Difference between revisions of "Light Tanks"

Most light tanks are fast, mobile scouts which are used to detect enemies for friendly artillery, or to destroy enemy artillery. However, some were designed for head-to-head combat during the early period of the war and so are slower yet are much better armored.

Due to having generally high power/weight ratio and high top speed, Light tanks benefit from physics more than all other classes, able to gain speed and hurl themselves up slopes too steep to climb for heavy and medium tanks. On the other hand some low tier light tanks which were designed for combat are much slower; some rival the speed and maneuverability of heavy tanks.

Light tanks share some general characteristics. The heaviest light tank weighs just under 30 tons (fully equipped), and no light tank has more than 80 mm of armor plating. The fastest light tanks can reach speeds of 79 kph, and have mobility unparalleled except by the most maneuverable medium tanks. Due to their low weight, light tanks have little in the way of armor and do not generally carry much firepower, so they are not well designed to trade shots with a medium or heavy tank. There are some exceptions as they were designed for a dedicated combat role and so are slower but feature much thicker armor and possibly a more powerful gun. They are heavier than their faster allies and are better at taking damage.

The great speed, mobility, and small size of the light tank allows them to have a better probability of avoiding artillery fire, and can take advantage of gaps in the enemy's defenses to locate and destroy enemy artillery or sweeping in behind enemy defenders and attacking their weak rear armor. If a light tank flanks an enemy tank destroyer, it can use its mobility to keep out of the tank destroyer's firing angle while destroying the helpless vehicle. However, medium tanks will have the firepower, mobility, and armor to easily destroy light tanks. Heavy tanks will generally have enough armor to ignore lower tier light tanks for the most part, so coordination with friendly artillery is required for those light tanks to engage these enemy vehicles.