Vehicles in major updates typically take the limelight, so today we wanted to go through some of the interesting additions, improvements and refinements that you may not have seen that are coming in the Seek & Destroy major update!

Updated Models

In the Seek & Destroy major update, we’ll be introducing new ground crew models for German open-top vehicles from WWII and Soviet open-top post-war vehicles! When the update is released, take a look at some of the self-propelled and SPAA vehicles of these nations to see them in all their glory.

We’ve also paid attention to modern pilots as well. You can see these new pilot models on the A-10, F-14, F-16, F-15, J-11, MiG-29, Su-27 and Yak-141 aircraft!

Detailed Internal Ground Vehicle Modules

Since new internal modules were voted for by the community, we’ve been at work implementing some for a number of ground vehicles. Damaging or destroying these new modules will disrupt the operation of them in the vehicle while you’re in battle.

These new modules are able to be repaired so that their functionality is restored, however rest assured you won’t need the Improved Parts modification to do this! They can be repaired by using the default repair kit that is available to ground vehicles.

Here’s the full list of modules and what happens when they’re damaged or destroyed:

• Autoloader: a damaged autoloader will not feed new shells into the breech of a tank gun, but a shell already loaded into the barrel can be fired.
• Fire Control System (FCS): damage to the FCS will block systems that are associated with it. For example, the gun stabilizer, LWS/LR, and NVD. A complete list of systems that are associated with the FCS can be seen in the hangar tooltip that pops up when hovering over the FCS module in x-ray mode.
• Power system: a power failure can lead to a fire of this module and failure of the associated systems, such as the FCS, gun stabilizer and radar.
• Driver controls: damage to this module prevents movement and turning.
• Electronic equipment: damage to this module causes IRSTs, LWRs and radars to stop working.

Wheel Separation

After the dust settled on the deserted road of fury from our April Fools event, we decided to add wheels physically being torn off all wheeled vehicles when they’re hit. A direct hit from shells or a near explosion of a bomb can now lead to damage to the chassis of wheeled vehicles with an animation of one or more wheels being torn off.

Naval Battles Improvements

We’ll be adding additional alarms about fires in gun magazines. You’ll hear a special siren and voice command, and in order to put out the fire in time, the fire extinguisher icon that’s assigned to your key will be highlighted in the interface.

We’ve also improved the damage camera in naval battles. It’s now more detailed, with the outline of destroyed modules highlighted and the damage itself becoming more visible, due to changes in layers in the damage camera window so that elements that interfere with the view are now moved to the background. Fuel tanks, coal bunkers and anti-torpedo boules will no longer show up in the damage camera. When an enemy ship is damaged, fires caused by hits will now be clearly visible, as fire locations are marked with icons that depict flames.

There’s now an option in the Protection Analysis mode for naval that shows the distribution of the crew in your vessel. Take a look at it in the hangar, click the Protection Analysis button and then “Show crew distribution”. This will show you different areas that are highlighted in green, yellow, orange and red. Where there’s green, there’s less crew, and where there’s red, there’s more crew in your ship or boat.

Updated Helicopter Cockpits

Our artists have been busy and have done a lot of work to improve the cockpits and models for aircraft. We’ll now be introducing detailed cockpits for dozens of helicopters, you’ll be able to see the full list in the Seek & Destroy major update changelog once it’s released.

Radar Indicators

We’re improving radar indicators for higher ranked aircraft! Now, you’re able to see the current position of missiles on the indicator that have an active radar seeker and Inertial Observer Guidance (IOG). A target attack indication is now displayed on a line connecting the missile and a target: solid line indicates the allowed target acquisition range by the missile seeker, and a dotted line indicates a flight according to inertial navigation system. While a missile is under IOG control its target appears as circle, and when a missile acquires its target and starts tracking this circle disappears.

Additionally, radar indicators will now display ground clutter differently. In search mode, it’ll appear gradually behind the search beam, both in azimuth and elevation. In the tracking mode reflections are now displayed as a narrow strip on the azimiuth to the target.

That’s all for this one. We hope you’ve enjoyed some of the smaller things. Until next time!