I have to say that the developers have been making progress in leaps and bounds with this game... loving every minute of it!
Here are a few shots of the venerable T-34... Great detail in the vehicles and terrain.










Different views:

Commander, cupola view.




Commander, Binoculars.




Gunners sight picture. (zoomed)




Drivers periscope.




With constant updates, new maps, new vehicles... US tank destroyers coming next, plus British tank tree is on the way as well.
Simulator battles are good fun, in particular, the ability to bring down artillery fire onto enemy positions... but for me, the simulator event battles without the map icons to tell you where the enemy are located are the best.
Thoroughly enjoying the ground forces side of War Thunder...

yes i like WT Ground Forces too, but the DM is very no historic!
it does simulate the mm and the angle of the armor but not the steel sort
German Panzer have bad angle but good steel for the amor.

comments like this are always going to pop up concerning WWII tanks games.

They are one of the main reasons why I have no keen interest in playing them.

I like the beautiful maps too. But what I don´t like is, that one can not hide in the bushes and trees. You can not look through the bushes, but the enemy can see you.
There is no camouflage at all. The trees and bushes are useless. And players with older gfx cards can even see more.

i do not say WT is bad, i like it.
Try WT self and you find something you like it too

First off guys, it's a game... it should be approached and played as a game...
I commanded real tanks for years and there is no way you are going to make a game that can get anyway near the complexity and workload that is required to do it for real.
Next, yes, there are people out there that turn their settings down low so they can cheat and ID other vehicles in heavy vegetation.
To me they are scumbags... but guess what? They are playing their game the way they want, so if they enjoy cheating, well, it's their way of getting on in life...

Me, well, having done something similar for real, this is just enjoyment, you know, fun!
You get out of it what you put into it, and I certainly get enjoyment from it... it's a challenge, it's exciting at times too, and I've lost count of the times I've nearly jumped out of my seat when I have been caught out and someone slams an AP round into me!

What you can do though is use the ground to your advantage. Trees and bushes are no good anyway, they do not provide cover from fire.
If your enemy is using 'speculative fire' in other words, firing into likely cover to see if there is anyone in there, then you will get dead just the same.
Use the ground, use buildings etc to screen yourself from the enemy. Stay 'hull down' when ever you stop to observe... above all, use the ground to your advantage... this is where many end up dying all to quickly...

The main reason I have put this thread here is because the developers have been making strides to add content to the game, and it is a far more enjoyable experience now than it was a few months ago... it is also graphically gorgeous, and the attention to detail is pretty astounding.
The other main aspect to remember, is that it is free!... I bought a premium account for seven days, worked my way quickly through the research trees, and now I have some decent vehicles to mess around with, plus the fact, the simulation battles are by far the best to get involved in, as you will rack up currency and research far quicker than in Arcade or Realistic battle modes.

What has kept me playing though is the 'Event' battles in simulation mode... highly entertaining it has to be said, plus there are no icons on the map to tell you where the bad guys are.

Did mean it that way.
Maybe I'm to overcautious for things turning to the WoT like "discussions" when people are #%&*$# about to good or too bad armour/ammo, "nerfed" tanks and so on.

pls, no offense meant, and my comment was just a *sigh* and probaly unfounded.

I had a few looks at WT. I think it was a quite clever solution to combine the air and ground component(which naturaly have much different scales. For example a Tank BN(~50+ tanks) in attack is only a few kilometers wide...makes a very small batlle field for an aircraft).
This leaves very interesting game play options.


I personally like an other approach to Playing a game.
Have the chance for Map-recce/better ground-recce before hand.
Plan the battle and issue WNGO/FRAGO to the other players(or receiving one if not in a ldr position)
Then start the game an see how it works out.

Are the other game styles, perhaps with "payed for account" in WT?
The suprise-this-is-the-map-there-are-capture-zone...go for it, is not for me

Currently researching the M4A2 at the moment in simulator battle event...




Unfortunately it usually ends up looking like this... damn those Jagd panzers!




There has just been another game update as well... all good stuff!

What would really make the game come alive and a lot more attractive to the sim community is some basic modding, user made historical maps...BIG MAPS, online campaign modes and completely historical matchups. If there was something like an online campaign system where you moved forward regards a battle outcome or could jump in at any stage of a battle/campaign with up to 50 or more players online..then i think with what WT ground forces is atm in it's current state we could have a real contender.


It's a great game but can be a bit of letdown when faced with some of the tiny maps and the way the BR system works, the events have overcome a lot of the matchup issues but some of the smaller maps and cod type run and gun capture points are just terrible. Like Troops mentions, tactics can go a long way to overcoming even these issues though and the game can really shine.

I distinctively remember Gaijin talking about World War mode.

That is in the coming, a year?, but should scratch that exact itch, Ajay.

I won't pull any punches here... Gajin have now pretty much ruined the game for many people.
In the most recent patch, they have removed Simulator Battles into what was the 'Events' battle mode... which sounds ok, but by doing that they have excluded many, many players from playing that mode unless they have the required vehicles.
They had stated that there would be many different levels of SB and that we would be able to choose which one we would wish to play in. That hasn't happened!
There are many posting on Gajins forums for their dislike of this change, and a poll is underway currently with about 600 votes against this poor design decision.
If you are like me and have actually 'purchased' vehicles in order to enjoy the SB mode, then you will know you have now wasted your money and can no longer play the game in SB unless you have the required vehicles stated for that particular day.
That means you are then relegated to the mundane 'arcade' mode, or the RB mode (Rubbish) mode.

Having said that, if you are not bothered by kiddy play views, or any attempt at historical accuracy, then the game may still be playable for you.
But, for many, the game has now been properly killed by Gajin.
My thoughts, well, I'm trying to stay positive with my outlook and I'm hoping that Gajin has simply released the game in it's present mode in an unfinished patch release, and that they will shortly be adding more levels for SB...
That is about as much as one can hope for, as they in the past have adopted the usual 'not one step back' attitude in their design decisions... (wonder where that comes from)

Coming from WoT,which is arcade,WT fitted the bill for me. Trouble is I just got the taste for SB and poof it's gone.I have no intention of purchasing any vehicles either. Russian devs,what do we expect?

So, that's it Trooper117?...Gaijin said that they would never have future patches to complete what they promised?...So as per your post no more patches for WT!....Hummm!...Interesting concept!

Yeah, I'm not sure why they got rid of the vanilla simulator battles and forced you into the events. I gotta believe they're going to bring regular sim battles back. Sometimes I wanna fight with my tanks that aren't in an event.

The events are great, but shouldn't be the only option.

Stop misquoting me... you read what you like into my post, twist it any way you like... just get on the forums and check what is going on.
Many people don't like it and want it changed.

You may also read that I was staying positive, hoping they would actually come good with their statements on the forums.
By the way, in a little over 3hrs since my post on this, the poll results have now gone from 600 to over 800 votes against this latest move by the developers.

WT has shown an history of change and evolution.

Overall, they did not do a bad job considering they are addressing a public of crazy overacting children crying and moaning.

It just takes them time to deliver, and they don't always take -as it seems to us- a straight path to it.

Gamers having the end of the tech tree line tanks, rarely have an event for their tanks. The crying babies should also show empathy for the other gamers that rather play than post endless litany of how bad WT is.

A sense of Observation and Patience are acquired virtues, not innate ones.

The event battles do actually give the high end tiers a chance to play in a more realistic enviroment... there has been several sessions in the last couple of weeks.
If you bother to look at posts objectively you will find the drama is about the complete removal of the SB system and putting it in place of what was the events...
Anyone can play any vehicle in the arcade and the RB playground, but not the SB mode.
That is what the whole crux of the problem for many people.
And yes, the devs have been doing a great job up until recently, that's why quite a few of us have been promoting the GF side here, and on the SimHQ WT thread, and also on the screenshot thread to try and generate more attention and gain more players.

We are also, (because we are objective and not blind fan boys) able to put forward news as to when things are not going right and need to be highlighted to anyone thinking about giving the game a second look.
Look at all the positive from all of us recently about GF on the above threads, and you will see there are far more positive spins on our portrayal than negative...

There's some clarity I dare say...

lol!

At present time we are into the bizarre and the ridiculous... I can't even show the pictures, because until recently I was trying to show how the game had been brought on by the devs and that it had a simulator mode that was getting quite good... oh well, moving on...

yes i am realy like to play the simulator mode, now it is off