Friends, the New Year holidays in War Thunder have begun! Gifts, holiday discounts and a festive hangar are already in the game. Participate in festive events, tournaments and don’t miss the discounts, our social media contests and unique vehicles in the Warbond shop.



And here we go - Iacobi's J8A - premium aircraft from the new Swedish aviation tree. Win one game with an activity of 60% or higher in aircraft of rank III and higher from 09:00 GMT on the 20th of December till 07:00 GMT on the 23rd of December to receive it for free.



A big New Year event with clear and simple tasks until the 13th of January. Get unique vehicles, decorations, decals and other valuable prizes.

PARTICIPATE

• 20th - 26th of December - 50% discount for all modifications, backup vehicles and talismans for all types of vehicles.
  
• 20th - 26th of December - 50% discount for 90 and 365 day premium accounts.
  
• 20th - 22nd of December - 50% discount for US, Soviet and Japanese vehicles.
  
• 22nd - 24th of December - 50% discount for German and British vehicles.
  
• 24th - 26th of December - 50% discount for Chinese, French and Italian vehicles.

Discounts for in-game nations will be changed at 09:00 GMT on the days indicated! Festive discounts will apply to any vehicle in-game which can be purchased for SL and GE except vehicles (and their modifications, backups and talismans) from update 1.93 “Black Shark” and update 1.95 “Northern Wind”.

Don’t miss the sale for packs on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1108450
https://store.steampowered.com/app/891300
https://store.steampowered.com/app/983440
https://store.steampowered.com/app/983442
https://store.steampowered.com/app/795731


Win in the New Year camouflage and post card competitions and win vehicle packs and other prizes.

We are waiting for your creations until the 31st of December, you can find some examples from other participants in the #Christmas2019 here.

• War Thunder Live Skins - Christmas edition
  
• War Thunder Post Cards - Christmas edition

Compete in these holiday tournaments and events to get special prizes for pilots and tankers: coupons for Bf.109E-7/U2 fighter (Germany) and T-34E medium tank (USSR), with a total purse of over 100,000 Golden Eagles!

Register now:

• Air tournaments 1vs1 (RB)
  
• Air-tournament 1vs1 (SB)
  
• Mixed battles 5vs5 (RB)

Steal the enemy team’s X-mas tree, don’t allow opponents to steal yours! Carry your team to victory and get the special “Captain Mouse” decal.

Check our news on December 27th to get more details.


Very special items are going to hit the shelves in our Warbond shop in January. Rare vehicles, a trophy containing the past year’s warbond decals, 3D decorations, boosters, and more!

We will present the details on December the 31st - stay tuned!

https://youtu.be/T81A0JznZ8I

A brand new Swedish Aircraft tech tree, the first Swedish tanks, ten new vessels; Admiral Graf Spee and Prinz Eugen amongst others, two new locations and an upgraded graphical engine with stunning Ray Traced Global Illumination, HDR support and a physical spark system! As well as this, we have manage to add new game improvements and fix countless bugs, many of them reported by you - our fantastic community. All of this awaits you in the new major update 1.95 "Northern wind"!

Click here to view the full Patchnote

, including:

J32 Lansen


FFVS J22



Strv 103-0


SAV 20.12.48


Such as the Rooikat 76 Mk.1D, Admiral Graf Spee and Sendai...

Ray Traced Global Illumination, physical spark system and HDR support!...


New Zealand cape


South Kvarken


And a whole heap of bug fixes!

Click here to view the full Patchnote

Hi! This spring at the NVIDIA GeForce RTX Launch Event at Gamescom 2018 conference we presented our own vision of scalable global illumination for large scenes, Ray Traced Global Illumination, compatible with DirectX 11. We are already successfully using this technology for our other projects, such as Cuisine Royale and Enlisted. In the upcoming update, Ray Traced Global Illumination will appear in War Thunder at low and medium graphic settings for any GPUs with DirectX 11 support!



In our game, there are three large groups of locations: air battles, mixed battles (a.k.a. “tank” locations) and naval environments. The prototypes for War Thunder locations are the most diverse corners of our planet - from the African desert to snowy Russia, from the Pacific islands to the American plains. For each group of locations, different times of the day are provided, from the first dawn rays to late at night, as well as the most diverse weather conditions - clouds, haze, rain, storm, blizzard, and so on. The nature and properties of global illumination for each location in any weather and time of day is an important feature of the picture, which gives the realism and involvement to what is happening in the battle.

Read more in the full article here


The dynamic range is the difference between the darkest and brightest parts of a picture. Modern technologies make it possible to add additional depth and realism to the picture, adding depth to the transitions of shadows and lights that are visible to the eye in such areas. For monitors and TVs with HDR support, we are able to make light sources brighter and add contrast to the image, while shadows and highlights will retain their naturalness.

HDR shows more color gradations, making banding artefacts disappear. Also, HDR presents more information both in dark areas of a picture (shadows), and in light areas.

Read more in the full article here


Another small improvement is sparks from hits, explosions, fires and shots with its own physical model. They occur at the moment of the shot at the muzzle of the barrel, at the moment the projectile hits the surface that can produce sparks - for example, armour; and also at the time of fire or explosion inside the vehicle when it is hit. Now sparks reliably fly away from the center, each spark falls off and dies out after some time, and at the moment of falling off, the friction force and elasticity of those objects along which each spark rolls over are taken into account. “Physical” sparks make battles more beautiful and do not require connecting additional resources of your system.

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

2020 comes for all our players whether you are a pilot, a tanker or a sailor and therefore everyone deserves worthy gifts and awards! Join Operation F.R.O.S.T..


Earn stars by completing the tasks in the adventure. The more stars you get, the more prizes you will win including premium and event vehicles, New Year “Pin-up” decals and “Weapon” decorations!

For more information, check out the full article on the Official War Thunder website by clicking this link

It makes sense that major update 1.95 “Northern Wind” should bring with it a Northern location! We accordingly present to you a new arena for War Thunder naval battles - South Kvarken, a seashore of granite rocks and stone forts!

South Kvarken is a new location coming to naval battles in War Thunder, and will be available in the upcoming update 1.95 “Northern Wind”. Our artists chose the coastal sea area of Finland as the basis for this location, and is arguably one of the more difficult areas for naval vessels to navigate. We set out to convey, as closely as possible, the harsh nature of these waters - granite rocks scatter the location, and many islands, differing in size, are interconnected by various bridges and scenic forts.





In total, this location holds as many as 70 islands, as well as structures recreated according to real-life counterparts, such as the Replot bridge, the large Olafsborg fortress, the the small forts of Svartholm and Sveaborg.

Meet the South Kvarken naval location in War Thunder’s upcoming update 1.95 “Northern Wind”!

Check out the full article here!

The update is coming really soon, and it is time for us to get hands on with a top tier aircraft of the Swedish lineup. Say hello to the SAAB J32B Lansen jet fighter, which will be available in two variants - a strike aircraft and an interceptor.

In our game, J32B will become, by the time of the release of update 1.95 “Northern Wind”, the top fighter aircraft in the Swedish tech tree, and will occupy rank VI. As an interceptor, this aircraft surpasses most of its neighbors at its BR in terms of fire capabilities, and only slightly inferior to them in speed (and even then not to all). Indeed, the J32B is not capable of crossing the sound barrier, although it does closely approach it with a maximum speed of 1145 km/h. At the same time, the aircraft has good control, has an air brake for sharper maneuvers and, of course, excellent weapons. 4x30mm guns provide dense, well-controlled bursts with clear and simple ballistics. In addition, on board we have “Sidewinders” - a very rare and pleasant bonus for an aircraft at the entry to rank VI, which means that we can potentially do anything with any air target at almost any speed! While the heavily armed A32A is by far the best choice for mixed battles, the J32B is a genuine air hunter, and this aircraft is a great master of its craft!





J32B - one of the best sub-sonic fighters in the game - will appear in update 1.95 “Northern Wind” very, very soon. Stay tuned!

Check out the full article here!

The Isuzu-class was a group of four frigates built for the JMSDF in the early 1960’s as a replacement for older vessels in service at the time. Soon, Captains will have the opportunity to take command of this Japanese Cold War-era vessel, arriving on War Thunder as part of the upcoming update 1.95 “Northern Wind”!

In War Thunder, the frigate Isuzu will appear in rank II of the Japanese naval forces tree with the arrival of the next major update coming to the game. Unlike its direct successor - Chikugo, a familiar vessel to some sailors - Isuzu is an older design, but one that offers enhanced firepower and survivability - traits that will most certainly be welcomed by many captains!





Isuzu is arriving soon to rank II of the Japanese naval tree with the release of the upcoming War Thunder update 1.95 “Northern Wind”, and will become available to all Captains. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to the news for all the latest information surrounding the next major update coming to the game in the near future. Until then, calm seas and happy hunting, captains!

Check out the full article here!

Sendai was the lead ship in the last class of Japanese 5,500 ton light cruiser designs to be built in the interwar period. Being one of the final light cruisers to be commissioned by the IJN before the outbreak of WWII, Sendai will soon steam into battle once more with its arrival in War Thunder as part of upcoming update 1.95 “Northern Wind”!

In War Thunder, Sendai will be a new light cruiser coming to rank IV of the Japanese naval tree with the release of the upcoming update 1.95 “Northern Wind”. Being a further development of the same design on which the already familiar Kuma light cruiser is also based on, Sendai offers its aspiring Captains improved anti-air protection as well as a more powerful torpedo armament, while maintaining the light protection and excellent mobility of its predecessor.





Sendai is expected to dock in War Thunder with the arrival of the upcoming update 1.95 “Northern wind” and by doing so, will become available to all players as a new Japanese rank IV cruiser. In the meantime, keep scanning the horizon for more news to out what the next major update has in store for you. Until then, fair seas Captains!

Check out the full article here!

The SAV 20.12.48 was an experimental Swedish SPG, developed by the Bofors company in the postwar years as their first private venture into tank development. Coming soon as part of update 1.95 “Northern Wind”, War Thunder tankers will have the chance to put this experimental design to the test and get a first taste of the Swedish ground forces coming in a future update!

In War Thunder, the Sav fm/48 will be one of the first Swedish ground units available to tankers upon the release of the upcoming update 1.95. Although the full Swedish ground forces tree will arrive to the game in one of the future updates, the Sav fm/48 will allow tankers to catch an early glimpse of what the Swedish ground tech has in store for them and gather some first impressions before the rest of the tree arrives in one of the next major updates.





The SAV 20.12.48’s most standout feature is no doubt its massive 120mm cannon, dominantly protruding through the vehicle’s upper glacis plate. Besides the cannon itself being powerful, its effectiveness is further enhanced by the use of an autoloading mechanism, which gives the SAV 20.12.48 a mind-bogglingly fast reload of only 1.2 seconds per shot for the first 6 rounds of each magazine!

Check out the full article here!

Admiral Graf Spee was one of three Deutschland-class heavy cruisers built for the German Navy in the interwar period as replacements for older warships. In War Thunder update 1.95 “Northern wind”, captains may look forward to commanding this legendary ‘Panzerschiff’, coming soon to the game as one of the first German rank V vessels!

In War Thunder, Admiral Graf Spee will be the first rank V vessel coming to the German naval tree as part of the upcoming update 1.95 “Northern wind”. Unlike other vessels in the game, going beyond the bounds of the German naval tree itself, Admiral Graf Spee is very much a unique kind of ship historically speaking and will also take on an equally unique role within War Thunder as well, following its introduction to the game as part of the next major update.





Admiral Graf Spee is coming to War Thunder as part of the upcoming update 1.95 “Northern wind” and will become available to all captains as the first German rank V vessel. In the meantime, keep a close watch on the horizon for more news regarding the next major update coming to the game very soon. Until then, calm seas and happy hunting captains!

Check out the full article here!