In this digest we would like to tell you about our continuing work on improvements and fixes in the game. You can find information about all updates that have been released in War Thunder on the website special section.

Hull aiming re-worked

We have completely reworked hull aiming mechanics, which is used on such unusual vehicles as the Swedish Strv 103-0, Strv 103A, Strv 103С and the German VT1-2.

Without going too deep into details of all auxiliary systems involved, we’re pleased to inform you that hull aiming has become smoother and much more precise in all gaming situations, including aiming from slopes!

It’s time to dust off these outstanding pieces of engineering and bring them back into battles.

Info cards for shells improved

Back in 2015 in pursuit of realistic armour piercing mechanics we simulated the effects of shell normalization and denormalization, i.e. rotation and deviation of a round when hitting armour. Armour penetration cards were supplemented by penetration values at different angles. These mechanics are quite complex in practice, and depend on the calibre of a round and thickness of armour.

The mechanics worked perfectly in the game, and have only been improving since then, but there was a tiny flaw in the info cards of shells. the armour penetration value displayed only for a fixed calibre-to-armour thickness ratio. And this is important! The thicker armour is, the longer a projectile is affected by normalization/denormalization, which deviates it from a normal trajectory, making it deal with thicker or thinner actual armour thickness.

Accuracy is important! Therefore we have completed the refinement of formulas to calculate armour penetration values of calibre projectiles at different angles of impact in shells cards - now they are completely equal to those in War Thunder battles. Yes, armour penetration calculation in battles worked well and correct from the beginning all the time.

An important point. All physical peculiarities were most clearly reflected in the infocards of calibre armour piercing rounds, since they are mostly affected by the normalization and denormalization phenomena. A shaped-charge or, say, high-explosive rounds ignore the above-mentioned forces when hitting armour.

Learn more about different behavior of shells and the purposes of their designs in our wiki.

Lost aiming controls fixed

You may have encountered this bug when actively using various enemy detection tools - night-vision devices, thermal imagers, gunner's and commander's sights. Sequentially switching between them, you could completely lose control of the gun.

The naughty bug was found and fixed. Use the game mechanics with confidence!

Damage to the crew

This change is not so much a bug fix as a refinement of the existing projectile impact mechanics.

In some cases, after breaking through the armour, a shell that got into the fighting compartment might not cause damage to a crew member or any module and, at the same time, disappear at the impact point. This picture looked as if the crew member had stopped a powerful projectile, but in reality, a much more complicated situation unfolds.

This situation arose due to the loss of stability of a projectile, a parameter that falls when the projectile penetrates various obstacles, ricochets, armour itself and the distance traveled after breaking through or ricochet, including through the fighting compartment (where there is equipment, chairs, various partitions, etc.). If stability is completely depleted, the projectile will stop dealing damage and disappear on the hit camera. This, for example, can more often occur when it hits the fuel tank and is perceived by the viewer as a shell dissolved by this very fuel tank.

But in the case of hitting live crew members, this behavior was incorrect and we fixed it for calibre and sub-calibre armour-piercing rounds. No more shells dissolved by crew, and you now know better about the penetration mechanics in War Thunder.

Gun blocking with separate brake controls

There are many fine gameplay settings in the game, including an option of “Vertical aiming block by braking”. This feature allows you to block the vertical guidance of a gun to prevent rocking of a gun on some vehicles when braking.

Due to an error this function might work incorrectly while using separate brake controls - right or left. The bug is fixed, good hunting!

Unjust tribunal

No one likes deserters, and combat-able players get temporary crew lock by leaving a battle before time. But until today, the punishment might be imposed even if all your vehicles in the respawn window were listed as too expensive for Respawn Points (RP). Why did this happen?  

Secondary armament and armour piercing belts on aircraft increase the respawn points cost, but upon leaving the battle, the punishment was imposed at the cost of an aircraft, excluding suspensions and belts.

Now, your choice of the main weapon for a particular aircraft will be taken into account, and if you initially selected specific suspensions in the hangar or used them in the last battle, then in the next battle you will not be punished when leaving the battle in case of a lack of RP. Succession your battles and try not to let your comrades down.

More improvements

For this digest we have prepared a large set of useful fixes and game improvements. Be sure to read the full list which we have prepared in the separate changelog - there are many interesting things.

Open the full changelog

Once again, many thanks for all your bug reports that you submitted in our bug report section on the War Thunder forums.