Meet the “Sky Odyssey” Major Update!

Official News, Development Blogs and Updates
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Welcome to Sky Odyssey! This major update introduces a diverse selection of new vehicles, including aircraft and tanks from Greece, the CA-27, the Indian Arjun Mk 1, and the Indonesian Harimau. Additionally, Darwin Hill, set within the landscapes of the Falkland Islands, has been added as a new map for Ground Battles. Beyond new vehicles and maps, enhancements include updated reward mechanics for instances when enemy players abandon a tank or vessel and improved overall survivability for bomber aircraft. There’s also multiple user interface refinements in the hangar, notably to the preset functionality and submodes appearing under the “To Battle!” button, including Nuclear Escalation, Naval Confrontation and Bullet Hell, which are now permanent modes.

Be sure to check out the changelog to see all the improvements, vehicles and other features that we’ve included in this major update.

Ground Vehicles: Speedy, Greek, Indian and Indonesian Tanks!

The M7 tank for the USA comes in as a small and speedy medium tank! This vehicle has the firepower of a Sherman but the armor and mobility of a Stuart, making it a fun vehicle to play. We’re also happy to be introducing three Greek vehicles to Israel, including the unique Leopard 2HEL, built in Greece!


M7


Leopard 2HEL (Greece)

Sky Odyssey introduces Indian’s domestically produced Arjun Mk 1 tank. Fielding a rifled 120 mm cannon, decent armor and most importantly great mobility, this MBT will add some variety to Britain’s high rank ground force lineups. Japan now has the Indonesian Harimau light tank, featuring a 105 mm gun and excellent mobility.


Arjun Mk 1 (India)


Harimau (Indonesia)

Germany and France now have a rather unique MBT, which mates a Leclerc turret onto a Leopard chassis. This creates an interesting looking tank, with the pros and cons of each vehicle! The turret neck is rather weak, so keep this in mind.

EMBT

New vehicles:

Model updates:

  • USA: М103

Aircraft: Greek Aircraft, Hawk Trainer & Many More!

We’ve introduced a set of Greek aircraft to the Israeli aviation tree! These aircraft are situated in a new line and add a variety of interesting aircraft.

Greek Aircraft

You can now enjoy the Ki-93-I Ko attacker, featuring a a 57 mm cannon with strong HE and AP rounds, making it capable of taking out bombers and tanks with ease.

Ki-93-I Ko

The famous Hawk trainer variants are here for Great Britain, one researchable and one as a premium pack! This plane has signature maneuverability and weapons well suited for ground and air battles, being able to shoot down aircraft with the 30 mm or drop bombs on tanks.

Hawk T Mk 1A (FRP) Pack

This pack includes:

  • Hawk T Mk1A (FRP) (Great Britain, Rank V)
  • Premium account for 15 days
  • 2000 Golden Eagles
    49.99 Store

Many air-to-air missiles got their Flight Model and autopilot settings revised in this update, considering the new data gathered during the time after their initial implementation. The whole family of AIM-7 missiles and their derivatives was updated, as well as a bunch of ARH missiles: AIM-120 (all variants), R-77, R-77-1, PL-12, PL-12A, AAM-4 and MICA-EM. Their capabilities have increased quite significantly. Check out the full changelog for details and make sure to try out the changes!

New vehicles:

Helicopters: The Unique AW159 Wildcat!

Great Britain now has the very cool AW159 Wildcat, featuring 20 Martlet missiles and Spike ATGMs, making it one of the best attack helicopters in the game!

AW159 Wildcat HMA2

That’s not all, as Germany now have the H145M, featuring Spike ER missiles!

H145M

New vehicles:

New detailed cockpits:

  • China : Z-9W, Z-9WA

Naval Fleet: Giant Battleships

Featuring excellent armor, Giulio Cesare is a premium ship for Italy with ten 320 mm guns.

Giulio Cesare Pack

This pack includes:

  • RN Giulio Cesare (Italy, Rank VI)
  • Premium account for 30 days
  • 3000 Golden Eagles
    79.99 Store

New Vehicles:

  • USA: USS Mahan
  • Germany: R-310 (Premium)
  • USSR: Strela
  • Great Britain: HMS Lion
  • Japan: PT-809 (Premium)
  • Italy: RN Giulio Cesare (Pack)
  • France: LCM(65), Algerie

Locations & Missions: New Darwin Hill Ground Forces Map!

Darwin Hill on the Falkland Islands is now ready to battle on in Ground Battles! We’ve taken inspiration from the real location, where there are grass plains, small houses, and even an airfield. It’s open, but there’s still cover and plenty of defilades to hide in!

Darwin Hill

Red Desert for Ground Battles has had some reworks, and the Falkland Islands and Afghanistan Air Battle maps have been improved visually.

Improvements to Air Locations

New Permanent Modes, Shown in Submodes in the Dropdown Menu!

There’s mode options to enjoy in War Thunder, for example smaller team sizes in Air Battles or Night mode in Ground Battles. There’s also events such as Nuclear Escalation, Naval Enduring Confrontation and Bullet Hell that were previously located in the Events & Tournaments tab. However, finding where to select these options was quite difficult, especially for newer players who may not have known they exist. So, we’ve added them to the drop-down menu under the To Battle button in the hangar, making them easily visible to the player from a quick glance. This also means Nuclear Escalation, Naval Enduring Confrontation and Bullet Hell are now permanent modes that you can play anytime.

Reward for When the Enemy Abandons a Tank or Ship!

When a player leaves their ground vehicle or ship (via the ESC menu or by holding the default “J” key), the kill will be credited to the nearest enemy or to the enemy who fired the nearest munition (only rockets, missiles, bombs, torpedoes and mines are counted). The game mechanics will search for these enemies or munitions within a radius of 3 km for ground vehicles and 20 km for ships. As with air battles, the reward for a kill credited in this way is half of the standard amount.

Improvements to Bomber Survivability

We’ve completely overhauled the damage model for bombers in Sky Odyssey! We’ve fixed several bugs, adjusted damage accumulation parameters, recalculated hit zones, and updated settings for wing spars, tail assemblies, fuselages, and engines. We’ve adopted a flexible approach: for piston-engined aircraft, we created distinct configurations for inline and radial engines, as well as for varying engine counts ranging from two to six. We also separately tuned jet bombers, which require a different damage calculation logic.

Check out the video to see how significant the changes are:

UI Improvements: New Preset Menu

We’ve overhauled the preset UI in the hangar to improve the user experience and add better functionality. There is now a dropdown menu on the left side (replacing the presets window) with the same functionality as before: adding, rearranging, naming and deleting presets. There’s also horizontal scrolling, optional automatic display of the gamemode and Battle Rating, and last but not least more presets have been added: the limit on the presets doesn’t depend on unlocked vehicle ranks and has been increased from maximum 18 to 25, all available right from the start!

UI Improvements: Historical Markers

You can now change the style of the markers on the map between War Thunder’s default, NATO or USSR! All vehicle types have received preset icons in the three styles. Previously this feature was only available in the Nuclear Escalation mode.

There’s plenty more to see!

Check out the full changelog for all improvements and additions!

Download the update and join the battle!

Check the Full list of Changes and leave feedback here

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Active Premium accounts and the time to complete the “Mark of Distinction for Pilots 7” achievement of the Space Program event have been extended by 12 hours. Happy flying!