Added in Update 0.8.9, along with the second German tank destroyer branch ending with the Waffenträger auf E 100 (October 2013):
IV Marder 38T (originally named “Marder III” in 0.8.0 leak)
VI Nashorn
VII Sturer Emil
*The Pz. IV Schmalturm was created as a premium to replicate the original tech tree version of the V Pz. IV, which mounted the Schmalturm turret + 75 mm L/70 as its top gun (way when +3 matchmaking was a thing [yes, tier 5s could meet tier 8s at one point over 11 years ago!]). Similarly to how the original V KV was split into two vehicles – V KV-1 and VI KV-2 – the old V Pz. IV was split into the V Pz. IV H and VI Pz. IV Schmalturm (albeit, the Schmalturm came ~2 years after).
Unreleased Vehicles
Agrimotor
This was obviously never intended for release, but seemingly existed as an internal test vehicle/inside joke. Fun fact — according to FTR, something similar to this did exist in pre-release versions of the game as the “Traktor”, which could shoot from its exhaust (attached to the vehicle’s side facing forwards, rather than upwards). However, this obviously never made it into the release version.
The Neubaufahrzeug was a pre-war German heavy tank fitted with three turrets and two main guns (37 mm + 75 mm, both of which were attached to one another in the main turret).
In-game, the vehicle was leaked more-than-once: first in the 0.8.0 icons leak, and later in the 8.9 ASAP video, which showed the vehicle as a tier 3 premium in the German tree (see below). The vehicle even had a completed model; however, it was never implemented due to the multi-gun mechanism not existing at the time (and still not existing for guns of different calibres).
According to FTR, this vehicle was originally intended to replace the IV Jagdpanzer 38(t) “Hetzer” in the tech tree. Supposedly, it would’ve come with an adjustable suspension which would allow it to lower its silhouette in exchange for not being able to move at all (almost like an extremely-early version of siege mode!). Notably, the Jadgpanzer 38(t) was not historically named the “Hetzer” — the name instead came from this vehicle (the E-10).
Brummbär and X Sturmtiger
Brummbär was an assault gun based on the Panzer IV chassis, fielding a 15 cm StuH 43 L/12 cannon in a fixed casemate.
Sturmtiger was an assault gun based on the Tiger chassis, fielding a 38 cm rocket mortar in a fixed casemate. (Fun fact: the shells for this vehicle were so large and heavy that it came equipped with its own crane on the back, purely to assist with loading ammunition through the rear hatch.)
To start off, this vehicle was initially considered for introduction as a tier 10, similar to the FV215b (183). However, the vehicle was quickly canned, and rumors of the vehicle one-shotting multiple tier X heavy tanks in an internal round of testing (including an X Maus allegedly being destroyed purely by splash damage) should probably explain why.
From there, the model was hidden in a garage on the now-removed Severogorsk map as an easter egg (until the map was removed in Update 0.9.5 [December 2014]): https://youtu.be/K23EGf9a1QE
However, that wasn’t the end — the vehicle made a surprise return as part of the 10th Anniversary in 2020, where it became a playable vehicle in the “Crouching Sturmtiger” fun mode. In this mode, the vehicle featured damage numbers befitting of its calibre: 3,000/7,000(!), though the vehicle itself was also given 10,000 health and extremely-buffed mobility, and could only meet other Sturmtigers in the mode (no one-shotting of any Maus with splash damage here).
Not only that: while the PC version does not currently feature either vehicle (and will likely never feature the Sturmtiger itself), both vehicles do actually exist on WoT Console, as part of a tech tree branch consisting purely of assault guns with derp guns. The branch was added in October 2021, and consists of the following vehicles:
V StuIG 33 B, a historical vehicle fitting a 15 cm s.I.G. 33 L/11 cannon on a StuG III chassis
VI Brummbär
VII Sturmpanzer, a vehicle similar to the VIII Jagdpanther II fitted with a 21 cm(!) Morser L/14.5 cannon
VIII Sturmtiger (P), fitting a 22 cm Mrs 531 (f) cannon into the VIII Ferdinand
IX Bär, a superheavy Krupp mortar project mounting a 30.5 cm Morser L/16(!!) on an elongated Tiger chassis
X Sturmtiger
As discussed by @leggasiini in the Deep Dive Into Leaks and Rumors of Unreleased Tech Trees & Tanks post on Reddit, these vehicles do actually appear to have been intended for release on the PC version of the game around 2017, since they numerically line up with vehicles released around that time:
These vehicles occupy the “G127” to “G133” index numbers on the console version, whereas console-exclusive versions usually do NOT occupy the same indexes used by the PC version of the game.
For context, X Rhm. Pzw. has an index number of “G125”, and was introduced in 2017.
The index numbers for these vehicles on console (G127-G133) are also mysteriously absent from the PC version.
In regards to the fate of the branch for the PC version, to quote leggas’s post: “this suggests that the Sturmtiger line was planned to be added sometime in 2017 – in the middle of Murazor’s prime – the guy who was responsible for overbuffed Maus, Type 5 derp gun, Defender, guttedlight tanks and generally massive armor powercreep. Considering that, it’s no surprise to me that he would want to revive the idea of the Sturmtiger branch. However, it probably was silently scrapped due to balance concerns.” Interestingly, it should be noted that the branch composition on console is almost an exact match of the ones initially speculated for the PC version back when the Sturmtiger originally leaked in ~2012.
Other vehicles:
StuG III H
Not much is known about this one — the icon is the same as the one used for the VI Jagdpanzer IV, which had already existed at the time. However, this icon was very clearly labelled “StuGIIIH”. Perhaps this was done in error, either by Wargaming or one of the leakers?
The post WoT Archive: Icon Leaks (Germany) appeared first on The Armored Patrol.