We are pleased to announce the beginning of a new season of “World War” mode, with which naval forces will enter the battlefield with all their might!

New armies and game mechanics, changes in the award system including awards for squadron commanders, and many other quality improvements are waiting for you in this season.

From the 28th of January till the 11th of February - participate in the “Attack from the Sea” season of World War mode over a period of 8 days


Scenarios

Battle of Luzon
 (Japan - USA)
This new scenario involves naval forces. Occurring on the 22nd of December 1941, US troops in the Philippines pose a serious threat to the advancement of Japanese troops to the South, and that’s why the seizure of the Luzon island is important to the Japanese forces’ plans to gain dominance in South-East Asia.

Kerch–Eltigen operation
 (USSR - Germany)
This new scenario involves naval forces. Occurring on the 31st of October 1943, Soviet troops prepare for the largest landing operation of WWII to liberate the city, the port of Kerch, and the port of Kamysh Burun, and create a springboard for the further liberation of the Crimean peninsula from German invaders.

Battle for Caen
(Britain — Germany)
Occurring on the 26th of June 1944. One of the main targets for the allies in operation Overlord was the capture of the city of Caen as well as the nearby Karpik airfield.

Nordwind
 (USA — Germany)
Occurring on the 1st of January 1945. Despite significant losses in the Ardennes, German command expected to break through the allies’ defensive line via an unexpected counterattack in the Vosges and on the Alsace plain.

Awards for all players

BA-11 (USSR, premium, rank I)


USS Phelps DD-360 (USA, premium, rank III)



Read Full article here!

A Soviet premium BA-11 armoured vehicle on the chassis from a cross-country truck will be a prize for participants in the new “World War” season.

Armoured cars were one of the most popular world trends in the development of armoured vehicles in the pre-war period. The Soviet heavy armoured vehicle BA-11 was one of the typical examples of this type of vehicle. It was created on the basis of a shortened chassis from the military ZIS-6 - a three-axle off-road truck designed on a scheme of 6x4 (rear wheel drive). The new chassis designed by engineers of the Moscow Automobile Plant was supposed to provide the armoured car greater payload and a better cross-country ability which allows improvements in the armour and a better off-road performance in the vehicle.

Compared to the armoured vehicles of the B-6 and B-10 series which had been designed on the basis of the GAZ-AAA truck, the armour of the BA-11 has been increased by 1.5-2 times and in some places, the BA-11 was slightly better armoured than the T-26 and BT-7 tanks. With the increased weight up to 8 tons, the vehicle maintained good driving characteristics: a speed of up to 64 km/h on the highway and 26 km/h over terrain. As well as in the BA-10 the designers also provided overall tracks which were able to help the armoured car to overcome particularly difficult areas. The gun and the turret of the vehicle also receives a 45 mm 20-K cannon from the BA-10 in the turret.






The heavy BA-11 armoured vehicle was produced in limited edition in 1939 and participated in battles at the early stages of WWII. In 1942 it was withdrawn from service.

Check full article here!

The first American destroyer leader, the Phelps, with her enhanced anti-air armament will be a reward for participants in World War.

In the 1920’s, the USA acquired a pressing need to equip its fleet with so-called destroyer leaders, i.e. larger and better armed flagships for destroyer flotillas. At the time when the military was trying to convince the US government of the need for these vessels, and the government was arguing that the country already had sufficient numbers of standard destroyers, the London Naval Conference was held to discuss naval disarmament. The conference established an upper displacement limit of 1,850 tonnes for destroyer leaders, which prompted the development of a new ship that would conform to this new international military standard. A preliminary design for the new command ship was ready by November 1930. After almost 18 months of consultations and negotiations, the final design was approved. With a displacement of 1,850 tonnes, the ship carried eight 127mm guns, two quadruple 28mm guns (“Chicago pianos”), 2x4 torpedo launchers and light half-inch armour. All eight of the planned Porter-class destroyers were built and brought into service by 1937.

The realities of war revealed several defects in the new leaders, the most significant one was their extremely weak anti-air defence. The ship’s 127mm guns were not universal, and the power of the two “Chicago pianos” was woefully inadequate for defending the ship against aircraft attacks. The Porter-class ships underwent two major modernizations intended to enhance the leaders’ firepower. By 1944, the ships were markedly different. First of all, the outdated primary guns were replaced with all-purpose weapons, and their number was reduced to five in three turrets. The ship gained a formidable anti-air battery – one quadruple and two twinned 40mm Bofors guns, six 20mm Oerlikons, and high-calibre machine guns. Looking beyond armament, the ship’s decks were also transformed: the bridge was changed, the height of the rear superstructure was reduced, and reserve torpedoes were removed. Porter-class ships served in this form until they were decommissioned in the early post-war period.





We’re pleased to present one of these typical Porter-class ships – the Phelps. This destroyer leader will be given as a reward to participants in the new session of World War. The Phelps certainly looks surprisingly harmonious and complete among the rank III destroyers and shows no obvious shortcomings. The primary armament comprises five 127mm guns - one of the best guns of this calibre in the game at the moment.

Check out the full article here!

• Additional HDR settings have been added: “Paper White Nits” and “Max Brightness”, which are available when the “High dynamic range (HDR)” is enabled in the game settings.

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

We are preparing to launch the new season of World War mode and it will not be limited to only new scenarios. Now you will be able to fight with only fully researched vehicles, commanders will be rewarded and missions will be more diverse, including through new armies and their game mechanics.

https://youtu.be/8JmIO8RDS-4

>> Check out the full article here <<

We celebrate the New Year, friends! Discounts and sales are already waiting for you and we will add some fun events with a decal prize of the coming New Year!

From December 28 (7:00 GMT) to January 3 (7:00 GMT)
Enter the New Year events and get a “Captain Mouse” decal for any qualifying victory!


Tank «Festive events»

You will find two types of missions here!

• Capture the New Year Tree from your neighbours and deliver it to your base. Also preventing them from doing the same with your tree.
  
• Hunt for New Year presents scattered on the map. The team which is the first to gather three presents and delivers them to their New Year tree wins.

Vehicles with BR 4.7 to 6.7 qualify

Naval «Festive Delivery»
Here you need to collect at least three presents and deliver them to your New Year tree. And keep in mind - everyone is armed!
Use ships with BR of 1.0 to 2.7 (you need at least one ship with BR 1.7 or more).

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