all development can be summed up this way:

Mid-Late 1941 First generation: VK 4501 drivetrain
Krupp VK 7001

Krupp VK 100.01 (170 tons, rear turret, 32 650mm roadwheels)

1942 Second generation: VK4503 drivetrain
Later VK 7001 designs
Krupp Tiger Maus (130/150 tons, central turret, 32 800mm roadwheels)

Late 1943-45 Third generation: Conical springs drivetrain
Adler E-100 (130 tons, 16 roadwheels, lighter Maus II turret)

Future plans: "Project B"
Adler E-100 (hydro-mechanic transmission, rear drive)

Undoubtely confusing, this is the best that can be obtained by using the best sources at my disposal.