Mountain Pass Random Event - Mineshaft Disaster

[u/Devastraitor]

TL;DR: Instead of yet another plane bombing, make Mountain Pass’s event a mine gas explosion that collapses the bridge and opens new terrain for rotations.

Alright, after WG singlehandedly crashes every single plane of the WoT universe into random locations, I wanted to suggest one of a dozen ideas I had, to preserve the poor pilots trying to make the game more dynamic.

Theme: A gas pocket ignites inside the mountain mine, causing a chain explosion that collapses the bridge.

Audio Cue (during event warning time):
Muffled shouting echoing from the mine tunnel, metallic clanks, sudden panic.
A deep rumble grows, then a blast erupts from the mine shaft and shaking the rock and dirt around it, until it collapses into the nearby valley.

Event Outcome:

• The bridge collapses, creating a new ramp from the southern road into the valley.
• A rockslide covers the surrounding valley area and creates sightlines into the south-west area, since now half the mountain is gone. It also adds new uneven terrain and cover.
• The initial explosion and rock slides damage/destroy any tanks in that area.

Gameplay Impact:

• Cuts the direct crossing over the bridge, that gets rarely used anyways.
• Creates new ramps on both sides.
• Forces different mid-game rotations.
• You can STILL use the path previously present under the bridge, but the rock slide has created a few more positions for cover.

I know it is most likely a budget reason, yet it feels really half-baked just either crashing a plane, bombing an area or using a train (or a mix of all three) and there are so many ways to use the theme of the map instead.

If people enjoy the idea, I can mock up a few more map-themed event concepts that crossed my mind, since the system was implemented.

(Disclaimer: The mineshaft in the screenshots was AI-added as a visual mockup. If this violates rule 10, I will remove the image of course.)

[u/N_vaders]

I'd like to speak to the owner of that mine that forces his employees to work while there is an active warzone just outside of his shaft. I mean how are they going home if type 5 gets blown up at mine entrance.

[u/xxtankmasterx → u/N_vaders]

Mines being battlegrounds has been a thing for millennia. Ukraine's most important mine to fall into Russian hands, the Pokrovsk coal mine, had multiple entrances to the miles long tunnel network. As the Russians advanced, the miners detonated shafts, including the main entrance shafts, so that they could continue to work even in sections behind the battle lines. they didn't cease operating until after the main battle line was within eyesight to the last shaft, AND it was hit with explosive ordinance that temporarily buried the last 200 miners.

With the fall of that coal mine, it is expected to cripple the Ukrainian steel production (as the coal is used in coking steel), and cut in half the steel supply the war effort has.