War Thunder Zoom Mod: Not Cheating, Just Better Sniping

When operating the Gunner scope (typically activated by using "sniper aim" via pressing shift button), objects are initially seen with the scope set to the minimum zoom setting. To toggle between the minimum and maximum zoom settings, this can be achieved utilising the scrolling mouse wheel, pressing the default "zoom in" key Z or through any other key mapped specifically for this function on a keyboard, mouse or joystick/throttle controller.

War Thunder Zoom Mod

When looking at a vehicle in the vehicle garage of War Thunder, vehicles with optics will show their location when looking at the vehicle in X-ray mode. Using the cursor to hover over the optic a pop-up bubble will appear annotating the device as an "optic", some will even have additional information listed in the pop-up bubble. Generally, if the vehicle has more than one set of optics, only one of them will list the zoom levels options and typically this will appear when hovering over the gunner's optics, however, this is not always the case and all optics may have to be checked for more information.

Some vehicles do not contain as much information as others and when the optic pop-up bubble only lists one zoom level, it is assumed that this is the maximum zoom available for the optics on this vehicle as in the Ho-Ri Production Japanese tank destroyer.

Several vehicles may not have a zoom range specified, when it comes to these, it is best to take the vehicle out on a training run and choose a fixed object in which to compare the zoom rate in comparison to other vehicles with known zoom rates. This will provide a general range in which to have a better idea of what the optics are capable of during combat manoeuvres.

Optics zoom levels are an important indicator as to what type of tank is being used. Typically brawler tanks meant to be used on the front lines will not have much zoom capabilities beyond X4 as they are meant for up-close fighting and not long-range sniping. Tanks with zoom ranges of +X12 are meant for more reserve positions where they can maximize the zoom capabilities at disabling vehicles from a long distance. Those who are comfortable with the different vehicles and the optics located there can sometimes effectively push the limits of the optics and make the long-range shots with weaker optics or utilise a sniper-tank in close quarters battle.

An important note to remember in arcade mode is that it is easier to fine-tune gun aim with stronger magnification, especially if an enemy tank has only one small weak spot and you are limited on time. Also, the stronger the zoom is, the further apart the shell drop marks become making it slightly less confusing when estimating the shooting angle targeting solution.

Sometimes tanks have extremely powerful X16 zoom while utilizing demolition cannon with low-velocity shells or extremely weak zoom (and very bad lenses at that) while utilizing high-velocity APDS or APFSDS. It makes ballistic marks on scope way too cramped or spaced out for comfortable use and in case of early HEAT, shells may make sniper scope unusable. Some, like rocket tanks, do not have ballistic marks at all and leave you all alone with your muscle memory.

These changes do not affect zoom levels, gun characteristics or users abilities, they just change out the crosshair targeting application. However, even that much can make a huge difference to your life quality:

Several tanks do not have specified zoom levels listed, however, after being checked and compared to the gallery in a test-drive map, that information can be listed in the "main armament" section of the chosen vehicle, either by simply noting the minimum and maximum zoom levels or by filling it with a small table much like below:

However, as I get into higher BR tanks with better optics, I've noticed that I can get more zoom magnification by going into 'sniper' view and rolling my middle mouse button forward as compared to going into sniper view then hitting the right mouse button for the default zoom.

Not sure what's up, but all of a sudden how this works has gotten mucked up (no, I didn't change any of my control settlings). It used to be max zoom on all my tanks, no fiddling required (just go sniper mode), and now it doesn't. I can do the Left Shift+RMB thing, but would prefer this to be single action as it was previously. Any ideas?

I dont understand why, but some tanks just Zoom much more than other tanks. Those tanks that zoom insanely much, like certain T-34 versions as well as the AMX-13 (FL11), on the other hand, arent really able to use Snipe mode with shift click. it legit barely zooms in afterwards, because the first right click on your mouse already zooms insanely much.

It makes no sense to me why i would be forced to have Snipe mode on constantly on some tanks as a handicap, and full control over zoom distance on other tanks. is there something i can do with controls that changes this? and why does some tanks have this handicap, when others dont?

So, lets take the jagdpanther, for example. It has the PAK long 88 gun. That gun is great, but because of the historical zoom in the jagdpanther, the bullet will drop more (in your scope) compared to other vehicles that use the same gun. There is a cost-benefit to it, although you will have to compensate more for drop in the gun sights, you can shoot more accurately at longer ranges. When in doubt look at the distance markers in the gunsights, they will tell you how much the bullet will drop at what distance.

To help my situation, I setup zoom as a toggle. For example, by pressing a button on the Joystick, zoom is activated and remains in zoom mode, until I toggle the button again, when it returns to normal.

I have the Oculus and fly in VR almost 100% of time. The Vive Pro may be better, but VR technology has a serious weakness with resolution, which makes combat a lot more difficult. The zoom feature is an aid that DCS felt necessary to help users overcome this shortfall.

A friend of mine has VR and he can use the zoom feature where I cannot. I tried the P-51 and the F-86 and they both have the same issue as the A-10C. Zoom works on my friends system using Oculus, but does not on mine.

Next time you sit on an airliner watch the altitude and see how easily you can distinguish various types of vehicles on the roads even from 10,000'. You could never do that in DCS, even with the zoom. "Muh realism" is a very poor excuse in this case, because the zoom feature actually enhances the realism.

I have a similar problem. I can assign a key to zoom but it doesn't do anything. I can see it is bound when I push it in the settings screen. The only key that zooms for me is using the A button on the right touch controller. I want to bind it to a HOTAS button.

However, if I replace the default VR Zoom with the lowercase tilde key `, then DCS will effectively permit both the zoom feature and firing the guns to simultaneously work, because DCS will accept two characters, (` + HOME).

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