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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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About the author -
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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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Guest Feb 23, 2017
Runs amazingly well even on moderate hardware. Really smooth too.
Schattenspiegel Feb 23, 2017
Grab a joystick, strap a steamcontroller to your head for head tracking and have fun in simulator battles while looking like an idiot . (be advised: it's an easy to learn simulator light of sorts we are talking about here)

Wish they would give the Linux version proper AA and working 5.1 sound but otherwise it's a very well optimised game and it is indeed quite discrete in advertising the ingame-shop.
razing32 Feb 23, 2017
I did play this and somewhat like it , but after WOT and AW the horror of the grind dawns on me.

The only reason I would not support Gaijin as a company is how they lash out on ANY criticism of their game. I;ve heard enough stories to steer clear.
metro2033fanboy Feb 23, 2017
Quoting: cRaZy-bisCuiT
Quoting: metro2033fanboyNo Witcher 3 yet...lame!

#goVEGAN

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

One can always keep dreaming! Every month I check w3 steamdb to make sure! haha
pedrojmartm Feb 24, 2017
Quoting: seguleh@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).

man, you don't know what you're talking about. Have you ever played a simulator battle on war thunder?
seguleh Feb 24, 2017
Yep. Have U ever played simulation battle in old Il2Sturmovik? I mean first Il2 game, not Pacific Fighters/1946.


Last edited by seguleh on 24 February 2017 at 7:44 pm UTC
robvv May 5, 2017
Haven't played this yet, but BundeStars are offering some freebie addons for this game at the moment.
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