Economy Suggestion: RP Discount for Previously-Played Import/Export Vehicles
In recent updates, War Thunder has seen a significant increase in import/export vehicles — essentially identical or nearly identical platforms being added to multiple nations’ tech trees. While this adds historical and gameplay diversity, it can also feel repetitive and grind-heavy for long-time players.
Problem:
Players are often asked to grind the same vehicle multiple times across different nations. For example, a player may have already fully researched and played a specific F-5 variant in the US tree, only to encounter nearly the same aircraft again in the Chinese or German tree — with no research benefit from their prior experience. This repetition can feel tedious and unrewarding.
Suggested Solution: Cross-Nation RP Discounts for Duplicate Vehicles
Introduce a progressive RP discount system for vehicles that are functionally identical or share the same base model (e.g., F-5 variants, T-55 tanks, etc.), across different tech trees.
Mechanics:
Base Discount: If a player has fully researched and spaded a vehicle (or a very similar variant) in one nation, they receive a 20% RP discount when unlocking that vehicle in another nation.
Extra Bonus: If the player has also completed the same or nearly identical vehicle in a third tree, they gain an additional 10% RP discount, totaling up to 30% RP reduction for subsequent unlocks of the same platform.
Discounts would apply to both RP required to unlock the vehicle and RP required to spade modules (optional, but recommended).
Eligibility Criteria:
Vehicles must share the same chassis/frame/platform and be functionally very similar.
Examples:
F-5E in USA, China, and Germany.
T-55 in USSR, East Germany, and Finland.
Leopard 2A4 variants across Germany, Sweden, and Italy.
Benefits:
Reduces grind fatigue for experienced players without harming progression balance.
Encourages tech tree diversity by making it more appealing to play multiple nations without feeling like you’re “repeating the grind”.
Rewards investment: Gives a tangible benefit to players who have already spent time learning and mastering a vehicle.
Maintains fairness: New players will still grind normally, while veterans are rewarded for their experience.
This system could help make War Thunder’s increasingly diverse tech trees more enjoyable, fair, and rewarding — especially as more “copy-paste” vehicles are added in the future.
Might be a hard task to decide how close the vehicles have to be to count as copies and thus gain the bonus.
One question: Would this bonus apply only cross nation or within one nation as well?
A bit of an “up the walls” example would be something like the JA37C compared to JA37D Which are Identical except for the fact that the D version gets one new IR missile. They are counted as different vehicles and both needs to be ground out to progress the Tree (not foldered). Should those get the discount even if it’s within the same tree or does the proposed bonus only apply cross nations?
There are likely going to be vehicles that are more different across nations than some others are within one tree but the cross nation vehicles would be viewed as copy paste while the within trees wouldn’t (for the sake of this proposed bonus)? (or would this proposal also include vehicles within the same nation as well?)
Don’t get me wrong, i really like the idea, i’m just having trouble seeing the practical application and where the line would be drawn for which vehicles get the bonus and which ones don’t.
This sounds like a good idea I.E. Magach/M48/M60/T-/54/55/T-72/M4 Sherman/Centurion, would save a lot of time for people who want to grind new trees like France, Italy Sweden & Japan
Excuse me for the confusion.
It also is meant within the nation itself.
To clarify something else as well: the vehicle bonus counts for the vehicle. E.g. JA37C and JA37D they are both JA37 variants. So everything from the base model, so all JA37 variants get the discount.
Another example, Ki-44-II and Ki-44-III, they are both Ki-44 variants, thus the discount applies.
By giving players this discount, more people play more nations, more vehicles and play with more mechanics/weaponry all round, which results in more statistics and thus better balancing of the vehicles.
I’m not sure unlocking a variant of the same plane that actually has some performance differences (Whether better or worse) world make sense on the wider scale of the game.
These changes are usually slight.
A different missle which you only unlock at a rank IV modification is playing the same vehicle all over again but then with a better reward at the end.
Same can be said with the T-34 variants.
Like the T-34-85. But these changes are to big. So a T-34 gets discounts, not the T-34-85. Only T-34-85 variants get discounted when you have the T-34-85.