Hi,
I would like to re-open this topic with a constructive suggestion.
Having up-tier battles almost all the time is frustrating and kills the enjoyment of the game.
Down-tier is well… too easy and not fun either. For both sides, even if one suffers more than the other.
I love playing WWII tanks and aircraft, but fighting against modern vehicles equipped with APFSDS, HEAT, evt guided missiles, aso. is simply disheartening.
These vehicles were never designed to fight each other and are very often defenceless.
Once you see a post-war tank or jet, you already know the battle will be uneven, and that you have no chance unless you hide, camp, and wait for an occasion. That’s just boring, and leaving the battle early becomes a real temptation, which in turn disadvantages the other players on your team.
💡 My suggestion
Please add a “Prefer Historical Matchmaking” option to each existing battle mode (Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator).
When enabled, this would restrict matchmaking to vehicles that could realistically have fought each other — based on their historical service period, but not their historical theaters, so that, for example, Japan and Germany could still face each other if their vehicles were contemporary.
The Battle Rating (BR) would still be considered, if possible, but would become secondary to the historical timeframe, which would naturally limit the BR differences anyway.
For example:
Define a “combat span” for each vehicle = [Year of introduction] → [End of production + 10 years] (or 15 or even 20)
e.g. Tiger I (1942–1944) → playable against vehicles from 1942 – 1954
This would group vehicles that actually coexisted (e.g. late-WWII German, American, Soviet, British, French, Italian and Japanese tanks/planes) and prevent absurd encounters between WWII and Cold-War equipment.
🧭 Example of historical spans
Nation | Vehicle | Production Years | Combat Span
-------------|--------------------|------------------|--------------
Germany | Tiger I | 1942 – 1944 | 1942 – 1954
| Panther Ausf. G | 1944 – 1945 | 1944 – 1955
| Panzer IV Ausf. H | 1943 – 1944 | 1943 – 1954
USA | M4 Sherman (75 mm) | 1942 – 1945 | 1942 – 1955
| M26 Pershing | 1944 – 1946 | 1944 – 1956
| M24 Chaffee | 1944 – 1953 | 1944 – 1963
UK | Churchill VII | 1944 – 1945 | 1944 – 1955
| Cromwell Mk V | 1943 – 1945 | 1943 – 1955
| Comet I | 1944 – 1945 | 1944 – 1955
USSR | T-34 (76 mm) | 1941 – 1944 | 1941 – 1954
| T-34-85 | 1944 – 1958 | 1944 – 1968
| KV-1S | 1942 – 1943 | 1942 – 1953
France | Char B1 bis | 1937 – 1940 | 1937 – 1950
| Somua S35 | 1936 – 1940 | 1936 – 1950
| ARL 44 | 1946 – 1949 | 1946 – 1959
| AMX-13 (FL-10) | 1952 – 1964 | 1952 – 1974
Italy | P26/40 | 1943 – 1944 | 1943 – 1954
| M15/42 | 1943 – 1944 | 1943 – 1954
Japan | Type 97 Chi-Ha | 1938 – 1943 | 1938 – 1953
| Type 3 Chi-Nu | 1944 – 1945 | 1944 – 1955
| Type 4 Chi-To | 1944 – 1945 | 1944 – 1955
| Type 61 | 1961 – 1975 | 1961 – 1985
⚙️ Implementation ideas
The player would have to make a deck of vehicles whose service dates overlap; vehicles outside the selected timeframe could not join the battle.
- If the system cannot find enough players in “Historical Battle” mode, the matchmaker would simply fall back to the current mixed BR matchmaking.
- It could fill the queue with players that did not select this option but match the timeframe.
- It could be an optional toggle when selecting a lineup (e.g. “Prefer historical matchmaking”).
- Historical lineups could even earn a small RP/SL bonus to reward players who choose authenticity and historical accuracy – at least at the beginning. But I’m confident that many players are tired of unbalanced battles between vehicles from different eras.
❤️ Why it matters
Many of us love War Thunder for its realism and historical immersion.
Adding a “Historical matchmaking” option would make gameplay far more balanced and immersive for WW enthusiasts — or any other period, depending on the deck — and would attract players interested in authenticity rather than just BR optimization.
This mode could also serve as an alternative to the former “WWII Mode” (discontinued around 2020 afaik), which was limited to Second World War vehicles only — but the proposed “Historical Battle” concept would extend this idea to all eras, preserving both historical accuracy and gameplay variety.
That’s all I’m asking for:
a way to enjoy fighting WWII battles (and other historical periods) as they actually were — or could have been., without facing 1960+ tanks and missiles.
💬 Final note
If you like this proposal of concept, please vote below or leave a short comment — community feedback is what makes suggestions visible to the developers.
[Would you like to see this in-game?]