Hero image: War Thunder’s Nuclear Escalation mode. Image: Gaijin Entertainment
War Thunder’s Nuclear Escalation mode is open at Simulator Battles difficulty for two days only. If you fly Sim, the test is already running and closes at midnight on Thursday night, Sydney time.
Gaijin opened the test at 13:00 GMT on 27 October and runs it until 13:00 GMT on 29 October, according to its Steam post. That is midnight at the start of Wednesday 28 October to midnight at the end of Thursday 29 October in Sydney, by our conversion.
You’ll find it under Events & Tournaments, then Nuclear Escalation. It’s the same mode that already runs in Realistic Battles, played with Simulator Battles flight model settings and marker configurations.
The fights take place on the Tropical Coast and Southeastern City maps. Ground vehicles are grouped by era according to their Battle Rating, as they are in the Realistic version, but Gaijin says rewards are calculated the same way as in Enduring Confrontation.
Matchmaking uses four Battle Rating ranges, which match the era boundaries. They are 8.7 to 9.7, 10.0 to 11.0, 11.3 to 13.0, and 13.3 and up. Pick your line-up with those brackets in mind before you queue.
Gaijin is asking for feedback once you’ve played. It hasn’t said whether the Sim version will stay after the test, so treat this as a two-day window.
There’s a second reason to log in on Wednesday night. The Spooky Races for Halloween were pushed back by 24 hours, and now run from 11:00 GMT on 28 October to 11:00 GMT on 1 November. In Sydney that is 10pm Wednesday to 10pm Sunday, again by our conversion.
The ground race, Through the dark forest, puts you in the M18 “Witch” tank. Score 750 points there for the Sinister Lands profile frame. The air race, Witch Hunt, is flown in the Po-2 “Night Witch”. Score 750 points for the Green Ghosts squadron emblem decal, and the top 1,000 pilots by rating at the end also get the Po-2 (USSR) added to their account within 48 hours.
War Thunder sat 16th on Steam’s most-played chart when we read it this morning. Our last look at the game was its DIRCM overhaul.
Source: War Thunder – Testing Nuclear Escalation in Simulator Battles, War Thunder – Spooky Races Return for Halloween, Steam – most-played games