War Thunder has spawned enough surrounding work that the ordering question comes up constantly.

Short answer

Treat it as supplementary. Enjoyable on its own, and richer if you have played first.

  • Buy from the publisher's own store where one exists.
  • Credit fan artists if you reuse their work.
  • Check the version you are actually running before assuming anything is broken.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. Assets circulated online are often ripped rather than released, which affects what you can legally do with them. Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers.

Where it fits with the game

It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately. Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of.

Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release. Fan work is frequently better than official work and is not the same thing. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over.

Where to find it legitimately

Release order and chronological order are different, and both have their advocates. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing.

  • Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.
  • Look for an official assets page before downloading anything.
  • Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.
  • Check whether something is official before treating it as canon.
  • Play first if you mind spoilers — adaptations rarely respect them.

What is fan-made

Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

What exists officially

War Thunder is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep.

Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.

Whether it is worth your time

Everything below is framed around the current state of War Thunder rather than a launch-week impression. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.

Where people go wrong

  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.
  • Treating a rare edge case as the normal behaviour and planning around it.
  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.

War Thunder FAQ

Is it any good?

The reception is mixed and depends heavily on what you wanted from it. The section above sets that expectation honestly.

Do I need any mods or third-party tools for this?

No. Everything described here works with the base game on any supported platform.

Do I need it to understand the game?

No. It adds background rather than filling gaps the game leaves open.

Does this work the same on console and PC?

The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.

That is the whole of it — if something here stops matching War Thunder, the game changed, not the method.