During Ground Forces battles it is the tanks that complete the vast majority of key objectives, thus allowing their team to win. That does not mean that planes have no role themselves. In fact I would say that they may easily turn the tide of battle, with a single bomb. However, flying a fighter or bomber during these battles is not easy. While you might have plenty of experience with flying in the air from Arcade, Historical and Simulation battles Ground Forces Battles take on a different, somewhat more complicated, angle on things and here we will discuss the hazards of flying during Ground Forces battles.
This is what my plane flying tends to look like during Ground Forces battles.
While the maps for Ground Forces are of similar size to Air battles the actual area where tanks will fight is small. Kursk defense is a small exception here, but it is not as big as one of the air battle maps. This creates a number of problems that you will have to hold in mind when flying over the battlefield:
1) You will have very little time to select an enemy on the ground to shoot down. As you swooped down on some air maps you would have plenty of time to adjust your flight path, gauge your distance and then fire safely. On Ground Forces maps the terrain is rarely flat, and there is plenty of cover about. You will sometimes have just a few seconds to locate, select and engage your target.
2) You will usually fly low, especially when selecting a Dive Bomber. Because of point 1 you will usually fly lower to more easily spot enemy tanks. However, as I have both done and found out on my own skin, enemy tanks may be capable of shooting you down with their main guns. Furthermore enemy AA Vehicles will have a much easier time shooting you down, especially if you reduce your speed on the approach. If you fly higher you might be harder to shoot down but at the same time you may have a hard time locating targets below you.
3) All planes will fly around the same area. Do you remember on Arcade maps how planes would buzz around control points like flies, trying to shoot each other down, or to land in order to capture the point? The same applies to Ground Forces battles. You will often see, especially during larger battles, that there could be a swarm of planes flying around you, creating a chaotic mess. As a rule I always assume that as the battle progresses new enemy planes are bound to show up, so if you were lucky and at the start of the battle there were no enemy planes they might show at any moment.
4) AA will be far more concentrated. On Air battle maps the AA guns are spread out. On Ground Forces maps they can be very concentrated. People have complained that the AA guns have been too accurate and while their accuracy was decreased the sheer number of guns firing at you at the same time means you are bound to be hit, and since both sides can have access to much heavier AA guns (like the 88s) you could be flying back to base, and suddenly explode when a lucky or stray AA shot hits you.
5) Player controlled AA is far more accurate than AI AA. The developers can nerf the AI, but they cannot nerf how accurate players are. Even if you take out all the AA guns on the map a single player could turn out to be accurate enough to shoot you down with no issue. There is nothing you can do about this, especially when you fly on Historical battles, where your plane will not only be highlighted but the player firing at you will have helpful “aim support”. Since you will usually fly low and slower this makes you an even easier target.
6) Airfields will have no AA defense. This is something that might be changed (I hope it does at least) so if you are being chased by enemy fighters in a damaged plane the only thing that can save you is a fellow fighter. Otherwise you are boned.
As impressive as this might look, the destruction of ground targets with standard machine guns and cannons is very difficult. Even the Stuka G2 with its 3.7 cannons won’t have an easy time.
There are different types of planes, fighters, dive bombers, heavy fighters, bombers. Which of these are useful for Ground Forces battles? The quick answer is, “All of them”. Yet at the same time how much you can do during a battle does depend on the plane you fly and how you modify it. As an example, the BF-109 F4 is a fighter plane, and its main role should be the destruction of enemy planes. Yet, you could research and purchase a modification that allows it to carry a small load of bombs. Why would you do that? While you are engaging enemy planes there might come a time that you have no air targets. You could opt to destroy enemy AA emplacements, but you could also decide that it’s worthwhile to destroy enemy tanks.
Just like in Air battles, you cannot destroy medium and heavy tanks with smaller cannons and machine guns. What you need are at least 50 kg bombs. I have had situations where certain cannons could still damage my medium tanks but it was certainly a challenge for the enemy. If you had some practice with using bombs attached to your fighters then you could use your fighter like a dive bomber, and after running out of bombs continue to protect your tanks from enemy planes.
This rises a few issues. Dive Bombers, like the Stuka and IL-2, can carry an impressive bomb load (especially the IL-2) but what can they do once their bombs are depleted? The IL-2 still has plenty of firepower, and can act as a very dangerous fighter, easily shooting down enemy planes. The Stuka on the other hand lacks speed, durability and as much firepower as the IL-2. When you take your Stuka out for a spin you could be picking an inferior plane to what the Soviets will take in turn. What alternatives do the Germans have? You could take Medium Bombers, but those are much easier targets for enemy AA guns and planes. If you decide to fly low you would be sacrificing yourself, but if you fly much higher up you will have an extremely hard time with hitting enemy targets on the ground.
The German DO series and fighters is what you should turn to during Ground Battles. I am not stopping you from using the Stukas or Bombers but you will be at a disadvantage.
Whatever plane you pick, check what bomb loadouts you can choose from, what manner of weapons you have. While you could bring a fighter without a bomb option to these battles, you may find yourself without a real task when there are no enemy planes in the air and be left with only destroying tank tracks, unable to destroy the enemy.
As you might imagine, Historical Battles are the “Easy” mode of Ground battles. The reason is simple, every target on the ground, and in the air, will be highlighted, but so will you. As such, you may find yourself extremely annoyed when your seemingly sneaky approach is detected straight away, and you are shot down in an instant. Simulation battles are far more demanding for other reasons. While in Historical you will have ground forces tagged, in simulation battles you will have to see them for yourself. This could be very demanding, and call for a lot of practice from Air battles.
Historical Battles allow you some good practice, but they can quickly turn into an annoyance, if you are after something more challenging. In turn Simulation battles call for a lot of previous experience, so a new player to War Thunder might prefer to play Historical Battles for a bit before moving onto Simulation battles.
Enemy planes, especially on higher levels and tiers, will have an easier time spotting you. Your altitude is not that important, and an enemy at 1000 meters could see you at 3000 meters, simply because the game allows him to. The same applies to AA vehicles, that could begin firing at you before you have a chance to see them yourself.
Enemy ground forces will only be detected and highlighted for you if your own friendly tanks see them. If friendly tanks do not see the enemy they will not be marked on your screen, but you can still see them. In practice this means that if you see a tank driving down a field, during a historical battle, you are certain it’s the enemy because all friendly tanks are always marked. During Simulation battles you will have to be far more careful, because friendly tanks and vehicles only become highlighted when you are 1km from them.
When you decide to take your plane to a Ground Forces battle everything will feel and look differently to Air battles. It’s true, the fighting area will be much smaller, there will be much more AA, and you may end up preferring much larger Air battles over the smaller Ground Forces battles. Yet, if you started playing War Thunder with planes rather than with tanks you can come to a game with a small list of possible planes and tanks, choosing that vehicle which you think will be most useful during the battle. For example, since I have five Crew Slots I could have a Dive Bomber, Fighter, and three different tanks. During the battle you can select one plane and one tank to play with, so if each crew has a different plane and tank type prepared you could, for example, pick a Fighter, instead of a Dive Bomber, if your tanks need protection, or an AA Vehicle rather than a Heavy tank if your forces need protection.
Flying planes is still very demanding in Ground Forces battles, and I rarely see pilots surviving the first sortie without getting shot down or crashing. Do not give up though! I had my share of good air sorties during Ground Forces battles, it will simply be very challenging. I suggest you start off by flying planes that have low repair costs, just so that you won’t be losing too many silver lions if you do get shot down.
