[Should developers prioritize missile and radar modeling more?]
Yes
No
0voters
A great feature of War Thunder is the detail put into missiles and radars, but there are issues that have gone unfixed for an extended period of time.
Players and technical moderators have submitted many bug and historical reports on radars and missiles of every country, and general mechanics behind their modeling. These are sitting and collecting dust and not being prioritized.
A lot of hard work is being done to find sources and compile them into reports that fulfill the developer’s criterias only for it to not be implemented after years.
I’m making this thread for people to discuss improvements they would like to see made to radar / missile simulation in war thunder. Along with specific issues / bug reports they feel have been been neglected / forgotten about.
The SACLOS nerf murdered SAM SPAAs in Ground RB, and it is unfair because aircraft at Ground RB get to keep their unrealistic mouse aim which allows any pleb to fly like Tom Cruise, avoiding SAMs efortlessly all while maintaining guidance for PGMs.
IMO, missile physics should apply differently depending on the gamemode in order to keep the missile realism and performance in line with the aircraft. In each gamemode, SAMs should be balanced in a way where dodging them is possible, but difficult.
Arcade - missiles ignore almost all realism mechanics, including air drag and gravity. Missile guidance quality is perfect. This will allow very easy control of missiles which is good for players new for using SAMs. Aircraft at this mode do not compress on high speeds and can pull above 20G, so their movement is highly unpredictable, thus hitting them with a SAM isn’t a trivial task.
Realistic - missiles obey enviromental realism mechanics including gravity and air drag, but ignore mechanical realiam mechanics (ie: their guidance quality should be similar to before update Sky Guardians). Preferably, I’d like to apply full realism to ATGMs on this gamemode, keeping the SACLOS nerf for them specifically, as a nerf for ATGMs (in my opinion) was long overdue (looking at you BMP-1P and Marder A1-). SAMs, on the other hand, need to maintain good control in order to compensate for aircraft having access to the instructor-assisted mouse aim controls. As for air-to-ground SACLOS weapons, I’ll let the developers decide.
Simulator - all realism mechanics apply to all missiles with no exceptions, realism over accesability. Ground SB is a hardcore simulator enviroment, and thus missile performance should match accordingly. Aircraft no longer have access to the easy-mode mouse aim controls, now forced to be limited to cockpit view only and use the joystick. Thus, SAMs in this gamemode are far more powerful than in Ground RB and should also have all possible realism factors apply to them aswell.
And that’s only one of many issues still outstanding on the Red Top. It’s had a couple of buffs this update, but the seeker and aerodynamics are still both substantially under performing.
I cannot answer this poll cause we don’t know how much they’re prioritizing.
We obviously know it’s between “developing AESA & radars for upcoming aircraft” and “developing & fixing all issues with radars, including ground & sea search radars”
Even if you bother to grind out top tier SAMs like the VT1 carriers, ADATS, or even the Pantsir, the pull of the missiles makes you wonder why countries spent millions developing these things
Air RB:
Multipath propagation needs to be a bigger influence on radar missile behavior. Currently missiles act as if they have modern AESA radar guidance and resolution unless you’re really hugging the ground. That in combination with how terrible 16v16s are at the moment, makes top tier air more of an Ace Combat simulator rather than “realistic battles”. Adding what would effectively be an extra 500m of safe altitude would reduce the efficacy of PD radar missile spam and increase the the skill floor.
Not just Radar but their functionality as well, as many aircraft had a 2nd crew member to handle radar functions that are necessary for the aircraft to operate, yet in-game. None of these advantages are present making the aircraft night unplayable
From a realism point of view it should be the opposite (for some missiles at least) Skyflash for example should be able to reliably hit targets as low as 33 m. In game it is useless if the target is below something like 150 m.
Another thing to point out is that Mistrals and Stinger MANPADs were reported and have been going on for several months now sitting there. Basic functionalities are missing from some top tier radars that are available on others.
I’ve made a suggestion post to give 2 seater aircrafts mouse designated radar locks out to their max range (think HMD PD but longer ranged) to simulate the RIO/WSO doing his job for once, but I gotta wait for the post to be approved by mods.
I had originally included more things in the suggestion, such as crew skill changes, spotting advantages, etc… for 2 seater jets, but after waiting a month for it to be approved for discussion, the suggestion was denied due to having “too many suggestions at the same time”…
you’ve got it backwards. Multipath is absurd in-game atm. You BARELY have to be near the ground to gain its protection. Recent testing with the 7M has it completely unable to hit a target flying straight and supersonic until above 95m, which is ABSURD considering its min alt is 5m irl, the AIM-54C is also unable to hit anything sub 95m ish.
