The vehicle is big as a bar, wheeled, and all it has is PMB 090 APFSDS with 92mm flat pen, at 9.0 where we can find vehicles such as
BMP-3 (10mm less pen on 30mm APDS, but comes with an ATGM, Laser Rangefinder, Thermals, ESS and is tracked & STABILIZED gun)
BDM-4 (10mm less pen on 30mm APDS, but comes with an ATGM, Laser Rangefinder, Thermals, ESS and is tracked & STABILIZED gun)
I seriously don’t see how even remotely the Type 87 RCV belongs to 9.0, yes you can kill enemies at that BR, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun to play, you can kill 8.0-10.0 vehicles with a M22 too, but that’s a choice to up-tier that gremlin, the RCV is forced to play there, and the only thing it has is speed and a mediocre quick firing NOT STABILIZED APFSDs round.
Japanese tree is full of vehicles that sit at a much higher BR than they deserve, and now you even messed up the RCV and Type 89 too. It’s astonishing how tone deaf Gaijin is to the issues of the Japanese ground forces tree.
VBC (PT02) is on the same BR, while having better armor, stab, thermals and LWS. Gaijin just hates japan and even if they buff something (like, finally giving Type 81 and adding optical tracking), they nerf something horribly.
Nah, its still great at 9.0. Fast, hard hitting and really fun to play.
Burying the lede a bit, don’t forget that APFSDS in general has overall far better modifiers than APDS. The big differences against sloped armour are especially important.
Not to mention the massive ROF differences.
And the gun handles so fast that the lack of stab really doesn’t end up being a big issue.
The RCV is a great vehicle, 9.0’s a good spot for it.
Question there is whether the vbc needs to move up to 9.3, or whether the differences aren’t big enough to matter. Will have to play the VBC again to get a good idea, but I suspect it might be sort of the upper end of 9.0.
Yes, its great.
And no, its isnt good enough to be at 9.0.
And yeah, VBC is better in basically everything.
Type 87 was fine at 8.7 (It still slightly overtier, but it wasnt too bad).
Despite… Freccia has some armor against MG and low-pen autocanons LWS, Stab, thermals and ATGM (yes, its 10.0, but still). So saying about “same tactics” is kinda wrong.
It works somekind good at 8.7 and way better at lower br. But not at 9.0, where 99% have stabs, vast majority have thermals and quite many vehicles have comparable mobility (dont forget about wheels, which are a disadvantage on many maps).
And actually the thing is… that Type 87 is slow vehicle. Yes, it has good max speed, but wheels+PtW ratio… Like, even some MBTs at that BR (9.0) have better PtW ratio or almost the same, than Type 87, like XM-803, Leo 1A1. So no, its isnt good for 9.0, cause its main and single advantage nulified at that BR, specially when you are uptiered.
Its not wrong, the 25mm gun tactics are exactly the same. Darting in and around cover, and demolishing enemies in the sides and back.
The extra bonuses are why its at a higher BR, but the gunplay is the same.
What you mean is it works way better when its against vehicles weaker than it. That’s every vehicle. That doesn’t mean it should go down to 8.7 or lower.
Not even remotely slow.
9.0’s the right spot for it, balancing its capabilities with the enemy’s.
You cant say that the gunplay is the same, when you have supporting armament. Vehicle with ATGM and vehicle without it plays differently (specially because on vehicle with ATGM you can engage enemy from the front in some cases)
It works there better, because its advantage works at this BR.
In comparison - slow.
So… RCV has no stab, LWS, thermals, armor (it can be penetrated by rifle-caliber MGs), ATGM and its mobility isnt better than mobility of many vehicles at 9.0 (some even way better) and its gun working worse. Yet somehow its capabilities balance with enemies? How? By having literally no advantage, that you can use?
Of course you can. Because not all supporting elements complement the gunplay exactly the same.
Mobility obviously does, thermals doesn’t nearly as much because the gunplay favors up and close engagements.
And the Spike missiles are completely separate, Spikes are most effective at long range, completely opposite to the 25mm which is most effective up close.
It works better because it belongs at 9.0.
But not actually slow. Which means it still has incredible mobility for using shock tactics.
Doesn’t really need it, the gun handles fast enough to compensate.
Doesn’t need it at all, its an 560 rpm autocannon.
Doesn’t need it, its an up close vehicle where thermals are irrelevant.
See above.
And again, your entire tactic is demolishing enemies before they can even react. So again, the armor isn’t really needed.
But it is slower. It dont has incredible mobility. It wheeled+ 20 hp/t. Its not slow, but its isnt incredible. Its actually, again, worse than some MBTs has.
On plain terrain, yes. But if its rough - lack of stab feels.
… Okay, im shocked. So, the vehicle that has its entire tacticts built around being super fast and using mobility and fast gun handling to flank enemy and demolish them from sides or rear is perfectly fine at br, where it cant use mentioned qualities, because all opponets have better or comparable ones, while having some advantages, that the vehicle doesnt have? Like… Eh… Really?
Quite clear. Cause the bow has slower projectile, less damage and etc.
So yeah, Type 87 definetly not belong to 9.0 and its not “balanced” at this br, being inferior to literally any vehicle in all aspects