Modifications in War Thunder EXPLAINED | War Thunder Modifications Guide

Hey you! Yes, you! Do you know the difference between Adjustmentof Fire and Elevation Mechanism? uhh not really How about the effects of Filters on your tank?

well they make your tank go faster Well, do you at least know which modification to research first? obviously it's parts Correct! In this video, I will explain what the modificationsin War Thunder do, and which ones you should research first! There are some hidden features in the modificationswhich you might not have known before.

I've tested all the modifications with multiplevehicles with help from the people over at my Discord server.

Speaking of my Discord server, you shouldjoin too! You can chat with the community, and we do weekly Hearts of Iron 4 and War Thunder community games! You can also help me make my videos, and youwill get a shout out! Speaking of shout outs, thanks to Vlad andalso Clank and Spank for helping me make this video possible.

Anyways, enjoy the video.

The mobility line is all about the maneuverabilityof your tank.

All of these modifications have somethingto do with mobility; some of them increase the speed of your tank, some of them helpyou slow down faster.

The first one we will be looking at is tracks.

The statcard tells us that upgrading yourtracks gives you more maximum inclination and better overall module strength.

The better overall module strength just increasesthe amount of damage your tracks can take before you need to repair them.

This is especially useful if planes strafeyou mid battle and your tracks get damaged.

The more maximum inclination is also quiteuseful.

If you have difficulty trying to climb a hillor a small inclination, the upgraded tracks will certainly help you.

But what actually effects how much your tankcan climb? It's the grip between your tracks and theground.

When you upgrade your tracks, the old onesget replaced with newer and stronger ones.

That means that the tracks can grasp ontothe ground better, thus letting you climb more.

And this led me thinking, do upgraded tracksalso let you turn better? So, to test my theory, I got into my T-34, and I started turning.

How the T-34 turns is simple: it makes onetrack move forward while the other one doesn't move.

As you can see, the tank has no trouble turningaround when you have tracks upgraded.

However, if you don't have tracks upgraded, the turning speed drastically goes down.

The tank is trying to turn, but the trackscan't get good grip onto the ground, thus the tank is unable to turn effectively.

The tank needs a little nudge to turn better.

As a part 2 to my test, I tried the same experimentwith the Ru-251.

The Ru-251 uses both tracks to turn.

One track moves forward while the other goesbackwards.

With the upgraded tracks, the tank turns easily.

If you don't have tracks upgraded, it's awhole new story.

As you can see, the tank has no trouble turningat first, but then tank starts moving forward for some reason.

And then, it starts going backwards.

I'm only holding down the “d” key to turnright, though.

In summary, tracks are worth upgrading.

Although they don't change the speed of yourtank, the increased maximum inclination and the faster turning speed is a nice thing tohave.

The statcard tells us that upgraded suspensionsgive you better suspension damping.

That basically means that the turret shouldbe steadier when moving.

To test this, I got into a tiger tank andstarted moved forwards.

As you can see, there isn't much difference.

Although it does make the gun slightly morestable, it isn't going to have a big impact on how you can aim in combat.

But the reason there isn't much difference, is because the Tiger's hull and the gun equalize each other.

So I did the same test, but with a T-34-85, since the gun of the T-34 is a lot heavier in comparison to the hull.

As you can see, the T-34 with the suspensionupgraded seems to be a bit less stable.

But when you brake, the suspension helps alot.

So, firing on the move is still a bad idea, but when you see an enemy, the suspensions will help you brake and aim at your targetfaster.

Upgrading your tracks do what you think theywould do.

They help you slow down faster.

I will demonstrate this with an M-18 usingthe short brake.

As you can see, it shortens the distance neededto fully stop.

The heavier and faster the tank, the moreuseful brakes are.

Since the M-18 is fast and heavy, the brakesare more useful than on something like a BT-7, since the BT-7 is much lighter.

According to the statcard, upgrading yourfilters, transmission and engine gives your tank more horsepower and lowers your accelerationspeed.

It also says that upgrading your engine givesyour tank double the amount of upgrades as filters or transmission.

Here is an XM-1 with no speed modificationsinstalled.

It reached 40km/h in 8, 45 seconds, and itstop speed it 51 km/h.

The statcard says that upgrading your engineis the same as upgrading your transmission and filters; so I decided to do a test toconfirm that.

As you can see, they both reached 40km/h in6, 90 seconds, and their top speed was 52 km/h.

However, something to note is that upgradingyour engine costs the same as upgrading your transmission.

Therefore, upgrading your engine first ratherthan upgrading your transmission is a much better idea.

Up next will be the protection line.

These modifications are about the generalsurvivability of your tank.

If you have these modifications installed, you have a much better chance of surviving in the field.

The first modification we will be lookingat is parts.

Parts is the most vital modification thatyou can install.

Imagine you're in combat, and you get shotat.

With parts installed, you can repair whicheverpiece of your tank that was damaged.

If you don't have parts installed however, you can still repair by going to a cap point and repairing your tank.

FPE is the second most important modification.

With FPE, you can extinguish a fire in yourtank caused by another player.

Without FPE, the only chance of you survivingis by going into a lake and getting out without drowning.

If you do neither of those, your tank willbe unoperational in a matter of seconds.

With crew replenishment, you can restore afallen tank crew by going into a cap point.

The game will automatically choose which crewmemberis the most important.

So, it won't get a machine gunner when youhave no tank loader, since the tank loader is much more important than the machine gunner.

This modification can also save your tank.

Say you're in a cap point, and all of yourcrew except one member dies.

The modification will give you another crewmember, so you can still survive with 1 crew member operational.

Without parts, you can still repair your tracks.

And in arcade mode, you can still repair yourtank without parts, but they won't be as good as they were before being damaged.

Also in arcade, you can replenish your crewanywhere you want.

If you only have 1 crew member left, it automaticallyreplenishes your crew.

Add-on armor gives your tank additional armorpackages.

Sometimes it'll be tracks on the side of tanks, and sometimes it'll be ERA packages.

The extra armor has a downside though; itincreases the weight and slows the tank down.

So, I tested this with a Panther D.

As you can see, the difference between the two is miniscule, and the distance neededto stop is pretty much the same.

So, if you research add-on armor, you shoulddefinitely equip it.

The armor might come in handy.

The final modifications we will be lookingat is the firepower line.

This line is all about the weaponry of yourtank.

Some of them effect the turret, while someare about the cannon itself.

The first modification we will be lookingat is horizontal drive.

Upgrading your horizontal drive increasesthe turret slewing rate.

Slewing means turning on an axis, so the horizontaldrive should increase how fast your turret can turn.

The best way to test this would be with ananti-air vehicle, and in this example, the Coelian.

The stats say that upgrading the horizontaldrive adds an additional 7, 5 degrees per second to the turret turning speed.

Here is a test between an upgraded Coelianand a Coelian without horizontal drive upgraded.

As you can see, the upgraded Coelian madea full rotation 1, 23 seconds quicker than the Coelian without the horzontal drive upgraded.

The difference isn't too great, but this modificationis very important in anti-air vehicles, since not turning fast enough can lead to your vehiclegetting bombed or strafed by enemy planes.

In other tanks however, the other firepowermodifications are much more important.

Such as: The description of this modification explainsit best.

Adjustment of fire improves fire accuracy.

This modification is very important for tankdestroyers, heavy tanks and generally for sniping as well.

To show the effects of this modification, I used a Tiger II and shot at a T-10M about 1km away.

As you can see, the shells go all around theplace.

It never hits the place I'm aiming at.

Now, the exact same test, but with adjustmentof fire upgraded.

It went directly where I aimed at.

You should see how important this modificationis now.

If you don't have it upgraded, the shell wouldhit where you didn't aim, and the enemy would be alerted of your position.

The airstrike modification is only availableto light tanks since they're the only ones who can use the scout mechanic.

It has two different effects, one for arcadeand one for RB and SB.

In arcade, if you scout someone and they getkilled, you can join an air battle that was started by an ally.

And for RB and SB, after you scout someoneand they get killed, the SP cost for aircraft gets reduced.

You can also research new types of ammunition.

If you want to learn more about ammunitionin War Thunder, check out my ammo types explained videos in the info card above.

Upgrading your elevation mechanism is sortof a mix between horizontal drive and adjustment of fire.

It increases the speed of your guns elevation, and it increases the vertical accuracy of your weapon.

To test the elevation speed, I used a Zis-12, since the elevation speed is very important in anti-air vehicles.

As you can see, with the elevation mechanismupgraded, the vertical turret speed was faster.

Now, here's a test of the vertical accuracy.

With the Waffentrager without elevation mechanismupgraded, the shells go all around the place.

But with the Waffentrager with the elevationmechanism upgraded, the shell goes exactly where you aim.

There are three types of smoke: smoke grenades, ESS and smoke shells.

I covered smoke shells in my ammo types part2 video.

Smoke grenades are launched from the speciallaunchers, and they can be used to hide your position.

They last about 15-20 seconds.

ESS is short for Engine Smoke-generating System.

Instead of the smoke launching in front ofyou, it comes from your engine.

It can be used to cover your teammates, oryou can hide behind it after you generated the smoke.

Artillery strike allows you to launch an artillerybarrage against your enemy.

It isn't very accurate, but it can be usedas a makeshift smoke system to blind your enemies or disable their tracks.

In arcade, the artillery reloads once youkill enough players, but in RB or sim, it reloads after a set amount of time.

The reload of the artillery and the accuracyof it depends on your crew skills.

The improved optics is another modificationfor light tanks.

It allows you to scout players further away.

In arcade however, this modification alsolets you detect players further away as well.

This is an overall decent modification forlight tanks.

The rangefinder is a vital modification forany tank.

It allows you to see how far your enemy is, and how high you need to aim.

There are two types of rangefinders: the regularrangefinder, and the laser rangefinder.

The regular rangefinder is not as preciseas the laser rangefinder, and is mainly found on late WW2 tanks.

It allows you to rangefind further and fasterthan your tank crew can.

The laser rangefinder is very precise, andis found on modern tanks.

It is incredible fast and can rangefind muchfurther than your crew can.

Well, that about wraps up this video.

Now, here's the order of modifications youshould research in most tanks: PartsFPE Horizontal driveAdjustment of fire A different type of ammunition if possible(to know which ammo to research; check out my ammo types explained videos)Crew replenishment Elevation mechanismAnother type of ammunition if possible (this can be researched last if it's a useless roundsuch as the HEAT rounds in German tanks) RangefinderSmoke (research smoke launchers first if you have the choice)Artillery support And improved optics and airstrike if you'rein a light tank.

After you researched all of that, you shouldgo for: EngineTransmission FiltersTracks Brake systemAdd-on armor And finally, suspension.

I hope you enjoyed the video.

Make sure to join my discord server, and subscribeto my channel for more videos like this one.