This wasn't on my radar, but RPS' Flare Path is rather gushing about the open beta:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/01/18/the-flare-path-is-thunderstruck/
QuoteWar Thunder! Yesterday afternoon I finally got around to introducing myself to this work-in-progress WW2-in-the-air MMO. Yesterday night I crawled away to bed grinning like a man that has just violently revoked the airworthiness certificates of 8 heinous Heinkel 51s, 4 furious Furies, 4 peevish Peashooters, 2 fractious Falchi, 2 chase-me Chaikas, and a deeply confused Kingfisher, and strafed dozens of AAA positions, armoured cars, and tanks.
Coincidentally, I had just violently revoked the airworthiness certificates of 8 heinous Heinkel 51s, 4 furious Furies, 4 peevish Peashooters, 2 fractious Falchi, 2 chase-me Chaikas, and a deeply confused Kingfisher, and strafed dozens of AAA positions, armoured cars, and tanks.
Online dogfighting arenas can be pretty dispiriting places for those attuned to AI bandits. It comes as a rather pleasant surprise to find that not only is War Thunder extremely easy to slip into, it's also not the ego-eviscerating bearpit it might be. Do as I did and devote your first day to tutorials and the low-realism high-octane team-based arcade modes, and within an hour or two, assuming you've got a few years of SP flight sim experience under your Sutton Harness, you should regularly see your name nestling near the top of post-match score tables.
As in World of Tanks, a game War Thunder plainly draws much structural inspiration from, in battle a little canniness goes a pleasingly long way. Official forums are no doubt already crowded with folk complaining that the Martin Monsoon doesn't turn as nimbly as it should or the Grumman Groundfrost's cockpit armour is under-modelled, but ignore all this and use a few simple common-senses tactics, and, even at the controls of a basic Tier 1 biplane fighter, you should be able to make a serious nuisance of yourself.
In arcade matches flight models have had all their jagged edges filed off. There's no spins or stress-related damage. Engine management is ignored, and respawns – the number of which is dependent on how many hangar slots you've purchased – are at high altitude and close to the action. Empty ammo boxes are automatically refilled after a nailbiting 15 second wait. Often games involve advancing AFVs that must be protected or punctured, and airfields that can be captured to hasten victory or repaired to for damage repairs.
I'm sure there will come a time when I tire of the breathless pace, and go investigate the slower, more resonant historical arenas (historically consistent aircraft mixes, no respawns or automatic ammo replenishing) but for the moment the quick, picturesque violence of the public servers is satisfying my need for sky savagery very satisfactorily indeed.
It won't come as much of a surprise to anyone that played Gaijin's last Forties flight effort to hear that War Thunder is bally handsome at times. Maps range from geographically plausible renditions of the Stalingrad and Ruhr areas, to far-fetched-yet-fun depictions of Alpine and African terrain. Peering over pretty canopy-shadowed panels at somersaulting snowcaps and cluttered, smoke-streaked urban skylines, only the gaudy plane icons and lead-calculating crosshairs (features deactivated or toned down in high realism modes) overblown pyrotechnics, and bizarre aircraft mixes betray the illusion.
War Thunder assumes, probably correctly considering wot WoT has achieved, that the way to keep us keen and constant is to lure us up Giant Sequoia-sized tech trees with the promise of regular XP-purchased unlocks. The number of WW2 aircraft types and Korea-era jets theoretically accessible is astounding even if all (?) of the bombers at present must be controlled from HUD or external views. It will be interesting to see whether the associated flight and damage models are as faithful and diverse as the fuselages and wing shapes.
Even at the arcade level there's evidence that Gaijin are putting considerable effort into ensuring warbird death throes are interesting. I've already discovered what it means to limp home with a wounded wing that refuses to do its aerodynamic duty, to glide to the deck with a kaput engine and a canopy liberally sprayed with oil. Having collided with the odd plummeting wing and tail fragment, I suspect damage from debris impacts is also represented. Apparently, at the highest realism settings, a single well-placed or extremely lucky MG or cannon round can disable a system or kindle a fire.
Plane painting, crew training, engine management, jets, monoplanes... there's acres of WT content I've yet to manhandle, and if the roadmap is to be trusted some potentially fantastic features on the way. Waiting patiently on the main menu are tabs for accessing playable AFVs and naval vessels. The thought of nosing a Ju 87G towards sentient tank skirmishes, or parking a Flakpanzer in a quiet courtyard and waiting for customers, is pretty damn exciting. Whatever Wargaming.net have planned (hopefully I'll be be sharing some World of Warplanes impressions soon) it's hard to imagine War Thunder not surviving and prospering.
Those prepared to put up with a few unfurnished nooks and the odd freeze now and again, should start downloading the 7GB beta ASAP. The sooner you get started the sooner you'll have amassed the 8,000,000,000 XP necessary to unlock a Blohm & Voss BV 238 or the 670,000,999,775,209,81,4,2995 required to unlock the Heinkel Hellsquall XI spotted by Spits in the following vid.
WW2 plane arena combat, either in arcade mode or historical mode, very much inspired by World of Tanks (team battles, tech trees . . .).
http://warthunder.com/
Let's just say that War Thunder completely outclasses its direct competitor, World of Warplanes.
I'm pretty sure I made a first impressions post before I went to bed, but it seems I didn't hit "Post" or something. Or maybe I posted in some other thread. Anyways.
I downloaded the beta yesterday and went through the tutorials to remind myself how much I suck at flight sims. The tutorials cover basic flying, hitting air targets (which I am NOT good at), attacking ground targets with guns, bombs and missiles, and a quick go at using a bomber's gun turret. Advanced tutorials go into take off and landing (ground and carrier), torpedo bombing, dive bombing.
The in game countries are: US, UK, Germany, Japan, USSR. You start with three basic (interwar) planes in each nation, and have to work your way up the tech tree of planes and equipment using XP and promotions you get for combat performance.
A twist in the arenas is that you can respawn as long as you have planes in the hangar of the nation you picked at the start of the battle. It's not immediately game over when you're down. The map I flew on was a desert canyons map. Two teams (of ca. 15 each?) duke it out. The main objective was to destroy enemy ground forces and airbase. It was chaotic fun while I lasted (not long), with about 30 planes in the air and AA fire coming from the ground. I hit a plane or two, but got credited with no kill - as said, I'm pretty rubbish. The canyon map makes for some tight flying when you try to dodge bullets and suddenly find yourself skimming up a cliff, hoping that you won't stall before you hit the top. I kept watching in spectator mode after I lost all three of my planes to get a better feeling of how the combat plays. It's certainly very pretty to look at if you jack up all details.
I played an arcade arena, but there's also options for more realistic battles (which I think also match planes historically together, e.g. Germans vs. Brits), and historical battles. Initial impressions: very favorable, except that I suck even worse at it than at driving tanks. :P
No Finns? If I can't fly a Brewster Buffalo with swastikas then I won't bother.
This thread has screenshots and videos:
http://forum.gaijinent.com/index.php?/topic/4165-war-thunder-screenshots-and-videos-collection/page-8
And you can see the difference between arcade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0xbyHx1101g#!
And realistic (compared to the arcade mode :P ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=82eWjVCLAPw
Well, while I like the game and it looks rather gorgeous, I think I'll uninstall it, nevertheless. I'm just way too rubbish at it - I can't even hold my plane steady when I have an enemy target straight in my sights or hit stationary targets on the ground. :(
Well, mystery solved. Everyone is using mouse aim in arcade mode, while I was using a flight stick (which people only use for the Full Realism Battles). :rolleyes:
In the following arcade I shot down two had had three assists.
I dunno... played one of those online sandbox dogfighting sims a couple years ago--I can't remember which one--but the fun lasted all of 10 minutes.
As many historical and cool aircraft that were available, everybody took P-51s. Boooooring.
I've been playing it for a few weeks. So far, it's been fantastic. The game says I'm fifteen hours in, and I've reached the second or third rank planes - hurricanes and buffaloes. So far it feels like the new planes get handed out at a reasonable rate, even without paying them anything.
I've been playing with a joystick, and generally doing badly. But I'm starting to hold my own and get as many kills as deaths, mostly through being careful about when I choose to engage.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 19, 2013, 11:00:40 AM
I dunno... played one of those online sandbox dogfighting sims a couple years ago--I can't remember which one--but the fun lasted all of 10 minutes.
As many historical and cool aircraft that were available, everybody took P-51s. Boooooring.
Well since this game is made by russians for russians I think you can guess which planes are strongest/fastest/most agile etc.
Enjoying it, and you can't beat free.
Playing the US planes, want to get me a nice shiny B-17. Still with the start planes, using a joystick and probably shoot down 1-2 planes every match.
I started with the Japanese planes at first, but they have few tier 2/3 planes, so you enter Level 3 zones with Level 1-3 planes; and I'm not very good with their equipment - though that may be imagination, because the stats of most planes are very similar.
I started on the German tree and find it better - they have more level 2/3 planes (what with the Italian tree added there), so I feel I have better chances going into battle with them.
Got a P-40 yesterday, is pretty good. Nice having 6 .50 cals.
Playing with the A-20g, really enjoying bombing, a lot.
Yep, bombing is where all the money and experience is.
Routinely getting 25k credits and 30k xp from bombing per match. Compared to 6k each from playing as a fighter.
My best battle so far, delivered the final bomb as I was getting shot down. Didn't end up crashing. :showoff:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F2vEovGG.jpg&hash=02fb394be7a398a8743d84e66e4332781a4e6358)
Nice. :)
trying this out: is actually pretty nice
I like the game but it is becoming boring to play...they need to rename it Ram Thunder. The current strategy trend seems to be ramming lower rank planes into higher rank ones. This is making the game tedious and frustrating. It is very unrealistic.
Quote from: Strix on January 24, 2013, 01:17:39 PM
I like the game but it is becoming boring to play...they need to rename it Ram Thunder. The current strategy trend seems to be ramming lower rank planes into higher rank ones. This is making the game tedious and frustrating. It is very unrealistic.
Did Goon squad invade the game?
Initial impression: fun! And my trusty Saitek X52 seems to be working fine in arcade mode. In a short participation, I got 1 kill, 1 assist I think plus some damage, and died 3 times. One of that was due to enemy fire. An other time I crashed with an enemy, third time I chased one to the ground. :D
I dunno, I personally don't seem to have that big of a problem with ramming. The only time it ever really happens to me is when I bounce another fighter.
Otherwise it's me ramming someone by getting too close to them and doing risky things on their tail.
Fun battle today...
My PBY-5 and -5a got smoked by a MIG-15. I have never seen them one-shotted before. :yuk:
Game is fabulous. Loving every moment of it. It might replace tanks as my MMO of choice.
I am playing Arcade because if any of my friends will stick with this game, it will be on Arcade as they don't have joysticks.
I am noticing stuff like people having an easier time than I aiming with the mouse, that's ok.
What kind of realism I am supposed to expect? I see flaps are not working. Should I expect stuff like preferring boom&zoom with Messerschmits instead of trying to turn people out, or these differences are diluted in arcade?
Arcade by definition, is not serious flight simming. It does model the different characteristics of the planes. Boom and zoom in your 109's and Corsairs. Due to the nature of the arcade part, though, luring people into stalls and spins doesn't work. Planes often exceed their performance maximums for speed, and don't rip their wings off. Mouse aiming makes shooting down planes rather easy at times. You really do yourself a disadvantage by playing with a stick in arcade.
Historical battles are the most fun. I can play with my stick and not be hurting myself. Do to the realism levels there, mouse + keyboard is inferior to a stick. Spins, stalls, airframe damage, etc is all modelled.
Full realism is the last game mode. Unless you're a trained pilot, that is just insane. Mixture richness, trimming, and a whole host of complicated crap make it difficult.
Another thing is that the game is made by Russians. Russian planes tend to be a tad bit OP. The main server is in Russia, which means North American players are looking at 200+ pings. There is a secondary server somewhere in the EU that reduces the ping to a much more manageable 120ish for me on the East Coast. That server, however, is less heavily populated and games take longer to get using only that server. When too few players are online, the server actually moves everyone to the RU server.
well yeah I noticed that even people who know fuckall about maneuvering (or cant due to controls) hardly miss a shot when they get behind me and I fell asleep. So mouseaim definetly looks superior to my struggling to hold on target with the joy. But throttle, rudders via turning the stick, all buttons at my fingertips... I just couldnt drop that
Yeah....I've considered moving to the mouse but I'm still using my joystick for better or worse...
Quote from: Alcibiades on January 28, 2013, 03:24:35 PM
Yeah....I've considered moving to the mouse but I'm still using my joystick for better or worse...
yeah: flying is done with sticks. And if we hit less, at least we can feel morally- and infrastructurally- superior :p
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on January 29, 2013, 03:07:32 AM
Quote from: Alcibiades on January 28, 2013, 03:24:35 PM
Yeah....I've considered moving to the mouse but I'm still using my joystick for better or worse...
yeah: flying is done with sticks. And if we hit less, at least we can feel morally- and infrastructurally- superior :p
hells yeah!
:yes:
ok I officially suck with level 2 Italian and German planes in Arcade.
what use is superior speed if I can't force-stall the guy chasing my tail? damn.
I noticed that a lot of planes have identical stats on lower tiers. While it levels the playing field it also makes fights a lot more boring.
Also, even with mouse aim I can't hit shit.
Quote from: Tamas on January 30, 2013, 02:51:47 AM
ok I officially suck with level 2 Italian and German planes in Arcade.
what use is superior speed if I can't force-stall the guy chasing my tail? damn.
iirc, you can't in arcade.
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on January 30, 2013, 03:30:29 AM
Quote from: Tamas on January 30, 2013, 02:51:47 AM
ok I officially suck with level 2 Italian and German planes in Arcade.
what use is superior speed if I can't force-stall the guy chasing my tail? damn.
iirc, you can't in arcade.
yeah and that's extremely silly. Or I just suck. I mean, there is this level 2 Italian fighter. It can't turn shit, but has awesome speed comparetivly. So I go pretty high, zoom down at some SOB with like 700, miss my shot, then intend to use that huge speed advantage to quickly climb to safety. Well, I can climb eventually, but first he kind of hovers with nose 90 degrees upwards shooting me to oblivion. Fuck that.
And in general, since you must go down to 18 meters to catch anything (as that's where combat is in arcade), you need to have a quickly turning plane, as other options are extremely limited at tree top level.
How am I supposed to use te Bombing View on bombers? In Arcade? Will bombs always fall where the crosshair is at when releasing, or it is more intricate than that?
Quote from: Tamas on January 31, 2013, 02:53:03 AM
How am I supposed to use te Bombing View on bombers? In Arcade? Will bombs always fall where the crosshair is at when releasing, or it is more intricate than that?
crosshair seems to be it. Not that I'm good at it
just to be clear, I am talking about the view (the one you can access like, say, tail gunner view), not the HUD-y thingie
Quote from: Tamas on January 31, 2013, 06:55:36 AM
just to be clear, I am talking about the view (the one you can access like, say, tail gunner view), not the HUD-y thingie
ah, make sure you are flying a real bomber, not a divebomber or something similar. For example: the Catalina has it, but the plane before it doesn't.
yeah I am flying one which has the bombing view. So, should I be assuming that my bombs shall fall where the crosshair of the bombing-aiming-toolish-view points to?
Bombs fall EXACTLY where you have the crosshair at when you release them, no other mechanics.
Checked out mouse mode, fighters are exceptionally easier.....but I can't bomb for shit with a mouse so.... :yuk:
5 air kills in one game using italian and one german planes. Take THAT, Mousenoobs! :menace:
Bombing isn't that hard. If you are using the Bomber View than the bombs drop dead on the crosshairs. This is great for attacking pillboxes and weapon emplacements (AA and Arty). However, it isn't that good for mobile targets. You need to aim ahead of them and the higher you are the harder it is to do. For those targets, just use the crosshair that appears under the plane at low altitude, it will turn from white to red, red meaning it's dead on target.
I love using my PBY-5a and A-20, they are awesome. Although, with the latest patch bombing has become more difficult because bombers are easier to shoot down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XlVV5PDPDgQ#!
Is it me or does this guy sound a bit like Dick Hakluyt? ;)
I'm sorry to admit, mouse mode is the only way to play this game as a fighter.
And Russians are crazy overpowered.
Is it another Russian game?
Is this the beta, meaning any progress you make is going to be lost when it goes live?
Quote from: Berkut on March 15, 2013, 08:56:14 AM
Is it another Russian game?
Is this the beta, meaning any progress you make is going to be lost when it goes live?
Yes, Russian. It's supposedly in beta, but the developers have proclaimed that there won't be any wipes when they go V1.0. Even if they were to do so, they've gone on record that all your purchases will be refunded in game.
Russians.
So, are the best torpedo bombers all Russian?
It has the Mosquito so it doesnt sound all bad.
Quote from: Berkut on March 15, 2013, 09:36:50 AM
So, are the best torpedo bombers all Russian?
Yes, but the game may not reflect that.
I've had a bit of fun with War Thunder. The Arcade mode is really fun because even low tier aircraft can shoot down high tier aircraft. Also much of the player base is just terrible at the game so if you've any experience with combat air sims you'll likely do really well.
It's still in beta and a lot of the flight models are still wonky but otherwise it's pretty darn fun. I'd like to play more but I'm stuck in WoT-mode, as well as Tomb Raider.
Man, this game is really well done.
Quote from: Berkut on March 18, 2013, 04:11:45 PM
Man, this game is really well done.
If you find yourself short of cash try the Historically battles (using a bomber). I just bust out my Tier 5 JU-88 and easily make 30-40K a battle (non-premium). It carries 36 bombs, so it's a beast when it comes to soaking up the cash targets.
I ahve not even tried the historical battles at all. What is the difference?
Quote from: Berkut on April 21, 2013, 02:20:53 PM
I ahve not even tried the historical battles at all. What is the difference?
The planes perform more realistically (high speed turns can tear your wings off, stalls, spins, and other details), no targeting cross hair for guns, ammo runs out than you need to land and rearm, and you are allowed only one plane (no respawns). The action isn't as fast and furious as there is time to the target and so on. Very little ramming since you only have one plane.
If you are good the exp/cash reward is very good and battles aren't that much longer than arcade ones.
got my first victory in historical battles yesterday. very nice
This is pretty fun.
Except when it says you're in "Arcade Mode", and you're not, and it won't let you go back to it.
Filthy fucking nigger Russian designers.
Shortest "this is great to fucking filthy dev's" post by Seedy evah!
I has Buffaloes. TATAUNKA
I has an OS2U-1 Kingfisher. grumbler is the tail gunner.
I'll give it a shot.
I shot down an enemy plane, and severely damaged a mountain twice with a kinetic impact!
I led my team with six kills on my second try. I still have no idea what the fuck I'm doing. It kept telling me to capture something. I have no idea how to take prisoners in an airplane.
Now that I have my Dauntless, dive bombing is fun.
Although I've noticed in the match queues, the line that seems to be played the least are the Japanese. That's odd.
What kind of matches you playing? I've only done the arcade ones. I don't have a joy stick, so I haven't tried the historical and realistic ones. Does seem absurd to be flying through the mountains trying to blow up tanks with a PBY Catalina or a Kingfisher. I keep thinking, "Gee I bet this plane would be much faster if I didn't have this enormous float underneath.", then some Russian asshole shoots me down in a biplane.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 23, 2013, 08:52:30 PM
Although I've noticed in the match queues, the line that seems to be played the least are the Japanese. That's odd.
Odd until you play the Japanese, maybe. The Zero got mauled with the last major patch, and has been more or less unusable since. Even before then, Japan was the least played- they have the fewest planes, the worst bombers, and just aren't competitive once it gets around level 9 or so.
I'm going to bet the Russians have the best fighters and bombers. Just a guess.
That's a shame about the Japanese planes. I really wanted to trick out a Zero, but like so many other video games, the designers took to heart the rumors of how exactly fragile silk and balsa wood must me.
Raz, bombing in a PBY is fun as balls. More productive than you think.
the PBY is absolutely ridiculously durable. In historical mode on pacific maps (before they were removed for how impossible carrier landing was..) their combination of resilience and capacity to land beside rather than on top of carriers made them the best thing either side could field anywhere near their tier level.
Edit: Sure enough though, in a previous patch the russians could buy the PBY as a premium plane, except it was only level 1, so you were matching against biplanes. It was as ludicrous as it sounds; Russia had the best bomber by way of getting America's bomber before it could. In keeping with the trend, America can buy a level 6 Japanese plane even in the present patch, and fly it at level 4 instead. The joke's on him though, because America's level 4 fighter is far better than Japan's level 6 fighter post-nerf, with better turning ability and much better armament, and all of 3 km/h slower.
The Hayabusa is a level 2 plane and was mighty before the massive, nearly all-encompassing nerf on Japanese planes. It was comparatively lightly hit, and is likely Japan's best fighter until you get up as high as the N1K. It scales well, and can down seemingly much better planes like the Yak-9 or the ME-109 somewhat reliably.
I've had mixed results with the PBY. High level bombing doesn't seem to work well, but coming in low isn't bad. Unfortunately I'll always end up with one or two guys shooting the shit out me. Just got me P-40 which is a huge improvement. I can buy the Dauntless but haven't done so yet.
I really hate those fucking Russian biplanes. The ones with the four machine guns.
I dive bomb with my PBY. Easier than using the bomb sight, and scares the fuck out of the crew.
:lol: I did that a few times. They seem to work really in the canyon type maps. It's harder for the enemy to maneuver around your gunners. I shot down two guys in a few second like that.
Still hate the Russians though.
Games fucking addictive despite the fact I really, really suck at it. If anyone wants to shoot me down online I'm Razgovory. Betcha didn't see that one coming?
I'm under "JonBenetRamjet". I'm the one ramming people with my Swordfish.
Ramming is holy sacred justice, but it generates some real mad, particularly if you get adept enough at it to survive ramming around half the time.
I play as Yukkuri, these days mostly as Britain.
The people bitching about ramming almost make me want to ram people as a matter of course.
What is funny about it is that in most cases, it is easy to avoid being rammed, if you are willing to dodge instead of just sitting their shooting at the guy flying right at you. But nobody wants to do that.
It's not really a problem, for me. I'm for more likely to to collide with a mountain, airfield or one my own bombs.
Some people just can't fly. And your teammates will clip your wings if it means poaching an easy kill.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 25, 2013, 08:35:45 AM
Some people just can't fly. And your teammates will clip your wings if it means poaching an easy kill.
I watched two assholes who were tailing my PBY crashed into each other as they were jockeying for a kill. Hilarious. I may try the Russian planes next cause my P-40 has mediocre firepower, turning radius and terrible climb.
The P-40's firepower is excellent, some of the very best level 4 can possibly afford. The part about climbing is true, but not very relevant unless you are in historical mode.
The Russian planes are by far the best in game, obviously.
The level 6 spitfire is so laughably better than the level 7 zero that it makes me want to cry- although superficially they have almost identical armament. (edit: insomuch as the armament differs, it is in the spitfire's favor..)
Playing UK is such easymodo that I felt like I was doing something wrong as I denied the consent and self-validation of countless subhuman aircraft
edit: speaking of subhumans, the latest patch raises prices on most everything as well as income, but the penalties for teamkilling stagnated. Chastising imbeciles who shoot you from behind is now quite affordable- I just gladly engaged in a long-running duel with some aerocobra-using slackjaw, and between killing him three times and dying to him once, narrowly provided the margin by which our team lost. In-fighting is the single best reason to lose :)
Quote from: Lettow77 on April 25, 2013, 05:58:57 PM
The P-40's firepower is excellent, some of the very best level 4 can possibly afford. The part about climbing is true, but not very relevant unless you are in historical mode.
Seems I often have to fire a hell of a lot rounds before I take someone down usually. Course my aim isn't very good. The climb is a problem if I want to go after a bomber or I need to escape quickly.
I sang the praises of the hayabusa earlier- it has two 12.7 mgs and can kill things somewhat reliably. The P-40 has six of them.
As for a lot of ammo..try to concentrate fire on one part. Shots to the frame don't do much, especially if you are hitting each piece of the plane for a negligible amount.
I barely hit the plane at all. They are always moving!
Downloading
Quote from: Razgovory on April 25, 2013, 09:25:20 PM
I barely hit the plane at all. They are always moving!
If this is the problem, the solution is a lame 30mm cannon. You don't have to worry about shot distribution- if you can land any at all you are in business, and in arcade a bubble for the mentally handicapped helpfully guides the way. The aerocobra will end your concerns, and you get two of them, because U-S-A
It's kind of fun, though I have little idea what I'm doing.
Should I focus on the enemy planes? Should I focus on the ground targets?
in-game name is Barrister. Shocked, I know. Playing the Brits. You're shocked again, I can tell.
The game is a lot of fun.
It is too bad they aren't going to wipe and start over at some point though. The structure of their tech/research tree if a fucking disaster, and I don't see any way of fixing it absent a wipe and start over.
Quote from: Berkut on April 26, 2013, 07:33:25 AM
The game is a lot of fun.
It is too bad they aren't going to wipe and start over at some point though. The structure of their tech/research tree if a fucking disaster, and I don't see any way of fixing it absent a wipe and start over.
Yeah, I'm not particularly enamored with the tech tree, either. Or the fact that you level out of competitiveness too fast.
I think I was on tier 3 when I realized, "hey, I can improve my crew's skill points with XP!". :blush:
The Russian hardware in this game is so overpowered, it's simply obnoxious. I'm giving it a couple more days, though.
But it is pretty ridiculous.
I think if anything the Brit and American stuff is the best.
The Russian fighters are pretty so so. The IL-2 is awesome, but it should be. Their bombers are crap.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 26, 2013, 09:50:47 AM
The Russian hardware in this game is so overpowered, it's simply obnoxious. I'm giving it a couple more days, though.
But it is pretty ridiculous.
Those little biplanes are murder. They can outpace, out climb and out turn, every other plane at that level and quite in higher tiers. And those four machine guns. Ug.
Regarding Russian balance- it is worse early on. As raz has noted, the Russian starter biplane is way better than the competition, with much more firepower, as well as having other advantages. Russia's level 2 fighter gets rockets without any levelling, and can get insta-kills on any bomber in one pass with them; its all very troubling.
Once you get around level 6 though, it recedes a bit. The level 6 spitfire is superior to the Yak russians get at the same time, but Britain is also unlocking an absurdly armed beaufighter at the same level. America is even better, because they get two aerocobras and can begin masturbating. Germany gets the first of the many 109s it will unlock and the long nightmare of german early tech slowly dissipates. (we won't mention japan because..obviously.)
Admittedly, Russia in its Yak-9T will not cease being an irritant, and Russia can never be said to be very underpowered. But it is only early on that their balance is completely galling.
edit: those who have porous anal sores about russian balance could always play in historical mode, where they won't have to confront such subhumans
Their biplane is ridiculous and their 9T destroys everything around it with one hit.
Quote from: Syt on April 26, 2013, 09:33:09 AM
I think I was on tier 3 when I realized, "hey, I can improve my crew's skill points with XP!". :blush:
Wait? what!
*goes take a look*
I said fuck it and I spent some money, and tricked out my crews hardcore.
I'm totally keeping my Swordfish around, all tricked out and graffiti'd up and shit, just to annoy the in-game Neils. My tailgunner brings shit down in nothing flat now.
CDM, you should form a party with me :3
No.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FRuE8U72.png&hash=7c2e5f78e0e4d42c0d26195bb941d7fd72eb3879)
Um. Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
I laughed.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fb6fhExf.jpg&hash=d630a9ab6b9b1a039704e105dcd84078374992f0)
Did... you make that? Or are there more of you?
Quote from: Razgovory on April 26, 2013, 09:22:20 PM
Did... you make that? Or are there more of you?
One is too many.
:lol:
I really should get more experience for landing a plane with no working engine, the rudder shot off, and on fire. Oh well, now Raz has to chose which tier 5 plane he wants. I'm kinda eying that Havoc.
Quote from: Razgovory on April 26, 2013, 10:43:30 PM
I'm kinda eying that Havoc.
The Havoc can hurt stuff good.
I do love my bombers. I noticed a lot of players are hesitant about going after an A20. I've shot down several players without even seeing them. It's like a little bunker with wings.
I shot down two Spitfires with my Swordfish. Fuck you, Air Marshal Neil.
Had a hard time connecting today. For some reason the game just doesn't want to "catch".
So how are you guys playing this? Arcade or historical, stick or mouse, cockpit or outside view?
Arcade with a mouse. I might spring for a joystick next month. I might even get into flight sims and really learn how to fly. I do like the arcade action. Reminds me of Crimson Skies, a great PC game back from 2000 or so.
Quote from: Razgovory on April 28, 2013, 05:10:40 PM
Arcade with a mouse. I might spring for a joystick next month. I might even get into flight sims and really learn how to fly. I do like the arcade action. Reminds me of Crimson Skies, a great PC game back from 2000 or so.
How do you effectively dogfight w/o a joystick?
I don't.
Quote from: Razgovory on April 28, 2013, 07:24:50 PM
I don't.
Then why play. That was rhetorical. Seriously get you a fucking joystick. They are not that expensive. BTW, I couldnt imagine playing IL-2, SF2, or Mig Alley..etc without one.
Quote from: 11B4V on April 28, 2013, 07:17:30 PM
How do you effectively dogfight w/o a joystick?
LOL, who said anything about effectively? :lol:
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 28, 2013, 07:32:34 PM
Quote from: 11B4V on April 28, 2013, 07:17:30 PM
How do you effectively dogfight w/o a joystick?
LOL, who said anything about effectively? :lol:
Point taken. :)
Actually I'm told the arcade game play works better with a mouse. It's pretty simplified. I still suck. I did shoot down three planes last time and blew up 5 tanks. Course I got shot down 3 times as well. So it's kind of a wash.
I actually went to my local Best Buy to see if they had any joysticks. They did not. :(
Of course I only just hit Lvl 1 on Friday, so it's not like I'm levelling very fast on this...
There is no mode in which a joystick is needed. Full Realism is the underpopulated domain of joystick elitists, but if you are feeling malicious you can go crush them there without using one.
The arcade mode is what makes this popular. Flight sims have always been a niche that scared off more casual gamers. So even non-sim flying games have suffered from this.
Okay, this will sound silly but I don't know how else to go forward. What do I do with all that XP I get? There's a thing I can convert XP to certain things but I'm not sure I want to do this...
Yeah, you can convert your free XP to level up in air forces. I've hit 7 with the US, and 5 with the RAF, Germans and Lettows. I refuse to play any Russian shit.
Pisses me off--at 7, I've unlocked more stuff than I can afford with the US. Very annoying.
You and I both know there is a commissar inside you screaming to get out.
Fuck those little biplanes. Tired of them shooting down my Spitfires.
Every goddamned game has its Gnome Rogues. Fucking annoying.
I am up to level 8 US, but cannot yet afford the level 7 (or 8) aircraft. And that is with a premium account. I need 180k for the F4U, for example, and clear maybe 20k per battle for a good battle. You get XP much, much faster than credits.
They are currently tuning the economy. Patch 1.29 massively increased the cost of planes, while at the same time reducing income. The cost of specialist training for the various planes was also increased. Repair costs were reduced though.
Prior to 1.29, I had bought all the planes I had researched ranks 7 - 9 in various trees and still had 1.5 million credits left, even though I never ran a premium account.
The next big patch is said to bring further adjustments to the economy, so hopefully things will get better again. It's still beta after all.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on April 29, 2013, 05:23:03 AM
Yeah, you can convert your free XP to level up in air forces. I've hit 7 with the US, and 5 with the RAF, Germans and Lettows. I refuse to play any Russian shit.
Pisses me off--at 7, I've unlocked more stuff than I can afford with the US. Very annoying.
You've reached a sweet spot with the US. I am at tier 10, but my prefered setup is still 6-7: P-39N-0 + P-39Q-5 Airacobras (37mm cannon is pure murder), F4F-4 Wildcat (agile for a US fighter), F6F-3 Hellcat (awesome fighter-bomber), F4U-1a Corsair (good fighter if you work the flaps a lot).
German planes only start to get good at tier 6 and higher. Before that, they are an utter pain.
Quote from: Razgovory on April 28, 2013, 07:53:08 PM
Actually I'm told the arcade game play works better with a mouse.
Yep, and to a lesser degree this also holds true for historical battles.
Yeah, I'm still flying my F4F-3, the P-39N and the P-39Q, along with a tricked-out Havoc, and a totally graffiti-covered Dauntless. Love that Dauntless.
And yeah, the German stuff is a serious grind.
On the other hand, having 36 bombs to drop in the Junkers is pretty amusing.
That's why I try to ram them with my Swordfish. 36 bombs are just obnoxious.
The P-39 is for flipper-fingered subhumans who feel uncomfortable with the prospect of continuous accurate shooting and long for a one-shot noobcannon.
It is second only to the Yak-9T in obnoxiousness, but it is much better in arcade than historical. In historical, its problems with fighting at a reasonable altitude and climbing put it back in its place.
I like all the bitching about people Ramming. I haven't had much luck with the Havoc. Only carried 4 bombs.
Sonderkommando Elbe :lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmDYdfb02tc
Quote from: 11B4V on April 29, 2013, 02:27:28 PM
Sonderkommando Elbe :lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmDYdfb02tc
Aka "Ed Anger plays an online game"
Went Red. Those little Russian biplanes are much nicer when you are in them. Last match got 4 kills and wasn't shot down. I blasted the shit out of a sword fish for five minutes before he finally went down. He kept flying away after I disabled a wing and aileron. One thing I can't do is destroy ground targets. I bought little cherry bombs to put on the wing, but armored cars just laugh at me when I drop them.
Someone called me out for not having a life after I shot down their bomber. Was it one of you guys? Seemed kinda odd.
No, that sounds about right for business as usual in that game.
I think he was mad that I spent so much time shooting him down. If the fucker would have just had the sense to stay down he would have saved us both some time.
It's a bit distressing to see three of your team mates all chasing the same tier 1 plane then crash into each other. They were in Soviet Planes so perhaps it was an act of role playing.
Everybody goes for the cheap kill.
LOL, somebody got pissed I rammed their kill, he told me to go back to WoT. :lol:
Seedy - you playing as JonBenetRamjet?
If so, I totally failed to kill you in that last battle. :(
:lol: That was one of my best rounds.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 02, 2013, 12:35:08 AM
:lol: That was one of my best rounds.
Okay - it's on!
Couldn't find you again. :(
But I do feel like I have slowly figured out what to do in this game. I may not be at the top of the leaderboard, but I'm no longer at the bottom...
Huehuehue
Historical battle for Japan is back, -and- they fixed the zero's horrid flight model.
I lost a wing (!) and made it back to base thanks to the emperor's grace and some absurd flight maneuvering. (deployed gears to counterbalance, fiddling with ailerons/elevators constantly..)
The Russians were mad. (oh- its a 1939 manchuria scenario)
Quote from: Barrister on May 02, 2013, 01:07:32 AM
But I do feel like I have slowly figured out what to do in this game.
use the mouse and do maneuvers no airplane could do?
If you want autism mode you can go to historical battles
where the ki-43 hayabusa can fight the good might against the mig-15
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 02, 2013, 07:41:25 AM
If you want autism mode you can go to historical battles
where the ki-43 hayabusa can fight the good might against the mig-15
:huh:
Its like he doesn't know about Zhukov's secret weapon at Khalkhin Gol
So is there much point or interest in trying to group up and run some missions together, since it looks like several people are playing?
How is the game with a joystick? Net rummors are saying it's not very good with a JS. Saying they havent calibrated the game optimally for one.
I have a Saitek X52, and they have the profile for it embedded, but I dropped it for the mouse, which is much more responsive.
They gotta do something with that damned Japanese boatplane, though. That thing sucks ass as a fighter. It's got a good cannon, but it's like flying a water buffalo.
It is much more agile than it used to be as of yesterday. Get it on its side and it will turn fairly sharply.
Also, abandon unhallowed dreams of flying above 300 km/h as things that cannot be
Quote from: Lettow77 on May 03, 2013, 10:21:22 AM
It is much more agile than it used to be as of yesterday. Get it on its side and it will turn fairly sharply.
Also, abandon unhallowed dreams of flying above 300 km/h as things that cannot be
How the fuck else am I going to slam into a mountain so hard?
Game crashed right after I shot someone down. <_<
The P-39 is murder. Doesn't turn that well though. I killed 4 enemies, and I think one friendly who I was trying to save.
Fired this up a little prior to work. used just the mouse. No way in hell. I'll try the joystick tonite.
If you try joystick in Arcade versus the mouse flyers, you're really going to have to tinker with your settings; you'll be no match.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 04, 2013, 08:30:28 PM
If you try joystick in Arcade versus the mouse flyers, you're really going to have to tinker with your settings; you'll be no match.
I'll keep that in mind, thanks. Have you played the realistic model?
Today I kept getting team killed by someone named "Derbear". :lol:
Quote from: 11B4V on May 04, 2013, 08:37:07 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 04, 2013, 08:30:28 PM
If you try joystick in Arcade versus the mouse flyers, you're really going to have to tinker with your settings; you'll be no match.
I'll keep that in mind, thanks. Have you played the realistic model?
Not really, no. Gotta try it with the joystick.
The economic and XP model really needs to be fixed, though. It's rather annoying.
I've been only fighting realism lately. The anger generated by ramming is exponentially higher there.
(the skill pool is also higher- its a tough crowd.)
edit: I've basically stopped arcading, so this is arcade stats as they stand.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FA8RZILy.jpg&hash=87f9554153a216a3ea59a6bdf8aefbc3ff357570)
The zero stats are poisoned by the fact that most sorties were done while the zero was still horribly nerfed. The real takeaway is how inadequate the A6M2 is against the A6M3 variants, and also that the
Ki-61a has very little to offer.
One of the pleasures of historical battle is trying to land your ravaged plane after encounters with soviet subhumans.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F4cHPRxQ.jpg&hash=b8127de45f68ecc0d4e7075fcf3c0505487b9432)
I think the new update messed with the targeting. I can't hit anything now.
The only thing I get hit with are messages from Lettuce.
:nelson:
I dunno, a look at your player ID suggests you must get hit quite a lot indeed :3c
ITS THE SWORDFISH
I embraced my inner CDM and just started ramming people.
Looks like I wasn't the only one. The server, following my lead decided to crash as well.
There was one round that had so much fog and rain, practically every kill was a ram.
I am no good with the early German planes.
Once you start tricking out the BF-109s, then you'll start having fun.
Bf-109 is good enough to go be super fair on realism mode. It is much more fair than the allied planes, which lose a strong majority of the historical battles involving germany.
(Currently, when you automatch Russia you might plausibly fight any of the other factions- you can be automatched in Korea, Manchuria or Germany. The only one Russia has anything like a favorable outcome on is Korea.)
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 18, 2013, 04:27:56 PM
Once you start tricking out the BF-109s, then you'll start having fun.
This is what I figured. When I play my American planes when I get shot down it's almost always a BF-109 or a Spitfire that shoots me down.
Quote from: Razgovory on May 18, 2013, 05:33:17 PM
When I play my American planes when I get shot down it's almost always a BF-109 or a Spitfire that shoots me down.
Well, that shit don't change.
I love the firepower of the American planes, but all the Hellcats and Wildcats are boats and the various 'hawks can't climb for shit.
If I can get that 37 on target I get to watch both wings and the tail fly off an enemy plane. Course it's hard to hit with it. It's like throwing big rock at the enemy. I've discovered an interesting strategy. Fly a fast bomber close to the enemy and then fly as fast as possible away from all objectives. You'll likely have four to six 'tards trailing you the whole way. They might even crash into each other as they try to get a kill.
Saw Seedy! One time I played on his side (he was ranked first and I second) Second time he shot me down twice and I shot him down twice. I surprise he didn't ram me.
I killed you with my tailgunner. Don't fuck with grumbler in the back seat, man.
Man, soviet shit is overpowered. I shot down 8 guys in one match. 7 in one plane. I only crashed because my own team mate flew in front of me with a goddamn biplane trying to steal a kill. The IL2 is even a decent fighter.
Yeah, I've come to the realization that you simply can't outmatch the Soviet stuff, no matter what you've got.
It's been fun, but I'm losing my interest in it. The economic model is beyond shit broken.
I mostly quit once I reached level 8 US, and realized that I will never have the patience to get 400k together for the next B25...which is functionally identical to the current B25.
I just don't understand the concept of Bonus XP...you have millions of it, yet the only thing you can do with it is to convert it level up (with a gold cost, no less!) so you can see more planes you can't afford.
Such broken model.
Historical mode is more lucrative, and also tones down Russia.
They made a major update. For some reason, everything looked weird to me. Russian stuff is still overpowered. I flew in group of six enemies by myself in a Yak and shot down 4 before they killed me.
Yeah, they modified the damage model, stuff falls apart much easier now. Except for Russian planes.
I warned you guys about the Russian planes on page one. :contract:
In 1.29, most russian stuff worked OK. It was mainly the low tiered planes that behaved like UFOs or were just overpowered for their tier (I-15, Chaika, SU-2, Ishak).
1.31 reintroduced some old broken FMs for some soviet planes, most prominetly the LA-5, which in addition is now even two tiers lower than before. :glare:
The developers are allegedly aware of the problems and fixes are incoming.
And a fun little fact:
There are two teams working on flight and damage models. A russian team for soviet panes and an international team for the rest. Until recently there was no communication between those two. :bleeding:
So the stats of the planes you see in the hangers, about airspeed, turning radius, climb etc... are those accurate in any way?
The game's officially unplayable now. Those of you who have bailed already are not missing a thing anymore.
Damage model is totally wrecked now.* P-47s fall apart like Zeros.
*Except, of course, for Russian planes.
Yeah, I noticed. One blast from the 20mm on a Yak will take down most everything. World of Warplanes will enter Open Beta in July, so we might be able to get our fix there.
But, hey we had some fun didn't we?
Uninstalling this weekend. Enough is enough. The favoritism to Russian aircraft isn't merely imbalance, it's obnoxiousness. Yeah, the IL-2 was badass but it wasn't a dogfighter, and has no business outmaneuvering a P-51 Mustang, FW-190 or a Spitfire IX. C'mon.
And I'm not going to even mention how insulting the damage model is regarding Wildcats and Thunderbolts, some of the hardiest airframes ever built.
LOLZ PLAY TEH HISTORICAL BATTULS, says Lettow. Sure, if anybody would even queue up for it at all.
And they refuse to fix the economic model. Yay, I have 12 million Bonus XP so I can level up (using gold to do it, no less) and see even more planes I can't afford with the shitty credit model. Charging gold to level up using bonus XP is worse than paying interest on credit cards. And it makes no sense to spend all that gold and credits to level up to the next aircraft frame, which in many cases is only mildly different than the last.
One day maybe there will be some companies out there that aren't Russian making these combat video games.
Currently the most OP plane is now... the Beaufighter. The economy model is really bad. I dislike the crew XP as well. You'd have to grind 8 hours a day for six years to get all the gunners on B-25 up to snuff.
World of Warplanes is having a beta. Haven't joined it yet.
Quote from: Razgovory on June 22, 2013, 12:00:16 PM
Currently the most OP plane is now... the Beaufighter.
The 410 is just as bad. Instapopper.
Yup, I logged some solid hours into the game but I quit at the end of February. Got up to level 15 in the Americans and 12 in the soviets and it was just so ridiculous that I didn't want to play any more.
Hopefully world of planes will be better but :russki:
Yeah, finally uninstalled. Wake me up when somebody west of the Elbe decides to create an aerial combat game.
They've added tanks to the game now. Actually they've changed a lot of things, I started playing again last winter. The IL2 is no longer the world's best dogfighter. So far you can only play Soviet and German tanks and it's kind of buggy. Sometimes I'll fire my cannon at someone and won't see any report but will get points for hitting them. One time it said I killed a teammate before I had even fired my gun.
The ground game in war thunder is the best I have ever seen. Like world of tanks but realistic damage and spotting. Can not get enough of this game.
I heard the ground game is even more stupidly pro-Russian that World of Tanks...true?
Not that Ive noticed. Matchups are balanced and since Im new Im facing T-34s, KV1s and KV2s in my StuG and I can kill them if I get side shots in. The damage model seems to be very physics-oriented and every time you hit a small box pops up and shows an x-ray-movie of the penetration and each shrapnel. Its insanely cool and seems very correct from my 20-something years of playing ww2-games viewpoint
I havent tried the air war yet, so I cant say anything about that other than Ive seen many planes go down and Ive been bombed a couple of times.
Let me give an example from yesterday to give you an idea what the ground game looks like right now.
I find myself alone on the right flank because everyone else spawned on the other spawnpoint. I move my StuGIIIf to a small cluster of buildings overlooking a field where the allies will come if they try to flank us. ThrThe maps are very big though, so I need to cover a 270 degree arc.
Instead of taking up a shooting position right away, I position myself behind some bushes. I cant use the gun from this position because the foiliage is blocking my aim, but I can see over them with my binoculars.
After a while I spot a T34 on the other side of the field, roughly 1k meters away. He is hull down behind a ridge and is obviously scouting my side of the field. But because Im behind the bushes and not half-way through them that a firing position would require he cannot see me.
He decides to cross the field and is moving towards my village at a slight angle. I wait and when he is in the middle of the field, I move my tank through the bushes and take up firing position. Aim for the side/middle where the T34 has its fueltank and shoot, blowing him up instantly. The x-ray movie shows that my round penetrated the armor and shrapnel entered two fueltanks as well as three of the crew.
I back up and hide behind the bushes again. Soon an M4A1 appears on the other side of the field. He is not moving though. The burning wreck in the middle of the field is a pretty good "do not cross" sign. I can see on his turret that he is scanning my side of the field through his gunsight. I wait until the turret is facing 45 degrees to my left, move through the bushes and open fire. My first round penetrates the side turret without doing critical damage. He is backing down from the crest, turret not moving indicating he has not seen me.I get off another shot, this time sending shrapnel into all three men in the turret and the engine who catches fire. He dissappears behind the crest but the black smoke is visible. Then after 10-15 seconds he explodes after failing to put the fire out
I am intrigued. So I re-downloaded, and am going to mess around with the ground game part of it. Looks like they've made pretty serious changes to the air game as well since I last played.
If anyone has not played and wants to give it a try, feel free to use my referral URL, so you can send me free in game currency!
http://warthunder.com/en/registration?r=userinvite_3666310
So, when I logged back in I saw I had a premium account for three days. Not sure how I got that.
The way research works is kind of confusing. I have to pick a "next" vehicle to research, but I can also spend research points on my current vehicle? Do those points come from the same pool?
I do have to admit to liking the ground model, what little of it I've seen. No WoT "hit points" which is kind of silly in an armored tank game. You just have to:
1. Hit the target
2. Penetrate
3. Do some kind of damage.
I am unclear though what constitutes a kill...
Yeah I got the three days too, must be a welcome back gimmick. You research a single vehicle or plane now instead of like before - which I forget how it worked before now but I think you could invest in all the tree lines at the same time if you had an active vehicle in the line.
To get a kill you have to either make something explode (hit a filled ammo rack or fuel) or kill all crew members minus one. So if you kill 4 out of the 5 crew sitting in the vehicle it's a kill.
I really do like the damage model. You want the kill of course, but even short of that, your shots are doing damage, and impacting the ability of the target to fight in the engagement.
Quote from: Alcibiades on April 23, 2015, 11:54:16 PM
Yeah I got the three days too, must be a welcome back gimmick. You research a single vehicle or plane now instead of like before - which I forget how it worked before now but I think you could invest in all the tree lines at the same time if you had an active vehicle in the line.
To get a kill you have to either make something explode (hit a filled ammo rack or fuel) or kill all crew members minus one. So if you kill 4 out of the 5 crew sitting in the vehicle it's a kill.
The old research model is gone for quite a while now. They dropped it long before the introduction of ground forces.
Back then, planes were divided into 20 tiers. Instead of researching a single plane, you leveled your tier in a specific air force. If you for examle reached Tier 12, tghen all planes up to and including that tier were unlocked, even those, that were introduced at a later date. The system was incredibly player friendly, but was an economic catastrophy for Gaijin, since it removed the incentive for a premium account for dedicated players, because at reaching rank 20 (which was not difficult) you were effectively exempt from the grind forever.
New patch today. Really great one. Among the news are the US tank destroyers up to the M18.
Those tank destroyers are a real pain. Both the M10 and the M18 will one-hit you through the frontal armor when you are in a StuG or PzIV like I am. They are fast too.
Not many news for the Krauts, but thats ok. Im still grinding my way towards a Panther G. I have the PzIVG now and will probably reach the IVH today.
Three new maps. Berlin 45, Hurtgen forrest and Normandy.
Im still playing Warthunder. It's the game I play when I'm bored, irritated or just generally feeling brainless. I continue to enjoy it. I play tanks in Arcade mode almost exclusively and at the lower tiers, where the game is a bit more forgiving.
The best thing about it is that my son and all of his friends play it obsessively. On a trip to the UK a couple of years ago My son turned my brother on to it and now My brother and I play together every few weeks and chat about life and family matters at the same time, which is lovely.
As my brother and I are both children of the seventies and life long gamers and wargamers we played world war two games a lot as boys, so listening to my son and his friends argue about the merits of the various world war two tanks, more or less the same arguments we had 30 or 40 years ago, is a delight.
I was trying War Thunder again a few weeks ago. I have to say I like their tank game better than World of Tanks. Their progression system is weird and grindy, but they focus on tanks that actually saw action in reasonable numbers (as opposed to throwing in every single design study ever like in WoT), and the damage model is much superior, with a little x-ray graphic giving you immediate feedback on penetration (or not), and whether your ammo caused any internal damage and what. Much better than pinging away at health bars. Includes accounting for AP, SABOT, etc.
(https://www.gamingnexus.com/Images/News/yhpoyt34142/6.jpg)
(https://www.gamingnexus.com/Images/News/yhpoyt34142/7.jpg)