Improved Crew Skills with Update 1.53

Pilots and Tankers!

In War Thunder Update 1.53 "Firestorm" a range of important changes to crew skills will take place. One of these changes will be to the way in which players can see how skills actually affect their crew. Players will now be able to see exactly how one skill or another influences the behavior of a vehicle in battle, as well as which aspects it affects, and so on.

Each skill affects its own abilities, of which there may be several. The influence that skills have will now be displayed directly in the crew training menu.

The value of each skill is formed from several components:

Base value: The minimum value of a skill – an untrained crew member Current skill training: Crew experience points received in battle and distributed among the crew – limited to 40% of the possible maximum for a ground vehicle crew and 50% for aerial crews. Qualification: Additional training purchased with in-game currency – limited to 30% of the possible maximum for the “Expert” qualification, and 20% for the “Ace” qualification. Additional training will be available both for Silver Lions and Golden Eagles. After obtaining the 'Expert' qualification, players can unlock the 'Ace' qualification by simply playing the vehicle and earning RP on it. Leadership: A tank commander skill that increases the abilities of the other crew members – Limited to 10% of the possible maximum for ground vehicle crews. Top: The maximum possible value – For comparison in the interface, benchmark characteristics are displayed, which can be achieved by fully training a crew member that completes the task the skill influences.

“Reload” skill: A loader with a base level skill reloads the weapon in 3.77 seconds, with a benchmark time of 2.9 seconds.

“Reload” skill: A loader trained to roughly 80% of the current skill and given additional “Expert” and “Ace” training reloads the weapon in 3.03 seconds.

We have removed the commander’s “Machine gun firing” skill and the gunner/radio operator’s “Frontal machine gun firing” and “Frontal machine gun reload speed” skills. Machine gun fire will now be effective to an equal degree on all vehicles.

New skills added / current skills changed:

– Agility for all crew members added; influences how quickly the crew replaces a downed soldier. – Artillery targeting accuracy and Artillery strike calling time added for the radio operator. – The Radio communication skill now influences the distance within which enemies are displayed after being detected by allied players. – The Driving will affect braking and how fast the driver will change gears. – The Tartgeting skill now influences the speed and precision of weaponry while aiming. An experienced gunner aims horizontally and vertically at the same time. An inexperienced gunner does this one at a time. – Stamina influences the time period during which the pilot still has control over the aircraft when the maximum G is exceeded. Also affects how quick he can regain consciousness.

Points already spent on removed skills will not disappear – they will be moved to their corresponding new skills. The commander’s “Machine gun firing” skill points will be transferred to “Agility”, the gunner’s “Frontal machine gun firing” and “Frontal machine gun reload speed” points will be transferred to “Artillery targeting accuracy” and “Artillery strike calling time” respectively.

It’s important to remember that some skills are “group” skills and are calculated as an average value across all the crew members. These are “Agility”, “Field repair” and “Keen Vision”. If a crew member is taken out in battle:

– The Keen Vision skill of a knocked-out crew member is calculated as equal to zero. Keen vision skill cannot have less value than a fully untrained skill (basic value) even if several crew members are knocked out. – The Field repair skill of a knocked-out crew member is calculated as 50% of his skill value. – The value of the Agility skill does not change.



A detailed description of each skill will be available in the game’s interface after the update is released. The crew training menu will be more illustrative and understandable. It will show exactly how each spent experience point affects the crew’s behavior in battle in an accessible format.

Thank you for reading, and don't forget to leave your opinion in the comments!



The War Thunder Team