Dear players,

We have another round of questions and answers for you, with War Thunder producer Vyacheslav Bulannikov!

Aviation

Q. In Realistic Air battles, the introduction of SAM SPAAGs on airfields at top tier has helped protect those wishing to repair on the airfield. However, as with before, there is the possibility that some may choose to simply wait out a battle on the airfield and let the SAMs do all the work to win the game. Do you have any plans involving preventing this style of play and preventing the exploitation of airfield protection?

• Yes, we have such plans.

Q. Is there any possibility we may see a line of Finnish aircraft in the Swedish tree like we did with South African vehicles in the British ground forces tree? This could offer some interesting additions to the Swedish tree such as the Westland Lysander, Saab 35XS, Follant Gnat F.1, Hawk 51 and MiG-21 MGBT as well as more supporting aircraft to fill out gaps within the Swedish tree.

• At the moment, we don’t plan to separate the Finnish line, like we did recently with SA vehicles in the British tech tree. Although, we will add more Finnish aircraft in the Swedish tech tree for sure.

Q. In previous major updates, we saw the introduction of the MiG-21Bis, Su-17 and most recently the MiG-23M to the USSR air tree. Are there any plans to also introduce the MiG-21Bis, Su-22 and MiG-23MF/ML to the East German line after the MiG-21MF in the future?

• We plan some of the above listed aircraft in the German tech tree.

Q. Do you have any plans to introduce the remaining aircraft from the Century Series of American jet aircraft? Still left are the F-101 Voodoo, F-102 Delta Dagger, F-105 Thunderchief and F-106 Delta Dart.

• Yes, we do.

Q. Is there any possibility we may see bigger aviation maps for Rank VII jets?

• We consider the existing “big” maps (128x128 km) as quite suitable for high tier battles. Since speeds are high there, opposing teams approach each other quickly, and there is no need for a lengthy flight to the target. The size of a location allows attack from flanks whilst safely retreating to the airfields. Larger locations are potentially possible, though they require significantly more work from the team, while decreasing the battle dynamics. So, at the moment we don’t have plans to create locations bigger than 128x128 km.

Q. Are there any immediate plans to improve and expand the UK's top assault measures in terms of expanding sets of armaments or adding new vehicles with them? Having only bombs or rockets on both Phantoms, while neighboring nations have fire-and-forget air-to-surface missiles, as well as a radio command and laser guidance missiles, obviously, is not the best deal.

• AGM-12 missiles with radio command guidance are already in the British arsenal on Buccaneer, as for more advanced missiles, their carriers must first be introduced into the game.

Ground Forces

Q. Red Desert was a quite different ground forces location to many previously featured in game due to its size and open scale plan. Do you have plans for more maps of this style with larger open plain terrains?

• As our bans-dislikes-likes statistics show, players like different maps, mostly compact ones with rich and dynamic gameplay. At the top ranks, larger maps are also desirable though. Therefore, we will be adding different maps with different styles of terrain and different sizes.

Q. With the Falcon SPAAG recently moving up in Battle Rating, it has widened the gap of British anti-aircraft guns from the 4.0 Crusader AA to the 8.0 Falcon. Do you have any plans to introduce new vehicles to address this gap, such as the Canadian Skink SPAAG or Centaur AA MK I?

• Such gaps exist in other nations too. Sometimes, it is impossible to fill them. When we have variants, we try to use them.

Q. With the ST-A3 variant being added fairly recently that helps improve lineup composition from the 6.3-6.7 ranks, is there any possibility that you will consider the introduction of more variants of the STB-1 family to help the Japanese 7.7 lineup? Several examples of the family family exist today in museums or testing grounds and with the STB-2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 providing multiple options,

• Filling BRs 7.7 - 8.3 in the Japanese tech tree is complicated. There are few appropriate candidates, but we’re working on earlier versions of Type 74 - B and C - to add them in the upcoming updates.

Q. Both of the Leclercs currently in game historically did not have commanders' thermal sites, but later modifications (such as the XXI) did. Do you plan to introduce new variants of this tank or perhaps a modification to the existing variants that could upgrade the sites? For example the UAE upgrade packages that gave commanders thermals.

• Other modifications of the Leclerc MBT will surely appear in the game.

Q. Is it possible for the BTR-90 and vehicles based on it to appear in the game?

• Yes, quite, and we do not exclude that even in several versions.

Q. In the British MBT branch, Challengers 2 and 2F are uncompetitive in relation to new tops for other nations (as an example Leo 2A6, Swedish Leopards, new T-80BVM from the Soviets). Do you consider the Black Night technology demonstrator from BAE Systems with the Iron Fist APS, as well as the Rheinmetall Challenger 2 LEP with a new weapon, as possible new vehicles to update the top MBTs of this gaming nation?

• We do. The first option is a little more favorable than the others. But yes, there are not so many options for new MBTs for Britain.

Q. Are any balancing of the SPAAG/SAM system planned? For example, an increase in their value in RP. Now they are very accessible and extremely effective; aviation has little chance of countering.

• The efficiency of top-end helicopters is somewhat superior to that of top-end air defense systems, but both are somewhat more efficient than other ground vehicles. So the availability of air defense systems in the RP is a deliberate decision. We believe that at any stage of the battle, ground forces should have cover from air attacks, and an aircraft or helicopter should always take into account the risk of being under air defense fire, which limits its capabilities and requires a more skillful game. It should be borne in mind that an airborne salvo of a top-end helicopter, in theory, can destroy a significant part of the enemy team without any risk from tank fire, and aviation will receive more and more powerful and long-range weapons. So air defense systems should be on the battlefield in top battles always or almost always.

Naval Forces

Q. Several Naval Forces maps, such as the Jungle map for example, do not currently have any runway, aircraft carrier or area for repairing aircraft in battle. This means after expending your armaments in realistic battles, you cannot repair or re-arm your aircraft. Do you have any plans to introduce land bases for these maps or perhaps aerial repair/rearm points?

• Yes, we’re on it already.

Q. Some of the larger open ocean naval maps suited to the larger blue-water fleet ships are not really suitable for Patrol boats and other Coastal class ships. Are there any plans to add areas of these maps with terrain more suitable for Coastal ships? Or perhaps an option in the map filter to exclude “Open Sea” maps?

• There are no such plans. Since large maps with one large central capture zone are made specifically to be as open as possible, where you do not need to constantly go around rocks or islands and be distracted from firing. Small fleet, except for the more top boats, don’t match on these maps in terms of BR, while top boats may well contribute to the success of their team being on the capture point and implementing long-range torpedoes. It is quite difficult to hit a boat from the main battery of a cruiser or destroyer further than 5 km, so they can be present in the zone for quite a long time and increase the outflow of tickets from the enemy team.

Q. From Rank V and above in Ground Forces, Parts and FPE come at a reduced RP cost by comparison to their equal tier modules. Do you have any plans to introduce a similar system by which the Tool Kit and Fire Protection System in Naval Forces also have a reduced RP cost than equal tier modules?

• Probably yes, though the so-called “stock syndrome” isn’t critical for naval vehicles. There are a few weapon stations on almost every ship or boat, and fire does not destroy naval vehicles as quickly as ground vehicles; most of the stock boats are destroyed by enemy fire.

Q. Is there any work in progress on Naval Enduring Confrontation, because existing short battles simply do not allow them to employ the full potential of their ships for their intended purpose? Also, could you run this mode for a slightly longer period than 3 days?

• Yes, we’re working on it.

Helicopters

Q. Can you tell us anything more about the development of Helicopter PvE Enduring confrontation?

• Few details can be announced now, but we’re working on it, in particular on adding new types of objects, like different SAM units.

Q. In RB and SB, helicopters such as the Ka-50, Ka-52 and Mi-28 spawning instantly at the start of the battle with very powerful unguided rocket weapons can have a considerable impact on the battle and take out many enemies right at the start. Do you have any plans to review the Spawn point cost of these helicopters with such weaponry?

• Yes, there are such plans. We have already replaced the missile with a ‘not entirely correct’ high-explosive action S-13DF with a more correct high-explosive fragmentation S-13, but perhaps we will also edit the number of RP required for respawn on a helicopter with heavy unguided missiles, especially since there is also a national imbalance in the presence of such missiles only in one playable nation.

Q. Will there be rebalancing of helicopters at the top ranks? The Soviet Ka-s and Mi-28, together with the Tiger, have rather imbalanced weapons systems that make it possible to effectively deal with both ground and aircraft. The latter is completely knocked out of random battles due to very low efficiency: SAM SPG and armament of helicopters (Vikhr that effectively destroy both ground and aircraft, or PARS, which in automatic mode can destroy a large number of enemy vehicles in a short period of time, while helicopters can carry air-to-air missiles and have onboard calculators for air cannons).

• According to statistics, the best helicopter at the moment is the British AH Mk.1, and the French Tiger HAD is in the top 4 with quite “ordinary” AGM-114. You need to understand that we are not inventing weapons systems out of nothing. If in reality there are options for improving a particular vehicle or aircraft, we can use it, or we can implement in the game certain limitations that exist in reality and have a noticeable effect on the combat effectiveness of the weapon system. If there are no such options, then only balance possibilities remain - an increase in BR or a change in the cost of an RP, however, for top-tier vehicles, they may not be effective

Misc

Q. Over the past year, the US Server seemed to have quite a few issues with it in terms of ping, lag and load times in general. Can you tell us a little bit about what you are doing to resolve this situation?

• The number of game servers was increased, which reduced the load on separate servers and improved the situation.

Q. Regarding the Battle pass, so far we have seen a Tank as the top reward for the first 3 seasons, can you tell us if there are plans to have an Aircraft or Ship as the top prize in a future season? Will we ever see a Helicopter battle pass reward vehicle? Do you have any other plans to expand the battle pass rewards, such as unique/historical skins for existing vehicles?

• We have plans for an aircraft as the main prize in the Battle Pass, but not in the upcoming seasons.

The War Thunder Team