Nuclear weapons
Nuclear weapons were introduced into War Thunder in Update "New Power" as an available unlock in ground battles once the right conditions are met.
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Description
Nuclear weapons in War Thunder allowed skilled players who accumulated enough points in arcade or realistic ground battles to pilot a nuclear weapon-armed aircraft into the battlefield and drop a nuclear bomb. Successful deployment of the bomb will end the game instantly in favor of the team that first dropped their nuclear armament.
Nuclear weapons were teased during the build-up of Update "New Power", with the teaser video ending with a large, bright explosion in an overcast setting. This culminated into a unique event when the update was released on 17 November 2020. A countdown timer with sirens popped up for the player, counting down until a bright flash and an explosion engulfs the screen, with the game simply telling the player "Get ready for War Thunder: New Power" that prompts the player to restart the game. Upon rebooting the game, players will login to their new hangar location introduced in Update "New Power", which will then show a nuclear explosion happening in a distance away, symbolizing the destruction of the old hangar that was used prior to Update "New Power".
Upon its introduction, nuclear weapons were originally available for ground arcade battles from battle-rating 7.3 upwards, spawning in a similar manner as the available aircraft. The unlock criteria to fly a nuclear weapon-armed aircraft to destroy the being the destruction of 20 enemy tanks. The eligible battle ratings to spawn a nuclear-armed vehicle expanded to battle-rating 6.0 upwards in the November 19th update. This was further modified in Update "Hot Tracks" by reducing the number of required enemy tank destroyed from 20 to 15. The nuclear weapon unlock was soon expanded to ground realistic battles in Update "Ixwa Strike" on 10 March 2021, with the unlock criteria being 3,000 spawn points. This was later modified to 2,500 spawn points in the March 19th update.
