: By treating fuel tanks as individual components, their specific location and current fuel level began to play a more realistic role in the vehicle's damage model. A hit to an "excess" or external fuel tank could cause a fire or explosion, but its separation from the internal crew compartment could sometimes mitigate catastrophic failure depending on the vehicle's design.
In the (October 2014), the "All Vehicles Excess Fuel Tank" feature introduced a significant change to how ground vehicles handle fuel. Prior to this, fuel tanks were often generalized components, but version 1.43 transitioned them into discrete, calculated modules. Feature Overview All Vehicles Excess Fuel Tank v1.3 1.43
This system has since been refined in subsequent patches, but the 1.43 update remains the foundational moment when fuel tanks moved from abstract health bars to physical, targetable components. Update 1.43 - War Thunder Wiki : By treating fuel tanks as individual components,
: In certain scenarios, these separate fuel tanks can act as a form of secondary armor (often referred to by the community as "fuel tank armor"), where the fuel and tank structure absorb fragments from penetrating shells before they reach critical internal modules. Implementation Details Prior to this, fuel tanks were often generalized
: Fuel tanks and ammunition loads were separated and calculated as distinct modules for all ground vehicles.
: This change was applied universally to all ground vehicles available in the game at the time of the 1.43 update.