Israel is the most suffering nation when it comes to the ground tech tree and it should no longer remain this way, it needs to be treated fairly.
The Merkavas at 12.0 are not great tanks by any means, they are avarage at best, their speed, gun handling and are known for having in practice paper thin armor. Combined with the fact that it is one of the biggest MBTs, make it an easy target even for enemies that got uptiered. The fact that MOST nations get top tier MBTs that can calmly take direct hits from DM53 to the turret or hull is a problem. Leopards 2, Abrams´, T90M´s or ZTZ´s have relliable hull and turret armor, which gives the player that faces them clear knowledge of its weakspots and where to shoot. The Merkava has a spaced interior and crew placement, given that its armor can be penetrated no matter where the shot lands, it happens that players dont one-shot it. The fair move would be to make its turret and hull (UFP) armor be able tank any shell of the game tu the turret and hull just like Russia´s, America´s, Germany´s, Sweden´s or China´s top tier MBTs. The armor buff would give players using the Merkavas the same security peeking and engaging that others tank have, it would boost Israel´s playability and would give players who face the Merkava clear weakspots to target like the right side of the LFP (which destroys the engine, transmission, takes out the driver and loader and hits right where the ammo is actually stored), turret ring and gun area just like any other 12.0 tank. This could be done by increasing the armor thickness which would be accurate since in game they are very low and it weights 65 tons, or simply giving it a superior value than normal composite. To put it in simple words, it should be able to withstand shells to the hull and turret cheeks just like a T90M. We all know that the materials and actual thickness of the Merkava MK4´s are classified, but that absolutly doesnt mean that it can be penetrated to the front turret cheek by a 3BM42, ideally, no round would, just like with the T90M or Leopard 2A7.
In conclusion, the top tier Merkavas underperform and have very weak armor and it should be buffed significatively in order to make it able to compete with other nation´s counterparts. This could also be fixed by adding another 60€ undertiered premium to Russia or Germany (joke).
As you said, the Merkava is mediocre.
Sure, it does have great moments after Gaijin gave it a 5.0 sec reload, but about the armor… Yikes…
There is no available and reliable data about the true armor of the Merkava (and for other MBTs). Gaijin could buff the armor, but there is no interest in doing this because of money. I’m not accusing Gaijin of being greedy it’'s just a logical approach.
And lastly, it doesn’t lack armor at all. It can still “tank” some shots, but in head-on contact, you need to rely on your skill and reflexes.
And don’t get me wrong, I would love to see any buff for the Merkava’s armor, even slightly better armor for the turret, but well, time flies and we will see…
Is useless.This BR adjustment has completely destroyed the last remaining purpose of the Israeli tech tree. The only two BR that offered a playable experience – 9.7 and 11.3 – were completely ruined by the changes to the Sabra, Merkava 2D, and Kurnass 2000. Now, the only meaning of researching the Israeli tech tree is to announce to other players that you have severe intellectual disabilities.
Merkava?Who care?maybe you,maybe me,but not gaijin.
They could definitely be artificially buffed to give it more armor, at least on the turret.
It’s a shame we don’t see Merks in real life fighting anything more advanced than home-made RPGs.
Also, the F15E is still better than the Su 30sm and F18 in Air RB. The F15I is actually better than the F15E and should absolutly be buffed because Israel usually upgrades the armament it buys. You wouldnt even notice it in game because only 3 people play Israel and most of the time, they are playing russia…
Here’s the thing: Merkavas normally fight people using RPGs, they don’t fight other ranks. Merkavas were built based around urban fighting and anti-tank defences, not fighting Leopards or T-series tanks.
Not at all, they were the first tanks to fight T72s and T80s. The fact that they are designed with protection in mind, doesnt make them out of paper. They should still, even for the sake of balance and viability of Israel give them an armor equal or better to the T90M.
I mean its factual though, there’s no real threat to seriously consider KE protection on their tanks no? even against potential “real opponent” most of them employs mobile AT unit that shoot and scoot with RPG, Kornet or Tow. Surely they will consider prioritising CE protection over KE so buffing the armour and not going KE over CE because someone in War Thunder Trademark Copyright can’t find a perfect positioning to protect their tank from getting shot at in the first place. We are coddling skill issue at this point. it’s like expecting ALL US plane get buffed with anti-spotting coating because they quote unquote “disabled enemy radar before flying in 3000 black jet” instead of making them work in a level playing field as is without Tomahawk and E3 support.
Careful, he might delete your comments. Apparently it’s not allowed to mention that the last time they saw combat was in 2002, where they fought a bunch of unarmed people.
even if we dont mention the political end of Israel, the tank is still fighting against CE, its just factual to say “Merkava doesn’t give a damn about KE because everyone is slinging Kornet and RPG, and a war thunder player with skill issue TM should not change that reality”.