So, You Want To Drive A Light Tank…

Vickers, Batchat, Object 140

By:

IrmaBecx

So this will be an experiment in comparative tank philosophy.

I recently grinded out two of the three tier X Light tanks currently available, and I thought I might compare them to each other for the benefit of prospective Light tankers.

It’s like this; I think you either want to drive a Sheridan or you don’t. It’s not really a proper Light tank, it’s more of a novelty, and if you want to drive one, there isn’t a lot I could tell you about it.

That leaves the Vickers Light and the BatChat. But there is one more tank you might consider. Before there were top tier Light tanks, driving an Object 140 was about as close as you would get, and it still has the best camo rating of any Medium tank at tier X. If you are curious about Light tank gameplay, you could do a whole lot worse than going up the Russian Light tank line and getting an Object 140.

The 140 is of course not a proper Light tank either, but it can do some Light tank jobs. It doesn’t really have a lot of armour, it’s small and stealthy, and compared to an actual Light tank, you are basically trading firepower and armour for speed and camo on the move.

The way to make the Object 140 work as a Light tank is really down to playstyle. You don’t want to brawl your opponents; you want to spot them up and ambush them. Don’t attack frontally if you can help it, instead take advantage of your mobility and learn the most important thing for a Light tank driver; which is to run away from bad engagements and utilise the open parts of the map.

Choosing the Object 140 to get into Light tank gameplay may seem like the lesser option. It’s not super quick, and it’s missing the key feature of a Light tank – camo on the move, but in return you get much higher DPM and a few bits of armour to cover your worst mistakes. An Object standing still has better camo rating than a Sheridan; almost as good as the Vickers or the BatChat, but on the move it’ll be noticeably worse.

I drive a couple of games in my old 140, trying to keep to the sidelines and really concentrate on the spotting and support role. It’s going pretty well, although it is perhaps not quite as exciting as driving a BatChat. There is certainly a lot of overlap between Light and Medium tank gameplay.

You have to work a little harder to get the most out of the camo, but it does work. The tank being so small means it’s easier to hide, and if you get caught out, you have the confidence of being in an actual Medium tank with top shelf DPM and that wicked angle on the front plate.

While nowhere near as mobile as an actual Light tank, the 140 does provide an excellent starting point for further exploration.

“But Irma,” you say “could I not substitute the T-62A? I hear that’s better now.”

My answer would be “no” and “besides, it’s not”, and that’s not just because I am an Object 140 degenerate. The 62A is a different animal with slightly different capabilities, and what you are trying to do is play to the strengths of your vehicle. In terms of Medium tank gameplay, the stronger turret, gun depression, and pinpoint accuracy may seem like a worthwhile tradeoff. But we’re not trying to play a Medium tank here; we are trying to play a Medium as a Light tank, and in that sense, the 140 is simply a better ersatz Light tank than the 62A is.

A Light tank doesn’t need traverse, it needs speed. It doesn’t care about accuracy, it needs stability on the move. It doesn’t need armour, it just needs autobounce zones, and of course it needs good camo rating. The 140 does all of these things better, and is therefore more convincing in a Light tank role.

So if you want to go straight to the source, the choice is down to either the Vickers Light or the BatChat, and for most drivers, I think the Vickers should be their first choice.

I wrote in my review that these British Light tanks are very nearly Mediums. Your DPM and armour profile does rival some Medium tanks, and your tank is much more agile and has about the best camo around.

The Vickers can sidescrape about as well as the 140 can, it can get bounces off the front plate and turret sides when angled properly, and with over 3000 DPM on tap, from some angles it does look like a better Medium tank. But playing too aggressive means you aren’t taking advantage of two of the main strengths of the Vickers; namely superior viewrange, and superior camo rating.

This is one reason I run calibrated shells on my Vickers; to slow down my gameplay a little. The other is of course you get “cheap HESH” shells, and I want to max out the penetration on those. Driving it, the overlap between Light and Medium tank gameplay seems even more obvious. The Vickers is really just a regular tank, and it can sometimes be difficult to see what sets it apart.

Again, making the most of your top tier Light tank comes down to focusing on your playstyle. You can frontline your Vickers, get a few bounces, and trade shots. But if you do, you’re not really doing the tank justice, and you’re not learning good Light tank habits and taking full advantage of your Light tank strengths.

The beauty of the Vickers light is that it’s just a regular Light tank; like a tier X Type 62 or T-54 Lightweight. The only thing out of the ordinary is the high penetration HE rounds. It’s also quite strong with an almost full power 105 mm L7A1, made even more powerful by the excellent mobility and Light tank capabilities.

It’s not very difficult to drive. If you can drive the Object 140, you can drive the Vickers; with ten degrees of gun depression and 350 alpha it’s actually easier in some ways. And as this is a true Light tank, it allows you to learn how to take advantage of the Light tank camo on the move.

Your third option, then, is the famous BatChat. And although it may not look like an option for your first top tier Light tank, there really is no reason to shy away from it.

The BatChat has the same camo rating as the Vickers, and a competitive viewrange, not far off Medium tanks like the M48/M60 or the AMX 30 B. It’s just as fast as the Vickers, but has much better specific power, and there are a few other tradeoffs. You only have six degrees of gun depression, the armour isn’t as good, and of course you have an autoloader.

The BatChat armour is actually better than you think. It has a 60 mm front plate sloped back at 68 degrees, so you only need a two degree downward angle or a 25 degree side angle, and you will autobounce any gun in the game except the FV215b 183. The rest of the armour isn’t very good, but will sometimes bounce low caliber guns.

The autoloader has the same 310 alpha the Object 140 does, and if you look at the numbers, it has much, much lower DPM. But that’s deceptive, because the point of the autoloader is that with a full clip, you get something like 6200 DPM over six seconds for a potential 930 damage burst.

As you can imagine, that makes the BatChat extremely dangerous in late game situations; anyone with 900 hitpoints or less is a potential candidate for clipping out if you can isolate them. But the autoloader also makes it more versatile all through the battle; all you need to do is figure out your reloads so you don’t get caught out with an empty clip.

I get about a 14 second clip reload on my BatChat, and that’s not really all that long. It’s about twice as long as the Vickers, or about the same as a large caliber Heavy tank or Tank Destroyer.

Also, the clip reload provides a natural pause in gameplay you should learn to use for relocation and maintaining awareness of the situation around you.

Learning how to drive a BAtChat isn’t all that difficult. You are basically driving the same style of tank from tier VI onwards, and once you start getting your head around the autoloader playstyle, the rest is mostly proper positioning, resetting camo, and relocating effectively.

So I have been driving all three tanks lately, and having a lot of fun.

Light tank gameplay is exciting; that is why we drive them. The Object 140 doesn’t feel out of place in the trio, and I dare say I’ve been doing a little better in it trying to convince myself it’s actually a Light tank.

When I grinded out the Vickers and the BatChat, I thought the Vickers was going to become the daily driver, and the BatChat would just be something I kept around because I like it, but don’t actually drive a lot. In actuality, it has been the other way around; I just can’t get enough of driving my new BatChat.

If you already have the 140, or you have the T-54 and can grind it out pretty quickly, I maintain it’s a good learner vehicle for Light tank gameplay. It’s not quite as fast, so you won’t drive yourself into too much trouble, and when you do, you have some proper Medium tank armour and firepower to defend yourself with.

But there’s no reason not to go for a proper Light tank right away, and I do feel the Vickers is slightly more accessible. After the power crept Comet, the grind isn’t all that hard, and if you’ve been thinking about it, you might want to get it done before the Vickers Cruiser gets nerfed.

For me though, the fact I’ve enjoyed the BatChat so much is the big takeaway. The autoloader is not so much an obstacle as a catalyst of versatility, and it brings new possibilities to your Light tank gameplay.

In any of these tanks, you will get focused, you will be taken out early, you will take big hits from high alpha guns, and all sorts of trouble will befall you. But you will also learn to overcome these tribulations, to your immense satisfaction and enjoyment. The “high risk/high reward” nature of Light tanks is why they are so much fun to drive, and I think any well stocked garage should have at least one.

The fact I happen to like the BatChat best should perhaps not be taken as a recommendation if you are a newer player. Any of these three tanks will provide their own set of difficulties, and the autoloader is perhaps the most lopsided in terms of balance. But they also come with their own set of strengths, and the 900 plus damage burst potential also makes it situationally very powerful.

Learning how to drive a top tier Light tank is a tough job, but it’s also very rewarding. You do it in order to become a better player, plain and simple.

There are other tanks you might set your sights on at lower tiers; the Ru 251, the T-54 Lightweight, or any of the premiums out there. Even the quirky AMX 13 57 or the fairly useless Type 64 are worthwhile because they are Light tanks.

Light tank gameplay revolves around a few key ideas; reset your camo, run away from bad engagements, and trade distance for damage. Then learn to use all the space where there aren’t any tanks to your advantage. None of this is very complicated, it’s just with so narrow margins of error, and with so many possibilities at your disposal, there are so many ways to get things wrong.

But this is also why no matter how good you get, Light tanks will always provide a challenge for you. No one ever truly masters Light tank gameplay.

Driving Light tanks makes you look at the game in a new way, and if it doesn’t, you’re not quite gotten there yet. No other style of tank can translate thought into action with such ease as a Light tank. And grinding out a tier X Light tank and learning how to make it work not only makes you a better, more experienced player, but will also give you a sense of accomplishment other grinds can’t match.

You may not think you are good enough to drive one. Remember I said no one is, really; and the only way to learn is by doing. You may think Light tanks are too skittish and don’t match your preferred playstyle, and that I think is fair enough. You shouldn’t drive tanks you don’t like just for the sake of it.

But I would still encourage you to give it a go if you have the opportunity. Maybe you have one in the back of your garage, collecting dust. There could be a Light tank out there that is a good fit for you in spite of everything, and certainly they will have things to teach you, no matter what kind of driver you are.

So I drive a few more games, just to make sure. I have good games and bad games in all three tanks, and somehow I feel like the good games make up for the bad ones.

The 140 is the one I feel most confident in, which is just as well since it’s the worst at running away. I feel like I can hold my own in my full race Russian sports Medium when I get caught out.

But in terms of Light tank gameplay, I do feel the Object 140 is the least rewarding. If I had just gotten one because I was interested in Light tanks, it would only serve to strengthen my resolve that this is the way I want to go: I want more of this, so I’ll get a proper one.

I like the Vickers Light a lot more than it may appear, I realise that when I drive it again. It’s true I haven’t driven it a whole lot since I got it, but then I did start the BatChat grind right after I had gotten it.

The Vickers is a great drive, and it does everything it says on the box. I drive all over the map, trying to keep my engagements at range so I can fiddle with the ammunition selection, and I do land a couple of good “cheap HESH” hits. This is a proper Light tank, there’s no doubt.

I have the worst game of the session in the BatChat, but I also have the best game in the BatChat. BatChat platoon versus two random BatChats with a Sheridan on each team, and we took them down.

The BatChat is the most fun, but it’s not by a huge margin. I just find the autoloader gameplay so compelling. But it does make the BatChat an “either or” tank to a slightly greater extent than the other two. You could say it’s the most fun because it’s the most challenging.

What you might tanks away from this is that if you just want to dip your toes in Light tank gameplay, the 140 is a safe bet. If you want consistency, you go for the Vickers first. And if the possibilities of the autoloader sound interesting, you get the BatChat.

While you ponder this experiment in comparative tank philosophy, please enjoy that BatChat game I was talking about:

The Shark – T54E2

T54E2

By:

IrmaBecx

The best thing about getting to try out new stuff is you sometimes get pleasantly surprised. It’s happened to me enough times that I try not to have any preconceptions.

My preconceptions tell me a tier VIII American Heavy tank wouldn’t interest me a lot, but then I get to thinking about the Chrysler K, which I really like.

And today sees the release of the T54E2. I’m actually not sure how it’s going to be sold just yet, but I’m suspecting it will be a crate tank. (Yes, it’s a crate tank.)

Either way, I’m sure you want to know what the new T54E2 is all about, and in the simplest of terms, you could say it’s pretty much a T110E5 at tier VIII.

Compared to some other US Heavy tanks like the aforementioned Chrysler, the T34, and the M6A2E1 EXP, the new E2 has higher DPM on a 105 mm gun, it has ten degrees of gun depression, and it does 40 just like the Chrysler K only it doesn’t quite have the same engine power.

The turret front and upper plate are pretty sturdy, in a hull down position you’ll be showing upwards of 350 mm effective armour, and the sleek turret along with the excellent gun depression is a pretty clear indication this is what the tank is made for. The side armour isn’t all that, but it is at least thick enough not to get overmatched by any gun in the game, and the upper plate has that rounded shapes a lot of American tanks have to make it extra bouncy.

Around 16 horsepower per ton is good for a Heavy tank, but it’s really no better than the alternatives. Taking it out for a couple of quick games before I started writing, it certainly doesn’t feel slow or sluggish; it’s fairly mobile for a Heavy tank.

Penetration values are good for a 105 mm, but they do of course pale on comparison to the 120 mm guns off the EXP or the T34. Aimtime is good, and dispersion is under 0.33 which is more than serviceable on a tank that can show such a formidable armour profile when hull down.

Otherwise, there’s not a lot to say. This is a pretty standard 105 mm Heavy tank at tier VIII that is going to compare very favourably to your Löwe, E 75 TS, or M4 49.

So I load up my standard loadout and roll out to see what’s what, and if my first few games are an indication, the new E2 seems quite powerful.

Also, I have to say the thing looks great.

It gets up to speed fairly quickly, but doesn’t turn all that well. The armour works exactly like you think it will, although you can get penned through the turret if you are really unlucky. With all those curves and angles, the armour will sometimes flatten out and form small weakspots.

When I say it doesn’t feel sluggish, I mean for a Heavy tank. Neither the turret nor the hull turn very quickly, and you can certainly get circled by faster opponents. And if you are looking up at your opponent behind armour that is specifically designed to for looking down at them, it will of course be less effective, so you may not want to facehug taller tanks; try side hugging instead.

What about against tier IX tanks? Well, in terms of armour, there isn’t a huge difference. If you come up against, say, a Chinese Tank Destroyer running calibrated HEAT rounds, that will have an easier time going through your turret. But in most situations the armour will work just as well.

Really, the worst thing I can say about the T54E2 is that is isn’t very novel. It’s a baby E5, plain and simple, and driving it is almost self explanatory. You use the mobility to find positions where you can work the armour profile, and then you “keep the gun singing”, as they say.

Nothing to it.

As I mentioned, I’m suspecting this will be a crate tank, and as such the question of acquisition is moot for me. You all know I don’t buy crates.

But that aside, should you set your sights on the T54E2?

There are other 105 mm Heavy tanks at tier VIII that can do hull down work; you don’t have to look beyond the tech tree to find one.

But the Baby E5 is a well put together vehicle; it’s new and shiny, it looks good, drives well, and it’s easy to figure out its strengths and weaknesses. If you are looking for a hull down premium Heavy tank, then you can’t really go wrong with this one, and I don’t think you are very likely to mistake it for something it’s not. Mobility is good, gun stats are excellent, and the armour works really well for poking over ridges.

You might want to hold off a little and wait for a better offer, that’s always an option. I’m sure you’ll be able to get one fully kitted out for a good price down the line, but of course then you won’t be an early adopter.

Personally, I have become more stingy when it comes to buying new premium tanks, and if I want to drive a hull down Heavy tank, I’d just as soon drive my old Löwe, or even my new Chimera.

That said, the T54E2 is a really nice tank. I enjoy the drive a lot, the hull down playstyle works a treat, and I certainly wouldn’t kick it out of my garage. Nothing about the E2 is brand new or previously unheard of, but it is a well thought out design.

IrmaBecx says I like it much more than I expected.

Please enjoy some gameplay below:

My Favourite Grinds So Far!

Top Grinds

By:

IrmaBecx

So this paper is inspired by famous Youtuber Blitz With Muffin. He got a question about which his favourite grinds were, and I though that sounded pretty interesting.

I’m not big on grinding, personally. I never wanted to have all the tanks in the game in my garage; just the ones I like, and at this point the stuff I want to get is either expensive premiums or hasn’t been released yet.

That’s a good place to be. You collect your resources, and then when something new drops you make the decision whether you want to grind it or not. I have the added benefit of being a community contributor and a supertester, so a lot of new stuff I will have tried out already.

Also, grinding isn’t quite the ordeal it used to be with all these boosters and events and certificates coming at you.

But that aside, which grinds were the most enjoyable?

In general, I feel any grind that ends up getting you a good tank at either tier IX or tier X is worthwhile, and I also like learning something new while grinding.

For that reason, my first memorable grind is actually the Japanese Medium tank line.

I did that early on; it was one of my first forays outside the German tech tree where I started. I ended up throwing free XP at it to get the STB-1 for my birthday, but these days the Type 61 has been buffed to stardom, and isn’t quite the hurdle it used to be.

It’s not an easy grind, mind you. Almost all the tanks are made out of tinfoil, but that was actually part of the appeal for me; I learned how to use gun depression and to no-scope, and ended up really liking some of the lower tier tanks in spite of their apparent weakness.

The Chi-To I never quite got along with, even though it has a good reputation in some circles, but the Chi-Ri I still think is just about the best autoloader in the game, and I loved the STA-1 back when we had binoculars.

But the goal was always getting the STB-1; the fabulous hull down machine with the flat gun depression turret, often lauded as the “sexiest tank in the game”. I will say the Japanese Medium line isn’t super coherent; the STB is more of a successor to the Comet and the Centurions than a grown up STA or Type 61, but all in all I found it both enjoyable and informative.

These days no one really cares about low tier tanks, but they do still care about the STB; very likely one of the absolute best Medium tanks in the game, and you will still see determined players out there in their stock STA with their eyes firmly fixed on the prize.

A memorable grind for me, and I would do it all over again.

My first tier X tanks were all Mediums, but after a while I started branching out a little. There wasn’t really a tier X Heavy tank that interested me; I half heartedly went for the T57 Heavy and ended up getting the 50 B much later.

But there were other tanks out there I felt would add something new to my collection and help diversify my gameplay.

When the Foch line came out, I immediately went for it. I had driven the (155) on my press account and fallen completely in love with the “dynamic” playstyle; I just had to have one.

But I realised there was basically just one tank I would really, really miss if I had to give back my press account, and that was the Object 263; affectionately known as the “Yolo Wagon”.

As satisfying as the Foch grind was, I have to say I enjoyed the 263 grind more, and it’s because it was more of a learning experience. I was always impressed with these deceptively unrefined vehicles; they’re really just Mediums or Heavy tanks with casemates. I like to call them “turretless Mediums”, and as a Medium tank holdout, I enjoyed the simple tradeoff of having more firepower but then not being able to point your gun to the side.

The Yolo Wagon grind also taught me something important, which is how to deal with bad gun depression. I learned how to stick to the low ground, reverse up slopes to use the gun elevation to get shots; all kinds of useful things, and once it was over, I was never really concerned about bad gun depression. Five or six degrees feels perfectly average to me, and I can make do with less. It’s just a different playstyle.

So the gratification came not only from overcoming difficulties, but also from the satisfaction of making something work in spite of apparent deficiencies. Once you get your head around how to deal with not having gun depression, and don’t try to make the tank do things it isn’t suited to doing, it’s really not that hard; it’s just different.

The 263 itself is of course legendary. I wrote a piece on it not long ago where I posited that nothing has changed, and the Yolo Wagon is still the biggest, baddest, brawliest burn-‘em-down Tank Destroyer you can get your hands on.

There are other tanks I would miss from the press account these days, but getting the Yolo Wagon really was a weight off my shoulders. I wouldn’t feel compete without it; and certainly my tank collection wouldn’t.

Not as hard as you may imagine, and so much to learn. Highly recommended unless bad gun depression is a deal breaker for you.

For my third tech tree line, I am choosing between the Chinese Medium and the Chinese Heavy tank line. I had a great time doing them, and was an early adopter of both.

But where the WZ-121 is just an off road version of the sporty Object 140, the WZ-113 was my first ever tier X Heavy tank, the only one I felt was right for me at the time.

Back then, the IS-2 had really bad armour, and I skipped past it. This has now been addressed, and I actually think the IS-2 could be the best tier VII IS style tank in the game, for a very simple reason. Where all the others have premium APCR, the IS-2 gets HEAT, and if you run the calibrated shells, you can punch through the upper plate of a Tiger II, even if it’s angled up.

The WZ-110 is a bit of an oddity; it’s also an IS-2, only they put a pike nose and a tier IX Medium tank gun on it. Back when I drove it it was one of the most powerful Heavy tanks at tier VIII, and it has since been toned down a few notches. But it still works, and it’s still fun to drive.

Tier IX was really where things started to get interesting. I had high hopes for the 130 mm sporting WZ-111 1-4, and it turned out to be everything I had hoped for; so much so I ended up getting both the WZ-111 and the WZ-111 5A to round off my collection.

But the 113 was my first fling with a tier X Heavy tank, and it remains my favourite along with the 5A. You don’t quite get the bias of Russian Heavys, but the 113 is still a powerful tank with some real strengths; it just doesn’t give you a lot for free. After the 263 grind, I had zero problems with the gun depression, and that really is the only issue with the Chinese Heavy tanks.

Getting your tier IX tank fully upgraded is a little like cresting a hill, and you start to feel like you are on the home stretch. But for me it was more than that; here, finally, was a tier IX tank I actually enjoyed driving for its own sake, and that wasn’t just a lesser version of the tier X offering. I had always meant to get back into driving tier IX, and now I had the prefect tank to do it. The 1-4 remains one of my absolute favourite tanks in the game.

In terms of gameplay, Chinese Heavy tanks do have a little bit of Medium tank DNA; they just don’t turn so well. This is of course offset by the Heavy tank armour, and you won’t mistake them for actual Medium tanks in a brawl.

But this meant once I had understood what the tradeoffs were, I could simply expand on my Medium tank gameplay to form a Heavy tank playstyle; you just take away what they can’t do, and add what they can do instead.

In my mind still the best Heavy tank line for Medium tank drivers. I’d be even more inclined to grind it today as they’ve “fixed” the IS-2 at tier VII.

There are a few honourable mentions; the German Light tank line, the Panthers, the Russian Lights leading into the Object 140, and the Italian Mediums.

But these three I feel have been the most rewarding grinds, where I have ended up not only with a flashy new tier X tank, but also gained new knowledge and valuable experience.

Some lines have surprised me by being more rewarding than I had expected; the Chinese TD line comes to mind.

Others have been a little disappointing. The Jpz E100 line started out good, and I still love my Jagdtiger, but right at the end I kind of lost interest. I didn’t feel like a much slower, more heavily armoured tank with a much bigger gun was what I wanted at tier X.

The same thing happened with the British Mediums. All I really wanted to do was drive the Cromwell, but then that turned into a Comet, and then I got both the Centurions.

At tier X however, I started balking again. The FV4202 is like a Centurion turned upside down; strong hull and weak turret, and when you have been learning how to bounce stuff off your gun mantlet ever since tier VII, that just felt counter intuitive to me.

I like a coherent tech tree line, but I don’t mind a disparate one. The T57 line is certainly that.

I started up it, and I quite enjoyed the T71, but then it was time to start grinding the T69, I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I sold the tank without driving it, and I haven’t started looking at it again until recently. If I get bored enough, I may still get the T57 some day, but as it is, the line stands out as one of the few I just flat out gave up on. I like the T75; I just like the AMX 50 B better, and now the Kranvagn is on the way too.

Best of luck with your grinds!

French Light Tank Grind: BatChat 25t

BatChat!

By:

IrmaBecx

So today I became the owner of yet another favourite vehicle I’ve been looking forward to; the inimitable BatChat 25t!

I even got the “Musketeer” camo for it at half price so it will match my Foch “Destroyer” and my 50 B “Veteran”.

It’s gone much quicker than I anticipated, although I have of course been putting the grind off for several years already. The idea was, as there are now three tier X Light tanks in the game, I’d get the other two.

And moving up from the BatChat AP isn’t very complicated, especially since you run the same gun initially. The BatChat may seem cheap at 200K XP, but you need 45K more to unlock the top gun.

If the AP is a prototype, the BatChat at tier X is a full race tank. You now have a more powerful engine, better traverse, more firepower, and perhaps most importantly, armour that won’t get overmatched by every gun you are likely to face.

The front plate is actually 60 mm, and it’s angled very severely. 40 mm sides mean you can side scrape against Medium tanks, and the 50 mm turret will sometimes get random bounces.

So everything is a little better, except even the top 105 mm autoloader still has 310 alpha. I get a 13.6 second clip reload, and that’s with improved ventilation; I don’t think the BatChat needs calibrated shells.

I drive the first two games with the 100 mm SA47 before I unlock the top gun, and in all honesty it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. Your clip potential is the same, and the three second interclip reload too. With the 105 mm, you’ll pick up a few hundred DPM, a little penetration, aimtime, and the shell speed is faster.

Well, on your standard APCR. The HEAT and HE shells both fly slower.

All in all, the BatChat feels fully grown at tier X, although in a lot of ways it is still the same tank you have been driving ever since tier VI.

My BatChat is now fully kitted out; no reason not to run all nine slots at tier X. Standard aim assists; as noted I don’t run calibrated shells, improved assembly since all bounces are going to be autobounces, I run the engine accelerator to go faster on average, and high end consumables so I get a nineteen second speed boost.

There is the theoretical possibility I would switch to the calibrated shells after a while if I felt I wasn’t getting enough penetration. Let’s say I am facing an E100 or Jägeru. First of all the HEAT rounds should pen the weakspots anyway, but also; if I’m shooting at the turret front of an E100, I am in the wrong place. I am playing the tank wrong, and I should be taking side shots.

Out in the field, I don’t think the BatChat lacks firepower. The limited ammunition loadout used to be a much bigger problem, but since they increased that, you can even bring a few HE rounds. 53 mm of penetration isn’t amazing, and 380 damage may not sound like much of an increase. But the BatChat is all about maximising your performance in various ways, and this is one of them. You will go through the rear armour of British and American tanks.

So I drive a few games. The drive is amazing, and I’m doing pretty well. I even try the new Skirmish mode and pull off a win, even though the word is to drive Heavy tanks in Skirmishes.

The BatChat is the precise opposite of something like the death star. Where tanks like that are team dependent and situational, the BatChat is independent and versatile. You don’t like the situation, just go. Reset camo, and you’re out of there. Something happens and you are on the other flank? Just drop the hammer and you’ll be there in a matter of seconds.

Clip ran out and you didn’t get the killshot? Just keep going, roll on by and think about coming back fully loaded from a different angle. Or, pick a different engagement where they’re not expecting you.

This sense of freedom of movement and therefore freedom of action is why we drive Light tanks. There is also the tradeoff of having a comparatively low alpha autoloading weapon; this reintroduces some situationality, but it also gives you more gameplay options. Driving the BatChat is almost addictive.

And so the grind wasn’t really all that hard. The top tier tank is fantastic. I’m having fun and learning new things. That sounds like I would recommend the BatChat line without reservation?

Well, yes and no. The BatChat 25t is a fantastic tank for me. I practically grew up with the BatChat. I drove it when it first came out, through all the rebalancing, and now, when it is perhaps at the height of its power, I got one of my very own.

Not a lot of my tanks come with that kind of pedigree.

But you may not be a Light tank person. And even if you are, you may not be a BatChat person, because of the discordant rhythm of the autoloader.

Luckily, I think it’s pretty easy to find out. You get the tier VI or VII and you try it. The gameplay and the tradeoffs are going to be pretty much the same all the way up to tier X, and if you’re not feeling it at middle tiers, you probably won’t be feeling it in higher tiers either.

That said, I don’t think the autoloader should put you off if you aren’t familiar with them. You can start from a single shot playstyle and pretty much go with that, firing off an extra shot or two when you get the chance, and hit the reload button as soon as you don’t have a shot. It really isn’t all that hard to learn how to drive a small caliber autoloader.

These days, getting into Light tanks is easier than ever. The Brits have a tech tree line that is every bit as consistent in terms of playstyle, and that does everything the BatChat line does in a single shot capacity. That should probably be your starting point. Then you can graduate to the BatChat, or if you want to be a total Pleb, you can downgrade to a Sheridan.

The only reason to go for the BatChat first is if you really, really like autoloaders. And to be fair; in some ways the easy to understand autoloader tradeoff can be a real strength, because it makes you play more cautiously.

But of course; flat out and at the edges of performance is where the BatChat is the most fun. You drive it for the thrills; not for the consistent performance. You drive it to push yourself; not to play it safe.

And with those few caveats, I would wholeheartedly recommend the BatChat.

I am trying to think of what else to say, but I feel like it would mostly be more superlatives.

Fantastic. Amazing. Glorious.

That is how the BatChat is on a good day. On a bad day, it’s going to be the most useless tank you ever drove, and of course this high risk/high reward nature makes driving it more exciting.

But there is more to it than simply being exciting. The BatChat makes you think. It makes you plan your movements, think about your positioning, make up and modify your tactical decisions on the fly. That’s the whole point for me; it makes you focus on the gameplay. You can’t just simply go to your usual spots, bounce a few shells, and start farming up the damage

This is both the strength and the weakness of the BatChat. It can be remarkably effective, but in order for it to be effective, you have to do the job properly. It pushes you to be a better driver, plain and simple.

That may not be what you want. You may be looking for something with a few more training wheels on it, and if so there is always the Sheridan.

See you out there. I’ll be the noob in the shiny new BatChat Musketeer.

Super Conqueror – The King?

Super Conqueror Rex

By:

IrmaBecx

So once again we have a new tank in the game with a reputation that’s going to be hard to live up to.

Also it’s in crates, and you know how I feel about crates.

But if you’re feeling lucky, you might end up with the new Super Conqueror in your garage, and so I thought I’d do a quick rundown of what the tank is all about. You can tell from looking at the burster plates around the turret it’s going to be about the hull down playstyle.

Just as with the Chieftain Mk VI, I like the Super Conqueror, but I’m not looking to pick one up. It’s just not quite my style of tank, and if I’m going to be spending money on a tier X collectible, it’s going to be something I really enjoy and know I’m going to get some proper mileage out of.

And if you like tanks like the T110E5, the Mk VI, or the regular Conqueror at tier IX, then the Super Conq might be that tank for you.

If you look at the stats, it may not seem super powerful. It doesn’t quite have the gun handling or the accuracy of other British Heavy tanks; but this is not a long range sniper, it’s a hull down warrior, and a lot of the shots you take are going to be at fairly short range. It’s the same 120 mm L1A1 off the tier IX or the 215b, meaning you have “cheap HESH”, but for some reason it only has 110 mm of penetration where the others have 120.

Comparing the Super Conq to the Chieftain Mk VI especially, things don’t look promising. The Super Conq does exactly two things better: the gun is more stable on the move, and it has better hull armour. The Chieftain is faster, more mobile, more accurate, aims faster, has more DPM, and although it doesn’t have spaced armour all around it, the turret armour is thicker.

The Super Conqueror has spaced armour everywhere; over the front plate, along the sides, and around the turret front. Your upper plate should be showing 300 mm effective on flat ground, and hull down it will be more like 400 mm, along with 4-500 on most parts of the turret front. It’s not actually all that wide, and you have nice flat sides for sidescraping with big tracks and side skirts.

Still. People aren’t going to be shooting at the turret front, but at your weakspots; mainly your turret roof and lower plate, which are both weak.

So is the Super Conqueror a bust? I took it out for a spin to get the low down.

Being back in the drivers seat, the Super Conqueror feels better than the numbers make it out to be. It’s not fast, but doesn’t feel sluggish. It’s not super accurate, but I have no problem placing the shots. I even manage to land a couple of cheap HESH rounds.

It’s a nice tank, I like it. I enjoy the hull down playstyle. It’s fairly easy to find the right angles and figure out how the Super Conqueror wants to be driven.

But here’s the thing. The same is true for the Mark VI, the E5, and a few other tanks already in the game; nothing about the Super Conqueror really sets it apart except the spaced armour.

In one sense, that’s all fine. We don’t want premium tanks to be too powerful, and the familiarity of the drive makes the Super Conq both accessible and likeable.

On the other hand, this is a new crate tank, and you could end up spending quite a bit of real world money on it; the drive may be accessible, but the tank itself is not. And you need to take that into account when evaluating whether or not it’s going to be worth it for you.

As I said, this is not quite my style of tank to begin with, and I’m not looking to own it. And unless you are simply dying to be an early adopter because you like British hull down tanks so much, I don’t think you should be either. The Super Conqueror is going to be a much more interesting proposition once you can get a good deal on it down the line.

The issue is further complicated by the Chieftain Mk VI still being on sale in a straight up bundle. It’s expensive, but you get what you pay for, and everything is included; nine equipment slots, the “Royal” camo, some boosters, and the “Blitz Order” avatar. You just pay the gold, and you drive it straight out of the box.

So I drive a few games in the Chieftain for comparison. The playstyle is similar, and on a more level playing field these two tanks would be competing for the same spot in your garage. I actually end up performing slightly better in the Super Conqueror, but there’s not a huge difference, and more importantly, the Super Conq is not simply a worse tank than the Mark VI.

It’s just a worse offer. Or very likely one, unless you get super lucky.

So where does this leave us?

Well, it’s a nice drive, a good looker, and it works like it’s supposed to. I’m glad to see the Super Conqueror in the game, and I’m happy it’s not monstrously overpowered. What it is, is an alternative to a style of tank you can already get in the tech tree or in the store.

But I’m not going to recommend you gamble for it. As always, you want to wait until you can get a good deal, or at least a straight purchase option.

So if I had to choose between the Chieftain Mk VI and the Super Conqueror, which one would it be?

That’s a tough one for me. I always liked both tanks, right from the start. And even though I’m not a huge fan of the style, it’s easy to figure out how to play them. In a hull down position, both tanks are hard to dig out. I said about the Chieftain that if I want to play hull down, I’ll just go drive my STB-1. It’s a smaller target, and it is a little more mobile, which latter normally would seal the deal for me. But in this case, the Super Conq really isn’t all that far behind, and I’m actually having a little more fun driving that.

So, at the same price, I would most likely pick the Super Conqueror. It’s new, it looks imposing, and everyone rags on it for not being super overpowered even though it’s in crates. You can ask me again when I have the gold to spare and both tanks are on offer, but today, I’m feeling like the Super Conq would be my choice.

The fact the Super Conqueror isn’t really something new and exciting, but rather a variation on a familiar theme, I think is a strength. You may very well have driven something very similar before, and it’s going to be easy to adjust your existing playstyle.

But that also means the time of the Super Conqueror is not now. You will see a few gold noobs and early adopters out there, but I think most people will wait until they get a better offer, which I think is the sensible option. It’s a nice tank, but it’s not nice enough to gamble away your rent or your pocket money on.

And so while we wait for a better offer, please enjoy some gameplay action with a cheeky Mastery:

French Light Tank Grind: The Baby BatChat

BatChat 25t AP

By:

IrmaBecx

So with some X5 boosters from the “Stars of Glory” event, I blasted through the last of the AMX 13 90 grind, and am now the proud owner of a brand new Baby BatChat.

Since I’ve done the 50 B grind already I have the top gun unlocked from that; it’s a regular SA47 autoloader. I dropped some free XP on the engine, and am now only missing the tracks to be fully upgraded.

I also threw some of my scarce gold reserves at the crew training, like I usually do at tiers IX and X.

So what can you expect from the BatChat AP?

It’s a little bigger, but otherwise it’s not all that different from the 13 90. You get a 100 mm, meaning a potential 930 burst damage and about 700 more DPM, but the interclip reload is the same three seconds, and the clip reload is just one second shorter. Penetration values and accuracy are also both better.

Even with the stock tracks the BatChat AP turns faster, but it doesn’t quite have the specific power of the 13 90 even though the engine is more powerful.

Another difference is the frontal armour is actually thinner than at tier VIII. The front plate is the thickest part, but at 30 mm it will only bounce up to 90 mm shells at autobounce angles. Anything larger will punch straight through.

So much the same tank, all things considered. Playstyle should be very similar, except I suppose you will have to be even more careful about taking big hits from camping doom cannons. In return, your “clip out” potential is around 50% higher, and the gun should be more effective.

In theory, at least.

In actuality, my very first game I get outspotted and obliterated, and go on to lose my first seven games in a row. Tier IX is a very harsh environment for a Light tank, and I’ve not even seen any tier X opposition yet.

The BatChat AP feels a lot more sluggish, and I’m kicking myself a little for blowing so much free XP on the Vickers grind. The tracks will add more than seven degrees of hull traverse once I get them.

Sixteen games later, I have only managed to win three. That’s a tad under 19% winrate; I’ve never seen anything like it. No matter what I do, my team falls apart and we lose. It’s like driving a BatChat AP, I am taking up a space on the team that could have been filled by a stupid missile tank, or a Vickers Cruiser.

I don’t see how a set of tracks is going to fix this. And at the rate I’m going, it’s going to take like 500 games to finish the grind. Oh, and I’m also losing credits hand over fist. Even with a premium account, I am bleeding credits in this thing.

It’s the next day, and I start off having a wonderful game on Middleburg, relocating all over the map and clipping people out; just like you imagine things in an autoloader Light tank. This gets me the tracks unlocked, finally.

And the thing is, the tracks do actually help a lot. They can’t do anything about the thin armour of course, but the added mobility allows me to set my shots up easier, relocate faster, poke corners quicker, and just generally be more effective.

The BatChat AP really is a wonderful tank when it works. The best games are the ones where I manage to get out of a sticky situation, and then the tables have turned when people are on low hitpoints and I have an autoloader. A Light tank can do the exact same job on very low hitpoints, since the whole idea is not getting hit in the first place. The stakes are higher, that’s all.

What I like most about the Baby BatChat is that it makes me think about the game differently. You can’t angle up and bounce, and you can’t take on a full health opponent in a brawl and expect to get away with it. I also like that such a seemingly fragile and unassuming vehicle can turn out to be immensely powerful in some situations.

Basically the only thing I don’t like about it is when everyone shoots at me and things go bad. And that is of course in no way unique to this particular tank.

My friend Frodo Nifinger is a huge fan of the BatChat line, and he gave me a few pointers on how to make the most of the AP model. First off, he said to reverse out of cover so you can pull back faster. You may have seen BatChat drivers do this on PC; it’s a common tactic. I was reluctant to try it, because I figured it would take too long to get turned around, but with well over 70 degrees of traverse, it’s really no problem. You just have to remember to drive in the right direction after shooting when your tank is facing the other way.

He also said to keep my distance and reset camo properly. That’s sound advice. And also not to try and empty the whole clip at once, which is better advice than it may sound like. If you have shots at someone, that also means they have shots at you. And if you are standing still for at least six seconds to get three shots off, you are bound to take one in return, and it could be a high caliber HE shell.

Naturally, that all depends on the situation. If your target is busy with someone else, you can comfortably empty the clip. Likewise it may be worth it to take a hit if that means you can take an enemy gun out of the game.

But early game especially, I find myself taking one shot and then immediately hitting the reload button, and I’m out of there while my target is waiting for me to pop back up, being combat ineffective for a little while.

A Light tank driver should always maintain a healthy dose of paranoia, because you are a preferred target, and people will try to get shots at you because it’s easy damage. That means you have to stay aware of what’s going on around you.

You also learn to look at the battlefield in a different way; you don’t want to go where the action is, but rather use the rest of the empty space to get side shots and try to throw your enemies into disarray.

Granted, your teammates won’t always be ready when you get their opponents turned around, focusing on the pesky little Light tank that just popped up behind them. But if you start attracting too much attention, you just drive away and try again from a different angle.

The freedom of movement Light tanks give you is what makes them so fun and engaging to drive. Being able to react quickly, get out of bad situations, go where you are needed, and make up plans as you go; switching flanks, switching targets, and dropping out of sight only to reappear unexpectedly.

I’ve said before driving Light tanks more of an art than a science. One can try to give helpful advice, but in the end every driver has to learn for themselves how to bring that advice together into a coherent but flexible playstyle. That is the challenge, and when you start figuring things out, that is also the reward.

Me, I am feeling like I am well on my way to figuring things out. Winrate is looking much better, I’m having more fun, and I’m actually almost halfway to tier X already.

But there is no rush. I need to grind some free XP for the tier X top gun, and I could use some credits to replenish my buffer; especially since these tanks aren’t exactly cheap to run.

But it’s going pretty well, and after some initial struggle, there’s just one thing I can say:

The Baby Batchat is a blast.

T110E5 – Mediocre Or Versatile?

American Brawn

By:

IrmaBecx

So with the 4:th of July celebrations just around the corner, I thought I’d drive something a little different for once. Well, different for me, anyway.

A few of years ago, I was going up the US Medium line and had started on the T57 Heavy line too. But then the M60 fell into my lap (yes, this was quite a while ago) so I didn’t need the M48 Patton anymore, and after the T71, I wasn’t super interested in driving the T69, so I sold it without driving a single game.

After that, I sort of fell out of love with American tanks altogether. I sold off all the tech tree ones and just kept my premiums; the T23E3, SuperPershing, and M60. I figured those would cover all my US tank needs pretty well.

I do still like the T57 Heavy; it’s just I prefer the AMX 50 B. But on the whole, I don’t find the US tech tree very inspiring. That is not to say there aren’t good tanks in there, just that they don’t interest me a lot.

But the other day someone was asking about the T110E5, and I don’t think I’ve driven that since the test server where it got the new improved speed boost.

In many ways, the T110E5 is like an overgrown Medium. You have a 120 mm weapon with eight degrees of gun depression, a sleek turret, and almost a thousand horsepower, yielding Medium tank specific power. With the new improved speed boost especially, you can sometimes do Medium tank jobs.

But this is a Heavy tank first and foremost, and it’s actually more well armoured than you may think by looking at it. The turret front is only a little over 200 mm, but it does have a nice big gun mantlet int he middle. The curved upper plate will present around 300 mm effective armour on flat ground, and with wide tracks and 76 mm side armour, you can also sidescrape.

Do note the lower part of the side armour is only 44 mm, but it’s sloped inwards at such an extreme angle it will often autobounce anyway, and of course you need at least 133 mm caliber to overmatch it.

But hull down work is really what the E5 does best. The gun handling is excellent, and you can use the improved speed boost to either relocate or brawl every 75 seconds or so. You also get reactive armour, but I haven’t found I get a lot of use out of that; I’d rather have two repair kits.

Otherwise, the E5 is a pretty generic Heavy tank. It’s really nothing out of the ordinary, comparable to something like an IS-4, a WZ-113, and perhaps also an FV 215b, although that does have a rear mounted turret. You can do all the standard Heavy tank jobs in your E5, and you have some extra gun depression as a bonus.

Actually, the “jack of all trades” nature of US tanks is kind of what made me lose interest in them. That may sound a little strange, since it’s also the reason I like Chinese tanks so much.

Instead of the e5, you could get a 113; it would be faster, have a better turret, and have best in class DPM. But it wouldn’t have the gun depression, wouldn’t turn as fast, and you wouldn’t have the special consumables.

You could get an IS-4 and have better side armour, slightly more alpha damage, and a little higher top speed, but your DPM would be lower, and the gun handling would be worse

All three vehicles perform about the same on average.

So actually driving the T110E5 isn’t hard at all, it’s just tricky to actually say something very helpful about how to do it.

It’s a Heavy tank. You drive it like a Heavy tank.

So instead I thought I’d talk you through a game I had in the press account loan vehicle. I will admit there was a bit of luck involved, but also taking advantage of the strengths of the E5; finding hull down positions, and using the improved speed boost:

We’re on Fort Despair, and first off, there’s just me and a 50 B in terms of Heavys; the reds also have a 50 B and a T57 Heavy. Both teams have three Tank Destroyers, and we have two Mediums to their one and a Light tank.

In spite of this, I decide to go C cap, dropping the speed boost directly to get into position faster. Seeing one of their Heavys near the middle, I go for the cap joined by a 4005, but just as we’re done capping, one of our Mediums go down. Not a great start.

I try to find some shots at the tanks in the middle but it’s a no go, and I am wary of their camping TDs on my left. The Jpz E100 is coming, so I go hull down by the wall and put a HEAT round through the upper casemate.

Our second Medium goes down, it’s five on seven, and I’ve only done one shot of damage. The Jpz isn’t alone, their 183 is there also. I do kind of a silly poke and take 660 damage for my trouble, so I’m moving back to try to flank around further left and put them in a crossfire, because our 268 is moving in from my right.

Just as I hit the speed boost again, I see there aren’t two of them in front of me, but three. The Grille is there also. I put an HE round through the gun shield with the 268 calling for help, and our 4005 going down; it’s now four on six, the Grille is coming towards me, and I fluff my second HE shot.

Luckily the 268 is on point, and hits it with a 1000 damage HE shell just before going down, and I finish it off, but we’re now down to three on five.

Moving forward the Jpz hits me again for 950 damage. I hit it once, start moving back since the 183 is also on the way, hit the Jpz track, and then manage to bounce a massive shell, hit the track again, and take it out.

Here’s where I get a little lucky. I bounce the 183 off the side of the turret as I move in to face hug, and I know I’ll have two free shots as it reloads.

That’s not enough, and I juke desperately trying to catch the next shot on the gun mantlet, which actually succeeds just as my last teammate goes down, and I am one versus three for a couple of seconds before I finish off the 183.

Both remaining enemies are spotted on the other side of the map, but it’s a 50 B and a Sheridan, and they’ll be here in no time.

I can’t let them come at me from two sides; I’m a possible one shot for the Sheridan and two for the AMX, but luckily my speed boost is almost off cooldown, so I start moving left towards the A-B cap area so I can go hull down again and hopefully keep them both in front of me.

I spot the 50 B at B cap, and manage to get into cover just in time. I put a shot into the turret, but am overangled and take on in return as well; down to a definite one shot now.

But I am once again hull down, almost reloaded, and I bounce the return shot as I take out the AMX. Looking left, I am once again lucky to get a high caliber bounce; the Sheridan is in front of me and not to my left like I figured. It can’t get into cover properly, and an easy shot finishes off the game for a Radley/Kolobanov Mastery!

A lot of things went right in that game. My team did good damage before going down, and there really wasn’t a lot of cleaning up to do. A couple of bounces allowed me to take down two of the big TDs and I had help with the third, effectively breaking the backbone of the red team.

But this was also playing to the strengths of the T110E5; using the speed boost to relocate faster, and finding hull down positions to maximise the armour effectiveness.

So what’s the final word?

Well, the T110E5 is a good tank, a solid if somewhat generic performer, and you could certainly do a whole lot worse for your first tier X Heavy tank.

I have a feeling I won’t be grinding one out any time soon; my next tier X Heavy will most probably be Swedish, but I really have nothing against the E5, and I’ve enjoyed trying it out for a little while.

There are a couple of other tanks you might consider instead of the E5, but I don’t think they’re necessarily outright better; they just do things a little differently.

If bad gun depression gets you riled up, than that would be a good reason to choose the T110E5. If you don’t know exactly what you are looking for, then the E5 will give you a little bit of everything. And there are no lopsided tradeoffs, so to speak; everything about it is in balance.

IrmaBecx says it may not be the most exciting tier X tank you’ve ever seen, but it can definitely perform really well nonetheless.

SuperPershing, Chrysler K, T95E2

USA On The Cheap?

By:

IrmaBecx

So from today, you can get your hands on some good old American iron on the cheap, and there are one or two tanks among the offers I think are worth a special mention.

First of all there is the notorious ”Foch Tank”; the Chrysler K. Then the plain but underappreciated T95E2. And finally, if you are just starting out, the T26E4 SuperPershing.

The T23E3 got buffed fairly recently, but for my money that still didn’t elevate it from the ”good but meh” category where it has always resided. I bought one when it first came out, but never really drove it a lot over the years.

So let’s start with the SuperPershing.

If you are a newer player, this is one of those tanks you might want to consider for grinding credits and learning a few skills. At 40 km/h and around 10 horsepower per ton it’s no speed machine, but it has some formidable frontal armour to help you deal with that.

How formidable is it?

Well, the entire front of the hull and most of the turret front is covered in spaced armour that will get you upwards of 300 mm effective armour in places. Ten degrees of gun depression means setting up your shots and doing hull down work is easy.

Not your average Medium tank, then. The weaponry doesn’t quite have the penetration of, say, a French or a german 90 mm, but there’s not a huge difference, and it does get the job done. Again, you have that very sturdy frontal armour to help make up for it.

But the best part of the SuperPershing is that it has a credit coefficient that is higher even than the “Bank of Deutschland”; the famous Löwe. Since the armour will help you stay alive a little longer, you should be able to make quite good credits even on a bad game, and you won’t have to worry about paying for a few APCR shells if needed.

A well driven SuperPershing can be hard to deal with, especially in a hull down situation. It’s not very hard to drive, and if you don’t want to grind credits in a 122 mm Heavy tank, it is one of the best alternatives.

I wrote about the Löwe, M4 49, and E75 TS recently, but there is one more 105 mm Heavy tank that could be included in that same category: the Chrysler K.

It has a rear mounted turret, and it’s a big tank, but it’s also surprisingly mobile for its size. In fact, it has almost twice the specific power of the SuperPershing with the same top speed.

But that’s not a modern L7A1, it’s a late war 105 mm anti tank gun developed for use against German tanks, so the penetration is actually worse than the 90 mm SuperPershing. That really is your only drawback however; mobility is good, and the armour is also good.

The rear mounted turret and the thick, flat sides make it an excellent side scraper, and as the turret turns all the way around, you can also back up a slope and go reverse hull down without the front hull being in the way. That may sound tricky, but it’s really not a problem since the Chrysler moves around so well.

I always enjoyed the Chrysler K, because it’s a little different from what you are used to, but really not that hard to drive at all. If you’ve done hundreds or thousands of games in your old Löwe or Tiger II, you might want to switch things up a little with the Chrysler, especially with a cheap offer like this.

Highly recommended.

Lastly, I want to say a few words about the T95E2.

Every time I’ve driven it on my press account, my preconception has been that the tank isn’t really very interesting, and there are better alternatives out there for doing the exact same thing. But then I always end up driving more games than I intended, and I come away feeling like it really is a great tank after all.

You see, the T95E2 really only has one problem, and that is the 59-Patton.

Where the T92 has some kind of prototype Patton turret, the 59 has an actual tier X turret, straight off the old M48 Patton, meaning it still has the commander hatch weakspot on top, which is totally fair at tier VIII. The turret front on the 59-Patton is like 50 mm thicker, and the type 59 hull is also more robust, plus you have one more degree of gun depression.

Otherwise, these two tanks are virtually the same, there are very minor differences. But the extra protection does give the 59-Patton an edge, and it is the better vehicle of the two.

They may look a little funny, but they’re really just classic examples of the hull down, gun depression playstyle, which is both effective and enjoyable; that’s why I always like driving them on the press account.

But the fact the 59-Patton is better doesn’t make the T95E2 a bad tank; it only makes it second best. Therefore, if you have a 59-Patton already, you don’t need the T95E2. But if you don’t have a 59-Patton, the T95E2 is almost as good, and so it could definitely be an alternative, especially at the current price.

So yeah; these three tanks are all both enjoyable and effective, and with the possible exception of the T95E2, they would also be well suited to newer players.

I am still not super fascinated by the US tech tree, so I won’t be getting myself a new Yank tank to celebrate the 4:th of July.

But I will happily support others doing so. These three especially are good tanks, and since they’re so straightforward to drive, you’re not really risking anything taking a chance on them.

My choice would be the Chrysler K even though I usually prefer Medium tanks, because it’s a little different with the rear mounted turret, and I like the way it moves with that powerful engine.

Either way, IrmaBecx says all three of these tanks have my seal of approval.