War Thunder is a multiplayer tank simulator in which you can also control ships and planes. The game covers the World War II and Cold War periods, making the time frame very broad. It is developed by the Russian company Gaijin Entertainment and was released in 2012.
War Thunder is based on the Free-to-Play system that was proven to be excellent in the World of Tanks reference project. War Thunder can also be described as easy to learn, hard to master. This principle is used by almost all multiplayer games. This means that you can just sit down at the computer and in an hour you will understand how the game works and what to do next, but becoming a pro is super difficult because the game has a lot of tactical and strategic tricks.
Gameplay
All vehicles in the game are divided by nations, classes and types. There are only three types - tanks, ships and planes. Each type has its own classes that are adapted to perform specific tasks in battle.
A characteristic feature of this game is an atypically realistic approach to combat. The vehicle has no HP. nor any indicators nearby. The durability of the tank/plane/ship depends on the number of surviving modules and crew members. The tank loses its combat effectiveness and is considered destroyed only if the entire crew is knocked out.
There is also no typical aim circle here - the cannon has some dispersion, but it is much less than in other similar games.
Another distinctive feature of the game is the realistic combat mode, where ground vehicles and aircraft can participate. And if we talk about ground vehicles, then it is not only tanks in categories from light to heavy, but also anti-tank self-propelled guns and anti-aircraft guns. Instead of artillery, which infuriates even the most resistant owners of heavy tanks in WoT, in War Thunder there are bombers - it is much easier to defend against them than against artillery fire, just have a SPAAG system nearby.
Aircraft are divided into several classes in the game:
Fighters are light, maneuverable aircraft with powerful weapons, ideal for destroying aerial targets. Sometimes they can carry torpedoes or bombs that destroy ground targets.
Strikers are heavy aircraft with several additional machine guns to defend in blind spots. Typically designed to destroy massive and well armored bombers. Often equipped with bombs or torpedoes.
Strike aircraft are an average class of vehicle designed for a wide range of combat missions. It is equipped with machine guns and bombs, it can also have another machine gun nest on its body.
Bombers are heavy and clumsy ships with lots of bombs or torpedoes. Equipped with a minimal number of frontal machine guns, they often have a large number of auxiliary machine gun nests throughout the hull.
Jets are a special class of high performance jet aircraft. A versatile aircraft with tremendous speed and great maneuverability.
Helicopters - Vehicles of this type start at level 5 and are equipped with machine guns and rockets. A distinctive feature of this class are guided and homing missiles.
Graphics
The pretty good Dagor Engine v5.0 has a system of internal physical models, but graphically it uses outdated DirectX3D 11. Good optimization is a great feature for any online game, but outdated technologies do not allow to create a rich modern image. The absence of Havok physic, which is actively used by many modern games, has a negative impact.
Owners of weak computers probably don't mind, but owners of powerful modern machines will be disappointed by the poor image quality even at the highest graphics settings.
System requirements
The very low system requirements for War Thunder are due to the fact that the graphics in the game are already outdated. It's not so bad for a network game, because the low entry threshold for performance logically increases the number of interested players who have a weaker computer.
But War Thunder supports high-resolution textures, so the game will look noticeably better on 2K and 4K screens. Excellent optimization allows you to play at this resolution even on less powerful RTX cards.
Minimal
These War Thunder requirements describe a computer for HD resolution and minimum graphics settings. It is unlikely that you could comfortably play at 40-50 FPS, besides, on such old equipment, it can take a very long time to load and finish the battle.
- OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/10;
- Processor: with a frequency of 2,2 GHz;
- RAM: 4 GB;
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 520;
- Disk space: 12 GB.
Recommended
A set of system requirements for War Thunder that will enable high graphics settings at FullHD resolution at 60 FPS. However, such a system will not provide you with full comfort in the game. Rare drops at the most difficult moments will be very annoying, and the lack of reserve will not allow you to start the browser with music or another program in the background.
The vague boundaries of the processor in War Thunder clearly indicate low requirements for it, but this is not the case, the game uses 4 threads and can slow down on a dual-core i5.
- OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/10;
- Processor: Intel Core i5;
- RAM: 8 GB;
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960;
- Disk space: 30 GB
Modern
Requirements relevant to 2021, developed in accordance with current component models. Such a computer for War Thunder will provide 120+ FPS at FullHD resolution or 80+ at 2K at maximum graphics settings with SSAA Anti-aliasing enabled. This is an extremely demanding AA technology, but it will work well even with weaker RTX cards.
- OS: Windows 10;
- Processor: Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3500;
- RAM: 16 GB DDR4 @ 2666 MHz;
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER;
- Disk space: 30 GB on SSD.
Maximal
To choose the best computer for War Thunder, check out this list of equipment for the most comfortable game. With such a set of hardware, you get 60 stable shots in 4K resolution at maximum settings with AA SSAA. This is a professional set of devices that will allow you to stream, record and edit video. If you're using a 2K monitor, you'll get 120 FPS, helping you dominate the battlefield with faster response times.
- OS: Windows 10;
- Processor: Intel Core i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3800X;
- RAM: 16B DDR4 from 3200 MHz;
- Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER;
- Disk space: 30 GB on SSD m.2.
