Aug 19, 2013

Crashed Messerschmitt 109 in my 'backgarden'

Hello folks,
Thought this might be of interest to some of the more historic buffs among you.

Messerschmitt, 109, downed, crashed, denmark, picture

This beautiful Messerschmitt 109 was performing stunts at a local airshow here in Denmark, very close to where I live (see the video below), but was forced to crash land due to engine failure.

Messerschmitt, 109, downed, crashed, denmark, picture

This made it possible to get some excellent pictures of a downed Messerschmitt 109:

Messerschmitt, 109, downed, crashed, denmark, pictureMesserschmitt, 109, downed, crashed, denmark, picture

Link to the video. About four minutes in, you can see the plane land.


Anyways, thanks for reading - if you found the post interesting then any comments or tips (commercial clicks :-)) are greatly appreciated!

Until the next time; stay safe and prepare to slaughter Zombies!
All the best,
Kasper

May 1, 2013

Private letter from Montgomery describing events during the landing on D-Day


Hello all,
I had the pleasure of visited a small war museum (Skagen Bunkermuseum) recently and while I was looking at their WWII memorabilia, I found a very interesting original letter from General Montgomery to Generalmajor Frank Simpson. According to the description, Simpson was at army HQ, and Montgomery was writing from his tactical HQ, describing the events of the landing.

There are quite a few fascinating tidbits in the letter that I, at least, had never heard of before, and I thought there might be quite a few readers who are also interested in this aspect of the Second World War and D-Day in particular.

Just the opening statement is fascinating: "There is no doubt that the Germans were surprised, and we got on shore before they had recovered. The speed, power, and violence of the assault carried all before it." Excellent stuff!

I've uploaded some high quality pictures which should allow you to read the letter itself, but these are the things that fascinated me the most:

* The most feared enemies were female German snipers, suggested to be the wives of the German soldiers.  They apparently were primarily targeting officers. Four of these women were killed by Canadian troops.
* They took several hostages (ca. 6000), including Japanese and Russians. Wonder who they were and what they were doing there..
* This statement: "The Germans are fighting well; Russians, Poles, Japanese, and Turks, run away; and if unable to do so, surrender." gives a lot of information on morale etc.
* the First US Army apparently had "a sticky party at Omaha and its progress at Utah has not been rapid." There is a lot of casualties behind that sentence.


If you have any extra information on these points, I would love to hear from you.

Private letter from Montgomery describing events during the landing on D-Day

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Private letter from Montgomery describing events during the landing on D-Day


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All the best,
Kasper

Apr 30, 2013

War Thunder Auto Cannon Nerfed - Update 1.29.57.0

Hello all,
While I was away Gaijin introduced a large update. Most of this is small fixes, with a reduced magazine loadout for some planes, etc. But the most important element, hidden at the middle of the list, was that they have nerfed the auto cannons: New heating parameters for large caliber automatic cannons M4, M10 and NS-37. Long bursts of more than 5-7 shells now lead to gun jamming!
I've only got very limited game time at the moment so I havn't really noticed this change, but I hope it is for the best.
 War Thunder Gaijin Auto Cannon Nerf Update
The rest of the changes are as follows:

  • Fixed: Air kills and assists counter malfunctions in some situations
  • Render efficiency was improved
  • Fixed: several shut-down issues
  • New color indication of aircraft types in the development trees
  • Added: tracer bullets for ammo belts for Japanese 7.7mm Type92 turret machine guns;
  • Added: armor-piercing incendiary bullets for Brittish 7.7mm machine guns;
  • Ammo belts for MG131 have been revised, now  immediate-action ammo belt has the correct type of bullets;
  • Ammo racks for Japanese 20mm Type99 and Type99 Mk.2 cannons have been changed for better efficiency;
  • Ammo racks for Japanese 30mm Type5 cannon have been changed for better efficiency;
  • Tracers were removed for 30mm HEF (high-explosive fragmentation) shell for Type5 cannon;
  • High-explosive fragmentation action of Japanese 20mm Type99 and Type99 Mk.2 HEF shells has been revised and improved;
  • Improved localizations mistakes in the descriptions of ammo racks for 7.5mm,  7.7 mm and 7.92mm bullets;
  • Added: custom ammo belts for Ju-87B2/R2/D3, OS2U.
  • New heating parameters for large caliber automatic cannons M4, M10 and NS-37. Long bursts of more than 5-7 shells now lead to gun jamming!
  • Improved materials for engine parts of single-engine fighters;
  • Bf-109 F4 - number of shells for MG 151/20 cannon increased from 150 to 200;
  • Bf-109 G2 - number of shells for MG 151/20 cannon increased from 150 to 200;
  • Bf-109 G6 - number of shells for MK108 cannon increased from 60 to 65; wing mounted MK108 cannons now have 35 shells per cannon;
  • Bf-109 K4 - number of shells for MK108 cannon reduced from 150 to 65, wing mounted MG151/20 cannons now have 135 shells per cannon;
  • FW-190A-5 - number of bullets for MG17 machine-guns reduced from 1000 to 900 per gun;
  • P-40e - number of bullets for M2 machine-guns was reduced from 425 to 235 per gun;
  • F4U-1c - number of shells for AN/M2 cannons was increased from 220 to 231 per cannon;
  • Spitfire Mk. IX - number of shells for Hispano MkII cannons increased from 60 to 120;
  • A6M3 - number of shells for Type99 MkII cannons increased from 60 to 100;
  • A6M2 and A6M2n - number of shells for Type99 MkI cannons reduced from 100 to 60;
  • P-51b - number of shells for Hispano MkII cannons reduced from 280 to 125 shells for the first pair of cannons (closest to the fuselage, right and left) and from 350 to 125 for the second pair.

All the best,
Kasper

Mar 30, 2013

War Thunder: Questions answered by Trojan and Borisych

Hello all,
Recently a Q&A was held where Trojan and Borisych answered a ton of questions.
I've singled out a few answers that seem the most important to me:


Q: Why plane of same tiers does not have same cost and repair cost?
A: Variant, efficiency, engine rating, weapon rating are all factors to take. It is very hard to place planes to tier to exactly match each other. Sptfire MkI and Bf-109E-3 are good match because they fought each other, but E-3 had an edge on Spitfire.

Q: What happened with economy and why is economy like this now?
A: Basically, we don't want people to join the game and get to level 20 in a week. Before, that was possible, people come to game, bomb targets, leave the game or kamikaze not being punished at all. Now economy is set to eradicate that. Also, every economy change need to run for at least a week for data gathering before any decision is made. So, don't worry about economy too much, it will be changed for sure again and again.




I.e. stop whining about the economy :-)

Q: Bomb load of some bombers in the game is lower than what bombers could take in real life?
A: That was done intentionally because of balance and necessity to stop bombers from killing all ground units in one pass.
Interesting that they admit this

Q: Why is AAA's super accurate? how can they track you from +10km ?
A: If it becomes player controlled your going to see a whole different ball game.
Player controlled AAA-guns?


Q: Why cant we see what ammo is in the 'default' ammo type?
A: Its a bug and will be fixed soon, hopefully the next patch.

War Thunder Developers Answers Questions Q&A Bombers fighters


The complete transcript can be found here: http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/23544-qa-session-with-trojan-and-borisych-22032013/

All the best,
Kasper

Mar 29, 2013

War Thunder New Update/Patch 1.29.33.0 New Damage Model

Gaijin posted the information on the new patch that updates the current beta to 1.29.33:
  • More informative ammo belts description
  • Shutdowns on Intel graphic cards are fixed
  • Shutdowns on the ATI 1950/1650 are fixed
  • Bug fix: engine sound dissapears when playing some maps
  • Damage Model (DM) is fixed and now works as supposed in v.1.29
  • Turret gunners behavior is changed
War Thunder update 1.29.33 new damage model change turret gunners

I'm glad for the extra information on the ammo belts, but the most important is this one "Damage Model (DM) is fixed and now works as supposed in v.1.29". Apparently the new damage model means that fighters are a bit more resilient, i.e. no more instant kills (unless you are flying Japanese planes, that is :-)).

Interestingly, a Gaijin representative (Borisych) stated the following on the Damage Model:
In general - we have different materials, different parts, we counting caliber, distance, type of ammo and angle of every single hit. Aim weak parts - cockpit, tail, engines - like in real combat, it works for almost every aircraft. Choose your ammo properly, try to control your bursts and follow the target - this all about skills and sometimes luck ;)
If that is true, it sounds like a great system. But the concept of aiming for weak parts while dog fighting and dodging incoming fire, manouvrering etc really is more about luck than anything else :-).

Otherwise the most interesting change is the "Turret gunners behavior is changed". What this means is propably just that they will hit more often? If so, this means no more sticking on a bomber's ass and hoping for the best :-). This change propably also applies to the AAA-gunners, so be careful around those...

All the best,
Kasper

Mar 22, 2013

War Thunder: New Patch Update 1.29.30


Hello all,
More changes to War Thunder!

War Thunder Patch update 1.29.30 change damage model bomber sight
Update 1.29.30.0
Standard ammo belts are also available to equip

Now you can see the scattering range when drop bombs from wrong angles

Tracers visibility improved

Summer came to the hangar

Arcade bombing crosshair bugs fixed for dive-bombing for bombers, attackers and fighters

Bombing sight is fixed for bombers
Note: Yeah! That was a bad change last patch!

Fixed repair on the airfields being taken

Fixed fuel amount when starting a battle

Fixed respawn after repair - no more distant respawn away from the airfield

Slightly improved maneuverability in Arcade Battles

Fixed excessive effects of wing damage on the aircraft steering

Improvements in the gaming interface

Minor optimizations in shadow drawing (less potential freezes now)

Better mouse aiming and the Instructor reactions when the plane is damaged

Great changes!
All the best,
Kasper

Mar 21, 2013

War Thunder: Most difficult Achievement!

Hello all,
So we got a ton of new challenges, achievements, etc. (even got some new skins for my Japanese planes, wuhuuu!). So which one has so far proven to be the most difficult challenge?

War Thunder Challenges Reward Achievements

Well, for me its been the one called "Get to Know Us!". To 'accomplish' this one you have to watch the credits all the way to their end. And, by God, half of Russia must have been part of this game - it takes roughly one billion minutes to get to the end of that credit-roll... (good thing you can do it passively .-)). Well, at least you get 1k experience and credits for your trouble :-).

Anyways,
all the best - Kasper

Mar 15, 2013

War Thunder: New Update 0.1.29 Patch Notes

Hello all,
The official War Thunder Forums are alight with the news regarding the upcoming patch/update: 0.1.29. This should be live soon... what ever that means :-).
War Thunder new update patch 1.29 Forum
 The full content is still unknown but there appears to be a lot of heavy bombers coming our way (B-25s anyone?) and more snazzy stuff. Apart from the (apparently) new and heavier bombers for the Japanese, I'm mostly interested in what the new "Ammo Belts" will entail for the game.
A dedicated fan made this video which shows the availble information on the patch so far:

 

These are the patch notes, stolen from the Russian forums and googlefied:

Economy 2.0
"An analysis of a large number of accumulated data from different experiments and economics seriously altered.
The previous version of the price of aircraft above 2-3rd grade (the earliest) determined by their rank and their efficiency, and the price of repairs - very effective.
Rank depended on the efficiency of the aircraft and its flight characteristics and year of production (mostly from efficiency, to a lesser extent from the rest.)
The economy was the following - flying on planes to ensure high performance team results about average performance.
The most junior ranks (and apparently less effective, too). Players were all effective, in general, regardless of their performance (if productive - that is clearly more effective).
The new version of the economy to the senior ranks of virtually all aircraft profitable, ie prices for repair depend more on the rank, not the average performance.
Rank now even more dependent on the efficiency with the price of the aircraft is also more dependent on the rank.
In other words - the swing is easier to rank 13th.
Planes up to 12 on the 14th rank in the repair are cheaper (sometimes much).
Prices for aircraft with grown up (so to buy a new aircraft, to about the same battle as before, but less dependent on the successful single battle).
In atach label is located, which shows changes in the price of repairs in the new economy. As can be seen on it, for the majority of aircraft repair price reduced"

Patch Notes 1.29.18.0
"
"New windows login / hall / boot
Players will be able to see the elements of the new interface immediately at the start of the game - this is a new login window, which now has an animated background.
Has been changed and the main screen hangar with function keys "to fight." Now you can join the fight with one button, and if you want to change any settings, then just move on her.
In addition, the choice of aircraft for IB / RB now going to fight.
Damage model
Our damage model aircraft made a big step forward in the update 1.29. We added 10 new parts and specified all of the existing parts for all aircraft.
Together with the introduction of the right types of ammunition for absolutely all types of aircraft weapon it has led to the fact that air battle became even more furious, dynamic and interesting, and at the same time and historical, of course.
Damage from bombs, rockets and torpedoes was also given to the characteristics of historical prototypes.
Selection of tapes weapons
Now for all fighters available tape changing air armament. Separately for guns and machine guns, you can select one of the following bands: the universal, to attack air targets, to attack ground targets and covert attack. The latter option does not include tracers.
New planes
New planes were bombing the compound of 4 countries:
  • Became available for the Japanese "top" bombers - G5N, G8N. The first plane, being the largest aircraft in the game, able to carry four plain bomb.
    And his older brother, G8N though capable of carrying a bomb load of 3 tons, but has three cannons in defensive turrets.
  • American branch have added a B-25. This legendary aircraft successfully entered between the A-20 and B-17, with six guns offensive weapons, and 1.5 tons of bombs.
  • The ranks of German planes expanded line of multipurpose aircraft Do.217: from Do.217E-2 c-ton load to the night interceptor Do.217N-1 c with 4 guns MG 151.
  • Soviet Tu-2 lineup now includes recent modifications, which allow higher booking.
Was added to a top British fighter jet Meteor Mk. 8, which can additionally be loaded with bombs and missiles.
The New Economy
Be announced later.
Interface
* Added an option in the settings to always display the fuel level.
* You can now see the full logbook any player
* In the study added checkboxes to enable / disable the display of the cost of repair the aircraft in different modes
* Now, instead of two separate reports on the experience and reward lions only one.
* Fixed the nonlinear default 1
* Fixed incorrect message when you try to screw flyugirovat
* Corrected nonlinearity axis interface
* In realistic battles hide large messages about getting experience, there are only small at the bottom
* Added a button on the token in repetition
* For members of the care now, the selected aircraft in the tooltip
* Added description of the achievements in the event log
* Added progress bar in the descriptions of achievements
* Now, all the achievements are the correct conditions for obtaining
* Achievements now displayed in the user log
* Now in a camera that follows the bomb, the game interface is shown
* Changed medals in the profile.
* Fixed display of tests that have several stages, debriefing
* Added a message "no flaps" when trying to use them on airplanes, where they are not
Graphics
* On some aircraft is animated radiator. Their number will increase in the next patch.
* Improved animation air brakes
* On some aircraft includes the ability to bend the screw. Their number will increase in the next patch.
* Improved the effect of hitting the engineering / ground missiles
* Added bounce shells off the ground
* Includes the shadows of the pilots and infantry
* Added more realistic camera effects when shooting
* Fixed artifacts in reflections
* Improved drawing distant land in cloudy weather
* Fixed lighting pilots
* Fixed a bug with incorrect kollizhena balloon
* Replaced airfields in many missions
* Fixed visual models: Me.262, Ju.88, Me.410, A5M, A6M3, P-26,
* Fixed a British torpedo model
Sound
* Improved sound of explosion
* Improved sound engine stop
* Improved the sound of the plane hitting the player.
* Added sounds to the flaps and air brakes
* Added sound windmilling propeller
* Improved sound of cannon and machine guns
Game
* Permission realistic bombing. Aircraft can now have a limit on the angle to drop the bomb.
* Added aerobatic smokes
* Changed FM La-5, La-7, Wirraway, Tempest, TBF-1c, SM.79, Me.410, Ki-49, Ju-87B, Ju-87D, Ju-87G, F1M2, D3A1, Boomerang, Beufighter , Me.262, Me.163
* Added buttons for remote motor control
* Reworked system murder airfield, now an award given for the damage and airfield, and not just for murder
* Fixed failure to issue the murder of an aircraft which has already been hit and repaired.
* Improved the behavior of the shooters in the historical and realistic battles.
* Fixed a bug where the camera can continue to monitor the target after its destruction.
* Changed the minimum level of fuel - 20 minutes and at least 30% of the tank.
* Leader of the link can not get in line, if any of the link is not repaired the plane for the selected country
* Improvements in the behavior of bots: should now properly take off and land.
* A new player can not now start playing in IB / RB without passing tutorial for takeoff / landing
* Fixed a bug where killing a friendly bot not fined
* Added bomb for P-26
* The procedure for obtaining the bomb pylons, some aircraft
* Added a reward for logins (?)
Other
* Includes automatic support from tracker GameTrix
* Reduced the size of the client
* Optimized boot time in the hangar
* Significantly reduced the load to the mission
* Fixed a bug where the plane could not change in the first mission of the American campaign
* Fixed an issue where players complete the tutorial level of simulator
* Fixed a bug where the icon is not pictured in the discount group modifications of aircraft
* Fixed a bug where the typhoon could accelerate to 700 km / h in level flight at the ground, using the screw pitch
* Cargo ships lost 127 mm guns that were given to them by mistake""
 
 
All the best,
Kasper

Feb 27, 2013

War Thunder: The Secret Map Krymsk

Hello all,
I've been enjoying my Japanese low tier fighters and by the Rising Sun, they are some sexy planes!

But in my last game, War Thunder and Gaijin decided to treat me with the ultra rare, almost secret, map called Krymsk.
 
The interesting thing about this map is that it is a Domination type but with only a single (one!) airfield. This naturally generates a lot of dogfighting right above the airfield.
My impression is that this map is a fun alternative to the regular Domination maps and I hope to see it more frequently.
The map itself is somewhat bland - few features to distinguish it, but on the plus side, there is so much action that you do not have time to admire the view :-).


Although I didn't get Bandicam ready in time to record the game, I've saved the replay and recorded that - this does show the map in great detail.

My game went alright, I managed to survive the entire game in my Japanese A5M4 and got five enemy kills and multiple crits. Top of the board so I cannot complain. I began by avoiding the initial deadly skirmish in the centre and went to hunt isolated enemies on the flank. Following their destruction I entered the central dogfighting, trying to maintain enough speed to get out when the enemies got interested in me. 
At the very end my engine got destroyed but I managed to glide the few seconds it took before the game was won by my side.

Good fun, and I really recommend the low tier Japanese fighters so far - if you happen to agree, disagree or be madly in love with me, please leave a comment or a tip :-). It really motivates all blogowners to keep blogging!

All the best,
Kasper

Feb 22, 2013

Enjoying the British Reserve Airplanes

War Thunder British Reserve Planes And Spitfire Game PlayHello all,
Although I've focused almost entirely on the Russian Nation (as a consequence of not having a lot of time available for gaming) I have made a small foray into the British Nation. Primarily to get to the Spitfires -these look so archetypical and seem to handle well, so I would really like to try them out.

But on the way to the spitfires are a few levels of Reserve aircraft and similar.


But thats alright, as it turns out they are really fun.
There are quite a few different Reserve Airplanes in the British Tree, but they are practical identical in armament and Flight Model, but have different skins.



Here are a couple of videos showing me flying them - nothing special but I manage to kill a few enemies in these small beautiful planes.
Here it is the Fury Mark III, above Stalingrad:

 And here its the Nimrod Mark I in the same domination scenario:

 
Good fun - if you happen to agree, disagree or be madly in love with me, please leave a comment or a tip :-). It really motivates all blogowners to keep blogging!

All the best,
Kasper

Feb 21, 2013

War Thunder: Why War Thunder Beats World of Tanks (and will beat Warplanes)

Hello all,
I've already discussed why I switched from World of Tanks to War Thunder (read it here), but since that inital reaction-post, I've thought of several reasons as to why War Thunder offers so much more intense fun, than World of Tanks does.
Nothing like sharing a brain-storming list, so here goes:

No Camping:
Unless you are playing in a fast light scout tank, during the duration of an average World of Tanks game (app. seven minutes) at least half of these is either passively camping (sitting in a bush waiting) or 'actively' camping (i.e. driving to the same spot you went to last time, and sitting behind the same corner with the same type of tanks waiting on the other side). World of Tanks does not really support/allow any initiative, and most bold moves are instantly punished (although they can still be fun). The best way to win a game is to be cautious, bordering on passive, and waiting for those two intense minutes wherein you can kill the best players on the opposing side and secure victory.
War Thunder: Why War Thunder Beats World of Tanks
War Thunder - Campers never gets the girl
In War Thunder, there really is no camping - you are thrown into the action from the beginning and the following ten-fifteen minutes feels like a non-stop action packed war movie, where you are zooming and booming, watching your six and blasting the enemy with lead. Getting to the action is quick, and unless you are in a bomber, there is never a dull moment. And initiative, and bold moves, often pay off and the rewards are huge - sneak capturing an airport, outflanking an enemy, divebombing a destroyer, its all possible and fun!

Fair Rewards:
If your team looses, you won't get shafted experience and money. In World of Tanks, even though you do great, if your team sucks you will not get great rewards. But why should I be punished for getting on a team of lemmings, if I kill the five tanks on my side of the map?
War Thunder: Why War Thunder Beats World of Tanks
In War Thunder it is almost all down to how well you yourself played the game (there is a small bonus for being on the winning side of an encounter, but it is very small) . 
You did well = A ton of experience and money. 
You did well, but your team sucked = You still get a ton of experience and money. 
On the other hand, this also means that if your team did well, and you sucked, well, then your rewards will suck equally).


Multiple In-Game Achievements:
I love getting rewards for playing the game how it is supposed to be played - and then getting extra rewards for all different kinds of things. 
I.e., in a given game of War Thunder you are awarded for killing other players - but you are also rewarded for air kill streaks of 3, 5, etc dead enemies. So, thats extra money and experience for doing well. 
You can get all kinds of awards, Bullet Proof, Magnet (getting rammed five times in a single game, ouch), Fighter Rescuer etc., often just for doing what you were supposed to do, but doing it well.

The Crew Advancement system:
I really, really like being able to customize my crews skills. Now you can do this in World of Tanks as well, but in any given tank you are looking a dumbfoundingly slow progress and perhaps, realisticly, two crew skills for each crew member.
In War Thunder there is a ton of possibilities and choosing between them (after each battle) is great fun - should I get that low level Keen Sight up, or wait two more games and get better at Reloading the Gun? I enjoy that, even though I realise that it is somewhat illusionary and that each crew will, with time, look identical. But I also believe this is an area that will be further developed as the game grows.

Tons of Challenges and customizable models:
I love the in-game challenges (i.e. get so and so many kills in that particular plane, or kill x-amount of ships with torpedoes) and getting new plane skins, or equipment for completing them. This is a huge factor for me.
Also, the sheer amount of customizable elements is stunning - in principle you should never see two identical planes - me like! For instance, I've been persuaded by my family to paint the same two decals on all my Russian planes:

But there is still room for uniqueness. In some, I'll have Russian Slogans (For Stalin!) while others will have kill marks in the hearts.

Its New...
Let's not forget to factor this in. Instead of World of Tanks where I new each map intimately, and the 20-35 tanks you always encountered - here I'm a noob again. I hardly now any of the maps well and most planes are something of a mystery to me. But its fun figuring out which canyon to attack through, and what planes to fear. Or which bombers to attack from the front, and which have noses made from machine guns :-).

Oh well, just some random thoughts - if you happen to agree, disagree or be madly in love with me, please leave a comment or a tip :-). It really motivates all blogowners to keep blogging!

All the best,
Kasper

Feb 20, 2013

War Thunder: Best Russian Plane?

Hello all,
One of the interesting things about Google Analytics is that it shows what searches led people to this blog. Which can be quite entertaining at times. For instance, a lot of people would really like to know which Russian fighter plane is the best in War Thunder?

Well, I recently discussed the more general question of which plane is the best in War Thunder at the moment (can be found here), and there was no mention of any Russian fighters. Does this mean that Russians are not great in War Thunder?
No, far from it, but their best planes do not, within the current Flight Model in Arcade Battles, beat the Spitfires and the Zeroes out there.
What the russian do have is the best manouvrability at low levels and in the low tiers. For instance, the Russian reserves are excellent and will out turn anything.
Following the reserves the Russian pilot will face a few levels wherein the Fighter Bombers are the best alternative - these are excellent and will rack in a lot of money and experience from destroying ground targets.
And then the pain starts as the first Yak's are quite painful to fly. They are basicly boats with wings and serious armament. They might be a pain, but it is also quite fun to fly them.

War Thunder: Best Russian Plane the YAK-9T
War Thunder: Best Russian Plane is the YAK-9T

But afterwards you get the real deal - the Yak-9T. This is a monster with its cannons and acceptable turn speed. I must say that I really love this plane - it swats bombers out of the sky and any isolated enemy pilot will get destroyed. At the mid tiers, this would be my choice as the best Russian Fighter Plane.

Anyways, here is an early example of how you can (fail) play the Yak-9T in War Thunder:

When I'm flying this plane, I'll normally start high going high, searching for isolated bombers and let loose on them. Afterward, if the furball down below has begun to separate I'll swoop in, and otherwise I'll continuecruising around at a high altitude. This plane does not manouvre well, if you want to keep the nose on the target so the key is to be able to predict when and where you will intercept the enemy and prepare to go *Boom* Boom* at that spot.

Also, a word of caution. While searching for pictures of a Yak-9T at work, I found out, in a very not-safe-for-work way, that there apparently is a porn site with a similar name and a .com ending. I really wonder why they chose such a name, but anyways, be careful what you search for on Google :-).

If you happen to agree, disagree or be madly in love with me, please leave a comment or a tip :-). It really motivates all blogowners to keep blogging!

All the best,
Kasper

Feb 19, 2013

War Thunder: Best Mid-Tier Fighter Plane in the game?

Hello all,
One of the interesting things about Google Analytics is that it shows what searches led people to this blog. Which can be quite entertaining at times. For instance, a lot of people would really like to know which fighter is the best in War Thunder?

Well, lets try and answer that question, shall we? (I'll discuss the question of which Russian fighter is the near future..)

The first thing to realize is that contrary to other games (say World of Tanks) all planes can destroy all other planes. A reserve Russian aircraft, outturns almost all mid tier aircraft, due to its biplanes, and with a bit of luck its machine guns can kill Spitfire pilots or LaGG-3 planes. With a bit of luck, yes, but it is possible. So there are no planes in War Thunder that does not offer you an okay chance at getting some kills.

That said, some planes are definately better than others at the moment.

Due to the dynamic flight model in arcade battle mode, the advantage currently lies with the dogfighters - as everyones climbing speed has been boosted, and thus everyone can climb fast, the path to a great fighter lies in manouvrability, i.e. who can turn the fastest. 
The winning formula is turn speed, armament, and general speed. All the advantages are with the dogfighters, whereas the Boom-and-Zoomers are not as easy to use effectively.
And here the Spitfires and the Zeroes are the winners. So the best fighter aircrafts in War Thunder at the moment, would be all the Spitfires, all the Zeroes, and the Bell P-39 Airacobra.

War Thunder: the A6M2 Zero - one of the best fighters in the game
War Thunder: the A6M2 Zero - one of the best fighters in the game

The conclusion is that it is just much easier, within the boundaries fo the current Flight Model in Arcade, to do better in Dogfighters than in Energy Fighters. So if you want to kill the most enemies, choose a Dogfighter. And in my opinion, the dogfigthers I fear the most are the entire Spitfire line in the British tree, and the Zero type fighters (e.g. the A6M2 Zero) in the Japanese tree, precisely because they are the best dogfighters at the moment. 

These will outturn, outrun, and gun down most other planes, and thus could be considered the best fighters in War Thunder. Although, they will still die quickly when you line up your cannons and begin blasting them from behind :-).

War Thunder: the Spitfire - one of the best fighters in the game
War Thunder: the Spitfire - one of the best fighters in the game

(Historical battles and Full Real Battles are something completely different, precisely because they have a different flight model.)


All the best,
Kasper

Feb 11, 2013

War Thunder: How to get more ammunition for your plane

Hello all,
One of the interesting things about Google Analytics is that it shows what searches led people to this blog. Which is quite entertaining at times. For instance, people are apparently searching heavily on Google for the answer to 'how to get more ammunition in War Thunder'. 
Well, search no more - as a special service I shall now disclose the answer to this enigmatic question :-).

War Thunder How To Get More Ammunition
War Thunder - How to get more ammunition

There are two methods of replenishing ammonition in War Thunder:
In normal Arcade battles the answer is the simplest. When you've unloaded your machine guns on the enemy fighter, or have dropped all your bombs on the enemy ground targets they will automatically come back. If you have not completely emptied your barrels, you can press "y" to reload your weapons. The time this takes is dependent upon the very important skill called "Reload Skill". 
This is found in the tab called Ground Service, and may be the most important skill to invest points in as soon as possible. This can quite dramatically cut down your reload time, and may often either save your life, or enable you to destroy that pesky enemy bomber.
If you are flying in a Historical Battle and you've run out of ammo, well then you will have to go back and land at your friendly airport. And wait to get a new stock of weapons. No in-the-air-resupply, sorry.

What is interesting is that there appears to be no way of loading extra ammunition onto a given plane. No matter how skilled your ground crew, there is no way of getting a few more rounds of ammunition packed into the plane. I would really like to see this added as an extra bonus of having maxed out your plane's experience bar. At the moment, once you've completely filled this bar, there is no bonus (actually there is a negative bonus, as you will receive no more experience bonus, sadly), but wouldn't it be sweet if at every x-thousand gained experience on top of this your machine guns could have another 25 rounds, or your cannons could load another 5 shots. Wouldn't be a gamechanger, but would give you that extra little something to be proud of :-).

Anyways, all the best,
Kasper

Feb 5, 2013

War Thunder: Improvements I would love to see implemented

Hello all,
While playing the game I've compiled a small list of things I would love to see implemented in the game...

1) The ability to de-select a crew slot for matchmaking. At the moment once you've put a plane into a crew slot you can never empty it - i.e. you'll always have to choose five planes to fly with even though you only have four low tier planes for instance.

2) More statistics! I would love to see how many of each type of plane I've shot down so far. And hell, if possible, to see how many times I've shot down the player in front of me.

Improving War Thunder

3) More Award types :-).

4) Tier level in the game - I have yet to memorize all the different planes and it would be great if there was a tier indicator above the plane I'm chasing or being chased by.

5) More Ground Targets. And more ships.

6) More Maps.

7) An ammo count - I can't remember how many bullets each plane carries - so would be lovely to have a count, even before your approaching empty.

8) More, More, More!

Guess thats all I could remember at the moment - feel free to add your own suggestions.

Feb 4, 2013

World of Tanks or War Thunder? Which is best?

Hello all,
This post is an attempt at answering why I've switched to War Thunder from World of Tanks. 
Now don't get em wrong, World of Tanks is a brilliant game. It looks great and I've had a lot of fun with it. And I'm not that abd of a player either. The last time I looked my global win percentage was 55-56%, a decent percentage that was achieved with no Gold ammo and by always playing alone, i.e. no company battles or platoon farming :-). So I know the game and I enjoyed it, so why switch?


War Thunder - more fun than World of Tanks

Well, the simple answer is that War Thunder is much more fun. It is full on action in a setting that is even more beautiful.
"When you start play War Thunder going back to WOT you seen how boring that game is.You sit, hide pray not to be hit by arty and depend on decent team to win.Here even if your team is not very good you still get what you deserve after good game.And its all action all the time not campy game."
I agree with this, the biggest difference is that in most World of Tanks games, half the game is spent hiding or sneaking, and then there is a few intense moments of gunfighting at relatively short ranges and then the game ends.


But World of Tanks still have prettier Booth Babes :-)
War Thunder is so much more than that - it is action more or less from the beginning to the end. And great scenic action at that. It really feels fun, and intense. And above all, it is a change - I was getting pretty tired of playing more or less identical tanks on the same maps. Maps where from the first second of analysing the two teams' tanks you know what is going to happen, where the fight will be, and where the last survivors will try and duke it out. War Thunder has the advantages here as everything is new (although I already feel I know a few of the maps too well already :-).)

The biggest difficultiesin starting anew with War Thunder is getting used to being mediocre - in World of Tanks I know that in the average game I can play a large factor in whether or not my team wins, and I'll probably have killed 4-6 tanks once the game is over. In War Thunder? Hah, there I'm the noob who thrilled whenever I get a kill, and those games where I've managed to kill 5-7 planes have been very memorable.

Now most of this post has been why I switched, there are of course a few central elements that made this switch easier but I'lls ave those for a different post, hell it could be entitled "Why War Thunder is Best" :-).

Feel free to comment if you disagree with my 'Wall-of-Text', but keep it civiliced and remember both are just games and whatever one you enjoy the most I am fine with that.

All the best,
Kasper

Feb 1, 2013

War Thunder: IL-2 & SU-2 M-82 Russian Fighter Action

Hello all,
I seem to only be getting the Domination map called Peliliu. It is a beautiful map, but I would love to try the new Fjords map.
Here are a few minutes that give a quick example of the brilliant free to play game, War Thunder. In this Domination game, I once again take to the skies over Peleliu in my Russian fighters IL-2 & SU-2 M-82 . I destroy four enemy fighters and bombers during the action and get multiple awards, including Hands On for most Assists.



All in all, the game netted me 20000 exp with premium, so not a brilliant game, but it does show the trouble a single enemy jet fighter can cause. The Mig-15 turns up and we all die, more or less. Luckily the clock is ticking and he cannot kill us all...


War Thunder is Sexy!

This was patch 1.27.


All the best,
Kasper

War Thunder: YAK 1B Russian Fighter Action

Hello all,
I seem to only be getting the Domination map called Peliliu. It is a beautiful map, but I would love to try the new Fjords map.
Here are a few minutes that give another quick example of the brilliant free to play game, War Thunder. In this Domination game, I once again take to the skies over Peleliu in my Russian fighter Yak 1B. I destroy four enemy fighters and bombers during the action and get multiple awards, including Hands On for most Assists.


All in all, the game netted me 20000 exp with premium, so not a brilliant game, but it does show the trouble a single enemy jet fighter can cause. The Mig-15 turns up and we all die, more or less. Luckily the clock is ticking and he cannot kill us all...

This was patch 1.27.

War Thunder

 All the best,
Kasper

Jan 31, 2013

War Thunder: Respawn Bug

Hello all,
considering that Gaijin's War Thunder is still in Beta, there are remarkably few bugs. But this one, reported by Wolfman, made me laugh.



His story is as follows:
"Interesting little bug I found on Rice Terrace map. At the airport there are several big hangers off to one side of the runway. I landed for repairs but saw a high level bomber inbound. I taxied into one of the hangers and the bombs missed me. Unfortunately when the plane repaired and respawed I was on top of the hanger. I tried, not enough distance to take off!"

Brilliant stuff :-).

All the best,
Kasper

War Thunder: Where to download War Thunder patch 1.27

Hello all,
I can see from the search terms used by Google to direct traffic to this blog that a lot of you guys are searching for a place to download patch 1.27 for War Thunder. So as a service to my dear visitors, here is the appropriate direct link:
http://yupmaster.yuplay.com/launcher/current.php?id=WarThunderLauncher
And no, I have no idea what Yupmaster is, but that is the official link :-).

Wuhuu - War Thunder Rocks!

Have fun out there and remember to use 'c' to watch your six!

All the best,
Kasper

Jan 30, 2013

War Thunder: The difference between the Russian Rockets RS-82 and RS-132 is...

Hello all,
One of the things Gaijin really needs to do, and do quickly, is to get some pop-up information windows that detail what the different weapon types do. For instance, several of  my russian fighter Bombers have a choice between Rs-82 or Rs-132 rockets... Great to have a choice of armament but when there is absolutely no information detailing what the difference is, the choice just becomes confusing.

Rs-82 or Rs-132 rockets - Whats the difference?
Its Briefing Time on the dynamics of War Thunder
So I checked what the historical difference was, and the first interesting tidbit was this qoute from Shores (, Christopher. Ground Attack Aircraft of World War II. London: Macdonald and Jane's, 1977), found on Wikipedia:
"Although the Il-2's RS-82 and RS-132 rockets could destroy armored vehicles with a single hit, they were so inaccurate that experienced Il-2 pilots mainly utilized the cannon."

I can feel their pain. Both types of rockets are modeled to very inacurate, but are very satisfactory to fire and when they hit an enemy airplane the giggling will never stop!.

According to http://warthunder.wikia.com/wiki/Aircraft_Ordnance this is the in-game difference:

RussianFull name Weight HE filler Velocity
RS-82 Reaktivny Snaryad 82mm 6.8kg 0.36kg 340m/s
RS-132 Reaktivny Snaryad 132mm 23kg 0.9kg 350m/s

(BTW, its interesting to compare these with the superior British rockets:
BritishFull name Weight HE filler Velocity
RP-3 Rocket Projectile 3 inch 59kg 27kg 480m/s)

So, RS-132s would be heavier, have triple the amount of explosive, and quicker! So why would we use RS-82 Rockets?

Well according to more historic information RS-132s also had 30% larger blast radius (see the wikipedia article).

So far, there appears to be no good reasons to choose RS-82s instead of the bigger, better, badder RS-132s.

If you do know of any reasons, please, please let me know - I would love to have to choose between two equal choices, rather than this no-brainer :-).

All the best,
Kasper

War Thunder (complete) patch update notes 1.27 posted by Trojan

Hello all,
Trojan just posted the complete patch notes for 1.27. So no need to use the Russian tidbits posted earlier...
All the official changes:

Edit: Looking for a place to download the patch? Click here!

War Thunder Patch 1.27 - Shoo, Shoo, Baby!

Major changes:
  • Nvidia 7600/6600 series cards support; ATI x1650/x1950 series cards support;
  • Control over damaged aircraft.
Control over damaged aircraft – it's a possibility to control an aircraft after receiving critical damage, such as wing or tail parts loss, engine ignition, etc.
When an aircraft is damaged, you receive a quick tip how to eject from an aircraft. Catpult ejection button is “J” in default keyboard setting. Button may be set or changed in Controls menu.
Damaged aircraft may land on the airfield, where it will be repaired. It also may be landed right on a batllefield or fight till the end.
In arcade mode and modes with resurrections catapult ejection is forced after 30 sec. flight after the critical damage recieved.
Added:
  • Sensitivity settings for turret gunners control;
  • Automatic leaving of an aircraft, if player is not active after spawn on airfield for a long time;
  • Smoke effects on cut parts;
  • You may see your squad mates' country and aircrafts (as tool-tip);
  • Dedicated ingame window makes squad invitation easier;
  • New maps: [Ground Strike] Fjords, [Domination] Asia;
  • Screen effects options in game menu (select “Game Settings”);
  • Text chat and quick radio messages for your squad;
Fixed:
  • Bug fix: low clouds over airfield in test flight;
  • Bug fix: drawing clouds, fire and smoke through trees;
  • Fixed issue: jet seat continues to vibrate after aircraft crash;
  • Displaying selected weapon set in map menu (in-action “M” button) fixed;
  • Fixed “PrintScreen” button for Windows7, also in hangar;
  • Fixed export/import of control settings;
  • Dust from propeller on the ground is now drawing correctly for every aircraft;
Improved:
  • Improved force feedback: data now importing from the aircraft physical model;
  • Improved Instructor's braking on the ground: now he releases the brakes later;
  • Improved landing physics: emergency landing is now real. Belly landing physics and control  improved;
  • Two-sided decals are now available for hulls;
  • Player's profile is now saved as one file 'profile.config.blk';
  • Improved video FX for shots from low fire-rate cannons;
  • Nose-down dive sound improved. Now it's appear only on high speed, close to critical;
  • Game chat is available from loading screen;
  • Intro video switched off after few replays;
  • Mountains visibility in some locations improved on 10 km (from 50 km to 60 km).

War Thunder: YAK-7B Russian Fighter Action

Hello all,
Tried the Domination map called Peliliu for the first time and managed to grab a few minutes of the action for you.
In this Domination game, I take to the skies over Peleliu in my Russian fighter IL-2 and YAK-7B. Both two of my favourite planes; although heavy as buildings they pack a mean punch and blows the enemy fighters out of the sky.
In this game I destroy six enemy fighters and bombers during the action and get a few rewards, including Fighter for most killed enemy aircraft. All in all, the game netted me 25000 exp with premium.



This was patch 1.27.



All the best, Kasper

War Thunder: IL-2 Russian Fighter Action

Hello all,
Tried the Domination map called Peliliu for the first time and managed to grab a few minutes of the action for you.

War Thunder is a bitch, sometimes :-)

In this Domination game, I take to the skies over Peleliu in my Russian fighter IL-2 and YAK-7B. Both two of my favourite planes; although heavy as buildings they pack a mean punch and blows the enemy fighters out of the sky.
In this game I destroy six enemy fighters and bombers during the action and get a few rewards, including Fighter for most killed enemy aircraft. All in all, the game netted me 25000 exp with premium.

This was patch 1.27.



All the best, Kasper

War Thunder update 1.27 patch notes

Hello all,

Edit: Trojan has now posted the complete and official changes, which may be viewed here.

Got these patch 1.27 update notes from the Russian server:

War thunder in action
Added support for Nvidia graphics cards 7 * 00;
Done damage control plane (UPS). For those users who use the standard layout, 
it is enough to hold down the "J", to leave the plane. Attention! For everyone 
 else, will have to assign this key yourself;
Added sensitivity setting turnout;
Added automatic ejection if after the player spawns at the airport for a long 
time does not fly;
Added effect of smoke from the cut parts of the airplane;
Now players who are with you in the link, you can see the selected country, and 
 in the tooltip and the selected aircraft;
Added window for easy invitations to link;
Card added [strafe] Fjords, [Supremacy] Mountain Valley;
Added settings window screen effects in the game menu ("Game Settings" during a
 running session);
Text chat and radio reports for management;
Fixed:
Repaired bug "Low clouds over the runway in a test flight";
Repaired bug "Plotting through the trees, clouds, fire and smoke";
Fixed bug with vibronakidkoy, which continued to vibrate after the death of the
 airplane;
Fixed display of selected weapons in the battle on the map (M);
Fixed PrintScreen on Windows7, including in the hangar;
Fixed export / import control settings;
Dust of the earth by a propeller drawn correctly on all aircraft;
Updated:
Improved Force Feedback: data is now taken from the physical model of the aircraft
Improved braking instructor on the ground: he later begins to panic and let go 
of the brake;
Improved physics ground contact: emergency landings now become a reality and 
 the whole plane began to behave better when landing on its belly;
Bilateral stickers can now be glued to the fuselage;
Player profile is now stored in a single file profile.config.blk;
Improved effects shots on slow guns;
Improved sound "dive" - ​​now it only occurs at high speeds, close to critical;
Chat is now working in the screenshot loading;
Came off after a few introductory video playbacks
Increased visibility of the mountains 10 km (c 50 km to 60 km), in some locations.

War Thunder in open beta test stage

Hello all,
Gaijin Entertainment, the developer and publisher of the upcoming World War II combat MMO War Thunder, announced the start of the game’s open beta test in Europe, North America, and South America.

Time to get in on the action :-)

War Thunder is actionpacked beauty experienced from a cockpit


All the best,
Kasper

Jan 7, 2013

Comparing World of tanks with War Thunder

Hello all,
It seems that World of Tanks has gotten some unwanted competition.

World of Tanks

 VS.

War Thunder

A game called War Thunder (free to play and in open beta at the moment) has appeared and looks really good. Although 'only' warplanes featured so far it will apparently provide the opportunity to play both tanks, planes, and warships on the same map at the same time. Seems very interesting.
If you want a better comparison, then see this video where the 'mighty' Jingles compares the two and goes for a test flight or two.


Still confused then give both games a test run, won't cost you anything (to begin with...)

All the best,
Kasper
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