oh they do matey, but yes you are right about going hull down, just not always that easy and even if you do - there are enemies who have got to their hull down pos quicker and they can do the turret bouncing also so its not like an advantage.
I mean it’s strength - hull down - is good for any tank and you just cant always do it.
If you wanna play a strong challenger, the fv4030 currently is in a very good spot, facing a skilled player in this thing is literally a nightmare and feels like a boss fight.
Close quarters combat. Early Challenger MBTs excels in close combat, specially when loading HESH and sniping weakspots with, at least the reverse gear acceleration is good enough to retreat from engagements.
I’ve got a good amount of games in the Challengers so I think I can give some advice:
FV4030/3 is absolutely amazing, it’s actually kinda broken. I’m sitting at a 4:1 K/D in it right now. Just take the Challenger Mk.1 and remove the useless Gen 1 thermals, and lower it down a BR.
The Challenger 1 is great hull down. The breech is very small and turret cheeks are strong. The mobility is still very good even if it does fall short of the Abrams and Leopard 2A4. You also have a great round (for the DS and Mk.3) and great reload.
The Challenger 2 is okay, It’s not that good at anything though, so you’re going to have to rely on outplaying other players. If this was 2023 I would have said the reload is great, but since the Leclerc, Abrams, Merkava, and Ariete had their reloads buffed it really isn’t that much of an exception anymore. Especially since the ready rack is only 4 rounds, and the replenishment takes like 20 seconds per round. You’ve also got a spall liner but no blowout panels and a huge ammo rack in the center of the hull.
Challenger 2 (2F) and TES aren’t worth playing. Skip them.
Challenger 2 BN is in the same boat as the standard Challenger 2, except it’s got the best APS in the game. It’s actually capable of destroying KH-38MTs (though I’ve still had them kill me because spaghetti code). So just based off the fact it can defend against CAS it has inherent value. Regardless I’d still say it’s the worst 12.0 tank.
Challenger 2E is actually pretty great, just take the standard Chally 2, give it commander thermals and a 1500hp engine. It keeps up with Type 10, T-80BVM, as M1A2 just fine with a max speed of 45mph. It might just be me but in my experience the 2E takes the Chally 2 from a pile of junk to an actually very competitive top tier tank.
Yeah, the composite LFP helps against autocannons. But it’s still rather have the base Chally 2
It does intercept APFSDS but it just degrades penetration. But it’s still very easy to get penned even if their dart gets intercepted. Also, most engagements occur well beyond the range at which you need to give the dart enough time to slow (depends on the dart, but I’m fairly sure it’s higher than 800m. Been playing it a lot lately and haven’t had it intercept a dart once, I think the range is more like 1.2km+)
Its possible the rounds you were hit by varied in velocity, but beyond 1000m I was entirely invulnerable to APFSDS until the APS ran out of charges. However, i’ve only played around 35 matches in it, so my experience is limited and I haven’t tested the APS in a custom yet.
Looking around online, it definitely seems like you can still get penned after a dart is intercepted, although it majorly degrades pen.
It’s still helpful against getting hit in the breech or UFP, but you can still get penned in the side of the hull for example. I specifically remember an incidence of this personally. Although keep in mind, that since the penetration is reduce significantly so is the spalling. Combine that with the turret spall liner and it’s very hard to damage the BN significantly after interception.
The reason I say the BN is the worst 12.0 is that in 90%+ of cases, it’s a standard Challenger 2 at a higher BR simply because it’s better against CAS. I’d take any other 12.0 over it, besides maybe the T-90M simply because I don’t like playing Russian top tier.