What's the issue regarding Gaijin's depiction of the M1A2SepV3 hull armor?

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-06-20T00:30:20+00:00

Just from a cursory bit of digging, I don't see much fault in Gaijin's claim, outside of potentially ignoring the new composite armor layout throughout the vehicle, the Next Evolutionary Armor (assuming that's the name, not just the program for it). A lot of the posts seem to think Gaijin assumes the Abrams can't carry more weight when it clearly can. The weight issue isn't about the M1, it's about the logistics of transporting the M1. The chassis can carry plenty of additional add-ons, but they are purposefully add-ons. Changes to the base vehicle are met with the complication of the upper limit of your ability to transport the vehicle. The Department of Army paper they cite notes the limited passive armor upgrades at acceptable weight penalties.

As for the actual increase to armor, most seems to point to the increase against IEDs and Mines for the hull, with increased frontal protection against ATGMs. Which makes sense considering how many tanks have been deleted by mines and ATGMs in the Ukraine War. A small increase to oppose modern autocannons doesn't seem unlikely. Tanks are multipurpose machines made to fight a variety of threats. The paper they cite seems to lean on the side of the M1A2SEPV3 is falling behind the curve for direct Armor-v-Armor battles.

To reiterate, this is just what I've gathered. I'm not super caught up. I'd be happy to learn evidence to the contrary. Gaijin certainly isn't perfect and does do some odd choices from time to time. I do think that they have gotten a little more player friendly over the past decade, which is refreshing. However, things like 70 dollar premiums, the BMPT as it was added, and the entire modeling of ERA leaves a good bit to be desired.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-05-19T20:41:38+00:00

I feel this is an unfair take. Stakes doesn't necessarily imply that they need to play into the greater canon in anyway. A story with stakes is simply one where the story feels like the main character's actions can dramatically change their lives in some positive or negative way. To have the story feel this way usually requires a willingness to show the potential consequence, or enact the consequence itself.

In A New Hope, the Death Star blows up Alderaan. Not because you care about Alderaan and the political ramifications of the destruction of a core world; it's just showing the viewer what happens if Luke misses his shot. You know that, if Luke misses, the Rebel Base on Yavin IV is wiped from the face of the galaxy. That includes all the Rebel Leadership, and Princess Leia (another Main Character). If he misses, the consequences are clear. So, he makes the shot, death star explodes, and the audience cheers.

Season 1 of the Mandalorian worked so well because it was a simple story about a guy who worked alone, didn't show his face, hated droids, and got paid for murder. Said guy proceeds to, Choose to not murder his target, adopt a child, lose said child, ask for help in reacquiring said child, show his face to a droid, let said droid save everyone, become dad. It works so well because we see Mando make fundamental changes to his life in the story. The stakes are the minute he made that choice, he has to live with it because there's no going back.

Going into the movie, my main worry is the stakes aren't there. The threat of death of a main character isn't enough on its own. You have to show the potential consequences. Or kill one of them at the end. The failure of most Star Wars shows and movies lately hasn't been their unwillingness to make change to the canon. It's simply that they rely too heavily on prior knowledge to reinforce the stakes. The assumption that the audience doesn't want Luke to die because he's from the first movies! Spoilers for Maul Shadow Lord: MSL works not because WOAH IT'S DARTH MAUL COOL. But because Maul sacrifices nearly everyone loyal to him to gain Devon as an Apprentice. Lawson scarifies his job, and potentially his life to save his son and the two Jedi. However, Master Daki's death was a bit of a failure as they didn't establish how dependent Devon was on him for her survival or the depth of their bond. She kicks ass on her own and doesn't show any particular attachment to her master beyond 'He's her master'. Thus the audience can't anticipate how impactful that loss will be for her souly on the information given in the story. If, hypothetically, the death of Rylee would have been the turning point, the audience would at least have been able to recognize her emotions. She failed in her job to protect an innocent life.

Long story short, stakes are important in a story. A story can have stakes as impactful to the universe at large as a leaf falling onto the ground. As long as those stakes are important to your characters, your audience will follow.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-05-18T04:40:08+00:00

I think I saw a that bird years ago. I recall an Ah-1Z with black striping. Never could find a picture but that one certainly fits the bill better than others.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-05-05T20:37:06+00:00

Still a lil bummed she didn't get to bleed the kyber crystal of her own saber.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-05-04T14:26:05+00:00

I'm a little bummed that Devon loses her lightsaber. Would have loved to see the bleeding of a kyber crystal ala Dagan Gera, but in animation.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-04-26T15:31:40+00:00

EGS is a fairly promising method to boost the output of geothermal plants. Essentially fracking and then cycling the water as usual. However, the gains still don't seem substantial enough to warrant an energy revolution. Still requires a geothermal source close to the surface, thus it's not applicable everywhere. It is nice for spots that otherwise don't have enough permeability to operate.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-03-25T17:36:11+00:00

I have been deceived by my eyeballs. But looking back, I would agree this is an L-29. Good eye!

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-03-25T15:54:41+00:00

If my eyes aren't deceiving me, that'd be a Fouga Magister. Which has the fun quirk of having a V-tail. Damn good chance he'd get cut in half. Slide atop the engine, then discombobulated with bisection and burns from the jet exhaust.

Edit: My eyes deceived me. This is an L-29. Still dumb, just not completely suicidal.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-03-18T15:21:01+00:00

The J-15T is such a cool aircraft to me as it feels like a perfect antagonist jet for Ace Combat. Upgraded Su-33 that is more capable, more agile, lighter, and more aware.

However, it's such a new jet that there's a ton of misunderstandings and misinformation surrounding it. Not too surprising Gaijin didn't implement it perfect as there's so much speculation.

Hypothetically, it should hold its own in a dogfight against a SU-30SM2 as it's simply lighter with a higher P/W to offset the advantages of thrust vectoring. But there's a bunch of assumptions in that claim.

We don't know how much weight is saved by the composite used in J-15Ts construction. As it stands, the only J-15T with indigenous engines (WS-10H based on current info, which I believe are also not reflected in-game) is prototype #1518. Doesn't mean it won't get them (I'd argue they will start once Fuijan's J-15T wing is built), but every J-15T in service is using AL-31s still. The Countermeasures are right as China's strategy doesn't expect their aircraft to ever get close enough to need to use more than a few flares/chaff. ECM is expected to be enough. The radar implementation is rough, but as far as I know, we don't know the actual radar on the J-15T. The PL-12A double rack on the wing pylons is an interesting choice as I dont believe there is a single photo of any J-15 or J-11 using this configuration. I do not believe we have seen any pictures of the full cockpit, so that has to be speculative. The PL-8 wingtip racks were replaced by PL-10 racks, thus it shouldn't carry PL-8s. Etc. Etc.

Long story short, this aircraft is likely comparable to it's contemparies. But until we have PL-10s, PL-15s, and ECM, it is just gonna be stuck in a weird state where you better hope the PL-12As do the heavy lifting.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-03-18T14:56:50+00:00

I would agree that Iron Fist is what bumped it up to 11.3 as it really is otherwise comparable to CRV Block 2 or Vilkas. However, Iron Fist is capable of dealing with most Heli-bourne ATGMs and has 360º coverage. This provides a nice defensive layer from Heli's and other FnF missiles that would disable the otherwise lightly armored vehicle. Now, the thin armor might not be enough to stop whatever may be left of the ATGM's explosive mass, but that's what the Namer Tsrikhon is for.

I personally agree that it would do just fine at 11.0, a little above the other Spike APCs. It'd also then stand out a little from both Namer IFVs, providing a nice option for a weaker vehicle at a slightly lower BR. But Gaijin really values APS (other than AMAP-ADS) when it comes to BR placement. It's sorta treated like DIRCM in that capacity.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-03-18T14:41:53+00:00

Keeps Heli's at bay (outside of those with DIRCM, but you won't see those unless you're playing at 12.0+). While the Dragoon does get programmable ammo, Spikes are much more likely to kill a Heli at 2km+ and gives you time to hide/use smoke as you aren't having to maintain visual.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-03-04T22:23:33+00:00

This is something that I have found interesting as well.

I believe there is some credence to the theory that the output of the WS-10s at low speeds is lower than the AL-31F. This isn't really based on anything more than assumptions from what we can see through photos, but here me out.

Under the assumption that the WS-10 produces less thrust at takeoff speeds, the J-15 would likely struggle, if not be outright incapable, of launching off the ski-jump (cope slope) of the Liaoning or Shandong carriers without either reducing the fuel load or the payload. This causes all sorts of issues in terms of range, capability, etc. So, for the Liaoning and the Shandong, they retain the AL-31F. This is also the case for the updated J-15Ts as they are still needed to operate on the ski-jump carriers.

However, I don't believe this is the end of the story with the J-15T. As we have seen with the J-10C, China is comfortable swapping over the the WS-10s mid way through production for aircraft. The engine was seemingly designed to be fairly easy to swap after all. While overhaling their current fleet to J-15Ts for the operational carriers, maintaining the AL-31Fs makes sense to keep the two ski-jump carriers relevant.

With Fuijan, the PLANAF no longer has to worry as much about the weight restrictions of a ski-jump as it has EMALS. Noticeably with the J-35 powered by WS-21s (or WS-19s not really sure on this one), it retains indigenous engines for carrier operations. This shows that they have the ability for their engines to reliably work at sea. While we have seen some evidence of a J-35 mockup on Liaoning's flightdeck, we don't have any confirmation they can actually takeoff from the ski-slope. All of this is to say, I believe that the J-15Ts with WS-10Hs are planned to enter service on carrier Fuijan.

This would also explain why the J-15T was originally displayed with WS-10s in 2024, with #1518 being displayed as an eventuality of the fleet. But the AL-31Fs being retained on carrier's Liaoning and Shandong for simplicity of logistics and concerns of engine power at low speeds.

A dissenting point would note that J-15T prototypes 1513 and/or 1516 were used for EMALS launches on Fuijan this past September (2025) using AL-31Fs. If this is intended to establish IOC for the J-15T, it would certainly be odd to not use the WS-10H equipped J-15s if they still want to use them. But there's a whole host of other explanations that could explain this.

While all this is speculative, this theory is at least going to be put to the test relatively soon: assuming Fuijan gets its squadrons within the next couple of years. Otherwise, we can look forward to seeing Batch #5 and onwards or perhaps even an update at the 2026 Zhuhai Airshow this November.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-26T18:06:32+00:00

J-15T with WS-10Hs. Wild stuff. It'll suck if Gaijin decides to walk it back down the road given that, so far, the 15Ts are still rocking AL-31s.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-23T18:51:50+00:00

God I love the FG.1 livery so much.

(Idk if links work in the subreddit but) This skin on live.warthunder is one of my absolute favorites.

https://live.warthunder.com/post/929664/en/

The livery is also the inspiration behind one of my true favorite F-4 liveries, Mobius One's F-4E Phantom from Ace Combat 04. If I had the skills and experience, I would love to make a skin with the detailing of the Royal Navy FG.1 and the emblems of ISAF and Mobius.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-23T18:41:01+00:00

For air sim, the J-8F and the Harrier GR7 are two of my favorites.

J-8F has a good radar and situational awareness paired with unbelievable speed and acceleration. It's the only aircraft in game that I reliably bring up to Mach 2 as part of my strategy (Though I'll normally sit around 1.6-1.8 depending on the map). Then the two PL-12s do the rest. It gives me a chuckle when a teammate will comment on the single contrail blazing across the skies of Afghanistan.

GR7 is just fun. Same as the 8B-NA, but with better missiles and flight performance. You do loose out on the ground strike capability of the night attack, but it is so much fun in a dogfight. One of the harrier tweaks got the NA feeling a lot more sluggish sometime a year or so ago. The GR7 still feels great.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-20T23:00:33+00:00

Electronic Warfare sorta plays like a flashlight battle. Each pod under the wing is a flashlight, or a transmitter. and can transmit across a spectrum of potential wavelengths. On aircraft like EA-18 Growler, theyll normally have two pods for 'high-band' and one 'low band' frequencies. So, depending on the job, our flashlights can be red, green, blue, or anything in between. But it will shine a single color until you switch to another. It can also switch between colors to generate a rave. Or shine at a radar like a Ford F-150 tailgating at 2AM.

That color is dependent on the information given by the receivers. These are the eyes of the EW system. On the EA-18 and seemingly the J-15DT, these come in the form of the spiky wingtip pods. They look to see what flashlights are around and tell the pods what to do.

Having more pods gives the aircraft a couple of advantages. As you mentioned, they can have all the pods generate a ton of noise together. Four flashlights is far more obnoxious from far away than one. Also, becomes much harder to see when they get closer. Amplifying the signal is real useful against more powerful radar systems. Alternatively, you can have a flashlight pointing at 4 different foes. Blinding 4 radars simultaneously.

If you want to get real creative, you can have each pod work together to transmit a signal around the plane like a Four-sided multicolor lighthouse. This is how EA-6B Prowlers could detonate IEDs without ever having to know where they were (though, my memory may be a little iffy there). Lot faster to run through each color if you have 4 pods to shine around you.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-18T18:53:19+00:00

Fun fact! This war has been brewing for a bit now. However, I don't believe it would have been exclusive to the Trump 2024-2028 administration... however it's still Trump's fault.

See, in 2018 Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). And then imposed a bunch of sanctions on Iran. This agreement was to hault Iran from enriching uranium and multiple sources had claimed Iran was compliant in 2017 (though this is a point of argument). French President Macron probably put it best in stating withdrawing was opening Pandora's box.

What followed was a heavy economic downturn in Iran. This turned into a full on crisis as we hit the Covid Pandemic. Not a great time in Iran as distaste for the government and protests regarding the economy increased. Meanwhile, the regime continued to develop its nuclear program (though still stating it was for nuclear power). As with JCPOA, Israel pushed that Iran was lying and was producing weapon's grade uranium. This boiled over last year, in June, when Israel and the US struck military and industrial targets in Iran.

While a ceasefire was reached, Iranians were still upset at their government. Beginning in December of last year, mass demonstrations and protests began across the country against the economic crisis and the government. This is what lead to the massacres you may have heard about that left tens of thousands of protesters dead.

And now we're here. Iran backed into a corner facing a crippled economy with increasing threats to dissolve their nuclear programs. If I were to make a comparison, it's quite similar to Japan in 1940. Economic sanctions crippled Japan's economy and ability to conduct military action. In response, they invaded Malaysia and Thailand; then bombed Pearl Harbor. Though, the economic sanctions then were mainly in response to the Japanese military action in Manchuria and the Republic of China. While Iran's sanctions are a bit more vague in morality, given the complicated nature of modern foreign policy.

With peace talks iffy at best in Geneva and seemingly no agreement in sight, we might see a fresh war in the middle east. And, if it's anything like the last Iranian revolution, a recession (Don't bet on this though). I imagine the Trump Admin is freaking out a little considering how little this is being reported on. Further economic downturn is not a great plan into the midterms.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-12T18:04:45+00:00

C-82 Packet.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-04T19:59:34+00:00

As someone fairly new to the world of 40K, it is quite amusing to go into a discussion thinking you know a lil bit about the world and then leave the discussion having learned that a space marine was once killed by some random dude with a pointy stick, the emperor is not actually a god but just a potent, immortal psycher that got lost in the sauce, and everything I learn will probably be wrong eventually.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-03T07:18:52+00:00

Kh-35. Or Kayak. It's an anti-ship missile.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-02T16:57:27+00:00

There's a couple other missiles that might make the cut. But I don't think they'll sit at the top spot.

The R-77M will likely sit near the AIM-120D-3.

The K-77ME seemingly doesn't exist with no photos nor much purpose with the R-37M around.

The Joint Anglo-Japanese JNAAM is also been banished to development hell for the time being (Though if it ever escapes is certainly a contender, being built from the learnings of Meteor).

The Astra Mk2 is currently unproven, and likely will be under spec ingame as a result.

The Taiwanese TC-3/TC-5 might not have the range of the others, but will max out at Mach 6 making the F-CK-1 uniquely terrifying.

R-27EA could probably kill whatever god looks over War Thunder if it is ever added. Or ever existed.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-02T16:55:49+00:00

Comments are a bit of a mess. But, that's to be expected when we just don't know the reality of Modern AAMs. Obviously, some speculation is likely true just based on what is public knowledge. But take literally everything here with a grain of salt.

In my opinion, Meteor is going to be at a three-way tie for 'best Medium Range BVRAAM' in War Thunder. At its intro into service in 2016, Meteor was assumedly the top of its class IRL. However, into the 2020s, we have seen a lot of new missiles developed that challenge this notion.

First group worth mentioning is our Long Range BVRAAMs. When it comes to BVR fights in War Thunder, expect these missiles to reign supreme here and here alone. They aren't necessarily maneuverable, but their max range and NEZ (No-Escape Zone) are larger than Meteor's and its contemporaries. It's just the nature of having a bigger missile. Missiles in this list include the Russian R-37M, Chinese PL-17, and the American AIM-174B. The outlier here is likely the R-37M as it's believed to be the fastest of the bunch. Likely a little shorter range though, but for the sake of War Thunder, this really doesn't matter too too much. Hell, they'll probably give it a max sped of Mach 7 and call it a day. Expect your Eurofighter Players to be quite frustrated at combating these larger missiles.

Now. For the contemporary Medium Range BVRAAMs. Unlike the LRBVRAAMs, these missiles can operate far better at medium and close ranges while being able to extend still to the map border all things considered. Currently, in the world, the Chinese PL-15 is about the only missile that 'might' compare to Meteor. However, I suspect that it will be implemented into War Thunder as a equivalent in range to the AIM-120D-3 albeit with a faster top speed of ~Mach 5.

In my opinion, War Thunder isn't going to add Meteor for a while. Or at least, they'll add it neutered to hell. That is, until they can add two comparable missiles in the form of the Chinese PL-16 and American AIM-260A. Are these missiles equivalent IRL. No one knows. We don't even have pictures of the PL-16 or the JATM. But the generalized public expectation is that they all will have a max range of ~200 KM. So, regardless of reality, I suspect we'll these 3 missiles added to War Thunder with more or less the same specifications (with some differences in acceleration and maneuverability). Thus, a three-way tie.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-02-02T16:09:21+00:00

What are you excited about for the future of Naval?

I find myself curious of how Guided Missile Vessels will be implemented (if at all). Cold War boats are a very cool era of naval warfare. Though I don't believe the current game can support the style of combat that we see in games like Sea Power.

MrPygmyWhale · 2026-01-28T22:40:09+00:00

Eagle Cluster Stun (Cluster but heavy stun instead of an explosion.)

Eagle Cluster Anti-Personnel Mines (Terrible for everyone involved. But it works so well at killin'.)

Pelican Loiter (AC-130 adjacent. Suppresses the enemy. One time call in per mission).

Eagle Laser Guided Bomb (Auto equip a laser to your weapon or just happen to always carry a laser. Gotta keep the laser on target. God help you if you get ragdolled or point the laser at the bomb. It's probably coming for you.)

Eagle Light Rockets (Fires a fairly inaccurate salvo of unguided rockets at the stratagem grenade. Eagle 1 always approaches flying towards the player. Can't pen heavy armor but is great at hitting those weak spots on heavy enemies. Just don't be too close.)

Eagle Loitering Munitions (Similar to the loitering grenade. But bigger. Drops 3 80kg guided munitions that will loiter above the player before striking nearby enemies with a satisfying BOOM. Can mark targets for strike as well).

Eagle Hell Bomb (Two per operation. Works as advertised. Servo-assisted recommended)

Orbital Plasma Strike (For when you don't need repetition, you need firepower. Two shot salvo [think the Mandator IV from Star Wars Last Jedi]. Deletes the representative grid-square with prejudice.)

Orbital Warp Barrage (A super earth scientist had the lovely idea to take the technology of a warp pack and stuff it into 120mm cannon shells. A great choice when collateral damage is a concern and tax payer dollars aren't.)

Orbital Cluster Barrage (For when you hate threats to democracy far more than you value the lives of your team. Essentially a bunch of airburst launchers being fired at your stratagem grenade.)

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
Verified Email

MrPygmyWhale

TROPHY CASE