[Feedback] Excessive radar multipath effect at low altitude – negative impact on gameplay

Machinery of War Discussion Aircraft
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Summary

Currently, the radar multipath effect in War Thunder appears to be overstated, leading to unrealistic behavior and negatively impacting gameplay balance between aircraft and AA/SAM systems, especially at high BRs.

Expected behavior (realism)

In real-world conditions:

  • Multipath degrades tracking quality, but does not make aircraft invisible
  • Modern radars with:
    • Pulse-Doppler
    • Look-down / shoot-down
    • Advanced clutter filtering
      are still able to maintain target tracking, albeit with reduced accuracy
  • The effect strongly depends on:
    • altitude
    • terrain type
    • radar frequency band
    • radar mode (TWS, STT)

Current in-game behavior

In War Thunder, the following issues are frequently observed:

  • Aircraft flying at ~10–30 meters above ground become nearly immune to radar tracking
  • SARH and ARH missiles:
    • lose lock without evasive maneuvers
    • miss targets flying straight and level
  • Modern SAM systems (e.g. Pantsir, Buk, Tor, Samp/T) lose effectiveness even at short to medium ranges
  • Flying extremely low has become a dominant, low-risk tactic

Gameplay issues

  • Balance problems at high BR
  • Encouragement of unrealistic tactics:
    • low-altitude rushing
    • suicide base attacks
  • Reduced tactical value of:
    • radar systems
    • SAM platforms
    • radar-guided missiles
  • The mechanic shifts from a realistic countermeasure to a gameplay exploit

Suggestions for improvement

Possible adjustments that could improve both realism and balance:

  1. Reduce multipath strength below ~20 m altitude
  2. Differentiate multipath effects based on:
  • flat terrain
  • urban environments
  • water surfaces
  1. Provide clear advantages to:
  • Pulse-Doppler radars
  • Look-down capable modes
  1. Scale multipath effects according to:
  • radar frequency band
  • tracking mode (TWS vs STT)
  1. Make radar lock degradation gradual instead of instant

Conclusion

Multipath is an important and valid mechanic, but in its current state it is overperforming.
This negatively affects both realism and gameplay balance, particularly at top-tier battles.

A more refined implementation would make AA vs aircraft combat:

  • more technical
  • more fair
  • and better aligned with War Thunder’s simulation goals
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immune is a very strong word it has little to no effect on missiles coming from more than like 60 degrees above you

yes, intentionally so, because this is a game and without multipathing it would be BVR only (because half the air rb maps are flat (smolensk, denmark, moscow) and BVR is miserable to fight and boring to play

if every map has terrain on the level of pyrenees or afghanistan then it could be changed to realistic levels but every map being like that is just as unrealistic

warthunders goal isnt to be a simulation, its to be a game with accurate depictions of real life weapons and vehicles, if you want a simulator go play DCS

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goodluck playing at 14.3 against planes with 14 fox3’s without chaff and multipathing.
im not a fan of it but its easily countered

1 Like
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As long as the stock grind for top tiers doesnt change i’d rather not touch the multipath mechanics.

5

This “go play DCS” argument makes no sense.
Multipath is not a simulator feature, it’s basic radar physics.
If the game uses real-world radars, they should behave like real-world radars. Simple as that.

6

I get your point, and I agree that counterplay is necessary at top tier.
The issue isn’t the existence of multipath, but how it’s currently implemented.
At the moment it behaves like a binary switch that consistently defeats radar guidance just by flying low, regardless of geometry, closure rate, or radar type.
In reality, multipath is highly situational and depends on multiple factors.
A more accurate implementation would still allow low-altitude tactics, but without turning them into a universal hard counter.

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