If you play WT and are looking for more of a challenge, give the new sim mode test a try. I think it's fantastic! Basically they've removed all icons and hit notifications from the screen and the map. You no longer see any indications about the location of you, friendliest, or enemies so you have to navigate and call out locations of sightings based on grid references. It rewards flanking, ambushing, and teamwork.
Wait times are a bit long but it's well worth it (at least until some jackass in an IL-2 fails to properly ID targets and blows up a group of friendly T-34s. In my defence, they were really well hidden in those trees and if they didn't want to get blown up with rockets, they shouldn't have been in front of my plane in the first place.)
This finally interests me in WT. I just got burned out on WoT, so this sounds very intriguing.
Is anything other than a WT account needed?
I've always despised shooters that have little blips denoting where the enemy is on the mini-map. It's goddamn ridiculous but has become the standard in modern gaming times. There's no reason modern shooters should consist of people constantly looking at their mini-maps in order to see where the enemy is. :tickedoff:
It's good they've removed them from Sim mode at least. They used to be difficult to see in all modes, which was just fine with me, but then the WT devs made the icons much bigger shortly after it came out of Beta. ::)
You'll need to research some Soviet or German tanks as the US ones aren't in Sim mode yet. I think you need Tier II or better to participate so you'll have to spend some time slogging through arcade or realistic battles until you earn a Tier II tank.
The icons might be back. The devs said they were just testing out this mode over the weekend to see if it would make Sim mode or or less popular than it currently is. They say only about 3% of the player base plays sim mode for aircraft and only about 8% play tanks in sim mode.
hey I'll give it a shot if I see some of you around. I'll still haven`t got a new joystick though, so still using mouse (which might be difficult with sim realism & aircraft). Need to get that x55 saitek.
Quote from: Nefaro on January 17, 2015, 08:31:00 PM
I've always despised shooters that have little blips denoting where the enemy is on the mini-map.
and I'm sure the Soviets despised the Germans for having radios in every tank. ::)
I'm with Nef. Much better to use in-game chat and simulate radio chatter that way than have unerring GPS plonk down a location for you on the map.
Forgot to mention, the total simulator mode is found under the "Events and Tournaments" tab, not Tank Simulator battles.
The server is called "Bonus Event - Attention: Simulator Mode"
Just had a great round. I was in my T-34-85. The battle was centered around a riverside town in Czechoslovakia. High bluffs on either side of the town and a maze of tight streets in the town itself with a river running through the middle of it. I teamed up with another T-34-85 and an SU-85 and we plunged in. We dorve for the town straight away rather than getting into a sniping battle from the top of the bluffs as we'd be at a huge disadvantage against those Tigers and their spiffy optics.
The SU-85 got de-tracked by a hit from a PzKw IV, spun around to present an easy broadside to a Tiger and got blown up. I was able to jam the turret on the PzKw and finish him off with a hit to the ammo racks while the other T-34 kept the Tiger busy by using his greater speed to keep just out of the way of the Tiger's gun. I got a good hit into the back of the Tiger's turret while it was slewing around and try to bring its gun to bear on my partner. I guess I got a kill from the first shot but since there's no input from the HUD, I wasn't sure and just kept pumping rounds into the thing until it fire-balled.
We pushed to the centre of town and started capturing the VP. The Germans started pounding us with artillery and I took some heavy engine damage and caught on fire. I was able to get it out but was still under repairs when a Tiger popped around the corner behind me and was setting up to blow me away. The Tiger was within seconds of getting lined up when one of our IL-2s came screaming in over the tree line and nailed the dirty Kraut with a rocket barrage.
Watching that 88 slowly rotate towards me as I couldn't move definitely got the adrenaline pumping!
We capped the zone, pushed on to the next one, capped it and won the match. I ended up bagging two Tigers and two PzKW IVs and got an assist on a German SPG. I never did get a good look at it so I'm not sure what kind it was. I think it was a Hetzer but it might've been a StuG. All I saw was the barrel sticking out from some bushes.
Turrent waltzing with a Tiger - definitely a great show :)
Hey SDR, what`s your username?
Mugwump
I would play Sim mode in the tank battles but that locked close-up view can give me a headache. I'm far-sighted, so the 3D ground zipping by feels like it's about an inch under my nose and gives me motion sickness. :-[
I'd prefer it otherwise. I'm stuck in Realistic Battles because of that.
I did play some of the Test Sim Mode.
The view didn't bother me as much as it sometimes does. Maybe because I was mostly using my Tiger which means the locked view is a bit higher than others. Only did the T-34/57 once.
It was pretty fun. Gotta check your targets and make sure they're not friendlies. O0 There seemed to be a lot of people playing that mode, but maybe it was for bonus xp or something?
Quote from: GDS_Starfury on January 17, 2015, 09:23:57 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on January 17, 2015, 08:31:00 PM
I've always despised shooters that have little blips denoting where the enemy is on the mini-map.
and I'm sure the Soviets despised the Germans for having radios in every tank. ::)
I realize that most modes need enemy icons on the map to represent radio calls, but if they're going to be serious about it there should be a fair bit of delay before they show up. Maybe even force friendlies to actively use a hotkey for initiating it.
Encouraging players to stare at their mini-map to spot enemy targets is gamey as hell. I think developers could come up with something to better represent such radio calls nowadays.
The JgPz IV/70 is pretty awesome. If you can get past how damn slow it is.
The frontal armor slope is great and it's fairly easy to find a hull-down position since it's so low. But the real star is that PaK42 75mm/70. Holy bejeezis, it murders even IS tanks in short order.
I've been rather underwhelmed with the Tiger's 88. It's decent but the damage it does after penetrating is often disappointing, especially compared to that long 75. I was having problems killing T-34s and Shermans with the 88.. it would take numerous pentrating rounds to kill them while the 75mm/70 usually does it in 2 shots or less.
I think the 75/L 70 was the same gun as on the Panther..
The Tiger gun was the same one as the AA one that the Germans used so successfully in the early part of the war, thus why they built the Tiger around it..
I think there is a version with a longer Barrel was used for the Tiger II and Jadgpanther.
Jingles made a video showing off some of the new game mode (just try to ignore his constant whining about enemy aircraft ruining his fun. Get 3 team mates to take AA guns and the problem is solved).
The bomb spamming in it can definitely be annoying at times. But that usually doesn't last long. Hopefully you survive until someone shoots 'em down.
They
really need to add a Commander's Bino zoom view to Sim mode now. They needed to before this but it's essential now. Trying to spot distant targets only through the gunner's view isn't good. Especially if you're driving around in a tank destroyer with no turret. ::)
The devs said they were going to add a Commander zoom view to the Sim Battles long long ago. I guess they never bothered to devote the time. >:(
The Cmdr zoom is my only complaint.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 19, 2015, 03:57:47 PM
Jingles made a video showing off some of the new game mode (just try to ignore his constant whining about enemy aircraft ruining his fun. Get 3 team mates to take AA guns and the problem is solved).
Jingles complains more than I do. Sometimes with good reason, but for a bit too long in his vids. Getting one-shotted by a bomber before you even get to fire that round is definitely frustrating. I'm just glad we don't have that ridiculous space laser artillery as in WoT. :knuppel2:
The hardcore sim mode is wonderful. Hope they replace current Sim mode with it.
Not sure if the rewards are appropriately higher for each match since they tend to take longer (besides the extra difficulty).
Edit: I think one of the greatest changes with this test mode is all tanks being visible at all times. That is another thing that burns my ass - invisible or disappearing tanks. I'm sure most of us can recall cases where we were aiming at a distant enemy tank in plain view to only have it disappear right before your eyes. Or have them just appear out of thin air while you're looking right at them.
Stupid question. But how do you switch to tank mode?
If you mean styles of battle, when you are in your hanger look up at the top middle portion of the screen and you will see the big orange "to battle" button. Click on the text above that to select the style of battle you want to play.
I know that. But I don't have a tank in my inventory. Are tanks only available for US, USSR, and Germany?
I'm only playing Japanese and checked out the UK both don't have tanks.
that's correct, no UK or Japanese tanks currently. I think some UK tanks are going to be added relatively soon.
Sigh. OK I'll check out the other countries.
I've spent several hours playing War Thunder over the last several days and I must say I quite enjoy the game. I don't understand all of the research and crew training aspects yet, but it's still good fun. I've stopped playing the arcade game and have gone exclusively to realistic battles for now. Mostly I got sick of the over the hills, through rocks and trees kills that people were getting on me in arcade mode. I'm not sure it was a hack so much as the use of green, yellow, and red indicators on the cross hairs. OK. I'm pretty sure one jackbag was using a hack of some sort, because he would seriously shot over or around or through hills to hit people. Anyway I went from near the bottom on points in arcade to the top of the leaders board in realistic battles. I like my stug, but man is it a bitch to position for good shots in hilly terrain.
I've never been a victim of some sort of hack. But you'll never Know. Anyway the reason why keep playing arcade is that the wait time is significantly less and I can respawn as well. In realistic, you fly great distances the you die in seconds. not that it's not good but for me it wastes my limited playing time. Hehe.
I haven't done a bunch of flying outside of practice flights. I'm amassing enough spawn points playing a tank during a realistic match to spawn on average 3 times. I haven't found wait times to be too bad for realistic battles in the evening, but I'm sure it's all based off of regional peak times.
Quote from: Bison on January 26, 2015, 09:38:16 PM
Mostly I got sick of the over the hills, through rocks and trees kills that people were getting on me in arcade mode. I'm not sure it was a hack so much as the use of green, yellow, and red indicators on the cross hairs. OK. I'm pretty sure one jackbag was using a hack of some sort, because he would seriously shot over or around or through hills to hit people.
There are some spots where rounds can fly through the terrain. I've usually noticed it near areas where the huge boulders and the regular terrain are near each other. I think it's more an issue of the collision detection on certain map locations.
Of course, when all your opponent must do is aim below your name tag and move the magic crosshair around until it lights up, then they will be able to find those little slivers of space much more easily.
I don't mind playing Arcade Battles in the aircraft but I can't stand the aim crosshair cheat for Arcade Ground Forces. That's just too much.
Quote from: Bison on January 26, 2015, 11:16:52 PM
I haven't done a bunch of flying outside of practice flights. I'm amassing enough spawn points playing a tank during a realistic match to spawn on average 3 times. I haven't found wait times to be too bad for realistic battles in the evening, but I'm sure it's all based off of regional peak times.
I'm talking about air battles.
Quote from: jomni on January 27, 2015, 12:23:09 AM
Quote from: Bison on January 26, 2015, 11:16:52 PM
I haven't done a bunch of flying outside of practice flights. I'm amassing enough spawn points playing a tank during a realistic match to spawn on average 3 times. I haven't found wait times to be too bad for realistic battles in the evening, but I'm sure it's all based off of regional peak times.
I'm talking about air battles.
I know. How about mixed battles? Or do you not like the tank combat?
There are mixed battles?
Quote from: Nefaro on January 27, 2015, 12:18:57 AM
Quote from: Bison on January 26, 2015, 09:38:16 PM
Mostly I got sick of the over the hills, through rocks and trees kills that people were getting on me in arcade mode. I'm not sure it was a hack so much as the use of green, yellow, and red indicators on the cross hairs. OK. I'm pretty sure one jackbag was using a hack of some sort, because he would seriously shot over or around or through hills to hit people.
There are some spots where rounds can fly through the terrain. I've usually noticed it near areas where the huge boulders and the regular terrain are near each other. I think it's more an issue of the collision detection on certain map locations.
Of course, when all your opponent must do is aim below your name tag and move the magic crosshair around until it lights up, then they will be able to find those little slivers of space much more easily.
I don't mind playing Arcade Battles in the aircraft but I can't stand the aim crosshair cheat for Arcade Ground Forces. That's just too much.
Exactly. I'm not sure how anyone finds joy out of exploiting a bug or game feature. Just sit in the same spot for 15-20 minutes at a time and shoot the poor bastard who cross over the hills and through the woods to the magical kill spot. Those people suck.
Quote from: jomni on January 27, 2015, 07:03:34 AM
There are mixed battles?
Yeah. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I have flown a plane and driven a tank in the same battle.
Quote from: Bison on January 26, 2015, 09:38:16 PM
I don't understand all of the research and crew training aspects yet, but it's still good fun.
A tip I can give on the research, though this has a more profound effect at higher tiers: sometimes you will be super close to unlocking a module (18924/19000) and it will cost like 5 gold eagles to unlock. If you unlock with eagles you don't have to pay the lion cost, and can essentially convert your eagles to lions at considerable higher than the exchange rate. If you have a few eagles laying around, I think it is worth it. A module that costs 30k lions, a battle earlier, for 2 eagles? Sounds good!
As for the crew skills, I highly suggest you research on the WT forums and find out what ones currently have an effect. That has been changing over time, but its pretty darn important not to be dumping points into a skill that isn't doing anything. For example, I think leadership is now working, but I don't know the significance of the effect. Is it worth waiting for the 300 point 49/50 for reloading before going 30-35 on leadership for the same points? Is my tank already at its maximum reload speed? Does driving have any effect if you manually switch gears? Who knows! :) That is certainly one area they could improve upon.
Quote from: Bison on January 27, 2015, 07:04:29 AM
Quote from: jomni on January 27, 2015, 07:03:34 AM
There are mixed battles?
Yeah. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I have flown a plane and driven a tank in the same battle.
Sim Battles has both.
Of course, you'll have issues controlling an aircraft in Sim mode without getting it all set up. Tanks are no problem on the other hand, there being no separate control scheme to mess with (it's all UI related changes).
I tend to just run a tank in Sim Battles and pass on respawning in an aircraft after I'm dead. I think a lot of people do that because they likewise avoid the aircraft in Sim Mode, probably giving up on trying to tweak the flight control schemes as I did.
EDIT: You can also mix them in Realistic Battles, but they cost a lot in Respawn Points.
one of the great mysteries: can anyone explain how the BR system works for two tanks in the .6 range, the third outside? I understand how 1 tank in the range works, ie, 7.0,5.0,5.0 is equivalent to (7+6.4)/2, and I understand 3 tanks in the range, but what about 2? What if you have 7.0,6.7,5? Does that count as (7.0+6.4)/2? Due to rounding up, this matters vs 7.0,6.7,6.7. Not a huge deal, but I think it would be nice to minimize BR until vehicles have a repair kit+fire suppression. I would much rather increase my odds of a "fair" fight and have a semi-junker as my 3rd. Not too many times one guy is going to turn a loss into a win, by himself, based on his 3rd tank.
http://warthunder.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_Rating_Calculation
They've changed the match-making calculations so many times, I've lost track of how it's done.
I generally just try to place a battle rating ceiling based on the main tank or aircraft I want to fly first in the match and then put in other stuff with the same or lower BR after establishing that.
I've got a small sample size, but if t32 is my top at 7.0, I find that I'm facing is-4 and t54s way more than I would like, which is never. T32 is pretty much dumpster tier, even after the shell change. Granted, I have like no modules unlocked, but the main issue is penetration and that the supposedly (by the numbers) god mantlet gets owned by the 122 RNG. My m46 at 6.7 seems to get way better matchups, so if there is any way to get my overall BR at 6.7 with one 7.0 tank, one 6.7 tank, I would love to give that a whirl for a change.
Quote from: Dread Rlyeh on January 27, 2015, 06:22:50 PM
I've got a small sample size, but if t32 is my top at 7.0, I find that I'm facing is-4 and t54s way more than I would like, which is never. T32 is pretty much dumpster tier, even after the shell change. Granted, I have like no modules unlocked, but the main issue is penetration and that the supposedly (by the numbers) god mantlet gets owned by the 122 RNG. My m46 at 6.7 seems to get way better matchups, so if there is any way to get my overall BR at 6.7 with one 7.0 tank, one 6.7 tank, I would love to give that a whirl for a change.
That wiki link says they only count BRs within 0.6 for the average. So you'd probably have to use your T32 with BR 7.0 and two with BR 6.4 or 6.5 to average it down. I don't think the game has that many tanks in one nation, with those BRs. Only 6.3 which is too low to be counted along with the 7.0. Maybe one 6.5 but you would need two of those to make the average 6.7.