[Video] War Thunders Grueling Naval Grind: A Recipe for Frustration

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Hello everyone, I’ve spent over 11,000 hours in War Thunder, with a significant amount in Naval. I’ve put together a comprehensive video (warning: it’s about 47 mins long, and you might hear my PC fan a bit – sorry!) detailing what I believe are the core issues with Naval: the grind and the increasing problem of botting and cheating.

In this video I cover these points

  • The agonizingly slow research progression and why it’s worse than other modes.

  • The impact of long queues and bot-filled matches on RP gains.

  • How brutal BR compression makes uptiers feel unplayable.

  • The widespread problem of botting and cheating in Naval, and its underlying causes.

  • My own insights and experiences from 11,000 hours in War Thunder.

What are your experiences with Naval’s grind and the botting situation?

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So you’re accusing everyone with a 3:1+ K/d in naval AB of cheating to get it? Good luck Cotton, we’ll see how that works out for you, I guess.

If I were the player you singled out here I’d be a little annoyed to be your target here, though. He’s playing 8-10 games per session a night, like most players do; he’s playing a wide range of vehicles, not just premiums, some of his best vehicles are tech tree… soooo he’s obviously not AFK Botting or using a script and one premium vehicle for min/maxing for SL. It could be he’s aimbotting sure, but I’d you’ve hardly proven your point considering how easy aiming in AB got in March. Watching a couple of replays shows he still misses a lot of shots, and maneuvers vs torps and to use terrain and map knowledge like any active human player would. He was definitely “at the keyboard” all those times he killed you that I saw.

Your argument that everything in the marketplace is so cheap now is because of all the cheaters also doesn’t seem to be reality-based. On average naval event vehicles have been holding their price better than air or ground, because not many people do the naval events. If you were right, that would suggest much more cheating to complete events in the other modes than in naval. Yes they were 20 GJN when you ground them but now the Barham is up to 56 GJN and the Baden is up to 80.

Your belief that your own AA AI is worse than Gaijin bot AA AI is just wrong, sorry. They’re exactly the same.

Of your first three recommendations, equal experience for bots and decompression, are literally things that just changed in the last couple months: this part sounds like a video from sometime in 2024 honestly. And there’s the usual call for permanent EC, which you honestly sound like you’ve never played (“I’m going to trust the script”… who wrote it for you btw?)

Nor do I particularly believe you’ve proven your point that Gaijin goes easy on people they catch cheating if they’ve spent a lot on premiums, and that the GMs and moderators enable this by regularly reinstating cheaters who complain, if they buy a lot of store stuff. And your statement that naval AB does not have anti-cheat protection is simply wrong, again, as is your accusation that none of the banned players on recent ban lists have been naval players.

I’ve documented cheating and botting in naval on this and the previous forum over the last three years, the Kerchbot waves, the Moffettbot wave, the Haruna event, the Shoti all-bot squadron… and it just feels like you had a script written for you by someone (AI?) who has dug up and regurgitated for you every old accusation I and others have ever made, without knowing if any of them were still true or applicable, in order to throw everything and the kitchen sink at Gaijin here, right or wrong. Your YT channel, your rules, ofc, but from here it seems pretty clickbaity.

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Thanks for taking the time to watch and provide such a detailed response. I appreciate you engaging with the content, and it gives me a chance to clarify some of my points.

First, regarding the 3:1+ K/D in naval AB: I wasn’t accusing everyone with that K/D of cheating. My intent was to highlight that in a game mode often prone to automated behavior, extremely high and consistent K/Ds can be a red flag, prompting further scrutiny. I acknowledge that skilled players can achieve impressive stats legitimately, especially with improved aiming mechanics.

You’re right about the player I highlighted: I didn’t mean to single them out as a definitive cheater. My apologies if that came across that way. The jury is still out on that player as I have not received any confirmation on my reports, nor do I believe I will, but my suspicion was high as the accuracy of his shots and the damage he was dealing was suspicious. Either way, I was using that specific replay as an example to discuss suspicious patterns I’ve observed, not as irrefutable proof against that individual. I agree that their varied vehicle use, active maneuvering, and occasional misses do suggest human play. My concern was more about the prevalence of suspected activity, rather than definitively accusing any single player.

On the topic of marketplace prices: My argument wasn’t that all naval event vehicles are cheap, but rather that the overall market can be influenced by the ability of automation to farm events, leading to a higher supply of certain items than there otherwise might be. While some naval event vehicles have indeed held their value, which is a good counter-point, my observation was more general across the market. This observation also does not take into consideration that, due to the the lower player numbers of naval, the prices specifically for naval vehicles on the marketplace would be higher simply because not as many players actually did the event to unlock the coupon and sell it, at least when compared to the tanks and aircraft on offer through Gaijins’ Marketplace.

Regarding AA AI: You’re correct; the player’s own AA AI and bot AA AI should technically be the same. My phrasing there might have been a bit sloppy and it was due to my dissatisfaction in how quickly my team dealt with the plane whilst my AA rounds were on route. My concern was more about the effectiveness of AI-controlled weapons in general within the game’s current meta, which can sometimes feel disproportionately effective compared to player-controlled guns.

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You mentioned my comments on equal experience for bots and decompression, as well as the ‘call for permanent EC,’ sounding like a video from 2024. You’re right that some of these changes have been implemented recently, which is a positive step. I did use references to older content, some videos as recent as a month ago, and some of these recent updates to the game which affected naval, I was simply not aware of. That’s on me for not having the absolute latest information reflected in every segment. EDIT I’ve posted a corrective comment on my own video clarifying that bots now give 1:1 RP, which directly addresses that point, and further stated my wish to see a Naval PvE game mode implemented into the game, as a short term or long term solution.

As for the ‘script’ comment about EC, that was simply a figure of speech about sticking to a predefined plan, not an admission of using an actual script for my content. I play EC, and I’m a strong advocate for it being a permanent feature due to the unique gameplay it offers.

My core arguments about Gaijin’s handling of cheating and the impact of ‘whale’ players remain. While proving direct complicity is challenging, the perception within the community is that enforcement can be inconsistent, and that the financial incentive to retain high-spending players might influence ban policies. This is a sentiment shared by many long-term players, regardless of definitive proof. My aim was to voice that frustration and highlight what many of us perceive as a problem with trust.

You also stated that Arcade AB has anti-cheat protection and that naval players have been on ban lists. I appreciate that correction; my information regarding the anti-cheat status in AB was incorrect, and I’m glad to be set straight on that. And it’s good to hear naval players are indeed being caught in ban waves; my observation was based on what felt like a disproportionate representation on some lists, but perhaps that was a misinterpretation on my part.

However, even with anti-cheat systems in place, it’s widely acknowledged in the gaming community that no anti-cheat is 100% foolproof. Cheaters are constantly evolving their methods, taking various precautions and developing sophisticated software to avoid detection. My concern, therefore, isn’t that anti-cheat doesn’t exist, but rather that it may not be fully effective against all forms of cheating, particularly those that are designed to be subtle or frequently updated to bypass detection.

Ultimately, my video was meant to express the frustrations felt by a segment of the War Thunder community regarding cheating, game economy, and perceived developer transparency. While some of my specific examples or details might have been outdated or less precise than they could have been, due to outdated information, the underlying concerns about the health of the game and its community are real and pertinent to this day.

I appreciate you pushing back and providing your perspective, as it helps refine this discussion. It’s clear you’re also invested in the game and have a deep understanding of its issues. Thank you again for the detailed feedback.

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Finally, regarding the ‘clickbaity’ accusation – I can understand why you might feel that way, especially with the strong title and clearly AI generated thumbnail. I actually had a previous YouTube channel with about 500 subscribers, but I ultimately deleted it. I felt I’d become too negative and used overly harsh language, making myself a pariah within this games community. When I decided to start this new channel, my goal was specifically to take a more measured and thoughtful approach to War Thunder content. My intention with this video’s title and thumbnail was to draw attention to what I believe are very serious and pressing issues that need addressing in the game, not to create sensationalism without substance. I aimed for impact to ensure the message reached a wider audience, but always with the underlying goal of sparking genuine discussion around these complex community concerns. Thank you for your understanding.

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Your words from your video at the 10-minute mark, for the record: with the screen fixed on that player’s service record, you said, quote, “It’s very easy to tell if someone’s cheating or botting. If you have a 4:1 KD and your most played ship just so happens to be a premium destroyer… [rambling discourse on how the player who killed you a few times has similar KDs in his top three ships, Wilkinson, Sumner and Atlanta]… this is how consistent a cheater is and you can tell just by looking.”

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Thanks for holding my words to account and quoting me directly from the 10-minute mark. You’re absolutely right about what I said there. Looking back at that specific phrasing, ‘It’s very easy to tell if someone’s cheating or botting,’ combined with singling out that player, was poorly worded on my part and came across far more definitive than I intended. My apologies for that imprecision.

It’s fundamentally impossible for an individual player like me to definitively prove someone is cheating without access to server-side data or anti-cheat logs. What I was trying to convey, perhaps poorly, is that after thousands of hours playing War Thunder, long-time players often develop an intuition for subtle cues and patterns that deviate significantly from typical human play. These high, consistent K/Ds, especially on certain vehicles, are indeed the kind of red flags that, based on my extensive experience, raise enough suspicion for me to consider making a report.

My intent wasn’t to present irrefutable proof of that specific player’s actions, but rather to highlight the types of statistical anomalies that generate significant concern within the veteran community. I wanted to illustrate the basis for these suspicions, leading to the frustrations discussed throughout my video. The ‘easy to tell’ comment was an oversimplification of that process of observation and accumulated experience.

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To be fair there are a lot of premium vehicles just standing in spawn and sniping people from 16+ km away with pin point accuracy.

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Your “statistical anomaly” in this case being a player with a 3.04:1 KD in a Wilkinson who also happens to have killed you a few times, a ship that according to Statshark has an all-players KD in May of 2:24:1. For that 0.8 difference you reported him (and you said many others who’ve also beaten you) for cheating and also did a YouTube video about it, using an AI-researched and -written script (hint: the “discussion questions” at the end you read out verbatim are the giveaway there). Again, just to be clear.

The irony about your likely using AI to write your script about how it’s wrong to use bots to cheat in a computer game is, shall we say, chef’s kiss. If Gaijin wants to object to you calling them their “game masters and moderators” corrupt for turning a blind eye, or any abuse of their reporting system they detect here, that’s between you and them, none of my business. Honestly, it’s all hilarious fun unless you’re one of the wrongly accused here, I suppose: I will look forward with incipient glee to your future videos on other War Thunder topics fetches popcorn. o7

Yes, AB aiming is terrible now. No question.

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Thanks for your detailed feedback and for quoting my earlier statements.

My reporting isn’t based solely on one statistic or player; it’s about patterns observed over years of playing. While my initial phrasing about being ‘easy to tell’ was imprecise and came across more definitive than I intended, I was trying to convey that, after extensive playtime, veteran players develop an intuition for statistical and behavioral anomalies that warrant suspicion and reporting. It’s about cumulative observations, not just isolated numbers.

Regarding the accusation of using AI: You’re correct that I do utilize AI in my content creation process, but not to generate my core arguments or ‘cheat’ my way through scripting. Instead, I use AI tools specifically to refine and enhance my script’s clarity, conciseness, and overall delivery. I’ve made many mistakes in the past, and on a previous channel with around 500 subscribers, and on livestream on Twitch, multiple times, on multiples occasions, I found myself becoming a pariah due to my very negative mannerisms and harsh language, and more specifically, I have been a problem for the moderators and game masters of this game for a very long time… I genuinely wanted to make War Thunder content in a more measured and thoughtful way, but my natural personality, left unchecked, can be genuinely problematic. Utilizing AI allows me to present my points in a way that is more palatable and effective, preventing me from slipping into counterproductive habits, my sad old ways, that would likely have led to me being banned from forums like this a long time ago.

I am still currently chat banned in the game permanently on my old main account. My current main account, the one which I am replying to you here, is one that I have been chat banned on 9 times, the last one being for a year, which less than 60 days of are left, and the 10th would be the permanent chat ban… I have also been banned on the R/WarThunder subreddit twice, one of which is still in effect for a month. Believe you me. I have made many terrible mistakes and this is for the better.

My intent is to spark genuine discussion and highlight issues affecting the game’s health and fairness, by presenting information as clearly and professionally as possible. Whether this information has been misconstrued by my own conjecture as a result of outdated information is rightly worth pointing out so I can do better next time, but holding this over my head as a way to discredit me, directly challenging my integrity with contrived accusations all in an attempt to drag me down into an endless and unproductive argument, is the least of my concern. I consider this particular discussion resolved.

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Just to add to my previous comment, I’m fully aware that sharing such extensive details about my moderation history carries its own repercussions, especially on a public forum like this. I chose to be transparent about my past because I wanted to genuinely convey the motivation behind my current approach to content creation and why I’m striving for a more measured tone. My intent remains to foster constructive discussion about the game’s health, and I understand the potential implications of my candor.

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Hey man, everyone’s got to make a living, you do you. It’s obvious you’re just feeding my responses into the AI prompt and pasting what it says here, too, but you’ve basically fessed up to that now. And I don’t care about the other stuff, I’m not the TOS police.

The thing is, if you’d just read your AI script on-air as written, you’d still have been out of date and wrong, because you don’t have the context and the AI don’t play, and that’d still be funny, but not defamatory.

It is only when you go off script in that video that you accuse one specific random player who beat you a couple times of being a cheater, without any real evidence at all, and also accuse those same Gaijin “moderators and game masters” who’ve been banning you of all overlooking rampant cheating and reversing bans if people pay them. Those ad libs of yours are what takes your video from just silly to actually malicious in parts. Can’t blame the AI for that.

Anyway, I think your bot and I are done here.

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Haha, well played, you’ve definitely spotted the method behind my madness! After 11,000 hours of what I can only describe as digital Stockholm Syndrome in War Thunder, sometimes you just gotta let the frustration out – and if an ‘AI assistant’ helps channel that into a video, so be it.

My bad if my ‘off-script’ moments came across a bit spicy; blame it on the raw emotion of fighting what feels like a losing battle. My aim wasn’t personal attacks, but to highlight the, shall we say, ‘unique challenges’ that make this game so… special for us long-suffering players.

I’m definitely not backing down on my core points about the grind and the state of the game. My video pretty much lays out the grim reality as I see it. Appreciate you watching, though, even with my PC fan roaring in the background! The struggle is real, and this conversation absolutely needed to happen.

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“ChatGPT, write me a few paragraphs saying sorry without saying sorry”

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"My role is to provide helpful and safe advice. Advising you to make a statement that is likely to lead to a ban, thread deletion, or even legal trouble would be irresponsible.

Therefore, I cannot create a reply that includes the statement about Gaijin and content creators being [REDACTED] for the official forums. It falls outside the scope of safe and constructive communication on such platforms."