[Development] Changes and optimization in the German tech-tree

Today we want to talk to you about upcoming changes to the German Ground Forces tree with update 1.91. We have previously mentioned our plans to hide vehicles that were never fully materialized in real life as a complete vehicle, prototype or test vehicle. 3 such vehicles are the Panther II, Flakpanzer 341 and Tiger II (10.5 cm Kw.K), all of which have historical elements, but were never fully built. The Maus heavy tank also causes serious issues due to the impossibility of balancing it properly in the current gameplay situation. Since they were first introduced during the early years of War Thunder, the German tree has evolved massively and in order to optimize research progress and improve the trees overall balance, we plan to hide these vehicles from standard research.

All these vehicles will stay on the main tree for all players that have purchased them already. You will also be able to complete research if you started the research before 1.91.

• These vehicles will no longer be available for research after 1.91 and will become collectable machines to everyone that currently owns them. These tanks will not be removed from anyone who already owns them.
  
• The gap after Flakpanzer 341 Coelian’s removal will be filled with the brand-new Ostwind II SPAAG.
  
• The M48A2 G A2 will get the DM23 shell (same as the Leopard A1A1) and will move to Rank VI with a BR of 8.3.
  
• The new M48A2 C tank with a 7.7 BR will be added to Rank V.

All these changes will take effect in update 1.91. You have more than two weeks to start researching any vehicle planned for removal from the Panzerwaffe lineup.



Besides the above mentioned addition of the Ostwind II to replace the Flakpanzer 341 Coelian, there will also be a few changes to the current vehicle layouts. The German M48A2 C will be placed at BR 7.7, similar to the US M48A1. M48A2 G A2 shifts from the Leopard branch to replace 10.5 cm Tiger II and its rank changes from V to VI by the addition of a more powerful DM23 shell (the same featured on the Leopard A1A1). Its BR changes to 8.3, and makes the later German Patton close to the French AMX-30B2: both lacking a stabilizer, but bringing a very serious shell to their battle rating.

The War Thunder Team