Difference between revisions of "Tanks of UK"

Revision as of 17:50, 9 April 2018

Armored fighting vehicles produced and fielded by Great Britain and the British Commonwealth, focused primarily on Britannic development. British tanks normally will be found with one or two great strengths and one or two great weaknesses at the same time.

The tank doctrine of the United Kingdom during World War 2 dictated that tanks be used as either infantry tanks or cruiser (cavalry) tanks. Infantry tanks were designed to move up with infantry and as a result they were characterized by their slow speed and heavy armour. Cruiser tanks were designed to act like cavalry and exploit openings in the enemy defense and as a result they were characterized by their high speed and light armour. In World of Tanks, these classifications have been applied to the standard light, medium, and heavy tank model of other nations for simplicity. Nonetheless, the British tank doctrine still applies and results in oddities like heavily armored light tanks (e.g. the Valentine) and very lightly armored and fast medium tanks (e.g. the Cromwell).

Later British tanks focused on the doctrine of a universal tank. Sporting good armor, good mobility, and very high accuracy; universal tanks were designed to replace the heavy and medium tank doctrine with a tank that could do everything. The first successful British universal tank design was the heavy cruiser Centurion (Mk. 2). Its success set the precedent for later British tank designs as well as the concept of the modern main battle tank. They are the only other country to match the Germans in terms of accuracy and hit point pools. As a result of the 'universal tank' development the British medium and heavy tanks share a lot of modules at higher tiers.

0.9.18 British Tank Tree

British light tanks were built as combat tanks in their time, so they don't have dedicated scouting tanks (with the exception of a few US imports). At low tiers, the light tanks have somewhat higher top speeds than the mediums, but their maneuverability is almost indistinguishable. The main thing here is since they are light tanks, the game allows them to move without losing half of their camouflage value.

British medium tanks start out as the ponderous infantry tanks at low tiers. They have terrible armor but good guns. Starting at T5 the British get medium cruiser tanks which are fast with quick firing but low damage guns, then at T8 they finally evolve into powerful universal tanks, with good mobility, speed, and accuracy.

British heavy tanks start off as mid-tier infantry tanks, and as such are slow and ponderous, reasonable guns for their tier with an emphasis on fire rate over alpha damage. They eventually become incredibly accurate support tanks, better at moving to positions and giving covering fire than engaging head to head. They also get good on the move accuracy and low aim times. Their armour is generally on the weak side. The guns on most British heavies have more in the way of sustained DPM than alpha damage and have good penetration for their tier with the exception of the Black Prince and the Churchill VII. Training the crews for British heavy tanks is currently problematic. With the TOG II removed from the gift shop and the A45 rarely -if ever!- appearing for sale the only premium heavy tank is the low-tier Excelsior.

British Tank Destroyers are separated into two different characteristics; The Turretless (or Assault Gun) and The Turreted.

The British Turretless TD are notable for its insane DPM and fast-firing gun. the turretless line at early tier are mostly conversions of other tanks into Tank Destroyers, which are fast and lightly armored (with exception for the Valentine AT with its subpar speed). However, their game-play reverses from tier 5 to tier 9, becoming extremely thick skinned but unwieldy and sluggish "AT - Assault Tank" series with low damage but very fast firing guns and health pools that rival medium or even heavy tanks of the same tier. On the mid-high tiers their guns get appreciable DPM while their penetration values aren't as satisfying. They all have the same large, yet decently armored commander or loader's cupola (or called "tumor" by many players). The line ends with the FV217 Badger, boasting thick and very sloped front armor, and also the highest DPM in the game.

With characteristic listed at The Turretless TD above, The British Turreted TD, also known as "Gun Carrier" are generally polar-opposite. The Valentine line and the lend-lease medium line converge at mid-tiers into its starting. The first vehicle, the Archer, is quite different from most other vehicles: the gun is mounted rearward to the original platform, so the vehicle itself could only achieve top speed by moving in reverse. In general, these tank destroyers has thin armor for their great mobility and rotating turrets. At the top of the line is the FV4005 Stage II, It has almost completely opposite characteristics to the FV217, with almost non-existent armor, slow-firing gun but decent mobility. Despite being somewhat glass-made, the 183mm main gun can rout unprepared opponents by its sheer alpha damage, possibly even without spending a shot.

British Self Propelled Guns feature wide horizontal gun arcs but generally short firing range. Most of the SPGs are lightly armored and have low alpha damage, but have good rate of fire. They vary in qualities in the tiers, such as the Birch Gun having a turret and the Crusader 5.5-in SP having its gun reversed mounted, resulting in an unusually high reverse speed. At tier 8 and above, they have very big superstructures with serious guns and hull armor. The tree ends with the Conqueror Gun Carriage with damage nearly as high as that of the T92 but it is also the least accurate gun in game.

Light Tanks

I

Cruiser Mk. I

II

M2

II

Cruiser Mk. II

II

Light Mk. VIC

III

Valentine

III

Stuart I-IV

III

Cruiser Mk. III

IV

Cruiser Mk. IV

V

Covenanter

VI

A46

VI

Crusader

VII

GSR 3301 Setter

VIII

FV1066 Senlac

VIII

LHMTV

IX

GSOR3301 AVR FS

X

Manticore

Medium Tanks

I

Vickers Medium Mk. I

II

Vickers Medium Mk. II

III

Vickers Medium Mk. III

IV

Matilda

IV

Matilda LVT

IV

Grant

IV

AC 1 Sentinel

V

Cavalier

V

Valiant

V

Sherman III

V

Matilda Black Prince

VI

Sherman Firefly

VI

Cromwell

VI

AC 4 Experimental

VI

Cromwell B

VI

Sherman VC Firefly

VII

Comet

VIII

Centurion Mk. I

VIII

FV4202

VIII

Chieftain/T95

VIII

Centurion Mk. 5/1 RAAC

VIII

Chimera

IX

Cobra

IX

Centurion Mk. 7/1

X

Centurion Action X

Heavy Tanks

V

Churchill I

V

Excelsior

VI

Churchill VII

VI

TOG II*

VII

Black Prince

VII

FV201 (A45)

VIII

Charlemagne

VIII

Caliban

VIII

Gonsalo

VIII

Caernarvon

VIII

Caernarvon Action X

IX

FV4201 Chieftain Proto

IX

Conqueror

X

FV215b

X

Super Conqueror

X

T95/FV4201 Chieftain

Tank Destroyers

II

Universal Carrier 2-pdr

IV

Valentine AT

IV

Alecto

V

Archer

V

AT 2

VI

Churchill Gun Carrier

VI

Achilles

VI

AT 8

VI

Excalibur

VII

Challenger

VII

AT 15A

VII

AT 7

VIII

GSOR 1008

VIII

AT 15

VIII

Charioteer

VIII

Turtle Mk. I

IX

Tortoise

IX

FV4004 Conway

X

FV215b (183)

X

FV4005 Stage II

X

FV217 Badger

Self-Propelled Guns

II

Loyd Gun Carriage

III

Sexton II

III

Sexton I

IV

Birch Gun

V

Bishop

VI

FV304

VII

Crusader 5.5-in. SP

VIII

FV207

IX

FV3805

X

Conqueror Gun Carriage