War Thunder: Ground Forces

[Jub]

So with the release of patch 1.41 Ground Forces is now in open beta. I didn't buy into the closed beta, but after a few matches of open beta I wish I had. I splurged and bought all the starter packages (partially because I missed the beta tester tanks in WoT and I wish I had them) and I have to say the captured Sherman is a beast. Is anybody else playing this and if so what are your thoughts thus far?

[The Vortex Empire]

I'm enjoying it quite a bit, though it seems at least 85% of the playerbase plays only German tanks due to the usual wehraboo nonsense so prevalent among most people.

[Imperial528]

I've only played a bit, and it was fun. However, while I generally like the way the tanks drive, I don't like the way they react to terrain. Far too easily bumped about and moved. Going 25 kph, the 8-ish ton light tank I was driving drifted more than my just over one ton Honda Accord does at 48.

[Jub]

Were you playing arcade, realistic, or simulation? I've noticed the drifting in arcade and I'm wondering if it's still there in the other modes.

[HMS Sophia]

From skimming a few things, I have a question. Are the ground and air battles actually linked, as Wot and wow promise to be some day? Or is this just the companies competition for WoT?

[Malagar]

From skimming a few things, I have a question. Are the ground and air battles actually linked, as Wot and wow promise to be some day? Or is this just the companies competition for WoT?

They are linked, you will sometimes see planes in your tank battles and vice versa.

[HMS Sophia]

Can they interact? I imagine the tanks can't do a whole lot, but could you strafe?

[Imperial528]

From skimming a few things, I have a question. Are the ground and air battles actually linked, as Wot and wow promise to be some day? Or is this just the companies competition for WoT?

IIRC Gaijin does have plans for planes and tanks being in the same battle, however this may have been a rumor, though WoT, WoWS, and WoWP are only going to be linked in clan wars.

[Jub]

Yeah, there are planes in your tanks and you can even play an AA vehicle if the mood strikes you.

[Malagar]

Yes there is full interaction between the ground vehicles and the planes, the planes strafe the tanks, and the AA vehicles and (rarely) the other vehicles shoot the planes.
My experience so far is that the planes act a bit like the arty in WoT, with the primary differences being that 1. it is a lot harder to hide from them and 2. you can at least try to shoot back at them.

[Imperial528]

I've noticed AI planes, but my wondering is if there are player fighters and bombers in the same match. Probably not, though.

[Jub]

There can be, it depends entirely on the map and the mode. You'll see more human pilots in arcade than in sim just because sim planes are hard to fly well.

[Imperial528]

I mean, in the same match with ground vehicles.

[Malagar]

I mean, in the same match with ground vehicles.

They are, in arcade you can even jump between playing ground vehicles and planes.

[Imperial528]

Oh, wow. Cool.

[montypython]

My bro's blown up many a player T-34 with 1000kg bombs in his Do 217.

[AniThyng]

At first I thought it sucked hard when I downloaded it in the morning, went back to WoT for a spin and ragequit because ever since 9.x WOT the lag has been horrible. Tried WT:GF again later that night and once I got used to how it works, it's starting to become more fun - presumably more so once I get past the starting tank and its lame 20mm cannon. My main complaint is that it's really troublesome to reverse since I need to shift the gears like a automatic car (argh i need to back up downshift downshift downshift shit i'm still in first gear arggghhh *dies*), and i can't bind the sniper view to SHIFT (damn you WOT muscle memory!). Also the jungle map sucks.

I can't get any realistic matches though, the wait time is unbearable. What other differences are there between arcade and realistic for tanks besides the sides being "historical"?

[The Vortex Empire]

In realistic you don't get the indicator for where your shell will land, meaning you have to adjust for distance manually and know what you can and can't penetrate. In simulator, the icons above enemy tanks are removed, so you have to actually use your eyes to spot them.

[Purple]

This is actually sounding interesting. Is it FTP like WOT or do I actually have to invest money into it in which case forget it?

[Malagar]

This is actually sounding interesting. Is it FTP like WOT or do I actually have to invest money into it in which case forget it?

It is FTP, just like WoT.

[Lictuel]

There is no interaction between player air and ground forces just yet. Gaijin stated so, the reason being that the ground force population, especially on higher tiers, is to thin right now. That feature will be enabled at a later time.

During the closed beta, which I took part in, air and ground forces could be played in the same battle and it was really fun. I'm not so sure about the balance though to be honest, it was kind of easy to kill tankers when you had anything larger than 100kg bombs. I guess simulator battle will be where the most fun for tanks is to be had. The maps are larger and planes have a harder time hitting you with bombs.

[AniThyng]

One thing that bothers me about GF after playing it a bit is I don't feel as invested in the outcome of the battle as I do in WoT - is this just me?

[Jub]

One thing that bothers me about GF after playing it a bit is I don't feel as invested in the outcome of the battle as I do in WoT - is this just me?

I was finding that arcade matches had this feel about them, so I went over to realistic games and matches started lasting longer so I felt more involved in things. Plus you get two tank respawns and that's it, so death matters again. I've died as the last tank on my team and we lost, and I was alive while we swarmed their last player and we won. I'd say suck up the wait to get into game and play realistic, you can also play as the Russians (they're really under represented at the moment) as you'll tend to get into games faster.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I am perplexed by the air game. I'll get someone in my sights, and dump ammunition into them like crazy. Cannons, machine guns, AP, HE, incendiary, tracers, no tracers, from above, from below, from the side, through the wing, through the fuselage, close range, long range, boom and zoom, on their tail, anywhere and everywhere I can, and 9/10 attempts are nearly ineffectual. A few hits, sometimes a non-critical critical, but it doesn't matter how many hundreds of rounds I put in the air, the target isn't taken down before I'm forced away or killed. 1/10 I score an (apparently) lucky hit and get a real critical that causes a quick kill.

Almost invariably, anything shot at me kills me almost instantaneously, either with a fucking pilot insta-KO out of the blue (and yes I've been dumping points in Vitality), or it rips off a wing or blows out my engine and leaves me a sitting duck. Occasionally, if I'm being smart I can boom and zoom and limp back to base with one or two people riding my ass the whole way there and not manage any kill-shots on me, but 6-7/10 times any bullet flung in my general direction kills me within the first 5 shots. Especially infuriating is when I'm ripping into a bomber, evading his gunners, and then a random goddamn bullet finally lands a hit on me and insta-kills my pilot even though I've unloaded literally hundreds of bullets and shells into the bomber. I'm fine with bombers being tough, but jesus christ.

[Lictuel]

I am perplexed by the air game. I'll get someone in my sights, and dump ammunition into them like crazy. Cannons, machine guns, AP, HE, incendiary, tracers, no tracers, from above, from below, from the side, through the wing, through the fuselage, close range, long range, boom and zoom, on their tail, anywhere and everywhere I can, and 9/10 attempts are nearly ineffectual. A few hits, sometimes a non-critical critical, but it doesn't matter how many hundreds of rounds I put in the air, the target isn't taken down before I'm forced away or killed. 1/10 I score an (apparently) lucky hit and get a real critical that causes a quick kill.

Almost invariably, anything shot at me kills me almost instantaneously, either with a fucking pilot insta-KO out of the blue (and yes I've been dumping points in Vitality), or it rips off a wing or blows out my engine and leaves me a sitting duck. Occasionally, if I'm being smart I can boom and zoom and limp back to base with one or two people riding my ass the whole way there and not manage any kill-shots on me, but 6-7/10 times any bullet flung in my general direction kills me within the first 5 shots. Especially infuriating is when I'm ripping into a bomber, evading his gunners, and then a random goddamn bullet finally lands a hit on me and insta-kills my pilot even though I've unloaded literally hundreds of bullets and shells into the bomber. I'm fine with bombers being tough, but jesus christ.

Do you play arcade or rb? In arcade nothing seems strange to me to be honest. The only type of weapon that seems to do really well in there are the 37mm+ cannons. Those tend to blow the target up which leads to quick kills. In rb its a whole different story. Also there was (is?) a problem with kill alocation right now where even blowing wings of enemy planes did not grant a kill until the plane finaly crashed into the ground. Lots and lots of kill steal attempts are the result. Seeing how I only play the ground forces right now I can't say if that is fixed yet or not.

One thing that bothers me about GF after playing it a bit is I don't feel as invested in the outcome of the battle as I do in WoT - is this just me?

I was finding that arcade matches had this feel about them, so I went over to realistic games and matches started lasting longer so I felt more involved in things. Plus you get two tank respawns and that's it, so death matters again. I've died as the last tank on my team and we lost, and I was alive while we swarmed their last player and we won. I'd say suck up the wait to get into game and play realistic, you can also play as the Russians (they're really under represented at the moment) as you'll tend to get into games faster.

Small correction the amount of respawns depends on the tank type. Heavy tanks (like the kv series) only get one respawn. I would second the recommendation of going for realistic battles they are more fun, more challenging and more rewarding. For tanks I would even say go for simulator battles, the main reason for that is that the enemy indicators are gone and thus brushes and the like become useful.