Italy or France?

Howdy everyone! I’m thinking about starting a new nations air TT. I’m almost done with the US and have done some good chunks of some other nations as well. However I’m thinking about starting and trying to finish another nation. I’ve picked Italy and France as the 2 I want to try, however I don’t know which one I want to do. Both have some diversity in the aircraft available at higher tiers.

Personally I’m leaning to Italy right now, however don’t want to make the wrong decision between the two. So I’ve decided to ask the war thunder community. Oh, also I’ll need advice for what premium plane to buy to grind out the tree. Thanks!

I don’t have much experience with france but they have some alright planes, i personally don’t like Italy that much, rank III Italy is brutal for air RB, they climb horribly but are fast and have good guns, if you can get to altitude in a C.202EC or C.205N2 you can eviscerate someone

If your interest is mostly top tier. Then Id lean towards France.

Whilst Italy has some good, unique stuff like the Tornado ADV and the Hungarian stuff. Vehicles like the AV-8B+ and F-16A can already be found on the US tree.

Whilst the French tree is mostly unique except for the Belgium F-16.

Also you have to consider which you want first. Typhoon or Rafale. As hopefully they’ll be coming sooner rather than later.

For Premiums

France is easy. Mirage F1C-200 is exceptionally good.

Italy… I would not reocmmend the AMX A-1A currently. Its a 10.7 aircraft, maybe 11.0. But they refused to drop it down from 11.3. The F-104 premium I think is an okay base bomber, but not that great.

(might be worth waiting to see if either get a new premium next major though before you decide and there should be a sale on for the aniversary soon-ish (Nov I think)

Okay, thank you!!

Hmm ok. I’m not only interested in top tier, however it would be the end goal.

I’m not specifically interested in unique vehicles, but more of being able to fly vehicles from multiple nations without having to grind them all.

That’s one of the big things that has made France my other option. While it’s not as diverse it has a lot of its own aircraft.

To be honest, idk which one is better. I don’t really care right now though 😂🤷

Yeah, I almost picked that up. Wish I had now to be honest. Sadly I picked up the F-5C instead and I’ve been have some struggles with it.

I have heard that the 104 is absolutely garbage. And I’ve flown against it and all it seems to have is speed. I’ve heard that it’s really bad. However I have heard better things for the AMX.

Yeah that’s a good idea too. I wouldn’t be starting this until at least December, hoping for one of them to be on sale. No matter what though I’d have to wait until whatever I decide on is on sale.

Take an A-10 late. Halve its AAMs, Quarter its CMs, reduce its max A2G payload, give it a worse gun but make it a little faster and then increase its BR to 11.3 and you’ll get something akin to the AMX A-1A. the TT AMX i think its pretty good though at 10.7.

Always the Typhoon ;)

As for none top tier stuff. Im working on the French tree becuase things like the Mirage III and Super Eterndard are kinda interesting to me. As well as a few of the other bits and pieces around that BR like the F-84 and Vautour. (also the actually good Hunter F6 would be fun) (also as a Brit main, I will already get a Typhoon, so a Rafale alt would be kinda interseting)

But Italy. I grabbed the AMX on the sale because I was hoping for a BR drop for it and then it would be really fun in Sim. But probably not going to touch it now its not. A few interseting aircraft like the AV-8B+ , G.91 or even the F-104s but I dont overly have a huge interest for the soviet stuff. (though I do recommend the Gripen, it is a blast, especially as it will have decent ARH missiles over the R-Darters on the SAAF one)

So Italy is Some italian stuff, but quite a bit US and Soviet stuff, with the odd bit of British thrown in.

France is mostly french, with a bit of US and a bit of Britain thrown in.

But yeah, tough call. I would be inclined to see if Italy gets a better Premium as that would perhaps change the equation quite a bit.

Hmm… That’s a good point. Bug still between the 2 options I feel like it’s the better one. I mean, can the 104 even kill a base anymore?

Lol ok

I’m hoping to buy it on sale too, but only if I have the money laying around and if they don’t get any new grinders. I have interests in Russian, British, Swedish and American aircraft and they have them all.

Mhm

Yeah. Idk, it’s just the diversity I could get from Italy that is making it so hard.

If you or anyone reading this knows if France could possibly get some migs or gripens, I might have to go with France

104 can be useful for base bombing, it’s hard to avoid radar missiles in it though, but since F-14s get br increase it should be in a bit better spot now.

Hmm ok. Does ground pounding in the AMX seem to pay off?

Italy has some fun low tier props and a very diverse set of top tier jets of which are some of the best or are at least equal(except the F104) honestly imo it depends on your play style but italy air is just solid all arouns and for new players it offers the most options when it comes to different playstyles and vehilces options for top tier.

France is good but rough at points most of their export fighters from the US are either on par or generally much worse and they have quite a few really fun vehicles with interesting playstyle not to mention a very unique set of top tier air vehilces that arent available elsewhere unless you count the few on isreal which are upgrades. Regardless they like italy have a pretty good array of platforms but some early 10.x fighters are very reliant on their missiles over their flight performance which can be rough. Additionally both nations have more top tier stuff to come and France has a ton more jet wise to add as they went crazy with their mirages and just made so many prototypes.

Hmm okay. Thank you.

I have gotten through what I’m thinking are most of the harder times. I have up to rank 5 in it.

Yeah. It’s mainly diversity though that I am looking for. But at the same time I like the appeal of France because of it’s uniqueness.

Has Napalm, should be able to.

Ok, but didn’t they just nerf napalm?

They just massively buffed napalm vs bases (unless I missed something)

Oh okay. Maybe it’ll end up being a lot better now, especially with BR changes

Yep, From what I know, you can make the F-104S TAF work as a base bomber. Its not the best, but its usable.

Yeah. Thanks for your advice! One more thing, do you think it could take out 2 bases?

Going by:

No, only one. But… this doesnt take into account the napalm buffs (as it was made before the changes and is being updated) . so shall leave that to someone else to confirm or deny

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Okay thank you!!

I enjoyed it in ground RB with its good thermals, but it sucks in uptiers because of Pantsirs. If you want it specifically for GRB, you shouldn’t put AMV and 2A7HU into line up. In general Centauro 120 and AMX A-1A is a pretty good combo.
In air RB it’s too slow for base bombing, but sometimes it vice versa can help to survive) I honestly haven’t played premium one much in air battles, but regular AMX feels overall ok (it is at lower br on the other hand), although for base bombing Tornado and Su-22M3 are way better.