A bug that caused the first weapon change using a hotkey to display a “Weapon selector enabled” line instead of changing weapons has been fixed.
A bug that caused the pinned Visual weapon selector to not reflect the ammo count decreasing after a shot has been fixed.
A bug that caused the weapon selection menu to close along with the multi-function menu when pressing “Esc” has been fixed.
A bug that caused the number of equipped weapon pods to not match the number of pods in the Visual weapon selector has been fixed.
Naval Vessels
A bug that caused the reload time to increase while extinguishing a fire has been fixed.
Graphics
Horizon and mountain peak rendering has been improved on minimum and low graphics settings.
Patch notes reflect only key changes, meaning they may not include a complete list of all improvements made. Additionally, War Thunder is constantly being updated and some changes may not require an update. Changes reflected in patch notes are formed by taking reactions and requests of the community from the bug reporting service, forums and other official platforms into account. Bug fixes and changes are implemented in order of importance, for example a game-breaking bug will be worked on and implemented sooner.
So first off, why are we calling this a bug? You changed the reload delay value (not just on fire, on all kinds of repair) from 0.25 to 0. That’s not a typo, that’s a deliberate mechanics change.
In any case, terrible change. Before a player at least had to put some thought before into weaving damage control and firing. Good players would start repair on minor repairs just before firing if it looked like they could get it done before the next reload cycle. That meant there was actually some thought you had to put into damage control, now it’s easier to just leave everything on auto. Plus there was at least some realism in that if you’re a wounded ship you’re not going to fire as often.
I don’t think this was a “bug,” it was just the devs today not understanding the mechanics previous naval devs put in. Hey your game, your rules: I just wish you hadn’t devalued damage control skill… the thing that mattered as much in actual WW2 naval as much or more than shooting accuracy… from both AB and RB. Lowering the skill floor in AB: fine, don’t care. Wrecking old mechanics in RB at the same time and calling them bugs: not cool.
I think the micromanagement between module repairs, fire extinguishing, breech repairs and water pumping is enough diversity around micromanagement; as soon as a kind of repair overlaps with another, the times double up, so it’s always best to prioritize, cancel, restablish at will according to the order of priorities at a given time.
On the other hand, I just couldn’t wrap my head around guns’ systems/crew members reloading slower just because the repair parties were extinguishing a fire on the funnels or pumping out water from a breech. Didn’t think it made any sense at all! Furthermore, it made some ships, like the American Standards or Roma, practically unplayable.
I think you were the one who showed me that trick originally so I’m not going to say you’re wrong, but… There WAS some sense to it before. Fighting damage has an impact on the whole system. Pumps require power that’s not being used for other systems. Damage control parties were drawn from designated people every section across the ship, slowing every team’s function. Plus there’s the whole “commander’s attention” thing.
My problem is with removing a deliberate mechanic and calling it a “bug” shows a lack of understanding of their own systems, and indicates that they’re not putting much by way of holistic, “what are we trying to replicate here” level of thought into naval systems at this point. If anything they should be making damage control and control of other big ships systems more challenging, not simpler, for the naval buffs: it was a big part of WW2 combat!
You could have solved a problem with specific ships with a sliding scale factor or setting an absolute cap on reload time. But they didn’t refine the mechanic, they axed it entirely, and in both modes. The naval skill floor keeps getting lower and lower here.
PS: I mean they couldn’t even be bothered to describe it correctly in this article: It’s all damage modes had the penalty removed, not just fires. That alone says something about how seriously they’re taking naval changes now.
I mean; one of the main points of having 2,000 crew members is specialization and compartimentalization in that regard! I doubt loaders allocated to the main gun turrets would interrupt their jobs and tasks to move on to shut down a fire at the other side of the ship. Firefighters would deal with that!
We already get reload penalties when the barbettes and ammunition elevators are damaged, which happens incredibly often and which, at the present time, comes with lethal fires that, unless shut down immediately, lead to ammunition detonations most of the times.
I DO find really odd, however, as you pointed out, that they labelled this as a “bug fix” of a presumably unintentional effect rather than the deliberate mechanic change it was.
I agree that there should be more nuances and complexities regarding Naval; particularly, I think FCSs should be both more challenging to use appropiately WHILE also being more effective when used optimally. But I don’t think a fire in a funnel making guns reload slower is the way to add complexity!
There’s actually really good public documentation on WW2 damage control (HANDBOOK OF DAMAGE CONTROL) and you could certainly make a case from that that, for instance, the reload delay mechanic could have been attached to the degrees of list, for instance… yes damage control was normally performed by dedicated parties as those references discuss, but if the whole ship is on a slant, everything is affected. As one example. But in the end this was obviously more about further simplifying gameplay down to the lowest common denominator. As you showed me once, before this you had to look at what the damage was, think if it could be measurably repaired in one reload cycle (which required ship knowledge), then stop any repair, then fire, and then start repair/firefighting/water removal again, all while doing other things, and if you got it right your reload was a little faster.
The trouble with the naval game is that unlike the other modes, as you go up in BR, the mechanics fall away and the game progressively simplifies. Air becomes less important. Torps become less important. Maneuver becomes less important. Damage control being a little more complex and rewarding of skill on ships with longer reload times offset that just a teensy bit, but yeah, can’t have that. People won’t buy the battleship premiums if they require any actual skill to play. Big explosions, loud noises, lets goooooo.
But yeah, the real problem here is removing a deliberate mechanical choice made by the devs previously while calling it a “bug” and not understanding what systems it affected. Which is all going to be info the devs gave the social media team, to be clear, not the writer’s fault here. But if you’re letting people into your codebase to rip out sections, and they then can’t explain accurately to the social media team what they even did after, you’re basically at the point of letting feral monkeys into the server room and seeing what wires they rip out. And that seems to be basically where we’re at with naval atm.
I think that would be neat, because it would add complexity IN a ralistic way!
Oh, even without shooting in the equation, this is still true!
For instance; you have a breach, a fire in a barbette, and the guns and engines destroyed. What will you do?
If you enable all repairs, you get 60+ second long times for each.
If you are sinking fast and decide to repair the breech, you risk the fire on the barbette reaching the ammo and detonating it.
If you decide to extinguish fires first, you may sink.
Perhaps you are in a risky mood and decide to repair the guns ASAP to return fire?
The order is ultimately calibrated and decided each time, taking into consideration all possible factors. Maybe you hit the repair button till the guns are repaired BUT cut off the repair of other modules to start fire extinguishing, or maybe you seal the breeches first, do the rest, and only then, pump out the water… (which would have an extra layer of depth if listing altered reload speeds as you suggested).
