In this thread we will discuss how to get the BEST gaming experience out of War Thunder by manipulating certain conditions such as improving controls, selecting a faction according to strength at a specific Battle Rating, and manipulating matchmaking to be in your favor. Some of these subjects we will go into detail later, but here are some general recommendations: Never grind more than you want to; there are plenty of early rank vehicles that are as much fun as later ranks! Game balance is a complicated issue for a number of reasons (including being F2P), but it isn't truly P2W; know that you can still have fun without spending any money at all. Battle Rating (BR) is what determines matchmaking: You are placed according to you highest BR vehicle in your lineup. Opponent BR deviation is +/-1.0 of your highest BR vehicle; bringing 2.7 BR could have you facing some 3.7 BR vehicless. You can use this knowledge to avoid some unfair encounters. BR tends to be inflated on extremely popular vehicles due to Gaijin being lazy with some of their balance metrics. Newer vehicles tend to have lower BRs. Always check for BR changes after a patch update. Matchmaking is generally better during peak hours. If you want to avoid the bigger annoyances with matchmaking, play Enduring Confrontations. Don't be scared by Realistic or even Simulation Modes; once players learn the controls, many find these modes to be less frustrating! You don't need a HOTAS setup to be competitive in any game mode! (keyboard/mouse works just fine) Become familiar with all the controls; fix them to be exactly how you need them to be. Play to a faction's strengths; certain factions are stronger at certain tiers and Battle Ratings. (ex. Tier 1 Russian, British, and Swedish bi-planes are super fun and very effective in any mode) Ask for help from experienced players when choosing where to focus; it will save you a ton of work! Explore ALL game modes; besides planes, tanks, and boats, you have Arcade, Realistic, Simulation, Enduring Confrontations, Single Player, Campaign, Co-op, etc. The list goes on! When one mode starts to bore you, try something new! Quick Reference Links: SAVING AND IMPORTING CONTROL SETTINGS CUSTOM TANK GUN SIGHTS HOW MANY BOMBS DOES IT TAKE? BEST WAY TO EARN SILVER LIONS AND RESEARCH POINTS
1. SAVING AND IMPORTING CONTROL SETTINGS Always backup your control settings in case your controls get reset after a patch or reinstall. A repost from another thread, but I cannot stress this enough; get your controls under control! If you want help (or to use as a template) here are my personal keyboard+mouse settings: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EhEUzcoG8kwXaGl9ISPD8SvBwT_YdZd3/view?usp=sharing They should be placed here: C:\Users\username\Documents\my games\WarThunder\Saves You can switch to them by going to Controls in-game and "importing" the file there. General Improvements for Settings: For Realistic/Simulation: Addendum: I would like to amend the above video regarding roll axis: Having A/D hotkeyed for left/right roll respectively (at 100% sensitivity) will allow you to make snap rolls more quickly; which is particularly effective when you need to make very fast maneuvers transitioning left and right.
2. CUSTOM TANK GUN SIGHTS! Up your tank game with an improved gun sight! https://live.warthunder.com/post/851372/en/ How to install: https://wiki.warthunder.com/User-made_sighting_reticles
3. HOW MANY BOMBS DOES IT TAKE? ...to get to the center of that French firebase? GoogleDocs Spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AOUv-5BjePXOX9drfhKumh_drX8Tjh6b/view Airfield Visual Diagram: Airfield Diagram Details: "Visual form" is locations when you are looking at it. "Map form" is health bars on map only. An airfield with 4 green bars is undamaged. Damage progresses from green -> yellow -> red -> black (destroyed). More info regarding airfields: https://warthunder.com/en/news/5973-development-modular-airfields-in-enduring-confrontation-en Some things worth noting: US bombers generally have the best defenses, but they have some drawbacks: with most players being US-based, their relative popularity has caused their BR to inflate over time compared to other factions (this is bad). as a result, they're generally neither the fastest, nor do they carry the heaviest loads at their respective BR (until you get to the B-29). only the B-29 has above average bomb load for its BR, but it is prohibitively expensive to repair. the B-27 Canberras are still really good for their BR, but they take a long time to unlock. Russians tend to rely on smaller twin-engine bombers: generally lighter loads, but somewhat faster. the few quad-engine bombers they have offer decent payloads for their BR. In terms of raw bomb load tonnage per BR, the Germans, British, Italian and French have much stronger contenders at early-mid BRs: Germans = He 111, Fw 200, Me 264 British = Hampden, Wellington, Halifax, Stirling Italian = B.R.20, P.108B French = F.222 <-can carry as much as some B-17s and is only 1.3 BR right now) These absolutely dominate in Realistic and Simulation where ammo is limited. NOTE: Above vehicle examples are subject to change due to future patch updates.
4. BEST WAY TO EARN SILVER LIONS AND RESEARCH POINTS Recommended Premium Planes By Faction Based On Bonus Rewards (as of this posting): NOTE - USA, Germany, and Russia are probably the most popular factions in our group. If you want to maximize use, start there.
