I have played the 8.7 BR bracket for hundreds, if not thousands, of games. The T-55AM-1 is mostly unstoppable at its BR. In a full down tier, it can see 7.7 vehicles which cannot scratch it. Even on the side, many vehicles can struggle.
Decompression would help the most, but this vehicle needs to go up in BR. It’s too much for 8.7
TAM 2IP is not a problem on 9.0. It has no armor literally. And TAM on 8.7 worse than TAM 2IP so it on 8.7 and that’s ok. It’s annoying enemy but it’s not so toxic. And because it’s better than leopard, I wish leopard decreasing BR.
All thanks in full down tier are unstoppable. It doesn’t matter what tank do in down tier. And it’s not problem to destroy this tank because of it’s problems. I easily can say that any 7.7 good tank will be “unstoppable” vs 6.7 tanks, this is logical. That’s not a problem. Btw Leo 2K is unstoppable when it plays on 8.7 too, so give him 10.0 why not. Very bad logic.
All tanks* I meant
No, this is untrue.
The T-55AM-1 sees vehicles designed in the 1940s despite it having a laser range finder, darts, extremely good armor with added on composites. Even compared to its competition at 8.7, it’s stupid good.
And yes, the Leo 2K does fight at 8.7, but it’s still killable. The T-55AM-1 sees vehicles like the M103 which cannot penetrate it anywhere frontally.
The T-55AM-1 is faster, better armored, better equipped, and better at acquisition compared to anything else at 8.7
It remains king of 8.7 by a long shot. It would not suffer if moved at 9.0
The AM-1 has pretty terrible firepower and can be reliably killed in any of the gaps in its turret armour, it is not deserving of 9.0.
Terrible Firepower isn’t true. I’ve used the Dart it has extensively. It works just fine.
335mm of penetration is still enough to cut through all of its opponents frontally at 8.7 and many at 9.7
Few tanks at the BR have good armour. The 2IP has better hull armour than most and while the turret is somewhat thin it’s not a huge disadvantage. The front-mounted engine also has a tendacy to absorb shells.
But the TAM isn’t meant to brawl or rely on armour. It can go 75km/h in both forward and reverse and has nearly 22hp/tonne, it’s extremely mobile. Additionally, DM33 is a pretty great shell for the BR.
3BM25 has lower penetration than DM13 at all ranges and angles. The AM-1/AMD have literally the worst firepower of every 8.7 MBT.
DM13 is APDS and has a worst Spall Modifier and can easily shatter, so no, comparing the two isn’t a good idea. APDS performs much worse than APFSDS in the penetration calculator.
Once again, I have experience with this. I know these vehicles and these shells. I have Russia at 11.7 for a reason.
Alright then, compare 3BM25 to any 105 APFSDS and you’ll see that they obviously have much higher penetration, as well as fire rate and gun handling. DM13 was simply an example of a low-penetrating shell that still beats 3BM25.
Additionally, the armour of the AM-1 is overrated, people simply don’t know how to aim for weak spots at that BR especially us mains. You claim that
which is false, the M103 can easily penetrate the AM-1 aywhere but the UFP and the thickest part of the turret add-ons, with both AP and HEAT-FS.
Just because you need to aim slightly when using the T-55AM-1’s APFSDS shell doesn’t matter. You’re comparing the best protected vehicles at the battle rating. Not to mention HEAT-FS is still a very viable option at 8.7 if you need the extra punch.
However, the BR is mostly lighter vehicles.
And sure, the M103 can “Technically” penetrate the T-55AM-1, but that doesn’t mean the two seeing one another is fair.
The Leopard A1A1 is objectively worse and sits at 9.0
I don’t see why the T-55AM-1, which is still performing better than other 8.7 vehicles in the matchmaker and is also referred to as the best USSR Ground Grinder, can’t move up to 9.0.
Just because the firepower means you need to slightly aim at its Battle rating doesn’t mean it doesn’t excel at everything else.
And no, the armor is not overstated. You’re just trusting Protection Analysis too much.
No. Leopard A1A1 is one of the best 8.7s. It lolpens all things below its BR.
And Leopard 1A5 fires one of the best 105 rounds.
OF-40 does not have thermals.
@Just_Baron
The only way T-55AM-1 goes to 9.0 is if ALL 9.0s go to 9.3, including Leopard A1A1, and ALL 8.7s go to 9.0.
T-55AM-1 is one of the worst 8.7s.
It has the worst APFSDS, the worst HEATFS for the BR, and due to its gun depression it can’t adequately use its ATGM.
All it has going for it is HEATFS protection from the add-on armor.
Better solution, move TAM up. We all know sadly this won’t happen cause it’s prem though.
and yet its strong.
its apfsds is good. but the main shell is aphe.
APHE is hilarious bad for 8.7. If you’re using that, there’s a reason it was 8.3 for so many years.
Cause with APHE it’s just a T-54 with a stab, slightly more anti-HEAT armor, and a laser range finder.
Nothing “technically” about it. The M103, despite your claims that it couldn’t penetrate anywhere, can penetrate the vast majority of the T-55AM’s frontal area. As you said, just because you need to aim slightly doesn’t mean the shell doesn’t work. Now compare that to the AM-1’s performance against the following common vehicles:
The Leo 2K that you brought up. Dunno if you know this, but that is one of the least armoured 9.7 MBTs.
Not true, the A1A1 has significant advantages in firepower and mobility, though as I previously said I agree that the A1A1 should be 8.7
Let’s take a look at your main claim:
I’ve demonstrated that the armour isn’t all that remarkable. While it’s better than the
those vehicles are significantly more mobile than the AM-1. On the topic of mobility, it’s alright but not great. 56km/h forward is decent, though a mere 16.6hp/tonne is significantly outclassed by the aforementioned “lighter vehicles” which have roughly 20hp/tonne or more as a general rule. Additionally, the 8km/h reverse rate is a significant disadvantage, especially for a vehicle without the firepower to reliably knock out opponents in a single shot. We’ve already established that the AM-1’s firepower is the literal worst of the BR. In terms of " better equipped and better at acquisition" this is perhaps somewhat true with access to a LRF. However, that LRF isn’t a huge deal. Essentially every 9.0 besides the A1A1 has LRF and all are better in many if not every way than the AM-1. LRF is also found on other MBTs such as the Strv 104, Olifant 1A, AMX-30s, ZTZ59A/D, and others that like the AM-1 don’t have the overall performance to compete at 9.0 despite the generally 9.0 feature of LRF. The AM-1 is only
because of its SL and RP rewards, and the USSR not really having many good premiums below 10.0. Until recently with the addition of the OT-55, there wasn’t any premium MBT between 6.3 (T-34-100) and 10.0 (TURMS).
t-55’s aphe allows you to onetap most opponents in silhouette.
i won’t even talk about the difference in damage between aphe and apfsds - aphe is way, way better.
While your APHE bounces, I shoot back and ammo rack you.
