If you can keep a 1.0 K/D, especially in an Ariete, you’re doing just fine.
I’m not saying I know the pain of the Ariete, my T-90M is a great tank, however I’m still semi stock, so the struggle is real.
Most loses are going something like this: reduced mobility is a death sentence when half your team is back to the hangar, so you have no cover or distraction to get to a forward fighting position. You end up in your spawn, finding something that’s only somewhat defensible, but with a sight line that will maybe give you a leg up if someone actually comes your way. You creep your turret over little ridges or around a building or two. You see a Leo 2A5PL/2A6/2A7V/Strv 122/122+, fire a round where it used to pen just last patch, and * bounce *, reload, aim elsewhere, kill two crew, no spall, liner is gone. Peek out for third shot, bam, some other dude flanks you because half your team is gone. Once I get 3BM60, I know this won’t be such a big deal, but right now it’s a struggle, 3BM42 just aint great for most of the situations you’ll find yourself in against Leo 2’s of all flavors. It’s really fun /s
Okay, I wouldn’t say problems, per se, it’s more like an auto-loading 57mm =/= 125mm APFSDS. At 10.0 I can take certain positions in my T-64B/T-72B/72B(89) that I can’t take in the 2S38. I also don’t have IRST to lock planes/helicopters, the traverse/elevation to hit them, or the proxy rounds to blow them up.
tl;dr armor is weaker, armament is better suited as a utility role, not a main gun.
I know dataproject is inaccurate but it is nevertheless surprising that the AMV, alongside with the merkava 4M and TKX/Type 10 are the four 11.7 MBTs with the highest KP/KD.
Turret armor is EXTREMELY strong. I have shrugged off a lot of BS with it. If people don’t aim between the plates of ERA on the skirts, I absorb most first frontal shots. The tank is still good in some respects, but impossible to solo with. It needs a team to succeed.
