As the tanks roll into the second half of the year, War Thunder‘s second major update, Heavy Cavalry, is ready to bombard the battlefields with bold and beautiful new machines.
Released at the tail-end of June, the game’s frontline infantry have been getting stuck into its upgraded arsenal and duking it out across two newly upgraded maps. So, what’s in it for you? A veritable military’s worth of new toys to play with, and a more visually impressive world ready to take a pelting from heavy-grade ordnance.
Anyone barrelling over the hills and crashing through the towns of War Thunder will tell you all about the new M1A2 SEPv3 – a pivotal upgrade over the iconic Abrams tank and a true American hero reborn for the modern age. To steel the classic kit from enemy attacks, there’s the M1A2 Trophy-HV variant, too – a spruced-up model of America’s greatest hellcat that’s conveniently equipped with a bacon-saving Trophy-HV active protection system for those high-tier plays. Even the UK gets a taste of the Abrams with a Squadron Vehicle hailing from the land down under.
On the opposite side of things – and if packs are your play – look out for the Rank VII Puma U14 batting for Germany. With every side adorned with wood pallets, it’s certainly more of a crude strategic camouflage option than a meaningful defense solution, but it’s a looker nonetheless.
With a tight focus on landbound vehicles this time around, there’s plenty more to talk about. The USSR can cruise into battle with the Arena-M-protected T-90M, while Germany can streamroll the competition in the undeniably classic self-propelled power of the Hummel howitzer. It might be a low-tier tank in today’s era of advanced warfare, but it can dominate at an appropriate setting. And besides, any good War Thunder player knows it’s all about the power fantasy anyway. Call it the rough and tumble tank.
WWII’s other Axis powers haven’t been left behind, either: Italy gains access to the Palmaria, and the Indonesian Leopard 2RI is imported straight into Japan’s line-up.
Of course, you can’t have a massive update to a vehicular combat game without the risk of getting a good soaking. Dredge yourself up from the trenches and choose to brave the waters, and you’ll find an impressive selection of new naval offerings, too – including the immensely impressive (and supremely powerful) USS North Carolina: a classic historical figurehead of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
And the history buffs keep eating good, with Admiral Scheer – a pocket battleship with a ton of character – storming the seas for Germany. The French welcome Jean Bart via a long-awaited pack, and the USSR salute the Chervona Ukraina: a classic cruiser with a solid story behind it.
Even the skies above aren’t safe from the slinging of new additions. The Americans once again bask in the limelight with the arrival of the F-14D version of an iconic Tomcat. Forget dogfights – these are classic games of cat and mouse now.
Unlike the other categories thus far, aerial combat is where the USSR and China really stretch their wings this time around, with the former gaining access to the MiG-29KR/J-22M1A aviation options as well as the modern Yak-130 trainer, and the latter the JH-7A2 – itself an upgrade over the Flounder – and the top-tier F16V fighter jet. For our favorite European boot, Italy, there’s the M-347FA. It doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but the light fighter option over the Aermacchi brings some much-needed variety to the nation’s air tech tree.
As is custom with any major War Thunder update, you can test drive all of these huge new engines in two redesigned maps. Winter Ardennes has aged like fine wine. Now fully re-rendered with shiny new assets, including updated textures and landscape details, this nostalgic town is back with a visual overhaul that doesn’t dare touch its well-known tactical tricks.
If you haven’t been around for a hot minute, it’s time to get stuck in – your old routes and through-roads await. Meanwhile, the rocks along the Ash River map have been given a spit-shine, too. Alongside fresh new ground textures, reworked vegetation, and some generously updated fortresses – after White Rock Fortress‘ update last time around, it’s only fair the structures of Ash River get a little TLC, too. Whichever of the two happens to be your favourite, take it slow the next time you roll into town: you might spot a new-look vista that’s well worth defending.
Being one of the biggest War Thunder patches to date – especially true of its file size thanks to a new texture compression system that retains more detail – there’s almost too much to talk about with the Heavy Cavalry update. For new and returning players, the benefits are plain as day: a truly dizzying number of tanks, aircraft, and waterborne war machines, refreshed maps, and heightened realism courtesy of some gorgeous visual reworks.
For the War Thunder veteran, it’s all about the new systems: attaching cables for smoother descents from the skies, a reworked rewards system that ponies up extra points for simply being around a plane that becomes the mysterious victim of the very air it tries to cut through, and some radically convenient changes to minimaps, missile parameters, and guided weapons. Saved coordinates for ten guided weapon aiming points? Bound to the number keys? Insane for the eagle-eyed players able to keep tabs on an entire map.
It’s all here in Heavy Cavalry – a gargantuan update to the already massive and entirely free-to-play War Thunder repertoire. Roll out.
Source: Wargamer
