"The Disguised Panther"

Told ya I'll be back, so here it is.

Well, this is sorta a continuation of yesterday's post... except, it's not the same tank. Well, it's sorta the same, but totally looks different.

What's the tank? Well, it's none other than the Tier VII Premium German Medium Tank; the Panther/M10.

Even I was confused when I first saw them in the game. USA or Germany???

First off; this is actually really a German Tank, no jokes. It looks like an American tank because it's supposed to be disguised as the M10 Wolverine Tank Destroyers, like spies deep into enemy lines to cause confusion. Bet the one reason the plan failed was because of the very obvious [and distinctive] tank roadwheel design the Germans had back in WW2.

But deep down, it's actually a Panther tank, just with some adjustments to look more... American.

A rare picture of an unpainted Panther/M10... looks nice.

So right away you can tell that it'll have the same playstyle as a Panther, but it actually plays more like the younger variant; the VK 30.01 (M)... hence why I said that this post will be linked to the last one.

But ramblings aside, it's time for the videos. And again, there's only two of them.

Hmm... not sure what went on in the mind of that Light Tank at the end, but whatever... a kill is a kill.

So, this tank plays more like a VK 30.01 (M) than a Panther because of one thing: it's gun. It uses the same gun that the Tier VI Medium Tank used, so yes... the same 150mm of penetration and a very fast fire rate. Actually, it's more faster in the Panther/M10 as to make up for the extra 1 Tier.

It's hitpoints are on par with the Tier VII Panther, but has it's view range cut down slightly as the cupola is gone for the 'American Disguised' stuff.

And now, for the next video. This one's quite good 'cause of the Tier VIII devastation.

Technically, that AMX M4 49 can just finish me off there and then and everything would have been smooth sailing for him. A big mistake to ignore a tank with dangerously high DPM.

The cupola getting removed made this tank's survival rate much better as there's less weakspots, but the less view range makes you a bit more blind than other medium tanks. Still, a good trade-off.

The tank also has been recently updated to have spaced armor. All the extra sheets of metal used to make the M10 Wolverine disguise were previously just empty space... but now, it's extra armor. This in turn makes the tank survive hits from High Explosive shells more better.

It also has Preferential Matchmaking, so it only sees Tier VI-VIII tanks. So you're effectively using a largely upgraded VK 30.01 (M) with more hitpoints, more DPM, lesser weakspots and additional spaced armor. All good...

And of course a tank is not complete without it's drawbacks. It's view range, as mentioned before gets cut down a little bit... so you can't get that sweet max spotting distance without using Coated Binoculars. The tank is slightly larger than the VK 30.01 (M), because it's actually the Panther. Obviously, the same gun used on the previous Tier VI gives it major problems, especially against well-armored targets.

But those are just minor inconveniences, nothing too big. This tank is overall a really good one, just remember that you're still fragile against Heavy Tanks as that armor doesn't hold up well on them.

And that's all for this post... the last post for 2017, that is. I wanted to make another post to talk all about 2017 and all that shizzle, but I'll pass on that instead. It's been a rather wonky year for many folks, myself included.

But that doesn't mean that it's all bad... there's still some good in it, and here's to 2018 being even better than the last. I know it'll definitely will be, as I have a lot to look forward to and quite a lot of things anticipated to arrive later down the months to come. Let's say, about 5 things to look forward to in 2018... for me, at least.

Ignore that last part, just me getting all excited for these upcoming things to look forward to. It's already 4:30 AM here, so I'll be taking my leave for now. Goodbye 2017, and hello 2018...

...hopefully you'll be even better than 2014 ever was. How I miss that year...

-Panzer Fist-

"The Baby Panther"

And now, it's time for the long-delayed posts...

Getting ever closer to the end of this month, and I want to at least get some posts done. They've been sitting around my computer and YouTube account for quite a while so it's time.

Anyways...

Today's post will be about a tank that not many people use, and that's the Tier VI German Medium Tank; the VK 30.02 (M).

Not that much different from the Tier VII Panther...

It's normally called the 'Baby Panther' as that's what it's essentially is; a younger Panther. It's also not used by many people because the VK 30.01 (P) is normally more superior in terms of gun damage and much smaller silhouette.

And now, a couple of replays. [yes, there's only two of them in total]

From the above replay, I can tell that this tank's armor is adequate. It's 85mm sloped on the front, which can be used to bounce low-caliber guns effectively. Side armor is trash, though... about 40mm, so don't try to even sidescrape in the vehicle.

It's side armor is actually worse than the VK 30.01 (P), so there's that comparison for ya.

Gun's great, having 150mm of penetration and a quick reload time makes it one of the best tanks for tracking enemies. Damage is appalling, though... at 135 average DMG, so you'll need to put in quite a lot of shots into higher tiered enemies.

Anyways, the second video...

Now, the tank's speed is also something to behold. It moves as smooth as a ship on calm weather, and doesn't get bogged down that easily. It takes a little while to reach it's top speed, though...

The turret armor of this tank is a 'hit or miss' kinda deal for me... as at one moment it's a beast with bouncing everything that hit it at the gun manlet, while another moment it's horrifying when the commander keeps getting injured from getting shot in the large cupola it has.

The pros for this tank is that it has good frontal armor, a gun with high penetration value, very quick reload speed and generally a fast and speedy tank. Oh, and it has quite a lot of health for it's tier, too.

The cons? Well, it's gun deals appalling damage; forcing you to put in more shots than you normally need, the turret's cupola huge and can kill off the commander most of the time it gets shot there, the side armor is virtually non-existent and the gun manlet can be a lifesaver or a deal-breaker at time. It's also a rather large tank, so it can get spotted really easily compared to other medium tanks.

Overall, it's a good sniper tank that can relocate quickly when needed. Close combat in this tank is a death sentence, unless the enemies are packing low caliber guns. The armor holds up well, as long as you're not fighting heavy tanks or tank destroyers above your tier.

It can also run n gun, if you can manage it. Just remember that your gun doesn't do a lot of damage, though... feels like you're plinking the enemy to death sometimes.

Plus, it's a Panther. What can you not like about Panthers? A tier lower at that, too... kinda like a 'teaser' of what's to come in the later tiers.

And that's all for today's post. A little short, but there will be another post that's somewhat linked with this particular one. Almost the same type of tank, so there's something to look forward to in the next post. And with that, I shall take my leave for today...

-Panzer Fist-

Another Update

And I'm done with the "grind"...

Heh, technically I didn't even do a grind as I skipped the AMX 65t after 40 battles...

If there's one thing I hate, it's awfully slow tanks with barely any armor.

And so I'm past the AMX 65t and have now owned the AMX M4 51... had a few games in it, and it's good. I have several replays saved from both the Tier VIII and IX French Heavy Tanks, so I'll get around to uploading them once I'm done with my old materials that are still waiting.

Since it's about 3 AM here, I'll call it a day and post something another time instead. Just the usual to expect.

And with that, my time's up. Stay tuned for the next post...

-Panzer Fist-

Quick Update: Incoming WOT 9.21

Just stopping by to let everyone know about some things...

Well, there's supposed to be a post up at the 17th of December, last Sunday. It was briefly cancelled half-way as update 9.21 dropped on that day.

Right now I've been on World Of Tanks on the regular as I want to get the new French Heavy Tanks ASAP... yes, all three of them. That means the god-awful AMX 65t as well. *shudders*

This was all before 9.21 arrived, as I was busy grinding the AMX M4 45 just to prepare for the AMX 65t.

It's actually a pretty good tank... don't know why people just hate it.

So I just dropped by today to let y'all know that all posts will be cancelled until I'm done with the grind for the new tanks. I'll only be going through the AMX 65t and will continue posting once I've bought the AMX M4 51.

Don't worry; all pre 9.21 content that I've saved up has been successfully recorded and kept for use later. Some have been uploaded to YouTube, about two of them. The rest will be edited and uploaded once I'm back.

So yeah... don't know how long it'll take for me to do this particular grind, but at least you'll know what I'm doing when I'm gone and not suddenly became inactive without any notice.

With that done, it's time for me to install the latest 9.21 update... so see ya when it's done.

-Panzer Fist-

World Of Tanks Common Test, 9.21 Server EXTENDED

Time to make use of all these remaining materials...

Back from yesterday, and today's post will be about the World Of Tanks Common Test Server. The second iteration was up during that time and I took that opportunity to get some extra screenshots of the new things added.

Not much, but there's a new overhauled customization system which is rather impressive. I have several screenshots set aside for this as just explaining the whole shebang through a wall of text can get very... difficult.

Now, first things first; the new customization system changes the current camouflages to two different categories: Multicolor and Non-Multicolor. Multicolor camos get additional color patterns, usually an extra two while the others remained the same. You can also change the camo pattern sizes to Small, Medium and Large to suit your own tastes.

But here's where things get interesting; you can now select different parts of the tank to apply camo onto, shown below.

Right here we have the gun area...

And here's the turret area...

And finally, the tank hull area.

Pretty sweet, ain't it? The multicolored camos are now gonna be people choice just because of the extra colors.

Overall, it's pretty good... but NOT YET! There's still more...

...because now, you can even paint your own tanks. That's right, PAINT your own tanks.

There's these nation-specific paints for different climates that you can use, and they look great.

But paints have more 'sections' than camos; 5 compared to 3. The areas are the Gun, Gun Manlet, Turret, Hull and Tracks. Some vehicles will have more sections than others, and it also goes for the camos... like vehicles without a turret will obviously not have the 'turret' area.

And now, some screenshots of these 'nation specific paints'...

And as you might notice, there's a bunch of other colors as well. Those are the base color of other nations, so if you feel like painting a French Tank grey for that "captured vehicles" feel, you can do that... or maybe you just prefer the China's shade of green rather than Swedish ones... up to you.

Here's a couple of screenshots of me painting the Super Conqueror in different nation colors...

China's base paint for the "Forest" camo slot...

...and France's base paint for the "Winter" camo slot.

You might also notice that there's the "non-historical" paint at the far corner... well, those are obviously the goofy looking ones or colors that were never used in war that make your tank stand out more than the rest, if you are into that.

heh, inb4 pink tanks and "power ranger" combos...

Heck, you can even mix and match them to make a bizarre looking monstrosity...

...like this. And this is just me going easy by using only 2 colors...

These paints actually remind me of Armored Warfare's customization system, actually... except more in-depth.

And you though that was all? No... there's still one more to talk about...

The paint and camo actually don't overlap one another, so that means you can stack them... also similar to Armored Warfare.

With normal camouflage, you can barely see the difference as the order goes by camo first, then the paint. Areas like the tracks and edges of the tank gun can be seen when paint has been applied, though.

Thankfully, there's a specific type of camouflage that makes use of this; as they are semi-transparent. They don't have a separate group, so you'll have to find them yourselves by trying each one of them out. The transparent ones have 'grey on dark grey checkerboxes' which indicates transparency; or 'no color zone'.

Here's a few pictures of me combining both the semi-transparent camos with different paint schemes.

German camo without any paint.

German forest camo with German 'forest-specific' paint.

German winter camo with French paint.

Oh, there's actually a few other things... but they are just pre-made sets that you can use if you are too lazy and also tank 'presets' that change the vehicle to have worn paint or something like that.

There's nothing much to talk about those two as they weren't really that important... plus it's not really more fleshed out than the paint and camo systems, as they only have about 1 or 2 compared to the many others the camo and paint systems had.

There's also talk that the ability to add 3D non-interactive customizations as well, like adding sandbags and tracks. They won't add armor or anything, just to make things more cool.

...people will still abuse them by spamming them over weakspots, though.

And that's all there is for today's post. All the important posts are done, and all that's left are the bunch of replays left to record, edit and upload... and I gotta get 'em done before the next patch hits, as I want to play the new French Heavy Tanks when they arrive ASAP.

Speaking of which...

Almost forgotten to put that video in this post.... finally had the replays working, but only those from the second iteration of the 9.21 Common Test Server.

And NOW then it's truly everything. Gotta go now as it's already 2AM here, gonna get some shut-eye and continue with some shizz tomorrow... so see y'all till then.

-Panzer Fist-

"Russian 'Rapid-Firing 122' Tank Destroyer"

Back after a long period of inactivity...

Wheew... it's been two weeks plus since my last post, and where was I? Well, I had a brief holiday period last week in another country until last Saturday... and the other three days was just me settling some important matters. But with all that cleared outta the way, it's time to get into today's post.

Well, the title should be a big, dead giveaway on what tank I'm gonna be talking about... What Russian Tank Destroyer has a 122mm 'derp' gun that reloads swiftly? Well if you didn't know the answer; it's the SU-122-44, the Russian Tier VII Premium Tank Destroyer.

Imagine an IS with sloped armor and superb rate-of-fire + speed...

This is one of those few popular tanks that have a rather "special ability" which attracts people to it's... uniqueness, which is the rather quick reload speed for the 122mm gun it has. The sloped frontal profile of the tank also helps with resisting some low penetration shots, but shouldn't be relied upon as it is not thick, only well-sloped.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, the replays!

As you can see, the tank destroyer is quite agile... mobility of that closer to a typical medium tank. It's gun being 122mm is the flagship "Russian derp" gun from the IS and IS-2... which deals impressive damage on hit, but also has that awful 175mm of penetration on the standard round. This alone cripples any tank using the 122mm gun when facing highly armored targets.

Not to mention the biggest weaknesses of the gun is the piss-poor accuracy and gun handling...

And now, the next replay...

Ugh, that horrendous moment near the end... I die a little inside whenever I see it.

Anyways,  the tank's pretty small... so that makes it's camouflage values quite reasonable... coupled with that speed it can reach will make it great for flanking and staying out of sight. High Explosive ammo will actually do quite well in this vehicle, seeing as it uses the 122mm gun. The reload is the real kicker; being able to reach down to 6.5 seconds [or lower, if done well] for some serious firepower barrage... if it penetrates.

And now, the final video...

That last stand... like a true warrior.

The high mobility this tank has also in turn helps it to turn faster, as you saw from the video above. If the tank had worse mobility, then I probably wouldn't be able to kill the light tank.

The armor of the tank destroyer is not that great, only being useful against low penetrative guns. It's mainly the sloping angle which helps increase it's effectiveness... although not much.

So, that's all about the SU-122-44 there is. The pros; the high mobility which let's it relocate easily among the field, superb reload speed and firepower of the 122mm gun which allows it to quickly dispatch enemies and that it has good camo value.

The cons? Well... it has horrible penetration for the gun; not even premium rounds can help it against the most heavily-armored targets, and the accuracy and gun handling are so bad that you usually need to wait for the gun to be 'settled' [fully aimed] before shooting. The view range is low, comparable to that if the IS tank and the armor is only helpful against low caliber, less penetrative guns. But the biggest problem the tank has is the rather low amount of ammunition you can carry; about 35 shells.

In the past, this tank was a beast. Going up against tanks like it was nothing, shrugging off enemy fire and played like a medium tank at certain times. But with the current "changes" World Of Tanks had in these past few years, it's now mostly a reserved tank destroyer... played usually like a traditional TD by camping because the new era of tanks usually can go through the SU-122-44's armor with ease.

That's not to say it's a bad tank, no. It's just not as awesome as it used to be in the past. But you can sometimes get those beast games where you do extremely well...

Aaannnd I should probably stop it right there before I go on rambling...

So yeah, that's all for today's post. I still have quite a collection of videos and pictures relating to World Of Tanks, and these three videos are taken before the 'Halloween 2017' event. Didn't have time to post them back then, but I do now. I still have a lot of material to go through and post, so that means I better get crackin' as the next game update is about to go down soon... so I'll be back when the next post's ready.

-Panzer Fist-

World Of Tanks Common Test, 9.21 Server

About a week since the last post, but whatever...

I'm not even sure if it's worth it to install and play the World Of Tanks Common Test Server... an extra 25+ GB of space just for a 'test' server, the only servers available are the EU and of course... the RU server.

I get 250ms ping in the EU server and a whopping 380ms for the RU server! I kinda remember now why I don't install CT clients now...

But this is an exception to the rule; as when there's a vehicle [or vehicles] that I adore I will do whatever it takes to try them out as soon as possible. Of course, the lag isn't helping much...

The gold slinging is as bad as ever, but you know it's very bad when the original live server you play in feels about the same as the CT server. sigh...

So the only things I'll be going through are the new upcoming French Heavy Tanks, and that's it. No Badgers, no other shit. I can't stand that mess of a server with horrible ping and even horrible people. [especially a certain group of peeps from a certain country]

Oh, and there won't be any replays... as they don't work for some reason. I definitely won't be going the old route of "record and play" as it will most definitely screw up something. As if the server lag isn't bad enough, I do not need the game to lag on me too.

All that effort and the replays won't work... another reason why I don't use the CT client as often...

Bitching aside, it's time for the sweet new French vehicles. First up's the AMX 65t.

I've only played with the 'stock' turret and 100mm gun for this tank, as I think that's better for the Tier VIII tank. the second turret is bigger and also has a much bigger cupola weakspot. The 120mm gun is good only if you plan to play 'gold skill' mode, as it has 325 penetration for the premium APCR rounds.

The pike-nose armor is awful, only 100mm of armor. Even the 110's armor is better... and the tank has abnormally large track size, too. The tank, when set up like this, will be somewhat similar to the AMX M4 49 but with faster reload. It's gun handling is just a bit lower than the Tier VIII Premium Heavy Tank, but that's just the cost of having slightly better reload time.

Next up, it's the AMX M4 51.

A massive upgrade, but also a massive tank. This is the only vehicle among the three that I allow to switch guns, as the 'derp' addition adds an extra 70 damage without affecting the reload much. Armor is massively better than the AMX 65t, but those frontal hull "shoulders" require careful angling and those rather large cupolas are rather easy to hit...

And I say "cupolas" because there's actually two of them that you can hit, both are lightly armored. The machine-gun port at the front of the tank is not a weakspot, though.

And now, it's time for the AMX M4 54...

This tank is best played with the 120mm gun, no exceptions. The 'derp' addition does add a meaty 160 extra damage, but it's penetration is sub-par... you're better off using the Pz. Kpfw. VII if you want a tank that does chunky damge... and it has better penetration for it's gun, too.

Not to mention it's premium round is AP and only has 30mm of extra penetration only...

As from my older posts, the frontal hull "shoulders" all have 150mm of armor starting from the Premium Tier VIII all the way to Tier X, excluding the AMX 65t.

And here's the different guns they'll have... no AMX 65t in this one, though.

First up, the AMX M4 51.

AMX M4 51 120mm Gun.

AMX M4 51 127mm Gun.

Now, the AMX M4 54.

AMX M4 54 120mm Gun.

AMX M4 54 130mm Gun.

And that's all for the guns. I have plenty of other pictures though... rather than just deleting them, I'll put them up here first before doing so.

First, the front shots of the vehicles, from the Tier VIII Premium Heavy Tank to all the other variants.

Now, the back shot... no AMX M4 49 here.

Now, some frustrating things to talk about...

In one of my posts about these Heavy Tanks, I talked about how the frontal armor plate of the Tier X AMX M4 54 was incorrect... and they even knew about this but didn't bother to at least put it up to the standards! Here's an example below.

Tank Description says 280mm, while in-game shows 220mm...

As what the caption wrote; the tank's Description says that it was a variation of the 'Project 141' tank with reinforced armor plate of up to 280mm, yet the stats on the right shows that the tank has 220mm of frontal hull armor instead. Whuuuuut....

I'm guessing they thought that having 280mm of frontal armor is overkill? Honestly for me; nope... as this tank has plenty of weakspots to choose from to kill it easily: the two cupolas at the top of the turret, the large lower plate, the frontal hull "shoulders"...

...and there's ever a few secret weakspots that I've noticed. The gun mantlet is riddled with holes which Premium and even normal ammunition can penetrate, and then there's those turret "ears"... those little bits sticking out from the sides of the turret. Just like the Emil II, shooting at that area with High-Grade HE ammo will do pretty well.

Then there's the 150mm frontal hull "shoulder" problem. Here's another few screenshots between the Tier XI and X tanks to show the armor differences.

Giant slabs of armor plates welded onto the tank, yet the armor values are all fucked up. Jeez, it's like as if WG wants this bunch of tanks to under-perform or something...

 And I guess I should stop before I go into a rant about it... already done that in the few previous posts, don't need to do it here, too. I guess I'll end things with a few in-battle screenshots before I go.

But be aware that this is just the 1st iteration of the CT 9.21 server, so maybe things will change for the better in the next version... hopefully.

Anyways, the screenshots... here's the AMX 65t.

Now, the AMX M4 51...

And finally, the Tier X monster.

And that's all for this post. Not sure when's the next post going to be made... or what it's gonna be about, but I think I know what to do next. So stay in touch for the next update....

-Panzer Fist-

Update For November 16th's Post

Hmm... not sure if it's luck, or something else...

Well... after just one day after my latest post, WG decided to make the Common Test Server live.

Not sure why, but I felt kinda pissed for some reason. But at least I can get some material, info and statistics on the upcoming French Heavy Tanks.

There won't be another long post dedicated to them, though... I'll only be getting around to recording the replays and some screenshots for these vehicles instead and adding them together.

I can't even play the damn game properly with the 250+ ping, so I can't get an accurate 'feel' for the vehicles...

Maaaan, I forgot how cancerous the CT Server was... but at least I got what I wanted out of it.

I wanted to place some pictures here, but I'd rather hold on until I get everything else done instead.

There's still plenty of stuff to do, so I'll get around to posting about them once it's done... so stay tuned.

-Panzer Fist-

Not Your Typical French Tanks... Finally Arriving!

And I'm back... time to start off this post.

So, 'not your typical French tanks'... that's because they are well armored, and also coming in the next update in December.

And yeah... there's more than one tank, as it's a new branch! Not a fully fledged one from Tiers I to X, but only three new vehicles starting from Tier VIII to X. The new line will extend out of the Tier VII Heavy Tank, the AMX M4 45.

New French Heavy Tank branch.

As you can see from the picture, the new Heavy Tank line consists of the AMX 65t at Tier VIII, the AMX M4 51 at Tier IX and finally the AMX M4 54 at Tier X... and I'm gonna talk about all three of these new tanks, starting with the AMX 65t.

AMX 65t from WG's video.

Well, maybe not the AMX 65t as there's nothing special about it.

Okay, only a bit...

The AMX 65t is the first from the new branch and is pretty much a French 110 with better gun(s) and turret armor. It's hull armor is rather poor, so even angling a small amount will make the frontal pike nose lose it's effectiveness. There's the 100mm gun that's comparable to the one used on the AMX M4 49, and then there's the 120mm gun which has much better DMG, but suffers a longer reload time and lower penetration.

But my gut says that the 120mm will still be people's choice as the premium shell penetration is a whopping 325! You can pretty much melt any tank you meet without breaking a sweat... but you'd still have to deal with the costs of the typical Goldshell, though.

It also looks like a fake tank that WG made [like the WTF E100] but it's actually real... albeit only in blueprint form.

AMX 65t blueprint.

It even has a blueprint for it's turret, as well.

FAMH turret blueprint.

I don't really understand why they decided to place a Tier VIII Heavy Tank with a 'pike-nose' frontal hull armor design when they have the regular AMX M4 hull that they can use... plus, it's the only tank out of the rest to have a 'pike-nose' design.

They shoulda gone with this for the Tier VIII:

Looks weird, but it can exist...

They could just... strengthen the armor for the frontal hull and everything would go perfectly... just like that.

Oh, and it's stock turret resembles the AMX M4 49's turret. So there's that.

And that's all for the AMX 65t. I think it's okay, but not eye-catching enough for me... but that all changes when you get to the Tier IX tank, the AMX M4 51.

AMX M4 51 from WG's video.

Look at that impressive turret... too bad you're gonna have to research for it, though. The stock turret that you have is the upgraded one from the AMX 65t.

It might also look like another fake tank made from WG, but it actually has a blueprint for it's hull... at least, I think this is what it's been referenced from.

AMX M4 45 with extra armor plating.

The armor for this tank is much more better than on the AMX 65t, but also kinda disappointing. You see, the Premium Tier VIII Heavy Tank; the AMX M4 49 has 190mm of frontal hull armor compared to the Tier IX's 180mm.

Wut. 10mm less for a tank 1 Tier higher? And there's more, as the frontal armor "shoulders" [those small side sections] are 150mm for the Tier VIII tank... and it's the same for the Tier IX. That can be a problem, but I won't know for sure until the tanks are released for the players.

Anyway, passing that little rant...

The upgraded turret looks a lot like an M103's turret, but [obviously] it's not. Seems to be called the 'TCB' turret, and there's even a blueprint of it.

TCB turret blueprint.

The one in-game looks slightly different, but I ain't complaining. Heck, it's about time we get some new French Heavy Tanks. May just be three, but I'll take 'em over nothing at all.

The AMX M4 51 has different gun choices too, not counting the stock gun which is the 100mm from the AMX 65t. The first one is the 120mm, which functions NOT like the one from the AMX 65t.

Long and accurate...

A very long gun, but nothing beats the Panther and E50's long guns. The 120mm actually is the accurate one for the AMX M4 51, unlike the AMX 65t. As such, it will function pretty much like a sniper gun; accurate and quick to aim... reloads fairly quick, too.

Then we have the 'brawler' addition for the tank, the 127mm gun... or more specifically, the 'derp' version.

Shorter, but packs more punch.

Heh, looks like a freaking chimney with that muzzle(?)

So obviously the 127mm will deal more DMG but will suffer from longer reload times and worse gun handling than the 120mm. But there's also another little special 'thing' to note about this gun, just like the 120mm on the AMX 65t.

You see, the reload time difference from the 'sniper' gun is only about 2.1 seconds... which makes it viable to use the 'brawler' gun for this tank in my eyes. Sure, you'll have the accuracy and aiming time downgrades... but for extra 70 DMG for just extra 2 seconds reload? Sign me up for the 127mm for this tank!

Also, the tank is pretty huge... about as high as the AMX 50B in height.

Same size as the AMX 50B, maybe even slightly larger... and it's the same for the AMX M4 54, too.

And now we've come to the most exciting part of this post; the Tier X French Heavy Tank... the AMX M4 54.

AMX M4 54 from WG's video.

It may look like the AMX M4 51 from the above picture, but it's actually not. You can see notable differences in the form of where the spare track links are placed [side of tank instead of at the front "shoulders"], the packed canvas at the back of the turret and also the positions of the nation decals [behind the turret "ears" instead of directly on it]. It also has the jerrycans moved to the back and even has "ladders" at the turret sides.

So, what's so 'exciting' about this tank? Well, for starters it has a much better stock gun. It is the same 120mm from the previous tanks, but with greatly improved stats.

Might be the same 120mm, but is still reliable.

It's reload time is what makes it a great tank; just under 11 seconds... and that's before crew skills and equipments. That would make it like a Lowe with superb armor! The DMG is still on the low end of 400, but when you're putting out that many shots per minute you don't have to worry about DMG.

And here comes the 'brawler' addition to the tank; a 130mm cannon taken straight from an old battleship.

That gun is VERY THICK.

That might not sound so impressive seeing how the IS-7's gun is about the same thing, but the best part about it is that it deals more DMG than the IS-7's cannon.

Yep, you read that right... about 70 DMG difference.

It's reload is not that far off from the IS-7, considering that it does as much DMG as the Pz. Kpfw. VII. Same caliber, different damage...

But that's not all! Above all this it also have improved frontal armor. You can even see the welded armor slabs if you view the tank from a certain angle.

Here's the comparison between the Tier IX and Tier X Heavy Tanks:

And here's the top view of things, to make it easier to spot the differences:

The picture on the top for both sets of pictures is the AMX M4 51, and the one below is the AMX M4 54. But this is where things get very bad, very fast.

Improved armor is to be expected when going up Tiers, and the 220mm frontal armor of the Tier X beast is somewhat sufficient. But the problem lies on a different place; the front "shoulder" armor... as it's still 150mm! Which is an armor value that has been existing since the Premium Tier VIII French Heavy Tank, the AMX M4 49.

Heck, there's even a blueprint for this tank that shows that it has a slab of 280mm of armor welded on the tank.

Notice the '280' for the darkened section at the tank's front.

Even if you don't have any knowledge in the French language you can see the '280 for the frontal hull. This means the AMX M4 54's upper frontal plate is supposed to be at least above 300mm.

It might seem like overkill, but it still has the cupola, lower plate and frontal hull "shoulders" as weakspots... not to mention what High Explosive ammo does to French tanks.

And speaking of the frontal hull "shoulders", that's also another problem to highlight. The comparison picture between the AMX M4 51 and AMX M4 54 shows the areas of where the additional armor slabs were welded. But I've edited the picture to better highlight the problem that exists on the Tier X Heavy Tank.

Edited in good ol' Paint.

Now, it's much easier to see the problems that this tank has. You can clearly see additional armor slabs welded not only at the front, but also the "shoulders" of the tank... but why is it still 150mm?

Sure, the angle might be steeper to increase the effective armor values... but it's still 150mm of armor, even though you can clearly see that they have received reinforced armor. Even if the upper frontal plate is 220mm, I can still live with that. But the "shoulders" should at least get an increase in the numbers, too.

Hell, even if it's just 10mm of extra armor for it to be 160mm... I'm still okay with that.

Because if you're gonna go through the trouble to add in "reinforced armor" that is visible, you might as well make it feel like it's "reinforced armor"... otherwise it's just a visual failure.

But despite all the letdowns it has, I'm still gonna get these tanks... except the AMX 65t, which I'll probably sell when I have enough experience to unlock [and buy] the AMX M4 51. I'll probably even install the World Of Tanks Common Test game folders just to use them early.

Can barely contain my excitement to use these vehicles!

I don't know why, but I've always loved the French tanks ever since I've started playing World Of Tanks. It was the first nation I've played and also got the first Tier X from said nation. Guess I have a knack for those obscure or less popular vehicles from some nations, like the Chinese tanks and also some of the German vehicles to a certain extent.

I even have the AMX M4 54 as my desktop wallpaper... although it has the 120mm equipped.

It's not this one as the wallpaper, as there's another one out there. Just putting it here to show what it looks like in-game.

Many people hate that we only get 3 new French vehicles, but I personally don't mind it. Sure, it might look like just a bunch of AMX M4 45s but with different turrets and guns but at least we get something instead of nothing... like all the other tanks stuck in development hell.

Maybe in the near future they will add more, but this is what we've get for now. A month plus more to wait before I can get my hands on them...

Anyways, that's all I have for now... looking back, most of it was me ranting about the Tier IX and X's tank armor and my undying love for French tanks, and less about the actual stats and history. But whatever...

I still have some World Of Tanks replays to record and upload, and one of them is even a French tank... so with that in mind, I'll be back when it's done. So stay tuned...

-Panzer Fist-