Aircraft and helicopter model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:
Weaponry
New spalling parameters have been added for armor penetration using shaped charged warheads of aerial AGMs and ATGMs of a caliber of more than 170 mm. The amount of spalling, the spreading cones and the damage of individual shrapnel pieces has been increased. The change affects all variants of the following missiles with a shaped charge warhead: AGM-114, AKD-10, AGM-65, Ki-148 I-Go 1B.
Tiger UHT — the amount of ammunition for the FN M3P machine gun has been increased. (Report)
AH-60 — belts for the 20 mm GIAT M.621 cannon have been added.
AH-1W, AH-1W (China) — a bug that made it not possible to use the rocket pods has been fixed. (Report).
20 mm Hispano SAP-I — the amount of explosives has been increased from 3 to 11.66 grams. Source: The National Archives, AIR 23/7500 Operational Research Section fighter ammunition, structure and penetra tion.
23 mm VYa-23 cannon — the amount of explosives in the OZT shell has been reduced from 15.6 to 11.0 grams. (Report).
Spitfire F Mk 22, Spitfire F Mk 24 — Triplex R.P. rockets and their modification have been added. (Report). Source: AP.2816B & C-PN Spitfire 22 & 24 Pilot's Notes.
MiG-17PF — OFAB-250 bombs and their modification have been added. (Report)
Meteor F Mk 3, Sea Meteor F Mk 3 — the Hispano Mk.V cannons have been replaced by the Hispano Mk.II. The number of rounds of ammunition has been reduced from 780 to 720 rounds. Source: A.P. 2210C Meteor F Mk.3. (Report)
F9F-8 — additional 500 lb AN-M64A1 bombs have been added. The maximum allowed weight of carried weaponry has been increased from 1410kg to 1820 kg. (Report)
MiG-21PFM — ZB-360 incendiary bombs and their modification have been added. Source: Самолет МиГ-21ПФМ инструкция по эксплуатации №ГК-194. Книга вторая. Москва 1968.
Re.2005 serie 0 — 2 x 160 kg armor-piercing bombs have been added. (Report).
Re.2001 CB — a 630 kg armor-piercing bomb and its modification have been added.
Firecrest — 8 x RP-3 rockets and 2 x 500 lb G.P. Mk.IV bombs have been added.
P-51D-20-NA, P-51D-20-NA (Israel), P-51D-30, P-51K (China) — 100 lb, 250 lb and 500 lb bombs have been added. Sources: AN 01-60JE-1 Flight Handbook F-51D; AN 01-60JE-1 Pilot's Handbook for Models P-51D and K series airplanes (Mustang).
A21A-3 — a bug when taking a combined loadout consisting of 50 kg and 250 kg bombs caused the release to happen simultaneously has been fixed. (Report)
Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9 — the ability to use 4 x 30 mm ADEN cannons and 4 x Firestreak air-to-air missiles has been added. Source: Pilots Notes Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9. A.P.449IJ-PN
F-104G (Germany) — additional 500 lb bombs have been added.
AV-8B Plus (Italy) — AIM-120A and AGM-65G missiles, as well as their corresponding modifications have been added.
JAS39C (Great Britain) — R-Darter missiles and their corresponding modification have been added. Skyflash (DF) missiles and their modifications have been removed, and spent Research Points or Golden Eagles have been returned.
JAS39EBS HU C (Italy) — AIM-120A missiles and their corresponding modification have been added.
F-16C — the AIM-7M, AIM-9L, AIM-9M modifications have been moved from levels 2-4 to levels 1-3 respectively. AIM-120A missiles and their modification has been added.
MiG-29SMT — the 30 mm gun modification has been moved to level 2, and the mistakenly removed connection between the R-73 and R-27ER modifications has been added back. The R-27ET modification has been moved to level 3 and requires researching the R-73. R-77 missile modification has been added.
Harrier GR.7 — the number of 540 lb Mk.M2 bombs has been increased from 2 to 7. 540 lb H.E. M.C. Mk.1 No.118 Assault Bombs have been added.
Mirage 2000-5F — the GBU-24 modification has been removed, and spent Research Points or Golden Eagles have been returned. BGL-1000 and GBU-24 can now be opened with one modification, BGL-1000 bombs, MICA-EM missiles and the corresponding modification for them have been added.
Barak II — the AIM-9P modification has been removed, spent Research Points or Golden Eagles on this modification have been returned, and the missiles are no longer available. The AIM-9L modification has been moved to level 1 of the modification research window, and the AIM-9M has been moved from level 4 to level 3. Derby missile modification has been added.
J-8F — PL-12 missiles and its research modification have been added.
A-6E TRAM — AGM-123 missiles and its research modification have been added.
MiG-23ML — the restriction on the simultaneous use of missiles with radar homing and IR seekers for R-23/24 missiles has been removed.
Tornado GR.1 — a bug where it was possible to turn on IR mode on TV bombs has been fixed. (Report)
JAS39C (Great Britain), JAS39EBS HU C (Italy), F-16C, Barak II — the ability to use 2 x AIM-9M without needing to research the AIM-9M modification has been added.
Mirage 2000 (all variants), Mirage 4000 — a erroneous ability to drop bombs when supersonic has been removed.
Other
For aircraft with ARH missiles, a limitation on the number of simultaneously operating missile data link channels has been implemented. When launching more missiles than the carrier’s radar can provide, missile data link will work for missiles launched last. The limit on the number of data link channels is indicated in the radar tooltip in X-ray mode. Current radar restrictions:Su-27SM, MiG-29SMT, Tornado, JAS39 — 2 missile data link channels.
F-16C, Barak II, F-4F KWS LV — 6 missile data link channels.
F-15C — 8 missile data link channels.
J-11A — one missile data link channel.
F-14 — 6 missile data link channels.
For airborne radars and missiles with a radar seeker, the maximum altitude of the multipath effect has been reduced from 100 to 60 meters above the surface, which has narrowed the safety zone.
Initially, the multipath effect was implemented to protect helicopters from SAMs via gameplay means, but due to the common simulation logic of radars, it also affected airborne radars and missiles with radar homing seekers. Due to the recent change to the multipath effect for SAMs/SPAAs, which is now being compensated for by a skillful operator, the effect is now purely visual for them, which leaves only airborne radars and radar-homing missiles being meaningfully affected by it right now and after the change.
With an altitude limit of 100 meters, the multipath effect created too large of a safe zone, which was too easy to stay in, and made radar homing missiles ineffective when hitting targets from above. Meanwhile, the carrier of said missiles, being high up, was in a losing position, because it was clearly seen against the sky by both radars and radar homing missiles due to the lack of any negative radar visibility effects. All of this combined made players stay close to the ground, greatly reducing the average distance of battles, which reduced the variety of combat situations.
Target attack indication has been added to the radar indicator. If a radar is illuminating a target, or transmitting target’s coordinates to the missile via the radio correction channel, or is sending the guidance signals, each affected target has the mark corresponding to the action.
An indication of the players missiles with inertial guidance system along with their targets has been added to the radar indicator. Indication is displayed until the missile is in range for target acquisition by its radar.
The display of ground reflections on the radar indicator has been reworked. In the search mode reflections now appears gradually along with the ray moving not only along the azimuth, but also along the rows. In the track mode reflections are now displayed as a narrow strip on the azimiuth to the target.
A control to enable/disable automatic bomb release in CCRP mode has been added. If automatic release is enabled, the you need to hold down the button and wait for the aircraft to approach the reset point to drop the bomb. When turned off, the release occurs immediately when pressed. A setting to activate the automatic release mode at the start of the mission has also been added.
MiG-23 (all variants) — automatic switching of radar modes in search and track modes depending on the antenna pitch angle and the current altitude has been added. Manual switching is no longer needed. Hot switching between radar and IRST has been added while in tracking mode.
Mirage F1C (all variants) — an automatic switching between pulse and MTI radar modes when in target tracking mode has been added.
F-15A, Baz, F-15J — the AN/APG-63 radar has been replaced with the later AN/APG-63 PSP. It lacks pulse modes (LPRF), but has a Raid Assessment tracking mode - RAM, switching to which and back is made from the usual tracking mode by pressing the “Change Radar/IRST mode” control. Note that illumination of targets for SARH missiles is impossible in the Raid Assessment mode.
F-15A, Baz, F-15J — internal fuel tanks have been replaced with self-sealing fuel tanks. (Report)
Mi-24D (all variants) — the S-24 modification has been moved to the level 1.
Mi-24D (all variants) — the 2P32M/K-4V modification has been moved to level 2.
IL-2M Type 3, IL-2M “Avenger” — a bug where the sight did not align to the firing point has been fixed. (Report)
Swift F.1 — duplicate modification for 1000 lb bombs has been removed.
IL-2 (1942) — a bug where 17 x FAB-50 bombs were shown in the Secondary weapons menu has been fixed. (Report)
G-LYNX, Lynx AH.Mk.1, Mi-24 (all variants), Mi-35M, UH-1 (all variants) — a bug where these helicopters did not lose control when the tail rotor was destroyed has been fixed.
IL-2 (all series) — the position of the sight inside the cockpit has been adjusted. (Report)
F-16 (all variants) — fire extinguishing system and its modification have been removed. Spent Research Points or Golden Eagles have been returned. Source: T.O.1F-16A-L - Flight Manual F-16A-B - 1984
Me 163 B-0 — a bug where the MG151 20 mm cannons did not display in X-ray mode has been fixed.
Su-22M3 — RWR: SPO-15 has been replaced by RWR: SPO-10. (Report)
Blenheim Mk.IV — a bug where the fire effect from firing the turret 7.7 mm Browning machine gun from the turret above the fuselage was not displayed correctly has been fixed. (Report)
Su-17M4 — SPO-15 has been replaced by SPO-15L.
Buccaneer S.1, S.2 — tail flaps animation has been fixed. (Report)
Sea Hawk FGA.6, Sea Hawk Mk.100 — air brake animation has been fixed. (Report)
Alpha Jet A — tail hook functionality has been added. (Report)
F-20A — the firing effect of the right cannon has been fixed. (Report)
Mirage 5F, Nesher — rear fuselage fuel tank has been added.
Ar 234 (all variants) — drag parachute has been added.
Meteor F Mk 8 (all variants) — ejection seat has been added.
Su-17, Su-22 (all variants) — ejection seat has been added.
Buccaneer S.1, Buccaneer S.2, Buccaneer S.2B, D.500, D.501, Pallier’s D.510, D.510C, D.520, D.521, Martin 167-A3, Potez 631, D.371, D.371 H.S.9, D.373, IAR-81C, Br.693AB2, M.B.152C1 — manual EFS has been replaced with an automatic one.
A5M4 (all variants), A6M2 (all variants), A6M3 (all variants), A7M (all variants), J2M2, J2M3, D3A1, D4Y (all variants) — engine Fire System has been added.
A-20G-25, A-20G-30 (USSR), AH-1 (all variants with a single engine) — Engine Fire System and its modification have been removed. Spent Research Points or Golden Eagles have been returned.
Mirage 2000D-R1, Mirage 2000-5F, Mirage 2000C-S5 — MAWS has been added.
F-4E, F-4EJ, F-4EJ ADTW, F-4EJ Kai, F-4F (Germany), F-4J, Phantom FGR.2, Phantom FG.1, Kurnass, F-5E (all variants), F-20 — some countermeasure pods have been replaced with the large caliber countermeasure pods.
Mirage IIIE, Mirage F1C, Mirage F1CT, Mirage F1C-200 — the amount of countermeasures has been corrected, some countermeasure pods have been replaced with the large caliber countermeasure pods.
Q-5A, A-5C, AJ37, JAS37, Super Etendard — countermeasures have been replaced with large caliber ones.
Lynx AH.Mk.1, G-LYNX — incorrect number of countermeasures has been adjusted from 192 to 128.
Z-9WA — incorrect number of countermeasures has been adjusted from 72 to 174.
Incorrect interpolation of aerodynamic coefficients in intermediate wing positions for aircraft with variable sweep wings has been corrected.
MiG-23 (all variants) — aerodynamics and wing polars at different wing sweep angle settings have been made closer to the real ones. The time of a steady turn has been made closer to the time graph of the steady turn from the technical documentation for the MiG-23ML (~27s at 50% sweep and ~34s at 100% sweep at 850-950 km/h at an altitude of 1 km with a weight of 12750 kg and 2xR-23 equipped).
Su-17, Su-22 (all variants) — the normal acceleration of a steady turn in the intermediate and main positions of the wing has been made closer to values from the documentation. Additional wing settings have been added for 50% sweep angle for more accurate interpolation in intermediate wing positions.
F-8E, F-8E(FN) — steady turn normal acceleration has been made closer (reduced by G ~0.5) to the values in the flight manual.
JA37C, JA37D, AJ37, AJS37 — steady turn normal acceleration has been made closer to values in the flight manual (reduced from ~15.5 to ~14.2 °/s at 40% fuel, with no secondary weapons).
J35 (all variants) — steady turn normal acceleration has been made closer to values in the flight manual (turn speed has been reduced to ~ 12 °/s at M0.9 at 10000 kg weight, with no secondary weapons).
JAS39 (all variants) — steady turn speed has been reduced by ~1 °/s.
MiG-21 (all variants) — steady turn normal acceleration has been reduced by G ~0.2.
F-4J, F-4J(UK) — lift-induced drag of wing is set closer to aircraft with wing without slotted leading edge slats, steady turn normal acceleration reduced by G ~0.3.
P-47M/N-15 — power characteristics depending on altitude have been clarified (lack of power at medium and high altitudes has been corrected).
Naval fleet model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:
Naval weaponry:
Koln, Lubeck — the type of depth charges has been changed from Type 95 to Mk.6.
Naval characteristics, physics and damage model:
IJN Myoko — the position and size of the ammunition magazines, fire control room and radio operator’s station have been adjusted. The armor layout has been adjusted according to the blueprints of Hiraga Yuzuru Archive.
Koln, Lubeck — the crew has been redistributed between the compartments and internal modules of the ship.
Albatros F543 — a display error with one of the transmissions has been fixed.
USS Brooklyn, USS Helena, USS Atlanta, Admiral Hipper, Prinz Eugen, Emden, Leipzig, Nurnberg, Kirov, Maxim Gorky, Mikhail Kutuzov, HMS Enterprise, HMS London — the dimensions and location of crew compartments have been fixed. The crew itself is distributed more evenly between them.
Courbet, Bretagne, Lorraine — the main caliber turret rangefinders have been separated into independent modules.
USS Nevada — the size of the auxiliary caliber magazines has been adjusted.
IJN Mutsu — the size and location of the main caliber ammunition magazines have been adjusted.
USS Arizona — a bug that led to the possibility of damage to the second main battery elevator without penetrating through the barbette has been fixed.
Bretagne, Lorraine — a bug where it was possible to damage the bridge without penetrating the armor has been fixed.
Kleber — the order of torpedo consumption in the X-ray has been fixed.
The complete blocking of ship control when the navigation bridge or conning tower is destroyed has been disabled — instead, a decrease in the controllability of the ship has been added until the repair of the bridge is completed.
The following vessels have received air target detection radar: Le Malin, Leopard, M-802, T22, T31, Z15 Erich Steinbrinck, Z20 Karl Galster, Z25, Z32, Z43, Z46, Z47, Emden, Nurnberg, Leipzig.
Naval Visual models and visual parts:
Bravy — reloading animation for the Volna-M missile system has been added. The opening of the booster stage tail fins has been animated.
Suffren, Colbert, Emile Bertin — the models of used seaplanes have been added to the catapults.
Bretagne — the display of textures inside of the barrels of the main caliber guns has been fixed.
Vauquelin — railings at the stern of the ship have been removed as they were in the way of the mines.
USS Wilkinson, USS Mitscher — a bug where the ammo rack continuously detonated has been fixed.
MPK Pr.12412 — visual error in the search radar rotation being a short stop of an antenna has been fixed.
Localization
Z15 Erich Steinbrinck — the year of modification in the stat card has been changed to the project.
Interface
An additional alarm when there is a fire in ammunition magazines have been added. If any of the cellars catch fire or receive fire damage, an additional siren is triggered, which differs from a regular fire alarm, and a voice event about a fire in the cellar is played. Additionally, the fire extinguisher button is highlighted in an orange color.
Changes to the hitcam:The order of display of layers of different ship elements has been changed. Parts of the hull structure are moved to the rear layer and can be obscured by more important elements, for example, various crew modules.
For greater clarity, a small animation for the destruction of a module has been added.
Icons of fires on an enemy ship have been added instead of highlighting fire points. They appear where and in the amount of fires occurred.
The display of anti-torpedo buoys, fuel tanks and coal bunkers has been removed.
The icon of the main caliber guns has been updated (including in the action panel).
A button for cycling through weapon groups has been added — in addition to switching weapon groups via ALT+1, ALT+2 and ALT+3, a CTRL+E shortcut has been added, by which groups are selected cyclically.
An option to display the crew has been added to the Protection Analysis. To use it, go to the Armor > Protection Analysis section in the hangar. Select the camera angle on the ship and click the “Show crew distribution” button. The density of the crew will be projected on the ship’s hull. The green areas show the places where there are the least number of crew, and red areas where there are more.
Economy and research
The MPK Pr.12412 has been moved in the Coast fleet research tree after the MBK-161 late.
F-16C, Barak II, MiG-29SMT, JAS39С (South Africa), JAS39EBS HU C, Mirage 2000-5F — their Battle Ratings in all Air Battle modes have been increased to 13.0.
AV-8B Plus, J-8F — their Battle Ratings in all Air Battle modes have been increased to 12.3.
Interface
Following the Roadmap: Ability to place a vehicle into a crew slot from the research tree by dragging and dropping it with the mouse has been added.
Following the Roadmap: The ability to change the order of crew slots has been added. The specified crew order only applies to the selected vehicle preset; accordingly, each vehicle preset can have its own crew order. In the near future, we’ll also add the ability to rearrange crews by dragging and dropping, rather than just selecting a crew from a drop-down menu.
The ability to remove vehicles from a preset by dragging and dropping them into a remove box has been added. To do this, click on a vehicle in your preset and drag it into the remove box area.
The appearance of the slotbar for crews and vehicles in the hangar and in battle has been changed in order to make it more visually convenient and easy to use:Each vehicle crew has been divided into two sections. The block above the vehicle contains information for a battle, and the lower block is interactive, showing a crew of a given slot.
The mission block in the hangar shows the number of backups activated for a vehicle. In battle, it shows the required number of Spawn Points (SP) for a vehicle, the remaining number of spawns on a given vehicle or a type of vehicle, the remaining number of backups for a given vehicle, the possibility of using a backup for respawning, and so on.
The new crew block allows you to quickly assess the need and possibility of crew training. If a crew has experience points, a corresponding icon now appears next to its level. When you hover over a new crew slot, a tooltip appears with detailed information about it and a button to go to the training window.
The ability to collapse/expand vehicle ranks in the research tree has been added. To do this click the collapse arrow next to the Rank in the left of the research tree.
In battle, a tank minimap is now displayed when using a UAV.
In battle, a naval minimap is now displayed when using a scout hydroplane.
In the window with post-battle statistics the pop up tooltip contents on the “Modifications Research” and “Vehicle Research” points has been reworked. Now, detailed information about the chosen research and Research Points calculation is shown to make this mechanic clearer and more transparent.
Game mechanics
Following the Roadmap: A healing mechanic for wounded crew members has been added. Crew members will now automatically heal to a degree that doesn’t induce debuffs to their battle skills after a certain amount of time passes after being hurt. During a healing process, a healing icon next to the crew in the damage panel is shown, and the status (the color state in X-ray) of a crew member being healed changes.
For Air Realistic Battles, a game mode setting that allows you to participate in battles with smaller team sizes (maximum 12 players per team) has been added. To enable the option, go to the game mode selection window (under the “To Battle!” button), then on the Air Realistic Battles button. Here click “Game Mode Settings” and toggle the “Participate in battles with smaller team sizes” option. This option is only available for aircraft with a Battle Rating of 10.0 or higher.
Following the Roadmap: A visual weapon selector for weapons has been added for all aircraft that have the ability to create custom secondary weapon loadouts. This is displayed in battle in the same design as the secondary weapons menu. The selector is accessible with a keybind (SHIFT+A by default) or ALT + mouse click and allows you to visually select any secondary weapon from the equipped weapon loadout in battle. Please, note that on the release of the “Seek & Destroy” major update this feature will only be available on PC, on consoles it will be enabled soon after the release of the major update.
Following the Roadmap: The possibility of using flares and chaff separately has been added:You can now select a more precise ratio of flares and chaff with a slider. The loading of different caliber countermeasures is done separately.
A countermeasure switch has been added (SHIFT+D by default). The selector switches between the combined release of flares and chaff, the release of flares only and the release of chaff only. The release of selected countermeasures is done via pressing the “Fire countermeasures” control.
The ability to use the countermeasure switch is also available in the visual weapon selector and is done by pressing the corresponding icons at the top of the weaponry panel.
Graphics
Sky glare when looking at the sun at dawn/sunset has been reduced.
Sound
The sounds of aircraft missiles are now chosen based on their maximum thrust and are divided into three types: small, medium and large. Previously, there was only one set of “start-flight” sounds for all types of missiles. Additionally, now the sound of a missile’s flight takes the thrust mode into account.
Missiles passing the player at supersonic speed now have a shockwave sound, similar to supersonic airplanes.
Jet and piston aircraft as they move away from the player have a flanger effect at the tail of the sound — a kind of floating sound formed by overlap of direct and reflected sound from the ground surface. This effect is generated in real time and has physical parameters at its core.
Helicopters now have sounds of flying past the listener, similar to airplanes and missiles.
Fires on ships are now voiced in more varied ways.
The sound of aircraft guns have been improved. Clarity and dynamics of gunshot sounds have been improved.
The voice acting of the crews on German naval vessels has been improved, phrases have been corrected and complemented.
The crew of Lithuanian ground vehicles (the Vilkas) have received their own voice acting.
The voices of ground crews now sound more clear. Radio effect processing has become less destructive, and when viewed from the gunner/driver, voices are heard taking into account the space of the fighting compartment.
A mid-frequency layer has been added to close explosions of shells and bombs to make them feel more aggressive and to give more sense of danger.
The falling sound that smoke shells make when marking an artillery strike has changed. Now the hiss of the smoke can only be heard close to the place of impact, while at a distance only the pop of the shell falling and exploding can be heard.
Distant tank shots have been adjusted in the mid-range region for a more natural and less harsh sound.
New voice events have been added to Naval Battles. For example, change of the shell type, preparation for launch, launch itself and a loss of scout aircraft, detonation of ammo magazines, target acquisition and loss of target track with radar and many more.
In naval battles, the fire alarm signal has been replaced. A special alarm signal when there is a fire in the ammunition magazines has been added.