@ SHar82; I see.Very original! The Germans used captured T34/76( in fact hundreds of them) painted them in the usual German camo colours, green, brown, tan and some kind of rust colour rather than grey as their own vehicles so Lufwaffe pilots would not be confused from the air about them being potential targets or not. :

I like this game a lot! Your right it is not balanced and most tanks do get 1 shotted. Really only the very advanced tanks and a few heavy tanks stand any chance of bouncing a round fired at them.

The Tiger II is a wicked beast and normally rules the battlefield.

Tried playing with the 'big boys' on tier 3, not much fun as everyone seems to lurk in mountainous terrain and shoot over vast distances apart from Kursk map which is the only 'tank country' map available at the moment.
Much more fun to be had with the fast and manouverable tier one's that are more suited to the other maps in rotation as one has to get in a knife fight to penetrate at this level.
Shame that in simulation there are labels and enemy map icons though.
In mixed battles the tank conflict arena is tiny with much too much highly accurate AAA which spoils the aviation side of things somewhat.

There are some weird players on there though including 'Furries' & 'Bronys' squads

One of the things I like about this, over WOT, is that you really feel as though you are trying to push a 30 ton behemoth around. The tanks in WOT tend to feel a bit like RC models. It's not a sim, but certainly more sim-like. I love the sound of the engines, and you can hear the gears changing. It does feel like a big mechanical monster.
One odd decision they made however (in my humble opinion, anyway) is that they gave the M4 Sherman to the Germans. It's supposed to be captured, I get that. But why? The Russians actually USED the tank. Thousands, in fact. Why not give it to both sides, at least? They've done that with some of the airplanes. The Luftwaffe gets the BF109 and the U.S. side has a captured version. Not sure why they do this, really. If I want to fly the Messerschmitt, why wouldn't I just fly the German version?
Would love to have that Sherman, but don't to pay for it. 40 something dollars? For a few bucks more I can buy an entire game.
This is a lot of fun, though. But we need more maps and American tanks.

Rather than make a new thread I thought I would pop this in here. A quite awesome WT replay. Regular WoT and WT players may know of 'The Mighty Jingles' and may already be subscribed to his excellent YT channel,however this is one of the many replays he gets sent every day for him to look at. 1080 and full screen if you can.

What is everyone using for tank controls? I've only flown with my HOTAS and pedals so far and want to start tanking. Keyboard and mouse best? What keys for Simulator Battles is best?

I just use mouse and keyboard,I don't think you really need anything else.

i wait since beta for better maps like kursk, the stone maps are just unfun.

Rudder pedals for steering, mouse for turret/gun elevation. HOTAS for throttle, gearbox and zoom. Combined with TrackIR.
I should be invincible; but far from it.

Some really nice additions in the War Thunder 1.43 patch

I have a question on PH/PK (probability of hit and probability of kill)

These should be independant --- that is probability of hit is dependant upon crew skill, range, target moving vs stationary and of course player behind the controls

But once a hit takes place and the determination of where --- it is pure physics

I have the impression from playing that Gaijin is engaging in slight of hand tricks regarding PH/PK

I get more kills (one shots) vs other players when I am on "premium"

When I am not on premium I see more utter nonsense like this

I shoot a T54 in the side at a near 90 degree angle (perpendicular) with an 85mm (t-44) at under 50 meters and it does no damage --- he on the other hand one shots me while I am moving/backing up -- right thru the gun mantle (small surface area and curved armor)

While moving in an IS-2 on repeated occasions (and again not while in premium) I get one shotted from distances anywhere from 50 to 700 meters --- and what happens!? - the round is shown going right thru the gun mantle

I mean WTF?! -- my suspicion is that they are playing with the numbers (PH/PK) based upon if you are in premium or not and then secondly with crew XP

I have progressed thru both tech trees up halfway thru Tier IV ---and I have seen so many strange physics defying things happen since they introduced the "kill cam" replay --- that I suspect they are rigging the dice in order for you to buy premium

Any thoughts here?

I'm not sure what's going on, but I've played both premium and non-premium. There's definitely some #%&*$# going on when you're playing premium. It's not simply earning more research and in game currency, but when it comes to matchmaking and shot calculations seem to favour those who are on premium.

New Events, Real Simulator, without markers!

http://warthunder.com/en/news/2779-event-chronicles-of-world-war-ii-simulator-special-en

Most Fun i ever had in Warthunder, even if you have just a Pz4 its fun against russian heavys head to head..


There are no HUD markers for any vehicles;
There are no minimap markers for any vehicles
(except aircraft, squad mates and tanks of the player);
There are no HUD instruments (speed, altitude, compass, weapons, etc).

I just miss a Binocular for the commander right now

I wanted to try it but didn't seem to have any 'allowed' vehicles. I must grind more.

I really hope they make this mode a permanent feature.

I enjoyed it. I hope they will keep it in the future.

I'm actually having a blast with Sim mode... Lots of XP, research points- I'll post a pic I took of one of my most successful match debriefing.

Just a fast question-
My next unlock is a tank with a coax MG. What good does it go to shoot tanks coaxial machineguns at tanks?
They'll never penetrate a tank, any part of it...

Does it work against those expose crewmembers I see sometimes on AAA or Tank destroyers?

Thank you in advance.

Definitely like this mode better. Its not easy and I noticed its forced me to look aroudn to see where my team mates are. Maintaining mutual support is harder for sure.

Commander Binocs and Driver views are comming!

http://warthunder.com/en/devblog/current/733

I hope the doing "markers off" permanently for sim and realistic too!

It was nice in sim mode. What was really significant, since there were no markers and one could only rely on his eyes, is that the use of light tank took an entire different dimension.

Instead of having a fast little tank, you had a fast STEALTHY little tank that could AVOID DETECTION and get to the enemy base, occupy territories and destroy enemies by approaching them from the rear and destroy them with 2 well placed shots.

The Stuart becoming a remarkable weapon system!

I'm curious, am I alone in thinking that adding tank commanders to the War Thunder ground forces tank battles would be an awesome thing? Sure, its not absolutely necessary, but lately I have been playing with a group of people and catch myself wishing that when I look at their tanks their avatar commander could be visible. Obviously not when the commander would/should be buttoned up, but outside of combat. The Simulation mode is supposed to be from that point of view anyway, so it isnt too far fetched.

It could also be another interesting way for Gaijin to allow customization and make a little money. Variations of uniforms and such.