what is the definition of "Critical Hits"

[BASTARD]

its totally means nothing, so YEAH don't happy if u got "critical hits" in this game.

just turn off that notifications so that u can learn better how to shoot in this game

[Agezak]

Critical hits mean you you damaged something important, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the enemy is incapacited and can't kill you.

[The Laughing Traitor]

Specifically, things like nonfatal engine damage to planes, flooding in a ship, and losing extra tank crew aren't immediately noticeable in a given fight, but can cause problems in the long run/followup engagements if they can't be addressed.

Which gets into the meta-purpose of critical hits, which is to help determine kill and assist credit. Getting a critical hit essentially puts a flag on the target that tells the game ''Hey, if this dude dies in the next few minutes I was definitely involved'.

[Illusionyary]

Originally posted by Agezak:

Critical hits mean you you damaged something important, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the enemy is incapacited and can't kill you.

[burg4401]

when you get a critical hit, it will as wiki says
"significantly impairs the handling or performance of the aircraft "

same sort of thing for ground,

https://wiki.warthunder.com/Destruction_credit_mechanics

crits are also taken into account when a plane crashs or someone in a tank J out,

you have so many seconds where the kill will be counted as yours after the crit,
after that time has run out the next person to damage them or damage them more than you will get the kill.
(also on that wiki page)

When the game gives you the message of a crit, it is up to you if you want to take advantage of it,

years ago,
the time a vehicle was damaged was longer before repair and you could safely take advantage of it, these days i wouldn't try it, assume everything is ok,
seems people didn't like repairing so it got reduced a lot.

[Slater]

Originally posted by BASTARD:

its totally means nothing

Incorrect. It means you hit and damaged something (or killed a crew member) that will affect the handling or performance of the vehicle you were shooting at.

[Lunovus]

If you need to get a number of critical hits for a warbond task, then every critical hit (given you are in the vehicle of the right rank) counts.

Also, critical hits are worth more in RP & SL than normal hits.

[Colonel Jason]

I destroyed someone elses ERA and did no damage to the tank interior and game considered it as critical hit.

[BlueBomber]

Critical Hit!

Radiator :)))