Update "Winged Lions"

Update "Winged Lions" (changelog) was introduced on 14 December 2021. This update is notable for the introduction of Israeli aircraft tree and the first Israeli ground vehicles, shipborne reconnaissance aircraft, and new wind-affected visual effects.

Though the update numbering has been dropped since Update "Starfighters", the game version is still present in-game to indicate the update as 2.13

New vehicles

Aircraft

USA

• F-105 Thunderchief
• OS2U-1 (updated model)
• OS2U-3 (updated model)
• F-4J

USSR

• MiG-27K
• Su-22M3 (Squadron Vehicle)
• MiG-21S (premium)

Britain

• Seafire LF Mk.III

China

• La-11

France

• Seafire LF Mk III
• Mirage 5F

Israel

• Spitfire Mk IXc
• S-199
• B-17G
• Spitfire Mk IX (CW)
• P-51D-20-NA
• M.D.450B Ouragan
• Meteor NF.13
• Meteor F.8
• Vautour IIA
• Vautour IIN
• M.D. 454 Mystere IVA
• A-4E Early (M)
• A-4H
• A-4N
• Super Mystere B2 Sambad
• Super Mystere B2 Sa`ar
• F-4E Phantom II
• Nesher
• Mirage IIICJ
• Kfir C.7

Ground vehicles

USA

• XM975

Germany

• DF105
• Pz.II C, Pz.II C (DAK) — (updated model)
• Pz.III B — (updated model)

USSR

• 2S3M

Britain

• Challenger 2 TES (2008)

Japan

• Type 10

China

• M41D

Italy

• VCC-80/60

France

• Leclerc SXXI

Sweden

• Bkan 1C

Israel

• M-51
• Merkava Mk.2D

Naval fleet

USA

• USS Wilkinson

Germany

• Flusi 1
• Scharnhorst

USSR

• Kerch (cruiser)

Japan

• JDS Harukaze

Italy

• RN Eugenio di Savoia

Graphics

• The effect of breeze or wind on particle effects such as fires and smoke, dust from vehicle movement and aircraft engines, gun shots, explosions and sparks has been added.
• Added new high-resolution decals for shell hits on ground vehicle armour.

New locations and missions

• New location for aerial battles "Israel"
• New mission [Operation] Golan heights for the location "Israel".
• New [Ground Strike] Golan heights mission has been added for the location "Israel".
• Test flight for Israeli aircraft has been added.
• New operation in the "Spain" location, based on Enduring Confrontation logic (in total there are already three such missions). The size of the mission's map is 128x128 km.

Location and mission updates

• All Ground Strike missions (except for novice Ground Strike missions), and Enduring Confrontation missions (where not applied before): ground AI units utilize the same models available in ground vehicle battles. The same will be implemented for RB missions later.
• A bug in all "Enduring Confrontation" missions, where after the destruction of several bombing bases they ceased to respawn has been fixed.
• The score indicator in "Enduring Confrontation" missions at the bottom of the screen has been disabled as it essentially duplicated the bar at the top edge of the screen but might mislead players because the scores and the bar itself were calculated in different ranges.

Enduring Confrontation

• A new mission in the "Spain" location. The map size is 128x128 km.

Ground Vehicle model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes

• Upper and lower armour plates of the following ground vehicles have been converted to volumetric armour:
  • IS-3
  • IS-4M
  • IS-7
  • T-10A
  • T-10M
  • Object 268
  • Tiger II (P)
  • Tiger II (H)
  • Tiger II (10.5 cm KwK)
  • Tiger II (H) Sla.16
  • Jagdtiger
• The turret sides on the following ground vehicles have been converted to volumetric armour:
  • Tiger II (H)
  • Tiger II (10.5 cm KwK)
  • Tiger II (H) Sla.16
• Turret armour on the T-54 (1951) has been converted to volumetric.
• Physically correct tracks have been added for:
  • USSR: BMP-1 (SPz BMP-1 and ZBD86), BMP-2, BMP-2М, 2S3
  • Germany: all Tiger II modifications , Jagdtiger, all Leopard 1 modifications, Pz-II F/C, Pz-III B/E, Stug A
  • USA: М24, М19A1, М46, М47, M4A3E2 75mm and 76mm.
  • Italy: all OF-40 modifications, Otomatic.
  • France: АМХ-50, АМХ-М4, АМХ-50 Fosh, AMX-50 Surblinde, AMX-50 surbase, Mars-15
  • Great Britain: all Churchill modifications, SPG 3 inch Gun Motor Carriage
  • Sweden: B1 kan.
  • Israel: M51, all Merkava tank modifications.

Aircraft and helicopter model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes

Weaponry

• Radar warning system (RWS) is now available for all aircraft with no need to research the modification. The corresponding modification has been removed, EXP, SL or GE spent to unlock it will be returned.
• A28B - 18 cm HPRAK m/49 rockets have been removed from weapon presets (Source 1: FV Raketbeväpning 1944-1954 (SAF Rocket armament 1944-1955), Source 22: SFI (Speciell förarinstruktion) J 28 B Prestanda)
• Aircraft with HVAR and RP3 rockets now feature separate launches.
• F-4E — GBU-15(V)1/B guided bomb has been added.
• MiG-21bis-SAU — R-60 missiles have been replaced by R-60MK.
• Mi-24P (Germany) — R-60M missiles have been replaced by R-60МMK.
• B17BS — Bomb sight has been added.

Flight Model changes

• F4F-3/4, F6F-5 (all modifications) — Flight model has been updated. Engine operation modes have been clarified. Fuel distribution by fuel tanks has been corrected. Wing, fuselage, tail and propeller blade polars have been recalculated and refined. Clarified behavior when operating mechanization (e.g. wheels, flaps). Improved behavior when diving at high angles.
• Lа-11 — Flight model has been updated. A bug that led to an excessive roll when maneuvering with mouse aim has been fixed.
• He 51 B-2/H — Fixed a bug that caused the aircraft to behave incorrectly on water. Controllability and seaworthiness have been improved.
• C.202 (all modifications), C.205 (all modifications), C.200 (all modifications) — Flight model has been updated. Controllability on all types of control methods has been improved. Errors that led to the incorrect behavior of the vehicle in a tailspin have been fixed.

Naval fleet model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:

Naval weaponry:

• MPK pr.12412 - aiming angles of the AK-630 30mm rotary* cannon have been increased.
• IJN Yugumo - traverse aiming angles of the first torpedo launcher have been increased.
• SF40 Leichte - 37mm FlaK-Lafette C/36 has been changed to 37mm FlaK.43 gun.
• Torpedo type for British destroyers has been changed from Mark IX to Mark IX:
  • HMAS Armada
  • HMS Brissenden
  • HMS Jervis
  • HMS Kelvin
  • HMS Nepal
  • HMCS Haida
  • HMS Mohawk
  • HMS Tribal
  • HMS Tobruk
  • ORP Garland

Naval characteristics, physics and damage model:

• Ballistics in naval shells have been corrected - changes have been implemented to the dynamics and speed loss, in accordance with historical data. The effect of air resistance has been fixed. As a result, the flight time has been changed. For the vast majority of shells the flight time has been reduced. Trajectories have become more flat, including according changes to fall angles. Speed loss at distance has been reduced that has resulted in increased armour penetration capabilities of many rounds. Changes affect almost all shells in naval battles, their parameters may be specified further in future. Shells with the most noticeable armour penetration value changes are (first parameter - distance 1,000 meters; second - 15,000 meters):
  • SAP 130 mm/50 B-13: armour penetration increased by ~10-12 mm
  • AP and SAP 180 mm/57 B-1P, B-1K, 152mm/57 B-38: armour penetration increased by ~25-40 mm
  • SAP 127 mm/50 Mk.5: armour penetration increased by ~13-21 mm
  • SAP 152 mm/53 Mk.12: armour penetration increased by ~24-34 mm
  • AP 152 mm/47 Mk.16: armour penetration increased by ~16-29 mm
  • AP 203 mm/55 Mk.14: armour penetration increased by ~12-31 mm
  • AP 203 mm/55 Mk.12: armour penetration increased by~18-43 mm
  • AP 305 mm/45 Mk.5: armour penetration increased by ~16-40 mm
  • AP 305 mm/50 SK L/50: armour penetration increased by ~14-44 mm
  • SAP 152 mm/50 BL Mk.XXIII: armour penetration increased by ~1-15 mm
  • SAP 152 mm/45 BL Mk.XII:armour penetration increased by ~11-27 mm
  • SAP 203 mm/50 Mk.VIII: armour penetration increased by ~12-18 mm
  • AP 305 mm/45 Mk.X: armour penetration increased by ~19-46 mm
  • SAP 343 mm/45 Mk.VH: armour penetration increased by ~12-52 mm
  • AP 343mm/45 Mk.VH: armour penetration increased by ~23-95 mm
  • AP 203 mm/50 Ansaldo mod.1924: armour penetration increased by ~21-37 mm
  • AP 305 mm/46 Armstrong mod.1909: armour penetration increased by ~26-62 mm
  • SAP 305 mm/46 Armstrong mod.1909:armour penetration increased by ~48-121 mm
  • SAP 140-мм/50 3rd Year Type 14 cm: armour penetration increased by ~19-25 mm
  • AP 305-м/50 41st Year Type:armour penetration increased by ~14-34 mm
  • SAP 356-мм/45 41st Year Type: armour penetration increased by ~26-30 mm
  • Other AP and SAP shells have 1-10 mm armour penetration rise/loss.
    • List of documents on the basis of which the ballistics of the naval shells have been changed.
    • When specifying ballistics first of all we tried to bring the flight time of the shells and its speed at different distances to the data from the documents listed.On most shells it turned out quite accurately. Absolute accuracy is currently impossible to achieve for objective reasons and limitations in the game engine. In future we plan to bring external ballistics to a more accurate simulation. Currently you can observe differences in the angles of incidence with shells for historical ones. This is also due to the limitations of the engine which we will eliminate during development. We also remind you that penetration data from the documents and in-game penetration may differ because in-game penetration is calculated uniformly according to a single formula for all shells and the documentary data may have been obtained in different ways: theoretical and practical. However the flight time and speed on the trajectory are now much closer to historical (and for many shells almost completely coincide) than they were before.
• 283mm/54.5 SK C/34 — Shell velocity dynamics that caused armour penetration to be lowered and flight time to be increased has been fixed.
• One coefficient of the armour penetration on the semi-AP rounds calculation has been fixed, resulting in a slight armour piercing value rise.
• Admiral Graf Spee - ship's armour has been corrected: the thickness on extremities and decks. The deck traverse has been separated into two plates of different thicknesses.
• Parizhskaya Kommuna - the dynamics of sinking and the behavior of the ship when flooding has been fixed. The ship no longer capsizes when losing buoyancy up to 60-80%
• USS Raleigh, USS Trenton - a model of fuel tanks has been added in the area of the ammunition room of the aft turrets of the main battery.
• USS Pensacola - the location of the central artillery post and the location of the aft ammunition stowages for secondary and anti-aircraft artillery have been changed.
• HMS Liverpool, HMS Southampton - armour has been added under the barbettes of the main caliber guns.
• USS Northampton - elevators have been added for the secondary guns.
• M-17 - the internal geometry of the bow section of the ship has been fixed for the correct calculation of the received damage.

Naval Visual models and visual parts:

• MPK pr.12412 - the mounted rescue boat has been removed during a battle session.
• HMS Blackpool - incorrect display of torpedoes inside of the torpedo tubes has been fixed.
• USS Raleigh - incorrect display of the elevator of the aft tower of the main battery in the x-ray has been fixed.
• USS Pensacola - the shape and dimensions of the fuel tanks have been changed in accordance with the blueprints.

Economy and research

• F-84F and Vautour IIA IDF/AF(Premium French aircraft) have been withdrawn from purchase. In future the Vautour IIA will appear as a premium vehicle in Israel's aircraft tree. Read details in the Developers Diary.
• F6F-5N (France) — Moved to a group with the F6F-5.
• Seafire F.Mk.XVII and Seafire FR.47 — Have been moved into one group.
• Italian light cruisers of rank IV have been moved to the right branch of the research tree.
• Changes in the economy of the RN Raimondo Montecuccoli:
  • Research cost have been reduced: 220.000 → 100.000 RP
  • Purchase cost has been reduced: 610.000 → 310.000 SL
  • Crew training cost has been reduced 180.000 → 90.000 SL

Customization

• A bug has been fixed where the "Fire Arrows" achievement might only be completed using unguided rockets.
• "Emblem of the 61st Mechanised Battalion, South West Africa" decal has been added for the South African vehicles. The decal can be unlocked only with SA vehicles.
• R3 T106 FA, R3 T20 FA-HS — tricolor camo has been added available for Golden Eagles.
• New "Road Signs" decorations have been added and are available for purchase with GE.
• The logic of checking the player's vehicles for compliance with the condition in a task has been changed for most game tasks about 'damage, destruction and assist in the destruction of the enemy' that are used for obtaining camouflages, stickers, decorations, medals, titles, achievements etc. Now the vehicle that has been used for damage or destroying the enemy will be checked and not the one that the player was controlling at the moment of the event (damage, destruction and assist). For example earned on the aircraft achievements from air strikes in ground AB will be counted in the air vehicles even if at the moment the player is already in the tank, but destroys the enemy with an aircraft bomb. Gradually this logic will be extended to the rest of such tasks.

Interface

• In battle in the action bar's selection window, each point now has a fixed location. If some actions are missing on the vehicle, then instead of them there will be empty spaces in this menu.
• A new "Allow empty teams" point has been added In the options menu for creating custom battles that will allow you to start and continue missions without active players and bots in any of the teams.
• "Bots rank" has been removed from the options menu when creating custom battles. Now vehicles for any chosen bots are determined by the minimum allowed BR and the game session BR (used to determine whether to add long-range airfields. Helipads and other objects of high rank battles) and determined by the maximum allowed BR as it happens in random battles.
• SAM info cards now contains data on G-tolerance and seeker parameters.

Game mechanics

• Scout aircraft in naval battles. The ability to launch a scout aircraft from the ship's catapult (if it has one) has been added to naval battles. It is necessary to open and install the appropriate modification beforehand. After the start of the battle, the launch of the aircraft becomes available after a specific time. To launch, activate the catapult (default "U"), point it outboard and launch the aircraft (default "U"). During flight, you can switch between the aircraft and the ship. As long as the player controls the aircraft the ship will remain on the course it was on at the time of launch. The ship will fire in accordance with the set shooter AI mode. If the ship is destroyed while controlling the aircraft the flight will end after a while. In addition to aerial fighting, scouting aircraft can:
  • Capture points
  • Drop bombs
  • Deploy a smoke screen at altitudes of up to 50m
  • Perform long-range scouting
• List of ships that have received launchable aircraft:
  • USS Trenton
  • USS Raleigh
  • USS Detroit
  • USS Brooklyn
  • USS Helena
  • USS New Orleans
  • USS Portland
  • USS Northampton
  • USS Pensacola
  • USS Cleveland
  • Admiral Hipper
  • Admiral Graf Spee
  • Prinz Eugen
  • Karlsruhe
  • Scharnhorst
  • Kirov
  • Maxim Gorky
  • Voroshilov
  • HMS Enterprise
  • HMS Kent
  • HMNZS Leander
  • HMS York
  • IJN Kako
  • IJN Kuma
  • IJN Sendai
  • IJN Furutaka
  • IJN Suzuya
  • IJN Mogami
  • IJN Mikuma
  • IJN Agano
  • RN Bartolomeo Colleoni
  • RN Trento
  • RN Zara
  • RN Pola
• Japanese ships have as many aircraft for launch as the number of them mounted on catapults. Aircraft stored on decks and rostrums are not yet available.

Sound

• Implemented surround sound support for Windows 10 platforms (Windows Sonic for headphones, Dolby Atmos for headphones, DTS: X headphones), Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS4, PS5.
• Sound events of aircraft engines, ground vehicles, as well as aircraft guns and enemy/allied ground vehicles received support for improved spatial positioning.
• For the player's ground vehicles, the suspension soundtrack has been implemented when driving over rough terrain. That is, the movement of the suspension arms is now voiced.
• All jet aircraft have received unique engine sounds, reflecting the characteristic features of a particular engine model.