Discussion regarding the Netherlands and Belgium getting added to France

Game Discussion General Discussion
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I want to start of by saying that I am happy to see the BeNeLux make an apearance in a huge game like War Thunder. Belgium and the Netherlands have lots of very unique things to offer for the game and I cannot wait to see what the future will hold.
I wanted to say this first since the rest of this thread can be interpreted in a very negative way.

So thanks to the recent update trailer and the latest dev blog news, we now know the BeNeLux is being added in the next update to the French techtree.

I wanted to create a thread regarding this, and get some opinions rolling.
Having worked on the Dutch and BeNeLux fan made techtrees for years now, I feel like I should share my views on the matter and make this post as a discussion thread to see what others think.

My main point is to point out some of the things that bother me when looking at it.

So the vehicles shown to us are as follows:

Netherlands

Belgium

  • Gladiator Mk.I
  • Spitfire FR Mk.XIVe
  • Meteor Mk.8
  • Mirage 5BA
  • F-104G
  • F-16A
  • F-16AM

My first concern is the lack of unique vehicles. We have just one, the Fokker G.1 Mercury. All of the other aircraft shown are foreign models that are already present ingame.

The same has happend with Hungary that was added to Italy. Pretty much all of it has been “copy paste”. And personally I find this very dissapointing and looks rather lazy to me. We already have the Fokker D.21 model in the game (The Finnish variant). The Dutch used the D.21 a lot too, and the ingame D.21 model could have just been edited slightly to turn it into the Dutch variant. So why is the D.21 missing?

Another huge missed oppertunity is the various Belgian Renard fighters. These are very powerfull and cool aircraft, and yet not even a single one is present.

Renard R.36 Version 1
Renard R.36 Version 2
Renard R.37
Renard R.38
Renard R.40

The next point is the odd balance between Dutch and Belgian vehicles. There are three Dutch aircraft, and seven Belgian onces. If the focus is on Belgium, why bother adding the Dutch really? The Dutch aircraft could easily be replaced with Belgian counterparts.

To make it balanced all that has to be done is just have one of the F-16’s be a Dutch one, and also make the F-104G a Dutch one. Now you have a 5 to 5 balance without changing anything really.

Personally I don’t like the Dutch getting added to France at all. There is no historical connection between the Netherlands and France.
The only things I can think of is that the Dutch used the AMX-13-105 and AMX-VCI for some time. (Most crews disliked the AMX-13 because it was to small)

I’m not against adding Belgium to France. That makes sense and Belgian vehicles fit the French style. But the Dutch just don’t fit in. Add on top of that that the Dutch are only getting three aircraft added and Belgium gets seven. At this point just don’t include the Dutch.

The only reason I can think of to add the Dutch is for their Leopard 2 MBT’s for the ground forces, since Belgium has no MBT’s. But last I checked, French players wanted the Leclercs to be buffed, and to add more of them. Not get some copy paste Leopard 2’s.

My final conclusion of what has been shown up till now is that all of this looks very lazy to me. We got one unique aircraft in a techtree where it shouldn’t be, and the rest are all copy pastes.
I think that with only a very minimal ammount of extra work, this sub-tree could have been much better. Ofcourse I am excited what the future will hold for the BeNeLux, and I hope that future updates will focus entirely on unique vehicles.

Here are some polls so people can easily share their opinions on the matter.

What do you think of the Netherlands being added to France?
  • I see no problem.
  • It shouldn’t be added to France.
0 voters
What do you think of Belgium being added to France?
  • I see no problem.
  • It shouldn’t be added to France.
0 voters
Does the lack of unique vehicles bother you?
  • Yes.
  • No.
0 voters
In the grand sheme of things, do you think France should be getting these BeNeLux vehicles?
  • Yes, I think they will be good additions.
  • No, France should get more of their own vehicles added.
0 voters
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Can someone compare the differences between the 2 new f16s we are getting vs the f16c? Like armament and systems and such? All ive heard is one might get maws

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My general thoughts:

  • Benelux has too many gaps to be its own nation, I agree with Gaijin on this.
  • I agree that the Netherlands doesn’t have much of a connection to France. During the Second World War, they were closer to the UK and during the Cold War up to now they are closer to Germany.
  • While the Netherlands couldn’t really offer much for Germany in the ground tree, it could be a very valuable addition for air, helis, and naval which are all lacking in various degrees for Germany.
  • Belgium on the other hand, makes a lot of sense for France and I doubt many would dispute that.
  • Luxembourg basically don’t have an army except for some armoured trucks with HMGs on them, I’m wondering why they are being included at all.
  • It should have been at least 50% unique vehicles, especially when there are some very interesting potential additions.
  • I still think the subtree is an interesting addition, even though France has domestic vehicles which could fill any role the Benelux vehicles could.
  • Ultimately I think it should have been Belgium as a standalone subtree for France rather than Benelux.
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This is a increasing trend lately. South-africa was pretty unique then finland with some unique vehicles, then hungary with mostly CP despite the fact they had so many domestic options. And then hungarian airforce that was purely C&P.

Gaijin is getting way too used to C&P to solve any problems. Completely ignoring if other nations had domestic stuff that was better even!

We cant let this continue!

Gaijin has to stop this trend, its ruining nation identity with using C&P as a coping mechanism for players that are suffering lineup wise, just eat this up. Since what are they going to do? Complain. Yea been there done that myself!

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