Update 1.9 is Live!

Shooting Systems and Damage Models

Weapons and Shooting System Changes

• All weapons in the game have been completely reconfigured: damage changes, fire range, dispersion, rate of fire
• More pronounced differences between machine guns, cannons and large-caliber cannons:
• Machine guns, as it was before, designed for a comfortable engagement of the enemy at close range with continuously pointed fire
• Cannons of caliber 20-23mm now deal more significant damage with each hit and can destroy the enemy at longer ranges
• 30-37mm large-caliber cannons (heavy cannons) deal vast damage with each shot. Hits will cause critical damage to plane modules or, in some cases, may cause complete destruction. The fact that this weapon has the highest single-hit damage rate will be compensated by firing in short bursts and a low rate of fire
• The impact of the primary weapon to the flight performance was changed. Now weapon improvement in the same cell of the plane's module tree for the weapon of the same caliber will not lead to the decrease of flight performance (as a rule)

Changes to the Damage Model

• The system of damage and critical hits was completely changed. The damage will be dealt in more predictable and clear way, and critical hits of modules will significantly change the behavior of the aircraft in battle
• A critical hit to a particular module dramatically reduces its flight characteristic parameter. This state is shown as red on the battle interface
• Severe ("red") critical damage of particular module recovers to the medium ("yellow") damage state after a certain time. After that, the correspondent flight characteristic will be refined but still not to the initial state. This state will be shown as "yellow" on the battle interface. Full recovery of the critically damaged module is impossible
• Mounting of the corresponding equipment reduces the probability of receiving critical damage
• Critical damage can be dealt to the following modules of the plane:
• Wings: significant decrease of roll maneuverability;
• Tail: significant decrease of pitch and yaw maneuverability;
• Engines: when severely damaged - impossible to use boost, engine stops. After recovery into "yellow" state - reduced boost time, rate of cooling and engine power
• Pilot: significantly reduced shooting accuracy when hit, gets reduced skills effectiveness
• Rear gunner: when heavily wounded - stops fire, gets reduced skills effectiveness. When moderately wounded, they will shoot with reduced efficiency
• Critical damages can be dealt by primary weapon, rear guns (turrets) and AAA, fire, collision, and by damages related to bomb or rocket splashes
• Changes to the chance of a plane's ignition -- in general, fires will occur more frequently

Crew Perks Changes

Due to the update of the critical damage mechanics the following crew skills were changed: "Fire Fighting", "Veteran" and "Stamina".

• Completely trained "Fire Fighting" reduces the fire duration by 50%
• Completely trained "Veteran" reduces the negative effect of critical hits to the plane characteristics by 15%
• Completely trained "Stamina" reduces the probability of crew injury by 20%

System of Equipment and Consumables

Ammo Belts Changes

In Update 1.9, we have reworked the system of ammunition belts. The main goal of this change is to simplify working with belts and to provide players with more ammo types for a particular plane and game style.

In this regard the following changes were made:

• Standard belts for all types of weapons are now free. The chance to critically damage and set the enemy plane on fire is basic for particular type of weapon when firing with standard belts
• Standard belts cannot be removed from service, only replaced by improved ones. Standard belts are mounted automatically when improved belts are removed from service
• All types of weapon now have 4 types of improved belts: universal (available for Credits), and 3 special ones (available for Gold only):
• AP (Armor-Piercing): universal belt type, increases probability to deal critical damage and insignificantly increases the probability of fire
• API (Armor-Piercing Incendiary): special belt type that significantly increases the probability of fire
• HE (High Explosive): special belt type that significantly increases chance of critical damage. Anti-aircraft type of ammunition. Not available for attack planes
• AP-HE: special belt type, Very effective against armored ground targets and increases the damage dealt towards them. Not available for fighters
• All ammo belts mounted on players' planes or stored in the Depot will be removed and compensated - full cost in Credits
• Vast majority of belts available for Gold will get discount price

Equipment

• New equipment item "Turret stabilization" added - increases the range of turret fire by 15%. This Equipment can be mounted on heavy fighters and attack planes
• All equipment items previously available as a reward for special event missions are now available for the purchase in the client:
• "Engine Tuning"
• "Improved Flaps"
• "Control Surface Adjustment"
• "Concealing Livery"
• "Improved Aircraft Polish"
• "Improved Covering"
• "Ordnance Delivery Sight"
• "Lightweight Airframe"
• "Improved Radiator"
• "Reinforced Airframe"
• Some types of equipment, which previously could be mounted on particular plane class only, now can be mounted on other plane classes:
• "Control Surface Adjustment": can be mounted on fighters and multirole fighters. Previously was available for fighters only
• "Concealing Livery": can be mounted on attack planes and multirole fighters. Previously was available for multirole fighters only
• "Reinforced Airframe": can be mounted on attack planes and heavy fighters. Previously was available for attack planes only
• "Ordnance Delivery Sight": can be mounted on attack planes, heavy and multirole fighters. Previously was available for heavy fighters only
• Insignificantly improved characteristics for the following equipment items:
• "Reinforced Airframe": increasing of HP changed from +5% to +10%;
• "Concealing Livery": decrease of effective AAA and rare guns (turrets) was changed from 20% to 30%
• Equipment characteristics for "Improved Covering" and "Additional Armor Plates" were updated to support new system of critical damage
• All types of equipment "Reinforced Covering" were replaced with "Improved Covering" of the corresponding tier and updated characteristics
• Clarification of the mounting and use of certain types of equipment:
• It is not possible to mount the "Ordnance Delivery Sight" on planes with no outboard rockets and/or bombs
• Nor can you mount "Turret stabilization" on planes without a turret or rear gun regardless of the plane class
• It is not possible to mount "Engine Tuning" on the J8M Shusui as it is rocket-propelled

Changes for Consumables

New consumables available for the purchase in the client:

• "Automatic Engine Restarter" Restores damaged engine. Used automatically
• "Control Surfaces Trimming" Reduces effect of critical hit. Partially restores damaged tail or wings
• "Automatic Control Surfaces Trimming" Automatic restoration of damaged wings and tail

The list consumables previously available as reward for special event's missions and now available for the purchase in client:

• "Engine Ventilation"
• "Engine Cooling"
• "Weapons Ventilation"
• "Weapons Cooling"
• "Reinforced Control Surfaces"
• "Heavy Duty Control Surfaces"

Now it is impossible to mount the basic equipment item and its improved variant (available for Gold) at the same time:

• "First Aid Kit" + "First Aid Dressing Package"
• "Manual Fire Extinguishers + "Automatic Fire Extinguishers"
• "Pneumatic Restarter" + "Automatic Engine Restarter"
• "Engine Ventilation" + "Engine Cooling"
• "Weapons Ventilation" + "Weapons Cooling"
• "Reinforced Control Surfaces" + "Heavy Duty Control Surfaces"
• "Control Surfaces Trimming" + "Automatic Control Surfaces Trimming"
• Improved equipment previously available for Credits and for Gold. Now available for Gold only
• Equipment prices were changed according to the new mechanics of critical hits and fires. The cost of different equipment types meets their value in battle. Discount price for all equipment types available for Gold was reduced from 50 to 25
• Fix for the "Pneumatic Engine Restarter" and "First Aid Kit" consumables, now they may only be used once per battle

Equipment Removal and Compensation

• Equipment "Reinforced Covering" replaced with "Improved Covering"
• Equipment "Armored Plexiglass" mounted on planes or stored in the Depot was removed and compensated - full cost in Credits
• Info window with notification about removal and compensation added
• Equipment item "Aircraft Polish" removed from heavy fighters and attack planes and stored in Depot due to the characteristics change. It can be re-mounted

System Balance Changes

• All types of primary weapon were completely reconfigured (Cannons and machine guns)
• The impact of the primary weapon on flight characteristics was changed. It will cause some minor Changes to planes maneuverability

Planes' Balance Changes

• To increase the comfort of ground attack we have changed the maneuverability of all attack planes: increased control, reduced min stall speed, insignificantly reduced speed. Increased HP. Changes were applied to the following planes:
• Fi-98, TSh-2, Pegasus, Ha 137, Ha 137 V1, TSh-3, BSh-1, Wirraway, Fw 189C, LBSh, BSh-2, Ju 87G, Hs 129B, Il-2, Il-2 (mod.), Ju 88P, Il-2 (d.), Me 265, Il-8, Il-10, Me 329, Il-20. NC 1070, Me P.1099B-2, Il-40, Me P.1102B, Il-40p
• Some changes applied to the "available engine boost time period" - "its cooling period" ratio for all jet planes. The engine boost period has been reduced, and its restoration (cooling) period was significantly shortened, to allow you to use it more often. Jet planes will also be getting out of stall faster. Changes will be applied to the following planes:
• Meteor I, Yak-15, Bf 109TL, Me 262, P.1056, LA-160, Yak-19, MiG-9, Me P.1092, Ta 183, FJ-1, F6U, F-94D, J7W2, Attacker, Me 262 HG II, F2H, P.228, Me P.1099B-2, Il-40, La-15, Yak-30, MiG-15bis, Me P.1101, Fw 252, F-86A, F7U, J7W3, Swift, Me 262 HG III, F90, Javelin, Me P.1102B, Il-40p
• To put an accent on the special features of tiers IX-X they will be reworked HP, weapons and flight characteristics. Tier VIII planes will also get more HP

Germany

• Ao 192 Kurier: increased controllability at low speeds
• Bf 109 E Emil: Slightly reduced pitch maneuverability
• Fw 190V: renamed into Fw 190 A-1

USA

• F2F: increased HP, increased engine boost period
• F3F: increased HP, increased engine boost period
• F4U-1 Corsair: insignificantly increased HP
• F4U-4 Corsair: insignificantly increased HP
• F2G Super Corsair: increased HP, increased engine boost period and its power

Japan

• Ki-88: improved speed retention, increased controllability

UK

• Goldfinch: increased bombs damage
• Bulldog: Slightly increased HP
• Demon: increased HP, increased bombs damage

New Planes

Gift Planes:

• Heinkel He 100: Germany, tier V fighter;
• Vickers Venom: UK, tier V fighter;
• Lavochkin LaGG-3 34 series: USSR, tier V multirole fighter

Interface

Changes to the Battle Interface

• Aiming circle shows the spread effect of the major caliber now
• Reticle appearance changed to improve its visibility
• On-target state of the lead compensation point (red cross) moved to the reticle. This state shows that the target in the certain damage zone
• Information about critical hit added (when you dealing critical hit to the enemy plane). Damaged module will be shown on the enemy plane marker. This info will also be shown in the target lock window
• Blinking effect added to the enemy target marker when damage dealt it
• Reworked schemes of the plane's modules state display in the bottom of the battle interface

Changes to the Hangar Interface

• Icons of the primary weapon were changed
• Changed info messages in the weapon tooltips. Tooltips for the primary weapons shows the effective firing range. Tooltips for the rare gun (turret) shows the info on sector of fire and effective firing range. Short description of particular weapon's advantages also added
• Rare gun damage is considered in the overall index of plane firepower
• Clarifications added to planes' tooltips on Research Page and in the left Hangar Plane's Characteristics Table - the most significant features of particular plane
• Added to the Hangar:
• "Plane Armament" block, showing the Maximum possible damage of the primary weapon (machine guns and cannons) depending on the firing range. It has informative descriptions of weapons mounted on aircraft and its capabilities
• Right Hangar panel got new mode displaying key features of the plane, crew and consumables/equipment mounded on it. Plane performances will be shown in the second mode; one can get into it by pressing the button under the panel
• Tooltips for planes in carousel and research tree were reworked
• Flight creation menu, game mode choosing and "Battle" button were reworked. Now availability and behavior of all menu points logically changes depending on the flight and training room status, players' availability, planes' readiness for battle etc
• Visual and Sound Effects
• Changes for visual effects of tracers, shots flashes, hit effects
• Changes for sound effects of primary weapon (guns and machine guns)
• Changed visualization system for ammo belts features

New Bots

New bots and bot AI in the "Battle Against Bots" game mode and in training room.

New behavior logic enables the following abilities:

• Use local navigation to avoid collision with the ground, water, objects and trees
• Use global navigation to search long-range targets
• Attack aerial targets as they pass them
• Attack aerial targets using Boom-n-Zoom tactics
• Engage in turn fight with aerial targets
• Attack ground targets with primary (cannons and machine guns) and outboard weapon
• Use 'Zoom" maneuver to survive
• Use diving to survive and escape from persecution
• Use speed and engine boost to escape from persecution
• Gain altitude whenever possible
• Choose different routes when the battle starts taking into account other players
• Search targets which are not visible on the map
• Avoid flying beyond the map borders
• Withdraw pursuers to the allied AAA
• Analyze situations when they're being attacked
• Counterattack the enemy plane
• Choose the proper aerial and ground targets to attack
• Switch between ground and aerial targets depending on the situation
• Turn off to avoid head-on collision
• Use "Flick roll" maneuver
• Use "Barrel roll" maneuver
• Use defensive maneuvers with horizontal offset and vertical waving movements
• Turn sideways (one wing up - the other down) to reduce the projection of the plane under attack
• Match its own speed with the target speed when behind it
• Proper use of engine boost
• Ability to use flaps
• Control altitude, avoid stall
• Properly evaluate the order of complex ground target patterns' destruction
• Properly evaluate the situation when using of outboard weapon is the most effective against ground targets
• Use in-game messages
• Use chat
• Use camouflage and emblems
• Reduced the shooting accuracy of bots with medium skill level
• Added more variants of bot climb angle in beginning of the battle
• Bots will no longer have access to tester emblems of different game stages (Alpha, Beta)
• Set of quick-chat phrases made available for use by bots

Bots have 3 skill levels of effectiveness of their fire, maneuvering skill, and choice of tactics.

Matchmaker Changes

• If matchmaker has not enough players to compile teams for a Standard battle, teams will be supplemented with new bots
• Battle queue waiting time will significantly be reduced due to these changes, and team line-ups will be more balanced in tiers and classes
• Max waiting time should not exceed 70-80 secs. After this period the battle will be launched if there were only 2 players. All other places in teams will be filled with bots
• Bugfix for the matchmaker creating battles with 1 player per team when the queue still had players. Now, the matchmaker will be forming teams of the maximum available number of players in queue and add bots as and when necessary

Bots Skill Level in Training Rooms

It will be possible to choose bot skill level when one creates the training room and adds bots.

Type of Battle: "Battle with Bots"

"Battle Against Bots" and the battle mission "Experienced Hunter" were disabled due to the introduction of bots in standard battles.

Camouflage and Decorations

New sets of camouflages and decorations

• The following planes have got the set of chrome camouflages, available for purchase in the client:
• USSR: P-39Q-15 Airacobra, P-40 M-105, Il-10, Il-20, La-11, Yak-9, Yak-15, MiG-9, MiG-15bis;
• Germany: Fw 57, Bf 109B, Bf 109E, 190 A-1, Fw 190A-5, Fw 190A-8, Me 262, Me 109TL;
• USA: XF4F-3, XF4U-1, P-40, P-51A Mustang, P-51D Mustang, P-51H Mustang, XP-75 Eagle;
• United Kingdom: M.20, Meteor I, Spitfire IX, Spitfire XIV, Swift
• Japan: A6M5 Zero, Ki-88, J8M Shusui
• Special set of "Animals" nose art for major part of Premium planes
• Special set of universal "Animals" decorations

Changes in Decorations and Camouflages

• National Identification mark was changed for Mosquito FB 26

Bug Fixes

• Fixed problem when XF4U-1, Il-2 and HS 129B planes had problems with proper propeller display
• Fixed problem with traces display: if player's plane was attacked by the enemy player who had an option of control processing enabled then tracers could be displayed as if they're flying near, but in fact they damaged the plane
• Fixed problem with inactive Shift button
• Fixed bots piloting attack planes ignoring some ground objects