I’m a hardcore naval battles enthusiast, and I truly love War Thunder’s naval forces. I’ve researched five naval tech trees all the way to the top. But honestly, does Yamato—maliciously treated by Gaijin—really deserve a BR of 8.7? At the same BR, both the Iowa and the “dev-favorite” Sovetsky Soyuz can easily dominate anything below 8.7. Yet Yamato is the only ship treated this unfairly.
For those who haven’t played naval battles, here’s how ships get destroyed in the game:
Ammunition explosion – instant death.
Crew wiped out.
Flooding and sinking. In-game, the hull is divided into N compartments (usually about 10). The more compartments a ship has, the smaller each one’s hit area, meaning the ship as a whole can withstand more damage before sinking. Conversely, fewer compartments mean the ship is easier to sink. The hull damage model isn’t detailed— even if a shell only hits the upper deck, the entire compartment takes damage. Once three compartments are blacked out, the ship irreversibly sinks (the very front and rear compartments don’t count).
Now, here’s why Yamato is maliciously treated by Gaijin. According to the third destruction mechanic, Yamato has the fewest hull compartments of all bluewater ships in War Thunder—only 8. In comparison, Iowa has 11, Sovetsky Soyuz has 10, and even the smaller Bismarck has 9. This means Yamato can be sunk very easily just by damaging the hull; you don’t even need to penetrate its main armor—just keep dropping shells on the deck. On top of that, Yamato is riddled with ammo racks that explode at the slightest touch, countless hitbox and armor bugs, and its interior is modeled as empty space without any structural bulkheads. Submitting issues with documentation only results in them being dismissed as “not a bug.”
As a monster designed for WWII armor-piercing shell duels, and as the highlight ship introduced in the Leviathan update, Yamato should not be left in this miserable state. Gaijin, you really need to play naval battles yourself and experience just how bad Yamato is. If this isn’t addressed, naval players will only continue to drift away from the game.
I rarely use the game forums, so I’m not entirely sure if this is the right place to post discussions about naval battles. If I’ve posted in the wrong section, please kindly let me know where I should go instead. Thank you very much.
This is the right place to post discussions related to naval warfare. If you wish to discuss other topics concerning the Japanese Navy, please visit this thread:
I was mostly done spading Amagi when Yamato dropped, I got about half way through unlocking her and just gave up after watching them dying non-stop in the kill feed. What’s the point unlocking her in her current state? it’s a waste of time.
At present, the Yamato is not a normal battleship at all, not to mention its battle rating of 8.7.
I believe the simplest way to fix the Yamato is through the following points, which don’t even require modifying the game’s modeling. The suggestions are based on gameplay experiences with other battleships and reference the upcoming major update to the game’s damage and reward calculation system.
Addition: Secondary battery magazine explosions should no longer detonate the main battery magazines. Secondary magazine explosions should only reduce compartment health and crew health.
Modification: Increase the health of the main battery magazines, including shell rooms and powder rooms.
Addition: Main battery shell room explosions should no longer be instantly lethal. Instead, they should cause significant crew damage and compartment health reduction. (Currently, the shell rooms of the Sovetsky Soyuz and Iowa do not cause instant death or trigger powder room explosions. This change would simply bring the Yamato to the same level as other battleships.)
Addition: Increase the number of compartments to 10–12. The Yamato is exceptionally large, even bigger than the Sovetsky Soyuz and Iowa, and should not have only 8 compartments.
Yamato was shorter than Iowa by nearly 40 meters and comparable length to Soyuz. She was wider and heavier though.
Yamato also had 15k tons of reserve buoyancy, meaning she should be more resistant to flooding or even require more ship sections to be knocked out.
Yamato in general needs buffs across the board; maneuverability is notably worse than other ships - which contradicts multiple documents and firsthand accounts (she had a 640m turning radius vs Iowa’s 720m and Bismarck’s 740ish at high speed, 1000+ at low speed or Soyuz’s god awful 940m although Soyuz’s is mostly speculated)
Most of her rear range finders and rear radar are unrepairable as well.