Original Article on the Wowp main page

Update 2.0.9 introduces new aircraft to World of Warplanes, balance and game mode changes, new opportunities to speed up the path to the best vehicles in the game, and, of course, the Christmas Event.

Fans of intense aerial combat might enjoy the new British multirole Hawker line as the key features of these aircraft are their high speed and powerful weapons. New boosters, in turn, allow players to get increased rewards for their efforts — earn even more credits and experience to make the most of every battle! Attack aircraft pilots might like the new opportunity to manually reload outboard weapons. This feature will guarantee that you will be fully armed when flying to any target. In addition, with this update release, all players get the chance to receive two unique Premium aircraft by completing special chains of missions available in the Supply Service.

Operation Holiday Maneuvers

The Operation Holiday Maneuvers event will run from December 20 to January 16 23:00 (UTC) By advancing along the holiday route, players receive valuable Christmas gifts. Among the main prizes are aircraft from the new branch of British multirole fighters (The Hawker Typhoon, Hawker Tempest, and Hawker Sea Hawk), a pilot for the Hawker Typhoon with 5 skill points, a pilot for the Hawker Sea Hawk with 9 skill points, holiday paint schemes and decorations for these vehicles, as well as the Premium British fighter Hawker P.V.3 with a unique pilot Rudolf Hawker. When flying on the Hawker P.V.3, the unique pilot puts on a holiday mask and his plane leaves festive trails in the sky.

Advancing along the marathon route depends directly on the amount of Candy you have. Every Candy piece you earn moves you closer to the coveted reward! Candy can be earned for effective actions in battles and rewarded for completing daily missions. It is also possible to move faster and skip all stages using certificates. If players earn more Candy than is necessary to receive all holiday gifts, the remaining Candy will be converted into Free Experience at a rate of 50 points of Free Experience for 1 Candy.

Event gifts also include some very unusual ones, such as bear, eagle, deer, and squirrel sculptures. Decorating your Hangar with ice sculptures grants unique bonuses to all aircraft on your account in battle. The bonuses are durability, speed, maneuverability, and experience earned in battles. Once ice sculptures are put in the Hangar, their bonuses will be active till the end of the Operation Holiday Maneuvers event.

3 unique holiday achievements will help you keep warm memories about this winter. These achievements can only be obtained during the event.

Aircraft received during the event cannot be sold before the end of the event.

Santa’s Bag

During the winter holidays, players can treat themselves to holiday bags with prizes or send gifts to their friends. Santa’s bags include Premium aircraft, gold, Free Experience, days of Premium account, and materials to enhance, calibrate, or reassemble equipment. All players who receive a bag of prizes will also receive the Santa’s Bag 2019 achievement.

New aircraft

The continuation of the British Hawker multirole fighters’ line was added. Fast and well-adapted for aerial combat, these aircraft are armed with powerful autocannons and rockets.

• Hawker Typhoon — UK, Tier VII multirole fighter;
• Hawker Tempest — UK, Tier VIII multirole fighter;
• Hawker Sea Hawk — UK, Tier IX multirole fighter;
• Hawker Hunter — UK, Tier X multirole fighter.

Planes of Tiers VII–IX can be received during the Operation Holiday Maneuvers event. After the event is over, the full branch will be available for research and purchase, and the Tier X plane will be added to the tech tree. Up to this moment, the Hawker Hunter can be met in battles as an airplane under AI control.

With the release of Update 2.0.9, the transition from the Tornado to the Spitfire Mk. IX will no longer be available.

New promotional planes added:

• Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender — USA, Tier VI fighter;
• Hawker P.V.3 — UK, Tier III fighter.

Aircraft available only to developers and participants of the Supertest for testing:

• Tupolev Tu-1 — USSR, Tier VII heavy fighter.

Game Mode Changes

Anti-Aircraft Guns

• Increased the damage of anti-aircraft guns by 10-20% at all battle tiers to aircraft of all types, except for bombers.
• The effectiveness of high-altitude anti-aircraft guns against bombers remains the same.

Command Center

• Increased the time between bomber flight launches by 10 seconds.

Game schemes

• The asymmetric game scheme “Albion: Wings of War” has been disabled to undergo improvement.
• Changed the battle entry point of the top team on the asymmetric game scheme “Archipelago: Decisive blow.”

Balance Changes

Aircraft balance adjustments

• Increased the turret aiming time from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. For the B-32, it is 4 seconds. For fighters and multirole fighters with turrets, it is 1 second.
• Reduced the damage from turrets at maximum distance. The probability of critical damage and the effectiveness of fire at maximum distance have not changed.
• Increased the flight range of the HVAR Mk.25 (F2H, F-84F, F7F, F2G, XP-72, F-84B) and RP-3 GP (Seafang, P. 1056, P. 228) rockets.
• Fixed the overestimated value of the time delay for bomb detonation of the B-17D, B-17G, and B-32. Now it is the same as the time delay for the other bombers.
• Slightly increased the time delay for bomb detonation of the Pe-2 and Pe-2 M-82. Now these aircraft perform better and are safer at low altitude.

Equipment changes

• Increased the effectiveness of universal ammunition for forward-firing weapons available using credits when shooting at armored ground targets. Now this ammunition will be more effective in attacking ground targets.

Tail Gunner skills

• Increased the effect of the “Armorer” skill on the turret burst length from +20% to +50%.
• Reduced the effect of the “Ballistics Expert” skill on the turret range of fire from +20% to +10%.

Particular aircraft model changes

Germany

• Ta-152 — decreased yaw rate, rate of cooling, and firing accuracy at small maneuvering targets for MK-103 guns.

USA

• XF5U — decreased pitch and yaw rate, increased roll rate. Slightly increased stall speed, decreased boost duration, but slightly increased the speed of boost duration recovery. Decreased range of fire, accuracy, and rate of cooling of M39 guns. Increased time of engine recovery after critical damage.

Japan

• Ki-94-I — increased optimal altitude and service ceiling, increased boost climb rate.

UK

• Tornado — decreased pitch rate and burst length, slightly increased tail’s resistance to critical damage, and decreased wings’ resistance to critical damage.

New consumables

Added a new type of consumable — boosters. Boosters provide a significant increase to rewards earned in battle for a short time. The following types of boosters are available:

• Upgrade Implementation — aircraft experience +100%. This consumable also increases all derivatives of aircraft experience — Crew Experience and Free Experience.
• Intensive Training — Crew Experience +100%.
• Air Reconnaissance — Free Experience +100%.
• Procurement System Improvement — credits +100%.

Each booster is available in two versions: for 1 hour of real (not gaming) time for 150 gold, or for 2 hours of real time for 200 gold. If the game server is unavailable or under maintenance, activated boosters will be compensated.

Boosters can be purchased and activated in the upper left corner of the Hangar, in the account menu.

“Ground Verification” consumables on players’ accounts are converted into one-hour “Procurement System Improvement” boosters at a rate of 1 booster for 3 units of consumables.

“Aerial Verification” consumables on players’ accounts are converted into one-hour “Upgrade Implementation” boosters at a rate of 1 booster for 3 units of consumables.

When converting, the number of accrued boosters is rounded in favor of the players. For example, for 4 units of old consumables, the player will receive 2 boosters.

Premium Aircraft for tokens

Added the possibility to get unique Premium aircraft (the Vampire F.1 and XP-55) by completing special chains of missions. These chains of missions can be activated for free in the Supply Service. Missions that are included in the chains are not time-limited. They can also be completed using Tokens.

New equipment

Added a new type of equipment — “Aerodynamic Pylons”. This equipment drastically reduces the effect of the equipped outboard weapons on the aircraft’s speed. It is perfectly suited for multirole and heavy fighters, allowing them to deliver precision strikes against ground targets, while maintaining maximum readiness for aerial combat. Improved “Aerodynamic Pylons” can also be obtained by taking part in the holiday event.

“Aerodynamic pylons” are available only for Periods II and III.

Other changes

Changes in equipment

“Rocket Sight” is now available for aircraft of Period I.

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the sound of the countdown to respawn could continue playing for a while after respawning.
• Fixed an issue where the radius of the bombsight did not return to its original state after the pilot recovered from injury.
• Fixed an issue where the tail gunner stopped firing at low-flying aircraft if there were ground or mountains behind this aircraft.
• Fixed an issue where bombs were not replenished after respawning.
• Fixed an issue with the incorrect location of the turrets on the damage model of the Pe-2, Pe-2 M-82, SB, and Ar-2.
• Added the ability to assign keys for the fourth equipment slot in the “Joystick” menu.
• Fixed an issue where the amount of experience needed to improve bombs on a B-17D was zero. Players who already have this aircraft with equipped improved bombs will receive this improvement for free. Players who purchase the B-17D after the release of Update 2.0.9 and players who have not equipped improved bombs on the aircraft before the update’s release will need to research them.
• Fixed an issue where the target lock did not work after changing aircraft at the Airfield.
• Fixed an issue where bombs might stop replenishing after changing the RB-17 to another aircraft at the Airfield.
• Fixed problems with displaying bomber flight icons on the battle interface.

Optimization

• ADA’s models have been optimized to improve the performance of the game client.

Other

• Added the ability to manually reload the incomplete loading of the outboard weapons by pressing the “V” key. This process takes as much time as fully reloading the outboard weapons. Pressing the “V” key again while the outboard weapons are already reloading does not start it again. When reloading is not needed, pressing the reload key is ignored. If several types of outboard weapons are used simultaneously, the most consumed one will be reloaded first.
• Added new animations for receiving supply crates and prizes from them. When opening several crates in a row, you can skip the animation by clicking the left mouse button.
• Added new graphic effects for muzzle flashes, tracers, and hits for all ammunition types. They can now be easily discerned in battle and players can take appropriate evasive action depending on the danger to their aircraft.