The economy in War Thunder largely consists of two different but connected aspects: the currencies with earnable Silver Lions (SL), “premium” Golden Eagles (GE), and bonus Warbonds (WB); and the progression with various types of Research Points (RP).
Currencies
Silver Lions (SL)
Silver Lions are the basic in-game currency, being involved in all required and many optional transactions in the game.
SL is rewarded after battles — the exact amount depends on the game mode being played, your performance and activity in the battle, and whether the battle was a victory or a defeat. SL rewards can also be gained by earning particular achievements and battle awards, completing singleplayer missions, wagers, and challenges, and purchase using Golden Eagles.
SL earnings from battles can be affected by a number of multipliers. Every vehicle has an SL (and RP) multiplier, the value of which can be found in their respective vehicle cards. The higher the multiplier, the more RP and SL the vehicle will earn. The multipliers of premium vehicles is doubled (compared to regular vehicles). Having a premium account also increases SL rewards (by at least 50%), as does applying SL boosters on a more temporary basis.
Once a vehicle has been researched, it must be bought and a crew must be trained on it before it can be used in battle, both steps of which require SL. Once each of a vehicle’s modifications are researched, they must also be bought using SL. Repairing the vehicle after the battle, as well as replenishing ammunition, suspended/auxiliary weaponry, and in-battle crew member replacements also cost SL.
In addition, SL can also be used to:
- Purchase additional crew slots (slots 3—5)
- Upgrade crew to expert level on a per-vehicle basis
- Create training squadrons
Golden Eagles (GE)
Golden Eagles are the premium in-game currency. Spending GE is not mandatory to progress through the game, but various GE purchases can enable faster progression, quality-of-life improvements, and bonus items.
Golden Eagles are purchased on the Gaijin Store, in bundles ranging between 150 — 25,000. They can also sometimes be earned as special rewards, such as for ranking highly in tournaments.
Golden Eagles can be used to:
- Purchase certain premium vehicles
- Purchase a premium account
- Accelerate vehicle research (using Convertible Research Points)
- Purchase vehicle modifications (modifcations “researched” by this method do not subsequently need to be purchased using SL)
- Purchase crew experience points
- Purchase additional crew slots (slots 6—10)
- Purchase “Ace” crew qualifications on a per-vehicle basis
- Purchase certain cosmetics such as camouflages, decals, decorators, and naval ensigns
- Purchase Silver Lions
- Purchase access to premium rewards in the Battle Pass
- Purchase progress points in the Battle Pass
- Complete stages of certain events
- Purchase battle trophies with special prizes
- Purchase the right to create a squadron
Warbonds (WB)
Warbonds are a special in-game currency earned by reaching specific Battle Pass levels. These can be used in the Warbond shop, whose inventory changes at the beginning of each Battle Pass season.
Research Points (RP)
Like Silver Lions, RP is also earned in battles, and depends on the game mode being played, your performance and activity in the battle, and whether the battle was a victory or a defeat.
Like Silver Lions, RP earnings from battles are affected by a number of multipliers, including vehicle multipliers, premium account (giving a 100% bonus on all earnings), and RP boosters. Purchasing a “talisman” for a vehicle also gives a 100% bonus to any RP (but not SL) earned using that vehicle.
Skill Bonus
RP earnings have the opportunity for an extra multiplier, known as the “Skill Bonus”, which is awarded upon reaching certain thresholds of enemy players destroyed in the battle, or certain damage to naval targets in naval battles.
- Air AB: 3–5 opponents: +15%; 6–9 opponents: +40%; 10+ opponents: +100%.
- Air RB: 2 opponents: +35%; 3 opponents: +75%; 4+ opponents: +100%.
- Ground AB/RB: 3–5 opponents: +15%; 6–8 opponents: +50%; 9+ opponents: +100%.
- Ground SB: 3–4 opponents: +20%; 5–7 opponents: +50%; 8+ opponents: +100%.
- Naval AB/RB: 6,500–9,999 damage: +20%; 10,000–14,999 damage: +45%; 15,000+ damage: +100%.
Vehicle research points
Vehicle research points are those applied to unlocking new vehicles. All vehicles of the same branch used in battle contribute to the same vehicle research pool. Vehicle RP is additionally affected by “research efficiency”:
- When researching a vehicle using a vehicle of significantly higher or lower research rank, a penalty to earned vehicle RP is applied (see the below table).
- When researching a vehicle using the vehicle directly preceding it in the tree (and connected by an arrow), a bonus is applied — 130% RP in Arcade modes, 110% RP in Realistic and Simulator modes.
- The direct connection bonus overrides any rank difference penalties if the preceding vehicle is more than one rank apart from the vehicle being researched.
| Rank difference | Research of high-ranked vehicles using low-ranked vehicles | Research of low-ranked vehicles using high-ranked vehicles |
|---|---|---|
| No penalty | No penalty | |
| 1 | No penalty | -10% |
| 2 | -60% | -70% |
| 3 | -70% | -90% |
| 4 | -80% | -95% |
| 5 | -80% | -95% |
| 6 | -80% | -95% |
| 7 | -80% | -95% |
Vehicle RP earnings have the opportunity for an extra multiplier, known as the “Vehicle Research Bonus”. Once a “top” vehicle in a nation’s tree has been researched and purchased, all vehicles of the same branch in the same nation and other nations receive a bonus multiplier to vehicle RP, depending on the rank of the vehicle being researched. The bonus is applied up to 5 battles per nation per branch per day (resetting at midnight GMT).
A “top” vehicle is one that meets all of the following requirements:
- researchable (not squadron, premium, pack, event, hidden, etc)
- the last of its line in the tree (if the last item of the line is a group, the first vehicle in the group is considered the “top” vehicle)
- located at maximum research rank in the tree
- whose maximum BR among all game modes is no more than 2 steps below the maximum of the tree (e.g. if a tree’s maximum BR is 13.7, only vehicles with BR 13.0 or above would qualify
Modification research points
Modification research points are those applied to unlocking new modifications for vehicles. Each vehicle used in battle is awarded modification RP to use on its own modifications individually; however, the total will be equal to the amount of vehicle research points awarded (before research efficiency multipliers).
When all of a vehicle’s modifications in a tier are researched, a certain amount of vehicle RP is awarded. The amount corresponds to 20% of the total RP cost for that tier. For example, if there are 4 modifications of 1,500 RP each, the bonus award is 0.2×6,000 = 1,200 RP. While this award is minimal for low-rank vehicles (a few hundred RP), it can become consequential with top-tier vehicles (several thousands of RP). This award is received when each of the four tiers is first completed. The award is not impacted by research efficiency or other multipliers such as premium account.
Convertible research points
Convertible research points are a pool of special research points that can be used to accelerate the research of any researchable vehicle. For the cost of 1 GE, a player can transfer 45 convertible RP to 45 vehicle RP. The amount of convertible RPs earned in a battle is equal to that of vehicle and modification RP, but the “Skill Bonus” is not included.
Convertible RP is sometimes also given as a reward for completing certain achievements and challenges.
Crew experience points (Crew XP)
Crew experience points are points that can be used to improve crew skill levels. The amount gained for each crew is calculated as a proportion of the RP that is awarded to the vehicle in that crew slot. The exact proportion depends on the game mode:
- Arcade battles — 30 experience points for 1,000 RP
- Realistic battles — 11.3 experience points for 1,000 RP
- Simulator battles — 9 experience points for 1,000 RP
Squadron research points
Squadron research points are used to research Squadron vehicles. They are not gained directly from battles; instead, they are gained from being active while being in a squadron. For every 200 RP earned, an “activity point” will be added to the squadron’s collective pool. Every 3 days, these activity points will be converted into an amount of RP towards the selected squadron vehicle, depending on the player’s relative activity within the squadron and the total number of points in the pool. Each player can contribute up to 360 activity points per 3-day period, and the pool is limited to 20,000 activity points.