War Thunder is a cross platform vehicular combat MMO developed by Gaijin Entertainment forMicrosoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Shield Android TV. It will soon be released for Xbox One.
The game is based around combined arms battles on air, land, and sea with vehicles from the Spanish Civil War to the Cold War period with an emphasis on World War II.Players have access to more than 800 playable aircraft, tanks, and ships from the Soviet Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Japanese Empire, the United States, Italy, France, and China (only on the Chinese server). Other nations, such as Canada, Australia, and Romania, are also featured as part of the arsenal of the seven main nations.
Most in-game maps are either directly or indirectly based on real battles of the era such as in Stalingrad, Russia, or Peleliu, an island in the Palau chain, though there are exceptions, such as a speculative German invasion of Britain inspired by Operation Sea Lion.
War Thunder is divided into three main game modes based upon the amount of assistance provided to the player (e.g. through the interface) and the type of maps and missions played. Players may choose to participate in a battle with joint ground forces and air forces in tank battles or may choose to
operate air vehicles only in air battles.
In this mode, the game draws two teams of players (of up to 16 players on each side) with vehicles
from different nations of similar 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 (e.g. in very high speed dives planes do not have their wings ripped off and are still
controllable, ground vehicles receive a boost in engine power), but retain some realism (e.g. bombers
are not as maneuverable as fighters, aircraft have limited ammunition available but are able to
reload midair).
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 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. Also, 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 calibre weapon arrive if the plane continues its current trajectory, greatly improving user accuracy.
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. Similarly to how aircraft have a "leading marker", ground forces have a reactive crosshair that factors the ballistic drop of the vehicle's primary weapon at range. It is also color-coded to indicate whether
the vehicle the player is targeting can be penetrated by the ammunition they are using at the range
they're sighted for, or whether they're targeting an enemy or allied vehicle.
Previously called "Historical Battles", this mode is designed for more advanced players and offers
realistic physics and damage modelling while retaining some of the interface and control
simplifications of Arcade.
In Air Realistic Battles, Fighters must take off from the airfield. Interceptors will start airborne.Attackers will also start airborne but higher than Interceptors. Bombers will start about 2,000
metres (6,600 ft) off the ground. More realistic damage models makes long-range "sniping" difficult,
and there is no 'leading marker' to assist with aiming. Also, due to realistic G-forces, making tight
maneuvers at high speeds can cause pilots to black out or their planes to rip apart, and the views
available are the same as in Arcade Battles. Once ammunition is used up, players will have to return
to their airfield to reload and repair. For the majority of matches in this mode, players are selected to have only one nation per team, making it possible to recreate a real scenario, such as
the Battle of Stalingrad between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
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. Aircraft may alsobe used. Like the Air Realistic Battles mode, players do not have access to enemy player markers,
penetration indicators, or range indicators.
Developer:Gaijin Entertainment.
Publisher:Gaijin Entertainment.
Composer:Georgy Zheryakov,Alexander Chorni,Zahar Antonov.
Engine: Dagor Engine 5.0.
Platform:Microsoft Windows,OS XLinux,PlayStation 4,Shield Android TV.
Release :December 21, 2016.
Genre:Action, MMO.
