Let’s talk about this quagmire of tanks that Gaijin likes to troll and opress for fun. Lets take a look
Lorraine 40t and AMX-50 (100)
These tanks are the perfect 7.7 tanks and are essentially the same thing, speed, firepower, reload, size, armor is mostly the same. They are more or less twins and the baseline for what French 7.7 tanks should be and all others compared.
Char 25T and AMX-13-90
These tanks should be dropped to 7.3
Speed - These tanks are one of the slowest of the 7.7 tanks. YES, they are rivaled by none other than the French Heavy Tank AMX-50 Subraisse and are slower than it’s light tank counterparts such as the M41, BMP1, etc. While the Char has the documented high top speed, it struggles to get there. In my testing, starting from the test range spawn and turning down the road, the char takes about 30 seconds to get to 51kph while the AMX-50s and Lorraine 40t achieve this is about 16 seconds. Literally almost 50% faster, the M41 and BMP1 as examples all got to 51kph in under 20 seconds. The char also struggles in cross country speeds rarely exceeding 51kph in all but downhill conditions. This is an artificial nerf applied to the tank long ago that remains in effect to this day. The AMX-13-90 suffers the same fate.
Firepower - There is no question in the Chars ability to reload with 4.0 it is unrivaled by other nations and only compared to it’s AMX-50 counterparts. However the M82, while shared with many US vehicles leaves a lot be desired. The M82 is a round seen as low as 5.3 in the US Tech tree and dies at 7.3. At 7.7 other nations have introduced HEAT, APDS, or Solid shot with greater penetration. The M82 will is a great round for flanking but struggles against Soviet and German Heavy tank armor often seen at this BR rending the Char useless in certain situations requiring the player to get extremely creative in their approach. I have no issue with the M82 and the firepower if it is offset by mobility which we pointed out is the worst of the 7.7 French tanks and among the worst of all light tanks with the BR range.
The OCC 60 62 almost made me immediately quit playing French tanks, the most unreliable and WORST HEAT round in the game. Honestly despite all the things I hate about the use of M82 here it would be an upgrade to the OCC 60 62. This round should make the 13-90 fall to 7.0, FML I hate this round.
Armor - Is French so it’s about as durable as a cheese sandwich. Mobility is the armor of the French tank but again point to number 1. That being said the Char 25 has an unusual tank design being rather broad and flat with a very low profile, this does allow the Char to hide in plain site sometimes behind edges and fences that most other tanks would be too tall for. (not as gucci as the ELC BIS but still.) This odd silhouette can also cause players to overlook it when around dense objects.
AMX-50 (TO90)
The struggle with the AMX-50 (TO90) is that it also uses the M82 and while it has increased mobility, armor, of the Char 25 it’s surpassed by the AMX-50 (TO100) which is the exact same tank but with a better cannon and more reliable solid Shot. So all things being equal with the exception of an inferior penning round, why is the TO90 the same BR and not returned to 7.3?
AMX-50 Surbaisse
This tank shares the speed of the light tanks despite having similar power to weight ratios as the other AMX-50s. While the pen on this gun is great and comparable to other top guns in the range, the reload advantage begins to drop compared to contemporaries with 6.5-9 second reloads albeit it is still the fastest loading large caliber in the this BR. The boble head also suffers from awkward gun handling making it a bit slower to aim and zero a target and like the other french tanks, armor is moot. However, compared to the other AMX-50s this aligns well from a 7.7 perspective swapping speed, for armor, and reload for pen.
So what did I miss, are the Char 25T and AMX-13-90 truly 7.7 tanks when compared or are the AMX-50s next to be ruined at 8.0/3
