Meet Major Update “Air Superiority”!

Welcome to Air Superiority!

We’re ending 2023 in style with the awesome Air Superiority major update. Top-tier jets have been added to several nations, some of which include the F-15, the Su-27 and J-11, the Mirage 4000, plus the JAS39. We’ve introduced Rank VIII for ground vehicles, and subsequently new tanks: M1A2 SEP2, Leopard 2A7V, T-90M, VT-4A1, Strv 122B+ and Challenger 3 (TD)! The USA gets the brilliant USS Roanoke and a few other ships come in for other nations, while Volcano Valley is here for aircraft, set in the beautiful peninsula landscapes of Russia. The ability to use universal backups while in battle and tutorial missions for using aircraft missiles have also been added, and we’ve reworked all types of fire graphics for vehicles and burning buildings to make them look better in general.

There’s dozens of bug fixes, changes and additional new vehicles, so read on to find out what it’s all about.

Ground Vehicles: Rank VIII & several modern MBTs!

One of the main highlights of this major update is the introduction of Rank VIII for ground forces! A new rank means new vehicles of course, so you’ll be able to get your hands on the M1A2 SEP2, T-90M, Challenger 3 (TD), Leopard 2A7V, VT-4A1 and Strv 122B+! Want to research Britain and America’s new tank faster? Check out the premium M1A1 HC Click-Bait pack for the USA and the Challenger 2 (OES) for Britain. Oh, and some Rank VII vehicles have also moved up to Rank VIII for all nations — overall, there’s 11 new ground vehicles that have been added — check them out!

M1A1 HC “Click-Bait” Pack

THIS PACK INCLUDES:

  • M1A1 HC “Click-Bait” (Rank 7, USA)
  • Premium account for 20 days
  • 2500 Golden Eagles

69.99

T-90M

M1A2 SEP V2

Leopard 2A7V

Challenger 3 TD

USA

Germany

USSR

Great Britain

China

Israel

  • M109A1 Roshev
  • M113A1 TOW

Italy

  • Tigris (Premium)

Japan

  • Type 99

France

  • TPK 6.41 VPC

Sweden

Aircraft: The F-15, Su-27, Mirage 4000 and JAS39 are here to shine!

Hear the sound of an eagle? That’s the F-15 Eagle! Say hello to new top-tier jets — the awesome F-15 comes in for the USA (F-15A), Japan (F-15J), and Israel (F-15A), and the USSR gets the Su-27 and China gets the J-11 equivalent. The nimble Gripen is also here, with JAS39A for Sweden and South Africa’s JAS39C for Britain, while France gets the large and dual-engine Mirage 4000. In addition to this, the awesome AMX for Italy, a cockpit remake for the Firefly FR Mk.V, and the handy Tornado IDS WTD 61 premium pack for Germany that’s great for ground attacks. Check them out!

Tornado IDS WTD 61 Pack

The Kit Includes:

  • Tornado IDS WTD 61 (Rank VII, Germany)
  • 2500 Golden Eagles
  • Premium account for 20 days

69.99

F-15A

JAS39

USA

  • F-15A
  • PBY-5/5a (model update for the entire line)

Germany

Great Britain

  • Firefly FR Mk.V (Cockpit update)
  • JAS39C

USSR

  • SU-27

Japan

Sweden

China

  • J-11

Israel

Italy

  • AMX

France

Naval Vehicles: The Devastating USS Roanoke!

5 nations have now received interesting naval vessels each — one in particular is the USS Roanoke, which is perfect for engaging with surface targets as well as air targets. France and Italy get a Rank V premium Battleship, the Courbet and RN Leonardo da Vinci, bringing their naval premiums up to par with other nations. Britain and Japan also get an interesting ship each, but be sure to check out the full list below!

USS Roanoke

USA

Japan

  • Asagao

USSR

  • Novorossiysk

Italy

  • RN Leonardo da Vinci (Premium)

Great Britain

  • HMS Orion

France

  • Courbet (Premium)
  • Vauquelin

Locations & Missions: Volcano Valley!

Volcano Valley is a new location for aircraft battles. Inspired by the nature of Kamchatka which is a peninsula located at the very edge of Russia, this new map offers you beautiful scenery including erupting volcanoes and a lovely river. In addition to this, Hürtgen Forest has received some changes based on your feedback, so be sure to check both of these out and let us know what you think.

Volcano Valley

Roadmap Additions: Login through WT Mobile!

Are you currently on a high login streak but worried about losing it, perhaps you’re on vacation without a PC or your WiFi has gone down? Not to worry any longer, as one of the final Roadmap changes which is being able to login to WT Mobile to continue your login streak has been added. Simply log into WT Mobile with your Gaijin account and your login streak on the PC version of War Thunder will continue without an issue.

You can also check out the latest Roadmap news that we published earlier this week here.

New Mechanics, Fire Graphics & Awards!

We’ve now added the ability for you to activate universal backups in the respawn window while in a battle, meaning you won’t need to activate them before the battle begins. We’ve also added some sweet new achievements, including the “Peaceful Atom” one that you can get for shooting down a nuclear-bomb aircraft that hasn’t yet dropped its bomb. For buildings and vehicles, fire graphics have been reworked and look better in general. The full list of new mechanics, graphics and rewards are in the major changelog.

Training Tutorials for using Aircraft Missiles to help enhance your gameplay!

With the addition of many different types of missiles to the game, keeping up with what exactly they do, or how they work can be difficult. In this major, we’ve added Training Missions for jet aircraft that you can access through the modification window by clicking on the Test button on a missile that you’ve researched. These missions are specifically for air-to-surface missiles with manual guidance, as well as air-to-air missiles with an infrared seeker. In these missions are step-by-step instructions on what controls to use so that you can learn exactly how to fire missiles, so make sure to take advantage of this!

There’s plenty more to look through

Major updates mean many changes, and that’s exactly the case here. Some gun sounds have had a revision and sound richer, fly-past sounds have been greatly improved, a new voice narrator has been added to some top-tier Chinese aircraft, and tank crews from several nations have received new voice acting. Most importantly, there’s a huge list of bug fixes. The full list of changes is in the major changelog, so be sure to have a look to see what’s changed! That’s it for 2023 in terms of major updates for War Thunder — thank you and enjoy.

Download the update and join the battle!

4 Likes

There is so much logic in making the Hungarian Tiger, premium, when it is not a captured vehicle, not a never-delivered vehicle, not a, only training vehicle. You could have made the Tiger H a premium which the Italian crewman trained on but never fought on, instead of the Hungarian-used Tiger E … because this makes no fuckin sense and is not in line with previous rules of what becomes a premium and what, not.

So much logic, so much greed.
You had to squeeze the Hungarians and Italians further so that they gonna have to buy the sole heavy tank in the Italian tree.

But…thumbs up for giving it the add-on armor.

6 Likes

I was looking forward to this update, I really was…

Instead I came across:

-Challenger 3 having 100+mm less KE on the turret cheeks than Challenger 2 despite being the same composition except even more angled.

-No Challenger 2/3 armor corrections.

-2019 Leopard 2A7V still having worse hull armor than 1997 Strv 122.

-M1A2 SEP and SEPv2 still having the export Swedish trials M1A2 armor (including 1979’s M1 hull).

-No Leclerc armor, rate of fire or shell fixes, changes or spall liners.

-No Merkava Mk.4 armor fixes spall liners.

This is extremely, incredibly disappointing.


Just to add something positive in order not to be fully negative about the update, I am still happy for stock APFSDS for Rank VIII MBTs and I appreciate the SL and GE refunds for the removed weapons and modifications. The new backups system is an improvement, too.

Speaking of which… why do the Challenger 2s still have L23A1? Shouldn’t they get L26, the equivalent of DM33, 3BM42, etc?


EDIT: Challenger 3 TD’s cheeks have been hotfixed!

I am very happy with the speed at which this specific issue was addresed.

Leopard 2A7V and M1A2 SEPv2 are still a big mess, but at least now I can grind and look forward for Challenger 3 TD, hahah (even if many issues still persists with CR3 and the 2s, at least this one was addressed quickly!)

10 Likes

Cause no heat got to make something stock

All other nations have got M829, DM33 and 3BM42 and equivalents as stock shells, but the Challenger 2s, instead of getting L26 (the equivalent shell for those), still retains L23A1.

image-10-1
Arma3-render-tigrishex
I know Italy mains has cried for a new SPAA for so long but uh, thanks for the fictional SPAA?
XDDD

2 Likes

Yep bettet then heat i guess

There’s been a lot of critiques of this update (and I have quite a few too), but allow me to make a positive comment for once. I think it’s important to give credit for the things that are done right.

The AMX Ghibli looks amazing, and it feels good in the test flight. I can already tell it’s going to be a fun aircraft. Thanks for putting it at a reasonable BR of 10.3, it compliments the ground lineup well! It brings a lot to the table with laser guided bombs, ample countermeasures, and a quite solid flight performance for it’s BR. I think it compares well with the A-6 TRAM in USA.

The updated Italian 3-Color camouflage is also pretty cool! Much improved from what it used to be.

The TPK 6.41 AA truck is nice, dual Oerlikon KAD 20mm goes hard. There’s now lots of AA options in French 5.0-5.3, it’s good to see. Also, let me just say the test drive looks much better now. The additional small details along with the mountains in the background add a lot to the atmosphere. These quality of life changes are also important, so kudos to those who worked on it!

The Type 99 looks cool, I love the Type 75 SPH (who doesn’t) and this looks like a worthy successor. To be fair there’s not many lineup options at 7.0, but this thing looks pretty “up-tier proof” so it could be worth bringing at 7.3, 7.7 etc. aswell. The 14kg TNT equivalent on the L15A2 shell is quite something, along with the 7.5 second reload.

While it’s introduction is far from flawless, I must say it’s good to finally see the Gripen! I’m happy that it received HMD. I’m looking forward to flying it myself.

Backups now being consumable from the in-match respawn screen is also a huge improvement, it has to be said. Now players can use their backups when they really need them, and on the right vehicles. Pretty cool.

Look’s like someone forgot about hatches
777
02

Would love to see more aircraft added in future updates. Worth looking into stuff like the Mirage III-O and Avon Sabre for Britain under an Australian version.

the problem as far as I’m concerned is that the Centaur II for Italy is missing, otherwise I was fine with the update

Guess I’ll wait to hear about the Abrams Hull armor finally getting fixed and Spall liners being added to the NATO vehicles…

And thanks for weighing the SEPV2 Abrams down with the permanent modification that everyone removed from the SEP because it’s useless in Warthunder.

gg

3 Likes

What’s going on with the researched modifications?
I’ve played with and has researched to R-24 AAMs on my MiG-23MLA, but ever since the update dropped, it just makes me research from R-23 all the way to R-24 again, why couldn’t I just keep the missiles if I have already researched it?
Before:


After:


Wrong image paste but this is the after update mods of my plane

F15a still under powered what is going on with these devs

1 Like

From what ive seen no

I don’t want to say things already writte…but why C1 Ariete don’t have kevlar armor??

I know it’s not an official information, but it’s not my fault if evrything italian is a State secret, but hey, let’s just use propaganda to implements russian units.
plus NATO thermals sucks for no reason

2 Likes

Can someone tell me why We need to spend 400,000 RP and 1,100,000 SL just to research ARAT2 and a CROWS?

4 Likes

Full changelog looks spectacular, + all of the bug fixes came as a great surprise. Well done.

Nows heres just needing the correct armor changes/fair balancing to NATO tanks they deserve. Eagerly awaiting the results! Until then, ill just wait before I play again

2 Likes

Because gaijin doesnt take the extra 5 seconds to admit that Western vs Eastern thermals have different meanings by their levels.

Grade 2 Russian thermals = Grade 1 US thermals, so on and so forth.

The US “gen 2” thermals should be russian 3+ or 3.5

This isnt obscure knowledge

9 Likes