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#4084205 - 02/26/15 01:56 PM A Nerdy NOOB tries War Thunder...  
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Ok, I´ll admit it.. I tried the Devil! Or "Hello-Kitty-Thunder" as fellow flightsimmers used to call it.

As a bit of a plane nerd that has played flightsims since the days of the C64 and imagines that he´s able to identify 90% of all planemodels ever built, I have been a bit downlooking onto War Thunder and it´s arcady "mouse-flight" klick-to-kill aproach without really trying it.
BUT: a friend then told me of the "simulator" battle events where you can have ground- and airforces jointly, and the idea and the terribly nice graphics convinced me to make an account... using steam.

First steps all seem pretty straight forward, execpt for a whole lot of MMO-style bling and useless numbers on the screen.. "silver lions, golden eagles"? Thats gotta be the pay-to-win part or so, and another currency in the form of the dying out lightbulbs, by the looks of the icon.
OK, I know that from driving, that car lightbulbs are expensive enough to be an independent currency, no problems here. I´m a bit affraid that you will need a positive win rate to make any progress or else the losses and "repair costs" might eat you up.

I hop into the flying, germans and japanese, to have a first impression.. in "arcade". I fly with my joystick.. because, well yeah, it´s planes. I am that way. I know it supposedly is the wrong way... and it turns out, it is quite hard. The aiming, that is and the setup. You can look with the coolie hat, but not really back like with the mouse, so I do what I´ve learnt in RoF: fly left handed and use the right for mouse look. The flying bit isn´t too hard, the "tooltips" displayed in the loading screen say "don´t use rudder in sharp turns, it´s not designed for that.."
My inner glider pilot groans..

After figuring out how to use the old IL2 style no cockpit view (F4) for aiming rather then trying to aim from the 3rd person perspective, which is redicoulusly hard with the mushy joystick feel and the twichy biplanes I end up with 3 kills, no losses.. which is a wonder in the furball-from-hell ramfeast that is going on in my first tier 0 battle with the Ki 10. Darth Vader would have never lost the Deathstar with those neverstalling tie-fighter biplanes.. only that 5 of my teammates gang up on one p-26 peashooter while the 4 friends of him try to gang up on me. 3 Teammates die in the inevitable collision but for fairness the 4 on me inxplicably decide to ram things on the ground. I had shots put on 3, so I get credit.. and a bunch of blingy digits.

As it turns out, my economic fears are baseless. After a bit of flying, I realise you don´t need to think about the silver coins and lighbulbs there never is any shortage. their numbers just keep rising and you only need to click "yes" to all proposed purchases.. a different thing are the gold coins. You get some starting ones (290?) but none in the normal battles, they are "premium currency" and can either accelerate your research or buy "premium planes".


nicely enough, you can testfly the "premium planes". Time for some FM-tests.
I briefy consider converting some leftover steam currency into the "ground attack" pack, but the testfights discourage that notion quicky:

For the price of a DCS module you get (apart from the gold coins, that seem the real reason to buy) you get 1-2 planes that fly terrible but are very elegant looking ice-skaters on the ground. I try the "simulator" mode.
Driftracing was never so much fun as with the typhoon.. I swear. Cool cockpit, but not all planes have that. Despite it´s power, my ride feels like it is about to stall all the time shortly after takeoff, trying to drop a wing. I correct with rudder and it all gets mushy. Turns out I can raise the nose quite a bit, even in sim mode, the stalls are pretty harmless and occur late. Spins are around the wrong axis: the plane rotates around longitudinal X instead of Z, probably a form of epilepsy protection as the ground and everything gets all flashy when you do. Fun, but definatly not worth buying, in my oppinon. Another thing is speed and ground: 500km/h down low look more like 150.




Off course, the starting coins are never enough for a "premium plane" other then a tier one.. (famous pilot versions of the 2nd best starter planes like "thachs Buffalo" or "Tucks Gladiator"

And so I accelerate research towards the Mitsubishi F1M Pete.. I ALLWAYS loved that plane and wanted to play it. My first progress is real quick, I get all countries, a buffalo, a Val, the pete, Gladiator and Blenheim and the Heinkel 112 in the first 7 hours but spending all my golden eagles in the process.
With the pete, I absolutly dominate the first battles, as it turns equally tie-fighterisch as the beginners biplanes but hs more firepower, durablity and a reargunner.. that is the most usefull "free kills" feature ever in those furballs from hell, if you can manage to save your crew and have them beeing "elite". Thankfully it doesn´t need no seaplane base

As soon as you get ranked higher however, the domination is over, you get to fight perfect-mouse-aiming 190s, premium planes, hurries, spits and all other sorts of nasty, biplane unfriendly vermin of the skies.. The shooteresque juvenile teamchat calls me a noob every now and then, after someone rammed my slow biplane tailing the enemy for some minutes out of the way in his fast mover..


Last edited by DrZebra; 02/26/15 03:26 PM.
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#4084213 - 02/26/15 02:10 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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The simulator events are were it is at. thumbsup

You are going to have to grind your way up until you have the correct tanks and aircraft to participate though, prepare to die...a lot.


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#4084217 - 02/26/15 02:16 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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I'm looking forward to some DrZebra WT videos yep

Press and hold 'c' for free look.

Last edited by Chucky; 02/26/15 02:18 PM.

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#4084258 - 02/26/15 03:02 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: Ajay]  
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(sorry i was still editing the first post... while you were comenting, now it is complete)

Originally Posted By: Ajay
The simulator events are were it is at. thumbsup

You are going to have to grind your way up until you have the correct tanks and aircraft to participate though, prepare to die...a lot.


Well, It was my aim to get there, and I am allready there. But with a twist:


PART II: reaching simulator battle

When the simulator event finally shows up, I realise all my erronius ways: I "skilled" my progression tree after planes I like, thinking it would be all and everything for every mode.

But no, it is all russian front style and you either need to buy "premium" planes or have at least the lousiest tier 2 ground attackers. Overall, the germans seems to have the short end of the stick in ground attack planes, only gun-thingies (Henschel Hs 129), 190ies and Stukas. The allies have the full monty: P47s, P-39s, Sturmoviks, ´stangs even spitties.

All of which I have none.. and the event is running.
After some thinking, I call a friend who is also playing airplane games. He let´s me have a go at it with his account. Only thing he didn´t say, was that he had 0hrs in WT, as he too, was looking down on it. BUT: he still has all the beginners golden eagles. "Cheap #%&*$#, do something for the global economy!" I think, while I go full russian, spending his cash in the process.
turns out, you can skill your way up to simulator event from 0 to Sturmovik (best accessible participating plane) in less then 4 hours flat, as the first arcade battles for the russian side are.. easy.

The russian beginner planes all shine a little bit brighter then their counterparts and especially with the Su 2 you can both dogfight and bomb.. with re-apearing bombload after a minute so if you stay high and drop the magic aiming reticule (hey, I felt so reminded of the RoF mouse-patch here...) on all the nicely bright icons way below while shooting the few fighters that even bother to climb. Unfortunatly, the Su 2 isn´t in "simulator event", I think it was the best plane for me, so far.

So, with my newly grinded ´41 model of the Sturmovik, which unfortunatly has no reargunner and terrible visibility, I take to the skies, earning 13 lightbulbs for the takeoff:




Note: Reargunners in simulator moder are dam usefull, since there are no gun turrets modeled and so going to the reargunners station switches to 3rd person and allows for the perfect look around. A bit cheatsy, but who cares.. it´s War Thunder.

Planes spawn kind of indside each other on a full runway and everybody is trying "air".. planes veer left and right off the runway, despite the simulator event forcing you to do the tutorial on takeoff and landing in simulator difficulty. When clicking on participate without having done that, you can only decline participating or do it.

We got about 3 tanks on our team but a hellish lot of p-51s and p-47s. I stick with my russian brothers sturmoviks. I form up on 2 others, the reasoning beeing: "if they fly in formation, they probably know their stuff" as spotting things is kind of hard. Planes high are very very good visible as dots, but beeing able to identify them needs a very close range, the tank thing is even worse in the foliage. War Thunders obsession with captured equipment doesn´t make things easier.

As our formation takes fire from below and the attacker zooms up right into my sight, I press the trigger.. instahit, instagib. My first kill online in simulator event! ..... is a friendly mustang. Dang.

As sort of karma, then an american halftrack with quad mgs blast me out of the skies with a single hit. User goes by the namehandle of "B00benhancement" or something like that. Must be from the texan coast or so, whereever they have those seabird boobies.. shoot first ask questions later.. I decide to be very very careful from now on with the triggerfinger and have positive ID first.

But I then also must admit to two further mistaken-ID team kills among the groundunits.. sneaking a light tank through the foliage deep behind enemy lines is a great archievement... but one easily lost on low vis sturmovik driver. Especially one who has 0 knowlege of light tanks and is not keen on getting so close to a tank that you can actually see the type, wich kind of makes every derpy machine gun killer AAA.

As I try again, my teamchat complains again.. not about me beeing a noob, but this time about the overabundance of Tiger-tanks. I rejoice, though.
These things are large, bright colored and about the only things good to see from the air.. goddammit, I love tiger tanks, the eyefriendly indicator of enemy presence. The only other thing readily identifiable is enemy artillery. bring it on! I start asking my team for tigers in chat, and a helpful soul delivers. Bang, 250kg delieveries indbound!

On large maps, with clear landmark features (rivers, city, lakes) that works quite well, but on the smallish hilly "Kuban" map finding enemy and friendly mixed up in the ravines is harsh and exercising judgement is next impossible. Only AAA is good to find. And, dam, sooo freaking powerfull. The view on those Ostwind tanks must include a radar scope or the comander is a psychic.. I get blasted to bits with one shell from about a mile away.

after some map-learning, which is kind of memorizing it all, as the air units map doesn´t show the actuall ground terrain and layout of the ground battle in detail (memorize the briefing map!) I get my strategy right: Ride in early to avoid mixed up tanks of all sorts and look for artillery in the hills and obstacles around the spawn..

I finally make it from takeoff to landing with a Stuka and 3 artillery pieces destroyed, but my team has lost the match before I am re-armed again.




Last edited by DrZebra; 02/26/15 04:43 PM.
#4084358 - 02/26/15 05:51 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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As a penance for deviating from the path of righteousness(Hard core milsims)
I recommend two hours self flagellation. followed by buying every DCS module. LoL smile2

#4084552 - 02/26/15 11:53 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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I´d say that the hourlong grind for the Sturmovik (now I have to versions, one unlocked during the sim battle event) does absolutly qualify as self flagellation of sorts..

however it is fun, only that need to "buy" your 2nd life with golden eagles ("reserve") is a bit anoying.

#4084564 - 02/27/15 12:28 AM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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As a part time Ostwind driver i can tell you it takes some serious skill or luck to be popping you at a k out biggrin I'm not a big fan on the flying side and much prefer getting down and dirty with the tankers. Air wise i am ground attack, Il2's, Stukas, He129..grinding my way up the 190 line so i can get a bomb equipped jobbie and then going to switch over and grab the 410.

Huge difference in FM's between Arcade and SB as you would have found out, i imagine you would have mucked around with all of your stick settings..took me a while to get mine were i like it, got the hat switch very sweet and responsive as well. I couldn't be bothered dragging out the trackir for my minimal fly time which i always save till after the P47's, Yaks and P51's have been wiped from the sky. Stuka is perfect in the role owing to it's low speed, makes easy id out of range of the aa blatting at you while you circle the battlefield slowly. Pin point accurate, always fun watching the tankers head madly for cover as you come in on them, and yes Kuban is a pain.

Best way to use those Eagles is premium account or a talisman on a vehicle/plane you are going to use a lot..but you already killed em all biggrin I think i wasted mine all on modules and such as well when i first started,i had no idea how it all worked. I should have slapped a talisman on my Tiger way back when as i could have researched everything in the German tree a lot faster and my ratio in it is about 3 and a bit to 1 in SB and RB. I do a six dollar 7 day account once a month or so..it's the only gaming money i spend these days and i have pretty much ground out all my ground forces to top tier so wont don't need the extra rp hurry on anymore. Haven't wasted any money on premium packs or single vehicles or planes, they all burn the same and since SB is going full time no icons, flanking is always a go now, beautiful.

With the way different SB matches will be structured you might get to use that SU2 now as well, it was one of my favourite early birds too.


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#4084791 - 02/27/15 12:06 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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I mean even with all FM-wonkieness and so on, the combined battles do certainly have their charme to it, especially in the IL2 I think you don´t feel the flightside disadvantages too much and it kind of feels like a quick-action version of that cooperative airsupport ARMA feeling.. actually, I think it is quite comparable in terms of feeling.

But the main thing that makes it fun is that both sides on the ground have humans and you can actually see player choices and problems and interact.. and even make a difference without a direct "kill" just by marking a discovered enemy tank with tracers so he can´t surprise your guys. Or that feeling when a tiger has some inferior units traped and it is a deadlock until the airunits ride and throw some lead on the roof.

Weather can also have it´s nice sides, in WT:

#4084807 - 02/27/15 12:52 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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DR.Zebra I'm totally going to add you as a war-mate! biggrin
I love the Tanks too, having my best fun with AAA- be aware! smile


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#4085529 - 02/28/15 08:13 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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sure, I´d like to play together with others (if they can overlook my occasional noobness or attempts to go and do something different like landing somewhere in midbattle)

I think the higher tier german AAA tanks are a bit OP, you have perfect vision with outside view (compared to that IL2 cockpit) and due to the small maps you KNOW the planes will be there like flies on shyte and airplane gun hits are pretty meaningless, while your guns are one-hit wonders..

I pumped a lot of 20mm ammo into one and got confirmed hits in 3 runs.. only to be shot down with a single burst then.

#4086558 - 03/02/15 11:38 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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So, I´ve been at it again..

there is the new "event"-gamemode "War in the air"
And really someone must have designed it with a spring air lightened mood.. and lightened mind. One side gets only ground units, and only AAA at that.. while the other side flies nazi-bombers over, trying to destroy some static vehicles. It is arcady by default, so the bombs respawn and you don´t need to land and climb back to alt..

anyone with a bit of airwarfare knowledge probably starts thinking: oh my, light AAA has a range limit and bombs, well not so much, within the realms of gravity... and if the bombs respawn + magic aiming reticule.. well, And it really should be a clear airplane sided thing?
But not so in WT, the the WT crowd is happy to dive in like flies into a hail of fire and die 30 seconds into the game.. I mean, down low there really is an enormous amount of lead in the air, 20+ SPAAGs all opening up on the slightest shadow in the cloud and I bareley ever saw anyone low make it to a 2nd pass and never a 3rd.

But so my only german bomber the stuka is diverted to the level bombing role, mostly with 1-2 people on the team left, as the non-suicidal and "actually trying to win"-teammates are extremely scarce.


#4087596 - 03/04/15 05:00 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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also: playing War Thunder, means you end up on THAT team again..





#4090884 - 03/11/15 09:54 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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another classic: the friendly fire


So I try to be usefull as close air support, but with the view restrictions on the non-reargun IL2 model (reargun means F6 gives you outside view) and the swirling mess that is late game urban tank chaos... I end up teamkilling.

To ID a tank from cockpit you have to get really close.. and you don´t get those position icons on the minimap that tell friend or foe by the colors (AAA sees friendly planes as blue dots flying by, no dot: shoot it) so I am really happy to see that white elephant: the ferdinant, which tells enemy presence by a mile away.

tat guy really sticks out and marks enemy movement for air units, so I shadow him and his companions, but get distracted by enemy air as the airspace over the much to tiny battlefield is swarming and bristling with contacts worse then horsesyte and flies in the summer.

As I find him again hidden in the ruins with shots fired nearby and what seems to be other german tanks facing the same direction, I dive in...


liberally applying the trusted russian anti-tank rockets to the main concentration.. little did I know that that elepant had snug up to one of the last remaining strong allied tanks. That last "hung" rocket trigger from the aim on the ferdinand is a very effective hit on him.... But at least the jerries didn´t get the kill, seconds later their rounds impact on that poor chap...


#4099874 - 03/31/15 09:11 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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just for completeness: the funny moment






a Stukadriver landing and complaining about friendly fire

#4099883 - 03/31/15 09:21 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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hahaha


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#4100068 - 04/01/15 08:08 AM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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The Sticks, England.
Originally Posted By: DrZebra
just for completeness: the funny moment






a Stukadriver landing and complaining about friendly fire


LOL.
WOP *Sigh*


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But the one addressed:
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#4100227 - 04/01/15 01:54 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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the new mechs that now all sides field are pretty much outbalancing oneanother:


#4100308 - 04/01/15 04:49 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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the other aprils fools thingy, the inflatable carrot firing sherman-decoy is off course broken:



it isn´t swimming one bit! I guess "Unrealistic Battles" are what they are advertised as.

also physics featuring Dukley drifting: (ok, unspectacular.. but still..)


#4100311 - 04/01/15 04:53 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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Dukleys vid of 1st April (as usual a lot more viewerfriendly..)




Last edited by DrZebra; 04/01/15 05:18 PM.
#4112372 - 04/27/15 03:22 PM Re: A Nerdy NOOP tries War Thunder... [Re: DrZebra]  
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just to update: here is the playlist of all the tries together with dukley, some good ones, some fails..

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL471idyHCCK_naJ7CnlJLRTxZZlyD-nFW


the episodes so far:









and the joint flight with Karaya, albeit I only briefly buzz around in the backgroud. But I liked the MC202 quite a bit, despite the fact, that it is darn hard to get kills in, as the firepower of the machinegun-only armament is lacking.


Last edited by DrZebra; 04/27/15 03:38 PM.
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