Comparables of incoming tier 10's
So in the recent Storm Q&A there were confirmed facts about a few tansk that will be, for sure being introduced into the game. The AMX 30 will be a new tier 10 French medium, the FV 4202 will be replaced by the Vickers MBT, and the FV215b will be replaced by the Chieftain.
So i wanted to look at some of the real life statistics of each of these tanks to get some kind of an idea on how they would perform in game, by comparing the current tank with their replacements (the 215b and the 4202) and finding a tank in game that could reasonable compare to (AMX-30)
The Chieftain tanks are a series of tanks that were largely consistently being developed. There are several different kinds and variants that were built and featured different guns and different modifications to the tank in general. I'm going to use the Chieftain M.5 as the tank we will most likely see in game (Though it is mostly speculation at this point. The MK.1 was a training tank and the M@.2 was the first one issued for standard use and had a 650 hp engine. The MK.3 was outfitted with a different cupola but the MK.5 would be the culmination of those minor changes).
Gun Stats
The Chieftain uses the L11A5 gun in real life, which is a rifled tank gun, just like how the guns have to be in WOT. Most of the real life gun stats don't matter so much other than a few (I don't think it is necessary to know how far it can shoot for WOT) It is a 120 mm gun, just like the one on the 215b. The biggest difference will be with the with the gun stats in game where the 215b has unparalleled gun stats, boasting amazing dpm, dispersion, and accuracy.
Hull Armor
Thew Chieftain boasts a frontal hull armor of 120 mm at a 72 degree angle. the overall thickness isn't as much as the 215b's 152mm, but the angle of the Chieftain is much higher compared to the 60 degrees that the 215b has. Without doing armor calculations, I think the effective armor, straight on, will be similar to that of the Object 430 ~230 mm while not being angled. Of course angling it even the slightest bit will increase its armor value considerable.
Turret Armor
The Turret for the Chieftain will likely be very similar to what the 4202 has now, a 196 mm turret in game, compared to the historical 195 mm turret that the chieftain boasts. Of course the turret will also have some slope to it, allowing for additional armor thickness.
Engine
The Chieftain will most likely have a 720 hp engine, which is considerably less than what the 215b has at 950. The 215b though also weighs ~70 tons, while the Chieftain weighs considerably less at 56 tons. The difference in horsepower would likely mean the top end speed of the Chieftain will 48 kph, significantly higher than the 215b's ~34 kph. The Chieftain will be faster.
it should also be noted that the Chieftain would not have the frontal engine issue that the 215b has.
What it Means
What it essentially comes down to then is that the Chieftain will be a far superior change compared to the 215b. I doubt that these changes will be how i stated they were, largely due to the fact that, with everything essentially being pretty solid, something will have to be nerfed or "rebalanced". my guess is that the gun handling won't be as good to balance the tank out.
I think the version that we will most likely see is the Vickers MBT 3. It has some armor changes over its first variant and will have a better engine, something that will make it into more of a medium tank.
Gun Stats
The Mark 3 boasts an L7A1 as its primary armament, a 105mm gun. The current 4202 has the same gun. I wouldn't expect too many changes here.
Hull Armor
This is going to be tha first major change from the 4202 to the Vickers. The Vickers, at its thickest point on the hull, is 80mm thick. Even with significant sloping (looks to be around ~65 degress) most tier 10's will ahve absolutley no problem penning the front of the hull. It is safe to say that this will be a significant downgrade fromn the 4202's current 121 mm frontal armor plus slope.
Turret Armor
For some reason, I can't find terrible much on the turret thickness. One source claims that it is only 80mm thick, jsut like the hull. Again, a significant downgrade compared to the 4202's 196 frontal.
Engine
the Vickers has a 720 hp engine, and at only 38 tons, it isn't significantly less weight than the 4202 at 42 tons. Actually, the 4202 has a better hp to ton ratio than the Vickers at ~20, compared to ~18. However, from what I have found, the top speed of the Vickers is around 50 kph, which is slightly higher than what WOT lists the 4202 at 40 kph.
What it Means
I'm not sure this is going to be a great change for the 4202. Statistically, the Vickers seems inferior in almost every way except for the top speed, which was something that hurt the 4202 greatly. But can speed make up for the fact that the tank can get penned literally anywhere, and will likely have the same gun stats? I'm going to say no. (My guess is that they buff the gun so that it performs on par with a Leo 1)
The AMX-30 is not going to be coming into WOT replacing any of the current tanks, rather it will be coming in to give the French more of a true medium, rather than the scout medium hybrid that is the Batchat. For comparison purposes, I'll look at the AMX-30 compared to the Leo 1, simply for easy to understand differences.
Gun Stats
Just like all other top end mediums in the game (excluding the Chinese) the AMX-30 has a 105 mm gun (Some list it as smoothbore, but it will be rifled for WOT's purpose). There isn't too much to add to this, because most of the gun stats then will be determined by Wargaming and will be buffed or nerfed accordingly.
Hull Armor
The AMx-30 has very thin frontal hull armor at only 80mm sloped. Just like the Vickers MBT it won't bounce anything in a tier 10 game off of its front plate. For comparison, the Leo 1 actually has only 70 mm of armor and I don't think it can bounce anything. An added 10 mm won't matter much.
Turret Armor
The turret of the AMX-30 is, again, just like its frontal armor, not very thick at ~30 degrees. the saving grace might be the fact that there is a large mantlet that surrounds the gun, which will act as spaced armor. As you can see from this version. The turret almost looks like a less thick frontal turret of an STB, but the huge mantlet offers a ton of extra protection considering how large it is. The Leo has even less turret armor than the AMX-30 at 52mm, but on rare occasion, the mantlet can soak up some penetration and cause a no damage shot.
Engine
The AMX-30 has a 700 hp engine and weighs approximately 35.5 tons. The listed maximum speed of the tank is 65 kph. Comparatively the Leo 1 has a 830 hp engine, but weighs closer to 40 tons.
What it Means
Honestly, I think we'll be getting a crossbreed of something between the current STB and the Leo 1. The AMX-30 will be just as fast as the Leo, but will have worse gun handling, although not as bad as the STB. I know that the Russian Mediums have been cloned over and over, but it seems like we are going to be getting a varied clone of the Leo instead of something truly unique.
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