War Thunder
War Thunder is a vehicular combat multiplayer video game developed and published by the Moscow video game developer studio Gaijin Entertainment. Announced in 2011, it was first released in November 2012 as an open beta with a worldwide release in January 2013; it had its official release on 21 December 2016. It has a cross-platform format for Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Shield Android TV.
Developed as a "flying simulation game", it was previously named World of Planes but due to its similarity with Wargaming's World of Warplanes it was changed to its present name in 2012. Initially, Gaijin claimed after the game was announced that it was an April Fools joke before confirming its existence in June that same year. Since then, Gaijin has continued a yearly tradition to prepare unconventional events for April Fools' Day.
War Thunder won several awards following its release, winning Best Simulation Game at the Gamescom 2013 Awards as well as winning Best Game, Best Developer, Best Technology and Best Sound at the KRI 2013 Awards. The game also holds two Guinness World Records, for having the "most planes in a flight simulation game" and "most players online simultaneously on one Flight Simulation server". As of 2019, War Thunder is among the most played games on Steam with over 25,000 concurrent players.
Gameplay
War Thunder is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea. According to the game's creative director Kirill Yudintsev, it is the only game that encompasses all three of these experiences in one gameplay session. Vehicles range from the interwar period and the Spanish Civil War to the Iraq war and beyond, with an emphasis on World War II. Players can control aircraft, ground vehicles and warships from various nations, the major ones including the USA, Germany, Britain, Japan and the USSR. The game itself is divided into three main categories: Aviation, Ground and Fleet with game modes divided between Arcade, Realistic and Simulator that offer different styles of battle. In Aviation, gameplay is restricted to aircraft without helicopters whereas Ground Forces and Fleet will include their respective vehicle types of ground vehicles and warships alongside aircraft. A single player mode is available focusing on historical settings as well as a cooperative mode against AI ground vehicles and aircraft.Arcade Battles
In this mode, the game draws two teams of players with vehicles from different nations of varying combat performance. It is possible to see vehicles of the same type on different teams, and different countries on the player's own team. Damage and physics are greatly simplified, but retain some realism. In Arcade, there are mechanics that — while unrealistic — are meant to make the player's experience easier. There is also an indicator indicating where bombs and shells would land and showing whether shells would penetrate the opponent's vehicles or not. All player-controlled vehicles, AI-controlled vehicles, and ground targets are labeled clearly as friend or foe in this mode.For aircraft, games are played in either Ground Strike, where in order to win players must destroy all enemy ground units, shoot down all enemy aircraft, and destroy the enemy airfield and bombing points; Domination, which consists of seizing neutral or enemy airfields by touching down on them for about five seconds, causing the enemy team to lose points; or Air Domination, which requires players to have total control over an area of airspace for long enough to capture it. To help simplify aiming, a 'leading marker' appears when an enemy plane is in range. This shows a prediction of where the enemy plane will be by the time the bullets of the smaller caliber weapon arrive if the plane continues its current trajectory.
For ground forces, Domination revolves around the capture of three strategic zones on the map, with Conquest featuring only one. In Break, the two teams must capture a series of points in order, while in Battle, each team has its own base zone and must prevent it from being captured.
Realistic Battles
Previously called Historical Battles, this mode is designed for more advanced players, and offers more realistic physics and damage modeling, while retaining some of the simplistic elements of the interface and controls of Arcade Battles. For the majority of matches in this mode, players are selected to have only collaborating nations on each team, making it possible to recreate real scenarios, such as the Battle of Stalingrad between the Soviet Union and Germany.In Air Realistic Battles, players do not have the option to respawn. Once ammunition or armaments are depleted, aircraft are required to land at their airfield to rearm, refuel and repair. Enemy aircraft receive range markers and nametags within a certain range, which varies depending on the angle and distance to the aircraft. The amount of bombers available to each team is also limited.
In Ground Realistic Battles, players get to use more than one vehicle per game through the use of Spawn Points, which are obtained by destroying enemy vehicles and capturing points. These capture points are essential for ground units to repair without a battle repair kit or to restock on ammunition. Aircraft and helicopters may also be used. Like the Air Realistic Battles mode, players do not have access to enemy player markers, penetration indicators, or range indicators.
Simulator Battles
Previously called Full Real Battles, Simulator Battles are based on Realistic Battles with further restrictions on the user's interface and controls; only the first-person view in the cockpit and external turret gunner views for aircraft are allowed in flight. Tank players are restricted to the gunner's scope, the driver's port / cabin, and a commander's perspective located above the vehicle. Additionally, aircraft can only be played in Full Real controls. Players retain the ability to utilize their aircraft's flaps, trim, and engine in Simulator mode. The Heads up display is available to display speed, altitude, heading, engine/throttle settings, oil and water temperatures, and basic vehicle damage status.Player tags are not given for enemy units and players, while tags for friendly units and players are only provided if they are within a certain distance of the player. Combined battles do not show markers above enemy or friendly units and players. Thus, players must pay particular attention when dealing with aircraft and tanks that are available to multiple nations, and vehicles that use roundels as decoration for countries other than their own through personal customization of the vehicles.
Custom Battles
Custom battles, available for air, ground, and naval vehicles alike, is a mode allowing for the creation of battles by individual players. The creator of the custom battle can select the map, game mode, and other settings; they can also set a password to restrict who can play.PvE
"Assault" was introduced in patch 1.67. This is an "Arcade" tank or a plane game mode where players try to defend a base against waves of AI attackers.Events
Events in War Thunder provide custom missions, usually based on one of the three main game modes, but with alternative settings regarding allowed vehicles, mission specifics, etc. Examples are the recreation of historical battles by restricting available vehiclesTraditionally, the developers prepare unconventional events for April Fools' Day. The 2019 event named "Earth Thunder" is an event for April Fools 2019 in War Thunder where it takes place in an fictional American city named "Green Hills" where the players get to play with UFOs. The 2018 event named "Silent Thunder" was based underwater, with submarines. For 2017, War Thunder made playable rank IX main battle tanks and attack helicopters. For 2016, ahead of the announcement of the naval forces update, War Thunder offered playable sailing ships of the 18th century fighting in the Caribbean. The year before, a new game mode called "Unrealistic Battles" featured inflated rubber tanks firing potatoes and carrots. Other notable examples include "March to Victory", introducing playable Mecha composed of tank parts; "The Pony Nation" introducing the world of My Little Pony as a sixth playable faction ;, and "Gaijilla" was a battle against a giant Godzilla-like snail.
World War Mode
A game mode in which squadrons battle in historical settings from The Second World War to dominate the world. Every victory or loss will be reflected in the map.Enduring Confrontation
Usually run as an event enduring confrontation allows for unlimited re-spawns costing the player in game currency and "spawn points" if spawning a more capable vehicle. rather than having a single or a few objectives players are constantly given new objectives such as maintaining air supremacy in a certain zone or destroying enemy reconnaissance aircraft. Enduring confrontation is available for fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and naval vessels but not ground vehicles. Currently air simulator battles run almost entirely in the enduring confrontation format.History
Early development and closed beta
The development of the game as World of Planes began in 2009. Russian company Gaijin Entertainment used its experience with its previous combat flight simulator games such as ', ', and Birds of Steel in the development. During closed beta, the title was changed to War Thunder due to confusion with the similar competitor World of Warplanes, as well as other reasons such as Gaijin wanting the game to not just be focused on aviation anymore.Open beta and release
Open beta testing started November 1, 2012 for Windows PC with about 200 aircraft and 600,000 players. On May 15, 2014, at 6 million registered players, the first ground forces for Germany and the Soviet Union were introduced. Later added were the American, British, and Japanese ground forces, with the introduction of the latter marking the release of the game on December 21, 2016, with more than 800 playable vehicles and 15 million players in total.As of 2019, Italy, France, China, and Sweden have been added as playable factions. At gamescom 2018, the planned addition of helicopters into the game was announced, and as of late 2018, helicopters have been fully implemented.