War Thunder News

Welcome to the second War Thunder Steam Community Spotlight!

Following on from the First War Thunder Community Spotlight, the War Thunder Steam Community Management team has continued looking at the community hub for War Thunder, and have yet again spotted some outstanding screenshots and artwork that our players have been creating! So once again, we’ve picked our favourites and thought that we'd share them with the rest of the Steam community. Take a look below.

[h2]Let's begin![/h2]

A 1:16 scale T-34/76! At 40cm (15in) long, 20cm (8in) wide and weighing 1.1kg (~2 pounds), this amazing looking model was built and painted by hand. An outstanding achievement, nice work!

"1:16 T-34/76" by #1 South African Bowling player



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The T34 heavy tank and T26E1-1 "Super Pershing" are absolute units, and this is what has been sketched here! We love this hand-drawn pencil sketch of these two powerful machines. Nice work!

"(American T34 and Super Pershing) The perfect tank doesnt exi..." by C0orav



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The player “Yar man” featured in our first spotlight, and they are back for the second! This amazingly created T26E1-1 "Super Pershing" model in 1:35 scale has been perfectly painted and created, and even a comparison in the background of the tank in our game. Amazing work!

"T26E4 super pershing 1:35 model" by Yar man



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A Jagdpanther model vs our in-game model! This looks really cool, we love the comparison here between them.

"Jagdpanther Model" by McKay



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The powerful A6M5 and N1K1-J fighters of the Japanese tech tree are a force to be reckoned with! This amazing, hand drawn pencil sketch of these two fighters looks fantastic. Well done!

"A6M5 and N1K1-J" by 449138878



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This MiG-21 Bis drawing using all types of pencils looks so good! This took the player “4rtemis” over 24 hours of work to complete. We really appreciate all the detail in this drawing, keep up the good work!

"Mig 21bis "0880" drawing" by 4rtemis



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Player “10011001101ab” created this IFV of lego… but what is it? Stryker? R3 T20? AGS? These are not necessarily IFV’s, but regardless! This neat little lego model looks cool, nice work!

"just an ifv (does this count as art?)" by 10011001101ab



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During our recent 10 year anniversary, we added the long-awaited Sturmtiger tank during our anniversary event. We only felt it was right to include this amazing model of the Sturmtiger to show it off! Thanks for posting this on our Community Hub, and great work!

"38 cm Sturmmörser auf Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger" by Some weird dude



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What’s this? This seems to be what AI think of the snail! It looks creepy, but it’s really the snail! Funny and nice work, Mr Genius (With the help of AI!)

"AI generated Snail" by MGenius



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What would your reaction be if you saw this giant 380 mm round heading in your direction? Well, honestly, you would be screwed. Adding insult to injury, this Sturmtiger’s smiley face really makes us laugh.

by LegateMagnus



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The Khrizantema-S created by the player “Poggemann” is their favourite tank and also first ever model. This is a really good first model, you should be proud of yourself! Well done and keep up the good work!

"First model" by Poggemann



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In our recent update, we added the Israeli F-16A Netz to the game, and the player “FULZY” has created an outstanding, heavily edited screenshot! We love the closeup and details, nice work!

"> N E T Z



[hr][/hr]

In our game, jet pilots are fully modelled, including the reflection in the helmet visors! The player “Baldman” captured this beautifully, great screenshot here!

by Baldman



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These sketches of the Ju 87 D5 and Ju 87 G2 look really good, the player “Schnekism” drew these while half asleep! We can’t wait to see what you draw when you are fully awake. Well done!

"Ju87 variant sketches" by Schnekism



[hr][/hr]

A fantastic drawing of the German F-104G, the details are outstanding, we really like this work. Nice job, “Isan”!

"=Fall=" by Lewd-Tenant Isan




[h3]That's all for now![/h3]

The wonderful work created by our community that we have shared has been posted to the War Thunder Community Hub - make sure you check it out and even share your own creations. We look forward to seeing you next time!

[h2]Click here to view the Community Hub[/h2]

In this digest we would like to tell you about our continuing work on improvements and fixes in the game. You can find information about all updates that have been released in War Thunder in the website special section.

[h3]

Please feel free to leave your feedback on these changes in the dedicated "It’s fixed! №71" thread

[/h3]





You may have encountered decorations that weren’t properly attached to ground vehicles and were floating mid-air. Turns out, there were several reasons this might have happened.

For example, if we updated the model of the vehicle, in some cases the players had to reattach the decorations for them to display properly. Or, for example, if the player applied additional armour to their vehicle, mounted decorations on top of it, and then removed the modification (with an evil laugh, we bet), the decorations remained where they initially were.

Well, no need to worry that your tank will look weird: we’ve fixed both errors, so the decorations should look exactly as you want them to.






Many multiple monitor users reported this issue: when playing in fullscreen mode, the cursor sometimes escaped to the other monitor, and that could prove fatal during heated battles. It happened in sea and helicopter battles when the Alt button was pressed, when the chat was opened, or when you sent or received your teammates’ radio commands.

We’re happy to inform you that the bug has been quashed, and the issue is no more! Now players with multiple monitors should be able to enjoy the battles with no hurdles.






Vehicle destructibility is an integral part of War Thunder, and we try to make sure that hits have realistic consequences. And we’ve discovered an exception to this rule: hulls of the smaller boats weren’t breaking when hit by a large calibre shell.

Now we’ve updated hull break parameters of small boats, so beware: hits by large calibre shells are going to tear them apart!






Great news for captains - we have improved the control over torpedo tubes! Let us tell you in detail!

All torpedo tubes on ships and boats in the game can be divided into three groups according to the fire sectors: fixed torpedo tubes (for example, the German E-boats), tubes on the axis of the ship, able to fire on both sides (for example, the Japanese IJN Shimakaze ), and side torpedo tubes with a traverse sector on the left or right side of the ship (HMS Southampton, Soviet Sverdlov, USS Atlanta, and others).

Previously, the player had to manually select a torpedo tube by pressing a button ("Q" by default). In some cases, this was uncomfortable and could confuse the player in the heat of battle, especially with side-mounted torpedo tubes with a limited traverse sector. We have tried to solve the issue. Instead of switching available torpedo tubes by the button, their sight now switches following the direction of the player’s camera. The Q button now only turns the sight on or off, and the torpedo tube is selected according to the available traverse angles and the direction of the player's view.


For example, if a ship has torpedo tubes on her sides (Kirov, Hipper), you don’t need to press “Q” to choose the torpedo tube on the other side. Just activatall torpedo sides with the “Q” button and turn the camera to the side you want to fire from. The same works with rotating torpedo tubes (like on most destroyers in the game) - the available torpedo tubes will be selected automatically. Ships and boats with fixed torpedo tubes toggle available tubes in the same manner, although in the limited traverse sector.



If a ship has several torpedo tubes on each side, a new tube available to fire from the same side toggles automatically. If a torpedo sight is disabled and the enemy is in the fire sector, the torpedoes fire in salvo by pushing the torpedo fire button.

We hope this improvement will make the torpedo tube control easier and will allow you to better concentrate on the battle. Like it? Share your opinion in the comments!




You’ll find the full list of improvements in the separate changelog - there are many interesting things there. Frame rate doesn’t drop anymore when the AB-205A-1 discards its rocket tubes, MiG-29’s HUD now shows ammo count of the secondary munitions, and gun funnel no longer follows the player’s view when playing in VR.



For this digest we have prepared a large set of useful fixes and game improvements. Be sure to read the full list below - there are many interesting things.

Once again, many thanks for all your bug reports that you submitted using our special service.



[h2]Aircraft[/h2]

• AB-205A-1 — a bug has been fixed that caused a FPS drop after empty rocket tubes were discarded (report).
  
• MiG-29 — ammo count of the secondary munitions has been added to the HUD.
  
• AGM-12 — a bug has been fixed that caused an underestimated number of fragments when fired from helicopters.
  
• F-105D — the number of chaff rounds for the AN/ALE-2 pod has been fixed from 16 to 192.
  
• SAAB J-35 (all versions) - controllability at low speed has been improved for the “simplified’ and “mouse aim” control modes.
  

[h2]Ground vehicles[/h2]

• A bug has been fixed where there might be spaces between a 3d decoration and a ground vehicle hull after a model update.
  
• A bug has been fixed where 3D decorations mounted on additional armour remained in air after disabling this modification.
  
• LAV-AD — incorrect description of the commander’s NVD has been corrected (report).
  
• Challenger 2 — a bug has been fixed where rubberized sideskirts remained after ERA modules are shot off.
  
• ZSU-57-2, WZ305 — a bug has been fixed where there were two identical researchable magazines with AP chambered shells. The BR-281 magazine has been changed to BR-281SP armour piercing solid rounds (report).
  
• OTOMATIC — the tracer has been removed from 76/62 HE-MOM and 76/62 SAPOM rounds (report).
  

[h2]Naval[/h2]

• New mechanics for torpedo sights. Previously, the player had to manually select a torpedo tube by pressing a button ("Q" by default). Instead of switching available torpedo tubes by the button, their sight now switches following the direction of the player’s camera. The Q button now only turns the sight on or off, and the torpedo tube is selected according to the available traverse angles and the direction of the player's view.
  
  For example, if a ship has torpedo tubes on her sides (“Kirov”, “Hipper”), you don’t need to press “Q” to choose the torpedo tube on the other side. Just activate all torpedo sights with the “Q” button and turn the camera to the side you want to fire from. The same works with rotating torpedo tubes (like on most destroyers in the game) - the available torpedo tubes will be selected automatically. Ships and boats with fixed torpedo tubes toggle available tubes in the same manner, although in the limited traverse sector. If a ship has several torpedo tubes on each side, a new tube available to fire from the same side toggles automatically. If a torpedo sight is disabled and the enemy is in the fire sector, the torpedoes fire in salvo by pushing the torpedo fire button.
  
• Hull break parameters of boats have been fixed. Previously the hulls of the smaller boats might not break with a large calibre shell hit.
  

[h2]Interface[/h2]

• A bug that caused the cursor and cannon marker to display jerkily during turret rotation when looking from the player’s view in referee mode has been fixed.
  

[h2]VR[/h2]

• A bug has been fixed where the gun funnel followed the player’s view. Now it is centred in the HUD.
  

[h2]Sound[/h2]

• The reload sounds of all guns in ground vehicles are now brighter and thicker, with the reload stages heard with more detail.
  
• Guns on ground vehicles of 100mm+ calibres with manual reloading now have their own reload sounds, which are thicker.
  
• Sounds of the empty cartridges of the gun rounds have been reworked for the gunner’s view camera. Authentic drop sounds of cartridges of various calibres have been used.
  
• Suspension sounds on ground vehicles have been reworked for tilting and vertical speed-ups in order to more dynamically and stabley reflect the various conditions of the suspension.
  
• BM-13 Katyusha MLRS received its own sounds different from the other systems.
  

[h2]Other[/h2]

• A bug has been fixed where a cursor might move to the second monitor in full-screen mode in naval and helicopter battles (report).
  

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

Welcome to the second guide contest on Steam! Following on from the success of the first contest, we’re doing another one. What do you need to do? Create a guide on Steam for newer and older players alike, and if you’re picked as a winner by our judges, you will earn prizes. Let's start!

[h2]From 30th January until 27th February: Create a War Thunder Steam Guide of your choice![/h2]

[h2]How to enter[/h2]

• There are no specific topics this time! Choose a WT guide topic related to gameplay, or in-game features that you think will help new and veteran players.
  

Create your guide here using the “Create your own” button. You have time from now until Monday 27th February. Ensure that you add the tag #WTGuide2 in the “describe your guide” section so that we can identify your entry. Winners will be announced sometime after the end date and are chosen by our judges.

In particular within these guides, they should contain in-depth information that can help new and veteran players alike. The title of the guide can be of your choosing (titles that draw attention, for example “Wagers: Best practices for successful completion!” are good. Guides that contain screenshots, videos, different headers, and clear explanations will further enhance it and will ensure it stands out amongst the crowd!

[h2]The prizes[/h2]

Creating a Guide can be a time consuming task, so we are rewarding handsomely! We will choose up to 5 winners which will be based on how comprehensive, useful and in depth the guide is.

[h3]The max reward that you have the possibility of winning is 3,000 GE and lowest 1,000 GE. It is up to the judges to decide based on the merit of the guide you have created.
[/h3]

Besides this, our judges will give out the “Steam Snail” decal, which was available in the first guide contest we did back last summer. If you win, and have created an outstanding guide, our judges will hand out this decal alongside the GE prize.




“Steam Snail” decal

Terms

• You must add the tag #WTGuide2 to the “Describe your guide” section when creating your guide, so that we can find it.
  
• The Guide must be created by 1 author - if your submission wins and there are multiple authors, only 1 author will receive the GE and decal.
  
• Your Guide must be related to WT in-game features.
  
• Up to 5 winners will be chosen; the GE reward amount, amount of winners up to 5 and the Steam Snail Decal being given depends on the decision of the judges.
  
• Your guide must be compliant with the War Thunder and Steam rules, otherwise they will not be considered.
  
• You must be the author of the guide.
  
• Your guide must be new. You cannot use those which have previously been published or used in other competitions.
  
• Winners are chosen by our judges and are final.
  
• Rewards will be delivered to the author's account within 14 working days.
  

Good luck!

[h3]For the whole month, you will have 8 tasks available to you one by one. Completion of each task will award you with a trophy containing a reward, while completing all tasks will award you with a unique in-game player icon.[/h3]

A detailed description of the current task as well as your overall progress can be found by clicking on your nickname → Achievements → Pages of History

[h2]Reward for completing all 8 tasks[/h2]

[h3]Norman Schwarzkopf[/h3]
American general who commanded American and European forces during the Gulf war. Under his leadership the coalition reached all its goals with minimal casualties: Kuwait was liberated, and the Iraqi army was decimated. Upon returning home he led a victory parade in Washington DC — the biggest since World War II.

You can immediately purchase the profile icon for Golden Eagles until March 3rd, 11:30 GMT without completing tasks. Click Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History (February).

[h2]Trophy reward for each task[/h2]
Completion of each individual task will bring you a trophy with one of the following rewards:

• 20-50% RP booster for 3-10 battles;
  
• 20-50% SL booster for 3-10 battles;
  
• 3-5 universal backup vehicles;
  
• 1 day of premium account;
  
• A random camouflage for ground vehicles (out of the selection of camouflages currently obtainable in game for completing tasks, or purchasing with Golden Eagles).
  

[h2]Other terms[/h2]

• Tasks are available from 11:00 GMT until 11:30 GMT on the final day of each task.
  
• Tasks can be completed in random battles, except for “Assault” mode.
  

[h2]February 1st — February 4th[/h2]
[h3]Kingisepp–Gdov offensive[/h3]
During the entirety of February, 1944, the Leningrad Front of the Soviet Army had been leading a massive offensive on the positions of German forces. As a result the towns of Kingisepp and Gdov were liberated, but Army Group North was far from being routed.

[h2]February 4th — February 7th[/h2]
[h3]Operation Sonnenblume[/h3]
After a series of crushing defeats of the Italian Army on the North African Front Mussolini had to accept Hitler's help. In early February of 1941 the Wehrmacht sent two tank divisions into Libya, led by Erwin Rommel — and already in early April they led a successful counteroffensive, pushing the British forces from Cyrenaica.

[h2]February 8th — February 11th[/h2]
[h3]Lam Son 719[/h3]
During the Vietnam War the Viet Cong used the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos to transport troops into South Vietnam and supply them. On February 8th, 1971 the South Vietnamese army began an operation to destroy the Trail. American ground forces weren't allowed to enter Laos, so the US provided artillery and air support. Due to successes of Viet Cong's intelligence and failures of South Vietnamese Army leadership, the operation was a failure, and their forces started withdrawing from Laos a month later.

[h2]February 11 — February 14[/h2]
[h3]Operation Cerberus[/h3]
In February of 1942 the German fleet undertook an operation to relocate three of its big vessels from West France to North Germany. The shortest route was through the Dover Strait, so the Germans took numerous measures to ensure the safety of their passage. The Royal Air Force undertook almost 700 sorties but failed to sink even a single German ship.

[h2]February 15 — February 18[/h2]
[h3]Battle of Demyansk[/h3]
In late February of 1943 the Red Army tried to encircle and destroy the German forces in the Demyansk Pocket, a well fortified salient in the Novgorod region. The operation was a failure: the Wehrmacht had successfully evacuated its forces from Demyansk with losses five times less than that of the Soviet Army.

[h2]February 19 — February 22[/h2]
[h3]Battle of Kasserine Pass[/h3]
On February 19-22, 1943 the Allies and Axis powers fought in the Atlas mountains in West Tunisia. It was the first battle of American troops on the North African Front, and field marshal Rommel used the enemy's lack of experience to perform a successful attack. The Allies took serious casualties, and that led to a reshuffle in their command: general George Patton became the commander of the US forces, and he eventually ended the Tunisia campaign with Allied victory.

[h2]February 22 — February 25[/h2]
[h3]Operation Grenade[/h3]
In late February of 1945 the Allies were ready to invade Germany from the west. For the US 9th Army it meant crossing the Roer river from the Netherlands, but the Germans opened the sluices, flooding the river, and guarded the other bank. It was on February 23rd when the 9th Army finally managed to cross the river, marking the beginning of several successful operations.

[h2]February 25— February 28[/h2]
[h3]Battle of Norfolk[/h3]
On February 27th, 1991 the biggest tank battle of the Gulf War was fought, with at least 12 divisions participating. American and British forces have crushed the Iraqi Army, having destroyed over 850 tanks. The war was over the very next day.

Some of the best things come in threes! Your screenshots of three comrades were lovely! The three most popular and three selected by us will get 300 GE. See the winners down below!

[h2]Let’s begin the 52nd edition of our competition![/h2]

Create a stunning screenshot and submit it on the War Thunder Steam Community Hub with the tag #WTscreen52. You have time until 03.02.2023 to submit your screenshot.

After that date, 6 winners will be selected (3 of which will be the highest rated by the community and 3 selected by our judges), each of which receive a reward of 300GE.

[h2]Important addition: Screenshot theme - Smoke![/h2]

[h3]Terms:[/h3]

Your Screenshot must include smoke!
You must add the #WTscreen52 tag (title cannot have any other text in it).
• Screenshots need to be compliant with the War Thunder rules.
  
• You need to be the author of the screenshot.
  
• Screenshot needs to be new. You cannot use those which have previously been published or used in other competitions.
  
• We will only accept raw screenshots from the game. You cannot use any editing software nor any other visual enhancements (like Nvidia Ansel filters).
  
• You can use filters and settings built into War Thunder.
  
• You can use the replay functionality built into War Thunder.
  
• Rewards will be delivered to the author's account within 14 working days.
  

[h2]And now, time for the winners of the competition’s 51st edition - The Three Musketeers![/h2]

[h3]Winners selected via community votes:[/h3]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2921165872
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2922261165
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2921865677

[h3]Winners selected by our judges:[/h3]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2921345257
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2922320786
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2921354041

Each winner will get 300GE! Congratulations and see you next week!