Some feedback and wishes from a very casual Japan main
Heavy tank option for Japan
I’d really like to see Japan get a proper heavy tank option. Ro-Go doesn’t really count as a heavy. Some people will point out that Japan has the Heavy Tank No.6, which is fair — but the problem is availability and price.
At the moment, the Heavy Tank No.6 costs around 75 EUR on the marketplace, while the Italian version is sold directly for 4080 Golden Eagles, which is under 33 EUR. Having such a large price difference for essentially the same vehicle feels unreasonable. It would be great if the Japanese version could also be made available directly for Golden Eagles at a similar price.
(And even if Japan didn’t historically field many true heavy tanks, realism in War Thunder is already flexible in many areas.)
BR compression around 9.7–11.7
Why is the jump so extreme? Going from 9.7 straight to 11.7 feels very punishing. It often feels like BR 10 just doesn’t exist for Japan, and the matchmaking gap is frustrating.
Chi-Nu II BR feels too high
The Chi-Nu II seems overtiered for what it offers. This is a pretty common opinion, so there’s not much more to add here.
Lack of light tanks between BR 4.0–5.3
Japan really needs another light tank in the 4.0–5.3 range. Right now the lineup jumps from 3.7 straight to 5.7, and the 5.7 vehicle isn’t even a true light tank. That gap makes lineup building awkward.
Top-tier lineup issues without CAS or helicopters
As a newer player who doesn’t play CAS or helicopters, it’s very hard to build a proper Type 90 (11.7) lineup. I end up with two 11.7 MBTs and one 11.7 SPAA, but then I have to fill the rest with 9.7 and even 9.3 vehicles. That kind of BR spread feels very rough and not very beginner-friendly.
There’s nothing. I mean yeah you have the guys arguing about O-I but honestly I don’t see it happening I will eat my words if it happens though
Sub-tree is supposed to be filling that but we will see in the near future, there are still japanese vehicles that can help fill those sub tree lineups
Chi Nu II is indeed overtiered
There are no light tanks that can fill up that br as far as I know but I don’t see how is that so much of an issue light tanks in lower tiers aren’t that relevant
Uh do you mean lack of Japanese aircraft for CAS role? Because Thailand was added specifically to improve the CAS options and well I don’t know why would you uptier 9.X vehicles when F4EJs exist and they are better for that role you will still suffer though because they are better but no good for that role that’s why you are supposed to go for the thai F-5
Damn, Thailand is out of ground vehicles. What do we do? Where do we drain copypaste from now??? Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Viet Nam. Oh yes, seems like good array of options - Gaijin probably.
I try to avoid even 9.7. I play 9.3 so I can’t get uptiers to 10.7. IMO, 9.3 is the most fun Japan mains can have. Amazing mobility and gun, and armor for the type 16 can stop autocannons from the front. Many of the vehicles get scouting ability to compensate for lack of armor. The 9.7 br is just another autocannon and better type 16, but they’re not worth the uptier to 10.7.
True, I consider the Ho-Ri production Japan’s only heavy tank in the TT. Its frontal armor is really good for 7.7. The BRs from 6.7-7.7 is amazing with the heat shells and ho-ri. And we get a good cas from the JW71 which is like a ww2 A10.
These are the only two brs which Japan are fun at. People say the type 90 at 11.7 is fun, but the BMPT and lack of armor makes it not fun for me. The oplot at top tier is fun since it’s got armor to counter BMPT’s autocannon but that’s about it.
We just need Gaijin to fill in the gaps with either Japanese/Sub tree vehicles and it will get better. Trust
Heavy tank for Japan
I don’t really care whether the vehicle is a purely domestic Japanese design, a captured vehicle, or something obtained through historical circumstances. I mainly want an accessible heavy tank option for the Japanese tree that doesn’t cost ~75 EUR.
Japan did have heavy tank designs, such as the Type 91 Heavy Tank, which could already serve as a low- to mid-tier heavy option.
On top of that, if Korea is added or expanded as a sub-tree, North Korea is believed to have received small numbers of Soviet heavy tanks such as the IS-2 and possibly IS-3 after the Korean War (even if in very limited numbers and with uncertain documentation). War Thunder has already included vehicles with similarly limited service history, so this wouldn’t be unprecedented.
I’m not asking for anything overpowered or historically impossible — just a reasonable heavy tank option that’s actually obtainable,
Sub-tree and future lineup depth
I agree that a sub-tree is supposed to help fill these gaps, and if Korea is added, it could meaningfully improve Japan’s higher-tier lineups. A Korean sub-tree could potentially introduce vehicles such as the K1A1, K1A2, and K2 Black Panther on the South Korean side, and vehicles like P’okp’ung-ho and Chonma-2 on the North Korean side.
Additionally, export or derivative designs such as the VT-4 (MBT-3000) could also help provide lineup depth at higher BRs.
That said, this only helps if and when those vehicles are actually added. Until then, Japan still has noticeable lineup gaps, especially when progressing toward top tier.
Chi-Nu II
Agreed — it’s overtiered.
Light tanks in mid BRs
That’s fair, there aren’t many nations with strong light tanks in that exact BR range either (France being a notable exception with the AMX-13 FL11 at 4.3). I’m not claiming Japan is uniquely suffering here — I’d just like to see more options overal
Top-tier lineup without CAS or helicopters
What I meant here is that I’m close to unlocking the Type 90, and as a ground-focused player, I can’t build a proper 11.7 lineup unless I rely on planes or helicopters.
Right now you’re basically expected to bring CAS to make the lineup work, which isn’t ideal for newer players or people who prefer ground-only gameplay. Having more ground vehicle depth at top tier would make that transition much smoother.
We already have the Type 95 heavy tank. That’s the Ro-Go.
The only other Japanese heavy tanks are the prior-mentioned O-I, and the earlier Type 91. Of those two, only the O-I could feasibly be added in-game. The Type 91 couldn’t because, even with time-traveling HEAT, it would be utter crap. It only had 17 mm of armor at most and had a maximum speed of 25 km/h, and would consequently be torn apart by anything with either a heavy machine gun (i.e. M2A2) or an autocannon (i.e. Pz. Kpfw. II). It would be more likely to be added as a medium tank rather than a heavy tank, since it practically was even by the standards of 1931.
North Korea would absolutely be a subtree of China if it isn’t added as an independent tree with South Korea. They already have a North Korean aircraft in the form of the F-5. There’s not really any chance that Japan could receive North Korean IS-2 or IS-3.
Ho-Ri production is already a very heavy tank with the SPG role, just like Jagdtiger is a very heavy tank with the SPG role and not “Heavy Tank” role. while Ho-Ri isn’t “a heavy tank”, it’s the heaviest tank u have in the japanese tech tree, and since it weights almost the same as a Tiger II, imo it can be called a heavy tank with SPG role.
lack of japanese vehicles/proofs of vehicles existing and lack of motivation from part of Gaijin (probably, they’re always like this) to add new japanese vehicles.
Chi-Nu II is ok, it has a very good cannon at a lower BR than the Chi-To and trades good turret traverse for low top speed.
M42 can act as a light tank/why would Japan get a 5.3 light tank? they only have a 5.3 SPAA and giving them a 5.3 light tank would be a bit stupid, should get a 5.7 light tank, and even with that, there’s no nation with a 5.3/5.7 light tank.
???
they have very decent helicopters and CAS, u literally get a Su-30MKM with Kh-38MTE which is the best CAS missile ingame.
That is my bad I did mean the Type 91 I even play with the Type 95 just got them confussed xD.
And I don’t have any idea about balancing or how it would work that the dev job I just want 1 or 2 Heavy Tank for Japan, we got the Ro-Go which is a shit tank but it is a heavy but the Heavy Tank No.6 would also be fine if it did not cost 75+eur, then I would not ask for Heavy tanks.
I finding out that North Korea is already in China as a subtree legit made me sad :(.
Yeah, but I mean like the Type 91 is only a heavy by technicality.
Japan’s standards by then, though I’m recalling by memory and I know these weight ranges aren’t exactly correct, was that lights were 8 tonnes or less, mediums were somewhere between that and 16-ish tonnes, and heavies were anything around 20 tonnes. This was based off of the first tanks that they received; namely the Renault FT, which formed the basis for the lights, the Medium Whippet, which formed the basis for the mediums, and the Mark V, which formed the basis for the heavies.
However, by the 1930s this was outdated. For comparison, the Type 91 had 17 mm of frontal armor, an improvement over the previous “Chi-I” that had 17 mm of unhardened steel, and weighed 18 tonnes.
The same year, the Soviets introduced the T-24 medium tank which weighed 18.2 tonnes with 25.4 mm of frontal armor. The T-35-1 heavy tank was completed just a year later and was both significantly heavier and far more armored.
Even earlier than the Type 91 was the A1E1 built in 1925, with 28 mm of frontal armor and weighing around 34 tonnes. The Medium Mk. III, introduced a year earlier than the Type 91, weighed 16 tonnes with 14 mm of frontal armor.
The Type 91 would just act as a medium tank if it’s ever added in-game and would likely be designated as a medium, too, for the same reason that the I-Go is a light in-game despite its official reclassification as a medium tank once the Ha-Go was introduced IRL. The unfortunate reality of Japan is simply just that they don’t have anything with armor. The O-I is an outlier. Even the real Ho-Ri II, which was easily one of the most armored vehicles that Japan might’ve produced/been producing during the war, would be relatively unarmored at the BR it would be added at in-game.
I agreed they didn’t got that much of tank but still enough to met the minimum criteria as independent tree, if the devs adding a tree according what you just said then the game will only got 3 factions which is US, Ger & USSR because others TT had filled with copy & paste at certain era
Heavy tank option for Japan Personally I hope to see the O-I in the future, since that is sadly the only actually built option. While Gaijin still seem to still deny if for “lacking information”, it’s still not entirely impossible to see it considering that it has been built, even if not fully completed (which was enough for vehicles like the Yak-141 or TOG II GWP) and information on it is still more than the Ostwind II at least which is in game now twice.
Though it’s also most likely to end up as Dreams Come True event reward, which would make it entirely locked once the event is over and not solve anything.
BR compression around 9.7–11.7 Sadly there isn’t a ton of Japanese options here, but with the recent subtrees this could finally change. Especially Indonesia could already provide an entire 10.X lineup alone from their Harimau MT, Leopard 2A4 and Starstreak SAM.
Chi-Nu II BR feels too high Yes
Lack of light tanks between BR 4.0–5.3 Here I also think there’s mainly subtree options. Japan could maybe get some 6.3 or 6.0 (if we’re pushing it) with the earlier Type 60 SPRGs or the SS-1/2/3/4 prototypes, but for this specific range I’d say Indonesian FV601 Saladin / EBR 1951 or Thai FV101 Scorpion might be the best options.
Top-tier lineup issues without CAS or helicopters Yeah CAS isn’t the best throughout, only at the end thanks to Kh-38MTE on the Malaysian Su-30MKM. Personally I’d like some more helicopters, specifically a Thai EC645T2 (H145M) and the Kawasaki OH-1 (and maybe AH-2 if we can get past that parts were built for a common UH-X/AH-X platform rather than just the attack variant).
Also for aircraft the Toyo FD-25 would be interesting. This was Japans only combat aircraft to be exported after WWII and served with the Thai police.
Yeah, the ground tree is easily among the most missed opportunities in the game’s recent history. Instead of the many modified variants or even domestic developments we only got:
M163 that not only isn’t the Thai modernized M163A1 TVADS, but isn’t even a variant Thailand ever had, since Thailand operated the M163A1 instead.
M60A3 TTS with removed turret handrails and stowage and extended smoke launchers, modifications for an ERA set Thailand didn’t have. This is even worse considering it was copied from the ROC M60A3 TTS, which in reality is the same as the Thai one, but in game is just a copy of the US one with the ERA pack removed, so now 2/3 M60A3 TTS have the wrong model because of this.
Stingray which is finally a Thai exclusive tank, except the US somehow got the Thai service model copied to them as well. This just made it less unique on release for no reason. Not even the US benefits here, since they could’ve had the slightly lighter (and with that better) prototype instead.
Oplot-T with questionable armor modelling that was copied over to Pakistan as a trial tank. Once again not even Pakistan/China benefits because the Oplot-P would’ve been a much more interesting option.
The Stingray also has probably the dumbest/funniest model error in game, though this at least doesn’t affect gameplay.