Update "Ground Breaking"

Update "Ground Breaking" (changelog) was introduced on 28 October 2021. This update is notable for the introduction of physically deformable terrain and the first Israeli aircraft.

Though the update numbering has been dropped since Update "Starfighters", the game version is still present in-game to indicate the update as 2.11

New vehicles

Aircraft

USA

• A-7E

Germany

• MiG-21bis SAU
• MiG-21 SPS-K (Premium)

USSR

• МiG-23MLD

Britain

• Jaguar GR.1A

China

• V-12D

France

• AD-4NA (premium)

Sweden

• AJ37 Viggen

Israel

• Spitfire LF Mk.IX Weizman's
• A-4E Skyhawk

Ground vehicles

USA

• T26E5

Germany

• Wiesel 1A4
• Wiesel 1A2
• Ozelot

USSR

• 2S25M

Britain

• Ystervark

China

• ZLT-11
• ZTZ59A

Italy

• VCC-80/30

France

• EBR (1951)

Sweden

• Strf 9040B

Naval fleet

USA

• PT-174
• USS Mitscher

USSR

• МPK Pr.201М

Great Britain

• HMS Marlborough

Italy

• RN Tigre

Helicopters

USSR

• Mi-28NM

New locations and missions

• New location for naval battles "Vyborg Bay".
• New location for air battles "Bourbon Island", including two missions: "Ground Strike" and "Operation".
• New location ‘Aral Sea' for ground vehicle battles.
• New missions "Operation: Afghanistan" and "Operation: Vietnam", based on the Enduring Confrontation logic. The missions' size are 128x128 km.

Location and mission updates

• Models of buildings in the aircraft locations "Ruhr", "Berlin" and "Stalingrad" have been improved.
• Models of buildings on airfields have been improved.

Ground Vehicle model, damage model, characteristic and weaponry changes:

• BMP-3 — sight magnification after researching the "Sodema" module has been corrected.
• IS-7 — turret armour has been converted to volumetric armour.
• Tiger II (H), Tiger II (H) Sla. 16, Tiger II (10.5 cm KwK) — gun mantlet and the turret front have been converted to the volumetric armour.
• Type-16 — magnification of the gunner and commander sights have been specified.
• Type-62, Type-62(USSR) — smoke grenades have been added.
• 2C25 — Lower frontal armour plate has been divided into lower and middle parts. THe thicknesses have been clarified - 30mm->23mm and 30mm->40mm for lower and middle parts respectively.
• "Dozer blade" modification has been added for the following vehicles:
  • Type 74 E
  • Type 90
  • Chieftain Mk.3
  • M1A1 HC
  • Leopard 2A4
  • Strv 121
  • Leopard 1A5
  • Leopard 1A5 (Italy)
  • Centurion Mk.5 AVRE
  • T-72A, Т-72AV (TURMS-T), T72B, T-72B (1989), T-72B3 (2011)
  • T-90A
  • T-64B
  • T-80B, T-80U, T-80BVM
  • BMP-3
  • 9P157
  • AMX-40
  • PTZ-89
  • Strv 103C
• Priming of the HESH fuse has been corrected to an equivalent of 4mm armour (report).
• Physically correct tracks have been added for:
  • USSR
    • PT-76B
    • PT-76-57
    • Т-60
    • Т-70
    • T-80
    • ZUT-37
    • BМ-8-24
    • ASU-85
  • China
    • PT-76
    • Type 63-I

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

Weaponry

• AV-8A, AV-8C, Harrier GR.1, harrier GR.3 — ammo capacity of the 30mm ADEN Mk.4 guns has been reduced from 200 to 130 rounds (report).
• F7F-1, F7F-3 — .50 Browning M2 belt combinations have been changed from early to late variants (report).
• P-38J, P-38L, P-38K — .50 Browning M2 belt combinations have been changed from early to late variants.
• I-185(М-82), I-185(М-71) — separate bomb drop for 100kg bombs, and separate rocket launch for RS-82 and RBS-82 rockets have been introduced .
• 30mm NR-30 gun — belt combinations have been changed from early to 1974 variants.
• F-4E - AGM-62A Walleye I guided bomb has been added. Mk.82 modification has been removed, now weapon presets containing Mk.82 bombs require modification Mk.117. Modifications Mk.117/83/84 have been moved one tier up, to tiers I, II, and III respectively.
• F-8E(FN) — added modifications required for presets containing R530 and R530E missiles.
• A-4E Early — AGM-62A Walleye I guided bomb has been added.
• MiG-23M — flares and chaff have been changed to larger calibre, with increased brightness and chaff dispersion.
• МiG-27М — flares and chaff have been changed to a larger calibre, with increased brightness and chaff dispersion.
• Jaguar A — AS-30L missile and the pods with guided bombs BGL-400 and BGL-1000 have been added, with corresponding modifications to research. "Framework" module has been moved to tier I. ATLIS II laser/electro-optical targeting pod has been introduced to weapon presets.
• Optical seekers on air-to-surface missiles and guided bombs are now able to lock on to both ground units, and an area on the surface.
• AGM-65A, AGM-65B — lock on distance has been specified. For tanks like the M60, the distance is now ~3 and ~6 km respectively.
• AGM-114B, AGM-114K - launch from 3rd person view without target designation is now possible. The missiles will begin tracking the target only after designation by laser.
• Kh-29T — now able to lock on to ground targets.
• AIM-9B, R-3S, PL-2, Rb.24 - seekers are now 2.5 times more sensitive to flares.
• AIM-9D/E/J/P, R-13M/M1, R-60, Magic-1, PL-5B, Firestreak, Red Top, R.530, Rb.24J - seekers are now 2 times more sensitive to flares.
• AIM-9L, R-60М, R-23Т, AIM-92, Mistral, Type 91, Igla - seekers are now slightly more sensitive to flares.
• AIM-7C/D, R.530 - missile autopilot increases its lateral capability slowly after the launch so it finally reaches 15G
• AIM-7E - missile autopilot increases its lateral capability slowly after the launch so it finally reaches 25G
• R-23R - missile autopilot increases its lateral capability slowly after the launch so it finally reaches 20G
• AH-64D — the preset of 4хAGM-114K Hellfire II and 38хHydra-70 M247 no longer require modification research and are available from stock.
• AH-1Z — the preset of 4хAGM-114K Hellfire II and 38хHydra-70 M247 no longer require modification research and are available from stock.
• EC-665 Tiger UHT — new stock preset of 4хHOT-3 missiles has been added.
• Мi-28N — new stock preset of 4х9M120-1 Ataka missiles and 40xS-8KO rockets has been added.
• Kа-52 — new stock preset of 4х9M120-1 Ataka missiles and 40xS-8KO rockets has been added.
• AH Mk.1 Apache — the preset of 4хAGM-114K Hellfire II and 38хHydra-70 M247 no longer require modifications research and are available from stock.
• AH-64DJP — the preset of 4хAGM-114K Hellfire II and 38хHydra-70 M247 no longer require modification research and are available from stock.
• A129CBT — the preset of 4хBGM-71C ITOW and 14х FFAR Mighty Mouse no longer require modification research and are available from stock.
• EC-665 Tiger HAD — new stock preset of 4х HOT-3 missiles and 12х SNEB type 23 rockets has been added.
• F-100D (all series) — radar warning system modification has been added.
• F8U-2 — radar warning system modification has been added.
• AS-30 — smoke trail has been changed.
• AN-M65A 1,000lbs bomb - explosives weight and type have been changed from 240 kg of amatol to 269 kg of tritonal.
• J28B — Naming has been changed to A28B.

Other

• B-48 Firecrest, B18A, B18B, T18B-1, T18B-2 — a bug has been fixed where parts of the flaps may remain when the flaps are detached.
• MiG-15bis ISh — a bug has been where parts of the pylons may remain when the wings are detached.
• NVD has been removed from the helicopter night vision sight selector, it now only incorporates the thermal imager. Night vision mode is inferior to thermal imagers in terms of quality of picture and affects the visibility in daytime battle for a short period of time.

Flight Model changes

• F-82E — A bug that caused the engines to stop at speeds close to maximum allowable has been fixed.
• Boomerang M.k.I/II — Flight model has been updated. Engine working modes have been clarified. Fuel distribution by fuel tanks has been corrected. Polars of wings, fuselage, fin and propeller blades have been recalculated and refined. Aircraft behavior when mechanization or landing gear are released has been improved. Behavior during dive at high angles has been improved.
• V-11g — Flight model has been updated. Roll control for all control types have been improved. Aircraft behavior depending on refueling and bomb load has been improved.
• Ki-100-2 — Fuel distribution system by tanks has been implemented.
• Super Mystere B2 — A bug causing the brake parachute to deploy incorrectly has been fixed.
• Mitsubishi T2 / F1 — Aircraft stabilization systems have been added (SAS mode).
• F-4C, F-4K (FGR.1), F-4M (FGR.2) — Weight of the suspended cannon is no longer included in the weight of an empty aircraft.
• Mi-28N — Engine throttle response has been increased. The operation of the throttle device as well as the high and slide adjusters in hovering mode have been improved.
• F-8E,F-8E(FN) — Sticking in gliding during turns in the AB with mouse control has been fixed.
• Jaguar GR.1, Jaguar A — Insufficient engine thrust has been fixed.
• CW-21 - Aircraft weight has been adjusted. Aileron control at very low speeds has been improved. Influence of engine thrust on aircraft balancing (instability on full thrust will be insignificantly increased) has been implemented.

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

Naval weaponry:

• PT-200, PT-314, PT-656, PT-556 — ammo capacity of the 12.7mm Browning and 20mm Oerlikon guns has been increased.
• RBU-1200, RBU-2500, RBU-6000 — Flight speed of the depth bombs has been specified.

Naval characteristics, physics and damage model:

• Damage from fires and fire damage model have been fixed — conditions of occurrence, damage and spreading of fires have been reworked and corrected:
  • Fires with main calibre turrets, elevators and shell rooms — dynamics and damage from fire when it spreads down from turrets and elevators to the shell rooms. Now the player has time to quickly extinguish it before the fire begins to damage the elevator or shell room. If the fire is not extinguished, it will go out on its own after 30-45 seconds, but at the end of the burning time, with a certain probability, it can cause detonation of the cellars.
  • Internal fires — spread of fires to the adjacent rooms has been fixed. Now, if a module with a crew is separated from the neighbouring modules by armour or ship structure. The fire won't spread. The fire will cease over time, inflicting some damage to the module.
  • Effect of fire on torpedoes, sea mines, and depth charges — chance of detonation when affected by fire has been corrected. Every second of the inflicted damage, the chance of detonation now equals 1-3%.
• Water surface detonation of HE shells with direct fuzes has been fixed — all HE shells with direct action fuzes now detonate when hitting the water's surface.
• USS Wyoming — thickness of the stern traverse has been increased.
• HMS Invincible —thickness of the rear armour plate of the main bridge has been fixed.
• USS Trenton, USS Raleigh, USS Detroit — model of fuel tanks and elevators have been corrected. The position of the main calibre ammo stowage has been corrected.
• USS Aylwin — position of the elevators has been fixed in the damage model.
• HMS York — armouring of the shell rooms, tiller compartment and traverses has been fixed. The shell room of the auxiliary calibre and the central artillery post have been repositioned.
• IJN Suzuya — seaplanes and their positions have been changed. They have been removed from catapults and mounted on the deck storage. One Kawanishi E7K remains. Three Nakajima E8N have been added.
• IJN Mogami — seaplanes and their positions have been changed. They have been removed from catapults mounted on the deck storage. One of three Aichi E13A has been changed to the Kawanishi E7K.
• Emden, K2, Z15 Erich Steinbrink, Z20 Karl Galster — armour shields on the 20-40mm turrets have been separated from guns to become independent parts.
• HMS Norfolk — size of the shell room armour has been corrected. Armouring of elevators for the main calibre guns has been added in the area of top armour plates of the shell rooms.
• HMS Dreadnought - roof and deck armouring in the conning towers have been increased. Deck armouring has been increased in the areas of the 1st and 4th main calibre turrets
• HMS Colossus — armouring on the ship's funnels and bow traverse have been fixed. The thickness of the bow armoured deck and bow armoured belt has been corrected. The armoured conning tower communication tube has been added. Armour thickness on the conning room has been corrected

Naval Visual models and visual parts:

• HMS Hawkins — armour plates for the second main calibre turret have been corrected in accordance to the model.
• IJN Sendai — position of the fire control tower has been fixed in xray mode.
• IJN Furutaka — graphic artefact has been removed from the upper part of the stern fuel tank.
• HMS Mohawk, HMS Eskimo, HMCS Haida — a bug with the missing effect of smoke funnel destruction has been fixed.
• Kirov, Maxim Gorky, Voroshilov - boats mounted near the aft main calibre turret are now removed during battle, consequently, aiming angles in the main caliber turrets have been increased.
• USS Helena — The animation for the fire control tower array rotation has been fixed.

Interface

• Tooltips in X-Ray view for a cannon's fire rate will now be displayed without rounding to whole numbers. For example 3.8 rounds/min instead of 4 rounds/min.

Economy and research

• The difference in rewards in SL and RP for the destruction of ground vehicles of different classes - light/medium tank, heavy tank, SPG, Anti-Aircraft (for other types of vehicles, the division of rewards by class will not be used) has been removed.
• Type 93 - BR in all gaming modes has been reduced from 9.7 to 9.0
• Pbil m/40 - BR in all gaming modes has been increased from 1.3 to 1.7.
• Crusader AA Mk.I - BR in the Arcade mode has been reduced from 4.7 to 4.3. The vehicle has been moved from rank IV to rank III
• S.O.4050 Vautour IIB — BR in AB has been changed from 9.7 to 10.0.
• B-17G-60-VE — BR in SB has been changed from 6.7 to 6.3.
• G8N1 — BR in SB has been changed from 6.7 to 6.3.
• F6F-5 (France) — BR in RB has been changed from 3.7 to 3.3, similar to the BR of the F6F-5 in the US research tree.
• The terms of the referral program have been changed, now the reward is not given "for the invitee who has reached rank N", but "for the invitee who has acquired one unit of equipment at rank N (including premium)".

Customization

• M247 — Standard camouflage has been corrected to the late camouflage.

Interface

• Detailed information about the amount of score awarded for each type of action in battle has been added to the game statistics. Information is displayed in the tooltip for a total score in the statistics and is available for each player during battle, in the after battle statistics window and in replay.
• In test drives for Premium vehicles, the vehicle modifications are now set to "Reference" by default.

Game mechanics

Terramorphing mechanics has been added. Terrains and soils now interact with caterpillars and dozer blades of tanks, bombs and rockets explosions leave craters of the terrain surfaces.

• Rules for aircraft respawn costs in SP (spawn points) have been recalculated for ground RB mode. The below mentioned changes affect all aircraft and all mounted weaponry available, but the minimal (with no secondary armament at the lower limit of the session's BR) and maximal (with the most devastating preset available) spawn costs remain pretty much the same. For example, La-7 (BR 4.7) without secondary armament previously required 480 SP, now it take the same 480 SP; MiG-27M (BR 11.0) with 7xFAB-500M-62 bombs in BR 11.0 session previously required 750 SP (600 SP for the aircraft + 150 SP for the armament), and now it requires 739 SP (540 SP for the aircraft + 199 SP for the armament). Detailed description of the changes are below:
  • The influence of the session's Battle Rating has been reduced for basic aircraft costs (without mounted weapons) from 20% to 10% while maintaining the same minimum cost. For example, for fighters, the base cost is now 480-540, instead of 480-600 RP;
  • The parameters in the influence of devastation power of selected secondary weaponry on its cost have been changed. In general, more powerful weapons have received a higher cost, and vice versa. For example, for a 500 kg bomb the cost will be 9% of the host's cost instead of the previous 13%, and for a 2,000 kg bomb - 37% instead of 25%;
  • Mounted weaponry costs have been introduced, instead of fixed costs for spawning into battle. Basic cost is now 520-580 RP (depending on the session's BR), and the mounted weapons costs are between 3-37% of the host's costs;
  • The above mentioned changes afftect all aircraft and all mounted weaponry available, but the minimal (with no secondary armament at the lower limit of the session's BR) and maximal (with the most devaststing preset available) spawn costs remain pretty much the same.
• Rules for aircraft respawn costs in SP (spawn points) have been recalculated for ground SB mode:
  • Mounted weaponry costs have been introduced for bombers, instead of fixed costs for spawning into battle. Basic cost is now 300 SP instead of 450 SP as with fighters and strike aircraft, and the mounted weapons costs are between 9-111 SP.
  • The parameters in the influence of devastation power of selected secondary weapons on its cost have been changed. In general, more powerful weapons have received a higher cost, and vice versa. For example, for a 500 kg bomb the cost will be 39 SP instead of previous 27, and for a 2,000 kg bomb - 111 SP instead of 75;
  • SP costs for armour-piercing ammo belts and mounted ATGM weapons have been increased.

Please note! The changes listed below relate to the stat points where players are sorted in the respective in-game menus, and do not affect Silver Lions and / or Research Points earnings for the mentioned actions.

• Dependence on score awarded in the difference between the player's Battle Rating and the target in case of critical damage, destruction and assistance in the destruction of the enemy has been added. The multiplier will be calculated by the quadratic dependence (1 - 0.014 * (difference of BR) ^ 2) and can not be more than 1.0 and less than 0.1. For example if you destroy a vehicle with a BR of 8.7 using a vehicle of BR 9.7 (3 BR steps difference) the multiplier will be (1 - 0.014 * 3 ^ 2) = 0.874.
• The accrual of score for a loss of vehicles in the amount of 30% of the points awarded to the enemy for destruction (for all types of vehicles) has been added. At the same time the number of points awarded upon receiving damage has been changed: for ground vehicles from 30 to 5, for fleet from 5 to 1. This mechanic hasn't been used for aircraft.
• The basic number of score (with zero difference in BR) accrued for the destruction of ground vehicles has been changed and now doesn't depend on the type of target:
  • Light and medium tank: 126 → 150;
  • Heavy tank: 180 → 150;
  • Anti-aircraft: 90 → 150;
  • SPG: 144 → 150.
• In Naval Battles, score coefficients for damaging or destroying enemies, hits to enemies and destruction assistance have been recalculated, so that the greater contribution to the destruction of the enemy (more damage done) brings more score. The number of score awarded for damaging enemy ships has been increased from 0.1 to 0.15 for each unit of damage. At the same time, points for destruction of the enemy have been reduced from 75 to 40, for assistance in the destruction of the enemy from 20 to 15 and for hitting the enemy from 3 to 2.
• The accrual of score when being close to the enemy (relevant for all types of vehicles) has been removed.
• The accrual of points when playing in ground vehicles while being in line of sight of enemy players has been removed.
• A mounted armament reward multiplier (in Silver Lions) has been introduced for the scored points when damaging or destroying enemy bases, in order to reduce the difference of the statistics points between aircraft of the same rank with different bomb load. This multiplier was previously used only in the economy to calculate the total award, which made it possible to equalize the earnings of these aircraft, but at the same time they still received a very different number of points in statistics.
• The number of points earned for damaging and destroying enemy bases has been increased by 10% to 70% for aircraft of ranks I-III.
• The number of points earned for destroying AI-controlled ground vehicles and ships in air RB mode has been reduced by 40%.
• Using radars no longer allows players to visually see enemy aircraft when out of visual range.
• Automatic laser designation and automatic target lock before ATGM launch can be disabled in game options. This helps using laser-guided missiles in locking-on after launch mode, when the laser designator is activated after launch.

Graphics

• Fire effects and explosions on ground vehicles have been reworked. The muzzle fire effect with an open breech has been added.

Sound

• Sound events for shell bursts on different surfaces have been separated for HE shells and shells without explosive mass (or with a small amount of explosive mass). New corresponding sound events have been created.
• New sound events for shell bursts of a calibre of 205mm and above have been added.
• For ships weighing 6,000 tonnes or above, new power plant sounds have been introduced, as well as for the water displaced by the ship's hull while in motion.