War Thunder is making its way to the oceans with a new combat mode called Naval Battles. The closed beta is coming sometime later this year with a first chance to try it out at gamescom next week.
Those chosen for the closed beta will be called the Knights of the Sea with access to a range of torpedo, artillery and missile boats, coast guard vessels and submarine chasers.
“The high level of realism is one of the key design features of War Thunder. Vehicles are as close to their real life counterparts as possible. Classic large ship battles during the war were contests of patience and planning, where engagements could last from several hours to several days. In War Thunder, where all kinds of vehicles fight in one battle and players can control aircraft, tanks and ships, it is not possible to change the size of the ships or make time run faster, as everything needs to remain consistent.
Our internal testing showed that battles with large battleships were too long and slow or required design changes that made ships entirely unrealistic. For this reason, we are leading with fast attack-based craft, which are rarely reproduced in games. Ships, that are more suitable for the formula of our game. These fast, agile and dangerous “Knights of the Sea” are worthy contenders for aircraft and tanks on the ground”
– Kirill Yudintsev, Creative Director, Gaijin Entertainment.
Every nation in War Thunder will have access to naval forces, invited players and those who purchase either of the two starter packs with unique ships, will be able to join the testing as soon as it begins sometime later this year.
The two starter packs will feature a different water based vehicle. The first pack will include a Soviet Project 1124 Armored River Boat with the second starter pack having an American PT-109, a motor torpedo boat. Both of the ships in each Naval Forces starter pack will be available in the closed beta testing.
Before anyone has access to the Closed Beta, gamescom visitors will be the first to try out the new mode in Hall 6. Guests will be able to take on the role as captains of attack boats and test their mettle on the open sea. Those who are unable to attend will be able to watch the daily dev blog updates that will talk about the new regime, ships and different nations. If you like swag (of course you do) there will also be a chance to win some cool stuff in giveaways run over gamescom including closed beta access codes.
