In this month’s Pages of History, you’ll be at the center of events that took place in different theaters of war. Borneo, Italy, Africa and the final days of World War II in Europe: take part in battles with the vehicles corresponding to these historic battles and receive prizes. 

From May 1st until May 31st, you’ll be offered 8 tasks consecutively. Completing each will reward you with a trophy, and completing all of them will earn you a unique player icon.

Semyon Sorokin
In the final stage of the War in Europe, the hoisting of the red flag over the Reichstag became a matter of Soviet national prestige. However, the building was turned into a fortress, which was defended by hundreds of Germans. On April 30th, 1945, under the cover of artillery, a detachment led by Lieutenant Semyon Sorokin broke into the building, captured one of the exits from the basements where the Germans were hiding from shelling, and quickly made their way to the roof, where they were the first to hoist the Victory Banner. For his courage, Sorokin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

You can immediately purchase this profile icon for Golden Eagles until June 3rd, 11:30 GMT without completing tasks. To find it, go to your Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History.

Trophy reward for each task

Completing each individual task will give you a trophy with one of the following rewards:

• 20-50% RP booster for 3-10 battles;
  
• 20-50% SL booster for 3-10 battles;
  
• 3-5 universal backups;
  
• Premium account for 1 day;
  
• A random camouflage for ground vehicles (out of the selection of camouflages currently obtainable in game for completing tasks, or purchasing with Golden Eagles).
  

Other terms

• Tasks are available from 11:00 GMT until 11:30 GMT on the final day of each task.
  
• Tasks can be completed in random battles except for “Assault” mode.
  

You can read a detailed description of which task is for which day and your overall progress by going to your Nickname → Achievements → Pages of History.

May 1st — May 4th
Operation Oboe
On May 1st, 1945, the battle for Tarakan Island, located near Borneo, began: oil production was live there, and the Allies planned to use it as a springboard for further air operations. Within a week, the Allies reached the city of Tarakan, the largest in the region, and a week later they captured it. The remnants of Japanese forces on the island continued to resist until mid-June.

May 4th — May 7th
Battle of Madagascar
After Japan's successful forays into the Indian Ocean, Britain began to fear the appearance of a Japanese military base in Madagascar, which at that time was controlled by the Axis-controlled Vichy regime. On May 5th, 1942, British troops landed on the island, but failed in a frontal attack on the Vichy positions, and the battle dragged on until November.

May 7th — May 10th
The end of the World War II in Europe
Germany waged full scale war in Europe, and its surrender ended it. The whole world rejoiced: the sky bloomed with fireworks, the people celebrated, and soldiers marched, not to battle, but in honor of a great Victory!

May 10th — May 13th
Operation Diadem
In May of 1944, Allied and Axis forces clashed in the final battle of Monte Cassino. The Gustav Line proved to be Germany's most resilient line of defense in central Italy: it held out for more than six months, and only after the success of Operation Diadem were the Allies able to advance on Rome.

May 13th — May 17th
The end of the Tunisian campaign
By May 1943, Axis forces in North Africa were surrounded in Tunisia and deprived of supplies and the ability to evacuate. Hitler's decision to throw more forces into the North African front led to the fact that on May 13th, up to 300 thousand Italian and German soldiers were captured by the Allies.

May 18th — May 22nd
Battle of Crete
From May 20th to May 31st, 1941, the battle for the island of Crete took place. It began with a German landing supported by the Italian navy and air force. This was the first major airborne operation in history, and despite heavy losses for the Germans, it ended in success: the Greek forces and the British garrison were destroyed.

May 23rd — May 26th
The Senger Line
The network of German fortifications in Italy following the Gustav Line was originally called the Hitler Line, but the Fuhrer personally ordered it to be renamed shortly before its fall to avoid reputational losses. And indeed: it took the Allies only four days after breaking through the Gustav Line to overcome the Senger Line.

May 27th — May 31st
First flight of the F-4 Phantom II
The F-4 Phantom II supersonic two-seat fighter, developed by McDonnell Douglas, first took to the skies on May 27th, 1958. By the mid-1960s, it had occupied an important place in the US Air Force aircraft line-up, and by the end of its production in 1981, it had become the most produced American supersonic combat aircraft in history.

Welcome to the 117th War Thunder Steam Screenshot Competition!

All of you captured some great screenshots last week! There was a great selection of battleships, carrier operations, and even some coastal vessels speeding about. The three most popular and three selected by us will get 300 GE. See the winners down below!

Let’s begin the 117th edition of our competition!

Create a stunning screenshot and submit it on the War Thunder Steam Community Hub with the tag #WTscreen117. You have time until the 3rd of May to submit your screenshot.

After that date, 6 winners will be selected (3 of which will be the highest rated by the community and 3 selected by our judges), each of which receive a reward of 300GE.

Terms:

• Your screenshot must include a player vehicle from rank 4 or below.
  
• You must add the #WTscreen117 tag (title cannot have any other text in it).
  
• Artists may only win by popular vote once per four screenshot competitions.
  
• Screenshots need to be compliant with the War Thunder rules.
  
• You need to be the author of the screenshot.
  
• Screenshot needs to be new. You cannot use those which have previously been published or used in other competitions.
  
• We will only accept raw screenshots from the game. You cannot use any editing software nor any other visual enhancements (like Nvidia Ansel filters).
  
• You can use filters and settings built into War Thunder.
  
• You can use the replay functionality built into War Thunder.
  
• Rewards will be delivered to the author's account within 14 working days.
  

And now, time for the winners of the competition’s 116th edition – Sea Breeze!

Winners selected via community votes:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3227387691
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3229348593
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3227933219

Winners selected by our judges:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3230790678
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3228180351
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3228876842

Each winner will get 300GE! Congratulations and see you next week!

Have you had your eye on a vehicle for some time, but haven’t dared to purchase it yet? These discounts will help you make this decision for sure. Meet the big in-game sale in War Thunder!

When: From April 26th (11:00 GMT) until May 6th (11:00 GMT).

Discounts on vehicles

• 30% discount on vehicles from all nations when purchasing with Golden Eagles and Silver lions. There’s no division by country, as this discount is valid on all vehicles throughout the entire sale period.
  
• Discounts don’t apply to the purchase and upgrade of Squadron vehicles, Battle Pass vehicles, and vehicles that were released in the Air Superiority and Alpha Strike major updates.
  

Discounts on upgrades

• 30% off modifications
  
• 30% off talismans
  
• 30% off backup vehicles
  

Premium Account discounts

• 50% off Premium Account for 90 and 365 days for Golden Eagles in the hangar.
  
• 50% off Premium Account for 180 days in the Gaijin store.
  

Gaijin store discounts

When: From May 6th until May 13th.

Packs with rare vehicles at good prices await you. We’ll tell you about the contents of these packs, as well as the size of the discounts soon. Keep an eye on the news!

Ground Vehicles

• The impact sectors of spall from APFSDS and HEAT shells have been recalculated. For tank-caliber APFSDS, the spalling density in the range of 7-14 degrees has been increased, while the spalling density in the range of 0-7 degrees has been decreased. The spalling of APFSDS from automatic cannons have been rebalanced to increase the amount of fragments in the range of 5-10 degrees. The spall dispersion range in a wide sector has been increased for rotating and non-rotating shaped charge (HEAT) projectiles. The maximum spall dispersion angle of rotating shaped rounds has been increased from +/- 40 to +/- 50 degrees with a slight increase in the wide sector spalling density.
  

Aircraft

• Su-22M3, Su-22M3 (Italy) — The R-60M missile has been replaced with the R-60MK.
  
• Su-22UM3K — the ability to use R-60MK missiles has been added.
  

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

On April 25th, Italy annually celebrates the Day of Liberation from Nazism and Fascism. On this day in 1945 a large-scale guerrilla uprising began, ending the Italian Social Republic and the German occupation of Northern Italy.

From April 25th (10:00 GMT) until April 28th (10:00 GMT)

Earn the “Italy liberation day 2024” decal!
Decorate your vehicles with a themed decal in honor of this historical event.


“Italy liberation day 2024” decal

When: From April 25th (10:00 GMT) until April 28th (10:00 GMT).
Task: Play 3 battles using Italian vehicles at rank III or higher to receive the "Italy liberation day 2024" decal!

Additional details:

• You must use a minimum of rank III.
  
• Your activity must not be below 70%.
  
• You can complete the task in random battles, except for Enduring Confrontation missions, and mode.
  
• Track your progress in the hangar by clicking Nickname → Achievements → Holidays → Italian Liberation Day.
  
• You can find the decal in the “Holidays” tab in the Customization menu.
  

The Warbond shop for “The Northern King Battle Pass” season will be open from April 24th until July 24th.

We’re presenting an interesting range of items that are available for Warbonds and earned in the Battle Pass! There’s decals, decorations, camouflages, a brand-new pinup, and some premium vehicles.

Take note of the American T14 heavy tank that combines impressive survivability with good mobility and decent firepower!

The Warbond shop is available to players that have vehicles of rank III and up and is part of the Battle Pass. You can purchase items with the special ‘Warbond’ currency that can be obtained by unlocking Battle Pass levels.

• More about Warbonds
  

M3A3 (1st RTG) (China)

A "Stuart" with a unique camouflage of the Chinese-American 1st Reserve Tank Group. It is extremely mobile and ideal for capturing points and attacking as a group.

Project 123K (A-11)

The experimental Project 123K (A-11) torpedo boat is fast and, thanks to its fins, rides the waves stably, which means it can shoot more accurately than fin-less boats. But it is best suited for quickly capturing remote points.

Wellington Mk.Ic (Germany)

A British twin-engined bomber that was taken by the Germans as a trophy. It cannot compete with other aircraft, but its good survivability and impressive bomb load will allow it to complete its combat mission with honor!

Thunderbolt Mk.1 (Britain)

The US P-47 in service with the Royal Air Force. An excellent high-speed fighter, capable of playing the role of an attack aircraft thanks to its combination of flight characteristics and an impressive arsenal of weapons.

RN Tigre (Italy) - first time in the store

With one main-caliber salvo, the Tiger can inflict significant damage on the enemy. The main thing is to find cover for reloading and skillfully alternate between high-explosive and armor-piercing high-explosive shells.

T14 (USA)

A heavy tank prototype jointly developed by the United States and Great Britain. Excellent armor with screens and corners, a large-caliber machine gun, a reliable penetrating weapon with a stabilizer and an armor-piercing projectile to combat other heavy weapons.


Pinup “Gemini Zodiac”

Decals include a trophy with tiger themed decals, as well as a new Gemini Zodiac pinup, continuing the series of themed decals. In the "Camouflage" trophy you will find decorations that will help hide your tank from the eyes of enemies. The player icons in the corresponding trophy this time depict tank crews from the USSR. Trophies with random camouflages, as before, become available as new store levels are unlocked.

A large number of usable items are also available in the store: boosters, universal backups, wagers and orders, rental of premium vehicles, and also at higher levels of the store - talismans.

You can see the full catalog of the Warbonds store for the current season, as well as the conditions for receiving them in the game by opening the Battle Pass window or “Store” → “Warbonds Store”.

In this blog, we’ll be telling you about the vehicle reward for the Inferno Cannon event that’s just started today. Meet the Chinese PLZ83-130 tank destroyer!

PLZ83-130: An Event Vehicle Tank Destroyer for China at Rank V

Features:

• Excellent armor penetration values.
  
• HE-VT shell.
  
• Average mobility.
  
• Low survivability.
  

Vehicle History

The Type 83/PLZ83 was the first mass-produced self-propelled artillery vehicle entirely developed and produced by the Chinese military industry. Development started in 1979, where testing of new self-propelled guns was completed at the end of 1983, and mass production began at the same time. In the late 80s, NORINCO announced the release of an export version of the PLZ83 self-propelled gun. The main differences of this modification were the 130 mm PL59A Gai gun instead of the 152 mm howitzer and a different sight. The export PLZ83-130 was not in demand by potential customers and was not mass produced.


Meet the PLZ83-130!

Welcome to the vehicle reward for the Inferno Cannon event, the Chinese PLZ83-130 tank destroyer! Unlike the PLZ83 that you may be familiar with, this new vehicle is armed with a long-barreled 130 mm cannon, turning it from a high-explosive slinger into an effective armor-piercing weapon. Let’s take a look!



What’s the main advantage of this tank? Its devastating “inferno” cannon. This nearly 7-meter-long gun fires different types of ammunition, with the main one being the great Soviet BR-482B armor-piercing round, found on the IS-7 and Object 279. This round can penetrate more than 300 mm and contains a large explosive charge as well that provides excellent post-pen damage. The next shell in this tank’s arsenal is the HE-VT, an ideal choice against aircraft! Most of the PLZ83-130’s shells and charges are stored at the back of the turret, from where the self-propelled gun reaches a rate of fire of 5 rounds per minute when reloading.



However, it’s the turret ammunition storage area and the dense layout of the fighting compartment that are the weak points of the PLZ83-130. This vehicle has bulletproof armor and is easily penetrated by autocannons, including ones from aircraft. It’s also quite large and clearly visible both from the ground and from the air. Keep this in mind, as when you’re shot at by opponents, they’ll most likely hit your turret ammunition rack ensuring that you’re sent back to the hangar. The low survivability of these types of vehicles means you’ll need good terrain and map awareness and proceed with caution around the battle.



All-in-all though, the PLZ83-130 is a very interesting vehicle that’ll be an excellent addition to the higher ranks of China. You’re able to obtain this vehicle in the Inferno Cannon event that just started today, April 24th! Complete simple stages just by playing in random ground battles to get this vehicle after 7 stages.

MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE INFERNO CANNON EVENT

In this section, we will talk in more detail about the work on improvements and fixes in the game from the past two weeks. Thanks as always for your bug reports!

If you’ve found a bug that you’d like to report, you can do so on our community bug reporting platform.

Timber!



Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, the tree decided to fly after it had been hit by a tank.

With sufficient acceleration, the tank made the trees forget about their mass and fly forward like blades of grass, and even spin around on their axis. It looked impressive, but it was too comical and, most importantly, unrealistic. So the reason for this behavior was identified and eliminated.

"Duck and Cover"



A plane with a nuclear bomb is approaching! The tankers continue the battle, and the pilots of all nearby aircraft fly to intercept to prevent an explosion... Or do they? Why is no one preparing for this most important event?

It turns out that the siren, designed to give a warning about the appearance of a bomber with a nuclear weapon on board, did not always work. How so? The person responsible for anti-nuclear safety was reprimanded, and the siren was put back into service and will no longer malfunction.

I shouldn't have exploded!



We've fixed a couple of cases where explosions hit tank crews when they shouldn't have.

The first case concerned the Challenger Mk.3 and Challenger DS tanks. The kinetic ammunition in the turret was not supposed to explode when hit, but time after time hits in the turret's cheeks disabled the tank.The second example relates to the T-90M. Its external explosion-proof fuel tanks should not cause damage to the crew when damaged, but due to a bug they did so.

One click less

We strive to make War Thunder more convenient in all possible situations. This time we paid attention to the vehicle purchase window.

What if you don't want to allocate a crew at that time? For example, if your purchase is only an intermediate link on the way to a truly desired technology. We have added the ability to purchase a vehicle without choosing a crew. This way, you can save yourself a click and move on to further purchases faster - you can return to the personnel issue later.

That's not all
You will find a complete list of improvements in a separate update log. Errors in the description of some armored vehicle modules have been corrected, the “spades” icon will no longer appear on vehicles for no reason, and the window for opening the Tool Box has become more beautiful.

• Update 2.35.1.60
  
• Update 2.35.1.49
  
• Update 2.35.1.43
  

Today's update: Update 2.35.0.00

Ground Vehicles

• HOT-2 ATGM — the explosive type has been changed from HTA to octol.
  Source: Comité pour L'histoire de L'armament Terrestre, période 1945-1975, DGA.
  
• BMD-4 — a bug which caused all 100mm shells to show in the X-ray even when they have been spent has been fixed. (Report).
  
• 2S25— a bug which caused the “Tracks” module description to include some of the properties of the “Brake System” module has been fixed. (Report).
  
• Leopard 2A4, Leopard 2A5, Leopard 2A6, Leopard 2A7V, Strv 122A, Strv 122B PLSS, Strv 122B+ — a bug which caused the amount of shrapnel when penetrating the front of the hull to be low has been fixed. (Report).
  
• Fox – the NVD modification has been removed. In future, NVD modifications will no longer be added on vehicles with a low Battle Rating.
  
  

Aircraft

• HOT-2, HOT-3 ATGMs — the explosive type has been changed from HTA to octol.
  Source: Comité pour L'histoire de L'armament Terrestre, période 1945-1975, DGA.
  
• F-1 — Removed the ability to use the AIM-9B. Added the ability to use 2x AIM-9E without researching any modifications.
  
• Su-22M3 — added R-60M and the modification to use them.
  
• MiG-21bis, MiG-21bis-SAU (Germany), MiG-21bis-SAU (Italy), MiG-21bis (Sweden) — the 2x R-13M1 missiles available without researching any modifications have been replaced with 2x R-60M / R-60MK.
  
• MiG-23M, MiG-23MF (Germany), MiG-23MF (Italy) — the 2x R-13M1 missiles available without researching any modifications have been replaced with 2x R-60M / R-60MK.
  

Naval Vessels

• IJN Mutsu — the missing thickness of armor shields of secondary guns has been corrected (set to 38.1 mm).
  
• HMS Dreadnought, HMS Colossus, HMS Invincible — the amount of explosive filler in the 305mm Mark VIa shell has been reduced from 12.4 kg to 12 kg. (Report).
  Source: ADM 186/167 Shell Committee: Interim report
  

Graphics

• Incorrect behavior (flying, spinning) of trees after being hit by ground vehicles at high speed has been fixed.
  

Locations

• Unintended available positions on rocks near the central capture point on the Northern team side in the Sands of Sinai location at grid squares C5/C6 have been blocked.
  
• Unintended avaialble positions on rocks near the lower part of the Sinai location at grid squares C1/D1 have been blocked.
  

Sound

• A bug which sometimes caused the siren sound to not play when a nuclear carrying aircraft spawned has been fixed. (Report).
  

Interface

• A bug, which caused the “spades” icon to be erroneously shown when automatically buying modifications with the modifications window closed has been fixed. (Report).
  
• A bug, which caused the controversial message about both failed and successful activation of an order to appear when activating an order has been fixed.
  
• A bug which allowed the wishlist to be opened while in battle which caused the hangar interface to appear and prevented further gameplay has been fixed. (Report).
  

Matching

• The planned Battle Rating changes have been implemented.
  

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

Happy St. George’s Day!

On 23rd April, England observes St George’s Day. On this day, parades, festivals and dances occur in the country. For it, we’re temporarily bringing back the English flag decal.
 

The “England” flag decal is available to purchase for Golden Eagles!
This flag is available for 500 Golden Eagles.

When: From April 23rd (12:00 GMT) until April 26th (07:00 GMT).
Where: You can find this decal by going to Nickname → Decals → Common → World Flags.

“England” flag decal

Following the Roadmap

• An in-game wishlist and the ability to send gifts to other players in you friends list through it have been added.
  
• Integration with the Steam friends list has been added.
  

Ground Vehicles

• Challenger Mk.3, Challenger DS — a bug that caused the kinetic ammunition in the turret to explode when hit has been fixed. (Report).
  
• T-90M — a bug which caused the explosion-proof fuel tanks to explode when damaged has been fixed. (Report).
  

Aircraft

• F-4F Early — CCIP mode for all weapons as well as CCRP mode for bombs have been added.
  

Interface

• An option to buy the vehicle without choosing a crew for it has been added to the vehicle purchase confirmation window.
  
• A new window for opening the Toolbox has been added.
  

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.

Hey everyone! In our previous Roadmap news we mentioned that two features, the in-game wishlist functionality and the Steam friends list integration were being delayed.

Thanks for your patience on this. We’re pleased to say that both have been implemented into the game today, and in this article we’ll be taking a quick look at both.

We’ve also updated the Roadmap infographic, which can be seen at the end of this article. Let’s take a look!

In-Game Wishlist Functionality and Gifting through it!
You can now create your personal wishlist by adding any vehicle to it! To do this, hover over a vehicle and press the “Add to Wishlist” button. You’ll be presented with a pop-up window where you can write a comment of your choice.



To get to your wishlist, you can hover over the vehicle again once it’s been added and click “Go to Wishlist”, or access it through Shop > Wishlist in the hangar.



Within your wishlist, you’re able to see information about the vehicle, your comment, plus the price and the date that you added it. You can filter several different options such as vehicle type, nation, rank, what is available for purchase and if there’s a discount available.



If you’re no longer interested in a vehicle, you can remove it — the wishlist has a maximum of 100 vehicles that can be added, so this will give you free space. Purchasing a vehicle that’s on your wishlist will automatically remove it.

To view a friend’s wishlist, find and click on them in your friends list and then click “Go to Wishlist”. You’ll only be able to see their wishlisted vehicles that can be gifted through the Gaijin Store.

Only vehicles that are in the Gaijin Store can be gifted. Please note that gifting through the wishlist is only available to PC players who don’t play the game through Steam. It’s not possible to receive gifts if you play the game on an account created via Steam and have no email linked to it.

For further details on gifting through the in-game wishlist please refer to this support article.

When gifting a friend through their wishlist, the Gaijin Store will open and you’ll be able to gift as normal.

If you’d like to add vehicles to your wishlist just for yourself, you can turn off the ability for friends to view your wishlist under the Options > Main parameters > Privacy and Confidentiality setting.

Steam Friends List Integration
Your Steam friends list is now shown in-game! You can find it by going to your in-game Contacts list, where there’s now a new “Steam friends” section. This section displays your friends and their Steam avatars, nicknames and presence status: Online on War Thunder and Online or Offline on Steam. Friends who have War Thunder can be interacted with the same way regular contacts can.



You can also add them to your regular War Thunder friends list, where their Steam account information (avatars for example) is displayed instead of their in-game War Thunder avatar.

Updated Roadmap infographic
Be sure to share it with your friends!


Note that the “Additional effects on crews when armor is penetrated. For example, fire in the fighting compartment, concussion of weapon operators when armor is penetrated” feature was replaced with “Introduction of new additional modules for ground vehicles” as a result of user polling.

Until next time,
The War Thunder Team

Last week we showed you proposed changes and additions in the mechanics of armored vehicles - and invited you to vote for each of them separately. A total of 52,325 players took part in the survey - thank you very much for your interest! After studying the voting results, we made a number of decisions about the further development of War Thunder, and now we will tell you about them.

The overwhelming majority of those surveyed were in favor of introducing new modules and mechanics for healing crews in ground vehicles. Based on this, we will begin implementing these changes. Please note that the crew healing logic is planned to be introduced in the second major update of this year or even earlier, if possible. Adding new modules will be impossible for all vehicles in the game at once and will happen gradually. With each major update, some vehicles will be improved and receive new modules, starting with the most ‘empty’ models. Any new vehicle models will already be added to the game with the additional modules.



As for the introduction of the stun mechanic, more were against introducing this mechanic than were in favor, so we will postpone its development for now. Perhaps we will discuss this further in the future after implementation of the announced changes. It is possible that the implementation of new modules and their effects will make the problem of ineffective hits unimportant.

When voting on new fire sources, both those for and against the introduction of this mechanic were almost equally divided: the difference was about 2%. Based on this, we decided not to add this mechanic in the proposed form, when any penetration in the fighting compartment leads to one fire or another that leaves the ignition source tied to various types of vehicle modules. However, some of the modules planned for addition to equipment can be (and are in reality) real sources of fire - for example, a battery or a hydraulic drive system - so they can cause a fire when hit as currently happens when the engine or fuel tanks are damaged.

We hope you'll enjoy these changes in future updates to the game. And we will continue to move further along the Roadmap, adding new mechanics and, if necessary, conducting similar surveys. See you in War Thunder!

The King Tiger is coming to Sweden! One of the best tanks of the Second World War that went to the northern country as a testing tank obtained after the war is the main prize of the brand-new 15th Battle Pass season: Northern King.

To receive Battle Pass rewards, you’ll need to regularly log into the game and complete tasks and challenges. Each level of the Battle Pass will earn you a prize, be it a player icon, loading screen, title, decals, decorations, or 3 brand-new premium vehicles!

Meet Season 15 of the Battle Pass!

When: From April 24th until July 24th.

This Season’s Rewards

We’ve got a new set of decals, decorations, a profile icon and vehicles lined up for you this season! See the full list in the Battle Pass tab in the hangar, or check them out on our Wiki. Here’s some key rewards for Season 15:

USS Flagstaff
A Premium US Motor Gun Boat at Rank III

This is an incredibly speedy and maneuverable boat with a interchangeable main gun — the 152 mm cannon with excellent high-explosives or a 40 mm Bofors cannon. The choice ultimately yours!



P-51C-11-NT Mustang (China)
A Premium Fighter for China at Rank III

Thanks to the high-altitude Packard V-1650-7 Merlin engine, this Mustang is one of the fastest aircraft at its rank. Ideal for boom n’ zooming!



Kungstiger
A Premium Heavy Tank for Sweden at Rank IV

The King Tiger is a fantastic heavy tank with good frontal hull armor, one of the best guns at its rank and very effective shells. With Sweden, it’s a true Northern King!




Decals

4 decals!




Emblem of the 3rd company of the Jutland Dragoons
Emblem of the Alvsborg Regiment







Emblem of the 6th Combat Support Squadron
Emblem of the 3rd Tank Battalion




Decorations

3 decorations!




Modern assault rifle (Finland)
Anti-tank rocket launcher (Sweden)
Swedish navy emblem



Profile Icon


Valkyrie

All Rewards and Challenges for Season 15

About the Battle Pass

If you’ve got two Coupon Upgrades from stages in the previous season, then you can claim the new Battle Pass for free! Exchange them in the purchase menu of the Northern King season.

The Battle Pass is a seasonal event where players can earn many rewards, from Silver Lions and boosters to exclusive season prizes: decorations, profile icons and premium vehicles. The rules are simple: you earn progress points and use them to unlock new stages, earning valuable prizes in the process.

You can unlock new stages and receive awards at any time during the season.


You can access the “Battle Pass” window through the promo block on the right side of the hangar screen.

How to participate
Play

• You get progress points every day for entering the game.
  
• From 1 to 5 points.
  

Complete Battle Tasks

• You can check your Battle Tasks in the game. Complete them and receive progress points.
  
• From 2 to 5 points.
  

Complete Season Challenges

• One Challenge is available at the start of the season. Every week you get a new one, while three more can become available by unlocking stages.
  
• 30 points.
  

Learn more about the Battle Pass

Welcome to the 116th War Thunder Steam Screenshot Competition!

The April fools event only happens once a year! Your captures from the event were great. What was your favorite part of the event? The three most popular and three selected by us will get 300 GE. See the winners down below!

Let’s begin the 116th edition of our competition!

Create a stunning screenshot and submit it on the War Thunder Steam Community Hub with the tag #WTscreen116. You have time until the 26th of April to submit your screenshot.

After that date, 6 winners will be selected (3 of which will be the highest rated by the community and 3 selected by our judges), each of which receive a reward of 300GE.

Terms:

• Your screenshot must include a player vehicle and a boat or ship.
  
• You must add the #WTscreen116 tag (title cannot have any other text in it).
  
• Artists may only win by popular vote once per four screenshot competitions.
  
• Screenshots need to be compliant with the War Thunder rules.
  
• You need to be the author of the screenshot.
  
• Screenshot needs to be new. You cannot use those which have previously been published or used in other competitions.
  
• We will only accept raw screenshots from the game. You cannot use any editing software nor any other visual enhancements (like Nvidia Ansel filters).
  
• You can use filters and settings built into War Thunder.
  
• You can use the replay functionality built into War Thunder.
  
• Rewards will be delivered to the author's account within 14 working days.
  

And now, time for the winners of the competition’s 115th edition – Mad Thunder!

Winners selected via community votes:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3221092185
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3223406095
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3221567569

Winners selected by our judges:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3225015724
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3222709557
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3221899002

Each winner will get 300GE! Congratulations and see you next week!

Today we’re showing you the main reward for the new season of the upcoming Battle Pass, which we’ve suitably named Northern King! Meet the famous King Tiger that was obtained by Sweden: an amazing tank with an amazing fate!

Kungstiger: A Premium Heavy Tank for Sweden at Rank IV

Features:

• Excellent upper plate front armor!
  
• Long-barreled 88 mm gun.
  
• Decent mobility.
  

Vehicle History

After the end of World War II, a special delegation in the Swedish Armed Forces dealt with the delivery of surviving German tanks from liberated France to the country. They were particularly interested in the delivery of the Tiger II tank to study and test at Swedish testing grounds, but attempts to find a relatively intact one were unsuccessful, as most of the hulls were heavily damaged by explosions and fire. This was until August 1947, when the French reported that they had found a suitable vehicle in Gien, south of Paris.

At the end of November, the found tank arrived by sea to Stockholm, where it was placed in the yard of a repair facility which was entrusted with restoring the vehicle. Finally in 1948, a year after a long layover, work on the tank begun. The first thing that mechanics saw when they opened the engine-transmission compartment lid was a cocked hand grenade in the engine compartment. Apparently the crew intended to destroy the King Tiger’s engine before abandoning it. After the grenade was dispatched of, the tank was prepared for testing.

Due to the large mass of the tank and the unprepared Swedish road infrastructure for driving a 69 ton tank on, the delivery of the Tiger II between the test sites in Skövde and Karlsborg became a real test, in which railway, automobile equipment and even a Sherman tank took part in. The last stage was fire tests, where the tank was fired at by different types of artillery shells and hand-held anti-tank weapons. Finally in 1951, the tank’s hull was scrapped, and the turret was used for some time as a target for the new Strv 81 (Centurion) tank.


Meet the Kungstiger!

The Kungstiger is a German Tiger II heavy tank that will be part of the Swedish ground research tree! This beast is the main reward for the upcoming Northern King Battle Pass season, starting on 24th April. Let’s take a closer look!



All-in-all, the Tiger II can be rightfully considered one of the best heavy tanks at its rank, with this reward also coming with the added benefits of having premium bonuses too. First off, let’s take a look at its armor. The upper front hull provides good enough protection against several types of shells, where the only ones that have a chance to penetrate are APDS or HEAT rounds. In terms of turret armor, the mantlet is that of the earlier production models, meaning it’s not as good as the later Tiger II variant. The most vulnerable areas are considered to be the weakly protected lower front full, where hits here usually lead to internal damage, the turret cheeks that can lead to a ricochet into the hull, as well as the rear part of the turret. Shells stored in this area are susceptible to being easily hit, leading to the entire tank exploding!




A gun that many of you are familiar with is the formidable 88 mm KwK43 cannon, which can be considered one of the best at its rank. Huge shell casings and a long barrel ensure shells have a higher velocity, making it relatively easy to hit targets at longer distances. Traditionally, the most effective shell to use with this gun is the PzGr 39/43 APCBC round as it has excellent armor penetration and good post-pen explosive effects. Also available is a HE shell, good for use against light vehicles wherever needed.



When it arrives to the game, the Kungstiger will be the first rank IV premium ground vehicle in the Swedish tree, where it’ll also help to add some diversity to vehicle lineups at this rank. Plus, it’ll also be a great vehicle to start researching this tree in general.




That’s it for today, be sure to keep an eye out for the general Battle Pass news article with the rest of the details that we’re planning to publish on April 22nd. See you soon!

The Mustang is a legendary American propeller fighter aircraft, and the one we’re presenting today was in service with the Chinese Air Force. It’s going to be the aircraft reward for the upcoming Battle Pass season!

P-51C-11-NT Mustang: A Premium Fighter for China at Rank III

Features:

• High speed!
  
• Good rate of climb.
  
• Possibility of using bombs.
  
• Mediocre weaponry.
  

Vehicle History

American Mustang fighters began appearing in China in 1944, flown by pilots of the Chinese-American Composite Wing (CACW), which was under the direction of the ROC Air Force. The first P-51s that China received were the B and C modifications, and towards the end of the war more modern modifications appeared. Later on, American Mustangs became part of the PLA Air Force, but in 1953 they were finally written off due to wear and tear of parts and for being obsolete. P-51s remained in service the longest at Flight School No.7, where future pilots practiced taxiing them off of takeoff airfields.



Meet the P-51C-11-NT!

When it arrives to the game, the P-51C-11-NT Mustang is going to be a fighter for China and the aircraft reward for the new Battle Pass season that’s starting on April 24th. All-in-all this premium World War II propeller-driven aircraft will be a great addition to the early ranks of the Chinese aircraft tree when it arrives. Let’s take a look!




In-game, the Chinese P-51C-11-NT Mustang is a transitional modification from earlier variants to the more advanced ones. Let’s take a look at the details. This variant has received a high-altitude Packard V-1650-7 Merlin engine, which significantly exceeds the earlier variants of the Mustang that had Alison engines in almost all aspects; most importantly it increases the altitude ceiling that this plane can fly. In battles at its rank, the P-51C-11-NT will be one of the fastest aircraft thanks to its high rate of climb and ability to conserve energy, perfect to attack from higher altitudes and then fly back up using the boom-and-zoom tactic. This new fighter differs from the Japanese P-51C-11-NT premium by its dorsal fin design, which helps solve the problem of insufficient stability of the aircraft in full control mode.

In terms of weapons, unlike later variants of the P-51, the armament of the P-51C-11-NT is only 4 x 12.7 mm machine guns. While these weapons are good enough in air duels, destroying bombers and even attack aircraft will most likely require multiple attacks and extra precision while shooting. Regardless, despite taking a bit to destroy, enemy tail gunners won’t be happy to see you — be sure to aim well against them to show who’s boss! Additionally, there’s good news if you enjoy ground battles, as this aircraft can separately carry either 2 x 100, 250 or 500 lb bombs!




At the time of release, the P-51C-11-NT will be the second premium aircraft at rank III in the Chinese aviation tree. With this reward, you’re going to have an excellent plane to learn the ropes of aircraft and of course research the lower and mid-ranks of the Chinese aviation tree faster.



That’s today’s blog done! Keep an eye out tomorrow, as we’re planning to tell you about the tank reward for the upcoming Battle Pass season. Until then, have fun flying!

Welcome to the Inferno Cannon event, the second ground vehicle event in War Thunder’s new event cycle! This is your chance to earn decals, a decoration, trophies with rewards and the Chinese PLZ 83-130 by participating in ground battles.

When: From April 24th (11:00 GMT) until May 8th (11:00 GMT), earn mission points in Ground Battles, unlock stages and receive rewards!

PLZ 83-130 — an Event Vehicle Tank Destroyer for China at Rank V

The PLZ 83-130 is an experimental variant of the Chinese PLZ 83 self-propelled artillery vehicle. Instead of using a 152 mm howitzer this vehicle uses a 130 mm Type 59-1 cannon, which in itself is a copy of the Soviet M-46. It’s this cannon that’s made this vehicle a true tank destroyer! Choose your attack positions wisely and take advantage of the high velocity of your powerful shells to guarantee a hit.





“Born to Hunt” decal
“Missileman patch” decal
“Anti-tank rocket launcher (China)” decoration



Among the rewards in the event is also this chest, where, when opened, brings the chance to receive one of the following items:

• 50,000 - 100,000 Silver Lions
  
• Silver Lion and Research Point boosters
  
• Random Wagers and Orders
  
• Universal Backups (1 - 3)
  
• A random camouflage for a vehicle you own
  
• 1 day of Premium Account
  

How to get all rewards
Each stage can be obtained for 35,000 mission points, where every new stage obtained will give you a new reward.

Please note: After finishing a stage, you need to collect the reward manually. To do this, click on your name in-game, go to “Inferno Cannon” and click the “Get Reward” button.

You’re able to earn mission points in Ground Battles at Rank III or above in Arcade, Realistic and Simulator Battles. The number of mission points to complete a stage depends on the game mode and the maximum Rank of the vehicle that you use in battle. There’s a multiplier for earning mission points, which is shown in the task description in-game.  

You can also earn mission points by using event vehicles that are Rank I and II. Event vehicles that can be used have the name of the event that they were obtainable in on their stat card.

Stages change every two days at 11:00 GMT on April 26th, 28th and 30th, May 2nd, 4th and 6th.

Rewards are given when you complete a specific number of stages

• For 1 Stage: trophy with a random reward
  
• For 2 Stages: “Born to Hunt” decal
  
• For 3 Stages: trophy with a random reward
  
• For 4 Stages: “Missileman patch” decal
  
• For 5 Stages: trophy with a random reward
  
• For 6 Stages: “Anti-tank rocket launcher (China)” decoration
  
• For 7 Stages: non-tradable coupon for the PLZ 83-130
  

Discounts on purchasing stages using Golden Eagles
Unfinished stages can be purchased for Golden Eagles, but if you’re significantly close to completing a stage, its price will now be significantly reduced.

Let’s say you have earned 85% of the required mission points to complete a stage, then the price of purchasing this stage will be halved. If you’re near the finish line for a stage and are at 95% progress, then the price will be reduced by five times. For example, if you’ve scored 30,000 mission points, then the price for unlocking this stage will be 449 Golden Eagles. If you’ve scored 33,500 mission points, then you’ll only need to pay 179 Golden Eagles. Remember to keep this in mind if you cannot complete a stage on time!

The Upgrade for coupon 
When you complete 7 stages, you’ll receive a non-tradable coupon for the PLZ 83-130, where using it will immediately activate the vehicle onto your account. If you don’t want the vehicle and would like to sell the coupon on the Market, you’ll need the “Upgrade for coupon” item.

The “Upgrade for coupon” item can be earned in parallel with the stages throughout the event from April 24th (11:00 GMT) until May 8th (11:00 GMT) for 600,000 mission points.

After receiving the “Upgrade for coupon” item, you can convert a non-tradable coupon for the vehicle into a tradable one and sell it on the Market. The tradable coupon can be sold after 6 days from the moment it’s created.

To make a tradable coupon, select the “Coupon PLZ 83-130 (China)” in your inventory and click the “Modify” button.

The “Upgrade for coupon” item is valid until 11:00 GMT on May 11th. Until this time, you can use it or exchange it for War Bonds. Afterwards, it’ll disappear from your inventory.

You can track the progress of completing stages and receiving the “Upgrade for coupon” by clicking on your Nickname > Achievements > Inferno Cannon. If you don’t manage to complete a stage on time or would like to purchase a stage, until May 11th from the Achievements window, you can purchase each stage with Golden Eagles which will give you the corresponding rewards.

Welcome to the naval reward for the upcoming Battle Pass season: USS Flagstaff. This is an amazing hydrofoil with a turret from the M551 Sheridan tank!

USS Flagstaff: A Premium US Motor Gun Boat at Rank III

Features:

• Hydrofoil!
  
• Very high top speed.
  
• Good maneuverability.
  
• 152 mm gun!
  

Vehicle History

USS Flagstaff was one of two experimental hydrofoils that the US Navy ordered to study the design’s feasibility in the late 60’s. These boats received the PGH name — Patrol Gunboat Hydrofoil. Both boats were designed by aeronautical engineering companies: the PGH-1 Flagstaff by Grumman and the PGH-2 Tucumcari by Boeing. Soon after they were put into service, both went to South Vietnam, however not for long as the repair and maintenance of them in the field turned out to be too difficult. After a period of service in the Pacific Fleet, USS Flagstaff was leased to the US Coast Guard as there was a request for a speedboat to combat maritime drug trafficking. Here the boat did not take root for similar reasons, as maintaining a hydrofoil boat turned out to be too expensive and technically difficult. In 1978, USS Flagstaff returned to the fleet and was soon dismantled for metal, and the idea of mass construction of hydrofoil boats was recognized as untenable.



Meet USS Flagstaff!

Aircraft designers are joining the navy! That’s because USS Flagstaff was developed by engineers from the aircraft manufacturer Grumman... it too has wings: underwater wings! This one’s fast and agile, comes with premium bonuses and a turret from the M551 tank. It’s the naval reward for the upcoming Battle Pass season starting on April 24th, so let’s take a further look!




USS Flagstaff is both a competitor and close relative of the USS Tucumcari motor gun boat, which you may already be familiar with. Both of these boats were developed within the same program and served side by side during the Vietnam War. USS Flagstaff has the same blistering speed and excellent maneuverability, being able to quickly accelerate to 94 km/h in Realistic Battles, and more than 120 km/h in Arcade Battles. USS Flagstaff is heavier than USS Tucumcari, but is only slightly inferior to it in terms of maneuverability. It’ll still be easy to pass between trickier areas such as small islands and rocks, and at speed it can even jump small shoals. Perfect for getting to capture points in shallow water!

The main feature of the USS Flagstaff is its interchangeable main gun. You’re able to pick between the M551 Sheridan tank’s turret with a 152 mm gun, or a 40 mm Bofors automatic cannon to be mounted at the front. Both guns are very well positioned and allow for targeted fire at full speed during maneuvers. The short 152 mm cannon fires high-explosive rounds, where the first hit will likely be fatal to a boat or cause serious damage to a destroyer. The 40 mm Bofors does less damage, but fires automatically and is good at aiming at ranges. It’s worth noting that USS Flagstaff is slightly larger than USS Tucumcari: it’s longer and higher above the water when maneuvering forward, making it more stable when firing. The main gun is complemented by 4 x 12.7 mm Browning machine guns in two twin mounts, and an 81 mm mortar at the stern. This can be useful in attacks on stationary or slow targets, however you’ll need to stop the boat to fire, otherwise it becomes almost impossible to hit anything.



In terms of protection, USS Flagstaff’s armor is slightly similar to that of the USS Tucumcari and in practice can be penetrated by any caliber, including rifle calibers. Because of this, definitely try to avoid enemy fire as the USS Flagstaff will only survive when maneuvering around.



That’s today’s blog done! Tomorrow, we’ll continue talking about another vehicle reward that’s coming to the new Battle Pass season in War Thunder, starting on April 24th. See you soon!

In the War Thunder Roadmap for Spring-Summer 2024, we promised to talk about new effects for damaging ground vehicle crews as well as healing them. We also mentioned that these changes will be based on player voting. We’ll being going through our proposals today and would like you to take the survey — let’s jump in!

Additional effects on vehicles when armor is penetrated
Most of us have experienced situations where penetrating lightly armored IFVs and APCs with large empty areas causes the shell and its fragments not to destroy or disable any crew or modules. This could also happen to tanks that are penetrated by shells with a narrow damage zone as well. When this happens, the shell and its fragments pass close to crew members and modules and sometimes even hits them, but is usually not enough to cause sufficient damage to stop the enemy from being able to fire back, at least for a short time.

We understand that this can be frustrating for the player who fired the shot, as from their point of view they did everything right. The enemy vehicle was hit, perhaps even close to vital modules, but they were subsequently unlucky.

We’re proposing three ways to solve this problem and plan to implement them in parallel. Let’s take a look at them.



The first way is to introduce a more detailed damage model to specific vehicles. There’ll be new types of modules, ranging from electronic modules for air defense vehicles, machine gun ammunition, electrical equipment, as well as detailing and correcting guidance modules such as the drives. This is labor intensive and painstaking work however, as it cannot be implemented for all ground vehicles in the game at once — each vehicle would require separate manual work. In particular as part of this task, we’re currently separating and detailing the elevation and traverse drives of the M1 and Leopard 2 series tanks with the addition of a hydraulic drive supply tank, where disabling this part will also disable the guidance drive.

The second way is to introduce new logic for damaging crew members and modules, which will reduce the likelihood of the situations we’ve described above, as hits will be effective even in these cases. Here’s how it’ll work. Any hit to a crew member causes a stun effect. When stunned, the camera will shake and sparks will be shown on your screen for a short period of time, about 1-2 seconds. Dealing damage to the gunner (or commander in vehicles with duplicate controls) causes a few seconds of concussion. It also causes the camera to shake, a ringing effect in your ears, and a temporary drift with a variable vector (a change in direction) is added to the gun aiming, which you’ll need to compensate for manually. In this case the initial aiming point when armor is penetrated moves away at the moment of receiving damage (taking into account the favor killer mechanics) to a random distance and direction within approximately 1/4 of the screen.

The third way is additional sources of fire in the fighting compartment, where damage to internal modules in this area may cause them to start an internal fire. Several things can burn and smolder inside a vehicle: crew clothing, wiring, machine gun ammo, plus rubbish and oil on the floor. In this case the fire can go out on its own, unlike an engine or fuel tank fire, and the damage it causes will be less than the damage caused by an engine or fuel fire.

Healing of wounded ground crew members
Due to numerous requests, we’re also considering the possibility of introducing healing for injured ground crew members. How do crew injuries currently affect gameplay? When calculating the repair time, active crew members that have been skilled are taken into account (knocked out crew are considered not skilled). The percentage of remaining health is linearly converted into a repair time multiplier in the range from 0.5 to 1. The average value is calculated for the entire crew in the vehicle.

For calculating reload time, only loaders are used. In their case, the percentage of health is converted into a reload time multiplier from 1 to 1.25. A loader who has taken maximum possible damage but is still conscious has a reload penalty with a parameter value of x1.25 from the normal reload time. If they’re knocked out, the penalty increases to 2x. If there’s several loaders, the average value for all of them is calculated. For conscious crew members, skilled crews are taken into account.

We want to go with the simplest and easiest-to-use implementation for the healing of wounded ground crew members: the automatic healing of the crew. If the crew does not receive any damage within a given time, their health is restored to the minimum level required to remove most of the penalty for the crew to perform their duties. If any damage is received during the healing process, it stops and the countdown to the start of the healing process starts from the beginning.

Take the survey!
We’ve created a survey with a few yes or no questions that you can take. Be sure to complete it and submit it to us!

Please note that the survey will be available until April 19th 13:00 GMT.

TAKE THE SURVEY

Graphics

• A bug that caused shell craters on the ground to display incorrectly has been fixed.
  
• A bug that caused snow to only be visible when the camera moved has been fixed.
  

The current provided changelog reflects the major changes within the game as part of this Update. Some updates, additions and fixes may not be listed in the provided notes. War Thunder is constantly improving and specific fixes may be implemented without the client being updated.