The holiday period is upon us and it’s nearly the new year which means it’s time to add some new vehicles to your collection! Treat yourself or your friends to vehicles, consumables and a Premium Account before December 26th to take advantage of this holiday offer.


When: From December 19th (11:00 GMT) until December 26th (11:00 GMT).

• 50% discount on vehicles for all nations for Silver Lions and Golden Eagles.
  
• 50% discount on all modifications, talismans and backups.
  
• 50% discount on a Premium Account in-game for 90 and 365 days and in the Gaijin.net store for 180 days.

Discounts do not apply to vehicles released in the Dance of Dragons, Firebirds and Storm Warning major updates, as well as squadron vehicles and modifications, talismans, and backups for these vehicles.

After this sale ends, discounts on vehicle packs will begin in the Gaijin.Net store — we’ll tell you about them separately on December 26th!

Meet the Japanese Kirishima Battleship, a sister ship to the famous Kongō with different weapons and its own character!

At a glance:

• Eight 356 mm main battery guns!
  
• Good mobility.
  
• Numerous secondary weapons.
  
• Mediocre protection.

Vehicle History
[expand type=details]
IJN Kirishima was a Kongō-class battlecruiser for the Imperial Japanese Navy. This ship was laid down in 1912 and commissioned in 1915. After a major overhaul in 1927, the ship was reclassified as a battleship. The next major overhaul was the 1934 program, which, among other things, more than doubled the power of the propulsion system. IJN Kirishima was not actively used before World War II, but was actively used after its outbreak. During the Battle of Guadalcanal, she was shot at close range by the American battleship Washington and sank on November 15th 1942.
[/expand]




The Kirishima battleship will be the main naval reward in the Winter Tales event, coming in for Japan as an event vehicle at rank V. IJN Kirishima is the sister ship of the famous Kongō battleship, which has long been loved by those who play Bluewater fleet ships, but is in the configuration at the time of her destruction in 1942, meaning she differs from the lead ship of the class in terms of her weapon loadout. Let’s take a closer look!



Undoubtedly, one of the main advantages of the Kongō class is the powerful main caliber armament, with the Kirishima not being an exception here. Eight 356 mm caliber guns in four turrets with a top crew can fire two salvos a minute! These guns being able to fire high-explosive, armor-piercing or semi-armor-piercing shells that are capable of hitting any target at all firing ranges. Unlike IJN Kongō, IJN Kirishima has more auxiliary guns — 14 placements with 152 mm guns that each are rapid-fire and have good guidance. Despite this upgrade, there’s less anti-aircraft guns though. Four placements with twin 127 mm guns are responsible for long-range defense, however on close approaches, enemy aircraft will be met with ten twin 25 mm cannons. This is still quite good, however if you’re accustomed to the guns on the Kongō, the anti-aircraft weaponry on the Kirishima will not feel great when being attacked by aircraft.



Speed is another advantage of the Kongō class. IJN Kirishima has good maneuverability for its class — it can quickly reach its max speed of over 30 knots (56 km/h), maneuvers easily and behaves like a cruiser. As is usually the case, high speed is normally achieved by reducing the weight of the armor. Kirishima’s protection is not bad, as it can successfully survive salvos from armor-piercing shells from cruisers and early battleships when maneuvering with allies. But caught at short distances without cover, Kirishima has no chance against the guns of battleships and most heavy cruisers. In battle, make sure to be careful and avoid getting into trouble, as your team will need your salvos to defeat the most dangerous opponents, so avoid being hit for as long as possible. This is easier said than done though.



IJN Kirishima can be obtained during the Winter Tales event! Be sure to follow the link below to learn more about this event and its other rewards.

Click here to find out more details about the Winter Tales event

The War Thunder Steam Community Management Team have seen some of your fantastic screenshots and artwork uploaded to the Steam Community Hub! Once again, we’ve collected our favorites and wanted to share them with all of you. Want more? Also check out the previous 8 editions for more cool content.

We have also picked our favorites from the list below to receive the special “Steam Snail” decal. Check Customization > Special > Snails > “Steam Snail” to see if you have it.

• First edition
  
• Second edition
  
• Third edition
  
• Fourth edition
  
• Fifth edition
  
• Sixth edition
  
• 
  Seventh edition
  
• Eighth edition

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An excellent King Tiger on its way to Normandy, excellent diorama!

By Bas {NL}

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A Maus made of sand? That’s exactly what this is, the name inscription “WT” is also written, great job here!

By bomber31

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In one of our latest updates we updated the tracer effects, meaning they can do this beautiful love heart in the sky! Nice one.

By Ayelén♥

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An excellent drawing of the Type 59, which took the author 6 hours to draw!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3350182012 style=button

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A homemade LEGO Centauro I 120 in front of the one from the game, amazing work here!

By TAL4FAIL

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1:100 scale diorama Japanese STB under a blossom tree. Looks awesome!

By Cotocwart

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An amazing IJN Fuso in the background with a scale model of it in the foreground. This is really amazing!

By Yamamoto-56

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A cool angle of the P-47 doing a bombing run. Nice!

By Aiden O'Malley

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Flying above the clouds during sunset. Beautiful!

By WD-40 Energy Drink

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The Challenger 2 out on patrol in the snow. Cool atmosphere here!

By Gaming Weird

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Another beautiful sunset from the cockpit!

By Motizie

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A pretty screenshot of the JAS37 in front of the sun and between two mountains!

By Sjorriemonke

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A tiny IS-3 in the foreground and IS-3 in-game in the background. Nice contrast!

By Рядовой козке

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The SU-25 in the foreground and background. Nice model!

By Рядовой козке

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This is an awesome P-51 “In The Mood” drawing! A mechanical pencil was used.

By danidew

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An artistic F4U-4B Corsair, we love this style!

By Cotoplay

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“The Beauty of Mustang”, great angle here.

By verberger81

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A really cool drawing of the M3 Bradley, well done!

By LawrenceXVIII

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We recently added the PzH2000, so what better way to show this awesome model of it!

By Pvt.Snafu

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An amazing drawing of the Rooikat MTTD and Centauro I 120 on Maginot Line!

By random_mesincuci

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The AM-1 Mauler on a torpedo strke attack, excellent art here.

By Sasoushii

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An Su-100 doing Su-100 things in a diorama. Nice!

By Cotocwart

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Awesome animated pixel art of the BM-31-12!

By M777 155mm Towed Howitzer

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A formidable looking Panther D in 1/35 scale painted in an awesome camouflage.

By R^bbit-74




The wonderful work created by our community that we have shared has been posted to the War Thunder Community Hub — make sure you check it out and even share your own creations that we may feature here in the Community Spotlight! We look forward to seeing you next time!

Click here to view the Community Hub

We’re constantly working on removing cheaters from War Thunder. We rely on anti-cheat systems to check for prohibited software usage, as well as on reports from players that we carefully go through. You can use the replay service on our website to report players to us who have violated the Terms of Service and the License Agreement of the game.

Since our last fair play, we’ve blocked 7,106 accounts that were found to have violated the rules. Specifically 3.2.3 of the EULA namely in the automation of gameplay (using bots) and cheat software.

For complete transparency, we’re publishing the full list of these blocked players. This list will be available for two weeks after the publication of this article.

List

We’d like to remind you to abide to the rules to keep up the friendly and competitive atmosphere in the game.

As always, we also recommend that you set a strong password for your account and enable two-step authentication in your profile security settings. We have the following 2FA options available: email, SMS, TOTP (Gaijin Pass/Google Authenticator), and Telegram bot, which we suggest trying if SMS 2FA messages are not reaching you.

We’d also suggest that you turn on 2FA for the email that is linked to your account for additional security. This will protect your account from fraudsters. And remember, don’t break the rules and never share your account information with anyone!

The War Thunder Team

A snow globe is a traditional holiday decoration and a great gift during the winter season. You can now treat yourself to one in War Thunder — only this one will bring you magical rewards when you open it!

The Snow Globe can be purchased in the in-game Item Shop for Silver Lions from December 18th (11:00 GMT) until January 14th (11:00 GMT). It can only be purchased by players who have at least one researchable vehicle at rank II or higher on their account.

The Snow Globe will reward you with vehicles, camouflages, decals, decorations and player profile icons from previous winter events, plus useful consumables, including boosters, universal backups, wagers and orders. Some items are here for the first time as coupons, meaning you’ll be able to sell them on the Market!



The Snow Globe can be purchased for 60,000 Silver Lions.

On January 14th (12:00 GMT), all Snow Globes will disappear from your inventory, so make sure open them before then!





[expand type=details]

• Mirage 2000C-S4
  
• Vilkas
  
• USS Mississippi
  
• J9 Early (only direct to the account)
  
• Tornado IDS MFG
  
• T-80UM2
  
• USS Newport News
  
• Late 298D (only direct to the account)
  
• MiG-23MF (Germany)
  
• C. 202D (only direct to the account)
  
• AGS
  
• A.C.I (only direct to the account)
  
• IJN Hayanami (only direct to the account)
  
• MPK Pr.201K
  
• MiG-21PFM
  
• Ro.57 Quadriarma (only direct to the account)
  
• Class 3 (P)
  
• E.B.R. (1954) (only direct to the account)
  
• USS Baltimore
  
• Type K-8 No.13 (only direct to the account)
  
• TIS MA
  
• J6K1
  
• Merkava Mk.2B (USA)
  
• QF 3.7 Ram
  
• Jaguar
  
• PT-811
  
• Fw 190 C
  
• M.B.152C1
  
• T30
  
• SU-85A
  
• PBM-3 “Mariner” (only direct to the account)
  
• Leningrad (only direct to the account)
  
• P-40C
  
• NC.900 (only direct to the account)
  
• Ersatz M10 (only direct to the account)
  
• AEC Mk II
  
• Me 262 A-2a
  
• Ki-21-I hei
  
• LVT(A)(4) ZIS-2 (USA)
  
• Type 62 (USSR)*
  
• P-63C-5 (USSR) (only direct to the account)
  
• VK 45.01 (P)
  
• M8A1 GMC
  
• I-301

* the chances of receiving the Type 62 (USSR) are far lower than the other vehicles and are around 0.001%.

All vehicles will be immediately credited to your account, but there’s a chance to get it in the form of a coupon unless otherwise specified.

• Mirage 2000C-S4: "Vendée" camouflage (first time as a coupon)
  
• Vilkas: Tricolor spotted camouflage (first time as a coupon)
  
• USS Mississippi: Tricolor geometric camouflage (first time as a coupon)
  
• Tornado IDS MFG: Anniversary camouflage MFG 2
  
• T-80UM2: Bicolor summer camouflage
  
• USS Newport News: Deforming camouflage
  
• MiG-23MF (Germany): Tricolor camouflage
  
• AGS: Snow w/Open Terrain camouflage MERDC
  
• MPK Pr.201K: Deforming camouflage
  
• MiG-21PFM: Demonstration camouflage
  
• Class 3 (P): PATRIA camouflage
  
• USS Baltimore: Deforming camouflage Design 33 16D
  
• TIS MA: Bicolor green camouflage
  
• J6K1: Experimental camouflage
  
• Merkava Mk.2B (USA): Tricolor camouflage
  
• QF 3.7 Ram: Late bicolor camouflage
  
• Jaguar: Deforming camouflage Bow sea
  
• PT-811: Deforming camouflage Design 20L
  
• Fw 190 C: Nonstandard tricolor camouflage
  
• M.B.152C1: Early camouflage
  
• T30: Winter verdant camouflage MERDC
  
• SU-85A: Bicolor summer camouflage
  
• P-40C: Olive-green camouflage

• Snowbike (first time as a coupon)
  
• Ratrack (first time as a coupon)
  
• New Year's sign (first time as a coupon)
  
• Christmas gnome
  
• Christmas sleigh
  
• Christmas mill
  
• Cuckoo watch
  
• Christmas sock
  
• Christmas deer
  
• New Year Tree
  
• Snowman
  
• Sparkler
  
• Snowboard
  
• Snowshoe
  
• Biathlon rifle
  
• Ice Climber’s Backpack
  
• Snowmobile NKL-16/41
  
• DUKW
  
• Assault rifle with grenade launcher (USSR)
  
• Assault rifle with grenade launcher (China)
  
• Assault rifle with grenade launcher (Germany)
  
• Assault rifle with grenade launcher (Britain)
  
• Assault rifle (Sweden)
  
• Carl Gustaf M/45
  
• Assault rifle (China)
  
• Type 63
  
• Assault rifle (Japan)
  
• Assault rifle (USA)
  
• Assault rifle (Britain)
  
• Assault rifle (Germany)
  
• Assault rifle (France)
  
• Assault rifle (USSR)
  
• Christmas Wreath
  
• Sleigh
  
• Ski
  
• Skates

• "Ice cross downhill" decal
  
• "Kitewing" decal
  
• "Freestyle" decal
  
• "Snowkiting" decal
  
• "Snowmobiling" decal
  
• "Dragon Warrior" decal (only direct to the account)
  
• “We can climb it” decal
  
• “Christmas Lights” decal
  
• “Powder Day” decal
  
• “Secret Santa” decal
  
• “Times to Travel” decal
  
• Metal Bull (only direct to the account)
  
• “Raging Tiger” decal (only direct to the account)
  
• Battle Rabbit (only direct to the account)
  
• “Warrior of the North” decal
  
• “Warrior of the Slavs” decal
  
• “Desert Warrior” decal
  
• “Guard Warrior” decal
  
• “Warrior of the Rising Sun” decal
  
• “The Sherwood Warrior” decal
  
• “Warrior of the East” decal
  
• “Legion Warrior” decal
  
• Pin-up pilot China
  
• Pin-up pilot Sweden
  
• Pin-up pilot Italy
  
• New Year’s pin-up (China)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (France)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (Germany)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (Italy)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (Japan)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (Sweden)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (Britain)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (USA)
  
• New Year’s pin-up (Russia)
  
• Pin-up pilot USA
  
• Pin-up pilot Russia
  
• Pin-up pilot Britain
  
• Pin-up pilot Japan
  
• Pin-up pilot Germany
  
• Pin-up pilot France
  
• Shark Jaws (1)
  
• Shark Jaws (2)
  
• Shark Jaws (3)
  
• Shark Jaws (4)
  
• “Christmas tree” victory marks
  
• Xmas Rocket
  
• Xmas Sock
  
• Xmas Tree

• Snowboarder (first time as a coupon)
  
• Winter Pilot

• New Year Aerobatic Smoke

• New Year's flag

• 10000 — 1000000

• Battle trophy (Research points booster)
  
• Battle trophy (Silver lions booster)
  
• Universal backup
  
• Universal backup x2
  
• Universal backup x3
  
• Random wager
  
• Random order

[/expand]

• RDF/LT — the rate of fire has been increased from 45 to 70 RPM. Source: AAI RDF/LT Booklet // Extended Area Protection & Survivability (EAPS) Gun and Ammunition Design Trade Study.
  
• HSTV-L — the rate of fire has been increased from 45 to 60 RPM. Source: Hearings on Military Posture H.R.6495 // Department of Defense Appropriations for 1984 (July 6th, 1983) // Heat Transfer and Erosion in the ARES 75mm High Velocity Cannon - Vol II.
  
• M44 — a bug where it was possible to fire the anti-aircraft machine gun when the machine gunner lost consciousness has been fixed. The crew transfer order has been corrected.
  
• Flak Sfl. / M44 and Ostwind / Wirbelwind — icons for the groups have been fixed.

• Rafale, EF-2000, Typhoon FGR.4, F-2000A — additional camouflages have been added. They are available by completing missions and/or can be purchased with Golden Eagles.

• Attica — collision on some buildings has been fixed.

• A bug where the list of vehicles for the “Favorite vehicles” profile showcase displayed vehicles that were not on the account has been fixed.

Patch notes reflect only key changes, meaning they may not include a complete list of all improvements made. Additionally, War Thunder is constantly being updated and some changes may not require an update. Changes reflected in patch notes are formed by taking reactions and requests of the community from the bug reporting service, forums and other official platforms into account. Bug fixes and changes are implemented in order of importance, for example a game-breaking bug will be worked on and implemented sooner.

Meet the M.B.151C.1 French fighter, one of the aircraft rewards in the Winter Tales event!

At a glance:

• Good top speed!
  
• Robust construction.
  
• Easy to control.
  
• Weak forward armament.

 
Vehicle History
[expand type=details]
The Marcel-Bloch M.B.151C.1 fighter was considered by the French Air Force as a temporary solution until the more advanced Dewoitine fighters were adopted. During the testing phase, its characteristics proved to be insufficiently effective and the MB.151C.1 was almost immediately transferred to training units. Nevertheless, these aircraft still took part in World War II — they were used until they switched to the more modern Dewoitine D.520. German pilots also used some captured MB.151C.1 aircraft for training. Greece ordered 25 MB.151C.1s, but only nine aircraft were delivered, from which the 24th Squadron of the Greek Air Force was formed. These fighters took part in the defense of Greece during the Italian invasion (October 1940 to April 1941).
[/expand]




One of the aircraft rewards in the Winter Tales event is the M.B.151C.1 fighter, a premium rank I French aircraft! A cool classic that’s sure to win the hearts of propeller driven plane fans, let’s take a closer look.




The M.B.151C.1 is a classic, pre-war monoplane with a good maximum speed, retractable landing gear and a fairly strong hull compared to biplanes. However, it’s weakly armed, featuring only four rifle-caliber machine guns in the wings, meaning it might be a little trickier to destroy enemy fighters in one pass and attacks on bombers might take a while longer to destroy. Definitely use the Universal belts for the MAC 1934 machine guns which contain an equal number of rounds with armor-piercing and incendiary belts. 





The M.B.151C.1 premium aircraft is a good choice to quickly start mastering French aircraft and will help to research ranks I and II of the French aviation tree. Take a look at the full list of rewards in the Winter Tales event through the link below!

Click here to find out more details about the Winter Tales event

• Strela-10M, Strela-10M2 — a bug where it was not possible to launch missiles after repairing has been fixed.

• Typhoon FGR.4, F-2000A — display time of radar contacts in TWS tracking mode has been increased.

Patch notes reflect only key changes, meaning they may not include a complete list of all improvements made. Additionally, War Thunder is constantly being updated and some changes may not require an update. Changes reflected in patch notes are formed by taking reactions and requests of the community from the bug reporting service, forums and other official platforms into account. Bug fixes and changes are implemented in order of importance, for example a game-breaking bug will be worked on and implemented sooner.

The HQ17 SAM vehicle has arrived at the end of the Chinese ground forces research tree in a group with the Tor-M1.

At a glance:

• Increased missile launch range and guidance time.
  
• Thermal imager.
  
• Capable of tracking and hitting two targets simultaneously.
  
• Barely any protection.

Vehicle History
[expand type=details]
In the 1990s, China purchased the Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia. However, a number of shortcomings were revealed during its operation, including difficulties in conducting combat operations at night since it lacked a night vision device. In 2005, the Chinese government decided to develop a new air defense system, the HQ17. It was based on the Tor-M1 but had improved functionality. Development lasted 10 years and was completed in 2015. The HQ17 series of air defense systems are currently in service with the PLA as the main medium-range air defense system.
[/expand]




Today we’d like to talk about the HQ17, added to the Chinese ground forces tree this week in the Storm Warning major update, in a group with the Tor-M1. Despite the external similarities, the HQ17, which was developed entirely in China offers several improvements. Let’s take a look!




The HQ17 certainly looks familiar — that’s because it’s based on the Russian Tor-M1 SAM vehicle that’s already present in the game, but improved to meet the needs of the PLA. The HQ17 features a thermal imager, significantly helping when identifying and tracking targets in poor weather conditions or darkness. It also features a modernized missile! This new missile has a greater launch range and guidance time compared to the 9M331 missile found on the Tor-M1.

Important note from us: In the research tree, the HQ17 and Tor-M1 have been put into a group together.




In addition to the above, the HQ17 has a new phased array target acquisition radar with greater range, pattern and scanning angle. Much like the Tor-M1, it has the ability to track and fire at two targets simultaneously or guide two missiles to a single target.



Generally, the playstyle of the HQ17 is similar to the Tor-M1. Obviously the main and only role is to engage aircraft as it is unwise to fire the missiles at ground vehicles. With the radar deployed, the HQ17 can quite easily be spotted and as it only has bulletproof armor, so tactical positioning is vital. This vehicle is effective against all types of aircraft, with the ability to fire two missiles at a target at once being especially valuable. Keep in mind when playing the HQ17 that it can only carry 8 missiles in total.

That’s it for this dev blog! The HQ17 is already available to unlock as part of the Storm Warning major update. Give it a try, and have some fun!

• Rafale C F3-R — incorrect update frequency of data on targets tracked in TWS mode has been fixed.
  
• Rafale C F3-R — the notification to retract flaps has been turned off due to being uninformative, as the aircraft has semi-automatic mechanization configuration.
  
• EF-2000 — incorrect display of the RWR page on the MFD in the cockpit has been fixed.
  
• EF-2000 — a bug that sometimes caused the aircraft to be able to fly through the ground has been fixed. (Report).
  
• EF-2000, Typhoon GR.4, F-2000A — lift-induced drag at high speeds and in the landing configuration has been decreased.
  
• F-15E — a bug that caused AGM-130 to overlap with AIM-120 has been fixed.
  
• Alpha Jet A (Thailand), Alpha Jet TH (Thailand) — a bug that caused some HUD elements to change color when switching lights in the cockpit has been fixed.

• An issue with object synchronization that could cause vegetation and other objects to regenerate after being destroyed has been fixed.
  
• VBCI — internal module errors and inaccuracies have been fixed. Filling of the VBCI with modules is not yet final. We are still working on the modules as well as on corrections to some other existing discrepancies.
  
• VBCI — the front fuel tank has been made external.
  
• VBCI — a bug where the antennas were floating in the air has been fixed. (Report).
  
• VBCI — a bug that caused the coaxial machine gun to not elevate has been fixed. (Report).
  
• M44 — various model fixes.
  
• Namer Tsrikhon — a bug that made the electronics module act as armor has been fixed.
  
• PzH 2000, PzH 2000HU — the discrepancy between the back and front sides of the engine deck partition has been fixed. A bug that caused the crew skills to affect the reload speed has been fixed.
  
• HQ17 — a bug where the gunner’s sight was covered by textures when raising the camera has been fixed. (Report).

• HMS Rodney — ship sinking parameters have been adjusted.
  
• RN Ghibli — the distribution of anti-aircraft gun ammunition has been adjusted.

• New tactical map functionality has been added to test drives.

• A bug where the bottom of an aircraft could be reflected on the top when using screen space reflections (SSR) has been fixed. (Report).
  
• The transition between water and shore has been visually improved. Incorrect appearance of shallow water in foggy weather has been fixed.

• A rare client crash caused by complex key bindings made by the player that occurred when pressing certain keys has been fixed. (Report).

Patch notes reflect only key changes, meaning they may not include a complete list of all improvements made. Additionally, War Thunder is constantly being updated and some changes may not require an update. Changes reflected in patch notes are formed by taking reactions and requests of the community from the bug reporting service, forums and other official platforms into account. Bug fixes and changes are implemented in order of importance, for example a game-breaking bug will be worked on and implemented sooner.