War Thunder just got a fresh round of fixes and tweaks that might change how some of you play, especially at the top Battle Ratings (BR). The developers are expanding mandatory anti-cheat in more game modes and fixing some annoying bugs related to rewards, aircraft, ground vehicles, and even naval battles. If you’ve been frustrated by weird shell hits or wonky rewards, this update could be a relief.
Mandatory Anti-Cheat Expansion
Anti-cheat will become mandatory for Air Arcade and Air Realistic battles, plus Ground Arcade battles, but only for players and squads using vehicles with BR 11.0 or higher. Previously, it was only required in unmarked modes. The reasoning? At high BRs, even a slight edge can tip the balance, so anti-cheat measures will be enforced to maintain fairness. The plan is to lower the BR threshold over time.
Economy and Rewards Fixes
- Destroying composite SAM systems, reconnaissance drones, and AI-controlled naval vessels now grants full mission points, RP, and SL rewards instead of reduced ones.
- The Battle Rating difference between your vehicle and the destroyed target is now factored into RP rewards, meaning higher BR targets yield bigger rewards.
- A previous bug that wrongly applied an air arcade event reward coefficient to reconnaissance UAVs and SAM launchers (which reduced rewards by 2.5 times) has been fixed.
- RP rewards for destroying naval vessels and targets based on player intelligence have been corrected to include proper multipliers and bonuses.
- Fixed an issue where naval battles could sometimes give about 5.5 times less RP for killing enemy bots.
Aircraft Improvements
- Added a new setting called “Ignore bad weather and airfield spawn” so pilots can always spawn in the air regardless of weather conditions.
- Fixed cockpits’ artificial horizon display bugs on EF-2000, Typhoon FGR.4, F-2000A, and MiG-29SMT.
- Ju 87 D-3 and D-5 bombers now properly use the ejection device for under-fuselage bombs.
- Fixed bomb dropping bug on D4Y3 where bombs could fall through closed bomb bay doors and allowed custom loadouts with 3×250 kg bombs.
- Moved the F-14 third-person camera further away from the aircraft.
Ground Vehicles and Naval Fixes
- SPAA units now properly lock new targets with IRST after a single activation instead of double.
- Improved mobility for EldE 98.
- Fixed several bugs on RN Roma including pressure damage on closed AA mounts and fire spreading to ammo magazines.
- Fixed visual effect bug on Novorossiysk where aft magazine detonations appeared at the bow.
Gameplay and Interface Adjustments
- Visual weapon selector is smaller, more transparent, and shows the number of shells on weapon icons. Tooltips no longer cover other selector cells.
- Radar control screen no longer shows tips for unavailable functions.
- Fixed cursor issues when opening Statistics and Tactical Map windows, especially for HOTAS and VR users.
- Corrected armor penetration and damage type icons for rockets and missiles.
- Shell icons on ground and naval ammo now properly reflect high-explosive armor penetration thickness.
- Mach limit on aircraft cards now shows with hundredths precision.
- Removed gray background from fully unlocked modification tiers.
- Added localization for bomb-related actions in the battle event log.
- Fixed squad leader vehicle preset changes not updating displayed Battle Rating.
Bug Fixes for Shell and Shrapnel Damage
Some vehicles had an issue where shells would ignore the thickness of curved armor segments and pass through, unfairly hitting crew members. This has been fixed. Additionally, shrapnel damage is now accurately calculated, ensuring that crew members sustain damage even when hit at acute angles.
Map and Environment
- Reduced extreme height differences on snow layers in Finland, Ardennes (winter), Poland (winter), and Maginot Line (winter) maps to fix shadow issues during low sun positions.
There’s plenty more minor fixes and polish, but these are the highlights. If you want to dig into the full batch of changes, head to the official changelog on War Thunder’s website. Curious how these changes will affect your matches? Do you think the anti-cheat rollout will catch some sneaky players? Or maybe you’ve spotted other bugs still lurking around?
