The moment you’ve all been waiting for is here! A big new update has come to our game, triumphantly escorted in by American ground vehicles. That’s right, US tanks are the heroes of the 1.45 Steel Generals update. Sherman, Patton, Lee, Chaffee, Stuart, Walker – these are all legendary and heroic national generals, whose names were traditionally given to American tanks. Of course, this update also brings us some new aircraft. Apart from a new line of ground vehicles, the developers have introduced even more long-awaited updates.

Follow all the latest updates in the developers' diaries

Ground Vehicles

New Vehicles:

• USA First stage of test (more information)
  • Light Tanks - M2A4 , M3, M3A1, M3A1 (USMC), M2A4 (1 st Arm.Div.)
  • Medium Tanks – M2, M3, Mk I Grant
  • Anti-Air Vehicles – M13 MGC
• USSR – BT-5, SMK, М4А2
• Germany – Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf J, Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf E, Pz.Bfw. VI (P)

Ammunition:

• Ability to fire machine guns has been added to some ground vehicles. Current vehicles that have it enabled at the moment (more will be added later with server updates) are: KV-1B 756(r), Pz.Bfw. VI (P), Pz.Kpfw. III Ausf. F/J, Pz.Kpfw. VI Ausf. H1, M2 Medium, M2A4, M3 Lee, M3 Stuart,  M3A1 Stuart, IS-2 mod. 1944, IS-3, IS-4M, SMK, T-34-85 with ZIS-S-53, T-35.

• BR-365P APCR shell has been added to IS-1 ammunition.

• BR-367 AP shell has been added to T-44 ammunition.

• Missing “Artillery strike” modification has been added to the Kugelblitz.

Damage Model:

• Damage model for ammunition has been improved. Now when you use up your ammunition, the modules will  turn off and cannot be damaged. Mechanic of not taking full ammo load works in the same way. Correlation between amount of shells loaded and module size in x-ray has been set up for the following vehicles (more vehicles will be added with server micro-updates): Jagdtiger, IS-2, IS-2 mod. 1944, IS-3, IS-4M, KV-1 (all modifications with 76mm cannon)

• Many errors and inaccuracies with module positions on different ground vehicles have been fixed. Vehicles that recieved the most visible changes are: IS-4M, IS-3, IS-1, IS-2, IS-2 mod.1944, SU-122, SU-122P, SU-152, ISU-122, ISU-122S, ISU-152, Tiger II P/H/10,5cm, Jagdtiger, Pz.Bfw.VI (P).

• Many errors in the armouring scheme of ground vehicles has been fixed. On some ground vehicles the armouring scheme has been completely re-worked with a more accurate one. Vehicle list: KV-1B 756(r),Pz.Kpfw. lll Ausf. J/J1, BT-5, BT-7, IS-4M, IS-3, IS-1, IS-2, IS-2 mod.1944, KV-1 ZIS-5, KV-85, T-26, T-35, T-34-85 D-5T, T-34-85 ZIS-53, Pz.Kpfw. V Ausf. D/A/G, Sturmgeschutz III Ausf. G, Panther II, Tiger I H1, Tiger II  P/H/10,5cm, Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. F1/2,  Flakpanzer 1, Jagdtiger, Jagdpanzer IV, Jagdpanther.

Technical characteristics of vehicles:

• For 10,5 cm Tiger II and Panther II, the engine was replaced with the HL 234 engine project with 900 hp power.

• Panther II transmission was replaced with one similar to those that were installed on this Tiger II.

• T-34-85: Changes were made to the following characteristics: combat weight, engine rpm, elevation angles (maximum elevation angle was changed from 28° to 22° degrees), maximum turret traverse speed (from 15 to 25 degrees per second). Based on “Руководство по материальной части танка Т-34″. – Военное издательство Министерства вооруженных сил СССР, Москва, 1949 г.(“Manual to the material part of the T-34″- Military Publishing House of the Armed Forces Ministry USSR, Moscow, 1949)

• IS-3: Combat weight was changed from 45.8t to 48t. Based on “Руководству по материальной части и эксплуатации Танка ИС-3”. – Москва, 1955 г. (“Manual to material part and operation of the of the IS-3 tank” – Moscow, 1955)

• Flakpanzer IV Ostwind, combat load increased from 320 to 1000 shells

Game mechanic:

• Tow cables have been added (see devblog)

• Artillery strike principles have been changed (see devblog)

• Repair assistance from teammates has been added

• Ground vehicle behavior on different surfaces and with collisions has been improved

• In realistic and simulator tank battles different combinations of War Thunder nations are available simultaneously in one battle:

  • USSR vs Germany

  • USSR vs USA

  • USA vs Germany

  • USSR+USA vs Germany

  • USSR+Germany vs USA
    Every combination could be set for every rank and every location.

Aviation

New and overhauled aircraft:

• USA-  F2H-2

• Germany –  Ar-234В-2 (updated model)

• USSR –  I-16 type 10

• Britain – Canberra B МкVI

• Japan –  J2M3, Ki-43-3

Game mechanic:

• Enemy contacts that have been spotted by allies are now visible to players at a distance of up to 8km (additional 30%)

• Telescopic sights on aircraft that have them fitted now have a view similar to the sniper view that ground vehicles currently have.

• Kill credit for Realistic and Simulator battles has been changed. Now, if you shoot off the wing or tail of an enemy who is not close to his airfield, the opponent will be counted as immediately destroyed.

Damage Model:

• Damage model on all aircraft has been overhauled: shapes for inner and outer modules has been specified.

• Mechanics for wing and tail loss on random spots has been added.

Ammunition:

• Fixed error in “New machine gun” and “New cannon” modifications, which led to wrong parameters for overheating and spread being applied. Now an overheat will occur a bit later than it was before and spread will be smaller.

Flight Model:

• Fuel consumption and control stiffening are corrected for F4U series.

• MiG-15’s weight distribution and gear characteristics have been adjusted.

• Fw-190-F8. Fixed calculation of the pod module R3 in relation to flight characteristics on the stat cards of the modification (analytic calculations).

• Fixed a bug where in the aircraft with un-retractable landing gear, the instructor mistakenly believed that the player has released them by themselves and began to use flaps for landing, which resulted in wrong behavior of the aircraft in the air.

• Boomerang Mk.I has been tuned according to data sheet.

• Boomerang Mk.II has been tuned according to data sheet.

• Boston Mk.I has been tuned according to data sheet.

• DB-7 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• A-20G – rudder control efficiency has been increased.

• P-400 – flight model has been updated.

• P-39-N-0/N-0-USSR/Q-5/Q-15 flight models has been updated.

• XP-50 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• IL-2 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• IL-2M has been tuned according to data sheet.

• IL-2M “Avenger” has been tuned according to data sheet.

• IL-10 (1946) has been tuned according to data sheet

• Flight models of Yak-3 and Yak-3P have been updated

• Tu-2 line have been tuned according to data sheets.

• LaGG-3 of the 8-th series has been tuned according to data sheet.

• LaGG-3 of the 11-th series has been tuned according to data sheet.

• LaGG-3 of the 23-d series has been tuned according to data sheet.

• BTD-1 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• A6M3 (zeke 32) has been tuned according to data sheet.

• P-26 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• P-40 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• P-38G has been tuned according to data sheet.

• P-51 Mustangs (all modifications) have been tuned according to data sheets

• Spitfire Mk I and Mk II have been tuned according to data sheets

• Do-217-M1 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• Flight models of Bf 109 G and K series have been updated

• Flight models of Typhoon Mk Ia and Ib have been updated

• Ki-43-II Otsu has been tuned according to data sheet.

• J2M3 has been tuned according to data sheet.

• B-25 and PBJ-1 series – rudder efficiency has been increased

• D3A1 – flight model has been updated, added take off mode to engine

Camouflages and decals:

• US tank decals have been added.

• New Axis Air Forces decals have been added

• New squadron decals have been added (Axis (emblems))

• New Allied Air Forces decals have been added

• Camouflages that were temporarily made unavailable for selection by players have now been returned. Achievements have been added to unlock them. For people who own these vehicles and who log into the game in the first week after 1.45 has been released will have these camouflages added for free:

  • He.111H-6 – “Torpedo plane camouflage”

  • LaGG-3-23 – “Bicolor camouflage”, “Winter camouflage”

  • Yak-3 – “Grey-blue camouflage 1″

  • DB-7 – “Vichy Air Force camouflage”

  • A6M2 USA- “”"V-103″” Camouflage”

  • Yak-15 – “Unicolor camouflage”

  • XP-50 – “Olive-Green camouflage”

  • Lа-7b-20 – “Grey-Blue camouflage”

  • F9F-5 – “Unpainted camouflage”, “Partly painted camouflage”

  • Yak-3P – “Grey-blue camouflage 2”, “Grey camouflage”

  • Ki-84 ko – “Brown camouflage”

  • La-15- “Unpainted camouflage”, “Blue nose”

  • LаGG-3-4 – “Winter camouflage”, “Finnish Air Force camouflage”

  • Т-34 1940 – “Forest camouflage”

Missions and Locations

New Locations:

• Ground forces and aviation location “White Rock fortress”

• Ground forces and aviation location “Eastern Europe”

• Aviation location Operation “Battle for Moscow”

• New Dynamic campaigns:

  • Guam,

  • Saipan,

  • Iwo Jima,

  • Moscow,

  • Khalkhin-Gol,

  • Honolulu.

New missions:

• Event “Tractor factory”

• Event “Beside the Kursk salient”

• Added singleplayer and co-op missions on the Moscow map.

• Mission in Custom Battles on Kuban, Karelia, Carpathians, Jungle maps have been merged into one and can be set in the Custom Battles options.

• Changed route to engagement for teams in Domination and Conquest modes on Mozdok in Realistic Battles mode.

• Domination and Conquest at Arcade mode of Poland map –  one of the capture points has been moved.

• Breakthrough mode has been added on most of the tank maps, where players will need to capture a series of points one after another and prevent enemy team from capturing their points. Maps with new mode are:

  • Mozdok

  • Carpathians

  • Eastern Europe

  • Jungle

  • Kuban

• Balance fixes introduced on Carpathians map.

Graphics

• Transition between Levels of Detail has been improved.

• Render in aircraft and tank modes has been optimized.

Interface

• New hangar and “To Battle!” button interface implemented.(see devblog)

• Some of the graphical settings that previously needed client restarts to be applied now will be applied automatically.

• “Show the status of the tank modules” button assignment now renamed to “Show the status of vehicle modules”.

• “Show the status of the tank modules” button assignment now moved from “Tank controls” to “Miscellaneous”

• Button “Show the status of the tank modules” now assigned to “O(letter)” by default. For players who uses their own control setup the keybinding will not change, but it will for players who use default settings.

• PS4: ‘Look back’ and ‘Look down’ cameras now work properly when assigned in Controls

• PS4: In chat interface, ‘Copy selected player’s name to input line’ added to context menu