Greetings, commanders! Today we would like to shed some light on the Naval battles development process and to tell you about the problems we have faced and how we have solved them. We would also like to share our plans for the future in Naval development.

From the very beginning of War Thunder naval battles development we understood that it wouldn’t be easy since our game format is maximum realism on the one hand, and a dynamic game experience with short game sessions on the other. We also took into consideration that implementing different vehicle types in one battle is complicated when we are talking about naval battles, that is why the mosquito fleet was a logical decision. Battles involving these vessels were both dynamic and interesting.

The playtests we ran with your participation helped us a lot to identify the downsides of the gameplay as well as identifying a variety of bugs and errors, so we had to correct our plans. After analyzing your feedback we decided to focus on improvement in the gameplay and temporarily not to introduce new craft in the playtests until we had completed much of the improvements and tweaking.

As a result of the tests, we decided to implement specific improvements, tweak some mechanics or even sometimes completely rework the following.

We took the decision to model the rocking effects on naval forces, as without them, the vessels would become “tanks on blue grass”. Additionally, in real combat craft there were various and multiple systems to compensate for any rocking during firing, including three-dimensional compensation. We did our best to model and simulate manual and automatic gun stabilization for War Thunder naval forces, in order to make them effective at striking any enemy affected by sea swell and rocking.




We improved the damage system for War Thunder naval forces: even small patrol boats can contain multiple systems, for example, up to 10-20 firing points. This variety and complexity makes targeting the exact component on enemy vessel almost impossible due to the small comparative size of these items. This is why we organized components into groups, that could be targeted and damaged, and would be visible in the hit camera. Also, we decided to distance our naval forces from the logic we use in the ground force battles, that is a craft is counted as destroyed when you have lost your last crew member. In larger and even huge naval crews there are numerous issues that were pointed out by our players, when you had to find and knock out the very last sailor of the enemy vessel. In our new damage model when you disable one of the enemy compartments, you also disable part of the total crew, specifically the crew assigned to this compartment.


The multiple types of fire units using different calibres complicates reasonable aiming and fire correction, it also forces a player to focus all his fire on a single target. This is why we plan to divide different purpose weaponry to different groups, and a player will be able to choose which ones he will control himself and which ones will be controlled automatically, taking players commands into account.




Repairs, fire extinguishing and reducing or stopping flooding: we plan to add more gameplay to these important actions rather than use the existing fully automatic process.


Smaller vessels usually do not have serious armour protection that is why smoke screens play a vital role in increasing a craft’s survivability and more diverse gameplay. We already demonstrated the smokescreen mechanics during the April Fool’s event this year and we are working to integrate them into naval gameplay.

We also plan to change the torpedo aim logic and add lead indication.
As for the visuals we have added procedural destruction of the vessels - it is in the final testing stage at the moment. We also continuously improve the visuals of the craft, water and the environment.
Besides general gameplay improvement all these changes will let us add larger ships to the game.
And now some numbers - what has already been done and what you will be able to see in the nearest future.

• Over 70 vessels of various classes from different nations are completely ready and around 20 more craft are currently in development.
  
• 10 locations (both the one we have already shown and ones in development).
  
• Gun stabilization systems.
  
• Traversing torpedo tubes.
  
• Procedural destruction of vessels.
  
• New Damage Model mechanics.
  
• Torpedo gyro correction.

Greetings, commanders! Today we would like to shed some light on the Naval battles development process and to tell you about the problems we have faced and how we have solved them. We would also like to share our plans for the future in Naval development.

From the very beginning of War Thunder naval battles development we understood that it wouldn’t be easy since our game format is maximum realism on the one hand, and a dynamic game experience with short game sessions on the other. We also took into consideration that implementing different vehicle types in one battle is complicated when we are talking about naval battles, that is why the mosquito fleet was a logical decision. Battles involving these vessels were both dynamic and interesting.

The playtests we ran with your participation helped us a lot to identify the downsides of the gameplay as well as identifying a variety of bugs and errors, so we had to correct our plans. After analyzing your feedback we decided to focus on improvement in the gameplay and temporarily not to introduce new craft in the playtests until we had completed much of the improvements and tweaking.

As a result of the tests, we decided to implement specific improvements, tweak some mechanics or even sometimes completely rework the following.

We took the decision to model the rocking effects on naval forces, as without them, the vessels would become “tanks on blue grass”. Additionally, in real combat craft there were various and multiple systems to compensate for any rocking during firing, including three-dimensional compensation. We did our best to model and simulate manual and automatic gun stabilization for War Thunder naval forces, in order to make them effective at striking any enemy affected by sea swell and rocking.




We improved the damage system for War Thunder naval forces: even small patrol boats can contain multiple systems, for example, up to 10-20 firing points. This variety and complexity makes targeting the exact component on enemy vessel almost impossible due to the small comparative size of these items. This is why we organized components into groups, that could be targeted and damaged, and would be visible in the hit camera. Also, we decided to distance our naval forces from the logic we use in the ground force battles, that is a craft is counted as destroyed when you have lost your last crew member. In larger and even huge naval crews there are numerous issues that were pointed out by our players, when you had to find and knock out the very last sailor of the enemy vessel. In our new damage model when you disable one of the enemy compartments, you also disable part of the total crew, specifically the crew assigned to this compartment.


The multiple types of fire units using different calibres complicates reasonable aiming and fire correction, it also forces a player to focus all his fire on a single target. This is why we plan to divide different purpose weaponry to different groups, and a player will be able to choose which ones he will control himself and which ones will be controlled automatically, taking players commands into account.




Repairs, fire extinguishing and reducing or stopping flooding: we plan to add more gameplay to these important actions rather than use the existing fully automatic process.


Smaller vessels usually do not have serious armour protection that is why smoke screens play a vital role in increasing a craft’s survivability and more diverse gameplay. We already demonstrated the smokescreen mechanics during the April Fool’s event this year and we are working to integrate them into naval gameplay.

We also plan to change the torpedo aim logic and add lead indication.
As for the visuals we have added procedural destruction of the vessels - it is in the final testing stage at the moment. We also continuously improve the visuals of the craft, water and the environment.
Besides general gameplay improvement all these changes will let us add larger ships to the game.
And now some numbers - what has already been done and what you will be able to see in the nearest future.

• Over 70 vessels of various classes from different nations are completely ready and around 20 more craft are currently in development.
  
• 10 locations (both the one we have already shown and ones in development).
  
• Gun stabilization systems.
  
• Traversing torpedo tubes.
  
• Procedural destruction of vessels.
  
• New Damage Model mechanics.
  
• Torpedo gyro correction.

The PV-2 Harpoon is no PT boat, as the name would usually suggest, but a significantly redesigned Lockheed Ventura - a very popular and well known twin engined medium bomber used in a massive numbers towards the end of the World War 2.

The Harpoon was a twin-engined Naval reconnaissance patrol bomber aircraft derived from the PV-1 Ventura (the version build for the US Navy). It was massively reworked model build on the good experience gained with its predecessor, even so, some issues were addressed. The wing area was increased by around 12 square metres, giving it an increased bomb load and shorter take-off time, which was one of the major weaknesses of the PV-1. The tail area was produced as a completely new construction, the structure of the fuselage was reworked for strengthening and the bomb bay area enlarged. Even though the total mass of the aircraft was increased by quite a large factor (around 900 kg), the new machine had better flight characteristics and was more controllable.

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article here!

The PV-2 Harpoon is no PT boat, as the name would usually suggest, but a significantly redesigned Lockheed Ventura - a very popular and well known twin engined medium bomber used in a massive numbers towards the end of the World War 2.

The Harpoon was a twin-engined Naval reconnaissance patrol bomber aircraft derived from the PV-1 Ventura (the version build for the US Navy). It was massively reworked model build on the good experience gained with its predecessor, even so, some issues were addressed. The wing area was increased by around 12 square metres, giving it an increased bomb load and shorter take-off time, which was one of the major weaknesses of the PV-1. The tail area was produced as a completely new construction, the structure of the fuselage was reworked for strengthening and the bomb bay area enlarged. Even though the total mass of the aircraft was increased by quite a large factor (around 900 kg), the new machine had better flight characteristics and was more controllable.

For more information, read the full Dev Blog article here!

On the eve of the Day of Victory on the 9th of May you will be able to tread the path of glory, use your skills and get rewards that are worthy of real winners! WWII chronicles has begun!

Win in battles and get unique premium vehicles and other valuable prizes!

Open Chronicles Calendar

In order to receive prizes, you must complete the event stages in order to achieve “Chronicle awards” which you can complete in the “WW II Chronicles”. You can complete three of the five tasks of your choice:

Stages for tankers - by controlling ground vehicles:

• Destroy 40 enemies (x2 RB, x3 SB);
  
• Get the achievement “Supporting fire” (help for destroying in a squad) 5 times;
  
• Win 10 times (with activity in battle of more than 70%);
  
• Finish the battle in 1st place four times (while either winning or losing the battle);
  
• Destroy 12/6/3 enemies in 1 battle (AB, RB, SB) while controlling a ground vehicle.

Stages for pilots - by controlling of the aircraft:

• Destroy 30 enemies (x2 RB, x3 SB);
  
• Get the achievement “Supporting fire” (help for destroying in a squad) 4 times;
  
• Win 10 times (with activity in battle more than 60%);
  
• Finish the battle in 1st place four times (while either winning or losing the battle);
  
• Destroy 10/3/2 enemies in 1 battle (AB, RB, SB) while controlling an aircraft.

For more information, read the full article here!

On the eve of the Day of Victory on the 9th of May you will be able to tread the path of glory, use your skills and get rewards that are worthy of real winners! WWII chronicles has begun!

Win in battles and get unique premium vehicles and other valuable prizes!

Open Chronicles Calendar

In order to receive prizes, you must complete the event stages in order to achieve “Chronicle awards” which you can complete in the “WW II Chronicles”. You can complete three of the five tasks of your choice:

Stages for tankers - by controlling ground vehicles:

• Destroy 40 enemies (x2 RB, x3 SB);
  
• Get the achievement “Supporting fire” (help for destroying in a squad) 5 times;
  
• Win 10 times (with activity in battle of more than 70%);
  
• Finish the battle in 1st place four times (while either winning or losing the battle);
  
• Destroy 12/6/3 enemies in 1 battle (AB, RB, SB) while controlling a ground vehicle.

Stages for pilots - by controlling of the aircraft:

• Destroy 30 enemies (x2 RB, x3 SB);
  
• Get the achievement “Supporting fire” (help for destroying in a squad) 4 times;
  
• Win 10 times (with activity in battle more than 60%);
  
• Finish the battle in 1st place four times (while either winning or losing the battle);
  
• Destroy 10/3/2 enemies in 1 battle (AB, RB, SB) while controlling an aircraft.

For more information, read the full article here!

The 12th of April marks the 56th anniversary of manned spaceflights, humankind's’ first foray into space, a day that not only was the beginning of another chapter in exploration, but a moment that moved humanity from the realms of science fiction, into the unexplored worlds of science fact. It will be a record that can never be beaten, a young Soviet cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin shook off the chains of Earth and ventured into space for a 108 minute flight on that day in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. A triumph for all mankind!

Take part in “Battle for survival”

“Battle for survival” - an event for Jet fighters.
You will gain 10,000 Silver Lions for every victory and “Sputnik” or “Rocket” decals for every 5 victories.






Available Events:

• Arcade Battles — 8 vs 8
  
• Realistic Battles — 6 vs 6
  
• Simulator — 4 vs 4

Available Aircraft:

• USA: F-86F-25 Sabre, F-86F-2 Sabre, F9F-5
  
• Germany: MiG-15bis, CL-13A Sabre Mk.5
  
• USSR: MiG-15,MiG-15bis, MiG-17
  
• Britain: Hunter F.1, Venom FB.4, Meteor F.Mk.8 G.41K
  
• Japan: F-86F-30 Sabre, Ki-200

The War Thunder Team

The 12th of April marks the 56th anniversary of manned spaceflights, humankind's’ first foray into space, a day that not only was the beginning of another chapter in exploration, but a moment that moved humanity from the realms of science fiction, into the unexplored worlds of science fact. It will be a record that can never be beaten, a young Soviet cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin shook off the chains of Earth and ventured into space for a 108 minute flight on that day in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. A triumph for all mankind!

Take part in “Battle for survival”

“Battle for survival” - an event for Jet fighters.
You will gain 10,000 Silver Lions for every victory and “Sputnik” or “Rocket” decals for every 5 victories.






Available Events:

• Arcade Battles — 8 vs 8
  
• Realistic Battles — 6 vs 6
  
• Simulator — 4 vs 4

Available Aircraft:

• USA: F-86F-25 Sabre, F-86F-2 Sabre, F9F-5
  
• Germany: MiG-15bis, CL-13A Sabre Mk.5
  
• USSR: MiG-15,MiG-15bis, MiG-17
  
• Britain: Hunter F.1, Venom FB.4, Meteor F.Mk.8 G.41K
  
• Japan: F-86F-30 Sabre, Ki-200

The War Thunder Team

Take part in “The Road for the Brave” and "Airfield Assault" Arcade events!


The team in control of aircraft must capture a road initially belonging to the ground force team, and in turn, they must defend the road against capture for 15 minutes.

The road can be captured by making a short run along it with an aircraft’s landing gear making contact with the ground, similar to the Airfield capture in Arcade domination aircraft battles.

• Victory is awarded to the pilots after 5 successful captures of the road.
  
• Victory is awarded to the tankers if the road is successfully defended for 15 minutes.

Both sides will use rank one vehicles. Command has been unable to provide any anti-aircraft guns to the tankers’ side.

Event Characteristics

• Mission length is limited to 15 minutes.
  
• The event will be available in Arcade Battle mode.
  
• Unlimited respawns for both sides.
  
• The aircraft team’s points constantly decrease and run out at the 15 minute mark.
  
• The ground forces team loses 20% of their points after each road capture (5 captures are required in total).

There are three airfields in the town area, each of the two teams has an airfield on either side of the town, but there is also a central one in the middle, this airfield is open for capture by all and once capped, the owning team can capture the others. The central base is worth no ticket bleed, but as soon as any of the other fields are taken, tickets will bleed from the original owners. This will continue until the central airfield is captured again and then the team’s satellite base is recaptured. This will be a real tug of war between the two teams, a real struggle for survival.

Do not wait, start your engine and capture the key airfield!

For more information, read the full article on the Official War Thunder Forums!

Take part in “The Road for the Brave” and "Airfield Assault" Arcade events!


The team in control of aircraft must capture a road initially belonging to the ground force team, and in turn, they must defend the road against capture for 15 minutes.

The road can be captured by making a short run along it with an aircraft’s landing gear making contact with the ground, similar to the Airfield capture in Arcade domination aircraft battles.

• Victory is awarded to the pilots after 5 successful captures of the road.
  
• Victory is awarded to the tankers if the road is successfully defended for 15 minutes.

Both sides will use rank one vehicles. Command has been unable to provide any anti-aircraft guns to the tankers’ side.

Event Characteristics

• Mission length is limited to 15 minutes.
  
• The event will be available in Arcade Battle mode.
  
• Unlimited respawns for both sides.
  
• The aircraft team’s points constantly decrease and run out at the 15 minute mark.
  
• The ground forces team loses 20% of their points after each road capture (5 captures are required in total).

There are three airfields in the town area, each of the two teams has an airfield on either side of the town, but there is also a central one in the middle, this airfield is open for capture by all and once capped, the owning team can capture the others. The central base is worth no ticket bleed, but as soon as any of the other fields are taken, tickets will bleed from the original owners. This will continue until the central airfield is captured again and then the team’s satellite base is recaptured. This will be a real tug of war between the two teams, a real struggle for survival.

Do not wait, start your engine and capture the key airfield!

For more information, read the full article on the Official War Thunder Forums!