Meet Spearhead, War Thunder’s fourth major update of 2025!
Spearhead has arrived with a variety of interesting vehicles for all kinds of playstyles. The Hawk 200 provides nimble firepower for Great Britain, while the Dutch Fokker D.XXIII (23) brings some classic Second World War fun. France gets the modern and potent EBRC Jaguar as an end of the line light tank, while Great Britain welcomes the Chieftain 900, featuring a more powerful engine. The AH-56 Cheyenne with a unique chopper design comes as a squadron vehicle for the USA, while several nations receive some mighty ships with large guns. And last but not least, Stalingrad and Carpathians have received a beautiful makeover, all while retaining their familiar layout!
Check out the changelog to see all the fixes, vehicles and other features that we’ve included in this major update.
Ground Vehicles: A French Animal, WWII Classics and Italy’s First Squadron Vehicle!
Spearhead introduces France’s current light tank in service, the EBRC Jaguar. This potent animal can pounce on its enemies, taking them out with 40 mm cannon fire and destructive tandem-charge ATGMs!
The C13/TUA joins the game as Italy’s first squadron vehicle, providing I-TOW ATGM firepower for several lineups. For China, the CM34 light tank comes in with a 30 mm Bushmaster cannon with APFSDS rounds and great mobility for flanking!
Great Britain’s Chieftain lineups have received a new friend. Meet Chieftain 900! This tank is essentially a Chieftain Mk 5 with a 900 HP engine, laser rangefinder and metal-cladding over the front, making it a great addition to supplement the previous Chieftain tanks.
The classic Tiger II has been given a model update, making it look stunning and bringing it up to par with the previous Tiger II. The Soviet T-34-85 (STP) is new too and isn’t just a regular T-34-85, this one features a stabilizer, greatly complementing rank IV lineups!
New vehicles:
USA: LVT(A)(1) (M24) (Premium)
USSR: BTR-82AT, T-34-85 (STP)
Great Britain: Chieftain 900
China: CM34, Oplot-M (Pakistan) (Squadron vehicle)
Italy: C13/TUA (Squadron Vehicle)
France: EBRC Jaguar
Israel: Bardelas/60mm HVMS
New model:
Germany:
Tiger II — the model has been reworked.
Tiger II (Sla. 16) — a reworked model from the serial Tiger II is now used. In the future, the roof of the engine compartment will be corrected to accommodate the use of a different engine.
Aircraft
Planes: A Bird of Prey, Dutch Fokker, Premium Packs and the Mosquito Bomber Variant!
Spearhead introduces Great Britain’s Hawk 200 and 200 RDA in a group! Both are fast and nimble and feature a variety of weaponry, including 1000 lb bombs, rockets, air-to-ground missiles, and AIM-9L air-to-air missiles. New to the game, they also feature the Sea Eagle missile, capable of causing tremendous damage to enemy ships! The Hawk 200 RDA variant can fire the Skyflash missile too.
The Soviet air tree is now home to the Venezuelan Su-30MK2 AMV as a premium pack, featuring excellent flight characteristics, a HMD and a huge arsenal of advanced weaponry, making it a great choice for playing top-tier air battles and researching through the air tree!
China now has the JH-7 as a researchable aircraft and JH-7A Prototype as a premium pack. Both posses an excellent range of weaponry and countermeasures, with the JH-7 featuring anti-ship missiles and the JH-7A Prototype fielding guided air-to-ground weaponry and up to four advanced air-to-air missiles.
Spearhead introduces another Dutch aircraft, the Fokker D.XXIII. This Second World War plane actually has two engines and two propellers in a push and pull configuration, plus 13.2 mm machine guns. A great unique plane to have some fun in!
The British air tree has received the classic Mosquito in its bomber variant as a squadron vehicle! With no offensive or defensive guns, you’ll need fly in fast, drop your load and get out of there. This variant has the formidable blockbuster (aka cookie) bomb, so you’ll be able to destroy lots of enemies at once with a well-placed drop.
New vehicles:
USA: F-15C Golden Eagle
Germany: Tornado IDS SLE
USSR: Su-30MK2 AMV (Pack)
Great Britain: Hawk 200, Hawk 200 RDA, Mosquito B.Mk.XVI (Squadron Vehicle)
China: JH-7A Prototype (Pack), JH-7
Italy: MB-326K
Sweden: F-16AM (Norway)
Israel: M.D.450B (29) (Premium)
Updated cockpits:
Germany: Ju 188 A-2 — detailed cockpit has been added.
Helicopters: AH-56 Cheyenne, The First Compound Helicopter in War Thunder!
Spearhead introduces War Thunder’s first compound helicopter, the AH-56 Cheyenne as a squadron vehicle! This one’s special, since it has fixed wings like a plane, and an extra propeller at the back in the push configuration, giving it better performance. The AH-56 Cheyenne can fire Mighty Mouse rockets and TOW missiles and also comes with a with a 30 mm cannon, in addition to a M129 grenade launcher and 7.62 minigun machine gun (the latter two are interchangeable).
New vehicles:
Great Britain: AH Mk.2 Apache
Japan: AH-64E (Indonesia)
China: AH-64E
France: AH-64E (Netherlands)
Naval Fleet: The IJN Nagato Super-dreadnought!
Spearhead introduces a variety of ships, including the USS Oregon City, SMS König, HMS Centurion, RN Italia, Clemenceau and the premium IJN Nagato as a pack! All feature big guns and pack big punches.
New vehicles:
USA: USS Oregon City, PT-262 (Premium), PGM-9
Germany: SMS König
USSR: Erevan
Great Britain: HMS Centurion
Japan: IJN Nagato (Pack), IJN Musashi, Kari
Italy: RN Italia
France: Le Brestois, Clemenceau, Commandant Dominé
Locations & Missions: Visual Improvements to Stalingrad and Carpathians!
We’re continuing the trend of updating old ground forces maps! In Spearhead, Stalingrad has received new textures for all models, more environmental additions such as ice, tank tracks and snow, while Carpathians has received a complete redesign to all map assets. You’ll feel right at home on these updated maps, as they both retain their original layout.
Naval Damage Control
We’ve added a new mechanic called Damage Control to naval battles! There are three different action presets that replace the basic manual repairs: firefighting, module repair, and water pumping. After receiving damage, all three damage control processes begin automatically, and you can adjust the priority of which area you want to focus on.
This new mechanic is on by default, but you can still use the old mechanic by toggling it through Menu > Options > Naval Battle Settings.
Read more about this new mechanic in our dedicated dev blog here:
Free Daily Universal Backups
Introducing daily universal backups! You’ll now have 5 daily universal backups, allowing you to respawn in any vehicle in any mode. These backups are not items in your inventory, instead they are usable directly in battles. Once you’ve used all 5 up, you’ll need to wait until 00:00 GMT, where they’ll replenish back to 5 for the new day. They don’t stack if you didn’t use them, so make sure to take advantage of them when you’re playing!
There’s plenty more to see!
Check out the full changelog for all improvements and additions!
Full Changelog:
New locations and missions
New training missions have been added using pre-configured vehicles with pre-installed weapons. These can be launched through Battles > Tutorial > Testing Weaponry and Equipment:
Guided bomb with satellite guidance
Guided bomb with satellite guidance and a targeting sight
Flares — for missiles without countermeasure protection
Flares — for missiles with countermeasure protection
Location and mission updates
Stalingrad — this location has been visually updated without significant changes to gameplay. The majority of used assets have been reworked or improved, including: all factory buildings and houses, piles of debris and coal, textures of the ground. Many objects that were previously untouched by the snow have been covered in snow. The appearance of the river has been improved. Areas with dry grass have been added. The minimap for ground vehicles has been updated.
Carpathians — the location has been visually reworked. All used assets have been replaced with new ones, including: rocks with slight changes in geometry, textures of the ground, models of the fortress, vegetation. The landscape has been improved and made more detailed. The minimap for ground vehicles has been updated.
Eastern Europe — river exits have been improved, the stairs to the embankment are now destructible, the forest in the aircraft section of the map has been improved for a more realistic look, and visual bugs at road and terrain junctions have been fixed.
Korsun — a bug that caused the trees at the edge of the location to be underwater has been fixed.
Changes to newbie battles for Air Realistic Battles:
The ability to destroy airfields has been removed, as it is not used at later ranks.
There are now more bases to bomb (4 at the start instead of 3) and bases now respawn a while after being destroyed, like in higher rank battles.
Some tank units in missions have been replaced with armored personnel carriers so that fighters can also destroy them.
The conditions at which aircraft contrails appear is now more realistic. The altitude has been increased to ~9.5 km at +15°C sea-level temperature, and to ~5 km at -25°C sea-level temperature.
Ardennes and Winter Ardennes — the positioning of floating and sunken environmental objects has been corrected, and the ground under some houses has been leveled (fixing errors with parts of houses floating over the landscape). All trenches that served no purpose other than hindering movement have been removed, clearing the path from the spawn points towards the city for the southwestern spawn (for the Domination mission). The steepness of the hill at this spawn point has been reduced, making it easier for vehicles to traverse it, however the defensive function of the hill (covering the spawn point) has been preserved. In some places, the city layout has been corrected to give it a more realistic look (this still refers to the Dom mission). For the Domination #2 mission, a direct sightline for the southern team towards the northern team has been removed — a lowland area has been added in the direction of the C point, however, the travel time to the C point remains the same. The height map has been slightly changed, unrealistically steep terrain slopes have been smoothed out, making them much easier to traverse.
Enduring Confrontation
A new tier of anti-aircraft systems (that protect airfields) for battles at Battle Rating 10.7+ have been added. ItO 90M SAMs are used as AA.
The Battle Rating ranges that determine the models of AI aircraft (bombers, assaults, reconnaissance aircraft etc.) have been changed:
#1: 1.0-2.0 -> 1.0-2.3
#2: 2.3-3.3 -> 2.7-3.7
#3: 3.7-4.7 -> 4.0-5.3
#4: 5.0-6.3 -> 5.7-7.3
#5: 6.7-7.7 -> 7.7-9.0
#6: 8.0-9.3 -> 9.3-10.3
#7: 9.7+ -> 10.7+
At Battle Rating 10.7+, a separate set of vehicles is now used in the template: attack aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, and bombers. Previously, for all ranks above 8.3, the same set of vehicles was used in these templates.
A new rank for reconnaissance aircraft has been added, and the previous ranks have been changed so that aircraft from all nations are roughly equal at each battle rank:
China:
#6: IL-28 -> Q-5 early
#7: F-104A -> JH-7A
France:
#4: PB4Y-2 -> AD-4
#6: Etendard IVM -> Super Etendard
#7: Mirage IIIC
USSR:
#6: IL-28 -> Yak-38M
#7: Su-7B -> Su-24M
Great Britain:
#7: Lightning F.6 -> Tornado GR.4
Germany:
#7: F-104G -> F-5E
Italy:
#5: P.108B serie 2 -> F-84G
#7: F-104S -> Tornado IDS
Japan:
#6: T-2 -> AV-8S
#7: F-1 -> F-5T
The selection of attack aircraft for the Battle Rating of 10.7+ has been changed to better match the aircraft for different nations:
USA: F-104C -> F-5E
USSR: Su-7B -> Su-24M
Germany: F-104G -> Su-22M4
Italy: F-104S -> Tornado IDS
Japan: F-104S -> F-5T
Counterattack logic has been returned to ground combat logic. Now, after a battle ends, if the attacking side was successful, there is a 50% chance that the losing side will counterattack in an attempt to retake the lost grid square.
A bug where Team A ground convoys were not generated has been fixed.
A bug where missions to protect and destroy ground convoys would freeze and not respond to the destruction of convoys has been fixed.
A convoy is now considered destroyed if fewer than 3 vehicles remain. The remaining vehicles are destroyed automatically.
Ground Vehicle model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:
Rapier, CS/SA5, Roland 1, FlaRakPz 1, XM975 — the researchable missiles no longer cost Silver Lions to fire.
M1A2 SEP v2 — the Mine protection modification has been moved from tier IV to tier I in the modification research window. “TUSK” reactive armor is now a separate modification that is unlocked automatically when the Mine protection modification is unlocked. The Mine protection and TUSK modifications can be installed or uninstalled independently.
Challenger Mk.2, Challenger Mk.3, Challenger DS, Challenger 2/2F/TES, Challenger 2 OES, Challenger 3 TD, Black Night, Khalid, FV4030/3 — the engine power has been increased from 1217 to 1314 HP. (Report).
Striker, Scimitar — neutral steering has been improved (made faster). (Report).
T-72B3, T-72B3A, T-90M, T-80BVM, 2S25M, T-72M2 Moderna, Challenger 2BN, Challenger 3 , VT4, VT4A1, MBT2000, Al-Khalid, ZTZ99A, WZ1001(E) LCT, Type-16, Type-16 (P), Type 16 (FPS), Type 90, Type 90B, TKX(P), TKX, Type 10, Merkava Mk.3B, Merkava Mk.3C, Merkava Mk.3D (USA), Ra'am Sagol, Merkava Mk.4B, Merkava Mk.4 LIC, Merkava Mk.4MTD — automatic target tracking for air targets has been added.
ZTZ96, ZTZ96A, ZTZ99-II, ZTZ99-III, ZTZ99A, VT4, VT4A1, MBT2000, Al-Khalid — the gun trunnion is now shown in x-ray view.
VT5 — the models of the turret’s modules have been improved. Models of the autoloader, turret drives and turret’s floor have been improved.
VT4, VT4A1 — previously, elements of the ERA were grouped together in damage models, but now they are broken down individually and destroyed one by one, rather than in groups as before.
Chi-Ri —
The 37 mm Type 94 APHE shell has been replaced with the 37 mm Type 1 APHE shell. The 37 mm Type 94 HE shell has been added. (Report).
The reloading scheme has been changed: previously there were 2 shells in the first-stage ammo stowage with a reload speed of 3.3 seconds and a long first-stage ammo replenishment time. Now the reload is 4.5 seconds for 16 shells in the first-stage ammo stowage. (Report).
The Battle Rating has been increased from 5.0 to 5.7.
The vehicle has been moved from rank III to rank IV.
A 6th crew member has been added.
Sources: Magazine “MILITARY CLASSICS Vol. 35.” Published by Ikaros Publishing Co., Ltd. October 2011. p. 37. “機甲入門 Armored Warfare Basics.” Jiro Sayama. 2002. ISBN-13: 978-4769823629. pp. 570-571. 四研会, 1978『四研史: 陸軍第四技術研究所の歩み』 Japanese Army Artillery, Infantry Support Gun, Anti-tank Gun etc., Jiro Sayama. July 2011. ISBN 13: 9784769826972. pp. 368-369. ORDNANCE TECHNICAL INTELLIGENCE REPORT NUMBER 21 Subject: "Japanese Automotive Research, Development, and Production of Combat and General Purpose Vehicles." 23 March 1946.
Chi-To, Chi-To Late, Chi-Ri, Na-To, Chi-Nu II — dispersion of the guns has been decreased. (Report).
LAV-AD — a bug that caused the rear pair of wheels to not appear in X-ray view has been fixed. A bug that caused the last missile to always remain in the hull even when all the missiles were spent has been fixed.
Stormer AD — the “Adjustment of fire” modification has been added.
M901 — “Horizontal drive” modification has been added.
Animations have been added for some external elements on ground vehicles. These animations are tests, in the future we would like to make the appearance of tanks even more lively by utilizing more of these types of elements. The following animated elements have been added:
T-90M — the nets hanging from the sides and the rear of the turret
Bkan 1C — the net on the gun barrel
M1128 Wolfpack — the camo net on the side of the hull
Namer 30, Namer Tsrikhon — the chains with weights on the rear part of the hull
Leopard 2 (OTCo) — the camo net and fabric.
Ariete Certezza — the camouflage net.
Leopard 2 PSO — a bug that caused the installed Dozer Blade not to increase the tank’s weight has been fixed. (Report).
FSAF SAMP/T (Mamba) — the maximum speed has been increased from 100 to 110 km/h. (Report).
CA Lorraine — the thickness of the upper front plate has been increased from 50 to 60 mm. The thickness of the bottom of the track fenders has been reduced from 20 to 15 mm. The material of the commander’s turret has been changed from rolled homogeneous armor to cast homogeneous armor. (Report).
CA Lorraine — the vehicle’s mass has been increased from 25 to 32.9 tons. (Report).
CA Lorraine — the maximum engine power has been reduced from 685 HP at 3000 rpm to 600 HP at 2500 rpm. (Report).
CA Lorraine — the transmission gear ratios have been changed. (Report).
CA Lorraine — the gun’s elevation has been increased from -6°/+16° to -6°/+19°, and the horizontal traverse angles from ±9° to ±10°. (Report).
CA Lorraine — the magnification of the gunner’s optics has been increased from x6 to x8. (Report).
CV 90120-T — the engine power has been increased from 800 HP to 815 HP. (Report).
CV90120-T — the vehicle name has been changed (corrected) from CV90120 to CV 90120-T. (Report).
JaPz.K A2 (all variants) — the vehicle’s weight has been reduced from 18 to 17.7 tons. (Report).
JaPz.K A2 (all variants) — the vertical gun elevation angles have been adjusted from -6°/+13° to -8°/+12°. (Report).
Boxer MGS — the magnification of the gunner’s optics has been adjusted from x3-10 to x2-8. (Report).
ZSU-57-2 (all variants) — the horizontal traverse speed has been increased from 30 to 36°/s. (Report).
AMX-50 Foch — a bug that caused the sound of automatic loading to be played instead of the sound of manual loading has been fixed. (Report).
Vilkas — a bug that caused the weapon to jam after loading the second magazine, after which, while still jammed, it would overheat, causing it to jam again has been fixed. (Report).
Type 25 RCV (P) — the vehicle has been renamed from RCV (P) to Type 25 RCV (P).
Type 24 ICV (P) — the vehicle has been renamed from ICV (P) to Type 24 ICV (P).
Badger — a bug that caused the target tracking system to stop calculating lead when the laser rangefinder modification was installed has been fixed. (Report).
OF-40 (all variants) — an armor plate has been added between the engine and fighting compartments. Source: Carro armato OF 40 MK2A manuale dell'operatore. Volume 1. Descrizione generale.
OF-40 (all variants) — the vehicle’s weight has been increased from 43 to 44.3 tons. Source: Carro armato OF 40 MK2A manuale dell'operatore. Volume 1. Descrizione generale.
Type 10, TKX (P) — the erroneously low thickness of the trunnion block has been increased.
Ikv 91-105 — a bug where the sound of automatic loading was played instead of the sound of manual loading has been fixed. (Report).
Churchill VII — the vehicle’s weight has been increased from 41.5 to 42.2 tons. (Report).
Type 87 — a bug that caused the night vision device in the gunner’s sight to not work has been fixed.
Magach 6M — a bug that prevented the installed Dozer Blade from increasing the tank’s weight has been fixed.
Challenger 2E — a bug that allowed the anti-aircraft machine gun to pass through the gunner’s optics has been fixed. (Report).
Scimitar, Striker, Stormer AD, Stormer HVM — the material of the road wheels has been changed from structural steel to aluminum alloy. (Report).
BMP-2MD — discrepancies in armor protection compared to the BMP-2 have been corrected.
BMD-4M, BMD-4M2 — for some parts, the type of aluminum armor has been changed from ABT-101 to PAS-1A.
BMD-4, BMD-4M, BMD-4M2 — the armor thicknesses of the hull and turret have been corrected.
M3 Bradley, M3A3 Bradley — the armor thicknesses of the aluminum base of the hull and turret armor have been corrected. The thicknesses of the upper frontal plate along with the front and sides of the turret have been increased from 25.4 mm to 38 mm. The thickness of the lower frontal plate has been increased from 25.4 mm to 52 mm.
M3A3 Bradley — the thickness of the add-on armor has been corrected. The thickness of the screens on the upper hull sides has been increased from 25.4 mm to 32 mm. The thickness of the side skirts has been decreased from 25.4 mm to 13 mm.
KV-1E — the thickness of the central section of the frontal hull has been increased from 40 mm to 75 mm.
KW I C 756 (r) — the thickness of the central section of the frontal hull has been increased from 40 mm to 75 mm, and the thickness of the parts above and below the gun mantlet have been decreased from 105 mm to 70 mm.
IRIS-T SLM — to increase resistance to IRCM, the seeker head is now activated at 4 km from the target instead of 10 km.
Sky Sabre — the radar mast now folds down while the vehicle is moving.
Chieftain Mk.3 — the vehicle’s weight has been reduced from 54.4 to 54.1 tons. (Report).
Chieftain (all variants), Khalid — the thickness of the armor of the turret basket has been increased from 4 to 10 mm. The material has been changed from structural steel to rolled homogeneous armor.
Boxer MGS — automatic target tracking for air targets has been added.
M1 KVT — a bug that prevented the vehicle’s weight from decreasing when the vismod modification was installed has been fixed.
Black Night — the commander’s sight magnification has been changed from 7.6x-8x to 2x-8x.
Vickers Mk.1 — engine power has been increased from 608 to 709 HP. (Report).
Stingray (all variants) — the excessively thick armor of the tank’s hull and turret has been fixed.
BTR-80A — the gunner’s sight magnification has been corrected from 3.8x-4x to 2x-4x (Report). Source: Бронетранспортёр БТР-80А. Техническое описание.
T58 — a bug that prevented a fire or ammunition detonation from destroying the tank has been fixed. (Report).
Aircraft and helicopter model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:
Weaponry
A bug that caused some aircraft guns to shoot inconsistently during maneuvers, causing “spaces” to appear in the continuous bursts when doing maneuvers has been fixed.
F-14A Early — a restriction on the joint use of the AIM-54A air-to-air missiles with AIM-7E-2 air-to-air missiles under the fuselage has been added. (Report, Report). Two AIM-54A missiles that are available without researching any modifications have been moved to the front fuselage hardpoints.
F-14B — two AIM-54C missiles that are available without researching any modifications have been moved to the front fuselage hardpoints.
F-14A IRIAF — two AIM-54A missiles that are available without researching any modifications have been moved to the front fuselage hardpoints. Single AIM-54A missile mounting options under the fuselage have been removed.
B-57B — additional FFAR rocket pods have been added to the outboard armament. (Report).
F-15I Ra’am — the restriction on the combined use of the SPICE 2000 underwing bombs with air-to-air missiles has been removed. (Report).
JH-7A — additional Kh-29T missiles have been added.
Z-10ME — Blue Arrow 11 missiles have been added. The AKD-10 and CM-502KG modifications have been moved from tier II to tier III in the modification research window.
F-16I Sufa — AIM-120B air-to-air missiles have been added.
F-16I Sufa, F-16D Barak II, F-16C Barak II — unguided weapons no longer require any modification unlock to be used. The modifications for unguided weaponry and modifications that unlocked the guided and unguided bombs have been replaced with modifications for the GBU-31/64, SPICE 250/1000 and SPICE 2000 bombs that are now available separately, without the need to unlock new modifications if the old ones which allowed the use of these bombs were unlocked.
F-16A ADF, F-16A ADF (Italy), F-16A MLU — the two AIM-120 missiles that are available without researching any modifications have been moved from the inner to the central wing hardpoints.
Tu-1 — the BRAB armor-piercing bombs have been added.
Su-17M4, Su-22M4, Su-22M4 WTD61 — the number of chaff/flare countermeasures has been increased from 256 to 384. (Report). Source: Боевое применение инфракрасных патронов ППИ-50-3 и ППИ-26-2 с самолетов фронтовой авиации (Су-17М4).
Buccaneer S.2B, Tornado GR.1 — Sea Eagle missiles have been added.
Su-24M — the Kh-59M air-to-surface missile has been added. (Report).
Mosquito FB.Mk.VI, Mosquito FB.Mk.26, Mosquito FB.Mk.XVIII, Mosquito NF.Mk.II, Mosquito F.Mk.II — the number of rounds for the 7.7 mm Browning machine guns has been increased from 500 to 750. Source: Mosquito-FB6-MM-AP2019E.
Other
AH-1W, AH-1F — HMCS has been added.
Su-25BM — a bug in the cockpit where the MFD page displaying the artificial horizon was misaligned has been fixed. (Report).
F-15I Ra’am — icons of the SPICE 2000 bombs have been corrected. (Report).
Kfir C.10 — HMD interface has been updated. (Report).
SBD-3 — a bug that caused the gunpods to not be displayed in the X-ray view has been fixed. (Report).
T-2 (all variants), F-1, Hunter (all variants), Su-7 (all variants), Lightning (all variants), MD.450B (all variants), F-84B (all variants), F-84G (all variants), F-84F (all variants), MD-460 (all variants), MD 452 (all variants) MD 454 (all variants), J-35 (all variants) — pilot ejection system has been added.
F-16A block 15, block 20, F-16C, F-16D, F-16I, F-4EJ Kai, F-5AG, J-8F, Kfir C.10, MiG-29 Sniper — a bug that caused the HUD pitch ladder to not extend past 40 degrees has been fixed. (Report). The Maverick Launch Envelope has been added to the HUD of aircraft that can carry them. (Report).
Mi-35P — a bug that prevented the cockpit fan from rotating has been fixed. (Report).
BV 238 — the Engine Fire System modification has been added. Source: BV 238 Baubeschreibung.
Flight Model changes:
The pitch velocity available for helicopters in mouse control mode has been increased.
F-14A — the capacity of the negative G fuel tank has been corrected. (Report).
Su-27, Su-30SM, Su-33, Su-34, J-10A, J-11 — engine RPM has been adjusted, thrust fluctuations at maximum RPM have been corrected.
J2M3, J2M5 — a bug that caused strong camera shake in cockpit view at high speeds has been fixed.
C.R.714 — a bug that caused the aircraft to spawn in on the runway moving has been fixed.
J2M4 Kai — a bug that caused the engine power to be too low at altitudes higher than 7000 meters has been fixed.
F4U (all variants) — the operation of the mixture regulator has been adjusted. Now, if the mixture is too lean, the engine will stall (only when using full engine control).
Naval fleet model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:
Naval weaponry:
The anti-aircraft fire system has been changed. The excessive accuracy of anti-aircraft gunners has been reduced. The maximum range for opening fire on aircraft, which was previously very long, has been adjusted closer to historical values for each caliber. For example, 37 mm to 40 mm autocannons now open fire at a range of up to 3,000m, and 12.7 mm machine guns at a range of up to 1,500m. In Arcade Battles, the lead marker for air targets has been removed: fire must be conducted by aiming the crosshair directly at the aircraft.
Independent replenishment of depleted ammunition for torpedo tubes in Arcade Battles has been added. For ships with torpedo tubes that are located on each side and are unable to target both sides at the same time, there is no longer a need to fire torpedoes arbitrarily or turn the other side toward the enemy when the torpedoes in the desired tubes run out. As the ammunition load is depleted, each tube will begin replenishing independently (as per the general rules of Arcade Battles).
For all aircraft torpedoes in Arcade Battles, the maximum drop altitude and maximum drop speed limitations have been set to x5 of their realistic values (this was previously set to x3).
Naval characteristics, physics and damage model:
Damage control has been reworked for all ships. This is what we spoke about in the recent Community Update No.8 article. Below is the text explaining the details in order:
Every Bluewater and Coastal fleet boat in the game now has a new feature called Damage control, allowing you to choose what repairs you want to prioritize in advance. This can be accessed in the modification window of each boat/ship through the “Damage control” button in the bottom right.
The Damage control system means you no longer need to press buttons to begin the repair, extinguishing or unwatering process, as it starts automatically as soon as the ship takes damage.
There are three categories: Repair, Extinguishing and Unwatering. Each category has a priority in what should be repaired first, for example the Repair category will prioritize repairing first. This is known as the “primary process”. Next to the primary process, each category has a “secondary” and “additional” process. All three processes can work simultaneously, but the primary will always be prioritized and will work faster, the secondary process will work slower, and the additional process even slower.
If you don’t assign a priority build on any ship you play, you will be provided with three “default” builds, each one prioritizing each category (Repair, Extinguishing and Unwatering).
After your primary process finishes its job (for example, repairing), the secondary process will begin at full speed with no penalty, with the additional process adjusting too until everything has been completed (if all three categories are required to be activated in battle).
The speed of the secondary and additional process varies among ships. Ships have different sizes, designs and crew numbers. The Damage control system also varies depending on the “generation” of the ship. First World War Dreadnoughts, for example, could extinguish fires with hand tools, water, and sand. Second World War ships and beyond had sophisticated plumbing systems and could use firefighting foam or other pyro-suppressants. The same applies to each element of the Damage control system. Therefore, depending on the size of the ship, the number of crew members and the generation of the survivability system, the multipliers for the secondary and additional processes differ for different ships. Their final values can be seen in the Damage control window by selecting any of the Repair, Extinguishing or Unwatering builds. The speeds of all three processes are listed on the right side of the window.
The time it takes to switch between damage control modes is 4 seconds.
Field repairs are disabled in naval battles. The automatic repair of propeller shafts, engine rooms, and boiler rooms is no longer relevant due to the availability of damage control tools on stock ships and the introduction of the new damage control system.
While in the hangar, players are able to return to the old version of the Damage Control mechanic by using the option in the Options > Naval Battle Settings.
An icon has been added to represent the process of repairing a hull breach. This phase of maintaining the ship’s buoyancy and stability falls under the category of repairs. Previously, it was represented by the wrench icon. We have separated the hull breach repair into a separate process with its own icon. Now, a new icon is displayed during the hull breach repair. After the repair is complete, the familiar water pumping icon will appear.
CDK
A bug that caused custom user models to not load correctly has been fixed.
Economy and research
J-11A — the Battle Rating in all Air modes has been reduced from 13.7 to 13.3.
M1A1 — the Battle Rating in all game modes has been increased from 11.3 to 11.7.
EC-665 Tiger HAC — the Battle Rating in Realistic Battles has been increased from 12.3 to 13.0.
SMS Westfalen and SMS Helgoland have been grouped.
Tracked Rapier — moved from rank VII to rank VI.
The Stormer AD/Stormer HVM and Osa-AK/Strela-10M groups have been reorganized into two other groups: Stormer AD/Osa-AK and Stormer HVM/Strela-10M.
The Lorraine CA/ELC bis group has been disbanded.
Lorraine CA — remained in the group’s position.
ELC bis — the class has been changed from Tank Destroyer to Light Tank, with the addition of corresponding reconnaissance modifications. It has been moved before the AMX-13.
The AuF1/AMX-10M group has been disbanded.
AuF1 — moved from rank V to rank IV, located after the Lorraine CA.
AMX-10M — added as the second vehicle in the new Foch/AMX-10M group.
Lvkv 42 — moved from rank IV to rank III.
RakJPz 2 — added as the second vehicle to the new Raketenautomat/RakJPz 2 group.
The Ozelot/Gepard 1A2 group has been moved from rank VII to rank VI.
Shturm-S — added as the second vehicle in the IT-1/Shturm-S group.
Strela-10M2 — added as the second vehicle in the Osa-AKM/Strela-10M2 group.
Imp.Chaparral — added as the second vehicle in the M247/Imp.Chaparral group.
М50 — added as the second vehicle in the M56/M50 group.
PGZ04A — moved from rank VII to rank VI.
ZSU-23-4 (Italy) — moved from rank VI to rank V.
Sidam 25 Mistral — moved from rank VII to rank VI.
Hovet — moved from rank V to rank IV.
ZSU-23-4 (Israel) — moved from rank VI to rank V.
M55 (USA) — added as the second vehicle in the M44/55 group.
M55 (France) — added as the second vehicle in the M44/55 group.
Customization
New profile frames for profile icons have been added. Some of them can be obtained by completing in-game tasks, while others can be purchased with Golden Eagles.
A unicolor brown camouflage for modern French ground vehicles has been added and is available for Golden Eagles.
VT4A1 — a Digital camouflage has been added and is available for purchase with Golden Eagles.
New profile icons with modern helicopter pilots have been added and can be obtained by completing in-game tasks and can be purchased with Golden Eagles.
Profile icons that were previously only available for completing tasks can now be purchased with Golden Eagles.
Interface
Players can now change the appearance of a research nation to that of any operator (using their flag and name) whose vehicles are present in that nation and have been acquired by the player. You can also choose the display style for the research country: flag and name (default), flag only, or name only. Changing the appearance of a research country does not change anything regarding vehicle research mechanics or in-game nations; it only affects the appearance of the research nation. Only the national flags and corresponding names are available for selection. Changing the appearance of a research nation does not affect the display of the player’s vehicle nation to other players.
The statistics and battle results window now displays the flags of the operators of vehicles participating in the battle, rather than the flags of the research nations of those vehicles. You can re-enable the display of research nations instead of operators in the research nation appearance settings on the vehicle slot bar in the hangar.
The ability to hide the player’s squadron when in the hangar and in battle has been added to the privacy and confidentiality settings. With the option enabled, the squadron will only be displayed in the contact list of other players, in the replays and will be saved in server logs.
Game mechanics
Daily universal backups have been added. Players now have access to 5 daily universal backups, which can be used to respawn in any vehicle in any mode (where backups are enabled). Daily universal backups are not cumulative and are not items, meaning they are not displayed in the inventory or anywhere else outside of a battle. They can only be used in battle. The number of daily backups is restored to the maximum each day at 00:00 GMT and only outside of battle. This means that if you are in battle at 00:00 GMT, your backup count will not reset for that battle, but will reset in the next battle.
The ability to use small arms through the HMD in the helicopter cockpit has been added (where this functionality is supported by the helicopter’s systems).
The ability to designate targets with a marker for the team has been added to Custom Battles. The option can be controlled when creating a session using a toggle switch and makes squad target designation markers visible for all allies when enabled.
Graphical
The visual effects for bullet impacts from small-caliber weapons have been reworked and updated.
Smoke trails from rockets that lingered in the air for too long has been fixed.
White smoke that appeared when driving on sandy surfaces has been fixed.
Sound
Tanks with gas turbine engines now sound more natural at distances of 80 m and beyond. In terms of audibility, they are now on par with vehicles with internal combustion engines, or even slightly less noticeable.
The tracks of other players’ tanks now sound louder and more noticeable.
Bomb explosion sounds now muffle other game sounds at significantly shorter distances than before. Accordingly, engine sounds are also muffled by bomb explosions at distances significantly closer to the explosions.
The firing sounds for the player's aircraft cannons now correspond to the number of simultaneously firing guns of the same type, especially if they are not firing in sync. Previously, the firing sound of a cannon was independent of the number of units installed on the aircraft.
Thai and Dutch ground vehicle crews now have their own voiceovers in their national language.
Echo sounds from ground vehicle guns in urban environments has been made more natural, they now emphasize the density of the urban environment.