Tip of the Day: Researching New Planes

From the Hangar screen, click on the ‘Tech Tree’ tab at the top of the screen. This will take you to a window where you can browse all of the planes of a particular tech tree and filter them by nation. Switch to the nation of your choosing.

You will notice how some nations have ‘Premium Aircraft’. These are planes that don’t need to be researched and which can only be acquired for Gold (Tokens in the Open Beta). However, all the other ‘regular’ planes will need to be researched with XP and then purchased for regular credits. In order to research and buy a plane, you will first have to collect sufficient XP (experience points) and credits, both of which are obtained as rewards for flying and being successful in battles.

Always keep an eye on your tokens, credits and XP!

In order to research something, you’ll need to click on the plane you want in the tech tree. This will lead you to the detailed view of this aircraft, showing you its research price (in XP), purchase price (in credits), its characteristics and available modules. To be able to research a new aircraft, you’ll first need to have researched the key module and concept of the preceding plane in the tech branch. If you check the diagram in the middle of the screen, you’ll notice that modules are researched from top to bottom, and that one of them always features a brighter arrow leading to the very bottom of the screen where the plane’s successor is displayed. The module that this brighter arrow leads down from is the key-module for the current plane that you’re viewing. In order to unlock the plane you want, you’ll first have to research the key modules and plane concepts of all the planes in the branch leading up to it.

Research your plane from the Tech Tree directly...	...or by individual key module.	Don't forget to purchase the plane to add it to your hangar!

Research is completed in two possible ways. The first way is to wait until you have enough XP and credits, then go to the plane’s detailed view on the tech tree and press the big ‘Research’ button. This will automatically research the chosen aircraft concept and the required key module of the plane’s predecessor. Alternatively, you can enter the detailed view of the predecessor to your desired plane and start clicking on the modules in the diagram one by one in order to research individual modules as you go without having to collect the entire XP and credit sums at once. Of course, this means you can use these modules if you want to fly with your desired plane’s predecessor. Either way, you cannot ‘skip’ planes when researching and aircraft have to be unlocked one by one by following their chain in the branch. This means that if you want to have a Tier X plane, you’ll need to unlock all the concepts of the branch’s Tier II to Tier IX planes first.

Premium planes are a little bit different. Unlike regular aircraft, they don’t require research and can be purchased immediately (as long as you have the Gold for it), without having to follow a chain of other planes to get to it. Premium planes earn you more credits in battle, usually don’t require any kind of module re-configuration and come with Elite-status equipped from the start. They can be a great investment if you want to ‘jump ahead’ and get the feeling of a high-tier plane early, even if you’re still at the very beginning of the regular tech tree.

As far as ‘What plane is the best?’ is concerned, there is no real answer to that. All the planes in World of Warplanes are balanced out before their release and constantly monitored afterwards so that they measure up fairly against other models of the same tier. Of course every plane will have its own little specifics, which will give it a unique feel and character. This is not to say that any one of them will be superior to any other of the same tier on paper alone. It will be up to you to make the best out of your plane’s capabilities and find the plane that corresponds best to the kind of game style you want to play and the role you want to take on in a battle. Depending on what exactly it is that you’re after, any plane and every plane can be the best for you.

Get Airborne!