I have seen a lot of people in comment sections saying that the challenger tank is incredibly good irl and way better than it is in war thunder, just wanted to hear out opinions of people that may know more about tanks than i do.
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mbt v mbt just no
In Game:
- Far weaker armour than it should (both base armour like around the mantlet and the ERA)
- Tiny ammo rack (currently 4 should be 28)
- Shells are underperforming
- none of the FCS are modeled in game which are one of the CR2s biggest strengths
The list of bugs and issue regarding the CR2 is just insane and it gets longer all the time.
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Depends.
Good for it’s time (end of the Cold War)? Yes.
Good compared to the latest MBTs as of 2024/5? It’s decent but getting on a bit.
Good in War Thunder? …just don’t go there alright. Gaijin have a major pathological hatred of British AFVs; or at the very least they act like they have.
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This is quite a good vid from a few months ago.
On Ukraine’s frontline with the crews fighting with UK-supplied Challenger 2
The tank surviving multiple hits from helo-ATGMs and keeping the crew alive pretty much indicates that the CR2 is a tough old thing. It also sounds like it was recovered (e.g. the tank couldn’t drive off under it’s own power but it was able to be salvaged and put back into use).
They do remark later that the tank’s weight plus the mud can be an issue. So it isn’t all rose-tinted glasses.
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Last 2 and first apply to most western MBT in game (and some of the newer eastern ones)
Ready rack is a challenger only issue iirc
Only really the Ariete and Type-90 are also affected to such a degree with non-existant armour. But things like the Challenger 2 OES/TES should have somewhere in the region of 1200-1600 CE armour. They have just under 400.
Well yeah, to varying degrees of impact, but even leos and Abrams are missing some armor
At least the Ariete doesn’t pretend to have armor, the Merkava on the other hand…that thing is laughable
Yeah, CR2s and Merkavas should be reasonably tanky, but arent. Meanwhile the Arietes and Type 90 could be better described as light tanks.
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Gajin apparently decided that high tiers should be just one big lolpen one shot clusterfuck, no tank should have armor…except the strv-122s
It depends.
War Thunder is just Grozny simulator with orbital bombardments at this point.
It’s a tricky question. Before certain events that are currently going on in Europe, the Challenger 1 and 2 had a brilliant track record with it’s armour and it’s main gun. The longest confirmed tank-on-tank kill was in 1991 during the the Gulf War. A Challenger 1 was able to kill an Iraqi T-55 tank from a distance of 4,700 meters (2.9 miles). And during the Iraq War a Challenger 2 apparently withstood around 70 hits from enemy RPGs.
But as time goes on every piece of equipment will eventually age and no longer be as effective as most modern equipment. The Challenger’s rifled gun isn’t as effective as some of the ammo that is fired from a smooth bore tank gun. And I don’t have much to comment on the Challenger’s Dorchester & Chobham armour as most of it’s information is classified, but even though it has had a brilliant track record, I think it may be a bit outdated against modern munitions. Luckily the MOD has solved some of these issues with the new Challenger 3 by giving it a 120 mm L55A1 smoothbore gun which is capable of firing more modern munitions, along with a new type of internal “Farnham” and external “Epsom” armour. I look forward to seeing how the external Epsom armour looks when they release images. Hopefully they can cover it’s massive LFP. It’s just a shame that only 148 Challenger 3s will be produced.
FYI I tried writing this without being biased as the Challenger 2 is my favourite MBT IRL.
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War thunder doesnt represent anything other than how it looks well at all.
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I also do find it strange how they only give the Challenger 4 shells in the ammo rack. As a Brit main I may sound a bit biased but I do believe that HESH underperforms a bit.
Water is also wet.
Hesh shouldn’t explode when hit either, plastic explosives such as RDX is unphased when shot and will only slowly burn when lit on fire like a hexamine cube
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As of now, the Leo2 and Abrams are superior. The Chally’s time is kinda over.
Yeah, year old reports for CR1 and CR2 for 20+ round ready racks and yeah it definetly something wrong with HESH. Seen a video of a 120mm HESH barely scratching the paint on Pantsir (or similar)
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RN u can technically ‘explode’ APFSDS rounds in game, and most fuel tanks IRL shouldn’t explode either.
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It happens, with almost any round HE, HEAT ATGM, cause I mean really I have had experience of hitting a Roland with HE and 0 dmg. I even hit a hell cat with heat and nothing happened (somehow it got to 12.0)