War Thunder

War Thunder is an MMO-style combat game taking place during World War II and the Korean War between 1939 and 1953. Like its primary competitor WarGaming.net, War Thunder will eventually span all three major types of warfare (aerial, naval, ground). The first type being focused on is aerial combat.

Aerial Combat

The aerial portion of War Thunder was originally called World of Planes. The name was changed due to perceived confusion with WarGaming.net's World of Warplanes. It features period accurate planes and locations from 1939 to 1953. Many historical battles from the second world war and the Korean war are represented as maps.

There are multiple difficulty modes depending upon how much realism you desire. Arcade mode is essentially a more simplistic multiplayer shooter while historical battles mode will require more advanced techniques like taking off and landing during battles and realistic damage modelling.

There are five countries represented in War Thunder; United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, Japan, and Germany. There are two more planned countries which have yet to be included in the game; Australia and Italy. Each have their own unlock trees and sets of planes. As one is levelled, that progress is not transferred to the others. Within each nationality the player has a hangar holding 3-7 planes of their own with many levelling and customisation options. Researching planes and upgrading crews use a mixture of various currencies; some earned in gameplay, some purchased with money.

Alpha

The War Thunder aerial alpha ran from October 2011 to March 2012.

Beta

The closed beta began in March 2012 and concluded in October 2012. On Nov. 1, 2012 the game entered open beta. Gaijin Entertainment has stated the stats and progression earned by players during the open beta will not be reset when the game goes into full release. Purchasable upgrades and currency were also live as of the open beta. The game is downloaded via Gaijin's website as a free client, but on Feb. 26, 2013 the game passed Steam Greenlight and is due for release in the coming months.

Aircraft

Here is a list of currently available and planned aircraft as of the beta release. Italics = Planned, but not in yet. Bold = Premium Content.

Germany (Air Arm, Luftwaffe)

Arado 234	Bf.109E-3	Bf.109F-4	Bf.109F-4/trop	Bf.109G-10	Bf.109G-2
Bf.109G-6	Bf.109K-4	Bf.110C-4	Do-217E-2	Do-217E-4	Do-217J-1
Do-217J-2	Do-217K-1	Do-217M-1	Fw 190 D-13 Dora	Fw.190A-5	Fw.190D-12
Fw.190F-8	He-112A-0	He-112B-0	He-112B-1	He-112B-2	He-112V-5
He-51A-1	He-51B-1	He-51B-2	He-51C-1	He-51C-1/L	He.111H-16
He.111H-2	He.111H-6	He.162A-2	Hs.129B-2	Ju.87B-2	Ju.87D-3
Ju.87D-5	Ju.87G-1	Ju.87R-2	Ju.88A-4	Me.163B	Me.262A-1a
Me.410A-1	Me.410A-1/U2	Me.410A-1/U4	Me.410B-1	Me.410B-1/U2	Me.410B-2/U4
Me.410B-6/R3	Ta.152H-1	Do-217N-1	Ju.87G-2	He.111H-3	Fw.190D-13
Captured:	Wellington Mk 1C	P-47D	La-5FN

Japan (Imperial Japanese Army/Navy Air Service, 大日本帝国陸軍航空部隊)

A5M4	A6M2 Zero	A6M2-N Zero	A6M3 Zero	A6M5 Zero
B5N2	D3A1	F1M2	G4M1	H6K4
Ki-200	Ki-43-II	Ki-49-I	Ki-49-IIA	Ki-49-IIb
Ki-61-Ia-Hei	Ki-61-Ia-Ko	Ki-61-Ia-Otsu	N1K2-J	N1K2-Ja
A6M3 mod 22	Ki-10	Ki-49-llb/L	G5N1	G8N1
A6M5 Ko	Fw.190-A5	Bf.109E-3	Captured:	F4U-1a

United Kingdom (Royal Air Force)

Beaufighter Mk.VIC	Beaufighter Mk.X	Blenheim Mk.IV	Boston Mk.I	DB-7
Dewoitine D.520	Gladiator Mk.II	Gladiator Mk.IIF	Gladiator Mk.IIS	Havoc Mk.I
Hellcat F Mk.I	Hurricane Mk.I	Hurricane Mk.IIB	Lancaster Mk.III	Meteor F.3
Meteor F.4 LW	Meteor F.4 SW	Meteor F.8	Mosquito FB Mk.VI	Sea Meteor F.3
Spitfire Mk XVI	Spitfire Mk.I	Spitfire Mk.II	Spitfire Mk.IX	Spitfire Mk.VB
Spitfire Mk.VC	Swordfish Mk.I	Tempest Mk.V	Typhoon Mk.IA	Typhoon Mk.IB
Typhoon Mk.IB/L	Wellington Mk.Ic	Wellington Mk.Ic/L	Wellington Mk.III	Wellington Mk.X
Mustang Mk 1A	Fury Mk I	Fury Mk II	Nimrod Mk I

United States (United States Army Air Forces)

A-20G	B-17E	B-17E/L	B-17G	F-86A-5	F2A-3
F4F-3	F4F-4	F4U-1A	F4U-1D	F6F-3	OS2U-1
OS2U-3	P-26A-33	P-26A-34	P-26A-34 M2	P-26A-35	P-26B-35
P-40E-1	P-47D Thunderbolt	P-51D-5 Mustang	SBD-3	TBF-1C	P-39N-0
P-39Q-5	P-63	P-38G	F2A-1	B-25J-1	B-25J-20
B-24D	PBY-5 Catalina	PBY-5a Catalina	XP-38G	A-26C-45	Spitfire Mk IX
Captured:	Ki-61-lb	A6M2	Bf.109F-4

USSR (Military Air Forces, Военно-воздушные силы СССР)

I-153P	I-16 Type 28	IL-10	IL-2 Sturmovik	IL-2M
IL-4	La-5FN	La-7	LaGG-3	MiG-15
MiG-9	P-39K-1	P-39Q-15	Pe-2 (1-20)	Pe-2 (110-204)
Pe-2 (205-358)	Pe-2 (21-82)	Pe-2 (83-109)	Pe-2 (359+)	Pe-3
Pe-3 early	Pe-3bis	Po-2	SB 2M-100	SB 2M-100A
SB 2M-100A (Span)	SB 2M-103	SB 2M-103 MV-3	SB 2M-103U	SB 2M-103U MV-3
SB 2M-105	Su-2	Su-2 M-82	Su-2 MV-5	SU-2 TSS-1
Tu-2	Yak-1B	Yak-3	Yak-7B	Yak-9T
I-15	I-153 M-62	I-16 Type 18	MiG-9/L	BB-1
Ar-2	Yer-2	Tu-2S	Tu-2S-44	Tu-2S-59
PBY-5a	P-40E-1	P-63A-5

Australian planes are included under UK:

Australia (Royal Australian Air Force)

Beaufighter Mk.21

Beaufort Mk.VIII

Boomerang Mk.I

Boomerang Mk.II

Wirraway

Italian planes are included under Germany:

Italy (Italian Royal Air Force, Regia Aeronautica Italiana)

CR.42 Falco	G.50 Freccia serie 2	G.50 Freccia serie 7AS	M.C.200 serie 3	M.C.200 serie 7
M.C.202	S.79 of 1936	S.79 of 1937	S.79 of 1939	S.79 of 1941
S.79B IAR K14-II	S.79bis of 1942	S.79bis of 1943

Naval Combat

Not much is currently known of the upcoming naval combat.

Ground Combat

Not much is currently known of the upcoming ground combat.