WAR THUNDER PRESENTS Update 1.81 “The Valkyries”

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Helicopters

Combat helicopters with a full and detailed flight model in War Thunder! Currently, the following machines are available for owners of bundles with one of the premium helicopters that give access to the helicopter CBT.

USA

• AH-1Z
• AH-1G
• AH-1F
• UH-1B
• UH-1C
• UH-1C XM-30 (bundle)

USSR

• Mi-4AV
• Mi-24A
• Mi-24V
• Mi-24P
• Mi-24D (bundle)
• Mi-35M

Helicopters are available in the following modes:

• combined Arcade battles (in air battle mode at BR 9.0 or higher see details in “Game mechanics)  
• combined Realistic mode if it at least one has been researched, purchased and put in a crew slot.
• helicopter arcade battles in “events and tournaments” tab
• helicopter realistic battles in “events and tournaments” tab
• combined simulator battles (line-ups 9_2, 11_2).

Ground Vehicles

USA

• M247
• M1 IP
• T54E1 (premium)

Germany

• TAM
• Leopard A1A1 (L/44) (bundle)
• M48A2 G A2

USSR

• T-80B
• T-55AM-1 (bundle)
• BMP-2

Great Britain

• Warrior

Japan

• ST-A1, ST-A2 (turret model has been updated)

France

• Char 25t

Aircraft

USSR

• I-225

Germany

• Me 163 B (updated model)
• Me 163 B-0

• Audio for the new vehicle class, helicopters, has been created. Each helicopter has its own unique sound depending upon the type of engines and rotor blades.
• Cannon and machine gun sounds for helicopters have been created.
• Sounds for new ground vehicles have been created.
• Cannon sounds for the new ground vehicles have been created.
• The sounds of automatic ground-based weapons at long distances have been completely reworked. Now sounds which are sourced from a far distance from the player's vehicle sound more realistic.
• The sounds of aircraft automatic cannons and machine guns over long distances have been reworked. Now sounds which are sourced from a far distance from the player's vehicle sound more realistic.
• A realistic sound with automatic weapons depending on the angle of view on the vehicle has been added for ground vehicles.
• In ground vehicles, for automatic weaponry, the sounds echoing of shots when firing from long distance has been added.
• Mechanical sounds of poorly secured items has been added to the interiors of ground vehicles.
• New sounds of cannons for ships and boats have been created.
• The realism of the sound for all aircraft engines on aircraft in the air from the observer view point in the immediate vicinity of the surface of the earth or water has been increased.
• The audio database has been optimised. The stability and quality of the sounds in-game have been improved.

• New location for ground vehicle battles: “American Desert”.
• New location for aircraft battles: “Vietnam”.
• New aircraft missions for RB mode: “[Air Battle] France 1944", “[Air Battle] Moscow 1941”, “[Air Battle] Operation Iskra”, “[Air Battle] Hürtgen. Second Battle”

• The roads and bridges on the following locations for aircraft battles have been fully reworked: Montmedy, Tunisia, Hürtgen, Kursk. Now the bridges will be correctly connected with the borders of the roadway and additional "embankments" have been added. Also, the bridges are now more combined with the landscape.
• In “Air superiority” missions, the size of the capture zone now depends on the BR of the battles (before the change, the zone size was equal to 7,000 metres in diameter):
  • BR 1.0-2.0 — 7.000 m.
  • BR 2.3-3.0 — 9.000 m.
  • BR 3.3-5.7 — 11.000 m.
  • BR 6.0+ — 13.000 m.

• New location for naval battles "Mediterranean port"
• New location for naval battles "Green mountains gulf"

• A variable rate of firing guns has been implemented.
• The mechanics of the “commander view” has been reworked. The camera is now tied to the turret and will rotate with it.
• The mechanics of slippage on slopes has been reworked. Vehicles with powerful engines will no longer be able to overcome slopes which are too steep.
• ST-A1/ST-A2 - Turret armour has been refined. The turret and gun mantlet have been divided into greater  detail.
• AMX-30 DCA, Chieftain Marksman, Swingfire, Matilda Mk.II - The order of ammunition usage has been refined.
• 120 mm DM23 (Rh-120) — Armour piercing values for angles at 30 and 60 degrees have been corrected. Source: Grigoryan VA, Beloborodko AN, Dorokhov NS, et al. (2006), Частные Вопросы Конечной Баллистики [Particular Questions of Finite Ballistics] // Odermatt, Wilhelm (1995), Die Hauptmunition der Kampfpanzer [The Ammunition of Main Battle Tanks], ETH-Bibliothek ETH Zürich (Swiss Library Archives) // MIL-T-21014D (1991) Military Specification, Tungsten Base Metal, High Density
• Ballistics indicators for armour-piercing shells (37-152 mm) have been refined. The rates of speed drop over distance has become more accurate.
• XM-803  - a bug where a turret ring could be penetrated by an MG has been fixed
• Nb.Fz. - hull armour scheme has been updated. The hull now has more armoured parts
• T95/T28 - Upper and lower armour plates now cover the sponson and the vehicle side edges   
• mKPz M47 - a bug when a vehicle could be set on fire after being hit on the engine compartment top with an MG has been fixed

• A6M5 — 250 kg bomb has been added.
• Bf 110 G-2 — The position of the aircraft weaponry modifications in the research tree has been changed.
• Ju 88 A-1 / 4 — Separate bomb drop for 250-500 kg bombs have been added (source).
• Ki-32 — The amount of ammunition has been fixed (source).
• F-84G-26-RE (France) — Take-off has been fixed (source) The aircraft will respawn now in the air and not on the airfield.
• Z.1007 bis (all modifications) — Suspended armament setups have been changed.
• Bf 109 Z — Information about the weaponry in the X-Ray view has been fixed (source).
• Wellington (all modifications) — The display of the weaponry and modules in the X-Ray view has been fixed (source).
• F8F (all modifications) — Armour has been added to the front part of the fuselage.
• F4U-7 — The angle of the mounted rocket rack positions have been changed.

• LaGG-3 (all modifications), I-301 — Aerodynamic characteristics of wing, fuselage and tail corrected, polars have been tuned. The masses of various parts of the aircraft have been refined. The amount of fuel and weapon load now affect the centre of gravity more correctly. Landing-gear shock absorber stiffness has been tuned. Propulsion system performance has been recalculated and reworked - polar of the propeller has been completely rebuilt.
• Me 410 (all modifications) — The masses of various parts of the aircraft and propulsion system have been refined. The work of the chassis and mechanization of the wing has been refined. Aerodynamic characteristics of wing fuselage and tail corrected, polars have been tuned. Stability in high speeds in a dive has been improved (including with an air brake). Controllability in mouse-aim mode for Arcade Battles has been improved.
• Wyvern S.4 — Engine model has been updated. Start and stop have been made more realistic. The work of the constant speed controller has been adjusted.
• Ki-44-II (all modifications) -  a bug that caused engine overheat at idle speed with closed radiator shutters at any speed has been fixed. Fuel consumption at WEP has been reduced and has been updated.
• I-225 - tuned according to the data sheet.

• X-ray view and damage model bugs have been fixed for many vessels: spaces between armour and cover have been fixed, missing hatches and armour plates have been added, missing modules (engines, fuel tanks) have been added to the x-ray view, heavy ships’ hull turret aperture external view has been corrected, and armament info cards have been fixed.
• The maximum vessel speed displayed in the info card has been fixed for the LCS(L)(3) and KMS Emden.
• Armour thickness and arrangement has been fixed for the “Krasny Kavkaz” light cruiser, “Fletcher” (DD-445) destroyer, as well as for the AF D1 and AF D3, MBK pr.186, Raumbots R-130 and R-301 (armoured conning towers have been added).
• R-41 Raumbot’s 37мм SK C/30 gun has been replaced with the MG C30 20 mm autocannon.
• BM-14-17 launcher has been added for the Pr. 1204 late as a researchable modification.
• Type Pr. 159 spawning has been corrected, previously it spawned in boat spawning zones.
• The initial position of the camera on project 123k and 123bis, od-200 and BMO has been corrected.
• Issues with the destroyed model of the Cruiser Krasny Kavkaz, destroyer Frunze, the Higgins 81ft and the pt-6 have been fixed.
• The number of stars on the U.S. flag now varies depending on the vessel’s year of service.
• The Higgins 81ft and pt-6  bug where a torpedo could be launched even with a damaged torpedo launcher has been fixed.  
• Leaking mechanics have been updated:
  • Leakages from breaches below the waterline are now more significant: depending on the breach size and vessel speed, the vessel will now accumulate water inside more actively, gaining respective heeling or hull angle.
  • Modules placed in flooded sections (engines ammo storages, transmission etc.) receive damage and may become completely disabled. Ammo in flooded storages becomes unavailable. You may repair modules and make the ammo available again by repairing the breaches and pumping the water out.
  • Breach repair and water pumping time has been updated. The time required for a vessel with unupgraded pumps and crew to pump the water out and repair the breaches should not exceed one minute on average, however larger breaches, and pumping the water out of larger sections of destroyers and cruisers, may take longer.
• The ability to fire aiming shots with only a single main calibre gun has been added. You will need to set an “aiming shot” key in the vessel control settings. Then, when you activate the respective key, only one main calibre gun will fire.

• Support for helicopters, new ground vehicle models and new location technology has been added (index landclasses allows us to get even more details to landscape).
• 3d Max 2019 support has been added.
• FX display bug has been fixed.
• Assets composites (groups of objects) have been added (as well as new assets for new locations).
• The ability to incorporate ai controlled rolling stock has been added. The first AI train (as a test) will be available in the location “American Desert”.

• A second winter camouflage for Japanese and French ground vehicles has been added.
• Late summer camouflage for top Soviet vehicles has been added.
• Two types of desert camouflages for late German vehicles have been added.
• “CENZUB" camouflage for AMX-30B2 and AMX-30B2 BRENUS has been added.
• City camouflage for the Chieftain Marksman has been added.
• T-55A - BR for all game modes has been changed from 8.7 to 8.3
• Т-62М-1 - BR for all game modes has been changed from 9.3 to 9.0
• LCS(l)(3) (US) moved to rank 2, BR has been increased to 3.3
• PGH-2 “Tucumcari” (US) — BR reduced to 3.3.
• S-100 (1945) (Ger) — BR reduced to 2.3.
• SF40 Leichte & Schwere (Ger) moved to rank 2. BR has been increased to 2.7.
• Type 140/141 Jaguar (Ger) — BR reduced to 3.3.
• MZ-1 (Ger)— BR has been raised to 3.7.
• Pr.1124 (1940) (USSR) — BR reduced to 2.0.
• Pr.191M (USSR) —  BR has been raised to  2.3;

• It will now be possible to save your decorations and decals preset in the customization section for tanks for specific camouflages by creating your own unique preset for each aircraft or ground vehicle. Now by switching from one camouflage to another attached decals and decorations will be restored in their placement points.
• All shells or additional (external) armament modules are available in the test drive for not yet purchased premium vehicles.

• In RB ground battles, the cost of respawning ground vehicles has been reduced by half, and for reserve vehicles, has been removed altogether.
• The accrual of respawn scores has been reduced for all actions in RB ground battles by ~30%.
• New helicopter air battles that can replace aircraft with a 50% possibility in each Arcade Battle for ground vehicle game sessions have been added to games rated at BR 9.0 or higher.
  • For 3 destroyed enemies - a helicopter with ATGMs will be available (instead of a bomber).
  • For 2 destroyed enemies - a helicopter with unguided aircraft rockets (instead of an attacker).
  • For 1 destroyed enemy - machine gun and/or cannon armed support helicopter without any rockets (instead of a fighter).
• The setting “Change the rate of fire” for cannons has been added.
• The ability to activate automatic fire fighting, repair and anti flooding system has been added. To activate automatic activation you need to press the specified button in the action panel. Switching it on will be confirmed by displaying the letter "A" on the icons of the selected action. To deactivate the automatic mode you need to press the the action icon again

• Possibility to zoom in in the tactical map view by using the right stick has been added.
• Multiple bugs in the operation of squads between the PS4 players have been fixed.
• Synchronisation of the squad status with PS4 system interface has been improved.
• A bug causing infinite loading of the friend list has been fixed.
• T-Flight Hotas 4 and T-Flight Rudder Pedals support has been improved.

• Support of the Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas One joystick has been added.

• The option to purchase Gaijin Coins through Steam Wallet has been added. Please note: purchase costs in this case will be higher than through Gaijin Store. Since we're paying revenue share to skin makers in real money, we have to make sure they get an equal amount regardless of purchase method of Gaijin Coins. So unfortunately we have to include payment systems fee (if it's bigger than 2%) into the price of Gaijn Coins.
• Models of the German and Soviet pilots have been updated.

The War Thunder Team