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>>While the general concept won't change, many details are outdated as of 28.9.2017. More detailed, updated and better version AKA rework proposal V2.0 is on the plans, but will not come anytime soon. ETA: Q1/Q2 2018 <<
WARNING: WALL OF TEXT AHEAD!
The Japanese heavies. One of the most controversial tanks in the game after artillery. Both hated and loved, maybe more hated. Very common subject to talk, discuss and obviously, whine. But why?
Japanese heavies are very, very unique vehicles. Multiturretted, some of the biggest tanks in the game with very odd designs and huge guns. There are no such vehicles in the game, not neither design-wise or gameplay-wise. The French super-heavies, which almost got introduced in 2016 as part of 2nd French heavy-line, would have been close, but they didnt come.
That being said, these are main reasons what cause controversiality among Japanese heavies:
1) derp guns
2) armor with no weakspots (that becomes weak as long as gold start get slunged and worse yet, they lack ability to angle for most part expect for Type 5 Heavy after 9.17.1)
3) historical accuracy (ERMAHGERD JAPANESE TANKS SUCKED @SS IRL, NO WAI JAPS DESIGNED SUPER-HEAVIES, WHY THEY INTRODUCED STUPID NAPKIN TANKS!!!!!11)
4) other things (like ammorack problems, arty magnet, gold magnet, O-Ho's 10cm or Type 4/5 being poor, unfun to play etc. before buffs)
If we want to fix the line in first place, we have to take a look at these problems. The point 2 is not uncommon thing these days. However, the actual concept of so called "retard-proof armor" was debuted with introducion of Japanese heavy tanks in 2015. Before this, lets jump back in time and take a look at brief history:
History: Japanese tech tree introducion, heavy tank rumors, introducion etc.
Japanese tech tree arrived in patch 8.10 back in late 2013. Lots of confusion and maybe dissapointment was caused, as it contained only one tank line (and minibranch of lowtier light tanks). Up to this point, when a new tech tree was introduced, it contained medium and heavy tank lines, so naturally it was expected that Japanese tech tree would also have heavy tank line. However, it didnt. And for good reason.
Heavy tank line was expected to contain variants of O-Is. O-I WAS known back then, but funnily enough, no one practically knew about the actual true O-I (aka the 150 ton O-I with 150mm howitzer). O-I was obviously very interesting tank design - multi-turretted super-heavy. There were lots of misconceptions, false rumors and simply ideas of "what O-I would have looked like", which eventually formed into a book Imperial Japanese Army Ground Weapon Guide 1872-1945. This book contained quite lot of "information" and "drawings about O-I", basically stuff like this:
Those designs are what eventually evolved into O-I 100 and O-I 120 in-game, later O-Ni and O-Ho.
So, it was thought that from O-I variants it would be possible to build a line. Basically...this is practically a list of Japanese super-heavies that was thought to exist in 2013:
"Iwakuro 1", or "Mi-To 1" - this is the actual O-I with only 75mm armor; however, design typically related to this was stuff that resembled O-I 100 or O-Ni designs, and instead of 150mm howitzer, it was thought to have 105mm gun. "Mi-To" is actually historical designation for the true O-I. That was "secret" name was used before the official designation, "O-I" (first super-heavy, with "O" meaning super-heavy and "I" first).
Iwakuro 2, or "Mi-To 2" - basically thing above with another 75mm armor plates bolted on - also 105mm gun
O-I 100t - basically what we know as "O-Ni" in-game
O-I 120t - basically what we know as "O-Ho" in-game
Then we had crazy stuff like O-I 120 with 120mm gun or even O-I 140t with basically no evidence of them existing.
There wasnt a proper tier 10 candidate. However, in around new year of 2013, things changed with Type 2604/2605, which eventually came into the game as form of Type 4 and Type 5, were found from Russian archives. "Russian" archives caused lots of controversiality, as one would expect.
http://ftr.wot-news....-japanese-tank/
These pics contains engine, transmission and cooling system, and rough drawings of tank itself. Not much was known, apart from the fact it had very, very big gun (back then estimated to be 150 - 200 mm!) and was even bigger than Maus.
I was already fan of Japanese super-heavy designs, so i did make a line proposal back in 2013, still containing now mostly "fake" designs of O-Is and "Type 2604" as tier 10 vehicle. Oh boy, it is so cringeworthy for me to read it.
http://forum.worldof...look-like-this/
But after 2013, almost nothing was heard about Jap heavies. Lets just jump straight into 2015, when Japanese heavy line got introduced. This is where information of actual O-I design started to finally appear. That design was used at tier 6, and for some extend, tier 5 (which is 95% fake as it goes). However, back then it was still thought that there were additional O-I designs, so "O-I 100" and "O-I 120" still got into the game. The Type 4/5 were split into two tanks to fill tier 9 and 10 holes. Good thing, because it would have been probable that O-I 140t, which is faker than fake, would have been used at tier 9.
However, Eun Ae Sun, also known as Mai_Waffentrager, who now has done lots of research when it comes to War Thunder's Japanese ground forces tech tree, got access to true O-I blueprints and was allowed to publish it.
https://forum.warthu...per-heavy-tank/
It was suddendly confirmed that O-I 100 and O-I 120 never existed. What this means, O-Ni and O-Ho are now practically as fake as WT E100 or FV215b is. This is also one problem.
And thats where we are now, after few balance changes of cource.
Historical accuracy:
One very controversial topic is thus historical accuracy of the line. There are stuff like "FAKEST LINE EVER", "WG IMAGINATION LINE" or "NAPKIN LINE". How true are those? Actually, both true and false.
Here is chart of historical accuracy of Japanese tech tree:
Medium line is probably one of the most historically accurate lines in the game. However, heavy tank line...not so much.
Okay, here is explaination for these:
Tier 2-4. All built, and pics exists. Wont go there deeper.
O-I Experimental: This one is fake, but it has some basis (think T28 prototype). The O-I was built, and when it didnt have turrets and full armor (aka additional 75mm armor plates), its weight was around 97 tons. Due to very powerful engines, it was able to reach 40kph top speed on road. The lesser armor and greater speed was enough for WG to create a tank to fill otherwise unfillable (back then) tier 5 hole. They took random guns to fit into tier 5, changed miniturret designs...to something that resembles Ha-Go turrets, changed size a bit, and ta-daa, a different tank to fill out tier 5 hole.
O-I: This one is basically completely historical, and the true O-I. It was build and tested, but later scrapped. Until very recently it was widely known that no footage of the prototype exists, but i got to know yesterday from reading WT forums that there actually is film footage of tank's testings still in this day, but it is kept private as O-I's documents are bought by some kind of company or something. Who knows, maybe we someday see it.
O-Ni: Originally known as O-I 100, WG changed name to O-Ni (which doesnt make sense at all, btw, as O-Ni would mean 4th super-heavy), this tank already got covered and its fake. However, we cannot blame WG for it, because it was legitimately thought back then that this was one of the variants of O-I. The built prototype of O-I, which was rounded 100 tons heavy, caused likely even more confusion.
O-Ho: Originally known as O-I 120, again, WG changed name to O-Ho (again, doesnt make sense either, it means 5th super-heavy). Just like O-Ni, O-Ho is fake and never existed in any form.
Type 4: According to Eun's reddit post https://www.reddit.c...per_heavy_tank/ ,the Type 4 was second super-heavy design, continued from O-I that was rejected in 1943. At least turret was built, and apparently a unfunctional hull was built as well. Nothing is really known about it expect i was shipped into Manchuria. A remains of tank and turret were found by Soviets after war, and they were blown up. However, due to lack of information, WG has made hull up as well as armor, so technically it also could fall for "modified design".
Type 5: Proposed upgrade to Type 4, main difference being just the lower engine department likely to save weight. Only in drawings and like Type 4, WG modified the hull shape and armor values.
So, apart from O-Ni and O-Ho (again, we cant blame WG for that), the line has atleast some historical basis, but lots of historical errors. However, this is possible to make a bit better with changing of few things.
Historical accuracy is not the main problem, however. Historical accuracy is important, but WoT is not similutaor, but an arcade. We always have to keep that on mind, and gameplay is priority over historical accuracy.
The main problem is armor layout and guns.
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The line rework proposal
With all the stuff in my mind, here is what Japanese heavy tank line would look after reworks:
Shortly:
- O-Ho and O-Ni are fake, but they stay. There are no suitable tier 8 heavy tank to the line, expect maybe the Chi-Se (which was classified as medium anyways), but better save that for potential 2nd medium line. O-Ni on other hand, while again, its fake, it can take a slot as Japanese tier 8 premium as there are no other candidates. O-Ho and O-Ni are sitll better than any random fake because they have "history" in that regard of what we thought about O-I in past. Both of them get renamed to "O-I II" and "O-I III" to respecent the idea of "upgrading" O-I. I will discuss more about them when we specifically talk about each tank.
- O-I goes up a tier and gets buffed.
- O-I Exp gets removed, unless none of the new heavies fit tier 6. If thats the case, O-I Exp gets buffed and becomes tier 6.
- Type 91, Type 95 gets downtiered. Type 95 gets its historical designation, AKA Type 95 Ro-Go. They are overtiered, anyways. Type 91 might be okay with Chi-Ha's top gun at tier 3, but with historical confiquration, it has no business in tier 3. Type 95 is even after major buffs so poor in tier 4 that it is widely considered to be one of the worst tanks in the game.
- Otsu gets removed and replaced by I-Go that gets significant DPM nerfs to fit tier 1. This removes situation of broken tier 2 with overkill DPM, aswell as tier 1 having another Renault FT clone.
- New heavy-tanks are added to tier 4-6. Currently no information available to public. David Lister, or Listy, will feature them on book that features lots of obscure tank designs. Until then, we can just hope they fit to tier 4-6.
But no worries. The rework could be "still" done without new heavies. Thats why i have "placeholder variant", which is the version 2.
On version 2...
- tier 7-10 changes and tier 1-3 changes are exactly the same as on main variant
- Ro-Go leads to Chi-He
- Chi-He now leads to new tank, which is Chi-Ha with 120 mm howitzer.
The Chi-Ha 120 was chosen, because it shares similarities with Japanese heavies in that regard it has pretty big gun. It is "link" between mediums and heavies.
- Chi-Ha 120 leads to O-I Exp, which is tier 6
But this is just tier changes. We still havent adressed the main problems, armor and guns. Now, we take look at each tank specifically.
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Lowtiers
Lowtier changes are quite simple and straightforward, so i put them into one package.
I-Go has poor mobility, poor armor, poor shell velocity, penetration and accuracy. All in all, it is pretty much tier 1 material. Think bit similar to Medium I: big gun on otherwise poor platform. However, it was balanced on tier 2. What WG did was that they gave I-Go brutal - i mean really brutal rate of fire. The tank has over 2000 DPM at tier 2 with 75 alpha gun. Yes, this thing fires practically as fast as T-34 and does about as much damage, and T-34 is already known to have brutal base DPM for tier 5. It can basically 2-3 shot tier 2s and kill them in few seconds. Of course, its tier 2 and its full of guns that can kill in few seconds. I-Go would be perfectly fine tier 1. Just decrease the DPM considerably and HP, and you got fine tier 1 vehicle. Think bit like Medium I.
Type 91 and Type 95 are commonly stated to be underperforming, especially latter. Their historical weapons is basically the 75 mm gun. For Type 91, keep just that gun, remove the 57 mm gun and downtier it into tier 2, and balance it. You basically now have tier 2 KV-2: very powerful HE shells but everything else is mediocre. Type 95 in return can keep the current top gun - just reduce the DPM and HP pool. Think slower, less armored M2 Medium with somewhat strong AP shells for its tier. Also, rename the tank into Type 95 Ro-Go, which was the historical designation of the tank.
New heavies & O-I Experimental
There were more Japanese heavy tank designs; these being:
- Type 96
- Type 97
- Mitsu 104
- Ishi 108
The information is extremely limited. The only image available in public is this sketch of Type 97:
And that is just sketch and it very well might be inaccurate. Design-wise, it seems to be lot like Type 95 but with single-turret and two guns in front and back of turret. I assume this or Type 96 would fit into tier 4 slot.
I dont have any idea what kind of tanks Mitsu 104 and Ishi 108 are. From what i heard Japan did have "normal" heavy tank (30-50 tonne design), which probably would fit into tier 5-6.
Like i said, Listy's book will feature information of these tanks. They are currently in archives. We can only hope we can see these tanks as soon as possible.
As for O-I Experimental, it is hard to balance conceptually and practically WG creation. If these heavies fit into tier 6, O-I Experimental has no place and it will be removed. However, if these tanks doesnt happen to anyhow fit into tier 6, we can just use O-I Experimental to fit the hole. As for tier 6 O-I Experimental, my idea is to simply give it pre-nerf stats, increase penetration to about same that O-I has now with 10 cm, and buff health to 950.
O-I
The true O-I, the 150 ton giant housing 150 mm howitzer with 150 mm armor. One of the most controversial tanks ever introduced. Having 150mm armor immune to lowtiers, and if they try to attack from behind, they are surprised by 150mm rear armor, and then they get oneshotted by 150mm howitzer. It was essentially KV-2 with better gun handling and super-heavy armor. Unsurprisingly, it got nerfed, but it still has this armor and this derp gun. Wouldnt an solution just to give it weakspots? Or just remove 150mm gun? Well...it is not that simple.
Despite all the talk about "105mm" guns on O-I, the one and only armament proposed for O-I, among with the smaller caliber guns in miniturrets, was the 15cm Type 96 Howitzer. Its the historical armament, and it should stay. Its not really that big of a problem...KV-2 already has it on tier 6, right? But O-I has loads of armor. KV-2 really doesnt.
Unfortunately, O-I's armor is actually historical:
The O-I's armor layout is big problem, and thats where WG got liberation to all higher tier Japanese super-heavies. One would nerf it, but its quite hard, actually. O-I's turret shapes, poor side armor etc. means that it really cant angle the armor effectively at all. It cant even angle the front from corners without exposing a flat, 150 mm armor zone. So after certain penetration, O-I can say goodbye to its armor.
Historically speaking, KV-2 is faster in-game than what it was in real life, while O-I is actually probably bit slower due to nerfed terrain resists and traverse speed. This means that O-I is more or less KV-2 with noticeably thicker armor. This alone is good indication that O-I should be on different tier.
And thats why i propose idea of moving O-I to tier 7. Armor certainly doesnt sound that amazing on tier 7, doesnt it? Well, we can buff other attributes instead.
Compared to O-Ni, O-I has worse armor obviously, so it has to make up for having better other statistics. One option is giving an engine upgrade to O-I - there reportely was wooden mockup of O-I that had 12 cylinder Daimler Benz diesel engine instead of current twin engines it has now. This would be potential (and historical) upgrade. The top speed was estimated to be 30-35 with full weight, so there is that as well.
HP and gun stats should be buffed to around same level as O-Ni. The 15cm howitzer is historical, so it stays as stock gun. As for gun stats, it should be somewhat similar to O-Ni. As for other guns, O-I receives (albeit unhistorical) 10cm gun just like O-Ni, but with bit better DPM and gun handling.
Lastly, the armor is still "immune" to lowtiers, so to give them just a slight chance, cupola armor of miniturrets and turret gets nerfed to 120mm from 150mm. They are very small, however, so they are still unreliable weakspot at most distances. It is unhistorical...but it does change things a bit.
After changes, O-I is different vehicle. It is very heavy, carries lots of health and strong gun. The armor starts to become somewhat okay, but it isnt particurarly amazing. O-I's survivability relies on health and gun. Its like Tiger I with more alpha damage and bit thicker armor, but its 2x bigger and is bit slower. Derp gun is still an option, and still an option to derp around, but O-I with derp gun is overall worse than current O-Ni with derp gun.
O-Ho (O-I III)
O-Ho, or O-I 120, never existed. There are no other viable tier 8 replacements - expect O-Ni, which equally never existed. However, this comes up with advantage - the armor can be manipulated into anything to balance the vehicle into tier 8.
First changes is that O-Ho gets renamed. O-Ho sounds funny and as it is my favorite tank in the game, it is quite iconic name and even after name change i would still call it as O-Ho. However, as name, it makes absolutely no sense. "O-Ho" means "fifth" super-heavy...what? Where is the second and third, then? The name was made up by WG, so there is that. The O-Ho and O-Ni wont get renamed into "second" and "third" super-heavies. The "true" second super-heavy is Type 4/5. Lets just assume O-Ni and O-Ho were just "ideas" of upgrading O-I. Thats why, they will be renamed into O-I II and O-I III. Somewhat dull names, but whatever.
The description also gets reworked into something like this:
One of the ideas of improving O-I. One of these ideas was O-I III, which had considerably thicker armor and different guns. However, all of these ideas cancelled in favor of Type 4 super-heavy tank. This tank actually never existed.
This tank actually never existed is already being used on some of the Chinese TDs, which, atleast some of them, are creations of Kongzhong, company that runs Chinese World of Tanks server. Similarly, such description should be used on O-I III.
As for O-Ho (im just referring the tanks with their original names to make sure what i am talking about), it is probably most balanced Japanese heavy tank. It has thick armor but that is actually penetratable by same tier heavies, especially if they aim a bit, derp gun doesnt do excessive damage like tier 6/9/10, and it has major flaw with gun depression. However, O-Ho is not perfect - it still has armor layout that is immune to lowtiers and many same tier tanks - and against higher penetration, O-Ho has low capabilities to defend itself, though bit better than other Japanese heavies as the armor has lots of trollish autobounce angles thanks to miniturrets and angled upper plate.
Just do simple change: nerf LFP armor, and buff upper frontal stripe + cheeks to like this:
As you can see, i adjusted the armor so that the armor strip on front is now 230 instead of 200, but LFP has been nerfed notably to around ~180 effective. Mantle has been significnatly buffed to 270 - aka dont shoot me here zone. Cheeks are 230 instead of 200 to increase sidescraping capabilities. Cupola has been nerfed significantly - however, it is tiny and hard to hit.
Overall, while O-Ho gains bit angleability, and enemies have to aim bit more, the overall armor is nerfed. However, there is still problem which is that derp is drastically better than other guns.
Firstly, 15cm becomes stock gun just like on O-I. Stock 10cm gun gets removed. As true top gun option, i propose the 127mm naval gun from Type 4 Heavy:
At 450 alpha and 230 penetration, this gun would be scary for tier 8 super-heavy. The accuracy would be moderate, but as trade-off, DPM would be very low to compensate otherwise almost TD-level of parameters. Due to not having huge additional mantle like 10cm or that breech below gun like 15cm, the O-Ho would be able to depress the 127mm gun more than other two guns.
The current 10cm stays, but gets moved so researching it is optional. The 127mm gun takes its place before Type 4 Heavy. The 10cm gets premium ammo with 240 mm penetration, and the gun depression is also improved in 10cm so that -3 areas becomes -5. However, the 127 mm still has overall better gun depression.
O-Ho has now 3 gun options. However, the 127mm is overall the "best" and preferred gun option. The 10cm is just there if one hates its DPM, while derp gun stays just so O-Ho can derp around.
With these changes, O-Ho changes considerably. It has to be bit more careful when it comes to its armor, as lower plate is huge and relatively weak. However, it gains new gun with alpha and penetration being among best in class/tier, at cost of having long reload. Think VK 100 with less armor but bit more mobility, more alpha and penetration. The 127mm also doesnt have too limited gun depression unlike 10cm and 15cm.
The derp gun stays as option; however, if one opts to use 15cm, the tank no longer can just go from corners with its front due to lower plate while still having to deal with depression. While you dont need to "aim" at weakspots, it still requires brains to play as you need to position it carefully as sidescraping and hiding LFP is very hard with limited depression. 10cm is an option if one hates the low DPM of 127 mm gun. Having two now atleast as viable gun as derp will mean that its significancy will be lot lesser.
O-Ni (O-I II)
Soo...if O-Ho stays at tier 8, O-I becomes tier 7, Types also stays in their tiers - why does O-Ni, that never existed just like O-Ho still stay on the game? Simple - it becomes tier 7 or 8 premium tank, as there are no other candidates as higher tier heavy-tank premium (and i wont count those anime abominations that will be SEA server exclusive, anyways). And i would like to see something else that isn't just stock Tiger I tier lower.
Just like O-Ho, O-Ni gets renamed into "O-I II". O-Ni's descprition will be also changed similarly to O-Ho's:
One of the ideas of improving O-I. One of these ideas was O-I II, which had thicker armor and different guns. However, all of these were cancelled in favor of Type 4 super-heavy tank. This tank actually never existed.
So there are two options. Either keeping O-Ni at tier 7, or making it tier 8.
Tier 7 O-Ni is much simpler to balance. Just take the fully upgraded O-Ni, make it heavier (100 tons doesnt make any sense for such tank) and nerf armor of miniturrets and cupola, but buff the side armor to 105 so it can actually angle properly. And there you have it, a premium japanese super-heavy. Compared to O-I, it has better armor, but worse mobility and miniturrets are weakspots like on KV-5, but they are hideable when sidescraping.
Alternatively, O-Ni also can be buffed into tier 8 premium. With this change, a similar concept should be kept, expect frontal hull armor should be increased considerably. However, keep the concept of having weak miniturrets. The gun shall be 10cm from O-Ho with good DPM. HP increased to around 1700 - 1800. Just like at tier 7, the side becomes bit thicker and tank gains weight. Compared to O-Ho, tier 8 O-Ni has better overall armor, but is bit more sluggish and doesnt carry powerful 127mm gun.
Type 4 Heavy (O-Ro) and Type 5 Heavy (O-Ro Kai / O-Ro II)
And finally, we get into top tier Japanese super-heavies and now, especially Type 5, being quite hot topic due to recent (over)buffs. I handle them together because changes i propose for them are overall very similar.
There is certain problems with the model. The turret is known to exist at photos; as Russians did take a photo from the bunker with Type 4 turret:
The only known drawing of Type 5 (Type 4 is more or less this with higher engine deck, going on straight line among with hull below turret like Chi-To or Chi-Ri):
Note the hull shape. It differs actually quite majorly from in-game model:
- hull front shape is clearly different - it looks like its divided on UFP and LFP
- no hull cheeks
- upper hull doesnt extend in front of turret
And other things, though keep on mind the sketch is likely not very accurate either, as the turret is bit different from the picture (but similar enough to see that its supposed to be the same). However, the current hull isnt any more historically accurate, as there are no existing accurate pictures of what Type 4/5 hull actually looked like.
There is one thing on the sketch, though - it has LFP and UFP divided. And no hull cheeks. Conclusion? Just use the actual design from sketch for Type 4/5, and rework the LFP armor so its actually weakspot. However, with removal of hull cheeks, the tank is now capable of sidescraping actually properly and hiding that LFP. The upper flat front plate will get buffed to ~300 on both tanks. Front turret gets nerfed on Type 5 to 260, and side armor gets reverted to 140. Cupola becomes smaller but much weaker, now being around 200 effective at centre (still trollish at sides) but is bit smaller target than it is now.
Type 4's armor:
Type 5's armor:
Now their UFP and upper flat armor plate are roughly equal to upper plate armor of similar tier German heavies. Cupola is weakspot, mantle is much tougher and spaced (aka dont shoot here zone), but turret cheeks are slightly weaker.
Type 4 and 5 generally has quite similar armor layout. Type 5's LFP is bit stronger and turret is slightly stronger. Apart from that, their armor is mostly the same. However, Type 5 makes up for other things - its bit lighter and thus marginally more mobility, and has more health. Thats not enough worthy upgrade for tier 10, isnt it?
As for guns, the derp gun will get just removed. Currently its obviously broken, and would be fixed with removal of gold rounds in terms of being pay to win, but id rather see it being completely removed. The concept of the line should not be full derp gun line, even if many of them would have derp guns as options. Also, i think that tier 9-10 should be kept for most part derp-free, apart from some expections like T49/sheridan.
On Type 4, the 14cm gets better accuracy, pen and bit better gun handling. Accuracy gets increased from 0.42 to 0.39, and pen gets buffed to 258.
To truly differiate Type 5 from Type 4 and make it actually worthy upgrade over Type 4, i propose of giving "Kai" version of the 14cm. Accuracy gets increased to 0.37. Like 10cm on O-Ho, the "Kai" uses gold round as standard round - and gets gold round with 310mm penetration. New penetration is 282 / 310mm. This makes Type 5 unique vehicle - the gun is almost like mix between TD and heavy guns. DPM is on low side, though. As another advantage, the tanks have great depression and high HP pool.
Compared to Maus, Type 5 has worse armor, is bigger and has worse DPM and gun handling, but has better gun depression, slightly better mobility, higher penetration and higher alpha. With the changes, it would be interesting vehicle. Think mid-tier Japanese medium tank with improved armor on steroids. Lots of steroids.
And my balance changes might not be the perfect, but hopefully you get the idea what i am trying to achieve. Of course, if necessary, WG would change other stats like DPM, HP and bloom statistics to balance these tanks further.
And lastly, since Type 4 and 5 were the "second" super-heavy design, designation "O-Ro" would be logical. Type 4 would be named as "Type 4 O-Ro", while Type 5, as improved version, would be named either as "Type 5 O-Ro Kai" or "Type 5 O-Ro II". However, neither of these names were known to be used, so its not necessary. The in-game description is also inaccurate:
The Type 4, also known as the Type 2604, is a variant of the superheavy O-I tank that was developed during World War II. The vehicle was designed for breakthrough attacks on enemy fortifications as well as for coastal defense.
Type 4/5 are not variants of O-I, they are hteir own tank design.
Rather, the description should look somewhat like this:
Type 4:
Type 4 super-heavy tank was developed during the end of WW2. The design was meant to fix some faults of O-I shown in the tests of the vehicle; such as single-turret design. The turret of vehicle was used in bunker at Koto defences. After the war, Red Army destroyed the abandoned turret.
Type 5:
Type 5 was a proposed upgrade to improve the Type 4 super-heavy tank. Compared to Type 4, the Type 5 has lower rear part of the vehicle to save weight. A prototype was never built. Existed only in drawings.
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Conclusion
This change tries to fix these problems:
1) retardproof armor
2) derp guns dominating when it comes to gun choices
3) historical accuracy
4) frustating to play
These changes gives the tanks weakspots, but also bit more usable armor, stronger non-derp guns, tries to improve historical accuracy a bit (or, atleast make them look more logical) and make the tanks bit more comfortable to play.
As for lines, first tiers contains heavies with poor mobility, low armor but strong, high caliber guns. At midtiers situation is mystery, but i expect strong guns and average-ish armor, basically heavy-versions of medium tanks in the tiers. Tier 7 is mix between past and future, and at tier 8-10, we have super-heavies which speciality is high-alpha guns with best penetration in their class, high HP and pretty good armor, but being larger than their German counterparts and having worse DPM and either worse armor or mobility, depending on which tank (E 100 or Maus) is being compared.
Thank you for reading this proposal. I dont think this is absolutely perfect rework - but im sure it would atleast help the situation a bit. I just want to improve this game - and i am sure there is possibility for that.
Cheers,
leggasiini
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TL;DR for those lazy f*cks who dont want to read:
- I-Go, Type 91 and Type 95 gets all downtiered; Type 95 gets renamed to Type 95 Ro-Go
- O-I Experimental gets removed
- O-I becomes tier 7 with mobility, health and gun buffs
- New heavies are added at tier 4-6
- O-Ni gets renamed to O-I II and becomes premium at either tier 7 or 8, gains buffed side armor but nerfed mobility and miniturrets become weakspots
- O-Ho gets renamed to O-I III, gets 127mm gun, 10cm gets gold ammo, gets some strong spots at armor but receives weakspots
- Type 4 gets reworked armor with addition of weakspots, but cheeks are removed, derp gun is removed and 14cm accuracy is buffed
- Type 5 gets reworked armor with addition of weakspots, cheeks are removed, derp gun is removed and 14cm penetration is considerably buffed aswell as accuracy
TL;DR of TL;DR:
Generally addition of weakspots, armor becoming bit more usable with sidescraping etc., non-derp guns becoming much more viable, derp guns removed from tier 9-10
fml for writing this +4 hours straiht even though everything was planned D:
Edited by leggasiini, 24 November 2017 - 02:23 PM.
