Today, I would like to present a suggestion to make artillery vehicles playable in War Thunder, even though this idea might have been discussed by many and could already be on the developers’ agenda. Regardless, I want to share my thoughts here.
My suggestion involves equipping artillery tanks with an “Activate Artillery Mode” function, similar to the existing “Call for Artillery Support” feature. This could potentially remove the artillery support option from regular tanks and replace it with a coordinate-giving feature for artillery players. However, my current focus is on a system where shots are targeted based on intelligence from drones and scout vehicles, along with coordinates received from the in-game message section.
As shown in the image, the tank would have both a regular sight and an artillery mode. When artillery mode is selected, the barrel would elevate to 90 degrees and start firing on a vertical axis, using a specific sight for this mode. This feature might require changes to the game’s shell fatigue mechanics.
This proposal outlines a potential new gameplay feature for self-propelled artillery vehicles in War Thunder, enhancing their role and functionality within the game, I am not very knowledgeable about how artilery works; the sight adjustments can be made true based accordingly later. I am just sharing my ideas. I truly hope the artillery option will be activated.
If I notice that enough support is coming in, I will delve deeper into the topic and strengthen this proposal.
This is a good point. Unless most/all of the SPHs to be added are short-barrel howitzer like ones (see M109G) they will have minimum ranges that are too long for most maps in this game.
The idea is not bad in itself but has many flaws. For example the spawn kill, if you launch this mechanic, you could have teams being demolished at their spawn because of artillery fire
if the enemy is too close for you to fire indirectly SPA (self propelled artillery) switch to direct fire so that they can actually hit the target, hence an answer to you question about “minimal range”. so don’t go off on someone for answering your question. and no direct fire does not have a minal range on if its sitting on level terrain.
Im going to give you a benefit of doubt and assume there was a misunderstanding.
No one denies SPHs can fire directly if target is too close.
No one denies they do that when target gets too close.
What I am saying, in relation to INDIRECT FIRE is that there is a minimal range at which indirect fire can be used due to limitations of vehicles themselves.
And i am mentioning minimal ramge of indirect fire due to size of warthunder maps, some of which can be too small to properly use the feature.
This along with the general suggestion being inherently slower than playing them as direct fire vehicles has me oppose this.
With how rewards are currently, they don’t incentivize slow gameplay, and for the potential of removing the AI artillery when there are Steam achievements related to it… nah.
In relation to OPs proposition tho, the issue of minimal range of indirect fire still prevails, due to the aforementioned size of WT maps.
Would people be even able to fire indirectly on smaller maps like advance to rhine? I mean they probably would be able to fire from one end of the map to the other, but would they be able to fire at, for example, cap points?
I already looked over some SPHs yesterday and the best ones had 85° which, while almost vertical, is only one part of the equation. Theres stuff like muzzle speed, weight of the projectile etc.
Id have to see some concrete numbers first to pass judgment, so thats why I originally phrased it like question, even though i know for sure there is a minimal range.
No thanks. With spawn camping being an issue with current map layouts, I don’t need someone figuring out a way to be able to fire from spawn to spawn or a cap to spawn (unless it’s limited range like current in-game artillery). It’s bad enough defending against CAS, adding the ability to reliably fire with some kind of accuracy would just accelerate the one death leavers (the major complaint on upper tier matches).
Sure I might have spawn protection, but someone lobbing shells into the spawn or the few exit points based on some mode layouts, I don’t need to get tracked trying to just get into the game.
