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Fumbling around with tanks in War Thunder on Linux, some thoughts

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One title I never had the chance to actually get into is War Thunder, so I teamed up with Samsai to check it out. Here’s a video and some thoughts.

The game is available to download for Linux direct from the War Thunder website and Steam. So you don’t actually need Steam to run it which is great.

We decided to go for a tank run, as tank battles are much more interesting and generally easier to control over aeroplanes. Air battles are still surprisingly fun too, but much harder.

Here’s a video of myself and Samsai playing in the snow:
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Apologies for the reduced quality in places, didn’t quite have OBS Studio setup quite right for the recording this time.

I have been genuinely surprised by it! For a free to play game, it’s really quite well made and I’m not surprised it’s as popular as it is. It does nag you a few times about doing some things to earn extra points, but surprisingly, it’s not in your face with micro-transactions. I expected it to constantly tell me to buy stuff, but it’s really nice to see a free game that doesn’t constantly bug you to spend money. That makes me consider supporting it, because it's not annoying.

You can do basic arcade battles, or more realistic battles, but for the purposes of testing we did the arcade mode. For someone new to the game, the arcade mode is probably the one to go for as it is quite a bit easier since enemy tanks are highlighted for you and you get a few other small helpers.

The missions are all simple, with your team needing to capture and hold specific points to bring down the enemies counter. It's a fun tug of war, with tanks, explosions and the occasional aeroplane run.

The x-ray vision you get when you hit an enemy is awesome, seeing how your shell impacted the enemy and what it damaged is very cool. It’s also quite interesting how it simulates different armour impact, fires that need to be put out and more. Seeing how you died is also a fun little feature which really makes me love it.

We did also test out the aeroplane combat modes as well, which are also very fun, but much harder to actually control and hit enemies as everyone is moving so much faster.

If you’re in the mood for a free game on Linux, be sure to check it out. I enjoyed it a lot, far more than I actually thought I would. A really good game to gather a squad of people to play with!

I will likely play more of it as I want to see what the higher level vehicles are like, so it will come to a livestream soon. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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17 comments
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chuzzle44 Feb 22, 2017
This is one that I wanted to play, but my lack of Internet became somewhat of a hindrance. The login screen looked nice though.
hardpenguin Feb 22, 2017
Played tanks only cause I sucked at planes. It's very fun in the beginning, but gets more pay-to-win after leveling up a bit. Still, a nice game!
uriil Feb 22, 2017
I love this game, I have been playing it for about 470 hours!!
neowiz73 Feb 23, 2017
I tried this a little while back, I played the Air portion which was fun, a lot of fun dog fights. the one thing that turn me off of this game is how everything seems segregated. plus there's no troop combat at all. this game has fantastic gameplay and graphics. If only we could have all the combat parts together on one map. with tactical points to capture.
metro2033fanboy Feb 23, 2017
No Witcher 3 yet...lame!

#goVEGAN
TheRiddick Feb 23, 2017
Its a good game, I have allot of the tanks and planes but was disappointed with mid tier Japanese editions (their BR is WAY too high for allot of them) so I have taken a LONG break from the game until I see some BR changes or something to that line up.

Most the Tier4 Japan tanks are a hilarious joke in a frustrating way, there is the bulldog and that small recoiless tank which are fun, but that's it!


Last edited by TheRiddick on 23 February 2017 at 5:20 am UTC
Tuxee Feb 23, 2017
Quoting: hardpenguinPlayed tanks only cause I sucked at planes. It's very fun in the beginning, but gets more pay-to-win after leveling up a bit. Still, a nice game!

It's not pay to win. It's "pay to speed up grind" - which I find perfectly acceptable. Besides I get most fun out of level 2-4 aircraft (can't comment on tanks yet). The jet age tends to become a chore.
Tuxee Feb 23, 2017
Quoting: TheRiddickIts a good game, I have allot of the tanks and planes but was disappointed with mid tier Japanese editions (their BR is WAY too high for allot of them) so I have taken a LONG break from the game until I see some BR changes or something to that line up.

Tanks or the planes? Because with planes the BRs are quite acceptable, some of them are (or were) clearly OP (Ki-100, A7M, N1K1), but that's something they share with all other nations. Tanks might be a different story - I'm still struggling with their tier 1 models.
seguleh Feb 23, 2017
@neowiz73: if I understand correctly U want all kinds of weapon on same map plus infantry combat? Man, this make WT another clone of Battlefield, but much worse. Even now I’m sick of kids playing kamikaze with their planes. In my opinion air and land battles should be separated, unfortunately they won’t be as Gaijin wants WT as „complex battlefield simulation” (where „simulation” is really joke).
cRaZy-bisCuiT Feb 23, 2017
Quoting: metro2033fanboyNo Witcher 3 yet...lame!

#goVEGAN

#randomguytalksrandomstuff

Anyway, there won't be the Witcher 3 on Linux unfortunately.
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