Book: Kawasaki Ki-45 "Toryu"

A book about this classic aircraft.

 
In WT the Ki-45ko is no doubt the best for air combat, but it has the horrible weakness of nothing in front of the pilot (no armour plate, no armour glass, no engine - nothing!) makes it a poor choice against everything able to return fire.

The Ki-45 tei version in WT is a strange, yet important plane. It has two 250 kg bombs and quick reload for those. This is very useful for the Japanese, since they lack proper light bombers. Ki-49 and G4M attract immediately lethal attention, whereas Ki-45 is a quite quick plane (I was once chased in my P-38 by a Ki-45 and it did not fall back!). Its 37 mm gun creates quite a marksmanship challenge and its 20 mm Schräge Musik weapon is almost never useful. The few successes with the 20 mm against unsuspecting bombers are hilarious, though.

The other Ki-45 versions are not worthwhile in WT unless you insist on upgrading all planes to the maximum due to some kind of collector's zeal.

Website: Secret Projects forum

Secret Projects Forum is a great forum for the discussion of historical aircraft, tank, space, missile and ship programs. I think it's the best address for information about quite obscure versions, prototypes and types in general. You'll find obscure aircraft types of unknown-to-you developers in there. Check it out whenever you want to learn about the historical example of some unknown aircraft or tank you spot on WT!

Book: Fighter Combat Tactics and Maneuvering

A classic popular book about air combat tactics in general.

 

There are many copies uploaded on Scribd: link 

 

LastDingo: Winning matches in eras I-IV

Unlike the previously presented players, LastDingo isn't a specialized low level player exploiting the special conditions of era I only. LastDingo played eras I-IV, stopping short of the long grind for jets. A few hundred tank battles were included, but the obvious display of stupidity and cowardice in tank battles was a turn-off.

His obsession was the maximization of the victories/battles ratio, yielding a top 100 rating in this category after months of playing. LastDingo flew about half of the matches in squads, including hundreds with INIT2WINIT and hundreds with TFD players. The most extreme results were during the winter 2014/2015 with "last month" victories/battle at about 95%. His record was a 118 match victory streak with American BR 3.0 and 3.3 planes in late 2014.

LastDingo won 2,944 matches out of 3,675 (80.1%).

B-25J, a fantastic and versatile bomber

Aircraft types favoured by LastDingo:

A-20G: A fantastic light bomber

B-25J-1/-20: Very good bombers all-round, albeit with unpleasantly small bombload

B7A2: Fantastic escort fighter, also killing pillboxes from high altitude. Best B7A2 tactic is to dive on climbing red fighters.

 

Beaufighter VIc: Most satisfying firepower.

Bf 109G-10: A bomber destroyer with 3 30 mm guns. Capable of stopping heavy bomber rushes almost on his own. Capable of chasing G8Ns at high altitude - two G8N kills above 8 km altitude were scored. The downside of the 109 is that apparently everyone attacks it, expecting an easy kill.

Boston/Havoc: Weaker than even an A-20G, but together with DB-7 and maybe the TBF the only really worthwhile British propeller bombers.

Do 217E-2/-4: First really powerful bombers, a squad of which can turn the base & airfield bombing tactic into a winning tactic.

F6F-3: Very good fighter-bomber, with good turnfighter qualities.

Fw190A-8: Most satisfying firepower.

Fw190D-9: No love for it until a domination match with 19 kills in it - bloodlust!

Il-4: A fantastic Russian bomber for high altitudes. Can kill pillboxes and bases from above 7 km with near-immunity, then dive and kill tanks with its three heavy bombs.

 

Ki-43-II: Ridiculously good low level fighter. Can kill many armoured cars with ease.

P-38G-1: First really good bomber destroyer in the American line, albeit with a tendency to die in flames.

P-47D-25/-28: Most powerful fighter-bombers, capable of destroying eight destroyers with a single load of bombs and rockets. Even the new AD-1 Skyraider isn't really better.

Pe-2 (early ones): Effective Russian light bombers, good tank/pillbox/destroyer killers.

Yak-9K: Almost the same as Yak-9T, but with 45 mm gun.

Yak-9T: Very good Soviet fighter with much-feared 37 mm. AP ammunition enables this gun to kill medium tanks. The hate against all Yak-9 (because of their one-shot-kill guns) is so strong that they appear to receive extra attention by red fighters.

The best mix was a BR 3.0 setup with P-38, B-25, A-20G, both P-47 and the F6F. It was powerful in ground strike due to 2 good bombers and 3 best fighter-bombers and powerful in air combat with 4 good fighters and 2 tough bombers with many fixed machineguns. This mix yielded approx. 80% victory rate flying solo.

A summary of LastDingo's principles:

determination to win (many THINK they want to win, but actually they do what they feel like at the moment instead of what's needed for a win!)

avoid undue attention (climb high and to the sides, avoid field of view, keep distance, avoid initial or respawn fighter waves)

never trust the blue randoms

choose good plane lineup, including BR considerations (2 bombers or 1 bomber + 1-2 fighter bombers, preferably 1 bomber interceptor like Bf109G-10/F4U-1c/ 4 cannon Brits/Yak-9, all else: fighters for domination map air duels)

focus on objectives and keeping the others from accomplishing them (kill bombers, defeat airfield capture efforts)

choose ONE path to victory (in ground strike: airfield kill OR bases/tanks/pillboxes kill)

readiness to adapt to the situation (let off from airfield to kill tanks if need be)

keep an eye on ticket counts

prioritisation of important aircraft (bombers with more bomb load, ignoring fighters)

do not engage an aircraft that's already being chased unless it really needs to die ASAP

partially fly in squads with TS3

stay at key airfield and low during domination battles if ground forces are irrelevant on the map or at the moment

some skill at aiming guns

some skill at aiming bombs (one 500 lbs/250 kg per moving tank, 3-4 tank kills in one pass)

speed capture of airfields (instructor off)

surprise/dive capture of airfields (pretending to not land, then suddenly land)

knowing the own aircraft

knowing the hostile aircraft

knowing the maps

knowing typical random player behaviour

look at 'n' list to identify new red bombers and unusually successful red players

chat communication to motivate at least a few players to do the right thing

stealth ammunition for fixed guns except in tier I

basic evasive manoeuvres

basic offensive manoeuvres

look at 'm' map to plan ground forces destruction

assignment of vectors for bomber destroyers (left high or right high), threats (individual bombers) and ground targets (left or right) in teamspeak

engaging 'suitable' targets (big gun fighters prefer large target planes, agile bombers bomb troops flying low)

some high altitude bombing with first climbing to altitude during sideways climb instead of impatiently flying straight towards the reds

playing at eras I-IV to have fun in the full diversity

stop playing for hours after a defeat streak of four

share tactics, tricks and target info with squad mates

drop bomber's bombs for quicker climbing

announce incoming bombers to team to improve bomber interception

LastDingo was the founder of a quasi-secret quasi-invite-only chat channel into which the top 100 players of the leaderboard in victories/battles were invited. About 50 players joined it, and the channel was successful in getting top players to know each other. It's largely defunct now because it disappeared due to a bug (or feature?) of the seemingly still buggy WT chat system.

Statistics of LastDingo:

sorted by sorties

sorted by air kills

sorted by ground kills

tank battles, sorted by sorties

Book: Fighter Combat Study, No.1 - The Curtiss P-40C Tomahawk vs. the Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen

This is an old (1970's) study comparing the P-40 and A6M2. 

Long story short: The differences were much, much smaller than in WT AB, RB or SB modes. Even the low speed turn ability difference was rather subtle. We should keep in mind that experienced, talented pilots who know the limits of their fighter well can usually outmanoeuvre a slightly more agile fighter flown by a rookie pilot. German Bf109E expert pilots actually believed that the Spitfire was slightly less manoeuvrable in turnfights than a Bf109E, since this was their experience against most Spitfire opponents!

alternative links to the study (just in case one goes dead):

link 1

link 2

link 3

Book: F6F-5 vs J2M3

This is an old (1989) book doing a comparison and computer-supported analysis of the F6F-5 and the J2M3.

www.scribd.com/doc/252875888/F6F-5-vs-J2M3#fullscreen=1

Long story short; the F6F-5 was burdened with carrier gear and fuel capacity for greater range and despite its advantage in fuel quality the J2M3 ended up having a margin of superiority in most situations. According to the analysis.

In WT the J2M3 has a much higher battle rating, and it's well-deserved. Even the J2M2 is a much better fighter - much more capable of boom 'n zoom tactics. The F6F is in WT nevertheless a very capable fighter at its battle rating. Avoid diving fighters, avoid numerical inferiority, avoid head-on attacks by well-armed fighters and avoid turnfights with Ki-43, A6M or Spitfires and you'll do fine in it. It's also one of the very best fighter-bombers with two 1,000 lbs bombs and six 127 mm rockets. That's enough to kill five destroyers in AB!

(I'm not sure how well Scribd and Scribd embedded works for the readers. They changed their business model and may now require a sub for viewing.)

"Air_Force_of_One": Winning matches in low tier planes

"Air_Force_of_One" attempted to maximize the victories/battles ratio and reach the top, being No.1 in the Leaderboard for that category. The attempt was successful, albeit he dropped to No.5 later on. Exclusively Soviet planes were flown, mostly to exploit the power of the BB-1/Su-2 family of attackers on low level "Ground Strike - light vehicles" maps.

Schwanzus Longus flew three missions in a squad of two (one of these three was lost), all others solo. No crews were aced. No gold was purchased. He flew at about patch 1.48, at BR 1.0-2.3.

"Air Force of One" is mocking the old U.S.Army's slogan "Army of One".

"Air_Force_of_One" won 196 of 207 battles (94.7%).

The conclusion was that this is very close to what an individual can achieve flying solo. Red teams with three good players with 15+ ground kills each could not be overcome without a 2nd good player in the blue team.

A BB-1 attacker in action

The BB-1/Su-2 family combines a good light machinegun armament with quick-reloading light bombs. Six 100 kg bombs was the preferred load because the twelve 50 kg bombs load degrades the flying characteristics of the plane too much. The Su-2 TSS-1 is actually the weakest of the bunch since is has a mere two forward-firing fixed light machineguns and thus takes longer and spends more % of its rounds for an armoured car kill.

The MiG 3-15 was a fantastic high speed fighter at BR 1.7, the 20 mm cannon-armed LaGG 3-11 and Yak-1 were powerful on a domination map. The LaGG series has some irritating handling issue when yanked around with mouse aim, though.

The (gifted) premium plane "Zhukovsky's I-153-M62" is a fantastic dogfighter at low altitude on a domination map. The I-16 type 5 was a disappointment - it seemed to excel at nothing but rolling.

The tactics weren't much different from those described by Schwanzus Longus, but the techniques differed. The better guns allowed for much more effective air combat kills particularly on the Krymsk map, with less effort on guarding the runway. The six 100 kg bombs of a Su-2 or BB-1 allowed for more ground troops kills per minute, and their defensive gunner alerted of trailing red fighters. Dodging the bullets of pursuing red fighters became the standard survival technique, while tight 360° turns or high speed were no promising option for these attackers. The MiG-3-15 and to a lesser degree the LaGG 3-11 and Yak-1 were able to outrun many reds, but the latter ones were used in air combat (on Krymsk) exclusively.

The bomb-throwing technique was simple; mark target to see the range, zoom in, aim at about 20-50 m ahead of the target vehicle in its path. Some light vehicles attempt to dodge attacks, but this hardly ever works against 100 kg bombs. Bombs were almost never expended on artillery or AAA of any kind: Only the slightly tougher armoured cars were bombed. Sometimes one bomb was left and would be dropped at the end of a pass in order to reload six new bombs earlier. The 100 kg bombs were always set for instant detonation on impact.

Overall Air_Force_of_One was a very special pilot who tested the limits of what's possible for a solo player. A new War Thunder player might come to the conclusion that about 25% of the blue teams are too stupid to be saved by a single player, Air_Force_of_One showed that the limiting problem is rather that about 3-5% of the red teams are too stacked with the usually very few good players (three of them, whereas average is less than one) to be defeated by a solo player supported by an average (inept) team only.

Statistics of Air_Force_of_One:

Video: Ki-10 is Helicopter

Video: "Acrobatics" 1943 USAAF Pilot Training Film

"Schwanzus Longus": Winning matches in low level planes

"Schwanzus Longus" is a fun account created for but one purpose: To fly Italian fighters and win. Nothing else was flown in it, not even a He 51. The premium CR.42 was purchased prior to first match to avoid the non-Italian He 51.

"Schwanzus Longus" is the German translation for "Biggus Dickus". It felt like the most appropriate quasi-Italian name since many others were taken already.
Schwanzus Longus flew all missions solo, none in a squad. No crews were aced. He flew at about patch 1.48.

128 of 144 of battles were won by Schwanzus Longus (88.9%).

the fast Macchi M.C.202

Most Italian fighters have no fearsome reputation, but at the same time they're all good enough for great results if flown well. Schwanzus Longus used:

M.C.202 (fastest, two 12 mm + two 7 mm guns, some pilot armour, no turnfighter at all)

M.C. 200 series 7 (two 12 mm guns, combat flaps)

M.C. 200 serie 3 (two 12 mm guns, combat flaps)

G.50 Freccia series 7AS (two 12 mm guns, two 50 kg bombs)

G.50 Freccia series 2 (two 12 mm guns)

Marcolin's CR.42CN (two 12 mm guns, fixed landing gear, agile, premium plane bonus) 

CR.42 Falco (two 12 mm guns, fixed landing gear, agile)

The most powerful Italian fighter is no doubt the M.C.202, which by virtue of its high speed is very difficult to kill and at the same time possesses the best armament of all Italian fighters in WT today (1.51.x). The only worthy BR 1.7 opponents to a M.C.202 were the similar MiG 3-15 and the much more agile Ki-43-II. The Ki-43-II is a superior dogfighter regardless of relative starting positions if the M.C.202 has no large initial energy or surprise advantage. Nowadays (patch 1.51.x) the recently upgunned F2A-1's may be superior to the M.C.202 in battle even though they are BR 1.3 planes.

Era ("tier") I and II battles of Schwanzus Longus with BR 1.3-1.7 AB/air ranged from BR 1.0 to 2.7 and were "Ground Strike - light vehicles" maps or the "Krymsk" domination map. The toughest Ground Strike map at this level as of patch 1.51.x is "Alpine Meadows", particularly so with many low clouds.

Winning on ground strike - light vehicles maps

The path to victory in Ground Strike - light vehicles is simple:

(1) Kill ground troops (armored cars, artillery, anti-air artillery)

(2) Interfere with those who do (1) the best on the red team.

The choice of ammunition is "ground targets" for the 12 mm (actually 12.7 mm) and "stealth" for the 7 mm (actually 7.7 mm) guns. The idea is to use the tracers for improved accuracy against ground targets without being misled by the weaker 7 mm gun's tracers.

Light vehicles are easier prey for machineguns with tracers than without. You should aim a bit low when strafing. Few 12 mm AP hits suffice to kill an armored car, while most inexperienced pilots have trouble killing armored cars with 7 mm guns..

The attack on ground vehicles is little more than about surviving red fighters, air/ground marksmanship and determination. The determination to kill as many ground troops as possible is the most important ingredient. Most players will claim to play to win, but few actually do so. It is possible to bomb airfields on ground strike maps, and any player who does so earlier than at battle rating 4.3 (when the blue team may have multiple Do 217Es) is playing for the defeat of his team by wasting his player slot. Low tier battles are almost never won by airfield destruction. The airfield bombers' diversionary effect on red fighters is their only really relevant benefit to their team. All types of bombers could destroy a disproportionate quantity of red tickets by attacking ground troops instead.

The M.C.202 should be flown differently from all other Italian fighters as it's best if always kept at high speed. It can be used to race from one side of the map to the other, taking shots at ground troops al the time before reloading and turning back for another pass. Often times two or three red fighters would pursue it and thus be neutralized. Its speed is also fine for killing the red rear ground troops, particularly on the "Alpine Meadows" map. Many players who attempt to reach and kill those fail in slower planes, and a good plane such as M.C.202 can and often should deal with the high-hanging fruits. Its lethality of "Ground Strike - light vehicles" maps is such that hardly any red plane is dangerous enough to justify a fine M.C.202's attention there. Only BB-1 and Su-2 pilots are at times more dangerous and were killed by Schwanzus Longus on light vehicles maps without offering themselves by crossing his sights, but their players usually have several more near-identical planes in their setup.

The old style "Spain - light vehicles" map included a couple pillboxes and light tanks that but one Italian fighter could take on: The "Fiat G.50 series 7 AS" with its two wing-mounted 50 kg bombs. The best attack procedure was to dive on the target knowing which bomb would release next and score a direct hit. A near miss was ineffective (unlike with light vehicles). The limitation to two 50 kg bombs per such plane made it extraordinarily difficult to win on these maps if the blue team was not helping against the hard targets, and about half of Schwanzus Longus' few recorded defeats happened on this old version of the Spain-light vehicles map. A much better victories/battles balance would be possible under current (patch 1.51x) conditions.

Winning on the Krymsk map is different, and actually the opposite:

The ground troops rarely if ever reach the airfield before the end of the match and are thus largely unimportant. Their ticket value (100 tickets per vehicle) is low compared to overall ticket count, and their anti-air firepower is an unimportant contribution to the match as well. Only one thing matters a lot: Airfield possession.

This is why the CR.42 is actually a good plane on the Krymsk map. It has effective heavy machineguns, the agility to fight within one kilometre of the airfield at low altitude guarding it against touchdown attempts and it has a fixed landing gear. The fixed landing gear makes unintentional contact with the ground much less troublesome and it allows for near-instant touchdown on the airfield. The airfield can  be captured longitudinally only for want of clear paths crosswise. It is possible to neutralize or capture this airfield while rolling parallel to the runway instead of on the runway. This attracts a little bit less attention.

The CR.42s are not fantastic biplanes in WT (the CR.42 was likely the best multi-wing fighter historically), but it's clearly very capable if flown well. Schwanzus Longus' kill balance in both CR.42s was tainted by ground attack and dozens of airfield touchdowns. A 100% air combat focus would have yielded much better kill balances.

The best choice for first aircraft on this map was nevertheless the M.C.202, and probably so among all aircraft in WT. The M.C.202 has an incredible dive speed in AB - it easily accelerated past 700 kph on the Krymsk map starting at the fighter spawn point. It spawns high enough over ground on other maps to reach 820 kph or more in a dive, only a few seconds after the match began.

A roughly 45° dive followed by contour flight to the airfield, lowered landing gear, quick braking with landing flaps and flying S-lines horizontally followed by a quick touchdown for capturing the airfield is a great first move in the match. The chance of capturing the airfield AND surviving without crippling damage was about 1/3. Many red teams lose interest in capturing the airfield and thus in winning if the airfield is defended well afterwards.

The player needs to disable the instructor to capture an airfield at high speed. Go in the hangar to "Menu" - "Controls" - "Instructor" and set all three to "no". The instructor would intervene at high speed close to the ground, and the competition between the player's efforts to touchdown and the instructor's efforts to pull away from the ground leads to crashes.

On Krymsk it makes sense to use stealth ammunition for the 12 mm because it is about air combat, though it's not much better than other choices (except "default") in the M.C.202. The slower planes may stay on the 6 of red fighters for a while and keep hitting them. Tracers are treacherous in such a situation. A M.C.202 should rather boom and zoom, so the attack will be over before the red player could possibly react to tracers.

A look at the match statistics reveals which red players were the most successful ones. One may then prefer them as prey, particularly if one is flying the M.C.202 and has by virtue of its speed the ability to pick fights. The most dangerous red pilots are usually those who attempt to capture the airfield, though. The great plane killers and Yak-1s are even more important if airfield possession changes a  lot and the match might be decided by decimating the other team to the point where it cannot compete at the airfield any more.

One more note: The M.C.202 had a higher era (II) than the other Italian fighters when Schwanzus Longus was still active. This was almost perfectly irrelevant - it only meant it might face era III planes, but very few of those were encountered in battle by Schwanzus Longus since very few of them were at BR 2.7 or 3.0. The M.C.202 never entered the beginner map "Foggy Albion", though.

Overall Schwanzus Longus was a very special War Thunder pilot with a most likely unique restriction on the choice of aircraft. We can point at Schwanzus Longus whenever anyone comments badly on the usefulness of Italian fighters in War Thunder. He will rise again when mid-war Italian fighters (G.55, M.C.205, G.56) will be available.

Statistics of Schwanzus Longus:

Introduction

This blog is meant to describe tactics that led to success in the free-to-play video game "War Thunder".

The focus is on Arcade battles (AB). AB isn't an inferior or junior mode in WT; it's the mode played by much more players and much more often than RB and SB combined. No mode is truly "realistic" in WT.

Youtube videos and funny things may be added in between.


topics planned:
 
  five player profiles
  tank killing
  ship killing
  value of ground targets and victory conditions
  high altitude bombing
  air combat aiming, head-on air combat
  air combat principles for high kill ratio
  air combat with boom and zoom planes
  air combat with turnfighter planes
  tactics for specific maps
  historical air combat and aircraft type videos
  book recommendations, links to free e-book versions
  funny videos, pictures