La Royale Content Update
06/15/2023 - Gaijin Entertainment announces the release of the major update "La Royale" for the online vehicle combat game War Thunder. The update launches closed beta tests of the French Navy, which has retained its traditional nickname La Royale ("the Royal") even in modern times.
In addition, the update adds dozens more models of ground, air and naval vehicles - for example, the also French tank howitzer Au F1, the first Indian tank in the game, Vijayanta, and the American "Bombcat" F-14B. Players will also get revised flight physics and visual effects of missiles, new maps and other content.
Pretty much at the beginning of the Second World War, the French fleet suffered a sad fate. France was defeated on land and surrendered, after which some French warships were sunk directly in the ports by the British. The former allies feared that the French battleships and cruisers would be captured by Germany and used against them. In the La Royale update, players will meet ships with very different fates - from the cruiser Colbert, sunk by British shells in Toulon, to the destroyer La Malin, which became part of the Free French Navy. To be among the first to participate in the closed beta of France's High Seas Fleet and receive exclusive bonuses, players can purchase Early Access packages with premium ships.
The Indian tank Vijayanta is an export variant of the British Vickers Mk.1, which received an infrared searchlight, side skirts and HEATFS shells for the well-known accurate and rapid-firing Royal Ordnance L7A1 gun. The powerful French self-propelled howitzer Au F.1, based on the chassis of the AMX-30 tank, is equipped with a 155 mm caliber gun with automatic loader and mechanized ammunition magazine with 36 rounds. This self-propelled gun is still in service with the armies of France, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The F-14B is an upgraded variant of the impressive F-14A with a significantly increased weapons arsenal and improved rate of climb. In addition to more modern air-to-air missiles, the fighter received a homing device as part of the LANTIRN system and Paveway II guided bombs, as well as a new type of weapon - bombs with a braking device for low-level attacks to reduce the risk of damaging one's own aircraft with bomb fragments.
The new map "Iberian Castle," designed for linked ground and air battles, takes players to a tourist town on the east coast of the Balearic Islands. And the new sea map "Franz Josef Land" introduces a new mechanic - destructible coastal fortifications with guns that fire at players' ships.
Source: Press release