Update 2.0.2 brings German bomber reinforcements and an exciting way to earn 'em. They're also equipped with several defensive turrets, each of which can be player-controlled. And we've dispatched the first part of the British Hawker fighter branch to tangle with them!
Look for improvements to graphics, the Hangar and battle interface and to the reticle and camera. You'll also be able to watch tutorial videos in-game to learn the basics.
New Event - Albion Sky
The global event Albion Sky starts after the release of Update 2.0.2 and runs until January 10. You'll be able to fight for dominance every day in the skies over Britain for the Allied or Axis powers.
Active participation and high performance in battles earn you loot crates containing equipment, consumables, trained Crewmembers, paint, Hangar slots and Barracks bunks.
The main rewards you can find in crates are Gold, Premium Account time, and Special Missions that, if completed, reward you with the first German medium bombers, and British fighters from the Hawker branch, the Premium Tier VIII RB-17, Me 109 TL, and J8M, or eight other tier II-V Premium aircraft.
Get a Special Mission containing a chain of tasks can complete during peacetime (in between two confrontations) and you can earn an aircraft when you complete it!
New Aircraft
New branch of German medium bombers
A key feature of the aircraft from the new branch is the high bomb load and the availability of several defensive turrets with wide fields of fire. At the same time, these aircraft carry no forward-firing offensive armament.
- Dornier Do 17 Z (German tier IV bomber)
- Junkers Ju 88 A (German tier V bomber)
- Dornier Do 217 M (German tier VI bomber)
New British multirole fighter branch
The branch consists of the first three durable, maneuverable Hawker aircraft armed with a formidable battery of small-caliber machine guns, or four powerful 20mm cannon.
- Hawker Hurricane I (British tier IV British multirole fighter)
- Hawker Hurricane II (British tier V British multirole fighter)
- Hawker Tornado (British tier VI British multirole fighter)
Premium aircraft added for purchase in the in-game shop
Soviet Union
- Kochyerigin-Yatsenko DI-6i (tier III multirole fighter)
- Lavochkin LaGG-3 series 4 (tier IV multirole fighter)
- Polikarpov I-180-3 (tier V fighter)
- Lavochkin La-9RD (tier VII fighter)
Germany
- Fieseler Fi 98 (tier II attack aircraft)
- Dornier Do 17 Z-7 Kauz (tier III heavy fighter)
United States
- Curtiss F11C-2 (tier II multirole fighter)
- Seversky 2PA (tier IV fighter)
Japan
- Mitsubishi A6M3 (experimental) (tier V fighter)
Britain
- CAC CA-1 Wirraway (tier III attack aircraft)
- Fairey Fantome (tier IV fighter)
- CAC CA-12 Boomerang (tier V fighter)
- North American Mustang IA (tier VI fighter)
China
- Curtiss Hawk III (tier II multirole fighter)
- Curtiss Tomahawk IIb (tier V fighter)
- De Havilland 98 Mosquito FB 26 (tier VI heavy fighter)
- North American P-51K Mustang (tier VIII fighter)
- Ilyushin IL-10M (tier VIII attack aircraft)
France
- Arsenal-Delanne AD 10C2 (tier V fighter)
- SNCASE SE 100 (tier V heavy fighter)
- Arsenal VB 10 (tier VII heavy fighter)
Premium aircraft removed from the in-game shop
U.S.S.R.
- Yakovlev Yak-3RD (tier VII fighter)
- Lavochkin La-11 (tier VIII fighter)
U.S.A.
- Grumman XF4F-3 (tier IV fighter)
- Chance-Vought XF4U-1 (tier V fighter)
U.K.
- Miles M.20 (tier V fighter)
- North American Mustang I: (tier VI fighter)
China
- Breda Ba.27 Metallico (tier III fighter)
- Nakajima Ki-43-Ic (tier IV fighter)
These warplanes will be available for purchase for a limited time in the Premium Shop, or during special events in the future.
Developers, Supertesters and other special contributors can also test the Junkers Ju-86 E, a German tier III bomber.
Balance Fixes for Aircraft
System Fixes
Aircraft with several defensive turrets
We implemented the option to control and fire several defensive turrets mounted on the new bombers individually. These turrets are marked in the tech tree as separate modules and have their own upgrade trees.
- Each turret tracks and selects targets in the field of fire, and opens fire on them independently. The highest-priority targets are those located closer to the center of the field of fire, and closer to the turret itself
- Added the option to manually control each turret on these aircraft -- by pressing "T," a player starts to control a turret, and the camera is directed at its field of fire -- turrets that don't cover this field of fire will shoot automatically
- Each turret that comes under fire takes damage and can be put out of action independently of the others, for 20 seconds -- critical damage counts as an injury to a gunner and is healed with the First Aid Kit
- Equipment improving the performance of turrets and gunner Skills affects all turrets of the aircraft simultaneously
Bombers without Forward-Firing Offensive Armament
- Unlike other aircraft, bombers of the new branch are not equipped with forward-firing offensive armament. That is why instead of the reticle, a flight direction indicator is displayed in the battle interface
- You can't shoot forward from the pilot's seat of these bombers, but you're usually equipped with a front turret that automatically opens fire on targets in front of the aircraft and can be controlled manually
Other Changes
- Premium and Special Reward aircraft now come with loaded bomb and rocket racks
- Updated the damage model for the following aircraft: 2PA, XP-58, Wirraway, Mustang I, Mustang IA, Hurricane IId, NC 1070, IL-10M, Do 17 Z-7, Ju 88P
- Bomb load now free for bombers
Balance Changes for Particular Aircraft
Germany
- BV P.210, BV P.212-03: launch rack no longer affects maneuverability performance and only reduces airspeed
U.S.A.
- Seversky 2PA: updated the damage model, increased the field of fire and aiming time for turrets, increased the airspeed
- XP-58 Chain Lightning: updated the damage model, enhanced the turret, increased the damage caused by the forward-firing offensive armament
U.K.
- Wirraway: updated the damage model, increased the accuracy of forward-firing offensive armament, increased speed performance
- Mustang IA: updated the damage model, increased the firing duration before weapon overheating
France
- NC 1070: updated the damage mode, increased the firing duration before weapon overheating
Camera and Mouse Control
Camera in Battle
We readjusted the camera to be more responsive and better convey the aircraft’s weight and dynamics
- Improved the camera responsiveness for all aircraft performing correction maneuvers and aiming
- Reduced the camera responsiveness for all aircraft performing excessive maneuvers
- Camera settings now significantly differ between different aircraft types
- Camera behavior differs between aircraft of the same type which have different specifications
Controls
- Eliminated reticle jerks and unresponsiveness when firing and tracking a target -- reticle now moves more smoothly and better conveys the aircraft’s weight
- Changed control settings for the ‘Mouse’ control scheme. Now when slowly descending, heavy aircraft do not use roll, but only pitch to change the flight direction. This makes attack aircraft and bombers steadier in flight. Lighter aircraft continue to use roll when descending. However, when slowly changing the flight direction, they are also steadier now
- Reduced the rate of level-off in relation to the horizon for fighters and multirole fighters by 25%
- Removed the default key bindings for pitch ("Pitch Down" and "Pitch Up") and yaw ("Yaw Left" and "Yaw Right") -- you're free to assign these actions at will
Graphics
- Added new effects for explosions, wreckage, and smoke trails behind destroyed aircraft according to the material of the aircraft and their sizes -- more technically sophisticated an aircraft have more spectacular destructions
Interface
Training
- Added new hints about the game basics at the start of a battle that can be disabled
- Added the option to watch videos in the game client. Added short training videos about aircraft control, game mode, and aircraft type details
Hangar
Optimized the display of the information about aircraft in the Hangar, particularly its specifications and details.
Display of Main Aircraft Characteristics
- All main characteristics are now displayed in units from 1 to 100, and a new bar more clearly reflects aircraft abilities in comparison to other aircraft 1 = lowest performance, 100 = highest
- The effect of equipment and Crew Skills on the display of flight characteristics in the Hangar is now implemented only for the survivability characteristic. For the other characteristics, this is implemented in subsequent updates.
- numerical display of characteristics is combined with graphical bars, which show an increase and decrease in characteristics when replacing modules
- Added a new Bombs and Rockets characteristic to the aircraft specification panel -- it displays the offensive potential of an aircraft when using external weapons, calculated based on the "damage per minute" and "one-time damage" for all bombs and rockets on the aircraft
- The aircraft comparison window in battle is temporarily hidden
Detailed Aircraft Characteristics
- Changed the list of detailed characteristics and their distribution between main characteristics in the aircraft specifications panel. In the future, new characteristics describing aircraft in more detail are planned to be added
- Added the HP characteristic as part of the survivability characteristics
- Removed the weight, controllability, and top speed at sea level characteristics from the aircraft specifications panel
Bomber Configuration Details
- As part of the introduction of the new bombers, implemented the display of several defensive turrets, the absence of forward-firing offensive armament, and an empty bomb slot
Other
- Modules now have unique icons to better highlight the differences between them
Battle Interface
Turret Control Mode
- Added display of critical damage message to the defensive turret, and a timer showing counting down to when the turret is operational again
- Changed appearance of turret reticle, added display of turret caliber
Bombing Mode
- Added display of bomb replenishment timer in advanced interface mode, visible on pressing "Alt"
- Added extra indication for absence of bombs
- Bombsight illumination now activates when bombsight crosshairs approach a ground target
Flight Instruments
- Updated texts for battle interface and settings
Locations and Hangars
- Added two new locations with 12 new map layouts:
- Peripheral Mission - Winter location available for tier VII-VII battles
- Road to Rome - Summer location available for tier VII–X battles
- Created a new Hangar design for the "Albion Sky" event. The Hangar has two states: peacetime and wartime. They alternate automatically depending on the phase of a confrontation
- Removed several asymmetric map layouts:
- Scorching Sands: Outpost
- Plateau: Shock Wave
- Alpine Gambit: Edelweiss
Other
- Added Belgian flag
- Readjusted aircraft type-specific missions -- completion difficulty now equivalent for all aircraft types
Bug Fixes
- Fixed several game crashes
- Fixed bug causing a hidden cursor (active without pressing "Ctrl") to respond to mouse clicks as if the cursor was active, causing accidental clicks on the radar and minimap
- Fixed incorrect display of Experience and Combat Points in the post-battle statistics window
- Fixed low-quality display of static objects after graphics quality is changed from High to Low, and vice versa
