Obsidian Entertainment and My.com are pleased to announce the dates of the, which will take place from.This round of testing will bring important improvements and interesting features to the game. We will continue to use the schedule of the previous test - as such,for testing.

Please note that there will be no progression reset between Early Access 4 and Early Access 5 phases.

Main features and updates of the Early Access 5 version

Military bases for players

New Tutorial Mode (PvE Operation Royalty - players will now have access to our new training mission. In this mission, new players will be able to learn about the different mechanics the game has to offer.)

New PvP map - Lost Island

Changes to PvE: Two new PvE operations with brand new PvE mission interface, named "minibosses" can now appear on PvE maps, added new "Insane" difficulty level available only on tier 8 vehicles

PvE Daily Missions

New vehicles - T92, XM1, M41, ERC 90, XM800T, XM8, Leopard 1A5, BMP-1P, Dragoon 300 90

New light tank class ability ("Override ECU")

Kill camera (an option to see the vehicle that killed you in a cinematic replay)

Title system (titles for players, available after meeting certain conditions such as obtaining an achievement)

New Rewards for the second half of a vehicle's reputation bar: Players with vehicles that have all their modules unlocked (50%+ reputation unlocked) will be able to earn additional credit bonuses, titles, retrofits and more by playing and earning reputation for that vehicle.

Overhaul of the vehicle status interface

New UI feature: Environmental camouflage indicator

French Localization

Significant performance update

Large number of bug fixes

Preliminary patchnotes can be found here.

Feature Preview

Military Bases (very early version) - each player now create, upgrade and control his own military base representing the PMC the player is operating. These bases consist of buildings, all of which giving the player unique boosts ranging from simple credits or reputation bonuses to extra vehicle slots. A special resource is used for base upgrades. More about the Base mechanism will be unveiled later. Please note that this is an extremely early variant of the mechanism and it will be improved further in the upcoming updates. More info on the Base system is available in our dedicated article.

New Map: Lost Island - this tropical paradise is anything but peaceful! Recent trade embargoes have made an abandoned Pacific military island a relevant strategic location sought after by many factions. The overgrown environment tells a story of the previous battle that resulted in its abandonment. Featuring war-torn buildings, vehicles, downed aircraft as well as sunken ships on the outskirts of the map, get lost in the jungles of war on Lost Island!

New Vehicles - the vehicles added to Armored Warfare in patch 0.8 were mostly added to fill the gaps between tiers. These vehicles are: T92, XM1, M41, ERC 90, XM800T, XM8, Leopard 1A5, BMP-1P, Dragoon 300 90, Taifun II, and RDF/LT. The introduction of these vehicles will change the trees as such:

XM800T will fill the tier 3 gap between LAV-150 and Swingfire in Sophie Wölfli's recon branch

BMP-1P will fill the tier 4 gap between BMP-1 and BMP-2 in Sophie Wölfli's BMP branch

Leopard 1A5 will fill the tier 5 gap between OF-40 and Leopard 2AV in Sophie Wölfli's Leopard branch

Dragoon 300 90 will be the new tier 3 in Sophile Wölfli's wheeled TD branch

ERC 90 will fill the tier 5 gap between LAV-300 and Centauro in Sophie Wölfli's wheeled TD branch

XM1 (Abrams Prototype) will fill the tier 6 gap between M60A3 and M1 Abrams in Sophie Wölfli's Abrams branch

M41 will be the new tier 2 light tank in Marat Shishkin's light tank branch (before the Scorpion)

XM8 will be the new tier 8 light tank in Marat Shishkin's light tank branch

T92 will be a premium tier 2 light tank available at later date

Taifun II and RDF/LT are special premium vehicles available at later date

More info about the vehicles in our dedicated article.

New Environmental Camouflage Indicator - We've added a new UI element located in the (updated) vehicle status panel that provides feedback on how much camouflage and cover players are getting from the environment. The indicator provides feedback for the environment in a 30 meter radius around your tank. Within that 30 meter radius the ECI uses a new GUI element to show the direction of the environmental cover as well as the amount of cover you get from that direction. If you are hiding behind a single bush you are only getting a small amount of camouflage and the indicator displays a dark gray mark in that direction.

The more camouflage you get from the environment, the brighter the mark in that direction. If you are hiding behind a solid object such as a building or the side of a cliff, the indicator displays white to indicate that you are fully covered by the environment from that direction. This feature only provides feedback on the environment in your direct vicinity. This does not indicate if you are going to be spotted or not. You still may be spotted by other players depending on your camouflage value, their vision range, and lines of sight. Hiding next to a wall may show full cover, but if an enemy is high on a hill and can see over the wall, you are still going to be spotted.

New Light Tank Ability - Light Tanks now have an ability to override their vehicles Engine Control Unit for a short time providing a drastic increase in speed and acceleration. Players can find this new ability in the special abilities bar in the UI. Players are able to activate the ability by using the "E" key. Once active, terrain penalties are reduced by 50% on all surfaces, vehicle acceleration is increased by 200%, and vehicle top speed is increased by 20% for 5 seconds. Once activated, the ability cannot be deactivated and turns off after 5 seconds. Once the ability turns off it goes on a cool down for 60 seconds. Please note that the passive ability of the light tanks was updated in Early Access 5 as well - now, the light tanks will retain the undiminished accuracy on the move only when going up to 40 percent of their maximum speed.

How to join Early Access Testing

To get into the fifth test players can be randomly selected from the Early Access sign-ups base, win a key in one of the giveaways, or get guaranteed access to this and further tests, as well as early access to Open Beta and other advantages and rewards including premium and exclusive vehicles, by purchasing one of the three available Founder’s Packs. Players who already have the Early Access can download the client:

Disclaimer: The Early Access is a part of the Armored Warfare testing process. As such it does not represent a finished product and may contain various issues. The purpose of Early Access testing is to find these issues and to correct them. Should critical issues be found, the test can at any point be suspended in order to perform emergency maintenance. The test schedule can also be altered at any point to reflect the required maintenance times in the future. Please report any issues you run into in our dedicated forum section.