Today, multiplayer computer games dedicated to the theme of war are gaining immense popularity. Gamers get into tanks and planes, lead entire armies or go into infantry combat themselves. The military theme is again becoming popular, as at the beginning of the century, but at the same time it is gaining new form- now it has a multiplayer coloring. And one of the most popular today. computer games this direction is War Thunder. Here you can choose any of the sides that took part in World War II and fight for it against real opponents. However, more than once attention has been drawn to the fact that there are no sea battles here - the fleet does not exist in the game in principle. Therefore, it is worth answering a very important and interesting question for many - when will they appear in War Thunder ships?

What kind of game is it?

Before considering the question of when ships will appear in War Thunder, which is of such great interest to all gamers, we need to take a look at what this project is. So, here you have to choose one of the parties that fought among themselves in the Second World War, and then start pumping on various units of military equipment, earning points for more advanced models. On the this moment the game has a fairly large number of models of tanks and other combat vehicles, as well as aircraft, which makes it very diverse and exciting. For many, this is enough, since other games like this one do not even offer such diversity - for example, projects from Wargaming allow you to sit in a tank or plane, but only in two separate games. But in the case of War Thunder, everything is different, and gamers want to know when ships will appear in War Thunder.

Ship announcement

You are mistaken if you think that reflections on this subject are lengthy and groundless. In War Thunder, the ships have actually already been announced by the developers. Of course, it is worth noting that no one has named specific dates, and the work is just beginning, but the fact that the developers have listened to the opinion of gamers and started working in the right direction is important. Of course, this may have been their own initiative, but this will no longer play any role if the ships do appear in the game. So far, there is not a lot of information, but it is still there - and quite interesting. Of course, the developers do not admit when ships will appear in War Thunder, but they have already provided basic information about what exactly will be added to the project, so that gamers can guess how it will all be implemented.

in War Thunder

The question of whether there will be ships in War Thunder has already been answered in the affirmative, so it's time to take a deeper look at this question - for example, figure out what exactly will be added. According to the developers, three types will be available in the game - aircraft carriers, destroyers and battleships. You can choose any of these types, but at the same time, of course, you will have the opportunity to decide on the models that interest you. Naturally, no one has yet announced the specific names, so you will only be able to find out the models much later. But it has already become clear that, for example, there will be as many as ten aircraft carriers in the game - this gives us the right to believe that other types of ships will be presented in approximately the same ratio. However, there are already some questions about the implementation, since it is very important point which should never be forgotten.

Implementation of ships in the game

As all gamers know very well, in this project realism decides a lot - all models of combat units are reproduced with maximum accuracy, and it will not be easy to do the same for ships. There is a very high chance that when the ships come out in War Thunder, there will be enough problems with the balance, as well as simply with their use in the game. It will be necessary to think over not only the specifics of the battles of ships among themselves, but also the features of the confrontation between aircraft and ships. In general, this puts developers in front of a very complex and large-scale work. And this brings us to the final question - when will ships be added to War Thunder?

release date

So far, unfortunately, there is no concrete information about the release dates of the ships. They may appear quite soon, but so far this is very unlikely, since there is still a lot of work ahead of the developers. However, if we take into account the fact that on the Internet you can already find images of ship models in a fairly finished and playful version, then we can assume that there is not so much to wait. On the other hand, if we take into account all the features of the confrontation between the three types of ships, as well as all types of ships with aircraft, the work may be delayed - it is already very, very difficult to implement such a large-scale project. One can only hope that the developers will succeed, and gamers will eventually be able to enjoy new types of technology that until that time had not been competently implemented in any project, either modern or old.

Gamers' opinion

Initially, gamers supported a similar initiative to introduce ships into the game. Naturally, this is such an incredible step forward. It will allow you to get experiences that you could only dream of before. But over time, the fuse subsided a bit, and the reason for this was the game itself, or rather, the actions of the developers in the process of updating it. If earlier this project was considered the best and most realistic, now it is gradually starting to lose popularity. The reason lies in the fact that in the pursuit of entertainment and attracting large crowds of gamers to the project, the developers began to change the balance, and now some sides have become practically unplayable.

WOT's oldest competitor landed at Gamescom 2016, showed off the fleet and answered players' questions.

This material is a kind of digest for those who have not particularly followed War Thunder Lately and don't know what happened to them. And there have been quite a few events lately.

Naval battles - knights of the sea

Already this year, naval battles will appear in WT, and the closed beta will start immediately after the end of Gamescom.

Closed testing of naval battles is starting this year! Their basis will be the "knights of the sea": torpedo, artillery and missile boats, coast guard ships, patrol ships - the so-called "small" fleet, which during the war years made up the majority of the ships that served in all troops and in all waters.

• It was decided not to introduce a heavy fleet (ships larger than a destroyer) into the game, as they are too slow and clumsy, which dragged out the gameplay, making it uninteresting. Therefore, only fast ships were left in the game, which are more suitable for the concept battles Thunder.
• Testing accesses are raffled during broadcasts from Gamescom 2016. You can also buy a package with one of the early accesses (for or rubles).
• Open testing is scheduled for 2017.

• Ships of all nations represented in the game will be added.
• Large ships (cruisers, battleships, aircraft carriers) will initially be controlled by bots in some modes. According to the results of testing, it is possible that these ships will be given under the control of the players.
• For naval battles, separate locations will be created in the setting of the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans, as well as the Mediterranean.
• The water is based on NVIDIA Waveworks technology.
• There will be no submarines and here's why:

The gameplay of submarines is specific - they are quiet hunters who sometimes waited for weeks for their “prey”, made a strike and hid. A discovered submarine is guaranteed not to be a tenant. And in speed, they, as a rule, were inferior even to very slow ships.

• At the moment, there are tests of joint battles of ships and aircraft.

A little more details can be found in the video:

Ship preview

S-100 model 1945 (Germany)

The S-100 class torpedo boat of 1945 is a real child of the war. The boat was created in 1943, taking into account the experience of military operations in the English Channel against the military and merchant fleets of Great Britain. As a result of long studies and experiments, German engineers created an excellent torpedo boat for active combat operations and patrolling sea areas and straits, in which many shortcomings of early class boats were taken into account and corrected.

For the design of the boat, shipbuilders chose wood, as it is light, resilient and reliable material. Wooden structures ships were made from different breeds wood - oak, cedar, mahogany, Oregon pine. double casing wood paneling was divided by metal bulkheads into 8 watertight compartments. The cabin of boats of this class was armored, thickness steel sheets is 12 mm, which is a good anti-bullet and anti-fragmentation protection.

• Maximum speed: 42.5 knots (almost 80 km/h).
• Engines: three 2500-horsepower Mercedes-Benz diesels.
• Armament:
  • two tubes for 533 mm torpedoes,
  • automatic 37 mm cannon (similar to the famous FlaK36 anti-aircraft gun),
  • one twin and one single installation of 20 mm C/38 guns,
  • at the stern, a twin depth charge release mechanism,
  • rifle-caliber machine guns could be mounted on the sides of the armored tube.

Japanese Type 11 PT-15 patrol torpedo boat

Became the last of the ships of this type in service with Japan. The vessel retained the characteristic features and characteristics of post-war Japanese boats, which were built at the shipyards of the countries of the Western bloc. PT-15 has good seaworthiness thanks to the successful contours in the midship frame area, which have become feature Japanese post-war ships.

Despite its solid armament and outward massiveness, this torpedo boat is always at the forefront in War Thunder thanks to its excellent top speed. The main task of the PT-15 is to destroy naval targets, regardless of their size, and the boat copes well with this task. Four large and powerful torpedoes weighing 1800 kg each are the main argument in the fight against capital ships.

• Maximum speed: 40 knots (over 70 km/h).
• Engines: two gas turbines, with a total capacity of 11,000 hp
• Armament:
  • four torpedo tubes with American Mk.16 torpedoes,
  • two automatic 40-mm guns Bofors L60 on the bow and stern of the boat.
• Crew: 28 people.

Project 183 "Bolshevik" (USSR)

It was developed in the post-war years, taking into account the experience of combat use of both Lend-Lease equipment and Soviet boats. The design of the boat correctly took into account the properties of coniferous and hardwood wood, successful geometry and a power plant of four diesel engines gave the boat good speed and maneuverability, and the combination of artillery and torpedo weapons made the boat a truly universal soldier.

The large Project 183 torpedo boat is a godsend for those players who like a fast-paced, fast-paced game. The boat starts perfectly from a place and keeps an excellent speed for its class. Four automatic cannons have good accuracy even when firing at long distances, so you can be one of the first in the team to start shooting enemy ships. The rate of fire of the guns is low (about 300 rounds per minute), but high-explosive fragmentation shells are equally good against boat hulls and their crews.

• Maximum speed: 44 knots (over 80 km/h).
• Engines: four diesel engines with a total capacity of 4800 l / s.
• Armament:
  • two torpedo tubes
  • two twin 25 mm 2M-3 guns,
  • up to 12 depth charges.
• Crew: 14 people.

Fairmile D: sea dog (UK)

Throughout 1941, the engineers of the Royal Navy of Great Britain were busy developing and testing a new type of artillery and torpedo-artillery boats to counter the German "schnellboats" - torpedo boats that blocked the actions of British warships and merchant ships in the English Channel. The requirements for the car were quite understandable - the boat was supposed to become a universal platform for placing powerful weapons different types, and also have a speed of at least 30 knots in order to somehow resist the fast German sea predators.

"Fairmile D" is one of the most massive boats of World War II. Different production series differed primarily in armament - soon enough, cannon and machine-gun armament was significantly strengthened, torpedo tubes and depth charges began to appear on the boat, and many artillery boats were upgraded into torpedo-artillery boats. Our today's guest is an artillery boat of the Fairmile D project of the early production series.

• Maximum speed: 32 knots (slightly less than 60 km/h).
• Engines: four pieces, with a total capacity of 5000 horsepower.
• Armament:
  • one automatic 40 mm cannon 2-pdr QF Mk.IIc on the nose,
  • twin 20 mm Oerlikon Mk.V cannon at the stern,
  • two twin heavy machine guns.5 Vickers Mk.III,
  • two twin machine guns of rifle caliber .303 Vickers No5 Mk.I on the bridge,
  • a pair of depth charges Mk.VII.

Project 1124 armored boat: river "Katyusha" (USSR)

Available on pre-order for 1899 rubles.

Large river armored boats of project 1124 were developed in 1933-34 for a wide range of combat missions in the waters of the rivers (primarily the Amur, from which they received the unofficial nickname "Amur") and, despite the simplicity of design and the great inconvenience of placing the crew, they combined the most advanced at that time, the developments of Soviet industry.

Boats of the 1124 series went through a glorious battle path: the Battle of Stalingrad, Western Europe, Far East - these river tanks supported the actions of infantry from the water, parachuted fighters to the rear and flanks of the enemy, were the first to break into the waters of European cities and destroy enemy fortifications with cannon and missile fire.

In War Thunder, the version of the boat equipped with the Katyusha MLRS is a real monster in the hands of a skilled captain. The T-34 tank turret, located in the bow of the boat, allows for aimed fire at vital enemy modules and compartments, even from long distances.

• Maximum speed: 21 knots.
• Engines: two of 900 hp each, Hall-Scott gasoline engines or two of 1200 hp, Packard 4M-2500-W-12 gasoline engines, 2 VFSh.
• Armament:
  • two machine guns of 12.7 mm caliber,
  • the installation of unguided rockets M-13-M1, the legendary "Katyusha", capable of bringing down a one-time salvo of 16 missiles,
  • tank tower T-34, located in the bow of the boat.
• Crew: 15 people.

PT-109: Kennedy torpedo boat (USA)

Available on pre-order for 2399 rubles.

Elco patrol torpedo boats were designed to perform a wide variety of tasks not only in the coastal zone, but also on the high seas. The United States Navy placed a government order for 94 units of 80-foot (24 meter) torpedo boats immediately after the country was involved in the Second world war. The boats turned out to be very successful and were subsequently actively modernized (mainly by increasing firepower).

At gamescom, seasoned Scotsman Keith Donaghy, International Community Manager for Gaijin, kicks off the Knights of the Sea story from afar.

“I love to launch and fly in real time from London Heathrow to, say, Cologne. I don't care that it's long and tedious. I like it. But at the same time, I understand that I am an exception. Most of the players get bored with that."

Donaghy has played every conceivable (and unimaginable) simulation (and not quite sims) sea ​​battle so he had a lot to say. In his story about the ships that will soon appear in, he gave a thousand examples of how not to do it.

It was suspicious to listen to him.

"...For example, . A beautiful, beautiful game... but it had four-by-four-kilometer maps. If anything, the real ship battles of World War II lasted from several hours to several days. One of the fastest battles in history took place in two hours, ending with one successful hit from a distance of fifteen kilometers - and even before that they had taxied into position for several hours to shoot.

Oh yeah, you do know that warships usually only come into line of sight when they need to finish someone off...?

Naval battle and the time factor

It is clear what Donaghy was leading all this time to.

“Good in their own way,” he says. - But they greatly compress the time factor so that the matches do not drag out: huge battleships or, say, aircraft carriers in WoWs swim five times faster than in reality.

Now think about it: in War Thunder, ships can meet in the same batch with planes (like tanks with planes - the ability to collide in one battle different types Gaijin technicians use diligently). Imagine a ship accelerated for play, moving at two hundred kilometers per hour to get into position. And above it is an airplane flying at a normal speed of two hundred and fifty kilometers an hour. So the game will definitely not work, you will have to speed up the planes too, and as a result, the whole game will break.

Well, if the ship moves at normal speed, imagine how disappointing it is when you go to the firing position for three hours, so that one bomb is successfully dropped on you, forcing you to take a new ship and enter the position again for three hours. I repeat, I do not mind, I love this. But most players won't agree to that."

As a result, the Gaijin problem is solved radically: there simply will not be large ships in the game. There will be small nimble vessels such as torpedo boats, patrol and assault ships. Larger samples of equipment may appear as, for example, targets for escort. Taking control of ships heavier than destroyers in person will be allowed in some modes, but only if the upcoming CBT shows that it makes sense. The test will start later this year.

There were no health points in War Thunder either on land or in the air, and there won't be any at sea either - ships are also subject to a complex zonal damage system. A new concept has appeared in the mechanics of the game - buoyancy. If the ship's hull is pierced below the waterline, it starts to leak, and if the onboard pumps fail, sooner or later the ship will go to the bottom. With a fire, everything is similar: if there is nothing special to burn on the tank, then on the boats the fire walks as it wants, spreading from one system to another. Ships are destroyed beautifully and always in different ways.

At the start of the add-on, a total of thirty ships are promised, including ships from all five major nations. In the future, Gaijin intend to display all theaters of war to the maximum: the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the North Sea, and so on. Several maps will be available in CBT - part of open waters, some - in coastal areas, with large and small areas of land, between which it is convenient to set up ambushes.

And in most cases, aviation is connected to ship battles. Talking about all this, Donaghy talks a lot about the scenarios that can be played out. When I ask how about ships and tanks in the same batch, Donaghy gives the example of Vietnam, where they shot from the water at the jungle: maybe one day we will get to that.

Open testing of ship battles will begin in 2017.

Not so long ago, Gaijin Entertainment announced naval battles in War Thunder. The players took the news quite positively in anticipation of naval battles with destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and even aircraft. But it wasn't there... The developers said that at this stage, ships larger than a destroyer are not planned to be commissioned under the control of the player. To begin with, we decided to introduce boats.

Many took it negatively, because they so wanted to cut through the sea surface on a large, powerful ship, but not on a flat-bottomed boat that throws at the slightest excitement.

Immediately fell down negative feedback players saying "Where are the normal ships?". But let's look at everything adequately. Firstly, the ships have not even entered the CBT yet. Secondly, as the developers said, it is NOT EXCLUDED that large ships will appear under the control of the players, everything will be decided by the results of the PTA.

That is, a wipe from scratch, however, as always.
Just the other day, we were shown a battle of ships on a small test map.

Naturally, the boats that were already shown to us took part (by the way, most likely they will be put on the 1st rank). The fights were really dynamic. I don’t know how much this will interest players at the release stage, but at this stage everything looks pretty interesting. By the way, regarding optimization, they say that it is better than in tanks, but you should not rejoice because knowing the "snails" everything can change literally in the next patch.
At the moment we know the following:

Fleet CBT very soon. Possibly in 1.63
Will big ships, will be decided by the results of the CBT.
There will be smoke.
Optimization in ships is better than in tanks.
Joint battles only with aircraft. Joint battles with tanks will also be tested at CBT.
The threshold for triggering torpedoes is 50 meters minimum.
Ways to destroy a ship: critical damage to modules, such as detonation of ammunition, fires. The loss of the entire crew, if less than 2 people remain, then the equipment is considered lost. Gradual flooding after receiving damage below the waterline, not necessarily torpedo damage.
CBT will take place in the main game client in events.
Anti-aircraft guns of the boat under the full control of the player.
There will be no submarines.
There will be no homing anti-ship missiles.
There will be no damage from the ram, but the boat can be turned over.
There will be depth charges

We will follow the development and you write what you think about it. Will the War Thunder fleet be interesting in your opinion? What would you like to see in the game?

Here are some screenshots of boats