About the 9.5 Branch

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Hello everyone,

since there is a lot of confusion about the 9.5 Firefly branch from what I’ve seen on forums, here is the branch setup, as it will appear in 9.5. Archer will be unlocked from tier 4 Valentine, M2A4 normally from tier 1.

 

Tier Vehicle Alternative
2 M2A4
3 Stuart
4 Grant
5 Sherman III Archer
6 Firefly IC Achilles
7 Challenger
8 Charioteer
9 FV4004 Conway
10 FV4005 Stage 2

 

Quick summary: M2A4, Stuart (Honey), Grant and Sherman are for most part just copies of existing tanks with some British upgrades (like 6pdrs), but essentially the same playstyle. Archer is unique (gun facing “backwards”), low-armored TD, while Achilles is simply the M10 with a 17pdr. Firefly is well known (17pdr Sherman – poor depression and likely nerfed mobility), while top tier tank destroyers are relative unarmored, but pack quite a punch. Tier 10 has very thin armor, but a 183mm gun and will likely have limited traverse the way FV215b (183) does.

102 thoughts on “About the 9.5 Branch”

  1. ”Archer will be unlocked from tier 4 Valentine”

    SEE I WAS RIGHT GUYS!!

    Thanks for clearing this up

  2. I don’t see this branch being very popular.
    Between the low alpha (except tierX) and the light armor, with the same gun used from all other Brit tanks….

    We’ll see Fireflies and Achers lol’ing around for History buffs, FV4005s for the derp, but that’s about it. A few people here and there grinding properly, but the branch will probably be deserted.

    • Not very popular? Are you kidding me? Once 9.5 hits no one will grind the AT line anymore.

      • Yeah, more popular than an unpopular trashy branch doesn’t mean it’s going to be popular.

        Firefly will be, FV4005 will be, the stuff in between? Not so much.

        • I don’t really know what you mean by popular. Do you mean pubs? Cos AT line is anything but unpopular.

          Anyway it depends how they arm them. If they do the usual thing of giving brit tanks their historical guns while upgunning the rest (just look at those tier 7 heavies all overbuffed except BP) then yeah the firepower will be underwhelming. But they didn’t do that with the AT line so i doubt they will do it for this one. If you have challenger with 20-pdr at tier 7 or charioteer with L7 at tier 8 it will be a different matter.

          Plus alot of people like playing conqueror, and Conway will just be a conqueror without the useless armour and with better gun handling.

          • I mean amount of people playing it.
            Tiger branch has a LOT of people playing it, it is popular. You will always see a tiger when you see tier7s, for example.
            T-54 is popular, you see a lot of them.

            What you barely see are AT-8,7,15s, you don’t see any SU-101s, you barely see any Conquerors (despite it being enjoyable, as you said).
            And I predict the same thing will happen to this branch.
            Apart from right at the start, with the Firefly and FV4005 hype, it will be one of those rare branches you barely ever see, like the second Russian TD line.

            • There are many less popular branches than the AT line, and the only other turreted td line we have is ridiculously popular (5 times as many people playing it as the non turreted line of same nation), so I think you will be surprised. As for the conqueror it is seen in the same sort of numbers as all the other tier 9 heavies which aren’t the E75 or IS8, and those are popular because the tier 10s are geek famous.

  5. Just need Sherman III and Firefly, the other is meh.

    SS, in one of book I have there is a mention of Sherman III with 76mm, designated Sherman IIIAY by the Brits. Is British actually get some of 76mm Sherman or is it just another case where British prepare the name in case they got the delivery?

    • A is for the 76mm.
      B is for the 105mm.
      C is for the 17 pounder.
      Y is for a tank equipped with HVSS.

      The letters designate the gun carried and no letter was for the 75mm gun. The British got a collection of 76mm equipped Shermans but I don’t have the numbers on hand atm. But it was a handful.

      In the case of Sherman IIIAY, some were delivered late in 1944.

  6. Do anyone know the Turrent armor & depression of Charioteer? With the 20 pdr gun type B, I wish it can be a great “MT”.

    CN ,GZ,PM 16:57

    • Turret armour – 30 mm front, 25 mm front turret sides, 20 mm rear turret sides, 30 mm turret rear. Elevation limits IRL -5/+10.

    • Probably only from the Valentine, which makes sense since it’s based off the Valentine hull.

        • Valentine isn’t really a light tank, its a mini heavy admittedly useless against high tiers, which fortunatly it doesn’t see often, cruiser 2 is op derp tank, cruiser 1 is op 2-pdr tank you grind in 1 battle. Hardly difficult.

  8. it may be obvious , but its not clear to me.
    is that a TD line Medium line or something combined
    Thanks

  10. isnt Firefly what the germans called the tank? i thought the allies called it something else…or did they also call it firelfy after the germans?

    • It was firefly to the allies, no idea what the Germans called it. Firefly was kinda the project name for upgunning stuff to 17-pdr and the name somehow got down to the troops. It could as easily have stuck to achilles or challenger, but those had been given a proper name while the firefly was just a sherman variant, i guess the crews wanted to differentiate it. The firefly name in this context supposedly game from the 17-pdr itself, which gave off extreme flash at least in its early iterations. However there were earlier firefly projects pre-dating the 17 pdr (6 pdr on morris recon car) so that might be apocryphal.

  11. So that means the Valentine no longer leads to Churchill 1. Guess that’s cleared up.

    Also means that there will be no connections between the new mediums and old ones, nor between new TDs and old ones, since that just won’t fit.

    • Why shouldn’t the Valentine lead to Churchill anymore? Because there are 3 tanks researched from it then? No problem, T-34 even unlocks 3 tier 6 tanks.

      And it’s possible Cromwell connects to Challenger as Challenger is based on the Cromwell.

      • Because the tech tree can’t fit those connections. Which is because WG insists on having a flat, literal ‘tree’ setup for the research.

        And yeah, I was hoping for a Cromwell>Challenger transition. Much more sensible.

        • Yet if Valentine is no loner connecting to Churchill, the stock status of the Church will become even worse.

      • Because you can’t have valentine leading to 3 different tanks, yet have those tanks themselves leading to tanks in two other lines without turning the tech tree inside out. There would be nowhere to go after achilles, since it obvioulsy doesn’t run into the heavy or artillery lines. The best use of these tanks is to bridge to the turreted tds in the same way the churchill GC does between the heavies and Assault tds.

        Obviously this is all because of the 2D tech trees. That and connecting valentine to Bishop because of the shared chassis when they don’t do that for the vast majority of Arty (including all the ones after Bishop). I mean you can’t train GWPanther from Panther can you?

        So one of the valentines current links has to go, doesn’t actually matter whether it is the Bishop or the Churchill.

  12. Oh man i will need 5 new garage slots for this branch :< Sherman III, Firefly, Archer and Achilles are keepers for collections sake, and one slot for the grind :o

  13. For me the main question is …. Challenger from Cromwell??? or from Firefly??? i think the Cromwell is the natural predecesor of Challenger… i dont say they give Charioteer via Cromwell but at least the Challanger… much better than from Firefly-Archer for me is Cromwell-Archer.

    Call me crazy but if i where WG i more Archer to tier 5 to research it via tier 4 TD and valentine and in tier 6 i put the Achilles a much better TD to dance with tier 8 tanks.

    I dont expect the new line be popular… except maybe the Firefly and tier 7-8-9 TDs but here depends of balance.

    • Call me crazy but if i where WG i more Archer to tier 5 to research it via tier 4 TD and valentine and in tier 6 i put the Achilles a much better TD to dance with tier 8 tanks.

      that is what is happening……..

      • Shit i read it bad i remember they plan Achiles as tier 5 and Archer as tier 6… thanks to god they change this.

        The line is not going to be popular, some tanks maybe (at least 1 rest depend of how they do the job) but not the full line… Chinese HTs are not popular because are other heavies similar that do better the job… i never like a lot 110 or 111 because soviet versions are better on the playstyle.

    • It is a td line you can join at tier 5 from the valentine light line or at tier 7 from the new LL light/medium mixed line.

        • Now on playstyle the Matilda is much better in armor and firepower and well i find the PzIVD the best tank in the tier out of TDs

      • They made it on the Val chassis because they had several hundred Val chassis sitting around all over the UK and the Val as a tank was obsolete. They basically did the same thing the Germans did with older chassis.

    • THIS ARE NOT TRASH. How dare you say such a idiotic moronic statement. This are not clones they are British tanks made on BRITISH suspensions. I would rather you take a pill a die but we cant all get what we want now can we.

      HOW DARE YOU say such a statement

    • You’d rather have imaginary and/or prototype tanks than ones that were actually manufactured and used in combat?
      (Granted, the FV4004 and FV4005 were only prototypes, but that’s only two out of the eleven tanks being added.)

      • As expected british fanboys are flipping out, what will this line add to gameplay wise that existing british tanks don’t have? Another one shot clicker glass wonder. And not to mention british tanks are second worst in the game (not many competitive tanks with exception of T10 map clicker).

        How many are useful for ESL format competitions? I can think only of medium 1, because its wreck is such a big boxy trash so that T1 cunningham doesn’t get reset in cap. Meanwhile we have neglected Chinese and Japanese lines (+french non autoloaders of course). I would much rather see swedish tanks – more unique and greater potential for change of gameplay than some half complete line.

        For (attempted) historical realism visit shittunder.

  18. Where is the second t5 tank? I remember a few posts back them saying 11 new brittish tanks with 2 t5s.

  20. The Archer ought to be amusing.

    If the Crusader 5.5″ is any indication, it’ll be slow going forward (current Valentine is what, 10kph in reverse?), but be able to book it (comparatively) at 32kph+ backwards. Easy retreats.

    And with its fairly bad armor and speed, it’ll probably end up with TOGesque 17pdr stats or better…a tier early. With quite good camo, because of its size. Yesplease.

    The Achilles doesn’t sound bad, either. Basically an M10 with a gun that weighs half as much as the M1A2 (…somehow), so slightly more nimble. Probably somewhat of a firerate buff over the TOG, causing much 17pdr-hate as people get tracked and torn apart in the open. Looks fun.

    Yyyyyep. You guys can have your silly Fireflies, I know which way I’m going if things go as planned.

  21. Achilles sounds like a beast, Wolverine camo, tier six HP, and the 17 pounder, which is a very effective gun for a tier six. Much like the Hellcat of old, lets get ready for “Achilles OP plz nerf” threads/whines/complaints.

    The Firefly should compare well to the tier six Shermans. At present one has a choice of low damage and pretty low pen for a tier six, or derping, which is extremely hit or miss. 171 pen and 150 damage on a tank with Sherman mobility will likely be pretty effective. Of course it won’t hull down so well, but really, only the Jumbo with the stock turret is a tough nut hull down anyway.

    • Ehh. Wolverine only goes 48kph, and has a mediocre power:weight…I’d liken it more to a slightly quicker (emphasis on “slightly”), fast-firing Jackson with a worse turret.

      Which is perfectly alright with me, I’m quite fond of my Jackson.

  22. Pingback: Britský strom v aktualizaci 9.5

    • Its not inferior, it has a higher pen, higher dpm but lower alpha gun, better hull armour, slightly worse gun mantlet and will be a bit slower than M36 if they stick to only the historical engine (which they probably wont). M18 is only better thanks to lol 90mm and armoured turret from protoypes but retaining crazy mobility and it now has bad gun handling even with that.

      At tier 5 17-pdr is broken op. S35CA is a terror with it even with super nerfed into the ground gun stats and the worst platform imaginable

      • And yet, you never hear people screaming about the S35 being overpowered…at all.

        I’d also like to point out that the PanzerSouffle has 194mm of penetration and 240 alpha with laser accuracy, fires every 6.5 seconds, and moves like a medium tank. Somehow, THAT utter bullshit isn’t considered unbalanced (I’d suppose due to the armor and silhouette), so a 17pdr with a 4 second or so reload should be perfectly fine.

        • Idk, the pz.sfl terrible gun mobility killed it for me, i will take a turret any time ta.

          Most people use the terrible pen 90mm on the S35CA, cos you know top gun must be best gun.

    • The don’t generally make mass produced tanks that actually saw combat into premiums. They try to use prototypes and one offs that had no upgrade potential. The exception of course are the Russian LL tanks/German captured tanks, but that was just because the Brit/French lines were not in game yet.