The Naval research tree in War Thunder differs from Air and Ground forces, despite visual similarities.

Aircraft and ground vehicles are divided into ranks by (as a rule) production years: the later production year - the better the combat efficiency is, the higher the vehicle’s rank is. A ship’s battle efficiency, however, depends not only on the production period, but on the ship’s class itself. Early testing showed that players prefer different classes of ships - some like destroyers, others prefer the nimble torpedo boat, or mastering all types of vessel. Every ship’s class has unique gameplay, naturally.

Entering the closed beta test, we took these baselines to create a different approach to researching War Thunder ships. Vertically, or rank-wise, you research different classes of ships - from boats to light cruisers. Horizontally, or class-wise, you master more powerful, modern and capable units of the given class. You are free to choose what gameplay you like more: skip boats, relatively fast progress to heavier classes, like destroyers, or cruisers; or focus on the light classes to unlock the most powerful light ships and boats in the game. Requirements and prices to unlock new ships consistently grow both vertically, and horizontally. Research time to unlock all ships of a nation will be similar to aircrafts or tanks.