Test 8.10: Vehicle Feedback – Part 1

Hello everyone,

as usual, I will add some vehicle feedback for the new Japanese vehicles. Keep in mind everything here is my personal point of view, I don’t claim it to be the One Truth or anything like that. To give you a profile: I am an average player with preference of tank destroyers and medium tanks. I don’t like heavy tanks and I never played SPG’s (apart from test battles).

Tier 2 MT Chi-Ni

Solid. On this tier the armor doesn’t play much of a role, but generally it is vulnerable to pretty much everything on the field (still, I assume everyone shoots gold ammo on test server, so it’s hard to evaluate). The mobility is average, the vehicle turns well, but is not very fast. Guns are nice, but the top 57mm derp is pretty insane. It aims long and is very inaccurate (the vehicle has to stand for any aimed fire to be possible), but it’s damage is MASSIVE. Despite the fact HE shells do 20 more damage and only have one milimeter less penetration, I had better success with the AP shells actually, for some reason the 57mm HE gets “eaten” a lot and does very little damage. Of course, when it DOES some damage, it hurts like hell. Definitely a somewhat defensive tank.

SS Rating: 6/10



Tier 3 MT Chi-Ha

No. It’s pretty much the same vehicle as the Chinese one, only a medium tank instead of a light one, which probably means higher MM weight. The armor is bad (as you’d expect). The gun is decent (reasonable ROF and damage), but aims quite long. For some reason, this vehicle suffers from a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of crew deaths and engine damage, I had a dead gunner in pretty much every battle. This goes for Chi-Ni too, but not as much. As a defensive vehicle it’s okay, but it’s generally slow, sluggish and hopeless on soft ground, seems to have quite poor terrain passability. The armor is of course quite thin.

SS Rating: 2,5/10

Tier 4 MT Chi-He

It gets better with the Chi-He. This tank is a decent rapid-firing medium. While somewhat underpowered with the 240hp engine of the Chi-Ha, it doesn’t feel nearly as sluggish. It’s special in two respects: first, the top configuration (with the Ho-I turret) was actually a self-propelled gun in real life, not a medium tank. Also, it’s one of those tanks where the top gun is not necesserily the best. You have basically a choice: a low-alpha 57mm rapid-fire gun, or a 75mm gun, that has somewhat lower penetration (70 compared to 87), ROF (15 compared to 25), but has higher alpha. The main drawback of the 75mm gun the fact it is horribly inaccurate (0,53). I had very bad results with it and I really recommend using the 57mm, as it is easier to handle for someone who’s not an unicum. All three tanks have pretty good depression – use it for hulldown. The armor is of course quite thin (50 milimeters on turret and hull both), so try not to take too much of a beating. Overall however it’s an improvement over the Chi-Ha.

SS Rating: 5/10

Tier 5 MT Chi-Nu

Well… it’s a workhorse. It won’t have you scream with joy everytime you take it out on a spin, but it works. Basically, it’s a Panzer IV with its L/48 75mm with better depression (however, the tank is so tall I didn’t feel the need to use it), but less armor and mobility. The rate of fire is good and the penetration is better than that of the the L/48, but the vehicle is very, very fragile. You will burn worse than Paul Walker’s Carrera and if you expose your hull and pretty much everything will penetrate that 50mm armor, sometimes even overmatching it (nasty). The mobility is sufficient (unless you want to go scouting or stuff like that), but too poor for this vehicle to be an effective flanker. Also, its size and silhouette makes it about as stealthy an a fridge in the middle of a forest, so that doesn’t work. Personally, I’d play it as a turretted tank destroyer. Its viewrange is sufficient for that and it will prepare you nicely for what is to come. You might have noticed the lowtier mediums to be lackluster (to put it mildly), but it will get better.

SS Rating: 4/10

Tier 6 MT Chi-To

Well, Chi-To is like Chi-Nu on steroids. It has almost the exact traits, just a tier higher. It’s HUGE, but its mobility is okay (on hard terrain you easily snap the maximum speed of 40 km/h with the top engine). On its tier, it’s probably capable of some flanking, even though the size is a dead giveaway and makes it complicated to avoid detection. Its gun is decent – while not as good as the German L/70, it fires very fast and has excellend DPM. The aimtime and accuracy are not that bad either. DPM overall is one of the advantages of Japanese medium tanks. The armor however is (traditionally) poor: 75mm is not exactly a win on tier 6 and since it’s not sloped either, you won’t bounce much. It’s thus reasonable to avoid close combat (that would hurt you) and snipe at distance with that gun, using your sufficient mobility to take cover when things get too hot. The low alpha of the gun requires long distance combat, peek-a-boom is not really an option. Overall, this tank has no debilitating drawbacks, but it’s not something you would keep in a garage for the love of it. Unless you consider it your daughter that is.

SS Rating: 6/10

Tier 7 MT Chi-Ri

Chi-Ri was the ultimate evolution of Imperial Japanese tank engineering, a vehicle that can slug it out with a Sherman easily. It is also the last Japanese tank to use the 5 man crew, tier 8,9 and 10 use 4 man crews. In the game however, given the fact it’s on tier 7, it’s nowhere near the monster it was destined to be in real life. First, there is its size. This tank is HUGE – and I mean HUGE, probably bigger than the King Tiger. Size doesn’t automatically mean armor however and Chi-Ri proves that by having 75mm unsloped (!) armor on tier 7. You can imagine how well that does work: you can forget that, pretty much everything will penetrate you. It’s not all doom and gloom however, as the vehicle is surprisingly mobile for its size, even in hilly terrain. It’s also quite fast, reaching its top speed around 40km/h on flat surfaces. The top gun is a problem however. On paper, it’s not bad – but the alpha bursts are simply… hmm, they don’t work for me. You can choose basically two same guns, just that one fires continuously, the other has a three round autoloader. The autoloader is quite fast, but overall the DPM of the gun is lower. The gun itself is roughly the same as 75mm L/70 (but of course, on this tier the Panther has better armor and better top gun).

I must admit I have not figured out today how exactly to play this tank. It’s too fragile to lead an assault, it’s too big and poorly camouflaged to be an active sniper like the Panther and it’s too slow and conspicuous to be an effective flanker (it draws a lot of fire, just like in the 8.9 branch, there is the XP pinata effect). My first instinct was actually to use the gun without the autoloader, bencause it’s more consistent, but of course that is just my private opinion. Not sure what to make of it, will give it…

SS Rating: 5/10

Tier 8 MT STA-1

STA-1 is the first of the “modern” Japanese tanks and an excellent tier 8 medium. I think the word characterizing it the best would be “just right”. It has armor – not much, but it doesn’t need that much anyway. It has speed – the powerful 570hp engine allows it to reach its maximum speed (45 km/h) with ease, the maneuverability is very good as well. It has a very comfortable gun, the Type 61 90mm, that has roughly the same parameters as Indien-Panzer’s top gun, but it has one very important part: better aim time (2,3s). The DPM (8 RPM) is also good and combined with its accuracy and the vehicle mobility make it a good flanker. And there’s more: the depression is also excellent. There are disadvantages too however: the tank is quite fragile and you start with a 155 pen gun: you have to unlock the 185 pen first, otherwise you’ll be grinding with 155mm over the turret to reach the elite gun. Not a nice perspective. Overall, I liked this tank a lot however and I think players will enjoy it. By the way, don’t worry about the huge machinegun on top of the top turret, it is NOT a part of hit model (you can’t damage STA by shooting it) and it is also NOT a visual checkpoint (it doesn’t matter whether it sticks out from a bush, you won’t get spotted if your roof is covered).

SS Rating: 8/10

Tier 9 MT Type 61

Type 61 is to STA-1 what Chi-To is to Chi-Nu: gameplay-wise it’s the same tank, but with upgrades. For one, it has thicker frontal plate, but that won’t mean that much (it’s only 55mm). The turret mantlet is interesting thickness-wise, but otherwise the turret is huge and fragile. But the vehicle itself is again quite mobile thanks to the upgraded engine and has the option to mount the 105mm gun (L7 clone with less penetration), later found on the STB-1. To me, it seems like the 90mm is actually sufficient and if you decide to fire a lot of gold ammo, it is superior to the 105mm. It certainly is cheaper to run (one 90mm round costs 380 creds, one 105mm round costs 1200 creds and the damage isn’t even doubled). Plus, the 90mm gun actually aims faster (1,7s) than the 105mm gun (2,3s). This alone leads me to believe that if you prefer to play aggressively and flank on every occasion, the 90mm is a better choice, while the 105mm version is better for a fucking bushwanker camper zomgdie! more passive sniper approach. Overall, I must say this vehicle works very well and is very comfortable to operate. I will definitely try to unlock it.

SS Rating: 8/10

Tier 10 MT STB-1

If the STA-1 is your basic flanker/sniper and Type 61 improves that principle, the STB-1 is the flanker/sniper principle distilled. It’s an excellent vehicle. The armor was already discussed several times: the turret is pretty much invulnerable from the front (apart from lucky shots), the hull is quite vulnerable, but it is nowhere near as bad as the Leopard I hull. The gun is a rapid fire but low-pen version of the L7, which is actually quite good, because this vehicle also has a very decent speed and mobility overall. It can reach its 50 km/h easily even on medium terrain, it climbs well too and overall is quite agile. The acceleration is not as good as it could be, but that’s okay.

What I found very effective to do is not rush into battle, wait for battlelines to form and then flank. As a medium-range flanker, this vehicle is absolutely murderous: its gun will tear up the sides of pretty much everything and you don’t even need to use gold ammo. The DPM is very, very good and the depression (-10) is excellent. In fact, this tank does not seem to have any real weakspots. It’s small and the camo factor seems to be adequate. I think it will work very well and I will definitely unlock this one.

SS Rating: 10/10

53 thoughts on “Test 8.10: Vehicle Feedback – Part 1

  1. Yes, i totally agree to the STB-1 roundup – and beside of this… this Tank looks so damn good… it will take you 819k XP to unlock it.. which is rather a lot in comparison to other lines – but its worth it! (Hope it will not get any nerf, cos it looks very well balanced to me currently)

    • Yeah sure, seems pretty much better in all ways than Leo I. Either Germans get shafted again or the Jap will get nerfed soon. Probably WG waits for the patch to go live, people to spend free XP, then nerf it, as always.
      Just for information, I said it first.

      • Not sure, the mobility of the Leo1 is just otherworldly.. STB-1 feels rather sluggish in comparison… and 0,3 accuracy at 1.9 Aimtime is a clear advantage to 0,36 and 2.1

        Furthermore i think we should gain a bit distance to the “M48-Nerf” – not because one Tank once got nerfed bitterly after introduction, it automatically means that WGN is so sneaky it will repeat this over and over again – i rather think they get better in releasing balanced Tanks

        But ofc – if a Tank is really balanced or not, remains still a personal impression somehow ;)

          • Well – i must say, “if” this is going to happen again (like with M48) – the later nerf – then, WGN screwed up with me – once and for all.. and i will perform a proper uninstall.. mark my words! ;)

        • It has a little more dpm(despite higher alpha) than Obj.430 with similar other stats.

          Needs nerf to accuracy on the move.

    • Sounds quite OP to me (STB1). I think it needs a nerf to it’s Rof (6.5) as well as the gun depression (-8). Otherwise this would be the best tier 10 medium in the game by a long shot.

      • Its not, it sorta feel’s like a Patton to me(like what the Patton tied to be, but isn’t), but with better turret armor and DPM. It feels perfectly balanced to me, driving on the test server, platooning with my friend also in his STB-1, we had fun, but we didn’t have a clear advantage over any other mediums.. I think some people are just mad that the new medium had more DPM then the T-62A.

        • Yes, i have to fully agree… Have you checked the Mantlet in WoT Tank Viewer? Remove once the Spaced Armor at the Gun / the Mantlet.. this is rather thin… with Löwe i penetrate about 4 Shots out of 5 when i only shoot directly at the Gun when he’s Hulldown..

          But the Gun Dispersion allowes you to move in HD Positions – Wiggle and go Peek-a-Boo without loosing much Accuracy. The Sides of the Turret are rather bouncy again – except you hit the lower rounded Beak of the Turret, where the sloping turns bad

          Funtank to me – will be very competitive, but not OP.. imho

  2. Im confused – STB-1 are (in my opinion) dottet weakspots…Upperhalf upper front plate, places over tracks are vertical and 35mm thickness, mantlet… From sides and rear -there is nothing to talk about armour :)

  3. “You will burn worse than Paul Walker’s Carrera [...]”
    Oh man SS, i laughed so hard, that I spilled my coffee all over me. Now I look like an Idiot at work. Thanks for that m8…
    :-)

  4. I really think the STB-1 is an excellent tank. The only think that I think is a weakspot is a very weak ammo rack. I got hit into the ammo rack, got it damaged, the next shot was an ammo rack explosion. Made by the tier 9 jap. medium. But all in all, it is really an excellent tank :)

    FIRST NAME: I shall name this the STB-1 Daigensui’s Star Child :)

    • well, its hull base on Leo1. Basically same weak ammo rack. I can’t expect it better. Hope atleast it will same as Leo1… usually damaged but rarely explosion by fist shot.

  5. lol u were to generous on Chi Ri, 1/10.
    Its like a barn (the brown color helps) with a.. pistol. Most shitty hull tanks have a good gun to compensate, but that thing is just balls, even hulldown wont help coz it has no turret armor, it screams SKIP ME WITH FREE EXP, WG NEED MONEIS!

    • Can’t agree. I got my Leo 1 with 4 skill crew and I love it. The STB will not make Leopard obsolete. It is a different vehicle.

      Leo 1 is a pure sniper, with awesome accuracy, aim time, penetration and mobility, but zero armour.

      This new STB-1 is a “jack of all trades, master of any”, it has ok armour, ok gun and ok mobility, but none of those are perfect in it. It will certainly be a good flanker, but it will never be as good a sniper as Leo 1.

      I will certainly be grinding the japanese medium line, but I will keep playing my Leo, which is so much fun simply.

      • Leo 1 can also be an opportunist and flanker when it need be at a beautiful 65kph. STB-1 has trouble going past 45kph on terrain. They ARE completely different vehicles. but they are variants in a way. They are the two tier 10 tanks I want the most.

  6. No comment on the tier 1 pocket heavy-medium with its (according to TankViewer) -17 to -22 (depending on the gun) gun depression? :v

    I can see the STB-1 being pretty ridiculous if only its turret is showing. The obscenely sloped turret front, tilted back to autobounce, only the area directly around the gun anything resembling flat…
    Along with the other stuff you’ve listed, there is going to be a lot of complaining among drivers of other tier X mediums~

    • I’m a Leopard 1 driver/lover, and I will certainly be going for the STB-1. But it doesn’t make me mad or seem OP. It is just differently balanced.

  7. the lack of any side armor on the STB-1 will make it a big arty target. It also makes it impossible to use the side/tracks as a defense(as some patton/t62a drivers do)

    and the turret is pretty well armored, but still suffers from shot traps(anything under the lip will bounce INTO your hull) the turret with the gun depression will make it a potent hulldown poker. Even though it’s hull armor is much better than the Leopard 1, its still near useless against tier 10 firepower.

    I see it very much as a tier 10 m46 patton. Utilizing terrain, raw firepower and sloped turret to win the game.
    I am curious as to how this tank is totally ok with 7.5 ROF, when the last tank that had it got nerfed down to medicoracy(m48)

  8. Just tried the Chi-Ri, I think with the autoloader it’s gonna be great ambush/finisher tank. Emptying whole clip into enemy in 3 seconds is pretty sweet and unless you’re out in the open 10s reload is fast enough to have the gun ready for any foolish pursuing survivors. Single game, 5 kills, 2.5k damage, I sure was happy with myself. And the tank :)

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