eolsunder, on Jun 16 2012 - 20:57, said:
You've been playing American tanks for how long and haven't learned about them? They aren't up to par with other tanks of their tier. Everyone always says about all the american tanks.. "play them in a support role" you know why? because they suck compared to equal level tanks of other countries. You can only play them in a support role because they are below standards matched up to their counterparts.
Take a HT vs a tier 5 heavy, your not going to do much, Take a M6 vs tier 6 heavies.. wow, sucks to be you. Take a Chaffee compared to tier 5 light tanks, they have more armor AND are faster.. sucks to be a Chaffee.
Your elite medium tank,
PATTON: tier 9 med. 48kph armor 102/76/51 102/76/76 402/745 signal range 105mm/6.5 gun
GERMAN: tier 9 med 60kph armor 120/80/80 120/60/60 393/710 signal range 105mm/6.2 gun
RUSSIAN: tier 9 med 56kph armor 120/80/45 200/108/65 385/730 signal range 100mm/7.3 gun
FRENCH.. well, we know the french batchat.. worst or the group, 65kph but horrible armor
So you can see the comparison.. The Patton, like other top american tanks, is both the slowest AND horrible armor. Your front armor 102/102 vs the germans 120/120 and even worse the russian 120/200. Gun is about the same for everyone, general 100-105 mm range. Signal range is about close, patton has slight lead, but not by a lot. Not enough to really make any general difference between them. Its the same for the light Chaffee, its the slowest and ALSO the worst armor.
This is why everyone says throw them in the "support role" they dont stack up to their counterparts. If they were equal to their counterparts, they wouldn't be in a "support role" to make them useful. Sadly the french have it worse their batchats have Chaffee-like paper thin armor and go down blazing pretty quick. At least the Patton has SOME armor.
The Patton can upgrade to a 820 hp engine, yet the germans can upgrade to a whopping 1200 hp engine, and the russians only to 700 hp.
So how does it look after everyone is upgraded ready to go? The Russians have the "tank" of the group, great front armor, ok speed. You really will lose on a nose to nose battle. The Germans get a tank superior to the Patton , better armor, great engine, great speed. They are the clear winners of the elite med tank group. Id rank the Patton third, and the batchat last due to its horrible armor.
So, do you consider the Patton the best of the group? i don't. They come in a distant 3rd, and to me not even a close 3rd. Germans have the top tank, russians 2nd, and pattons well, they aren't last only because the batchats die due to light tank fire (hehe) due to horrendous 60/50 front armor. Like most american tanks, they usually are slower and have less armor than their counterparts. A German light tank has much more armor than a Chaffee AND is vastly faster. Same with the Patton, your counterparts are faster, and 120/120 front armor is much much better than your 102/102 front armor.
All very good points and on open flat terrain you are correct.
View range and gun depression are a force multiplyer that really shine when used properly. Good Patton drivers (Good US tankers in general) use terrain to their advantage. They can make shots without risk of a return shot.
