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The Heavy Cavalry major update brings a variety of vehicles for all nations, from the Welkin and IA.58A Pucara to the new Abrams variants and USS North Carolina! For ground locations, we’ve improved the visuals of Ash River and Winter Ardennes, all while retaining their familiar layouts. Rewards for aircraft crashing near your vicinity without taking damage, new damage models and MFD screens, man-in-the-loop, and aiming points for salvo firing are some of the features that we’ve worked on in this update to help improve several quality of life aspects of the game.
Be sure to check out the changelog to see all the improvements, vehicles and other features that we’ve included in this major update.
Please note that this update requires more data to be downloaded than usual. About 20 GB more for the standard client and 35 GB more for clients with ultra-high quality for ground vehicle textures. This is because we have changed the compression format of all ground vehicle textures, helping to improve their quality without virtually any increase in the total size of the textures.
Ground Vehicles: New Abrams Variants & An Indonesian Tank!
In Heavy Cavalry, the US and Great Britain get two Abrams each. For the US, the formidable M1A2 SEPv3 and M1A2 (Trophy-HV) have been added to the top ranks, featuring better turret protection, plus a new M829A3 APFSDS round, featuring more penetration power. And for Great Britain, the Australian M1A1 as a squadron vehicle and the M1A2 as a researchable vehicle have been added to enhance Britain’s top tier capabilities.
We’ve added the Palmaria to Italy, providing lineups in and around rank IV with some 155 mm howitzer firepower on an OF-40 chassis. Singapore also enters the fray, with Israel getting the Singaporean Hunter AFV! This vehicle features Spike-LR ATGMs and a 30 mm Bushmaster II cannon along with a high speed forwards and backwards, enabling it to scoot around and be a nuisance for the enemy.
The premium Puma u14 comes in with a unique look, featuring pallets strapped to the side and a camouflage netting. The German 33rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion (Panzergrenadierbataillon 33) decorated their vehicles during military exercises conducted in 2022 with this theme, which inspired us with this look!
Puma u14 Pack
This pack includes:
- Puma u14 (Rank VII, Germany)
- Premium account for 20 days
- 2500 Golden Eagles
China gets a radar SPAA vehicle in the PGZ88, featuring twin 37 mm belt-fed guns, making it a handy addition to several lineups. Plus, Germany gets the classic Second World War Hummel, featuring a 150 mm cannon that can fire HE, HEAT, APHE and SAP, making it a formidable and fun addition to many lineups as well!
New vehicles:
- USA: М60A1 Predator (Pack), M1A2 SEPv3, M1A2 (Trophy-HV)
- Germany: Puma u14 (Pack), Hummel
- US SR: Т-90М (Arena-M)
- Great Britain: M1A1 (Australia) (Squadron vehicle), M1A2 (Australia)
- Japan: Leopard 2RI (Indonesia)
- China: PGZ88
- Italy : Palmaria
- France: Leopard 1A5BE (Belgium)
- Sweden: NOMADS (Norway)
- Israel: Hunter AFV (Singapore)
Planes: Voodoo, Combat Trainers, An Argentine Aircraft & ARMs!
The F-101C Voodoo comes in for the USA as a jet fighter, featuring an excellent top speed, but only four 20 mm cannons and no ordnance.
Two combat trainers from the same origin, the M-346FA and Yak-130 come for Italy and the USSR! Both of these aircraft share similarities, are small and nimble and have good ordnance options for their class.
Plus, the Washington B.Mk.I bomber comes in for Great Britain, intended to fill a bomber gap between the Lincoln B Mk II and Canberra B Mk 2.
Meet a domestic Argentine aircraft, added to Germany. This aircraft has a low top speed, but does have great ordnance options including bombs and rockets, making it an excellent aircraft in the ground attack role in Ground Battles!
The F-14D Super Tomcat comes in as a premium and features excellent ordnance, including AIM-54C+ and AIM-9M, JDAMs and great flight performance, making it deadly in both Ground and Air Battles.
F-14D Pack
This pack includes:
- F-14D (Rank VIII, USA)
- Premium account for 30 days
- 3000 Golden Eagles
You’ve asked for them, you’ve waited for them, and here they are! In this update, you’ll have new tools at your disposal for countering anti-aircraft systems: anti-radiation missiles (ARMs) and electronic support measures (ESM) capability. ARMs have a passive radar homing seeker, meaning they are guided by the radiation of enemy radars, mainly, those of AA. The ESM interface helps with target selection. For a full list of all new missiles, make sure to check the changelog!
New vehicles:
- USA: F-101C, F-14D (Pack)
- Germany: Fw 189 C (Premium), IA.58A Pucara (Argentina) (Pack)
- USSR: Yak-130, J-22M1A (Serbia) (Pack), MiG-29KR (9-41R)
- Great Britain: Washington B.Mk.I, Welkin F.Mk.I
- Japan: L-39ZA/ART Albatros (Thailand)
- China: JH-7A2, F-16V
- Italy: M-346FA
- France: F-16AM (Netherlands) (Pack)
- Sweden: AJS37 (Early) (Pack)
- Israel: MiG-21 2000 (Squadron vehicle)
New detailed cockpit:
- Japan: G4M1
Helicopters: Mi-24D and New Cockpits
The Mi-24D has been added to Germany, while the cockpits of the Mi-28NM and three Z-10 variants have been fully detailed, making them look more beautiful than ever!
New vehicles:
- Germany: Mi-24D
New detailed cockpits:
- USSR: Mi-28NM
- China: Z-10, Z-10ME, Z-10A
Naval Fleet: Big & Small Ships
USS North Carolina features deadly guns and good armor, while the early MAS 429 is small but features a powerful 76 mm gun, capable of attacking bigger boats.
Jean Bart comes in as France’s last battleship ever built as a premium vehicle, making it an excellent choice in researching the French Bluewater fleet tree, it features a slightly faster reload, better anti-air, but fewer crew.
Jean Bart Pack
This pack includes:
- Jean Bart (Rank VII, France)
- Premium account for 30 days
- 3000 Golden Eagles
New Vehicles:
- USA: USS North Carolina, USS Gridley
- Germany: Lorelei, Admiral Scheer (Premium)
- USSR: Chervona Ukraina
- Great Britain: HMS Egret, MTB-523 (Premium)
- Japan: JDS Ujishima (MSC-655)
- Italy: MAS 429
- France: Jean Bart (Pack)
Locations & Missions: Visual Reworks to Two Locations and Arrestor Cables!
We’ve graphically updated Ash River, and Winter Ardennes, making them look stunning in terms of visuals, but all the while reserving their original layout. They’ll feel right at home!
Arresting Gear
Arresting gear has been added to ground airfields! This allows aircraft equipped with an arresting hook to attach onto cables on the ground, helping aircraft that have them come to a halt quicker when landing.
Aiming Points for Salvo Firing Guided Weapons
All aircraft with GNSS-guided weapons now have the ability to set new waypoints — called aiming points — new markers independent of the point of interest. Essentially, these are simply saved coordinates. You can set up to 10 aiming points (numbered 0 to 9), switch between them, delete and edit them, and move the point of interest to the current aiming point. This can be done either by using the assigned keys or via the tactical map.
Aiming points can also be used for navigation purposes, for example to mark route points or danger zones, or to measure the range to specific targets, such as an airfield, as well as in combat for weapon launch.
Comparison of Missile Parameters & Improved Tracking on the Minimap
Just like the ballistic comparison interface and armor penetration curves introduced in the Line of Contact major update, in Heavy Cavalry we’ve introduced the same but for air missiles. The central part of the window is occupied by a multi-layer trajectory graph, displaying curves for each selected munition in the “Trajectory” (change in the altitude and distance) and “Telemetry” (distance-time and speed-time curves) tabs. The graph dynamically changes as input data changes. This will allow you to see the missile’s characteristics at each point, including altitude, distance travelled, distance to target, and flight time, as well as observe changes in speed. Air combat in a single graph!
Not only that, but we’ve also added more details to munitions displayed on the minimap. Press M (default key) and hover over a missile to see its name and current velocity.
Rewards for Crashed Aircraft
Sometimes you’re dogfighting and the enemy crashes without damaging them, which awarded you nothing. We’ve added a new mechanic to address this: the nearest player who is within close proximity (3 km) of an enemy aircraft that crashes without any damage will get a destruction credit and the reward in Silver Lions, research points and mission score.
The missile you fired also has its own proximity of 3 km, however the system will search for a player within a 3 km radius first, and if there is no player, then the missile radius is used. This means if your missile is after an enemy and closing in and they bail out or crash on purpose (and there is no player within the radius), you’ll also get a destruction credit and a reward as well.
More information can be found in the detailed dev blog here!
Detailed X-Ray and New MFD Screens
We’ve added detailed modules to several older aircraft. We’ve added detailed internals and improved damage models for over 80 vehicles in the Heavy Cavalry major update, so make sure to see if your favourite aircraft has been updated!
We’ve also added new MFD screens so that you can use the new high-tech additions in an even more authentic way.
Man-in-the-Loop: Guidance Mode for Munitions with TV and IR Seekers
In the second half of the 20th century, technological advances led to the development of munitions with TV and infrared homing heads operating on the “fire and forget” principle. This reduced the time the carrier spent in the air defense zone and also enabled the simultaneous engagement of multiple targets. While this is a positive development, the growing capabilities of anti-aircraft weapons and the rising cost of aircraft led to a growing need to launch missiles at ground targets from much greater distances. To address this issue and increase operational flexibility, bombs and missiles were developed with a data link channel to the carrier, transmitting images from the munition’s seeker and allowing to it retarget in flight. This functionality is now available in the Heavy Cavalry major update!
Let’s take a closer look at the specifics of man-in-the-loop mode of the TV and IR seekers in the game. It’s worth mentioning right away that this isn’t full manual control with direct control of the rudders. Correction is limited to target selection in flight — the operator can only designate a new target within the seeker’s field of view, and the autopilot will then automatically adjust course to engage it. It’s also worth keeping in mind the relatively low maneuverability of many munitions. In short, loop-the-loops with a missile or bomb aren’t possible, but dropping them into an enemy concentration and designating the desired target as they approach is perfectly doable.
Changes to the Compression Format of Ground Vehicle Textures and Improvements to Ambient Occlusion
The compression format of all ground vehicles textures has been changed from DXT5 to BC7 to improve their quality. There are now a lot less visual texture compression artifacts including the blocky and color banding artifacts, which you can see in the screenshots below. The GPU load when unpacking the textures and the total file size have remained virtually the same, but this switch to another compression method requires a one-time download of about 20 GB of changed textures for the standard client and 35 GB for clients with ultra-high quality for ground vehicles textures.
The ambient occlusion (AO) maps of all ground vehicles have been updated to be more physically-correctly rendered in the game. The changes are more noticeable in low-light environments. Previously many areas on tanks became too dark under such conditions, seen in the screenshot below.
There’s plenty more to see!
Check out the full changelog for all improvements and additions!