We are continuing to improve War Thunder in a variety of ways based on your feedback, and have been making our way down the Roadmap. This time, we are introducing a number of new features that will improve clarity at spawn points while also deterring spawn campers, players who fall while capturing points will be rewarded if their allies finish the job, and helicopters can now be researched by playing ground vehicles - you can unlock them without leaving PvP battles!

Invulnerability Indication

When respawning, all players have a brief period of invulnerability which allows them to better react to the situation at the spawn point. If there is a spawn camper nearby - an enemy that tries to destroy a player shortly after they spawn - this period of invulnerability makes it easier to counter such an enemy.

However, sometimes the battle comes to a notably one sided end, where one team has completely won the map and ends up parked outside the other team’s spawn point, attacking vehicles as they spawn in, some of which are still invulnerable. Previously, when shooting at an invulnerable enemy, the shell would pass through the target and the hit camera would not activate, which occasionally led players to think that they had encountered some kind of error which caused their shells to deal no damage.

Now, when shooting at an invulnerable player, the hit camera will activate and clearly indicate that the enemy being engaged is still invulnerable, additionally, an invulnerability marker will appear on the player directly. In replays, this marker will be displayed throughout the invulnerability period and not just when the player is shot at - this will make engagements involving this mechanic much clearer.

Marking Spawn Campers

Spawn camping in general is always a tricky problem, whether a player is camping the spawn maliciously by driving straight to it at the start of the battle, or if one team has conquered most of the map and inevitably ended up at the spawn. In either case it is not an ideal situation to be in, so we have improved this area of the game for those spawning in - by highlighting spawn campers on the map.

This mechanic is only present for Ground AB and RB. In both game modes, an instance is considered ‘Spawn Camping’ when a player is shot at no more than 20 seconds after they spawn, and have moved less than 40 meters from the spawn point (these parameters may be changed in the future). The spawn camper is pinged on the minimap for a short time (around 5 seconds) to all players, after which the marker cools down - according to the general rules of visibility and detection in the corresponding mode.

In Ground AB, in addition to being marked on the minimap, the spawn camper is also marked for all players in the battle with a new ‘Spawn Camper’ symbol (a broken shield) which will be visible beside the distance indicator, similar to the binocular symbol if a target is scouted.

In Ground RB, the spawn camper is also displayed by a broken shield, similar to the current hit marker and scouting marker. The marker’s position is updated every 2 seconds with a random margin of error relative to the position of the unit.

When scouting a spawn camper, the broken shield marker will be replaced by a binocular icon, as from a gameplay perspective the scouting status is more important, and not to mention a scouted target is highlighted for much longer than one highlighted for spawn camping.

Improving Capture Point Rewards

Now the reward for capturing a point will also be given to those who contributed but were destroyed before the point could be completely captured. However, only those who fought for the point to the end will be rewarded - if a player leaves the point before death then they will not receive a reward. Another important factor as well - the reward will only be given if the point ends up being captured by your team, if it fades to neutral then all pending rewards will be reset.

Researching Helicopters with Ground Vehicles

Helicopters in War Thunder are at their best in ground battles, but until now the most convenient and consistent way to research a new helicopter was in the PvE game mode. As it was important for many players to fight against other players, we decided to open up helicopter research as an option when playing ground vehicles, so that tankers could expand their lineup with helicopters while playing their favorite game mode.

In each nation’s helicopter and ground vehicle tree, there will be a switch that allows you to choose which branch you want to research before going into battle, with the switch toggled on, all of the research points you earn in ground battles will go towards the selected helicopter instead.

Simplification of reporting messages and new complaint category

Before, when wanting to file a complaint about another player, in the complaint window, players had to describe what was said and the reason, so that our Game Masters who evaluate in-game chat reports could make a decision on whether or not this player deserved an in-game chat ban for a specific period of time. Now, when a player wants to file a complaint against another player for malicious in-game chat messages, all in-game chat messages of the malicious player are attached in the report window - there is now no need to describe the reason for the complaint being made.

We have also added a new category of complaints about in-game chat messages that do not contain profanity or direct insults to other players. This new category is called ‘Hate speech’. Players can now use this new category whenever needed, and our Game Masters will investigate any reported messages and will take action if deemed necessary.

We won’t stop here. We will continue to move further along our roadmap: check what parts have already been completed, and have a look at the changes we’ll be introducing in the future!

As always we are keenly awaiting your feedback - let us know what you think about these changes, and most importantly, have a good game!