France's TRUE Heavy Tank: "The Iron Wall"

And it's finally done! A bit late, though...

Yep. This was supposed to be up yesterday, but I had other things to take care of...

Anyways, today's post should come as no surprise as to what it is... and it's the Tier IX French Heavy Tank; the AMX M4 51.

That's the stock turret the picture has; the TCA turret.

So finally we get to the actual good parts of this new mini-line, and away from that horrible mess known as the AMX 65 t. *shudders*

Ugh... that was surely hell for me...

As you can see from the picture above, it starts out with the previous tank's upgraded turret. Getting the Tier IX's upgraded turret [the TCB turret] is probably a good thing to do as it's massively improved over the other one.

Aaaannnd without anymore delays, it's time for some videos! For the first batch, it'll be using the 120mm gun. The upgraded turret was researched back then, and there isn't any replays with stock turret as you can't mount the 127mm gun with it.

Plus, this tank doesn't feel complete if it doesn't have it's TCB turret...

Not sure if rushing in was the best strategy here, but oh well!

The tank's 120mm is similar to the AMX 50 120 or AMX 50B's gun, but single-loaded. It's quite accurate, and with 257 penetration at Tier IX really helps out a lot. Using it was a breeze...

Obviously this tank has those god-awful cupolas at the top, which are immensely weak... there's two of them, by the way. Many players only notice the one with the "searchlights" on them. This means moving around is a must to avoid getting hit there, or you could use your gun to block one of the cupolas... I find it extremely useful at certain times.

All of the armor is at the front, so the sides and rear [both hull and turret] are absolutely thin. Getting hit with High Explosive there will really do a number on this tank.

Typical choke-point city map battle; things got pretty clumsy at the end there...

Even though it has armor of a typical heavy tank, it's still vulnerable to High Explosive... even more if it gets hit on its sides and rear. The 120mm fast rate of fire makes engaging enemies more comfortable as you can put out shots quickly...

...and accurately, I might add. Though not the most accurate gun, but at least it's not derp levels of accuracy... or the ARL 44's level of "stop and shoot" type of accuracy.

And now we move on to update 1.0 replays! Hence why the previous post was about the Encore engine tests.

An epic game, with up to 4K+ damage! They didn't stand a chance...

The reload time for the 120mm gun can be reduced to 10 seconds, just shy of entering 9 seconds if you've got the right equipment and skills. Feels like an AMX 50B's gun slapped onto the tank, just without the autoloader capabilities... and it's great!

The speed of this tank is not as horrendous as the AMX 65 t... in fact, it can shift really well... and can even get to it's top speed with little problems. Useful to know if you like ramming vehicles, like the E 50 M.

I have yet to get this tank...

And now we switch over to the 127mm gun. Supposedly a naval gun, and it's the 'derp' or 'higher damage' alternative to the 120mm. Where the 120mm shines in high penetration, the 127mm has high alpha damage to back it up.

Time for some 127mm gun replays...

Another battle where we steamrolled the entire enemy team... it's rare to encounter such matches nowadays.

Now, the damage increase isn't massive... just 470 instead of the 120mm's 400. But still, it can roll up to 500+ damage... if it ever does, that is.

The reload time on this gun is surprisingly not that long, only a few seconds more compared to the other gun. It does has the worst Premium Rounds ever: Armor Piercing with a minimal increase in penetration.

Another surprising thing is that the HE rounds aren't that good... you would think a derp/high damage gun would have enormous HE shell damage, but it's not that much.

How many Himmelsdorf replays has it been? lol

And now one of it's biggest drawbacks shows itself: the piss-poor penetration. If I was using the 120mm gun, I would've been able to damage the last enemy tank in the lower plate. Instead, I have to resort to other methods of elimination...

And because it's a derp gun, it also has horrible shell velocity. Easy to dodge in long ranges, and you'll have to give quite some lead to distant moving targets.

The 127mm gun also has another plus up it's sleeve: it has a larger caliber value. That means you can overmatch more armor than the 120mm gun... it can overmatch 40mm armor whereas the 120mm cannot.

So that means if an enemy tank's turret/hull roof is about 40mm [or even their engine deck/side armor] then you can just shoot it, and it'll go through instead of bouncing off.

I feel like the premium rounds are semi-useless: only brought some as standby for armored targets with no other option of engaging the enemy... like let's say, a well-dug in tank destroyer.

But even then, it might not even be enough to go through their armor...

So there's two different play styles as from before; the fast-firing and high penetration gun for snipers, and the highly damaging and larger caliber gun for close-range brawlers.

A nice diversity in guns, but since this is Tier IX it's okay to use either guns. The Tier X tank on the other hand is a different story...

It won't be long till I get my hands on you...

But that's a story for another day, as I'm still stuck in Tier IX at the moment. Was supposed to have about 40K+ experience, but it was used to get the 127mm gun.

And so now... to recap everything so far!

The Pros: Decent frontal armor, up to 180mm thick... which is about 200+ effective. The 120mm gun is a beast in all regards with great rate-of-fire, reload time and accuracy. Turret armor is also good, too. The 127mm gun can be a hard hitting weapon that can overmatch 40mm armor plates, which can be useful when dealing with certain tanks. It's reload time isn't that bad, either.

It's also a pretty mobile tank, for it's size. Useful for ramming lighter targets, much like the AMX 50B but with slightly lower speed. The turret also doesn't lose turning speed when mounting the 127mm gun, so it can be a nasty surprise to enemies.

The Cons? Well, It has horrible side and rear armor for both the hull and turret, so all the fighting has to be at the front... nowhere else. The massive cupolas are thinly armored, so constant movement is required to avoid damage there. The turret "ears" can be shot with HE ammo to deal some damage as well, much like the Emil II/Kranvagn tanks.

The 127mm's gun has atrocious accuracy, aim time and also penetration, which can limit the amount of things you can shoot at. The tank's massive size makes it an easy target for artillery, as anywhere except the front is weak.

And there's the infamous frontal hull "shoulders"... 150mm and any bit of angling can turn it into a weakness for others to shoot at.

Overall, it's a tank with equally great strengths and also equally great weaknesses. Although it seems to have more weakness than strengths at this moment. I won't talk about them here, but some of my old posts have covered it before... so I'm saving the bitching for another time.

And that's all for this tank! It's a joy to finally get to play a true French Heavy Tank. Has multiple drawbacks, but hey... at least it ain't an overpowered piece with barely any weaknesses.

The next post will most likely be of one of two things: The Fronline Mode or either the Tier X French Heavy Tank. Don't know when they'll be up, hopefully it doesn't take a millennia for them to be made... so see ya'll then!

-Panzer Fist-

Long Gone, But Back!

Maaan, it's been too long.

Finally back... and yes, I know... it's been over a month since the last post.

Part of it is because of busy IRL stuff: work, school... all that stuff. Exams are coming up soon, so there's that as well.

On the other hand, I've been busy playing World Of Tanks Frontline mode; a massive 30 versus 30 battle on a map 9 times the size of a regular map! It's like Grand Battles plus objective mode, with respawns/on-field repairs and supply and also off-screen assistance like Airstrikes.

Still playing it, as I wanna get at least a Silver Prestige. Just a few more levels to go...

Anyways, enough of that. Today's post will NOT be about the next French Heavy Tank in line, but instead an old video from many months back.

It's the World Of Tanks Encore tests, that little test program they'll let you try out before WOT 1.0 rolls out. It's long due, and I figured I might as well do it before we dive into the next tank post.

This is because the said next tank post has a mix of pre 1.0 and post 1.0 replays.

So without any more delays, here's the Encore test I did.

I can only do 'Medium' settings as 'High/Ultra' is too much for this computer, won't get 60 FPS if I used that.

Overall, it's good. I did adjust mine manually when 1.0 rolled out, though. Needs that 'personal adjustment' to it.

The next post should be arriving soon... once I'm done with them, that is. Though 'soon' may take up to a day or two, lol. But nevertheless, it will be done. I need to clear out these old videos as they're taking up too much space... need to make room for the Frontline replays I'm planning to record.

And now I'm off to do some more editing... stay tuned!

-Panzer Fist-

"The Odd One Out"

Aaaand finally I'm back again! It's been too long.

This time there's no excuses; just good ol' fashion procrastination... been busy doing small edits using various editing software to make pictures/GIFs, played some Armored Warfare as there was an update to that game and plenty more...

But enough with the ramblings, it's time for today's post...

Well... this marks the start of the new French Heavy Tanks, if we're gonna continue from the last post. And the first tank for the new mini-line is the Tier VIII French Heavy Tank: The AMX 65 t.

French 110, anyone?

This tank... hooo boy! It's a pain to play, that's for sure. Technically, it's supposed to be the AMX M4 49 for the Tier VIII slot, but since they used that tank for the 'Premium Tank' slot they have no choice but to find something else instead.

What's strange is that they used a tank with a pike-nose hull. They could have just used one without the pike-nose and just buff the frontal hull a bit more, but nope...

It would be something like this... a massive improvement.

It's very out of place... and here I thought Wargaming is trying to eliminate tanks that don't fit in the regular line... I'm guessing this tank will be removed in the future... at least I hope so.

Aaand that's enough for the rants, before I go off too much... so let's get to the videos!

Not sure what to say about this particular tank, but I'll try...

Well for starters, it's got good gun choices. The 100mm gun is identical to the Premium counterpart; the AMX M4 49... but it has much better reload time. The other gun packs a bigger kick, but has longer reload.

I'm not sure why this tank has one of the worse speed in the game, but it does. Even after upgrading the engine it still trudges along at a very low speed, comparable to a superheavy tank.

And now, the next video...

The armor of this tank is pretty... lackluster, and that pike-nose hull doesn't help, either.

Let's say... it's like the 110, but with worse armor and a very obvious [and weak] cupola to shoot... and also that it's slow as hell. The tracks on this tank are very large for some reason, so I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.

The second turret for this tank is strong, but has more weakspots than the first one. The upside is that you get to mount the 120mm gun, if you prefer using it.

The final video, now...

It's a bounce-fest up in this tank...

Yes, tons of ricochets, bounces and damage absorbed... but still, those are lower-tiered tanks. Tanks tiers VII and up will have little to no problems going through the hull of this vehicle.

My loadout of this vehicle will be the stock turret and the 100mm gun; played like the AMX M4 49. It's hull armor can cause problems but at least the gun's fast.

So now, it's time to recap the pros and cons of this tank...

The pros? Well, it has decent gun choices: the fast n' accurate 100mm or the hard-hitting and high penetration of the gold shell from the 120mm. It's turret armor is good, so you can go hull-down in certain occasions. It also has the gun depression to do that, too.

The cons.... It's hull armor is bad, and not to mention that it's a pike-nose design. As if the hull "shoulders" aren't bad enough, now there's this as well? No. Then it's turret cupolas are absolutely weak; lightly armored that almost every tank it meets will have no problem going through it.

It's a massive tank, so it's a easy target. Mobility's bad as hell, as it traverses like a Maus; just soo slooow... even the turret suffers the same problems, too. And speaking of the turret, it's aim time is rather long... even on the 100mm gun.

So it comes as no surprise that I only played about 40 battles in this tank before I gave up... "Gave up" as in "I skipped this tank with gold"... no choice. I like this tank line, but I can't stand this particular vehicle... The AMX M4 51 and 54 are the ones worth getting, AND playing.

But I guess that's it for this post. Next one's gonna be the AMX M4 51, and it's gonna much more longer [and also less abrasive] than this one here. Don't know when I can make it live, but stay tuned...

-Panzer Fist-

M.I.A?

Fortunately not!

Man, it's been 5 weeks... FIVE. WEEKS. A whole month without even a peep? Well, I've been busy... more than usual this time around, though.

But no need to worry, I still know what I have to do. Decided to at least put something here before March ends...

Well, I still have the old World Of Tanks replays... and better still, there are all recorded already. Just need some empty days to myself and it's on with the editing/uploading, then finally the post. Looks like update 1.0 has dropped, and from the looks of it... it seems to be very large. This is gonna take quite some time to install...

But yeah, just dropped by to let y'all know that I'm still around, just been having too much of IRL stuff to handle at the moment. There's a lot of videos I have to edit and upload, but I'll get them done eventually. Until then, it's more waiting...

*sigh* It's always the IRL bull that'll mess up your schedule...

-Panzer Fist-

Back in Action... again: "The French Tiger"

Well... now that everything's done, I can get back to posting...

Weew... been gone for 2 weeks plus, huh? This month seems to have a lot of stuff that gets in my way...

Well whatever. The're done for now, so now I can get back to the ol' blog. This post is gonna be the last batch of 9.21 replays I've been saving since last year, and it's all about the Tier VII French Heavy Tank; the AMX M4 45.

Think of it as a faster ARL 44...

This tank seems to receive a ton of flak, as it's not really an upgrade over the ARL 44. Well, that's where they're wrong.

Anyone remembers the old stock turret this tank had?

Time for a quick comparison! The ARL 44 has a much bigger profile compared to the AMX M4 45, not to mention that it's a tad bit slower to get up to speed. The last gun on the ARL 44, although a powerful Tier VIII gun, has really bad reload, aim and accuracy... you literally have to wait for quite a long time before you can be sure your shots won't go outside where you aim.

The AMX M4 45 has a bit more acceleration, better aim, accuracy and reload time... and it also has more health, too. The gun's the same top gun on the ARL 44, but I don't mind... it still gets the job done.

And now for the videos! There's gonna be 4 for this post.

That 1 HP moment, though... got real lucky there.

The tank's frontal armor is weaker than the ARL 44, which is something to look out for when using this tank. It doesn't have the exposed tracks the previous tier had, so that's something I guess...

Played extra careful in this match, and in the end it pays off...

One thing to remember when using the AMX M4 45; never be the first one to engage enemies. The tank's armor will not hold up well for that kind of engagement. If you're fighting lower tiers with weak guns, then by all means go for it...

...as expected from French Tanks in this game already; their armor is lackluster. Be a support fighter rather than the one to charge in head-on... leave that to those with the armor to back it up.

In this match I played it much more aggressively, and it nearly cost me. Luckily I had some teammates that helped to engage the incoming tide...

The frontal armor although weak can bounce shots well... if angled properly. Then again it only works against low caliber guns, so anything like a Russian 122mm shell should go through with ease.

The gun also feels and acts well in this tank, much more easier to control and aim then in the ARL 44 which requires you to sit still and aim for some time before shooting. Plus, that faster reload time helps when fighting multiple enemies.

...or for kill-stealing purposes, whichever suits your fancy.

It's always a choke-point battle when playing a Heavy Tank in this map...

The high penetration from the last gun also is a nice thing to have. A bit less damage than the other guns from the multiple other nations, but at least you can snipe with it.

It's best to use the top gun rather than the other gun with more damage... If you want to play a tank that deals high damage but with lackluster penetration, then just play the IS instead.

Again, same gun from the ARL 44... so that means no research needed. You still have to research the second turret in order to get the top gun, though. The health of this tank is somewhere in the middle; not too little or too much... more than the IS, but lesser than the Tiger.

So now... the pros of  this tank; Gets up to speed faster than the ARL 44... it also has improved gun handling and reload speed over the previous tier. The turret is more armored than the ARL 44, so that's a nice plus. The guns are also carried over from the ARL 44, so no research needed for new guns... making the grind much less painful.

The cons? Well, same guns as the ARL 44 also means that it's effectively a Tier 6.5 tank with not even a slight increase in the penetration or damage. The tank's top speed is actually lower compared to the ARL 44, so that's a weird addition. It has much weaker frontal hull armor so it's much more easier to kill. And for the AMX M4 45, using the higher damage gun is not a good move... unless you mainly shoot Premium rounds from it. It's definitely viable when using it on the ARL 44, but not here.

And so that's all the stuff about this particular tank. Many hate it, I like it. This doesn't mean I hate the ARL 44 though... no. In fact, tanks from the B1 all the way to the AMX 50B are okay in my book, except maybe the AMX 50 120...

This does not include the new line of Heavy Tanks yet, of course. Those are all good, too... except the AMX 65t. That was hell.

This tank is a pain in the ass to use...

Speaking of which, guess what the next post is gonna be about? Well, I'll leave y'all to that... now it's time for me to get to work on the next batch of videos... so I'll be back when they're done. Until then, stay tuned.

-Panzer Fist-

Some Setbacks...

Not much time, so this will be quick...

Turns out I'll have to delay the post for another time. Almost 12AM here, so having this post to warn about it rather than keeping quiet.

Got some IRL shite to handle, and I don't know when it'll finish... and it all had to happen right when I want to put up an actual post here... sigh

So yeah... That's a letdown. Hopefully I can get them down quickly. Until then, stay tuned...

-Panzer Fist-

Back in Action.

I've been gone, waaay too long...

...post title's a quote from a certain game, kudos to you if you know where it came from...

Anyways, it's good to be back. Busy with the usual shizz; a new year, a new set of problems. Things have mostly calmed down now, but at least it's not as heavy as it was back in January.

I will have another post ready before this day ends, and it's just the usual stuff. This is just an update to inform that I'm back.

Seems that there's quite a lot that I've missed during my M.I.A period... look's like I'll have some catching up to do.

And that's all for now... I have another blog to look into, so stay tuned later today for another post...

-Panzer Fist-