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"Wish me luck" — "Drone Age" update teaser

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Are you ready for the Drone Age?

Andrea Doria: The Dreadnought of the Mediterranean



Andrea Doria is one of the two dreadnought battleships constructed for the Regia Marina in the early 1910s and represents an improved version of the preceding Conte di Cavour class. Seasoned Italian captains in War Thunder may look forward to commanding the powerful Andrea Doria as it docks in player ports with the arrival of the next major update!

Briefly: A WWI-era Italian dreadnought battleship, sporting superb firepower and protection.

[h2]Andrea Doria, Battleship, Italy, Rank V[/h2]

Features:
  • 13 12-inch guns
  • Strong armor
  • Multiple auxiliary guns
  • Mediocre mobility


In War Thunder, Andrea Doria will be a new battleship arriving to the top ranks of the Italian naval tree following the release of the next major update Drone Age. Being the second battleship to join the ranks of the Regia Marina in the game, Andrea Doria will, among other improvements, most notably bring with it a substantial upgrade in firepower over the preceding Dante Alighieri - an upgrade that many captains will surely appreciate.

Similar to the familiar Dante Alighieri, Andrea Doria is primarily armed with 305 mm (12’’) guns. However, not only does the latter possess one additional primary battery gun, but their layout is vastly different than that found on Dante Alighieri. Namely, the guns on the Andrea Doria are split between three triple and two twin turrets, giving the ship a rather unique gun layout when it comes to naval vessels in War Thunder. However, the differences don’t stop there. Andrea Doria also features a vastly improved secondary battery. Unlike Dante Alighieri, its successor packs up to 16 152 mm (6’’) cannons, situated in casemates above the ship’s main belt armor on either side.





Additionally, Andrea Doria’s secondary weapons are complemented by 13 76 mm (3’’) cannons as well as two submerged 450 mm torpedo launchers. Crucially however, Andrea Doria’s anti-aircraft arsenal also saw an improvement over Dante Alighieri. Namely, the ship is fitted with an additional six 76 mm AA guns as well as a pair of automatic 40 mm anti-aircraft cannons. While this will by no means enable Andrea Doria to take down entire waves of attacking enemy aircraft single-handedly, it does improve its self-defense capabilities drastically.





In terms of armor protection, Andrea Doria features some similarities to the preceding Dante Alighieri in this regard. In fact, the warship is fitted with a 250 mm belt armor - identical to its predecessor. However, the plating on the turret fronts, for instance, is increased up to 280 mm. This slightly improved armor scheme coupled with a greatly increased complement of 1,260 sailors and officers makes the Andrea Doria a quite tough opponent to take down, regardless of the circumstances.

However, as is the case with many battleships of this type, Andrea Doria can’t boast about its mobility. With its propulsion system generating around 34,000 horsepower, the vessel can reach a top speed of just 21 kts (40 km/h). As a result, captains will need to be mindful of their maneuvering and keep in mind that evasive actions aren’t as easily performed by this ironclad as it may be the case with a cruiser.



The highly anticipated Andrea Doria is soon docking in players’ ports with the release of the Drone Age update coming soon to War Thunder. In the meantime, be sure to keep scanning the horizon for more news as we continue sharing the latest on what the upcoming update has in store for you. Until then, calm seas and happy hunting captains!

Squadron vehicles: T-80UK



The T-80UK Main battle tank comes as a new squadron vehicle available with the release of the next major War Thunder update.

[h2]T-80UK, main battle tank, USSR, rank VII. Squadron vehicle[/h2]

Features:
  • Shtora-1 Active Protection System
  • Automatic loader
  • Remote fuze HE shells
  • Well protected


The T-80UK main battle tank will be added as a new squadron vehicle along with the release of the next major War Thunder update. One of the best Soviet tanks in the game gets even better! The first thing that catches the eye are the IR emitters of the Shtora-1 active protection system, which will be recognizable to weathered tankers familiar with the T-90A tank. Shtora interferes with the guidance beam of anti-tank guided missiles, as a result an incoming missile will veer off course when guided towards the tank. In addition, the Shtora's sensors will warn the commander if the tank has been pinged by the laser acquisition system of missiles with a semi-active seeker, in order to give the crew enough time to find cover or hide in a smoke screen.





The second noticeable feature of the T-80UK are the 3OF26 EDKV high-explosive fragmentation shells with a programmable fuse. Measure the distance to the target with a laser rangefinder and send fragmentation shells towards an enemy vehicle behind low cover. The shells will explode above the target, hitting the enemy in the poorly protected turret roof or engine compartment. With some skill, you can also try to shoot down helicopters hovering at a great distance. In addition, the projectile itself has a significant amount of explosive inside and can be successfully used to blow up enemy tanks when landed accurately.





In terms of all other characteristics, the commander variant of the tank is identical to the T-80U, one of the most popular tanks for top-tier battles. Integrated ERA protection combined with composite armor, excellent mobility, ATGMs and decent armor-piercing rounds, a modern fire control system with a thermal imager and a two-plane stabilizer - in short, a collection of the most advanced and useful War Thunder tank technologies.



Like all other squadron vehicles, the T-80UK will be available to players both for squadron activity points and for Golden Eagles. We also remind you that squadron activity points now invest automatically into the research progress of the squadron vehicle of your choice, no need to distribute them manually. Play War Thunder, join squadrons or recruit fighters for your own squadron, and get great squadron vehicles for free!

Update 2.17.0.166



Please feel free to leave your feedback for this update here.

[h2]Ground vehicles[/h2]
  • ZTZ88A — the number of smoke grenades in a salvo has been reduced from 4 to 2.
  • M60, M60A1 (AOS), M60A1 RISE(P), M60A1 “D.C.Ariete”, M60A2, M60A3 TTS, XM-803 - a bug has been fixed with incomplete first belt of the machine gun in battle.
  • External fuel tanks have been removed from the vital modules list in the protection analysis.
  • A bug has been fixed where the thermal imager remained in the third-person view in the replays.

[h2]Aircraft[/h2]
  • A bug has been fixed which prevented the disabling of the automatic countermeasures launch while the player's aircraft survived till the end of a battle.
  • P-61A-1, P-61C-1 - ammo capacity of the turret M2 Browning machine guns has been corrected from 2,120 to 2,240 rounds.
  • Sea Hawk FGA.6, Sea Hawk Mk.100 - the number of ammo has been fixed from 150 to 200 rounds per gun (from 600 to 800 in total). (report)
  • SNEB type 23 - explosives weight has been increased from 0,22 to 0,34 kg.
  • A bug has been fixed where in some cases, aircraft were unable to drop a torpedo.

[h2]Naval[/h2]
  • Issue with camera toggle while deploying recon aircraft has been fixed.
The current provided update notes reflect the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates and fixes may be not listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving all the time and certain fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

Drones!

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[h3]Scout and strike drones will be added to the game with the release of the upcoming War Thunder major update. Learn more from our Developers Blog now![/h3]

The use of remotely controlled unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and even strikes against enemy targets was thoroughly studied in the second half of the 20th century. The heyday of drones came in the early 2000s, and today they are a must-have tactical unit in any modern army in the world.

The next major game update will bring combat drones to War Thunder - scout and attack UAVs will be hovering over the battlefields of high-rank tank battles. Scout drones will become available for all rank VI-VII "light tank" class vehicles as a researchable modification. The commander will be able to launch the scout drone into the sky during the battle, and switching to it to view the battlefield and scout enemy vehicles. A small scout UAV has a battery large enough to patrol over the battlefield until the end of the battle, or until it is shot down, or the vehicle from which the drone is controlled is destroyed. You can “reload” a drone destroyed in battle at captured points.



The strike combat drones at the time of adding to the game will only be available in the Realistic Battles mode. It can be taken into battle for a certain number of Respawn Points, which the player receives for active actions in battle. Three attack drone models are introduced into the game: Orion for the USSR/Russia, Wing Loong 1 for China, and MQ-1 for the USA and other game nations. The strike UAV carries anti-tank guided missiles that come in handy against entrenched or camping opponents.



UAVs will have full physic parameters, damage models and flight models. They can be shot down with both guns and missiles. SPAAG will be able to lock on drones with their radars. UAVs fly and maneuver according to real-life models, incoming damage affects the flight model as well. Both scout and strike drones have an targeting camera, which will allow you to view the area of ​​interest from a long distance. The targeting station is activated by the camera view toggle button (default “V”). Some drones available for rank VII vehicles are also equipped with thermal imaging equipment, which will allow you to identify hard-to-see targets by thermal signatures.



The drone age is coming! Wait for the next major War Thunder update to test the drones in battles!