World War: To the combat troops

This mode has significantly different gameplay for commanders and combat troops. If you are one of the commanders, we have an article that may be useful for you.

Game mode with battles on the global map that are run in “Operations” format and are based on historical events.

World War mode battles are run in Realistic mode without markers. Including aircraft vs aircraft battles.

Participation

World War is available to all players that have at least one purchased rank 3 vehicle.

The World War mode in War Thunder is represented by Operations that two opposing regiments participate in. Regular players can find Operations via the "Find Operations" button in the main menu of World War and participate in them as "mercenaries".

World War can be divided into seasons, each with its own fixed schedule of active scenarios and valuable prizes for the random players, regiments, and their commanders. World War can also play out as a regular event with minor prizes, in order to familiarize the players with this mode, to train the regiments and test out the mode's mechanics.

Each participant of World War has their own role:

Squadrons	Squadron members	Free players
Take a role in one of the contesting parties and lead the Operation until it's over, commanding the armies and initiating battles and participating in them.	May fight both for their own squadrons within an Operation or participate as free players joining any available battles.	Can play a role of reinforcements taking any vacant places in available battles and helping one of the battling parties.

Interface

You can enter the World War interface using the “TO BATTLE” button menu, by selecting the “World War” option.

World War main menu

From here participation begins in the World War as the commanders of squadrons, their members or free players. The main menu consists of three parts:

Operation Search	Join an Operation	Create an Operation
Pressing the "Find Operation" button starts the search for a new game. The player can specify search options, such as preferred side, and check the list of the game servers that match the criteria. After finding an Operation, the game will join it automatically.	Leaving an Operation doesn't make you unable to rejoin it. Press the "Return to (Operation number)" button to rejoin the last found Operation. Additionally, for regiment members there's always an active "Join (Operation number)" button if the regiment currently participates in a World War Operation.	Regiment members who have a rank of Sergeant or higher can create new Operations. You need to have at least 20 players with vehicles of rank III or higher in your regiment.

Also in the World War main menu you can find information on prizes for participation in the battles, and an option to choose priority servers for the game.

Preparing for battle

Having joined an Operation, the player is taken to the Operation main window. The current battles can be joined by clicking on them on the map.

The battles on the map are represented by the following icons:

Battle has not begun (cannot join)	Battle is preparing to start (squadron fighters and, when the timer runs out, unassigned players may join).	Battle has begun (anyone may join, including unassigned players).	Automatic or full battle (cannot join).

Joining the battle, the players can find its description, the participating forces, and tactical map of the location where the battle will be fought.

You are only able to use vehicles that form part of the battle army. Players will always receive one vehicle from each vehicle group of the army. If the player has already purchased other suitable vehicles from the vehicle group, those vehicles may be placed into a vehicle slot instead.

The vehicle will join the battle with all researched and installed modifications, but the player’s crew level will be whatever that crew’s slot is normally.

The process of placing vehicles into vehicle slots can be done automatically by pushing the “Generate vehicle preset” button. The mechanism will select, from all of the player’s vehicles, those vehicles with the highest BR for each vehicle group in the army and will put them into the vehicle slots with the maximum crew levels and highest crew qualifications in them.

Participation in the battle

After completing preparation for battle, a player selects "To battle!" and enters the mission, the tasks of which depend on many factors, including: the type of armies encountered, their composition, the conditions under which the battle has begun, and much more.

Upon entering battle, a player will receive from 1 to 3 randomly selected vehicles from the army and must complete the mission tasks in the allotted time.

Every lost vehicle is deducted from the army! Try to protect your vehicle.

Read the main article regarding the rules on distribution of vehicles among the participants, peculiarities of aviation armament and symbols.

In the squad

The mechanism of participation in battles in a squad is not particularly different from the mechanics of participation in random battles, except that the possibility of assembling a squad of up to 10 participants - this mechanics works only in battles in World War.

Squad members who remain in the hangar see which Operation their leader is joining and must join it to participate in the battles of this Operation. The “Ready” button is replaced with a button with the number of the Operation that the leader selected (the globe icon in the squad widget serves the same function). When the squad leader enters the battle of the current Operation, all players are brought to the battle preparations window. In this window they can create a list of vehicles (or do it automatically by pressing the “Create a vehicle list” button) and confirm the readiness of their crews. After that the leader can join the battle.

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  The participant sets up a vehicle in the crew slots

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  All members of the squad confirm readiness of the crews

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  The entire squad is in battle

Mechanics

Safe exit area

There are no airfields in World War aviation missions, and the air reserve and aviation fuel reserves are limited. In order that a vehicle is not lost from the army, it is enough to fly to a special safe exit zone. A pilot in such a zone will be able to take the vehicle out of battle (button J) without losing it for the army.

Army morale

Defeat in one World War battle does not entail catastrophic consequences for the entire Operation, as it was in reality, and often commanders resort to creating lost battles deliberately - for example, in order to delay an enemy attack. But every army has a morale index, which decreases with every defeat and increases with victory. An army whose morale index has fallen to zero will surrender to the enemy and disappear from the Operation map. Consider this in battle, even when fighting on the side of an unfamiliar squadron.

Reinforcement

If you don't have an aviation army at your side in battle, the commander can send reinforcements in the form of aircraft at any time: fighters, attackers or helicopters. Aircraft will begin to be distributed among the members of the allied side according to the usual rules.