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

Enjoying the British Reserve Airplanes

Hello 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

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 - 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?

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

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 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