Respectively my votes were Japan, France, Sweden, Italy and China, in my opinion Japan holds as best ground realistic battles nation due to the recent addition of Thai air vehicles.
Battle rating 9.0 Japan turned to be even stronger with the Thai Alpha Jet A when still having powerful vehicles like the Type 74 E/F, Type 87 SPAAG, Type 87 RCV and Type 89 IFV,
Not to say the same for the battle rating 8.3, battle rating 7.3 and battle rating 4.0 with vehicles like the Type 99, M47 Patton and M44 SPG, not the most numberous line-up options like the USSR battle rating 10.3 but very effective vehicles.
France follows in second with the line-up battle rating 6.7, battle rating 7.7 and battle rating 9.3 and battle rating 12.7,
CA Lorraine and Lorraine 40 T are good examples of how strong can French ground forces be, fast moving vehicle with fast loading cannon, in trade of armor, not to say for some other vehicles like the AMX ELC Bis,
The battle rating 7.7 is where French technology shines, AMX-50 Surblindé, AMX-50 Surbaissé, AMX-50 Foch are the big three of the French tech tree, balancing mobility and firepower in a single machine,
The battle rating 9.3 is not really known for the most strong and resilient vehicles, in this case falls under the same situation of Germany at this battle rating range, it uses the mobility and gun in favor to counter the lack of armor, the AMX-30 Super is a good example of this, yet barely armored, it’s a easy vehicle to use, I’ve managed to get a few Nukes with it,
Same can be said for the line-up 12.0, having four fast MBTs with equally strong weaponry and strong air vehicles like the Dassault Rafale C F3 being the second to first best close air support air plane shows how France been overshadowed by main options of nations by most players.
Sweden is one of the tech trees in-game that hides some treasures, the battle rating 8.7 is my favourite, having the earliest in battle rating close air support plane with ballistic computers for bombs with the SAAB-105G really shows how easy can be to get some points with, the Strv 103C, ItPsV Leopard 90 and the T-55M proves this fact.
Italy also has much to offer but is not experienced by many players, the battle rating 9.3 is an example of how cool and reliable Italian vehicles can be, the OF-40 (MTCA), Leopard 1A5, VCC-80/60, VBC (PT2) and Centauro I 105 is like France and Germany, yet poor armor, it has superior firepower compared to other nations in this battle rating range,
For last, China in my opinion is one of the most diverse tech tree in-game at the moment and by my votes, with most recent additions of latest Chinese vehicles made the tech tree even stronger but it always overshadowed by the problems players point everyday, the Al-Khalid I, MBTA-2000, VT-4A1 and VT-5 are few of the vehicles that shows the strong points in late Chinese technology,
The battle rating 8.0 also offer some cool machines like the M41D, Type 59 and few others with early technologies like laser rangefinding, thermal imaging and single and dual axis stabilization.