Hello everyone, I’ve been thinking a lot about what War Thunder is missing — a true large-scale combined arms experience that rewards teamwork, coordination, and strategy. Here is my detailed proposal for a permanent mode called Combined Arms: Escalation.Core Concept64 vs 64 players on a ~40 km² map featuring dense urban areas, small rivers, and a coastal zone.
Focused on modern vehicles with the possibility of historical variants later.
Strong emphasis on combined arms gameplay, logistics, command, and progressive escalation. And since there is a “movement” I thought it would be a good time to post this
Player Distribution per Team (64 players):Ground Forces: 42 players
Air Forces: 15 players
Naval Forces: 7 players
Gameplay Systems
Capture Points & Fortifications
8 Major Points and 16 Minor Points, plus 1 Final Strongpoint (a high-value last-stand objective). Command structures can be built on captured points:
Each Major Point can support up to 3 High-Maintenance Buildings (e.g. Heavy Repair Station, Advanced SAM Site, Heavy Radar, Ammo Depot, Heavy Armed FOB) and 10 Normal Buildings.
Each Minor Point can support 1 High-Maintenance and 5 Normal Buildings.
Buildings cost resources and can be destroyed, creating meaningful attack/defend gameplay.
Win Conditions
Attackers push through the map toward the Final Strongpoint.
Holding the Final Strongpoint = Defender victory.
Losing the Final Strongpoint but still controlling at least 1 Major + 2 Minor points = Draw → 15-minute Sudden Death with strong resource and spawn buffs for defenders.
Complete loss of all points = Attacker victory.
Manpower/Tickets act as a secondary condition.
Command & Leadership System
-The mode uses both a centralized a non-centralized command structure to avoid giving too much power to a single player and to reduce the risk of toxic or incompetent commanders ruining matches.
Command Structure
-Each branch (Ground, Air, Naval) has its own Command Vehicle (Heavy Tank / Advanced SPAA / Capital Ship).
-Players can volunteer for the Commander role. If a competent volunteer is available, they take the slot.
If no suitable Commander is present or the current one is underperforming, the branch switches to Decentralized Command mode.
Decentralized Command:
-Platoon Leaders of that branch form a Leadership Council.
-For major abilities, Platoon Leaders vote quickly (Yes / No / Abstain) on requests.
-Votes are weighted by current performance (objectives, nodes built, convoys protected, etc.).
-If no majority is reached within a short time, the ability either fails safely or activates at reduced strength via basic automation.
-Platoon Leaders can also initiate a vote to remove an underperforming Commander.
This ensures the team always has functional command options, while good leaders are rewarded with more influence.
Node System (Resource Backbone)
-Players (especially engineers or logistics-focused roles) can build Nodes near friendly areas or FOBs.
There are three types:
-Supply Nodes → Enable building fortifications and FOBs.
-Munitions Nodes → Provide ammo and support strike abilities.
-Fuel/Power Nodes → Fuel vehicle spawns and power commander abilities.
-Nodes generate resources over time for the team.
-Successful Supply Convoys (which players protect) deliver large resource boosts.
All major commander abilities and building construction cost these resources, creating a strong link between backline play and frontline success.
Nuclear Escalation
-The match progresses through stages, eventually reaching Nuclear Threshold, where tactical nuclear and EMP options become available for high-stakes late-game moments.
Skirmish Version “Border Clashes”:
-32v32 on a smaller ~20 km² map
-No nuclear escalation
-Simpler rules — perfect for learning the mode or shorter sessions.
Rewards & Progression
This would be a permanent mode with seasonal limited-time rewards to keep motivation high. Examples include unique vehicles (e.g. Leopard 2 with 140mm prototype for strong objective + convoy performance, experimental aircraft like F-15 ACTIVE for high-impact air play, special engineering vehicles for node builders, etc.)
Anti-Grief & Toxicity Precautions
To prevent bad actors from ruining matches:
-Performance-Based Removal: Platoon Leaders can vote to remove a toxic or incompetent Commander with a short cooldown.
-Live Performance Scoring: Commanders and Platoon Leaders are scored based on objective contribution, resource management, and team feedback. Poor performance leads to automatic demotion or reduced vote weight.
-Heavy Penalties: Intentionally wasting major abilities (e.g. friendly nuke on own positions), destroying friendly High-Maintenance Buildings, or repeated griefing results in severe mode rank loss and temporary/perma bans from leadership roles and even the gamemode.
-Friendly Fire Mitigation: Excessive team damage (especially from commander abilities) triggers warnings and escalating penalties.
-Serious Queue Option: A separate queue for higher-ranked players with stricter moderation and voice chat encouragement.
Why This Mode Matters
It would create real interdependence between branches and playstyles, turning matches into proper combined arms operations instead of fragmented fights. With proper anti-grief systems and the distributed command structure, it should avoid many of the common pitfalls of large-scale modes.What do you think? Any feedback, additions, or concerns are welcome. I tried to balance ambition with feasibility, but I’m open to adjustments.
I know for this to be achieved wt needs to turn into another game but we saw they can do this if they want to (The text is enhanced and formalized by AI but each idea is mine including every little detail)