Taking 9p157-2 (Khrizantema-S) as an example, let’s talk about the difficulties and discrimination of obscure vehicles.
1、 The contradictory position of obscure vehicles in Warthunder
To be honest, there are quite a few obscure vehicles in Warthunder, such as 9p157-2 and Losat. When launching these vehicles, Gaijin also strives to restore their uniqueness and authenticity, such as 9p157-2 radar and Losat kinetic rocket. However, in each version update, these vehicles either have countless bugs or are completely crushed by mainstream vehicles, ultimately becoming unattended garbage. Why? I would like to express my humble opinions here and hope that everyone can criticize and correct me.
2、 The case of Khrizantema-S: the disconnect between historical performance and game performance
I am putting here a link to a YouTube video from a Russian humanitarian aid YouTuber. This video may be the latest, most detailed, and authentic introduction to Khrizantema-S currently available on the internet.
There are approximately three live scenes of missiles being launched from the launch tube in this video, at 8:40, 13:10, and 14:20. It can be clearly and accurately seen from this video that any type of missile launched by the Khrizantema-S in reality will not have visible drops to the naked eye and can hit the target straight, while the missile launched by Khrizantema-S in Warthunder will directly rush to the floor after leaving the launch tube, and then swing up and down in a twisted arc. In addition, four types of missiles were mentioned in the video: 9m123, 9m123-2, 9m123f, and 9m123f-2（11:00）, which were roughly classified into two types: armor piercing and high explosive shells in the Thunder of War.
However, Khrizantema-S was not launched in this way! Old players may still remember the happy times of the past: Khrizantema-S’s radar can lock onto enemies in the grass, and missiles don’t fall foolishly when launched. So, what happened in the middle?
3、 Systemic Bias: The Common Dilemma of Missile Vehicles
In June 2023, gaijin released two consecutive development logs:
Rocket Science: A New Physical Model for Line of Sight Guided Missiles (2023.6.1)
Missile Duel - Fair Fight (2023.6.10)
To put it simply, we need to restore history and weaken all missile vehicles. Specifically, this update has weakened the missile’s power, handling stability, continuous launch mechanism, and other aspects.
I am not exaggerating to say that these two articles can be said to be the death sentences of all missile vehicles in the thunder of war. Prior to these two articles, Gaijin’s modifications to all missile vehicles were limited to small-scale changes, such as reducing fuel and increasing mass for a certain missile. But since this change, gaijin has begun to significantly weaken missile vehicles in batches. What’s even more frustrating is that Gaijin promises that some missiles will gain engine gas rudder control capability. Compared with aerodynamic control surfaces (such as rudder, etc.), gas rudder steering has better directional control capability during low-speed flight of missiles. However, after the first batch of missiles acquired this capability, this promise was never followed up again.
It is obvious that obscure vehicles may perform well on their special mechanisms when they appear, but with changes in the environment and neglect by staff, they will continue to fall behind and eventually be eliminated.
4、 Conclusion: Hidden discrimination chain under balanced logic
In fact, gaijin’s attitude towards a vehicle, or even a class of vehicles, can be inferred from multiple perspectives.
For example, in bug report systems, popular vehicles often receive acknowledgement first, while unpopular vehicles often only have not a bug. There have been many bug reports about the radar of Khrizantema-S, but they often disappear from the system in the end, not to mention the small issue of its shooting sight being in the gunner instead of the launcher.
For example, for testing servers, popular vehicles often receive testing announcements. At the same time as refining the internal structure of 2S38, it gained the ability to continuously fire 144 shells, and Gaijin immediately issued a related announcement. The refinement of the internal structure of the Leopard 2 series tanks was opposed by players, and gaijin immediately released an article to explain and withdrew the update.
The reason is simple: missile vehicles are restricted to maintain the land warfare mode dominated by main battle tanks, becoming a sacrifice between “historical restoration” and “balance”. Let me give you an example: Think about it, a level 10 novice who purchased Leopard 2 A4 123/T80ud/M1 KVT and crazily charged on the Great Plains. You ambushed him behind a slope at level 100 and easily destroyed him with TOW2/9m123/Spike. Will he still play this game?
That’s all I have to say, although I’ve said a lot, I still feel like it’s not enough. Will gaijin repair the abnormal descent and trajectory of the missile? Can obscure vehicles receive the attention they deserve? I don’t know