Q: Any plans to change the role of bombers in HB?
As it stands, with the exception of a couple of maps, bombers are fairly useless.
This throws the entire HB "ecosystem" out of whack, as explained here:http://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/61763-if-killing-ground-targets-in-hb-became-a-viable-strategy-most-balance-issues-in-hb-would-be-fixed/
A: Yes, some plans. Again, we have a few ideas on increasing gameplay quality on bombers, but we think it is better to finalize them after ground forces, cause that matters
Q: 1) Will you continue to improve FRB, or focus more on the other modes? FRB is by far my favorite mode, but because it's more of a niche, I'm afraid it might not get as much attention as the much more popular arcade mode. The events we now have are already a very nice step to balance which planes are available, and I've barely done a regular FRB battle since they were introduced. I hope there will be a FRB for ground forces as well, because realism always adds a very large amount of immersion, which is always important in these kinds of games. We are the minority, so I feel it's important for you to know that we are some of the most dedicated players
2) I've always wondered how the ballistics system is in War Thunder. Obviously this will be an extra important factor in ground combat, where the armor slopes and penetration have to be taken into account, but just how accurate are the ballistic physics in the game?
3) Will we continue to see new skins for the planes? There are already a few aircraft that have skins representing air forces of a different nation than the plane itself. Being from Switzerland it would be really fun to fly a Bf 109 with markings such as these. I realise that it may be a lot of work to add new skins, especially for smaller air forces, but it would be very exciting to see.
4) Finally, what's it like at Gaijin? Must be quite busy so Soon™ before the PS4 launch and ground forces!
A: 1) we are experimenting with FRB. We definitely will change it (trying to improve), but probably in not the nearest major update (where we are going to focus on new render for ground forces). One of main ways to impove FRB is to completely switch it to Events and add some kind of event for all planes to make available to progress in countries that are not in current events now.
2) Ballistics is super-accurate for bombs\rockets (it even simulate lift for them, not only air pressure depending on altitude), and semi accurate for bullets (cause they are not flying more then 2-5miles usually and there are literally thousand of them to calculate, not big sense to be accurate when it is about inches difference from real world)
3) skins are good addition and very fun, but unfortunately increase size of updates and client size. That's not very easy technical challenge. We are going to research this next year.
4) it absolutely crazy these days. Hope we'll get a bit rest after PS4 launch and ground forces opened. At least a few days
Q: Will we see an option to purchase Ace qualifications for lions at some point?
A: Probably, yes.
Q: Will we see anti air tanks at launch or later or not at all ? (If you know )
A: Later. We found them fun enough to add (were not going in fact initially)
Q: Could we please get a bit of information about 'World War' mode?
The two main player theories at the moment is that it will either be instanced combat on maps like we have now, coordinated with a big campaign map (like WoT's clan wars) or that it will be one big persistent MMO map (like WW2OL:Battleground Europe). Could you please put the speculation/rumours to rest, one way or the other?
A: we have four main concepts currently on the table. Not any of it is equal to WW2OL - we definitely need more then Europe and it is close impossible to have it one map and doesn't make big sense. We put it on hold now. We are going to return to the question after ground forces, tournaments and finalizing game modes\mission types.
Q: Hi Kirill. Will we see Historic/FRB for tanks on launch, or Soon™ after?
A: HB Soon™ after. Not sure about FRB
Q: Will we see French tanks, ships and aircraft incorporated into the game in the British tree perhaps?Are there any plans on adding some sort of sniper view into tanks, maybe as an upgrade or just as a feature?
A: 1) not planned now 2) yes, there are such plans
Q: 1) Why was the XP system changed such that the premium account bonus no longer applies to plane XP, making it take twice as long to unlock aircraft mods for prem accnt holders? As someone at level 100 with 4 countries at 20, there isn't much use to me having a premium account anymore since it doesn't accelerate the process of unlocking modules on new planes.
2) What are we going to see for top tier Japanese planes? I read somewhere that Gaijin was thinking of giving Germany/Japan the top tier Russian/US planes since they don't have anything competitive within the timeline constraints--is that true or just an idea that was going around?
3) When are we going to see some endgame content? Not necessarily World War mode, but maybe other things like regular monthly tournaments like WoT has?
4) Will we see a mode/match type with HB physics but where all countries fight all other countries (like arcade mode)? Seems to me the simplest way to solve country imbalances is to mix everything up.
5) When will we be able to select Ground Strike only or Domination only in arcade?
A: 1) XP system is going to be changed in 1.37 or next update after 1.37 completely
2) It is one of the ideas. We haven't decide it yet. But more likely that we are going to add 1956s planes for Luftwaffe and Japanese Air Forces (and that means F-86s). But not 100% sure.
3) hope this year - it is one of the 5 top feature in the list of big features (but of course after ground forces and finalizing main game modes)
4) yes, that is one of the simplest ways. Initially it seemed that there is enough players on Axis planes to have good matches, but that is not true for last 4-5 months in fact. Alternative history was one of the solutions, like semi-way between that and current HB. We will try this on Events next week probably and if players will like it - then it is back on table for 1.37 5) not planned now.
Q:How will HB/FRB work for tanks? IE, More realistic speed, weight, penetration values on guns? Limited to a in-tank through-the-glass view in FRB? Perhaps you need a steering wheel and pedals, as FRB needs a joystick..
A: More realistic engine powers and turret rotating speed. Limited views probably. Realistic controls only for FRB probably (not 100% sure, but 90%)
Q: 1 : How is the FM re-work progressing for the FW 190 D-12 and D-13 planes? Will we see an update this year for these planes?
2 : Is there separate teams working on the Ground Forces and Planes currently? And how big is your development team?
3 : Will we get any German and Japanese Jets this year? And what are the models on your roadmap you likely to implement first in future patches?
4 : What is your favorite plane?
5 : Will it be possible in the future to purchase the "Ace Advanced Pack" more than once on steam? Even if I don't get eagles for the Premium Planes I already have it would be great! Such an excellent deal, I would buy it constantly :-)
Thank you you again for making such a great game that has made me come back everyday And more importantly that has me having fun. Apologies for asking so many questions. Have a great day!
A: 1) AFAIR Fw-190D-12 and D-13 are not 100% accurate, but very close to. So they are not in priority least
2) some guys working mostly or completely on planes, some mostly on Ground Forces. But it is one game, so most of us sometimes working on GF, sometimes on AF
3) Ki-84
If top jets will be American then they will be this year.
4) depend on rank\year and role. I really like early USSR planes, like I-16, spitfires when talking about 1941-1942, and Fw-190 for 1944-45. American bombers are the best of course, Il-2 is great attacker (P-47 is better, when we are talking about later years) and MiG-15 is the best for Korean War (I like poweful guns when you are attacking best bombers )
5) no
Q: Will it be long until bombers get proper modeled cockpits?
Will the Japanese receive more planes to fly? Will it take long?
How are you guys working on the current available game modes? We currently have AB, HB, FRB, events and custom missions. Not all work very well and I was wondering if you guys are looking to simplify the available game types.
A: Good, at least in office 1) after official release we'll schedule cockpits for bombers, not earlier.
2) yes, these year.
3) we really want to simplify them. However, we have very different players, so that's not easy.
Q: Seeing how unbalanced the late game is (17-20 tiers) would you consider adding few more tiers to the game? (for example up to 25)
This questions qomes from looking at the planes with 1 tier difference between them and looking at their performance. For example the difference betwee 5t plane and 6t plane is significant enough to place planes in different tiers but they can still compete with eachother. Pilot makes the difference there.
Now when you look at planes in 17 and 18 tier there is such a big performance gap between them that they shouldn't even be allowed to see eochother.
Would you consider setting tiers up like ...-20 WWII and 21-25 Korean War for example?
A: No, we are even going to reduce them, but change matching system a bit.
Q: Will the 1.37 update be the tank update or will tanks come after 1.37? Will there ever be an option of a squad more than 4? Will there be any further improvements for the squadrons feature?
A: Do not know yet. 1.37 technically is build with all tech for tanks, but it depends on design and content schedule and date of 1.37 release. Squadrons are going to get squadrons battles in 1.39 probably, at least that how we plan it.
Q: What modes will be available for tanks at launch?
Will there be some kind of major remake of interface in future?
A long long time ago developers mentioned that they like the idea of air races mode, how is that going on?
A: 1) Arcade Battles, and may be HB
2) only in game progression is going to have major changes
3) still on the table. Probably will appear in events one da
Q:It seems that when a game is developed by a Russian gaming studio, it receives a TON of perceived instances of "Russian bias" (This applies to WoT, obviously WT, and other flight sims as well, with Il-2 being a main culprit.) Given some of the circumstances surrounding vague documentation from the Soviet era, do you think that this is a valid concern? (Possibility of "massaged" stats to please superiors, FM data STILL being classified after 50+ years, etc). What is Gaijin doing (if anything) to mitigate these concerns?
· What (if anything) are Gaijin's plans to balance and improve the survivability of heavy bombers? Some time ago, I was involved in a Q&A session with the devs where a concern was raised about the effectiveness of bomber tail gunners and how they are basically worthless in certain attack scenarios. The problem is that the bomber itself gets in the way of your view, making hitting attacking aircraft WAY too hard. With no changes to the way that the tail gunner view works, this obviously still remains an issue. Is Gaijin planning on solving this anytime Soon™?
· What is the ETA for bomber cockpits for the remaining bombers?
· Will Tanks be released as an Open Beta before the "Official" PS4 release?
· When will Gaijin add the P-38L?
· Why did it take so long to add an actual Event (Guardian Angel) to Events Mode? Restricting plane tiers is one thing, but it was SO refreshing to finally see different types of engagements thanks to the expanded functionality of Events.
· I know that Naval Units are still very far away, but given the vastly increased complexity of running a ship as opposed to running a tank or plane, is there any chance that we will see multi-crewing once Naval units are added?
· When and how will radar (for the planes that had it) be implemented?
· When will we see functioning Schräge Musik?
· I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but there is a game called WWIIOL that has a similar theme as WT, namely combined ops WWII battles on a massive scale. In WWIIOL, the devs painstakingly implemented a ballistics system based upon real world physics that went into an insane amount of detail, modeling things such as armor penetration, armor spalling, angle of penetration, and even went down to modeling individual peices of shrapnel. (See this image for the "internal" view of what happens when a tank gets shot in WWIIOL). We already know that it's going to be more detailed than WoT (thank god), but can you go into a little bit more detail how exactly the ballistics and damage system will work for tanks?
A: 1) In Russia we got the opposite opinion. Cause most of our planes and half of our players are not from Russia, and USSR fighters after 1941 and before Korean War are definitely less effective then same ranked British and Japanese and German planes - we usually get feedback that we have British\German bias (not much player got MiG-15s, which is definitely good fighter). Lots of USSR planes in fact were lend-lease planes, so it is just simply not possible to have bias on them -they are the same then in USA\Britain.
However, we do not have any bias at all, of any kind. We have Qa guys and FM guys all over the world (even if not talk about players) and we simply to care about history and planes to have any bias, that's just not interesting and fun.
When you had read 10,000 books on different languages and 1000,000 performance data lists, perform your own 100,000,000 tests and flights - you just in love with planes\tanks and military vehicles and military history - no place can be left for any bias.
2) yes a few ideas - but not very Soon™, probably end of the year\next year
3) next year
4) do not know but not likely
5) do not know, sorry
6) lots of work now on GF, game modes, network code, ps4 release, planes, tanks, game modes, etc.
7) not Soon™ if will be
8) we started work on it, but currently it is delayed until tanks released
9) I have played WWIIOL. We have very reallistic ballistics already, as well as armore penetration, angle of penetration and individual pieces of armor\other modules and even shrapnel. Believe me, our debug images of same kind are much more detailed.
Q:Why was the decision made to delay flak vehicles? I think a lot of people were looking forward to shooting planes out of the skies
A: We were not sure that it is fun enough - planes are not always above you.
Q: Im sorry im not sure exactly what your job entails but would know if having tanks and planes in the same game would drop fps somewhat significantly? Would the ground be detailed for the ones flying? I play on low graphics and trees disapeer unless im close to the ground, another concern is that ill be able to see tanks that are hiding becuase of this.
A: No. If you will be flying on plane nothing will be changed. However tanks are a bit more performance eating. Tanks are hiding server side, so you wont see them
Q: I wanted to ask how you feel about balancing 'blueprint' WW2 aircraft, such as the Ho.229, Ta.183, Me-262 HG's, B&V P.215 and J7W2. Will they be expected to compete with Korean-War-era jets (which might have been feasible for some, if we lean on further assumptions in jet engine improvement such as the Jumo 012 and 004H) or with '1946' first-gen fighters such as the P-80 (which is of course more realistic)?
In short, can we expect a true tier 20 German jet? Because right now, we seem to have a split tiering system that tries to compensate for the gigantic jump in tech between late WW2 jets and Korean War jets, and it makes it tough to understand for me how you'll squeeze in a 'competitive' if unrealistic top tier of jet fighters for Germany.
A: Blueprint planes are interesting to develop
But not that fair to play with. So still have some concerns about them. Probably later.
So we are going to add Sabres to Germany or separate them in matching from Me-262s, or both.
Q: Without giving away any specifics,can we expect a re-working of crew skills into more "active" and interesting skills that force you to make choices?. Of all the game mechanics in WT,I find the crew skills to be the only bland and uninteresting part of the game.
Thank you for any potential answers and thanks for an awesome game!
A: Not on top priority, but probably we'll return to it one day
Q: Why is Gaijin working on introducing new planes every patch when there is a huge number of planes already lacking proper flight models?
A: different people work on flight models (physics), DM and visual models. We are working on flight models too.
Q:What is your favourite WW2 plane, tank and ship?
A: No favorite ship at all - not very deep in naval vessels. Still haven't decide about tanks - need more battles in WT with them
Q: World of Tanks/WoWP and MechWarrior Online both accept Playspan's 'Ultimate Game Card' as a payment option. Will we see this for War Thunder?
A: Hope so, do not know details.
Q: What are your plans for naval combat? I understand you decided to introduce ground units first because naval combat was too hardcore for most players (I guess because realistically it took hours/days to 'kill' a big ship).
Are you planning to release naval combat eventually as a hardcore aspect of the game for the (probably) small niche of players interested in realistic naval combat or will you be making changes to make the game more casual so more players will play it? (If so, what changes do you have in mind?)
A: You absolutely right - naval battles significantly longer them planes and tanks battles.
So they are going to be one of two or both:
1) high level gameplay
2) played in a different timescale (of course without players on planes in that cases)
Probably first one
Q: Hello Mr. Yudintsev; as creative director, what feature do you most feel would help sell this game to potential new players? Also, are there any new things that you have planned or are considering that could be further established that would set this game further apart from others in the same genre?
Thanks for any information and for taking the time to discuss with the community.
A: Easy controls, best graphics, historical details, dynamic combat and our passion about it
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War Thunder, Vol. 9
