How to Build and Run a War Thunder Discord Community With YourBot

A useful War Thunder Discord should be organized around the things that actually determine whether people can play together: mode, Battle Rating, region, lineup availability, squad size, and whether the activity is casual, competitive, or scheduled. The common mistake is treating a normal four-player squad, a full match, an eight-player Squadron Battles roster, and the in-game Squadron as if they were the same group.

War Thunder is broadly cross-platform across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, so platform can be useful context without becoming a set of isolated LFG silos. This guide builds Iron Compass, a fictional 248-member cross-platform community with an associated 96-member in-game Squadron. It runs Ground and Air Realistic squads, Squadron Battles, Simulator/Enduring Confrontation sessions, training nights, and Custom Battles while keeping Discord-side automation clearly separate from game-side actions.

Start With the Right War Thunder Community Model

Cross-platform does not mean platform silos

War Thunder supports cross-platform multiplayer across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, and those players can form squads together. Iron Compass therefore uses one shared LFG system. Optional platform roles are kept only for troubleshooting, hardware/account context, or social preference.

A squad, a match, an event, and a Squadron are different things

Keep these capacities separate:

• a normal player squad can contain up to four players;
• most standard matches contain many more players; War Thunder's official FAQ says most maps are designed for 32 players total, with certain events supporting more;
• Squadron Battles use a larger organized roster than a normal squad; this guide plans an eight-player playing roster and puts alternates on a waitlist;
• an in-game Squadron can have up to 128 members;
• a Discord can be larger than the Squadron and include applicants, guests, friends, coaches, and casual members.

BR, mode, and lineup matter more than fantasy-style roles

War Thunder does not use Tank/Healer/DPS party composition. A useful LFG instead states Air/Ground/Naval, Arcade/Realistic/Simulator, Battle Rating, region, nation or lineup when relevant, voice preference, and the session goal. Capabilities such as SPAA, CAS, fighter, or bomber can be requested for a particular session, but they should not become permanent formal classes.

Keep current live modes separate from test content

As of September 25, 2026, Sky Odyssey is the current major update. Nuclear Escalation, Naval Enduring Confrontation, and Bullet Hell are permanent selectable modes, so communities can reasonably build LFG or event workflows around them when there is demand.

Infantry remains closed-beta/development content. If enough members are testers, give it an opt-in role and a temporary discussion area; do not design the main community as if every member can access it.

The Community We Will Build

Iron Compass is a fictional 248-member cross-platform War Thunder Discord. About 96 members belong to the associated in-game Squadron; everyone else can still participate in community activities. Most activity happens during American and European evenings, with Ground RB and Air RB as the busiest modes plus recurring Naval, Simulator/EC, Squadron Battles, training, and Custom Battle events.

YourBot's role in the community

1. Create the Foundation With Start Your Server

Start Your Server is useful because War Thunder communities tend to sprawl into channels for every nation, BR, vehicle type, and mode. Use it to create a reviewable foundation instead. Keep YourBot below human owner/admin roles, preserve existing structure on the first pass, and make additive changes before destructive cleanup.

The key design requirement is understanding that Discord membership, in-game Squadron membership, normal four-player squads, Squadron Battles rosters, and larger event attendance are separate concepts.

Copy-ready community brief

Build a War Thunder Discord called Iron Compass.

Community:
- About 248 Discord members; about 96 in the associated in-game Squadron.
- Cross-platform PC, PlayStation, and Xbox; use one shared LFG system.
- Primarily America/Europe evening activity.
- Ground RB and Air RB are busiest; also support Arcade, Naval, Simulator/EC, Squadron Battles, training, events, and Custom Battles.
- Infantry is test/closed-beta content, not a generally available core mode.

Onboarding:
- Give verified users a limited Member role.
- Self-selectable interests: Ground, Air, Naval, Arcade, Realistic, Simulator/EC, Squadron Battles, Training, Events, Major Updates, preferred region, and optional platform context.
- Optional Infantry Testing interest only for relevant testers.
- Never self-assign Owner, Admin, Moderator, Squadron Officer, Recruiter, Event Lead, or other trusted roles.

Compatibility:
- Normal War Thunder squads are up to 4 players; do not use a generic 5-player template.
- Squadron Battles use a separate 8-player playing roster with alternates/waitlist.
- Do not confuse squad size, match size, event attendance, Custom Battle attendance, or Squadron membership.
- LFG should emphasize mode, Battle Rating, region, nation/lineup when useful, voice, experience, and session goal.
- Do not invent Tank/Healer/DPS roles.
- Discord joining never creates a War Thunder squad or in-game invite.

Use all ten services:
Welcome, Sentinel, Tickets, Group Finder, Beacon Events, Join-to-Create Voice, Announcements, Social Feeds, Analytics, Giveaways.

Safety:
- Never request Gaijin/platform passwords, 2FA codes, recovery codes, session tokens, cookies, or payment details.
- Discord moderation is not War Thunder enforcement.
- Discord roles do not alter Squadron membership.
- Do not claim YourBot reads vehicle ownership, lineups, SL/GE, progression, match history, or game statistics without a separately verified integration.

First pass:
- Preserve existing structure and keep deletions off.
- Show Channels, Roles, Services, role-perspective previews, and safety checks before applying.
- Create a snapshot before build.
- Announcements schedules and Social Feed subscriptions are manual finishing steps.

A compact channel plan

IRON COMPASS
├─ START HERE
│  ├─ #welcome
│  ├─ #rules-and-safety
│  ├─ #announcements
│  └─ #war-thunder-updates
├─ COMMUNITY
│  ├─ #general
│  ├─ #questions-and-loadouts
│  └─ #screenshots-and-clips
├─ WAR THUNDER
│  ├─ #lfg-listings
│  ├─ #lfg-forum
│  ├─ #events
│  ├─ #squadron-operations
│  └─ #tactics-and-training
├─ SUPPORT
│  └─ #open-a-ticket
├─ VOICE
│  ├─ Squad Up
│  ├─ Squadron Battles
│  └─ Custom Ops
└─ STAFF
   ├─ #staff-room
   └─ #mod-log

Do not create permanent channels for every nation, BR, map, vehicle, patch, or temporary event unless real traffic later justifies them.

Review before applying

Review Channels, Roles, and Services, then use role-perspective previews for an unverified visitor, Member, Squadron Member, Moderator, and Squadron Officer. Confirm private staff areas stay private, trusted roles are not self-selectable, LFG remains visible, and deletions stay off on the first build.

After building, review the build report. A snapshot can restore structure, but it cannot restore messages lost with a deleted channel, so treat cleanup as a separate deliberate pass.

Announcements schedules and Social Feed subscriptions require manual finishing steps.

2. Welcome: Collect the Context Players Actually Need

Welcome should make the server understandable before it makes it personalized. A newcomer should be able to verify, see the basic rules, choose useful interests, and immediately understand where to find a compatible War Thunder session.

For Iron Compass, use a limited Member role after verification. Then offer self-selectable interests such as:

• Ground
• Air
• Naval
• Arcade
• Realistic
• Simulator / Enduring Confrontation
• Squadron Battles
• Training / Mentoring
• Community Events
• Major Update Notifications
• optional preferred region interests
• optional PC, PlayStation, or Xbox context
• optional Infantry Testing, only while the member actually has access or interest

Do not create permanent roles for every Battle Rating. BR changes as players unlock vehicles and switch lineups; it belongs in the LFG listing or a persistent lineup profile, not the server's core role hierarchy.

Keep trusted roles staff-assigned: Squadron Member, Squadron Officer, Recruiter, Moderator, Event Lead, and Administrator should never be available from a self-service menu.

A short greeting can be enough:

Welcome to Iron Compass. Pick the War Thunder modes you actually play, then use Group Finder for sessions and Beacon for scheduled events. Platform roles are optional because our LFG is cross-platform. Never post account credentials or two-factor codes in Discord.

If you use a verification deadline or web/captcha verification, make sure legitimate newcomers can still reach a clear help path when verification fails.

Test: Join with a fresh test account, complete verification, select Ground + Realistic + Events, and confirm the account can see LFG and event areas but cannot see staff channels or assign itself Squadron/staff roles.

3. Sentinel: Protect the Community Without Pretending to Police the Game

War Thunder communities attract the same Discord risks as other competitive games plus a few predictable variants: fake login pages, account-sale offers, cheat sellers, malicious downloads disguised as sound packs or utilities, impersonation, scam trade links, spam, and harassment after competitive matches.

Build Sentinel rules around those concrete risks. Start new aggressive rules in watch or dry-run mode where possible so staff can see what would have fired before enabling destructive actions. Keep logs in #mod-log and make escalation paths clear.

Useful priorities include:

• block or flag obvious credential-phishing language and suspicious shortened links;
• watch for mass mentions, repeated invite spam, and raid-like join behavior;
• flag impersonation of officers or staff;
• prohibit cheat/bypass sales and account-sale spam;
• treat executable or script downloads with extra caution;
• keep harassment and slur policies consistent regardless of in-game rivalry;
• log moderation actions so appeals have context.

Do not turn Sentinel into a speculative anti-cheat system. It cannot determine whether somebody cheated in a War Thunder match from Discord chat alone, and a Discord punishment is not a Gaijin enforcement action.

Discord moderation is not game enforcement.

Test: In a staff-only test area, submit one harmless sample phishing-style message and one repeated-spam pattern. Confirm the intended rule logs or acts as configured without exposing the test to ordinary members.

4. Tickets: Route Squadron and Member Issues Privately

Tickets should handle matters that benefit from a private, accountable workflow rather than another public help channel.

Iron Compass uses four intake paths:

1. Squadron Application — Discord name, in-game display name, preferred modes, approximate experience, usual play window, region, and why the member wants to join.
2. Private Member Report — person or incident being reported, approximate time, relevant Discord channel/message context, and optional evidence that can be shared safely.
3. Training / Coaching Request — mode, BR range, nation or lineup, topic, availability, and whether voice is comfortable.
4. Event / Custom Battle Proposal — activity idea, desired date/time, estimated attendance, intended mode, and any special rules the organizer wants staff to review.

Never ask for passwords, two-factor codes, recovery codes, session tokens, payment details, Steam credentials, console account credentials, or account cookies.

A successful Squadron Application ticket can move the Discord-side review forward. It does not add the applicant to the War Thunder Squadron. A recruiter still performs the actual in-game action, and the Discord Squadron Member role should be assigned only after staff verifies the roster change.

Test: Open one Squadron Application and one Private Member Report from a test account. Confirm each creates the right private destination, exposes the correct form information to authorized staff, and does not grant any in-game or trusted Discord role automatically.

5. Group Finder: Match Mode, BR, and Session Goals Instead of Generic Roles

Group Finder should make compatibility clear before somebody clicks Join.

Verify auto-detection before relying on it

At the read-only YourBot develop revision inspected for this guide, War Thunder is not in Group Finder's automatic game-detection list. Its generic fallback is also wrong for normal War Thunder squads because it defaults to five players.

War Thunder is not in the currently inspected automatic game-detection list, so create explicit templates manually.

That does not limit Group Finder itself: templates can specify party size plus region, platform, language, difficulty, voice, start time, visibility, and other context.

Create the first template

Template Name: War Thunder — Ground RB Squad
Game: War Thunder
Default Party Size: 4
Default Expiry: 2 hours
Description: Four-player Ground Realistic squad. Include region, target BR, nation/lineup context, voice preference, experience, and whether the goal is grinding, casual matches, tasks, or coaching.

Do not create Tank/Healer/DPS slots. A leader can request a session-specific capability such as usable SPAA without turning it into a permanent class.

Additional templates

Use Beacon for larger Custom Battle attendance rather than forcing event-scale RSVPs into an LFG party.

Example live listing

War Thunder — Ground RB Squad
Region: America / Europe acceptable
Mode: Ground Realistic
Target BR: 10.7
Players: 2 / 4
Lineup: Bring a viable 10.7 lineup; nation flexible
Goal: Casual matches + research grind
Optional: Usable SPAA helpful, not required
Voice: Yes
Start: Now
Expected session: ~90 minutes
Note: We form the actual squad in War Thunder after the Discord group is ready.

Joining a Discord listing does not create the in-game party.

Test: Create Ground RB and Squadron Battles templates, verify capacities of four and eight respectively, trigger a waitlist, and confirm no Discord action claims to invite anyone inside War Thunder.

6. Beacon Events: Schedule the Activities That Need Commitment

Use Beacon when the community needs a date, a start time, attendance planning, reminders, role slots, or a waitlist. That is different from “who wants to play right now?” LFG.

A practical recurring example is an eight-player Squadron Battles event:

Event: Iron Compass Squadron Battles
Start: Saturday, 8:00 PM server time
Playing capacity: 8
Waitlist: Enabled
Voice: Required for the playing roster
Check-in: 20 minutes before start
Notes: Current season/ruleset and lineup requirements will be posted in the event description. Alternates remain on the waitlist until a playing slot opens.

If one of the eight players is a coach or mentor who is actually playing, that person counts inside the eight-player capacity. Do not advertise “8 players + 1 playing coach” if the activity only has eight playing slots.

For training nights, a normal coached squad is still a four-player War Thunder squad. A playing mentor occupies one of those four seats. If you want one instructor to supervise several squads, create multiple squad groups and let the instructor move between their Discord voice rooms without pretending all participants belong to one War Thunder squad.

Beacon can also run larger Custom Battle nights, tournaments, community showcases, or Simulator/EC sessions. In those cases, set the Discord RSVP capacity to the event you are actually planning, and verify the current game/custom-lobby rules before publishing a hard game-server maximum.

A Beacon RSVP does not register a player in War Thunder, create a lobby, reserve a game-server slot, or grant an in-game reward.

Test: Create an eight-player Squadron Battles event with a waitlist. Fill all eight playing spots, add a ninth user, and verify that the ninth user remains an alternate rather than silently increasing the playing capacity.

7. Join-to-Create Voice: Match Voice Capacity to the Activity

War Thunder communities need temporary voice more than they need a wall of permanent Squad 1 through Squad 20 channels.

Create multiple Join-to-Create lobbies because the useful group sizes differ:

• Squad Up — default temporary room limit of 4 for ordinary squads.
• Squadron Battles — default temporary room limit of 8 for the playing roster.
• Custom Ops — larger temporary rooms for scheduled community events; choose a Discord user limit appropriate for the event rather than assuming it equals the game's lobby capacity.

Enable deletion when empty, creator ownership, and ownership transfer so abandoned rooms clean themselves up. Staff should retain the ability to intervene when a temporary room becomes disruptive.

Members can still use War Thunder's native communication tools when useful. Discord voice is a community coordination layer; it does not create the game party or replace the actual War Thunder lobby.

Test: Join Squad Up, confirm a four-user temporary room is created, leave it empty, and verify it is removed. Repeat with Squadron Battles and confirm its limit is eight rather than inheriting the four-player squad setting.

8. Announcements: Keep Operational Information Dated

War Thunder changes often enough that undated announcements become misinformation. Treat patch, event, Battle Pass, tournament, Squadron, and test information as dated operational notices rather than permanent rules.

Useful schedules include:

• weekly Iron Compass activity plan;
• recurring Squadron Battles reminder;
• monthly new-player orientation;
• scheduled Custom Battle or tournament notices;
• server maintenance or internal Discord changes;
• deadline reminders for a community event.

Use opt-in notification roles such as Events, Squadron Battles, and Major Updates instead of pinging everyone for every post.

As of this guide's September 25, 2026 research date, Battle Pass Season 24, Do It Yourself, is scheduled through October 21, 2026. If you announce that deadline, include the date. Likewise, Sky Odyssey's mode changes are current now, but a future guide should re-check them instead of copying this article blindly.

Do not schedule announced or test features as if they are already generally available. Infantry testing is the obvious current example: a test notice should say it is testing, who can access it, and when the information was checked.

Avoid duplicate pings between Beacon and Announcements. If Beacon already sends event reminders, use Announcements for the weekly overview rather than manually repeating every reminder.

Test: Schedule one staff-only weekly-plan test announcement, verify the timezone and opt-in role mention, then confirm it does not duplicate a Beacon reminder for the same event.

9. Social Feeds: Add War Thunder Through Steam Instead of Assuming a Curated Entry

At the current read-only YourBot develop revision inspected for this guide, War Thunder does not have a curated entry in mmo_maid/plugins/social/game_catalog.py.

The clean fallback is the generic Steam source. War Thunder's Steam App ID is 236390, and YourBot's current Steam source accepts a numeric App ID and reads the public Steam news endpoint.

Create a feed with:

Source: Steam
Steam App ID: 236390
Destination: #war-thunder-updates
Purpose: War Thunder Steam community announcements and patch/update posts

The inspected Steam source uses the public ISteamNews API, requests the steam_community_announcements feed, and currently defines a default 900-second source interval. Treat that as polling behavior, not a delivery guarantee.

Steam is useful because it gives Iron Compass a low-maintenance update stream, but do not claim it mirrors every War Thunder support notice, forum post, hotfix explanation, tournament article, esports announcement, or Gaijin website post. Staff should still link an official War Thunder page manually when a specific operational announcement matters to the community.

If the Social Feeds catalog gains a dedicated War Thunder entry later, use the current documented catalog option instead of preserving this manual setup out of habit.

Test: Add App ID 236390 to a staff test destination first. Confirm the feed resolves as War Thunder, posts an expected item format, and does not ping a broad notification role until the staff has reviewed the output.

10. Analytics: Measure Community Health, Not War Thunder Performance

Analytics should answer Discord questions such as:

• Do verified newcomers return after their first week?
• Which LFG templates are actually used?
• Are Squadron Battle signups filling?
• Which scheduled events have good attendance?
• Are temporary squad voice rooms being used?
• Which channels are active enough to keep?
• Are important questions being forced into #general because another workflow is unclear?

Exclude sensitive staff, report, ticket, and other private areas from broad community analysis where appropriate.

What Analytics does not automatically know includes:

• a player's Battle Rating lineups;
• vehicle ownership;
• Silver Lions or Golden Eagles;
• research progress;
• kills, deaths, win rate, or K/D;
• match history;
• Squadron Battles rating;
• in-game Squadron roster state;
• whether a member completed a Battle Pass challenge;
• whether somebody is “good” at War Thunder.

Even when Discord activity data is available, do not convert message count or voice hours into a player-skill score.

Test: After the server has real usage, compare LFG activity, event participation, and voice use for a week. Verify private ticket/moderation areas are handled according to your privacy expectations and that no dashboard is described as War Thunder statistics.

11. Giveaways: Keep Discord Drawings Separate From War Thunder Accounts

Giveaways can support harmless community rewards such as community merchandise, a permitted general-purpose gift, or another prize staff can deliver legitimately outside YourBot.

Keep the drawing and the game economy separate. YourBot should not be described as transferring Golden Eagles, granting vehicles, delivering DLC, moving Gaijin Market items, authenticating a trade, or changing anybody's War Thunder account.

If the prize ultimately involves a third-party store or game-related redemption, staff should verify the current platform and regional rules before announcing it. Never require a winner to submit a password, two-factor code, recovery code, session token, or account cookie to claim a prize.

For a first test, use a staff-only giveaway with a harmless placeholder prize and a short duration.

Test: Run a staff-only test drawing, verify entry and winner selection, and confirm the claim instructions request no account credentials or in-game access.

Keep Squads, Squadron Membership, and Discord Membership Separate

War Thunder's terminology makes this distinction especially important.

A squad is the small party that queues together. A Squadron is the larger persistent in-game organization. The Discord is a separate community layer that can contain people who belong to the Squadron, applicants who do not, casual friends, event guests, and former members.

Iron Compass therefore uses different concepts:

• Member — verified Discord member.
• Squadron Applicant — optional staff-managed status while an application is open.
• Squadron Member — staff-assigned after in-game membership is confirmed.
• Squadron Officer — staff-assigned to people who actually hold the relevant community responsibility.
• SQB Roster — optional operational role for people participating in current Squadron Battles organization; it does not change the in-game roster.

The associated War Thunder Squadron has a 128-member cap, while Iron Compass has 248 people in Discord. That is normal. Do not kick valuable community members from Discord merely because the in-game roster is full, and do not imply that assigning a Discord role bypasses the game's Squadron limit.

If the Squadron reaches capacity, Tickets can keep applications organized and staff can communicate a waiting-list policy. The actual invitation, removal, officer promotion, and Squadron permissions remain game-side.

Organize Around BR, Mode, and Lineup Readiness Instead of Channel Sprawl

A War Thunder member's useful matchmaking identity changes session by session. Someone can be a Ground RB player at one BR, an Air RB player at another, and a Naval beginner later that evening. Permanent roles for every possible combination become obsolete quickly.

Keep the persistent Discord identity broad:

• activity interest;
• preferred mode;
• region/time availability;
• optional platform context;
• trusted Squadron/staff status.

Put session-specific compatibility into Group Finder:

• target BR;
• nation or available lineup;
• whether the player has a viable lineup rather than one isolated vehicle;
• whether voice is required;
• the session's goal;
• special capabilities requested by the leader;
• start time and expected duration.

This also makes BR changes painless. When War Thunder moves a vehicle's BR or a member unlocks a new lineup, you do not need to rewrite the Discord role structure. They simply post the current information when forming a group.

For recurring competitive groups, store only the persistent information that is actually worth maintaining. That is where a small custom lineup/readiness library can become useful later.

Treat Patches, Battle Passes, Special Modes, and Infantry Testing as Time-Bound Information

War Thunder has a high enough update cadence that “current” needs a date.

At the time this guide was researched:

• Sky Odyssey is the current major update, released September 16, 2026.
• Nuclear Escalation, Naval Enduring Confrontation, and Bullet Hell are permanent selectable modes under the current mode selector.
• Battle Pass Season 24, Do It Yourself, is scheduled to end October 21, 2026.
• Infantry remains under closed-beta development and should not be treated like normal generally available Air/Ground/Naval play.

Build the community so those facts can change without a redesign. Use Social Feeds for selected ongoing updates, Announcements for dated operational notices, threads for temporary event discussion, Beacon for scheduled activity, and Group Finder templates only for modes that people actually use often enough to justify them.

When a mode changes, update the template or archive it. When a Battle Pass ends, stop pinging its role. When Infantry access expands or the rules change, update the opt-in workflow instead of pretending an old test guide is permanent documentation.

Add an Iron Compass Lineup Library Only When You Need It

Iron Compass can launch without a custom plugin. First use the built-in services, then check the Marketplace for a maintained solution. Build something custom only if the community develops a persistent problem the built-ins do not solve.

A good candidate is an Iron Compass Lineup Library: members maintain their own readiness profiles so event leads can answer “who has a usable lineup around this BR for this nation and mode?” Group Finder still handles today's live session; the library stores reusable member-entered context.

Version 1 should use self-reported data only, with no unnecessary external network access or account scraping.

Copy-ready Plugin Builder specification

Plugin Name: Iron Compass Lineup Library

Purpose:
Store per-server, self-reported War Thunder lineup readiness for planning future groups. Do not replace Group Finder, Beacon, Tickets, or Announcements.

Network policy:
- Version 1 has no external network access.
- Do not call or scrape Gaijin, Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, or stat sites.
- All game data is self-reported.

Roles and permissions:
- Verified members can create/edit/archive their own records.
- Squadron Officer and Event Lead can add review notes or mark records reviewed.
- Only Administrators can manage settings and exports.
- Members cannot edit another member's record.
- Authorization must be enforced server-side on every read/write/export action.

Fields:
- Discord user ID and display label
- mode: Air / Ground / Naval / Simulator or configured community mode
- Arcade / Realistic / Simulator preference when relevant
- nation
- BR value or range
- lineup label
- optional capability tags such as fighter, bomber, CAS, SPAA, heavy/light tank, coastal, bluewater
- voice preference
- experience/availability note
- free-text notes
- status
- last-updated timestamp
- optional reviewed-by and reviewed-at fields

Statuses:
Draft, Ready, Needs Review, Archived

Commands:
- /lineup-save
- /lineup-list
- /lineup-find
- /lineup-review
- /lineup-archive
- /lineup-help

Dashboard:
- Filter by mode, nation, BR, status, capability, member, and update age.
- Surface stale records after a configurable period.
- Members can manage only their own records.
- Staff can filter Reviewed / Needs Review / Stale.
- Exports are admin-only and scoped to the current Discord server.

Audit and isolation:
- Audit create, edit, archive, review, staff archive, and export actions.
- Keep staff notes private.
- Every record is scoped to its Discord server; never expose another server's data.

Privacy:
- Never collect passwords, 2FA/recovery codes, session tokens, cookies, payment information, or platform credentials.
- Do not claim verified vehicle ownership, BR, statistics, Squadron membership, or progression.
- Provide an understandable archive/delete path.

Explicit non-capabilities:
- Does not create or invite to a War Thunder squad.
- Does not read live game state.
- Does not verify vehicles, currency, stats, or research.
- Does not modify Squadron membership.

Review, test, and continue through the SDK

Review the generated plan, source, manifest, capabilities, data model, and web UI before testing. Confirm version 1 did not request external network access. Validate it, then test as a Member, Squadron Officer, Event Lead, Administrator, and a user whose trusted role has been revoked. Specifically test direct-record authorization, cross-server isolation, exports, stale records, and archive/delete behavior.

For Visual Studio Code work, use the current YourBot SDK instructions. The present public docs include workflows such as yourbot dev --watch and yourbot validate, but exact SDK versions, development-install limits, build/credit behavior, and publishing rules can change and should be re-checked when the plugin is actually built.

Marketplace publication is optional. Passing validation proves technical checks passed; it does not prove the permissions, privacy model, or War Thunder assumptions are correct.

Run a Complete First-Week Member Journey

Test the server from a member's perspective, not just the administrator view.

If members repeatedly misunderstand where to post, what BR is expected, or whether a Discord role changes in-game membership, fix that workflow before adding more automation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can PC, PlayStation, and Xbox players use the same War Thunder LFG?

Yes. War Thunder supports cross-platform multiplayer and cross-platform squads, so use one LFG system unless a real mode/platform restriction requires otherwise.

Why are normal Group Finder templates set to four players?

A normal War Thunder squad can contain up to four players. That is different from match size, Custom Battle attendance, or a Squadron Battles roster.

How should we handle Squadron Battles?

Use a dedicated eight-player competitive template and/or Beacon event with current rules, voice requirements, and a waitlist. Re-check season-specific restrictions before publishing them.

Does a Discord Squadron Member role add someone to the War Thunder Squadron?

No. Staff still performs and verifies the in-game roster action separately.

Will Group Finder automatically detect War Thunder?

Not in the inspected develop revision. Create explicit War Thunder templates manually instead of inheriting the generic fallback.

Is War Thunder already in the curated Social Feeds catalog?

Not in the inspected catalog. Add the generic Steam source manually with App ID 236390.

Can YourBot read War Thunder vehicles, stats, BR lineups, or progression?

Not through the built-in setup described here. Treat LFG and Lineup Library data as member-provided context, not verified telemetry.

Do we need the custom Lineup Library plugin?

No. Launch with the built-ins first and add it only if persistent lineup readiness becomes a real recurring need.

Build the Community Around How War Thunder Is Actually Played

A War Thunder Discord works best when squad size, match size, Squadron membership, BR, mode, region, event attendance, and platform are treated as different kinds of context.

Start Your Server can establish the structure and permissions; the built-in services then handle onboarding, compatible LFG, scheduled attendance, temporary voice, private support, moderation, dated updates, community analytics, and giveaways. The actual War Thunder actions remain game-side: players form squads, choose lineups, queue, join Custom Battles, manage Squadron membership, and progress their accounts inside the game.

Use Plugin Builder only after a real persistent workflow remains. For Iron Compass, that is the Lineup Library—and only if members repeatedly need reusable BR/nation/mode readiness data between sessions.