War Thunder Ground Forces is testing hardcore sim mode this weekend

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 17, 2015, 01:56:56 PM

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.)

Slick Wilhelm · January 17, 2015, 08:24:26 PM

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?

Nefaro · 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. 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.

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. ::)

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 17, 2015, 08:31:43 PM

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.

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 17, 2015, 08:33:32 PM

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.

endfire79 · January 17, 2015, 09:04:08 PM

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.

GDS_Starfury · 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. ::)

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 17, 2015, 09:36:49 PM

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.

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 17, 2015, 09:58:43 PM

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"

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 17, 2015, 10:21:03 PM

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.

endfire79 · January 17, 2015, 11:45:42 PM

Turrent waltzing with a Tiger - definitely a great show :)

Hey SDR, what`s your username?

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 17, 2015, 11:48:33 PM

Mugwump

Nefaro · January 18, 2015, 12:36:22 AM

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.

Nefaro · January 19, 2015, 01:07:39 PM

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.

Nefaro · January 19, 2015, 02:36:12 PM

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.