I have seen people say that the horizontal drive as the entire basket is justified mainly on the Abrams and Leopards 2 because the T-series tanks got their autoloader. This is not true as the point of the autoloader module was to bring it up to parity with a human loader. Before, there was almost no downside to using an autoloader other than the indirect effect of having 1 less crew members. Autoloader reload at the same exact speed regardless of crew and when the standard was 6 sec ace reload at top tier, having a T-80 style autoloader was a massive bonus or even the Leclerc because it had a 6 sec reload. Having a human loader could also be killed cancelling his reload, he would have to stop if there was a fire to fight, and sometimes the loader would take the gunner position mid reload, cancelling the reload entirely. You could also drop down to 2 crew members and have double the reload. This is why the turret basket is an additional nerf.
2 Likes