I'm Luke and you are watching “Science of Victory”

As we continue to learn the basics of the “Team Battle” mode, today's topic is medium tanks.

There are not as many medium tanks as heavies, but that doesn't make the choice any easier.

Plus you need to know what mediums are useful for when taking one into your team.

As many commanders do pretty well without them.

So I will say this:

If you like to play offensively then one or two Meds can make your team more mobile and help you stray from standard tactics.

Remember that although they are not standard or a win-button for victory and aren't without their problems; they are an alternative.

Let's say you decided to put a medium tank into your line-up, but which one?

The parameters of most of the tier 8 Meds are very similar.

However only three are popular among professional players.

They are the Pershing, the Object 416 and the T69.

These tanks are very different, so hard to compare.

Let's review the features of each one individually; we will also discuss why these tanks are useful for Team Battles.

As like the other episodes, this advice is from the Na`Vi player PowerSlide.

We will start with the most popular tank:

The M26 Pershing.

This is the most used Med Tank in Team Battles.

But why?

The average damage per minute isn't that high… it's about usual for the tier, but far lower than the highest.

It's durability is 1440 HP, certainly not bad.

In mobility, it's okay but there are much more mobile tanks.

The armour is better than most, but not the best.

So what's its secret?

It's simple! The M26 doesn't have any obvious faults!

It's a great all-round tank with one special advantage:

The Pershing's frontal turret armour is amazing.

The numbers by themselves don't look too impressive, but in reality things are different.

Thanks to this armour, even with premium shells the enemy has a hard time getting through the Pershing's turret.

Experienced players know this well and use this advantage on city maps and maps with complex terrain.

All this coupled with great elevation angles makes it powerful.

The Pershing also has good view range and aiming time.

Besides the commonly known numbers there things that most don't know; like gun stabilization on the move.

It's fantastic on the Pershing.

This tank lets you successfully shoot at the enemy on the move.

Right, got that? Good, as we move on to the next tank.

The Object 416.

This Soviet steel monster was introduced recently.

And it was instantly used by many pro players for Team Battles.

Let's take a look.

First of all the Object has the highest damage per minute of all tier 8 Meds; 2400!

For your information; the closest competitor has less than 2000.

One shot from this tank can deal up to four hundred points of damage.

This is one of the best for this class and tier!

The mobility of the Soviet tank is also pretty good.

This is especially true for turn speed.

It has NO competitors in this field; it's fast, mobile and has a low profile.

Thanks to this, shots frequently miss it!

And thanks to its small size; the 416 also has a great camouflage value.

Plus the Object has similar stabilization to the Pershing.

Not everything is perfect, though.

The tank also has some faults.

Weak armour and low HP are among them.

These are minor, however when comparing to the tank's biggest flaws: its elevation angles

And the fact its turret only rotates by 150 degrees.

By the way, if you didn't notice it's located in the back of the hull.

This means that the engine is in the front, so often catches fire when shot in the front.

The Object 416 is a tank that has lots of strengths and weaknesses.

Keep that in mind.

Another popular choice for a Med is the T69.

Good acceleration, elevation angles and view range.

The numbers are close to those of the Pershing, but its use is really different because it's an auto-loader!

One drum holds four shells with an average damage of 240.

Though it's hard to make use of them, because the reload time between shots is just 2 seconds and the aim time is 2.9.

So you face a choice – either you finish aiming and lose valuable seconds,

or shoot everything at maximum speed with a higher chance to fail at penetrating the armour.

The full reload time of the drum is 27 seconds.

This is almost two times faster than that of the French AMX 50 100.

It's even faster than 13-90, but don't compare the 69 with the French LT.

These vehicles are really different.

The T69 isn't a bold scout it's closer to a support tank.

Its play style is closer to the French heavy rather than LT.

This tank also has a big problem with its AP shells lack of armour penetration, so you'll have to often use premium shells to be effective.

If you want to win, that is.

There is a catch, however; The T69s premium shells are HEAT.

It doesn't seem to be a problem at first sight as the Object 416 also has HEAT,

but the Soviet Med has 330mm of penetration, whilst the American only has 250.

Some will say that the Pershing only has a bit more; but you must consider the difference between APCR and HEAT.

The HEATs are weakened by spaced armour a lot.

Given that the tracks also act as spaced armour, it often goes like this:

you shoot an enemy in the roller at a decent angle and there's no damage.

It's sad, but you need to be prepared for this.

By the way, I'll remind you that the HEAT shells are not affected by normalization rules.

If you don't know what those are I recommend you to watch the “Explaining Mechanics” show.

It clears things up pretty well. The link is in the description.

What about the other Meds?

On paper the T44, Panther II, Centurion and the Chinese Look good.

However the Soviet Med has lousy elevation angles and a weak turret.

The Panther lacks acceleration; it accelerates even slower than some heavies!

The British has low speed and damage per shot; plus it's a really big target!

The main faults of the Chinese are elevation angles, aiming speed and gun accuracy.

In these terms the Type 59 looks a bit better than its brethren, but it's not good enough to compete with the Pershing, for example.

So only experienced tankers will be able to constantly win with these vehicles in “Team Battles”.

For the beginners out there:

Don't experiment.

Experienced players have already tested everything.

So at first follow this advice to get good results:

The best medium tanks for “team battles” are the M26 Pershing, the Object 416 and the T69.

If you want to have a Med in your team, pick one of these.

The first one is balanced and all-purpose.

The other two are pretty specialised and hard to use, but are good as well.

Keep this in mind; Not all players and commanders can use such tanks to its fullest.

In case you don't have the needed Meds, just pick one of the heavies I discussed in the previous episode.

Believe me, this will go better for you.

Don't torture your team and yourself with defeats by playing the “wrong vehicles”

But it's your call.

I think that's all.

Leave your comment and suggestions below; this will help make the show better and more interesting.

By the way; we received your comments about our heavy tanks episode.

So we will return to this topic in more detail in the next episode.

Thank you for your feedback!

We are Luke and PowerSlide.

See you then!