Update 1.3 Public Test

Changes in Public Test #2

Equipment

• "Self-Sealing Fuel Tank" equipment description fixed. Now it states "+30% to firefighting speed," as its effect initially was

Consumables

• "First Aid Kit" gives a short period (5 sec.) of invulnerability to the crew after using it
• Power boost for "100-octane Gasoline," "120-octane Gasoline" and "Purified Kerosene" was reduced. The cost of consumables already purchased will be compensated to players

Bug Fixes

• Bug fix for the impossibility to apply client modifications from the folder res_mods. For the correct application of modifications you need to specify the path to res_mods in the file paths.xml in the first position

Game Chat

• Loading animation added when connecting to the channels
• Display of the player presence status added in the title of the private channel (for the chat with players from your contact list)
• Implemented leveled sorting of the chat windows. Now chat is not displayed above all windows opened in the hangar
• Unified elements of the chat interface

Fixed several bugs in the chat interface:

• Bug fix for the problem which arose when the window was recized or detached from the bottom channel bar
• Bug fix for posts dispperence in official channel after exiting the battle
• Bad words filter list updated

Public Test #1

Maps

New Maps

• Winter War - available for planes of tiers I-V
• Hidden Airbase – available for planes of tiers V-X

Changes

• Bug fixes for tree collision models (for all maps)
• Fixed the effect of the sunshine intensity on map textures (all maps)
• Bug fixes for El Halluf and Port minimaps
• Bug fixes for the objects layout on Adriatic and Fortress maps

Gameplay

Training Missions

• New stage added to the final part of the Gunnery Practice training mission, where you need to destroy a maneuvering enemy plane
• Terms of the Dogfight mission were changed: player should have a plane tier IV or higher
• The first stage of the Dogfight mission was removed

Physics & Balance Changes

• The chance of ignition increased for all planes
• The impact of bombing and rocket outboard weaponry on aircraft perfomance characteristics was reduced. Empty bomb carriers/rocket launchers have no effect on the perfomance now

Visibility System

• Added new mechanics of enemy camouflage bonus elimination and fast detection while shooting. Now the plane will be 100% detected within the certain radius after opening fire
• Guaranteed detection upon opening fire works only in direct visibility (if terrain and obstacles do not hide the plane)
• The radius of guaranteed detection upon opening fire depends on aircraft tier and approximately corresponds to the range of effective fire at the tier

Weapons

• 12.7mm BS: increased damage
• 12.7mm UBS: increased damage
• 20mm MG-213/20: reduced accuracy
• 30mm MK-103: reduced accuracy
• 12.7mm M3: reduced accuracy
• 20mm Mk.12: reduced accuracy
• 30mm ADEN: increased accuracy
• 40mm Vickers S: increased accuracy

• R4M rockets are now launched as a salvo - 6 rockets per keystroke

Achievements

Requirements for the following achievements were changed:

• "Sky Scourge" – awarded for destroying at least 3+ enemy planes
• "Ground Pounder" – awarded to a player who received at least 10 points for destroying enemy ground targets
• "Furious" – awarded for winning 3+ battles in a row
• "Die Hard" – Awarded for winning 2+ battles in a row and surviving

As before, the figure on the award ribbon shows the best series achieved. The count stops if the player's aircraft is destroyed.

• The display of the tiered achievements was changed. Now players have only the medal of the highest degree displayed (i.e. if they have the Galland Medal III class and Galland Medal II class, they will have only Galland Medal II class displayed)

Plane & Tech Tree Changes

New branch of American heavy fighters

• Lockheed P-38F Lightning (tier V)
• Lockheed P-38J Lightning (tier VI)
• Grumman F7F Tigercat (tier VII)
• Chance-Vought XF5U Pancake (tier VIII)
• McDonnell F2H Banshee (tier IX)
• Lockheed XF-90 (tier X)

Changes

• Improved textures for Ar.68, Ao.192 Kurier, TSh-2, P-23, F2F, Bulldog, Demon and A4N to make them more realistic
• Bombs for Hawk III were changed to the Chinese analogue
• Fixed a lot of minor bugs in the plane damage model

USSR

• I-5: increased maneuverability for the modification with stock airframe
• I-16 (late): reduced impact of 20mm ShVAK cannons on plane perfomance
• Il-8: increased accuracy for 7.62mm ShKAS (1941) machine guns and 23mm VYa-23 cannons
• Il-10: increased accuracy for 7.62mm ShKAS (1941) machine guns and 23mm VYa-23 cannons, reduced accuracy for 23mm NS-23 cannons, reduced roll rate
• La-5: increased HP for all modifications, increased weapon accuracy, increased boost power and duration
• La-7: increased HP for all modifications, increased weapon accuracy, increased boost power and duration
• La-9: increased HP for all modifications,  increased weapon accuracy, increased boost power and duration, increased optimum altitude
• La-15: increased HP, increased optimum altitude
• Yak-1М: increased HP
• Yak-9: increased HP
• Yak-3: increased HP, increased weapon accuracy
• Yak-9U: increased HP
• Yak-15: increased HP, increased maneuverability
• Yak-19: increased optimum altitude, increased HP for all modifications, increased maneuverability for modification with stock airframe, the impact of weapons on the aircraft perfomance characteristics was reduced
• Yak-30: increased HP, increased optimum altitude

Germany

• Ar.65: increased maneuverability for modification with stock airframe
• Ao.192 Kurier: increased speed for modification with stock engine, optimum speed shifted to a lower range, increased loss of speed when turning without flaps, reduced weapons accuracy, reduced the impact of bombs on the aircraft perfomance characteristics

USA

• P-12: Increased HP for the modification with stock airframe

Japan

• A5M: increased HP for all modifications
• Ki-33: increased HP
• A6M1 Zero: increased HP for all modifications
• A6M2 Zero: increased HP for all modifications
• A6M5 Zero: increased HP for all modifications
• A7M Reppu: increased HP for all modifications, increased maneuverability for modification with stock airframe
• J7W1 Shinden: increased HP
• J7W2 Shinden-Kai: increased HP
• J7W3: increased HP

Great Britain

• Goldfinch:  Increased HP for the modification with stock airframe
• Blenheim F: increased weapon accuracy
• DH.98 Mosquito: increased HP for all modifications
• DH.103 Hornet: increased HP for all modifications
• Spitfire XIV: increased weapon accuracy and time before overheating
• Gloster P.228: increased weapon accuracy and time before overheating for 20mm Hispano Mk.V* cannon

Interface

Replays

• Player camera movements’ playback was implemented
• Help screen with instructions was added for replays with detailed function descriptions
• The behavior of the video player on replay completion was improved -- extended playback control features
• Navigation via the progress bar implemented in the video player

Post-battle statistics

• Improved "Personal score" tab – improved "Missions" section, color marking for destroyed enemy planes (player kills) was changed

Missions

• Improved battle missions window – filters were replaced with tabs, changed the appearance of the expanded battle missions’ tab
• New type of battle missions: primary and sub-missions

Graphics

Automatic Detection of Graphics Settings

• Improved algorithm of the graphics settings detection
• Now the graphics settings are detected automatically when you launch the game for the first time (previously, medium graphics settings were set as default)
• Automatic graphics settings detection will be launched each time you change the computer configuration and we may change them according to the test result (this feature can be disabled in the settings menu)

Changes

• Updated and improved lighting for all game maps
• Improved explosion effects, and new big explosions were added
• Some effects were optimized to improve performance and fix some visual bugs
• Cloud resource optimization on the following maps: Port, Adriatic, Fortress
• Map details overlay scheme reworked for all maps to optimize and improve rendering quality
• New post-effect of "dirty optics" was added for “very high" and "high" graphics settings
• Camera effects for speed change were added (including speed in a dive)
• Bug fixes for the camera: boost effects and close high altitude anti-aircraft artillery shell explosions
• Added an option to disable the camera effects in the game settings menu
• FOV (field of view) settings for the game camera were changed. Now the game settings have an option to change them back to the version used in 1.2
• Render optimization for planes and moving ground targets

Audio

• Engine overheating sound was changed
• Ground targets ignition sound was changed
• Radio effect for sound messages was changed

Misc. Fixes & Changes

• Module characteristics in the tech tree now include their rating and corresponding tooltips
• The message about assisting in an enemy plane kill is now displayed for all players in battle
• Tooltips of the multi-modules (i.e. several guns) now correctly display the module characteristics. The firepower of guns and rear gun turrets is displayed with the special indicator specifying the number of guns in this multi-module