u/NoBinking

Got the game last night and I'm having some trouble trying to figure out a good control scheme on Steam Deck.

I'm trying to replicate War Thunder controls since they're what I'm used to, but not everything translates well.

A few specific things I've had trouble with are:

1. I don't understand how brakes work. It seems like the brake axis may be related to the airbrake and not wheel brakes. Ideally, I would like to set the wheel brakes to be part of the throttle axis and the airbrake to an entirely separate button independent from the throttle or wheel brakes.

2. Menus are inconsistent. Sometimes I can navigate them with the D-Pad and selecting options with the A button, but other times I cannot.

3. Control axes are extremely sensitive and I'm not sure what the sweet spot will be.

Does anyone have any tips for resolving the above issues or have an established control scheme for the game on Steam Deck?

I'm a bomber main and I've been recommended Air SB many times. The thought of flying my Arado Ar-234 B-2 on the deck without enemy fighters being able to magically spot me from 10km away is very appealing.

I only play on Steam Deck since I work on a computer in an office chair all day and can't bear to sit at a desk more than I already do.

I know playing Air SB on a Steam Deck would be profoundly suboptimal, but would it be workable if I primarily play bomber aircraft? I usually stick to relatively fast single or twin engine bombers which would help with engine management with so few buttons.

Some of my favorite planes are:

Arado Ar-234 B-2

Junkers Ju-87 D-3

Junkers Ju-88 A-4

Petlyakov Pe-2 Series

Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless

Douglas A-26C-45 Invader

Aichi D3A "Val"

Nakajima B5N2 "Kate"

Mitsubishi G4M1 "Betty"

English Electric Canberra B Mk. 2

de Havilland Mosquito B Mk. XVI

If I'm not completely insane to consider this, I'd appreciate any tips for playing Air SB on Steam Deck, particularly with control schemes, or tips for playing bombers in Air SB in general.

On July 18th last year, the T-2 Early and Hunter FGA.9 came back temporarily, but that didn't happen this year. Granted, the Hunter was made available a couple weeks ago without any announcement as one of these new weekly available premiums.

This week, I had also expected we would get the Su-7BMK on the 22nd and the Attacker FB.2 on the 25th, and the Attacker was also available recently without an announcement.

Is this just how Gaijin is going to make rare premiums available in the future? I couldn't find any announcements of a change in this practice either. I'm not a fan of this as I take breaks from the game regularly and don't want to miss premiums I want to get.

Sequel to my previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/future/s/LDaqTGgW1K

Here is my list of the top 10 Future albums:

1. Monster

Favorite: Throw Away

2. WE DON'T TRUST YOU

Favorite: Magic Don Juan (Princess Diana)

3. DS2

Favorite: Fuck Up Some Commas

4. Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD

Favorite: F&N

5. Purple Reign

Favorite: Perkys Calling

6. EVOL

Favorite: Ain't No Time

7. What A Time To Be Alive

Favorite: Digital Dash

8. 56 Nights

Favorite: Never Gon Lose

9. FUTURE

Favorite: POA

10. I NEVER LIKED YOU

Favorite: Puffin on Zootiez

Notes:

The only change to my top 5 was that I moved EVOL down to 6 and replaced it with Purple Reign.

I know I have some controversial rankings, especially in the bottom half of the list. I'm not as into 56 Nights as most, I put FUTURE at 9, and HNDRXX didn't make my top 10. I just don't really vibe with those albums as much as the ones I ranked above them.

I have seen some wild takes online about The Real Me. There's some understandable criticism of certain songs, especially 2018, but some people have come to the conclusion that Future is washed, the album is "trap slop", and it's one of if not the worst in his discography.

I think this is a good album. I like that it had a mix of songs with his 2010s style like No Misery and Eye to Eye, songs with his modern style like Konnichiwa and Money Over Everything, and some experimental songs.

The Real Me is certainly not on the level of Monster, DS2, or We Don't Trust You, but it's solid and has plenty of good songs. I'd rate it at a 7/10 right now, but it's possible it grows on me and I raise that to an 8/10. I'd also understand if someone rated it a 6/10. Regardless of how you slice it, a good but not outstanding Future album is still better than the majority of rap albums.

In terms of individual songs, Alice really stands out to me. It's a big departure from his typical style with its electronic-influenced beat and his poppy vocal performance. Future stepped out of his comfort zone on this song and it really paid off. I'm hoping to see more experimentation like that on future projects.

Fairey Barracuda Mk II - Carrier-based dive & torpedo bomber, most known for its role in Operation Tungsten where it significantly damaged KMS Tirpitz in Norway. The Barracuda was Britain's most produced naval aircraft of WWII and one of its most important, so I have no idea why it has been skipped over for complete failures like the Blackburn Firebrand.

Mitsubishi G3M2 "Rikko" - Medium/Torpedo bomber, famously sunk HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse off Malaya in a combined attack with G4M1 "Betty" bombers. This was the first time underway and defended capital ships were ever sunk by aircraft alone.

Grumman TBM-3 Avenger - Late-war upgrade of the carrier-based torpedo bomber with a significantly more powerful Wright R-2600-20 Twin Cyclone engine. The most notable achievement of this variant was the sinking of super battleship IJN Yamato, which was struck by at least 11 torpedoes launched by Avengers and 6 bombs dropped from other aircraft, which caused her to capsize.

Aichi M6A1 Seiran - Submarine-based floatplane dive/torpedo bomber operated from the massive I-400 class of submarines. Each I-400 class sub could hold 3 Seirans in an internal hangar and launch them using a pneumatic catapult. The Seirans first mission was planned to be an attack on the locks of the Panama Canal, but this was abandoned for an attack on an American naval base in the Caroline Islands where ships and troops were massing for Operation Downfall. The I-400s left port, but Japan surrendered before they got within range of their target and the attack was called off.

Fieseler Fi-167 A-0 - Carrier-based biplane torpedo bomber developed for Germany's never-completed aircraft carrier KMS Graf Zeppelin. After work on Graf Zeppelin was suspended, the 14 Fi-167s already built were used experimentally before being sold to Croatia in 1944 where they were used in a transport role. This somewhat obscure aircraft would make a great event vehicle or GE premium.

Mitsubishi Ki-51 "Sonia" - Light/Dive bomber which was used to great effect in China and Burma due to its ability to operate from crude airfields. The plane was later used in an anti-ship role and as a Kamikaze aircraft. On the day Hiroshima was nuked, a Ki-51 sunk the submarine USS Bullhead, this was the last US ship sunk during WWII.

Might make another list of Cold War bombers like the Tupolev Tu-16 "Badger", Avro Vulcan, and Rockwell B-1 Lancer that I really want to see added now that Gaijin are actually interested in making more modern bombers.

A small update came out about 24 hours ago and since then the game has been unplayable on Steam Deck due to constant crashes. I've tried just about everything to resolve it, including verifying all 110+ gbs of data and then doing a full reinstall with nothing to show for it. I can't even find anywhere they've acknowledged this bug. I just wanna play my Arado bro...

Try saying the post title 5 times fast.

Some of my favorites are:

Lil Uzi Vert - Seven Million

Megan Thee Stallion - Pressurelicious (Absolutely worth the listen if you haven't heard it)

Travis Scott - 3500

21 Savage & Metro Boomin - X

Honorable Mention:

Jay Rock - King's Dead

Pluto really said la-di-la-di-da slob on me knob and got a Grammy for it. Legendary.

The devs have promised 5 DLC Aircraft already and I think some of those are pretty obvious.

These are some that hope to see either in this first 5 or in subsequent DLC:

United Nations Forces:

United States:

Grumman F9F Panther

Vought AU-1 or F4U-4B Corsair

Douglas AD-4 Skyraider

Douglas B-26B Invader

Commonwealth:

Gloster Meteor F8

Hawker Sea Fury

DPRK & Allies:

Tupolev Tu-2

Polikarpov Po-2

I suspect the most likely first 5 would be the Panther, Corsair, Invader, Meteor, and Tu-2.

One aircraft that I would personally love to see would be the Ilyushin Il-28, but it arrived very late in the war and reportedly only flew reconnaissance missions. Regardless, having a jet bomber in the sim would be amazing.

Because I am certifiably insane, I choose to almost exclusively play bombers in Air RB. I have over 1,000 hours of playtime in them. Given the many discussions about the state of the game recently, I wanted to share my take on the issues with bombers.

The List of Issues:

Issue 1: Ahistorical Poor Survivability

Sub-Issue A: Useless AI Gunners

Sub-Issue B: Spontaneous Bomb Detonation

Issue 2: Limited Ability to Influence the Outcome of Matches

Issue 3: The Futility of High Tier Bombers

Ahistorical Poor Survivability:

When I started playing War Thunder in 2014, bombers weren't made of paper and their tails didn't disconnect the second you got hit with a single 20mm round. Some of my favorite memories from playing back then were from trying to land my crippled B-17E. Nowadays, I almost never make it back to base with damage. Bombers were never this fragile historically. Sure, sometimes an enemy fighter would get a lucky hit and sever control lines or hit the pilot, but those are exceptional cases. The greatest issue is the tails of bombers. An accurately aimed burst of 20mm or 30mm could definitely cut off the tail of a bomber, but that's not how they're currently modeled. Fighters can literally 1 tap you and your tail will be gone and you'll be dead.

Useless AI Gunners:

We all know AI Gunners were nerfed into the ground some time ago, so I'll keep things brief. Even with a maxed crew, gunners do not engage unless the enemy is within 200-300m, but fighters can be a threat to you up to a kilometer away. This point is a bit of a different situation in terms of historical accuracy. That engagement distance isn't unreasonable. American gunners in WWII were trained to fire at enemy fighters only within ~350m to avoid wasting ammunition. The problem is that mouse aim allows fighters to accurately fire from far beyond that range, which they would never have done historically. In WWII, fighters had to get much closer to accurately hit bombers due to being flown with a joystick in combat conditions.

Spontaneous Bomb Detonation:

The last point I want to address about survivability is how bombs will detonate if hit while still in the bomb bay or immediately after being dropped. In WWII, bombs typically had mechanisms that would prevent them from detonating unless they were armed by the crew and fell some set distance from the plane. Bombers didn't spontaneously explode when shot in the bomb bay. When bombers were shot down before dropping their payload, their bombs would often fall thousands of meters to the ground and still fail to explode. Unexploded bombs from WWII are still being found across Europe to this day.

Limited Ability to Influence the Outcome of Matches:

Currently, bombers have a very limited impact on matches, as most end with one team being completely destroyed. Destroying bases does cost the enemy team a chunk of tickets, but tickets rarely decide the outcome of a match. The removal of the ability to destroy the enemy airfield for an instant victory makes this even worse. Some may argue airfield destruction is a boring or frustrating victory condition, but I assure you, being the last alive on your team in a bomber with no possibility of victory is equally frustrating.

Because of this, some players are frustrated by seeing bombers on their team and that negatively affects teamwork and can result in toxic interactions.

The Futility of High Tier Bombers:

Two of the most frustrating aspects of playing bombers at higher tiers are the lack of airspawns, the prevalence of base bombing by supersonic air superiority fighters, and BR compression.

If you are a masochist, I highly recommend flying the B-66B Destroyer. It sits at 9.0 (Up from 8.7 for some reason), does not get an airspawn, is subsonic, and has no countermeasures. Flying the B-66B is truly the purest, most concentrated pain you can experience in War Thunder. Not only do you get murdered by missiles almost every match, you can't even bomb bases because your team will be full of supersonic fighters that will beat you to them, to the complete detriment of their own development as players and your team's chances of victory. Flying the Vautour IIB and to a lesser extent the Yak-28B provides a similar experience. These planes are unnecessarily frustrating to play.

Recommendations for Gaijin:

1. Rework bomber damage models across the board to increase survivability.

2. Increase the max engagement range of AI gunners to ~500-600m to compensate for mouse aim.

3. Introduce a bomb arming mechanic and prevent bombs from detonating when hit with smaller caliber guns unless they are armed.

4. Increase ticket loss from destroying bases and bring back airfield destruction as a win condition.

5. Introduce a bomber escorting mechanic that rewards fighter players based on bomb tonnage dropped by a bomber they escorted.

6. Lower base bombing rewards air superiority fighters and increase kill and assist awards for to encourage them to play their role.

7. Give jet bombers like the B-66B and Vautour IIB airspawns so they can actually reach their targets.

I want to try the game again, but definitely not play modern Yugioh, for reasons that are probably obvious.

I played from when I was a little kid until about halfway through the Pendulum era, and completely gave up on playing again when Link monsters were announced. I have fond memories of playing during HAT Format, though I only had budget decks at the time because I was a broke student. I played HAT (Though I couldn't afford the Hands or Kuribandits), Ghostricks, and Fire Kings back then and I still have those decks.

To experience some nostalgia, I bought a box of Legacy of the Valiant and Primal Origin off eBay hoping for good Sylvan pulls, since that was a deck I had always wanted to play back then but couldn't afford. I did get several foil Sylvan cards, but I also got a bunch of Bujins, including a ghost rare Bujinki Amaterasu and an ultimate rare Bujintei Tsukuyomi.

So, finally on to my question, what decks in modern HAT Format would be both competitive but also wouldn't be too difficult for a rusty returning player to pilot? I'm especially interested in opinions on Sylvans and Bujins, but since I still have budget HAT, Ghostricks, and Fire Kings, I'd be interested in opinions on them too. Any advice about modern HAT Format in general would also be appreciated.

1. Monster

Favorite Song: Throw Away

Runner Up: Monster

I know what you're thinking. How is Codeine Crazy not here? It's great and I would put it at #3. This album is just so ridiculously stacked that it's really hard to rank each song.

2. WE DON'T TRUST YOU

Favorite Song: Magic Don Juan (Princess Diana)

Runner Up: Like That (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)

Yeah. I put this above DS2. What are you gonna do about it?

3. DS2

Favorite Song: Fuck Up Some Commas

Runner Up: I Serve the Base

Anyone who would not rank this in the top 3 is insane.

4. Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD

Favorite Song: F&N

Runner Up: Baptiize

People really sleep on this album. It's so consistent and full of underappreciated bangers.

5. EVOL

Favorite Song: Ain't No Time

Runner Up: Low Life (Feat. The Weeknd)

I think this one is a step down from the previous 4, but I still rank it here.