George In The Meta
Is rolling downhill an exploit in WARDOGS?
By George In The Meta · · updated
Short answer: rolling downhill isn't an exploit in WARDOGS, and BULKHEAD's CEO said so on 18 October. I agree with him. But a fully loaded Ural rolling at 142 km/h for about three kilometres is a different thing. That's nearly double the truck's top speed, through trees, and the maths says a hill alone can't do that.
What did BULKHEAD say about rolling downhill?
BULKHEAD's CEO Joe Brammer said rolling downhill is realistic, not an exploit. On 18 October he replied to a player who'd been told that drifting in reverse was an exploit:
"Definitely not an exploit. Leave a car in gear and see what happens, then put it in neutral down hill and see what happens. Nothing to do with poor physics, quite the opposite, incredibly realistic 馃槀 Whether we want to keep that behaviour, well let's see."
He's right about a truck rolling down a hill. I'm just not sure he knows what the exploit actually is.
What is the 142 km/h Ural trick?
The 142 km/h Ural trick is a teammate of mine driving his Ural to the zone backwards. On 17 October, in my Europe game, he did a spin turn, "just let it ride", and told me it got to 142. My own Ural tops out at 79 km/h going forwards, and I was flat out behind him while he slowly pulled away, facing the wrong way.
Going down a hill backwards and picking up speed, fine. Holding 142 for three kilometres after it, through trees and shit, is not how trucks work. If BULKHEAD thinks that's realistic, I'd be very impressed.
How big a hill does a Ural need to reach 142 km/h?
A Ural needs to drop at least 79 metres to reach 142 km/h from a standstill, and that's with no friction, no air and no engine at all. Real rolling and air resistance mean it needs more. Speed from a drop doesn't depend on weight, so a loaded Ural and an empty one need the same hill.
How far would a loaded Ural roll at 142 km/h?
A loaded Ural rolling at 142 km/h on a dirt track would drop below its own top speed within about 880 metres and stop within about 1.4 km. That's with the engine in neutral and the road flat after the hill:
| Surface | 142 down to 79 km/h | 142 to a stop |
|---|---|---|
| Tarmac | about 1.7 km | about 3.4 km |
| Dirt track | about 880 m | about 1.4 km |
| Grass and rough ground | about 530 m | about 820 m |
Even on tarmac, it's back under its normal top speed well before three kilometres. Off-road through trees, it doesn't come close.
What slope would keep a Ural at 142 km/h for three kilometres?
A loaded Ural would need a steady 7.6% downhill on a dirt track to hold 142 km/h, which is about 226 metres of drop over three kilometres. On grass it's nearly 12%, about 345 metres of drop. That's a long, steep mountain road, not a slope to the play zone.
Does a heavier Ural roll further?
A heavier Ural rolls a bit further, but not enough to matter. Gravity speeds up a heavy truck and a light one the same. Rolling resistance grows with the weight, so that cancels out too. The only thing weight helps against is air, which pushes back the same on both. So a loaded Ural coasts further than an empty one: about 880 metres from 142 down to 79 on dirt, against about 710 empty. That's still nowhere near three kilometres. And if you leave it in gear, like Brammer says, the engine brakes it and it stops even sooner.
Have I rolled a truck downhill in WARDOGS?
Not to anything like that speed. I tried the backwards trick twice and only got to 29 km/h rolling down a hill. I didn't even know you could put a truck in neutral, if I'm honest. I thought the options were forwards or backwards.
Should BULKHEAD keep it?
No, BULKHEAD shouldn't keep the 142 km/h version. Rolling down a hill and keeping your momentum is fine. Getting to the play zone at nearly twice the speed the truck is meant to go, for three kilometres, is absurd.
How was this worked out?
Using the real Ural-4320 truck: about 9 tonnes empty, up to 6 tonnes of cargo on road, 15.3 tonnes gross and 82 km/h top speed (the gross weight, load and top speed match Wikipedia), so about 15 tonnes loaded. Air drag uses a frontal area of about 7 m虏 with a boxy-truck drag coefficient of 0.8. Rolling resistance uses typical coefficients of 0.01 for tarmac, 0.04 for a dirt track and 0.08 for grass. Engine braking and gearbox drag are left out, so the real distances would be shorter. WARDOGS doesn't have to follow real physics, which is the point: something in the game is letting this truck do what a real one can't.
Checked 20 October 2026: the empty weight was corrected from 8,440 kg (not in the source) to about 9 tonnes, which moves the distances by tens of metres. Sources: Joe Brammer on X (18 October), my own game on 17 October, and the Ural-4320 specifications on Weaponsystems.net and Wikipedia.
