I keep my fingers crossed for this test. Solid PvE can be a saving grace for top tier BS you are serving.
2 Likes
I love it. The simplicity of it, the mig v phantom, the objectives. Keep it in forever like this.
Actually they had MiG-21MF available with 4x R-3S/R in late phase of war.
1 Like
I have to say, after playing this event with some buddies, this is EASILY the best thing added to WT in a long time. Something actually new gameplay-wise with potential applications in wider gamemodes in the long run. Everyone I played with was talking about how this was the most fun they’d had playing WT in years.
Now thats not to say this was perfect. There were some clear issues quite frankly.
- Spawncamping from the soviet team is incredibly easy to perform and night uncounterable for the americans.
- Preset loadouts, while useful for those who dont typically do any form of ground attack or have the vehicles unlocked, also limit player creativity and adaptability to the game-mode.
- Some of the SAM sites were effectively out of bounds, which made them very hard to strike, as you’d get spawned flying away from them while you were trying to line up a strike due to hitting the map borders.
- The shilkas seemed a little too good. It may have just been bad luck on my part, but anytime you got anywhere within ~2-3km from a Shilka, you’d be killed outright or at the very least crippled to a point where you were borderline combat ineffective. This wouldnt have been a problem if it wasnt for the fact that the shilkas sometimes turn off their radars, making them almost impossible to spot until you’re already being fired at when you’re already dealing with evading superior enemy aircrafts and the S-75, making many deaths to them feel very random and unfair.
I do want to dedicate a little extra on the Shiljas though. I very much like that they felt deadly, dangerous, and they did their jobs well. I dont want them to be nerfed to the levels seen of AI SPAAGs ingame atm, and I actually dont think its necessarily bad they turn off their radars and the likes, as that would be tactics that would be performed irl. The issue imo stems from the faft that they are laser accurate with or without the radar and there is no effective way to mark their approximate position for our team long term, or even to decern their position a bit more accurately as the game drags on. Flying around looking for the next objective and suddenly exploding due to a stream of 23mm shells hitting your pilot square in the jaw despite no RWR warning and with no way to provide long term intel to your team regarding potential threat locations just seems like theres a bit of an RNG death mechanic to the mode.
The above complaint may simply be due to limited experience with the mode though, so I’ll definitly keep playing and hoepfully get a better idea around how I feel regarding the current implementation of the SPAAGs in the SEAD mode. Generally speaking, atm I think I ratger these AI SPAAGs to the ones we have in-game in all other gamemodes, but I think they still need a little more work to get them just right.
They should feel dangerous, not unfair, and atm I’m leaning towards them feeling a bit more like the latter.
I havent yet tried the helicopters, so I dont wanna comment too much on them. What I can say is, I’m interested and optimistic in their inclusion, but atm not sure how they’d be effective in the game mode. The TOWs and Hydra-70’s theyre armed with seem to be subpar for the threats at play, and the games end too quickly for things that move as slowly as they do. We were using them as a glorified TGP at first, using it to easily spot SAM sites, but once we got a better hang of the gamemode, we stopped running them entirely.
Overall very positive, a fantastic step in the right direction despite some teething issues. I look forward to playing this some more, along with me being a bit more (cautiously) optimistic about the future direction of WT!
6 Likes
From what I observed, the Shilkas always turn off their radar until an enemy gets in range if the SAM they are protecting are not destroyed, which AFAIK is a real life tactic and that’s scarily effective in WT. But once you destroy the SAM, their radar will remain on for the rest of the game.
2 Likes
I like this. I think map size needs to be lobby size and BR dependent though. The current game mode map should be smaller. Find myself just flying around looking for an intercept and not doing anything, otherwise it was fun.
Good to know, I’ll keep an eye out on that to confirm, but I think you might be right 🤔
The SA-2 (S-75) is a command guidance missile with an update interval of four seconds (!). Is this reflected in it’s modelling?
This event has been a breath of fresh air for Air Combat in War Thunder and I loved (nearly) every minute.
Here is a summary of the things I liked and disliked:
- Objective based asymmetrical gameplay made the gamemode so much more interesting and opens a great number of possibilities
- It took a couple hours but teamwork started to appear (unheard of in air RB until then)
- The S-75 is nicely modelled and put actual threat into climbing whilst also having clear weakness
- No markers was a great way to employ sneaky tactics and having to utilize sensors to find/hide from opponents
However,
- The Shilkas are very overtuned, being able to spine pilots at over 4km
- Mig-21Bis absolutly destroyed the F4s (even worse when they are fully loaded) and helis without flares
- Spawn camping was out of control on both sides and there wasn’t much to be done against it
- Since the S-75 SAM sites arn’t very smart and can only shoot one target at a time, it was hard to take advantage of them being on your team to gain the altitude advantage since an F-4 at medium to high altitude would always slip through anyways
I’m looking forward to seeing what this gamemode brings for the future of Air battles in War Thunder and how it will bring new mechanics, tactics, and ways to work as a team.
Bugs encountered:
- Mission doesn’t end when all attackers are dead (fixed)
- Some SAM sites spawn outside border limits (may be intended)
- Some SAM site radars cannot be destroyed and are just “blacked out” when receiving damage making it impossible to win as attackers
5 Likes
I hope they extend the event. I’m having fun and I actually prefer it over normal air RB thanks to no markers and having respawns. It’s not the best balanced event but it’s a solid foundation.
2 Likes
I don’t think it’s all great honestly. Its very lopsided against the US with equal number of Mig-21s AND SAM sites to deal with. And no AGMs or ARMs is just disappointing. If it was a test bed more than that, like say an AI RIO or Joker, cool. But it seems rather niche to keep as a separate mode rather than something to change normal Air RB to include. Bigger maps with both sides have air defenses as additional targets besides just outposts, bunkers, and emplacements.
1 Like
My first and only go at it so far ended up wit me getting killed twice and neither was to players, in fact both times it was to the ZSU’s (they need to have their accuracy nerfed)
No. that one outside the map doesnt count as required SAM to be destroyed (Tried in-game). However, it is really confusing for players, and it adds additional difficulties.
You get to play the… Game?.. What? You want to get paid? As someone said it clearly states you get SL and RP… If playing the game isn’t enough what is it you want?
1 Like
F4S vs Mig 21 BIS with access to their full WT loadouts would have been a much better matchup.
For people saying russian bias… its defenders bias that inherently exists in literally every single attack vs defend game mode in any game ever, which is why attackers need bigger advantages, which is why I think fully loaded f4s vs mig21bis would have been a better matchup, r60m with shit radar vs pd radar and hmd phantoms with superior radar missiles to go alongside.
4 Likes
one problem:
its was originally supposed to be based on vietnam sead missions and the F4S never saw combat in Vietnam. had you said the F4J though that would have made sense
2 Likes
Some feedback, that surely has been shared a couple of times already.
Negative:
Making the players pay SLs for spawning when it is supposed to be a test is a bit…harsh. Worst case scenario is 18k SL down the drain with no earnings against it.
The balance is questionable with the MIG-21s into the mix. Sure, they don’t have the All Aspect missiles, but the number of planes allows the MIGs to spread out and cover more ground, while the F-4Es are trying to deal with everything at once…enemy Air, enemy Ground that’s super accurate and finding the darn targets in the first place.
So balance wise it needs improvement, and if it is just reducing the accuracy of the ground units.
Positiv:
The very fact that we get to test the new game mode is a big positive.
I really enjoyed that there were no red markers on enemies, so I had to use my eyes and RWR to find enemies. Combined with the fact that you can still fly in 3rd person, this would be a welcome new mode or at least a welcome change to ARB.
So yeah, I really enjoyed the test and I hope we’re going to see some positive changes out of it coming to the game.
5 Likes
womp womp
Not gonna lie, I enjoyed this event more than I expected. I’ll leave my thoughts about the event, but I’ll be glossing over points that have been repeated before me. Also, I should note that I have only been playing the F-4E, so my opinions will be biased.
Positive
- New game mode with different objectives is a good change of pace from the usual matches
- RB mode in 3rd person view and no enemy markers make for a refreshing experience
- In fact, I would argue this also helped the attackers to evade the defenders. I have seen so many MiGs just fly above me because they failed to spot me flying low.
Negative
- Shilka, others have already said what needs to be said, so let’s move on
- Both sides have the same number of players. Defenders having better advantages is expected from asymmetrical battles, but giving the defenders the same number of players only widens the gap even further
- SL costs. I understand that you want to use SL to discourage players from rage quitting, but in asymmetrical battles, the attackers are more likely to lose SL before they earn back the same amount, destroying one SAM site doesn’t earn you enough to cover one death.
- Not giving GBU or AGM to the F-4E. I don’t have any complaints about no anti-radiation missiles or cluster munitions, but only using dumb bombs and rockets is a weird decision
Suggestions
- Reduce the number of defending players, this is the easiest and fastest way to balance this mode
- Either reduce the SL cost to spawn or increase the SL gained from destroying mission targets
- Give guided air-to-ground weapons to F-4E. Things like Bullpup, Walleye and Maverick are used in Vietnam War so those should be included as well. They also aren’t imbalanced since we still need to get within visual range to launch these weapons, still close enough for the AA to do their work.
Side note, its actually pretty amusing that more players are queuing on the team that is most likely to lose, usually people wants to play the winning team.
6 Likes
because many think that it will be us stronk event but then they get clapped and go to queue as ussr which gets instant matched so there are 0 russians and many us waiting
1 Like