[2021] "Ground Breaking": Self-Entrenching and Bomb Craters

What can we do now?
Interaction with the terrain and changing its shape is one of the main features of the upcoming "Ground Breaking" update. This is an additional element of interactivity that diversifies the gameplay in War Thunder tank battles. Soil, sand and snow are now not only authentically crushed under the tracks of tanks - you can dig out shelters, and bombs leave huge craters! Ramparts and craters will now create cover for vehicles and can seriously change the usual routes in War Thunder locations - both for you and the enemy team.

Ground vehicles and dozer blades
Many armies of the world make use of dozer blades on tanks. For example, in the Soviet army, from the T-72 onwards, equipment for self-entrenching was installed on all main battle tanks and some armored vehicles, and a corresponding standard appeared in the training of tank crews. Many western tanks have dozer blades both in the basic configuration and in modifications for street fighting or engineering purposes. Dozer blades and tank shovels are present on many ground vehicles in War Thunder as well, and in the "Ground Breaking" update, all of them will receive an animation of the blades sinking into the ground. Using the entrenchment equipment players will be able to quickly build tank trenches anywhere in a game location, where there are no buildings, rocks, boulders, ice or paved roads around.

Entrench!


Put the dozer blade down and rake an earthen dugout in front of you. Take it back and repeat the procedure again and again. When self-entrenching, the speed of the tank decreases due to the lowered blade, so it is advisable not to be seen by the enemy during mining operations. A few rolls - and the trench is ready. A long-term firing position with a tank inside appears literally in an open field: be it the Kursk steppes, the pastoral fields of the Maginot Line, the sands of desert maps or the snowy plains of winter locations. The tank hides its vulnerable hull, meeting enemy fire only with a turret. In addition, a tank hiding in a trench is much more difficult to hit! However, the earthwork is not an absolute shelter - you can penetrate it with a powerful kinetic or shape-charged projectile, but the thicker the earthworks are, the more difficult it is to get through.

Bomb craters


Now ammunition with a significant mass of explosives leaves craters on the soft terrain in tank locations. Air bombs weighing approximately 50kg or above, heavy rockets and missiles form a pit, the diameter and depth of which depend on the mass of the explosives. For example, a small armored car or self-propelled gun will fit into a crater from a 250kg bomb, and a crater from a 5,000 kg Pe-8’s “Tzar Bomb" will easily cover several heavy tanks at once. In the bomb craters you can hide from enemy fire, and lifting from the bottom of a deep hole to its rim can become a problem for vehicles with poor off-road performance. Explosion craters can significantly affect gameplay, making it difficult to access certain positions or providing cover in open areas.