War Thunder - the highs are very high and the lows are very frequent

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > War Thunder - the highs are very high and the lows are very frequent

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NoNotTheMindProbe: Aug 9, 2010; pony porn was here

If you like fast brawly style game play then you should definitely give AB planes a proper shot. Once you have a feel for how they work and sharpened up your situational awareness it can be a lot of dumb, fast and surprisingly intense fun.

e. and the grind isn't nearly as bad as in tanks, especially at mid to high tiers.

# ? Jul 27, 2017 08:25

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# ? Jun 2, 2024 08:51

Solumin: Jan 11, 2013

Thank you all for the advice! I need to be more thoughtful and careful when engaging the enemy. Rushing to the point probably isn't helping me, either.
I'll start working up the American tree too, so that I have an easier country to play.

I will say this: The Cromwell I performs well against other tanks in its tier, unless they happen to be a KVI or T-34. But if you get uptiered -- which seems to be often -- then you won't be doing much at all.

YF-23 posted:

In essence, where tanks of other countries really only care about getting a penetrating shot and then can just expect to get everything, you need to be more systematic and disciplined with your shooting. At the same time you cannot take much of a shot yourself. You need to play UK tanks in a more thoughtful and careful way than other countries, because if you don't you're both much less likely to survive and much less likely to kill enemy tanks. If that sounds like hardmode, that's because in many ways it is. But at the same time the principles of it (avoiding getting shot, aiming your shots well) ultimately apply universally and are things you'll want to learn regardless of what country you're playing as.

This post is incredibly informative and helpful, thank you! Britain certainly does feel like hardmode, especially when I compare it to America or Germany. In fairness, I haven't tried those countries in 3.0 - 3.7 BR, and I've heard Germany in particular is no fun to play in the highest tiers. The lessons I've learned about aiming have definitely helped. It sounds like it'll get better if I stick with Britain for a while, which I'm inclined to do.

Shanakin posted:

Finally, perhaps planes just don't click with you, or don't interest you, and that's fine, but aircraft research and income reward rates are somewhat higher across the board. Arcade teams can be a bit of a chaotic crapshoot but if ever get into RB there tends to be a some very excellent cooperation and teamwork (and well still sometimes idiot teams). My point is, if that's keeping you from flying planes, then it's very much a mistaken belief, an excellent tank match will probably break even with an a fairly average plane match in terms of rewards.

My experience has been the opposite: a typical plane match will reward as much as a bad tank match. But I know planes usually have better reward multipliers than tanks, so presumably I'm doing something wrong.
I think the question is: what actions reward the most points in air battles? In tank AB, simply capping a point or two and getting some assists will give me a few thousand lions in profit and ~1k research points. (Depending on tier, obviously.)
In one particular air battle, I spent the whole time in a B-34 bombing the enemy's bases, destroying one by myself and helping with a second. I had a significant loss of silver lions due to ammo costs and only got a few hundred research for it. I typically spend more time destroying ground targets than I do fighting enemy planes, because that's the objective. Am I not getting rewarded as much because I'm not killing enemy planes and instead play the objective?

I usually have fun when I do CAS in a tank battle, so it's not that I don't like planes. Bombing is fun if I just want to zone out for a while. I usually do alright with dogfighting if I don't get shot out of the sky immediately. I've been playing America because my friends want to do a B-25 bomber squadron, but I'm going to check out Britain because I like Spitfires.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 00:41

YF-23: Feb 17, 2011; My god, it's full of cat!

For planes you want air-to-air combat. That is easily the most rewarding way to play the game in terms of currency. Pad that with a couple ground target kills and you will make serious bank.

High tier Germany has suffered a bit recently, but that is because the game was massively skewed in its favour before. Recent rebalancing has made it less bullshit and its playerbase has been struggling to cope with that.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 00:50

BBJoey: Oct 31, 2012

Solumin posted:

In one particular air battle, I spent the whole time in a B-34

i believe i have identified the issue

# ? Jul 28, 2017 01:04

Psycho Society: Oct 21, 2010

You need to destroy lots of targets to get points. Bombing bases dont get you much. Use a fighter, get a kill or 2, and then start farming AA and artillery if your team has the bad guys on the run. Soft ground targets give you lots of points

# ? Jul 28, 2017 01:12

NoNotTheMindProbe: Aug 9, 2010; pony porn was here

Bombers are boring. Fighters are where the fun and RPs are at.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 01:38

Alkydere: Jun 7, 2010; Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.

Fighters that can carry bombs are where the victories are at. Ideally 500lb/250Kg or larger.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 01:42

Psycho Society: Oct 21, 2010

I was going in for a rocket run on a german tank on big novorossiysk. Another hurricane decided to go strafe him with bullets, unfortunately I didn't see him and fired anyway. The rockets took him out as well as the tank.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 02:56

Exioce: Sep 7, 2003; by VideoGames

I'm gonna go against what appears to be conventional wisdom and say bombers are awesome. I play terrible British bombers that die if someone even looks at them and have managed to Ace my Halifax for free and get my crew to level 42 on the proceeds. And that's by training the most expensive skills first. Haven't really touched the Pilot tree yet. If the enemy is lax, which is often, I can even get a base or two on my own when faced with rank IV opposition. British bombers can be xp and money farming machines. Certainly I've done better with them than I have with any fighter.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 08:33

underage at the vape shop: May 11, 2011; by Cyrano4747

Just wanna say german 3.7 owns

Pz4 f2 is a mini tiger at that tier

# ? Jul 28, 2017 08:40

Solumin: Jan 11, 2013

Alright, next time in planes I'll stick to fighters then!

What's the general opinion on Japanese tanks? I don't see them very often, but their tank destroyers seem pretty strong.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 15:51

Sard: May 11, 2012; Certified Poster of Culture.

Solumin posted:

Alright, next time in planes I'll stick to fighters then!

What's the general opinion on Japanese tanks? I don't see them very often, but their tank destroyers seem pretty strong.

Japanese tanks are pretty fun if you like sneaking around, as they're all lightweight and pretty narrow so you can get them through anything. Guns kind suck until the Chi-Ha Kai, and are great by the time you get to the Chi-To. Chi-Nu II is amazing; no armor, but it's so tiny while packing firepower from the next tier up. If you stick it out for the grind, the Type 60 SPRG is the most fun tank(ette) in the game right now; it can kill two IS-6 in the space of a few seconds.

Sard fucked around with this message at 16:45 on Jul 28, 2017

# ? Jul 28, 2017 16:06

Dukket: Apr 28, 2007; So I says to her, I says “LADY, that ain't OIL, its DIRT!!”

Sard posted:

Japanese tanks are pretty fun if you like sneaking around, as they're all lightweight and pretty narrow so you can get them through anything. Guns kind suck until the Chi-Ha Kai, and are great by the time you get to the Chi-To. Chi-Nu II is amazing; no armor, but it's so tiny while packing firepower from the next tier up. If you stick it out for the grind, the Type 60 SPRG is the most fun tank(ette) in the game right now; it can kill two IS-6 in the space of a few seconds.

I just started researching the Chi-To. I think I really need to slow down. I'm constantly looking through my binos, but I'm missing a lot and getting popped almost as soon as I leave cover.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 16:31

YF-23: Feb 17, 2011; My god, it's full of cat!

Solumin posted:

Alright, next time in planes I'll stick to fighters then!

What's the general opinion on Japanese tanks? I don't see them very often, but their tank destroyers seem pretty strong.

They tend to be lightly armoured, and earlier on a lot of them have weak guns with piss-poor penetration that you can honestly just skip. A lot of them also have turrets with a frustratingly slow traverse speed Their saving grace is that their APHE shells tend to have more filler than equivalent shells of other countries, so they do serious damage when they pen.

Their first tank destroyer, the Ho-Ro, is an amazing little thing that will blow up pretty much everything you put an HE shell on. It's a shell big enough that if you hit a target that's close enough to you the explosion will kill you also. The other vehicles on that line are also good, but less spectacular. The line also ends early, capping out on the Na-To on a battle rating of 3.3, so you'll probably end up using a second medium tank instead of a tank destroyer after that (or you can keep using the Ho-Ro, it won't really become any less deadly).

# ? Jul 28, 2017 16:32

Zmej: Nov 6, 2005

Do we know what BR the new Russian SPAA is?

# ? Jul 28, 2017 16:39

Sard: May 11, 2012; Certified Poster of Culture.

IDIOT HELL GRIND SUMMER EVENT IS HERE :siren:

http://warthunder.com/en/news/4868-marathon-operation-s-u-m-m-e-r-en
Running for one month from July 28th to August 28th

This one is actually pretty good, with easy tasks and lots of rewards. Compared to the last event, the challenge requirements have been relaxed and can be completed in random battles now.

quote:

Conditions:

To receive prizes, you will need to collect �Marks of Distinction� by completing specified tasks during random battles. You can complete 3 tasks of your choice from the following 5:

For tankers:

Destroy 40/20/13 enemy vehicles (AB, RB, SB);

Get achievement �Supporting fire� (assist a squadmate) 5 times;

Achieve a score of 2,000 in 8 or more battles (or in 4 battles in RB or SB);

Win 10 battles (activity 70% and more);

Destroy 11/6/4 enemies in one battle, whilst controlling ground vehicles.

For pilots:

Destroy 30/15/10 enemy vehicles (AB, RB, SB);

Get achievement �Supporting fire� (assist a squadmate) 4 times;

Achieve a score of 2,000 in 7 or more battles (or in 4 battles in RB or SB);

Win 10 battles (activity 60% and more);

Destroy 11/3/2 enemies in one battle, whilst controlling aircraft.

To receive a �Mark of Distinction� you need to complete 3 of the 5 tasks.

You can complete the tasks in random battles (excluding �Enduring Confrontation�).

Tasks can be completed only whilst using vehicles of ranks 3-5

To receive one of the tanker or pilot Marks of Distinction, you will need to complete 3 of the 5 listed tasks for the appropriate vehicle type.

To receive premium ground vehicles, only tanker Marks of Distinction will be counted. The same similarly applies for pilot Marks of Distinction.

You will have 2 days to complete a set of tasks in order to achieve the respective Mark of Distinction. A new set of tasks will begin every 3rd day at 11:00 GMT.

The big prizes:

Sd.Kfz.234/4 :hitler:

P-43А-1

Type 65 AA :tbear:

Ki-94-2

There are also minor prizes that you can win alongside these, mostly decorations.

And lastly, a third set of rewards that is being unveiled as players complete the tasks. There's a booster, a title, a pilot icon, and most importantly so far:

Sard fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Jul 28, 2017

# ? Jul 28, 2017 16:44

Sard: May 11, 2012; Certified Poster of Culture.

Zmej posted:

Do we know what BR the new Russian SPAA is?

Last picture I saw put it at BR 5.3, which seems alright.

YF-23 posted:

The other vehicles on that line are also good, but less spectacular.

The Ho-Ni III is kind of great, it has two loaders so it has a top reload speed of 5 seconds flat. Can't take a hit but it can throw them out well, with a lower BR and better gun depression than the Marder while fitting anywhere a Marder fits.

Sard fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Jul 28, 2017

# ? Jul 28, 2017 16:45

ArchRanger: Mar 19, 2007; I'm tired of following my dreams, I'm just gonna ask where they're goin' and meet up with 'em there.

I don't really want any of those reward vehicles except maybe the armored car but hell, not having to do those stupid Chronicles events make them infinitely less terrible. Definitely possible to earn a few just playing now.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 17:41

Solumin: Jan 11, 2013

Well good thing I just unlocked those rank 3 British tanks!

# ? Jul 28, 2017 18:09

Sidesaddle Cavalry: Mar 15, 2013; Oh Boy Desert Map

Sard posted:

IDIOT HELL GRIND SUMMER EVENT IS HERE
http://warthunder.com/en/news/4868-marathon-operation-s-u-m-m-e-r-en
Running for one month from July 28th to August 28th

P-43А-1

Ooh, ooh, that's me, I'm an idiot lemme play!

the P-43 Lancer is also :china:

in addition to :freep:

and I'm a sucker for anything related to the AVG or '37-'45 CAF stuff

# ? Jul 28, 2017 18:19

Sard: May 11, 2012; Certified Poster of Culture.

Posting some tips for anyone doing this for the first time, and also because I want to those bonus rewards so the more people doing this poo poo the better.

THE AIR CHALLENGES ARE SUPER EASY.

Destroy 30/15/10 enemy vehicles (AB, RB, SB);
No explanation needed, you'll get this just playing normally. If you really want to reduce it to a consistent practice, pick a heavy fighter that can airspawn and go after enemy bombers and attackers. If you can earn this from aircraft in ground battles, then it's even simpler: Just use a cheap fast vehicle to rush up to enough spawnpoints to pull out a fighter-bomber and go CAS on the Axis team.
Get achievement �Supporting fire� (assist a squadmate) 4 times;
This is hell, but if you must do it, there are two ways. Either follow the previous advice, except you have a teammate finish off some poor tank that you shot (they can do this in their own tank if they aren't flying); or fly tier III Spitfires in arcade and take turns using MGs and Hispanos to mark and kill easy targets. There is no multiplier for RB and SB.
Achieve a score of 2,000 in 7 or more battles (or in 4 battles in RB or SB);
The easiest challenge by far, just pick a ground attack aircraft and shoot, like, 4 or 5 ground targets in a regular air RB match. Done.
Win 10 battles (activity 60% and more);
This is slightly less hell than supporting fire but still hell because it means dragging a pubby team to victory. You would think it'd be consistently easy flying Japan, but Japanese teams have gotten real dumb over the last year. Attempt with caution and alcohol, stick to planes that are stellar dogfighters. You could also try going into arcade with some friends and just rush the ground targets for a quick win with high battle activity guaranteed.
Destroy 11/3/2 enemies in one battle, whilst controlling aircraft.
I'm not sure if you can earn this in air SB matches (regular ones, not the enduring conflict ones), but if you can then that is by far the easiest way to do it. Just take a bomber and gunship some nerds, or you might not even have to do that since air SB lets you spawn multiple times in the same match if you have multiple aircraft available. If you can't get this in SB, then just fly a Spitfire or Zero in RB.

THE TANK CHALLENGES ARE KINDA SO-SO

Destroy 40/20/13 enemy vehicles (AB, RB, SB);
Same as aircraft, you'll get this just by playing but if you want to speed it up then use something like the T-34-85.
Get achievement �Supporting fire� (assist a squadmate) 5 times;
This isn't so hard in tanks, to be honest. Pick decent tanks, just play normally as a duo but use your MGs on the tracks of EVERYTHING you engage the moment you engage it. This avoids most of the tedium and lets you play fairly normally, as long as you both get that MG track damage before using your main guns. You could also probably get this pain-free by playing British tanks and skipping the MG business, since you'll likely need at least two hits per kill anyway.
Achieve a score of 2,000 in 8 or more battles (or in 4 battles in RB or SB);
Do this in sim mode preferably, since you can start out in an aircraft and end in a tank, and aircraft earn more points more easily. If you aren't confident in your ability to fly in sim, either play well in RB (T-34-85 is, again, very good for this) or do the rush-to-CAS routine and make sure you're back in a tank before the match ends. If you find a casemate tank destroyer, shoot out its tracks and engine and just keep hitting it without killing it to get more points.
Win 10 battles (activity 70% and more);
Play Allied anything at tier IV in RB. British tanks especially. As far as I can tell, battle activity is mostly based on your score versus the score of everyone else on your team; being in first place is guaranteed to be 90% BA or higher. As long as you're in the top half of the team you'll be fine, so focus on doing things that earn points, like capturing, or taking your target apart in pieces instead of killing it in one shot.
Destroy 11/6/4 enemies in one battle, whilst controlling ground vehicles.
It's easy to get 4 kills in one SB match since anything that isn't a heavy is guaranteed two spawns, so you have two chances and you have plenty of enemies to shoot as well.

Sard fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Jul 28, 2017

# ? Jul 28, 2017 18:52

Ghosts n Gopniks: Nov 2, 2004; Imagine how much more sad and lonely we would be if not for the hard work of lowtax. Here's $12.95 to his aid.

Radio-fuse HE shells on the US Destroyer > everything.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 20:07

Unreal_One: Aug 18, 2010; Now you know how I don't like to use the sit-down gun, but this morning we just don't have time for mucking about.

Sard posted:

Posting some tips for anyone doing this for the first time, and also because I want to those bonus rewards so the more people doing this poo poo the better.

THE AIR CHALLENGES ARE SUPER EASY.

Get achievement �Supporting fire� (assist a squadmate) 4 times;
This is hell, but if you must do it, there are two ways. Either follow the previous advice, except you have a teammate finish off some poor tank that you shot (they can do this in their own tank if they aren't flying); or fly tier III Spitfires in arcade and take turns using MGs and Hispanos to mark and kill easy targets. There is no multiplier for RB and SB.

This one is really trivial in AB. Fly with goons, fly thunderbolts. They'll ~~steal~~ confirm enough kills you'll get it in no time.

# ? Jul 28, 2017 22:01

Psycho Society: Oct 21, 2010

MrLonghair posted:

Radio-fuse HE shells on the US Destroyer > everything.

They have proximity fuzes for boats? I'm surprised they didn't put in manually ranged bursting flak first

# ? Jul 28, 2017 23:09

Exioce: Sep 7, 2003; by VideoGames

For those of you who have a Wyvern, how do you play this drat thing?

# ? Jul 28, 2017 23:18

Thefluffy: Sep 7, 2014

https://gfycat.com/UglyAjarGermanpinscher

# ? Jul 29, 2017 00:50

thats not candy: Mar 10, 2010; Hell Gem

Exioce posted:

For those of you who have a Wyvern, how do you play this drat thing?

Go fast, straight, and b&z. It can pull away from pretty much anything in a straight line, and hispano v's will wreck anything when you pull behind them. It's really great in EC 4 vs germany or japan, murdering all the tanks with rp3's and then b&z'ing until you're out of ammo. Also works great to intercept BV 238 and other bombers, spaming all the rockets at them.

It loses all its energy when you turn, so avoid doing that unless its safe.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 00:58

got fired from Snopes: Aug 28, 2014

Exioce posted:

For those of you who have a Wyvern, how do you play this drat thing?

Go fast. Air brakes. Shoot rockets. Retract air brakes. Continue to go fast.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 01:50

Ghosts n Gopniks: Nov 2, 2004; Imagine how much more sad and lonely we would be if not for the hard work of lowtax. Here's $12.95 to his aid.

Psycho Society posted:

They have proximity fuzes for boats? I'm surprised they didn't put in manually ranged bursting flak first

They're coming, they have the code for it now, it's gorgeous.

This was a direct high impact and an airburst. For his next spawn he went the same boat, overshot him entirely, but the detonation went like a horde of kingfishers on the tirpitz and he bit it instantly. Planes get hosed.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 09:05

Solumin: Jan 11, 2013

Alright fine I admit it, planes are fun.
I don't know why British planes clicked when American and Russian ones didn't, but I've almost unlocked my first spitfire already. I'm going to ignore the whole bomber side of the tree for now though.

But British tanks are actually getting pretty fun now. The Achilles is a strong little thing, and I have some hope that the Churchill mk III will be worth using for a bit.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 09:43

GrossMurpel: Apr 8, 2011

Solumin posted:

Alright fine I admit it, planes are fun.
I don't know why British planes clicked when American and Russian ones didn't, but I've almost unlocked my first spitfire already. I'm going to ignore the whole bomber side of the tree for now though.

But British tanks are actually getting pretty fun now. The Achilles is a strong little thing, and I have some hope that the Churchill mk III will be worth using for a bit.

Spitfires are the best planes, you should never fly anything else in the British tree.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 10:43

YF-23: Feb 17, 2011; My god, it's full of cat!

Yeah, Spitfires are great, and you should fly everything. Especially other countries because having flown the same planes as your enemies is your biggest friend in combat after a squadmate.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 11:25

Alkydere: Jun 7, 2010; Capitol: A building or complex of buildings in which any legislature meets.
Capital: A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.

YF-23 posted:

Yeah, Spitfires are great, and you should fly everything. Especially other countries because having flown the same planes as your enemies is your biggest friend in combat after a squadmate.

This goes for tanks as well honestly. Just being able to drive the vehicle that keeps killing you is the best way to learn how to not die to it (or to kill it as everyone kills you).

Seriously though, it really doesn't click how nimble yet fragile Jap fighters are until you start getting some time in them.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 15:45

GrossMurpel: Apr 8, 2011

How do F84s do if they get uptiered? I've only ever been on the sealclubbed side and from here they certainly look insanely powerful.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 18:23

Thief: Jan 28, 2011

in a duel situation an f84 will get clowned by like 99% of the other jets in this game

# ? Jul 29, 2017 19:08

GrossMurpel: Apr 8, 2011

Thief posted:

in a duel situation an f84 will get clowned by like 99% of the other jets in this game

I'm assuming "duel" here means "the f84 pilot was too stupid to just run away, regain altitude, and BnZ again"?

# ? Jul 29, 2017 19:16

Thief: Jan 28, 2011

unless it's been changed in the past couple months, the f84 is so loving slow and clunky that it isn't going to be able to disengage and climb over any enemy jets they are actively engaged with someone else

to get the most fun out of it you should just take it into tanks mode and use it as an attacker against ground vehicles

# ? Jul 29, 2017 19:41

GrossMurpel: Apr 8, 2011

Thief posted:

unless it's been changed in the past couple months, the f84 is so loving slow and clunky that it isn't going to be able to disengage and climb over any enemy jets they are actively engaged with someone else

to get the most fun out of it you should just take it into tanks mode and use it as an attacker against ground vehicles

Are we talking about the same F84? The one that no other jet at its tier can catch? The one that engages you while you're not even over your own friendly bases yet?
E: They do get an airspawn so they don't have to build up speed for 20 minutes, in case you didn't know that yet.

GrossMurpel fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Jul 29, 2017

# ? Jul 29, 2017 20:24

Shanakin: Mar 26, 2010; The whole point of stats are lost if you keep it a secret. Why Didn't you tell the world eh?

The US F84 definitely has a weaker engine than its peers and has very poor energy retention in turns. It's also 8.0 as I recall, which means it either gets downtiered, or uptiered into 9.0 matches since there's not really 8.0 matches all that often, if ever. In 9.0 matches it's not particularly impressive.

The Italian one has a somewhat better engine, but still has most of the same problems as the American version.

Shanakin fucked around with this message at 20:53 on Jul 29, 2017

# ? Jul 29, 2017 20:48

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# ? Jun 2, 2024 08:51

Thief: Jan 28, 2011

haven't played the italian one yet but have spent a lot of time in the American one against everything from N1Ks to Mig15s. the only thing you're gonna outrun are other entry level jets.

the most worthwhile things about it is that it is good for ground attacks and has american .50s and honestly I would only play it in SB or tank modes.

# ? Jul 29, 2017 21:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > War Thunder - the highs are very high and the lows are very frequent

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