Please read part 1 and 2 if you haven’t already.

Hello, community!

I am davidblader and welcome to part 3 of the Romanian tech tree! Thanks for your positive feedback on parts 1 and 2, as well as for your criticism.

New tech tree design, click here for full quality

As you can see, I’ve made a new tech tree design based on the official Wargaming model. I’ve also made Wargaming-style images showing the vehicles’ researchable modules (see below).

The new tech tree design shows the best version of the Romanian tree (‘’version 3.0’’, as I’ve called it – I used different versions in parts 1 and 2), which includes the mixed light-medium-heavy branch.

Part 3 – introduction

In part 3, I am first going to show you an overview of the tech tree, while I discuss what potential I believe Romania has to get added to World of Tanks.

After that, I am going to show you the researchable modules of every vehicle.

I will continue by showing you what the Romanian emblems, colors, consumables, inscriptions and camouflages would look like in the game.

Let’s start now, shall we?

Romania’s potential

The possible future nation with the highest potential is surely Switzerland, since they can have up to 8 branches and have lots of unique vehicles. Romania has a smaller tech tree, but is definitely not behind when it comes to new unique content. I’d say Romania has the second biggest potential after the Swiss, but that’s just my opinion, so no need to spam the comments with what nation should come next. Click here to see Mizutayio’s interactive Swiss tech tree.

The Romanian tree doesn’t have any (big) issues; it fulfills pretty much every requirement needed for a tech tree to exist: tier 8 premiums are available; tier 8-10 tanks are similar in gameplay; all tanks fit timeframe-wise and technology-wise; there are no clones or fakes.

As we all know, Wargaming wants to add content that is unique in terms of playstyle, right? That’s why they’ve been adding a lot of new gameplay systems, like the Italian autoreloader, the Polish turbo-mode and the Soviet double-barrel tanks.

The problem is that most of those additions are made up and are affecting WoT’s historical accuracy. The Romanian tech tree would be a good possibility to add something new to the game that is both unique in playstyle and historically accurate.

For example, Romania would bring with it the TAA (tier 10 TD), which, as mentioned in part 1, would be something completely new, like the game has never seen before. It would have a completely new playstyle as well as a completely new design, with its extremely narrow turret and its autoloader.

Above you can see screenshots of Giganaut’s TAA 3D model.

Obviously, the TAA would be the Romanian tech tree’s highlight, but there are many other unique things as well, in both the TD line and the LT-MT-HT line. For example, the Mareșal tank destroyers (tiers 5, 6 and 7).

I’ve made an approximate size comparison of the Hetzer and the Mareșal M-04 (tier 5), using their dimension stats from the internet (note that I’ve used the Mareșal M-05’s dimensions – the M-04 is even smaller, as shown in my illustration above; it should probably be a bit longer, though).

The Mareșal, which is also a historically important vehicle, would be even shorter than the AMX ELC bis. Meme tanks are something the Romanian tree has plenty of. Above is a newly-surfaced photo of the M-04 prototype (a wooden mock-up of it, seemingly) that I’ve found just a few days ago. This shows that new information keeps being found, which could improve and enlarge the Romanian tech tree. The photo is from Arhivele Naționale Istorice Centrale and was sent to me by author Alexandru V. Ștefănescu. Click here to view it in full quality.

Silhouette of the TR-77-800 (I had called it ”TR-800” part 2)

Top tier heavies would also have a somewhat new gameplay, as they have a low alpha damage (320-400), which isn’t typical for high tier HTs. They could get a faster rounds-per-minute stat. Design-wise, they combine features of Western and Soviet tanks, which also applies to their playstyle; it would be a combination of British and Soviet playstyles, as they get good armor, decent speed, low gun depression, low alpha damage, high penetration, fast reload time, probably bad accuracy.

Researchable modules

You can click on each image for full quality. If it doesn’t work, click here to see them all.

Some historical accuracy notes:

• information on radios was very sparse. I haven’t found too much info on what radios were used on Romanian tanks specifically, so I’ve given them radios based on historical possibilities and based on comparable radios tier-for-tier in the game. For example, the TACAM T-60 (tier 3 TD) is based on the T-60’s chassis, so its stock radio is the T-60’s tier 3 71-TK-3, while the upgraded radio is the German tier 8 FuG 8, also found on the Marder II, because Germany and Romania were allied during WW2.

• same goes for few of the engines, but I mostly didn’t have problems when researching them.

The TACAM T-60’s top guns are marked with a red star because they’d only be used if the vehicle becomes the tier 4 standard TD. Any specific questions will be answered in the comments.

Tank destroyer branch

Light-medium-heavy branch

The two branches could both be split into three mini-branches that are similar in terms of both playstyle and design. That’s good, since it shows there’s a homogeneity in the Romanian tree; you always get prepared for the next vehicle’s gameplay. For example, the tier 8s prepare you for tiers 9 and 10, due to the gameplay similarity.

In the TD branch, you first get the TACAMs (tiers 2-4), which are Marder-like TDs with open casemates. Then you have the Mareșals (tiers 5-7), which are very small, have closed-in casemates and derp gun options. Later you get the high tiers (8-10), which are mobile rear-turreted TDs. The pretty much universal feature of Romanian TDs is that they have paper armor in exchange for strong guns and good mobility.

In the LT-MT-HT branch, you first have tiers 2-5: they don’t have the best armor, but mostly have decent mobility (except for the tier 3) and good gun depression values. At tiers 6-7 you have the C.L.T. 34-120 and C.L.T. 34-150 which both have derp guns and very similar designs, basically the Romanian equivalents of the Finnish BT-42; slower, but with more armor. The tier 7 would have a ”heavium” (heavy-medium) playstyle, which would be good, as it could be a transition vehicle between the tier 6 medium and the tier 8 heavy, despite not being the most similar in playstyle to the tier 8. At tiers 8-10 you get the TR heavy tanks, which have good armor, decent speed (50 km/h), low gun depression (-5°) and 320-400 alpha damage guns.

Colors

From what I’ve found, most Romanian WW2 tanks were painted in a khaki-drab green tone. German tanks in Romanian service seem to have been kept in their yellowish-brown color (Panzer dunkelgelb)

Cold War tanks seem to have used some sort of grey or greyish green, but also dark green. Modern ones are sometimes also seen in a dark grey tone.

Emblems

There are three possible emblems I’d propose for Romanian tanks.
The Romanian roundel, similar to the French one, seems to have been used before WW2 and then again in the Cold War and the modern period.

The white version of King Michael’s cross was mostly used during WW2, like on these TACAM T-60 and R-2 tanks:

The blue stripe is an interesting one; I’d mostly like to see this one in the game, since it’s different from any other kind of emblem/marking currently in WoT. According to one source, though, it wasn’t used on every vehicle, but only on those of the sub-unit’s commander.

A TACAM R-2 with the blue stripe. Source: Artileria română în date și imagini by A. Stroea and G. Băjenaru

Romanian TAs (StuG III G) with blue stripe. Source: worldwar2.roRomanian Renault R35s with blue stripes

There are two more emblems, but I wouldn’t add them. One is the colored version of King Michael’s cross, which was painted on roofs of tanks for aerial identification. The other one is a star within a circle, used after the 1944 Royal Coup d’état:

For historical value purposes, I’d like it if tiers 1-7 (WW2 tanks) would be painted khaki and use the King Michael’s cross, while the high tier Cold War tanks would be dark green with the Romanian roundel. Germany and China also use multiple emblems/colors for historical accuracy. If this wouldn’t be possible, I’d prefer to see them all in dark green with either the Romanian roundel or the blue stripe. A nice combination would also be dark grey with the blue stripe, like you see on that TACAM R-2 in the picture above.

Consumables

There are obviously many possible consumables. I’ve thought of cozonac, which is a traditional Romanian desert:

Photo source: Vvssmmaann/Wikipedia

Inscriptions

Here are some possible Romanian inscriptions I’ve thought of:

• Mareșal (”marshal”) or Mareșalul (”the marshal”) – reference to the Mareșal tank destroyer
• Vânătorul (”the hunter”) – kind of a reference to the tier 3 VDC R35 (Vânătorul de care R35)
• Mărășești – city in Romania. The inscription is a reference to the WW1 Battle of Mărășești, where the Romanians had defeated the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, which made the city well-known.
• Pe aici nu se trece! (”no one shall pass through here!”, roughly) – famous Romanian quote, having its origins in the aforementioned battle and other battles. Would also be cool to have this as one of the commander’s lines when you destroy an enemy vehicle.
• Transilvania (”Transylvania”) – historical region in western Romania, famous for being associated with Dracula (meme stuff).
• Valahia (”Wallachia”) – historical region in southern Romania, known for its ruler Vlad the Impaler, on whom Dracula was based (more meme stuff).
• Moldova (”Moldavia”) – historical region in eastern Romania, not to be confused with the Republic of Moldova, which was once also part of Romania
• Bran – reference to the Bran Castle, also known as Dracula’s Castle (even more meme stuff).
• Lupul (’’the wolf’’) – Romania has one of the biggest wolf populations in Europe
• Linx (”lynx”) – the national animal of Romania
• Carpații și frații (“the Carpathians and the brothers”) – quote from a patriotic song. The Carpathians are a mountain chain in Romania, while ‘’the brothers’’ refers to the resistance the Romanians would oppose from the mountains in case the country goes at war.

Camouflages

Winter camo

Romanian winter-camouflaged R-2 or R-2c. Source: ”Romanian Armored Forces in World War II” by E. Gil Martinez

Another winter-camouflaged R-2 or R-2c

Summer camo

Camouflaged TR-77-580, probably in the 80s. A pretty late camo, but still possible – doesn’t look similar to any in-game camo I can think of.

Illustration of a Romanian Panzer IV from the aforementioned book. The camo looks similar to the German one – it probably was German. I’d prefer the more original camo seen on the TR-77-580 above.

Desert camo

Romanian forces never fought in desert areas, but I’ve unexpectedly managed to find two camo possibilities. The first one is this:

It’s a Romanian Panzer IV, seeming to be painted in the German Panzer dunkelgelb (dark yellow), with green summer camo on the turret. This green-yellowish combination actually makes it look similar to some desert camos we see in the game, so it would theoretically work.

The other one, which comes as a surprise, is actually an Iraqi camo. That’s because Iraq used Romanian TR-77-580s. Not a Romanian camo, but used on a Romanian tank, so it might work.

tanks-encyclopedia.com reconstruction of a TR-77-580 with Iraqi camo/markings.

Crew lines

Romanian crews would have to say some crazy funny shit, right?
There is a Romanian crew voice mod called ”Romanians inside”, which includes lines like „The gunner is hurt, give him two kicks in the ass, maybe he’ll get well”.
Would be epic to hear such lines in the game. :)))))))

New map?

As you probably know, the Polish Studzianki map got added along with the Polish tech tree. If Romania gets added to WoT, there are also possible Romanian maps that can be included.

One of them is Transylvania, which was split between Romania and Hungary during WW2 and saw tank combat between Romania, which was now an Allied nation as a result of the 1944 Royal Coup d’état, and the Axis. I imagine it as an open-field map with a village, possibly mountains and a river.

Another possible map would be the Jassy-Kishinev line, named after the cities of Iași (Jassy) and Chișinău (Kishinev). Tank battles were fought there, while Romania was still part of the Axis, including those of ace tanker Ion S. Dumitru, who has a medal named after him in WoT. I’d also imagine it as an open-field map.

A third option would be Bucharest, which I’d add as a half-city, half-field map.

Skins

The Romanian army had used several foreign vehicles during World War II.

At first, while part of the Axis, Romania had used many German vehicles like Panzer IIIs, Panzer IVs and StuG III Gs.

Several captured Soviet tanks, like T-60, T-26 and T-34 were also used, along with American/British tanks used by the Soviets and captured by the Romanians, such as M3 Lees and Valentines.

After the 1944 Royal Coup d’état, which made Romania defect from the Axis, multiple Axis vehicles were also captured (including Hetzers and Tiger Is).

Obviously, those foreign vehicles wouldn’t be added to the Romanian tech tree, since they’d be clones. Instead, I’d like to see them as historical skin options on vehicles from other tech trees. For example, I really like the way the Romanian TAs (StuG III G) looks, in its yellow-brownish color, combined with the blue Romanian markings. Maybe the in-game name of the vehicle could also be changed if you have the skin activated. So, in battle, you wouldn’t see the vehicle called ”StuG III G”, but ”TAs”. Other vehicles would also have changed names, like the Panzer III (T-3) and Panzer IV (T-4).

Romanian TAs

If this feature gets added, it could, of course, also be applied to other nations apart from Romania. It would be nice to see, say Panzer IVs, with Romanian/Italian/Soviet-captured colors and markings. Such a feature would also improve the game’s historical accuracy.

Thanks for your support!

This is the end of part 3, most likely the last part of the Romanian tech tree. Thank you all for reading to the end.

Also, thanks again for your positive messages and support on parts 1 and 2. I am waiting to read your feedback and criticism on part 3 as well.

Sources

The following sources were used in the making of the Romanian tech tree:

• archive documents, part of which were found by tanks-encyclopedia.com members (most of them can be found on the internet and in books)
• the archive-based book Third Axis Fourth Ally by Mark Axworthy
• the document-based book Armata română și evoluția armei tancuri
• the book Tanks of Hitler’s Eastern Allies 1941-45 by Steven Zaloga
• the book Artileria română în date și imagini by col. Adrian Stroea and lt.-col. Gheorghe Băjenaru
• the book Red Horizons: Chronicles of a Communist Spy Chief by general Ion M. Pacepa
• articles from tanks-encyclopedia.com that are also based on archive documents
• some info from worldwar2.ro, rumaniamilitary.wordpress.com and ftr.wot-news.com

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