If you have run into Memes in War Thunder and moved on without quite understanding it, this is the explanation.

Short answer

Short version — it is exactly what it looks like, and the confusion comes from a similarly named thing nearby.

  • Do not confuse it with the similarly named thing — that mix-up drives most bad advice.
  • Do not build a plan around it before you have seen it work.
  • Region and platform change more than people expect, so confirm both.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. There is a persistent myth attached to it that has never been true in any version. It is the kind of thing veterans forget they ever had to learn.

How it has changed over time

Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. Knowing this does not make you better at War Thunder, but it does make the rest of it legible. Its role has changed across updates, so older discussion describes something slightly different. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.

Most guides mention it in passing and none of them stop to define it. If you only remember one thing about it, remember where it appears. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over.

Where you encounter it

It appears in supplementary material in more detail than it does in the game itself. Community shorthand around it has drifted far enough from the original meaning to cause arguments. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why.

  • Treat wiki trivia sections as trivia rather than mechanics.
  • Expect its role to have shifted at least once across updates.
  • Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.
  • Read the in-game description once, then ignore it.

Common misunderstandings

It is more consequential in the late game than the early one, which is why first impressions mislead. Its practical value is narrow and real, rather than broad and theoretical. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. The name is descriptive if you already know what it does, and opaque if you do not.

It rewards understanding rather than grinding, which is unusual for War Thunder. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. Whether it is worth going out of your way for depends entirely on how you are playing.

What it is

The wiki entry is thorough and buries the actually useful part six paragraphs down. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. The game introduces it quickly and assumes you picked it up, which is where the confusion starts.

Early impressions of it are usually wrong in the same specific way. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Two similarly named things exist, and mixing them up explains a lot of contradictory advice.

What to do once you have it

It shows up in more places than its introduction suggests, once you know to look. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. It became noticeably more relevant after a change the patch notes barely mentioned.

Where people go wrong

  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.
  • Treating a rare edge case as the normal behaviour and planning around it.

War Thunder FAQ

What if none of this works for me?

Then something in your setup differs from the assumption — version, region or platform. Check those three before anything else.

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.

Is this still accurate after the latest War Thunder update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Has it changed recently?

Its role has shifted across updates more than once. Anything you read without a version attached may describe an older form of it.

Come back to the caveats list if it does not work first time — the answer is almost always in there.