RocketBrainSurgeon's T-54 First Prototype Review

HBFT: My whole life has been leading up to the moment I get to drive the T-54 first prototype.  Hours of obsessing over blogs presenting historical material glorifying Soviet steel.  I obliterate those lovers of fascist box tanks through sharp words and blunt observations.  Thousands of words typed in conviction of the superiority of the proletariat machinery.  I hardened my mind, deadened my emotions, and killed my belief in God by playing the Chi-Ri voluntarily.  I have even gone beyond mere keyboard and mouse to practice in real world tanks.  Wargaming recognizes my devotion to the cause and rewards me with early access to the new T-54 first prototype.  I will not fail.     (NOTE to WG: I have a Soviet toaster of a computer powered by a rotting potato.  Please for the love of all that is holy get a better screenshot of the T-54 first prototype, I beg you)   Sorry RBS.  Your screenshots were much more entertaining. ~HBFT   OVERVIEW I previously ran a fanatical website that later would be absorbed into the stat-obsessed tryhards area and collaborated with loveable but oppressionist PetCo jerks.  I've made tens of thousands in gold in contests and clan wars.  But I needed to go farther to show off my true knowledge of tanks.    
Some people complain about artillery.  I went beyond complaining and drove one, placing my wife on the turret to eat a shell so I wouldn't have to waste a repair kit on the gunner.  Priorities, yo.  Warriors need combat.  The closest thing I had available to fighting an M1-Abrams in glorious combat was... crushing a PT Cruiser.  No matter!  I crushed the capitalist, unholy, greed machine and cut my teeth.  I am ready for combat.  Wargaming gave me the call to arms to take up the banner of the T-54 lineage while I was in Bangkok, Thailand.  No matter, even with my ladyboy internet I would succeed due to my preparation.  Ladyboy internet is when the server is expecting a "0" and gets a "1", FYI.   The following is why the T-54 first prototype is the best tank, even surpassing the vaunted Type 59.  Like all true neckbeard keyboard jockeys, I will compare my completely irrelevant real world experience into the digital world.  I survived the original Type 59 invasion by getting one myself.  Then I could #YOLO at the enemy without regard to my well-being and collect massive winrates and credits.  That's often what the T-54 first prototype feels like.       I cuddle the glorious T-55 so much that they tell me to stop gyrating on the equipment.  I would have driven it, but it's another $1,500 greasy American dollars to have the privilege of driving it for 10 minutes.  Soon, soon...   The T-54 first prototype has the hull of the beloved T-44, and then differs from the namesakes of both T-54 and T-44 to create something unique.  The T-54 first prototype neither has the exceptional mobility of the T-44 nor the exceptional everything of the T-54.  Since the T-54 first prototype leads to the perfect tier 9 tank that is the T-54, there will be great qualities about it.  The armor is absolutely the selling point, giving incredible protection even on the most ill-advised advances into enemy lines.  The camouflage of the Russian mediums is legendary.  Sneaking past the enemy or aiming unseen on an unsuspecting victim is standard operation for the T-54 first prototype.   FIREPOWER Reflecting back, my real world training resembled the difficulties I faced with the T-54 first prototype: all of the real world guns have been purposefully ruined before selling the tanks to civilians.  It seems that a country that sees fit to have a gun for nearly every man, woman, and child is suddenly scared at having a fully functioning war machine.  Nothing bad has ever happened when someone takes a tank into the city.     The T-54 first prototype is called such because the gun improvements were on the second prototype.  World destroying finery can only be mounted on a suitable hull, so that had to come first.  Also on the next version was filling the tank with ammo, because this only holds 34 rounds.  The T-54 can carry 50 pieces of ammunition while the T-44 (which is near the exact hull design of the T-54 first prototype) can carry a ridiculous 64 pieces of ammunition.  This creates a difficulty for red army liberators: with only 34 rounds, how much should be AP and how much should be APCR?  If you fire straight and true, probably 20/14 AP/APCR.  Otherwise 17/17 AP/APCR if you waste the resources of the proletariat.  Greater ratios of AP ammo are not recommended due to reasons which will be covered later.   In combat I test the capabilities of the T-54 first prototype.  My usually accomplished, 4-skill, T-62A gunner doesn't seem up to the task of accurately delivering socialist armor piercing ordinance to the enemy targets.  I order that he [EDIT] BE TAKEN ON NICE VACATION TO BLACK SEA [/EDIT].  In his place, we put my younger and excellent T-54 gunner.  Sadly, he too fails and is [EDIT] SENT ON GLORIOUS SIBERIAN RETREAT [/EDIT].   I chalk up the gun performance to the prototype status, and the rest of my faithful gunners look relieved.   MOBILITY   Above is the British Chieftain I drove to defeat the capitalist PT Cruiser.  Did you know that British tanks since 1945 come equipped with tea kettles?  It's the only army that requires it.  Little wonder they needed glorious Russia to help them.   The tanks that I drove in real life are sorry British impersonations of glorious Soviet counterparts.  A warrior makes due with the best they have, even if it's tea-obsessed war machines. The Chieftain tank that I drove over the capitalist fail-machine did an acceptable job, I suppose.  It smashed my bailout-dependent mobile conveyance to bits.  I needed to sign a salvage title to confirm that the deed was done.  I consider it a kill confirmation.   Real world tea-and-biscuit tanks did adequately prepare me for the T-54 first prototype experience.  They handle like forklifts or skid loaders, jerking violently from side to side and lurching forward.  The T-54 first prototype jerks violently in the direction specified, but little else.  Top speed isn't necessary when you are controlling a moving brick that is meant to impede an advance.  The speed is good enough to keep pace with the superior T-62A for some time, but not enough to relocate across the battlefield at short notice.  Pick the area of conflict carefully.   ARMOR Soviet armor best armor.  Man-boy basement dwellers color-code performance with their "stats" and their "XVM".  Stats are lies of the elite to trick the proletariat, but let's humor the subterranean, caffeinated, night humans.  They care about their damage stats by hiding cowardly with artillery and sniping while the rest of us act like actual tanks and get in there.  Here's a "stat" for those color-coders: armor efficiency.  If you hover your mouse over it on the tank statistics screen, the game will tell you how much average damage is blocked by the tank's armor each game.   Here is the average damage blocked by armor for my tier 8 premium tanks: KV-5 - 1,330 IS-6 - 926 112 - 934 T-54 first prototype - 695 Type 59 - 577 T-34-3 - 449 FCM - 328 T34 - 318 CDC - 53 (woo!)   Soviet steel obviously takes the top spots.  It's only right.  The T-54 first prototype, while a medium, acts very much like a heavy in tier 8 games.  It blocks an average of almost 700 damage per game!  Compare this to the cheese eating surrender tank that is the AMX CDC, which happens to block less damage than my BatChat (120 damage/game blocked).   It's time for the "get off my lawn" segment of this article.  I came up through the Type 59 swarm of World of Tanks, the golden age of [EDIT] PERFECT BALANCE [/EDIT].  The T-54 first prototype has better protection than the Type 59 and on a smaller frame to boot.  Since the release of the Type 59, premium ammo for credits happened and tanks with greater penetration values have been released.  Even meeting tier 10 tanks, the T-54 first prototype manages more damage blocked per game than the Type 59 ever did.  I will grudgingly admit that I’ve survived multiple rounds because of bounces from tier 10 tanks.       Since this is a prototype, there is one weakness.  The mantlet lets some shots through that other tanks do not.  Thankfully this is a very small vulnerability, but be aware that the tank isn’t invincible.   Soviet Stealth Technology Silly Americans think they were clever with the B-2 stealth bomber, but true stealth technology was evident in the T-54 first prototype.  The camouflage rating is excellent, allowing for movement without detection for all but the farthest viewing enemies.  Maybe the tank isn’t fast, but it creeps up on the enemy like an unwinnable Afghani war: slowly and through harsh resistance. However, firing will still reveal your position.  Aim while unseen, fire, and retreat back into cover.  Wait for a few seconds and then move out to re-aim and fire again.  Be the invisible sniper that causes complaints of B***S***!.   Tier 10 games The T-54 first prototype lacks the preferential matchmaking that other premium tanks enjoy.  This angers me very much: HISTORICAL ACCURACY, WARGAMING!  The T-54 first would never fight these post war, blueprint-only, fiction machines.  I type furiously about how we will start a grassroots petition against Wargaming, driving them out of business in a month.  Wait until they see the wrath I will wreak upon them in the forums.  We will rise up! My statistical records indicate that I must have been spreading too much historical truth in tier 10 games, as the damage dealt and damage taken are not the stuff of legend.  I blame the lack of historical accuracy for the armor and gun underperforming there.  The other players tell me that I can't penetrate the E-100 or Maus with APCR because the armor is too thick.  I tell them that I can't penetrate them because they are fictional tanks and don't even exist.  #ArmorHistorian   Credit Earning Only capitalist scum need credits.  The T-54 first prototype relies on impenetreble armor, hard as a Russian winter, to win games.  Because of severe historical inaccuracy, premium APCR rounds must be used when in tier 10 games.  Less credits than other premium tanks merely reduces the capitalist greed, comrade.   I am tempted to make credits with a secret capitalist process called "selling M60".  I fight the temptation and the capitalist greed that has taken hold of me.   Crew Training Training Soviet crews is of utmost importance, however.  The kings that are the T-62A, T-54, and Object 140 are all in need of skilled crews for maximum efficiency.  The T-54 first prototype can accept crews from each of them without retraining.   The crew that was given with glorious T-54 first prototype is unworthy.  They are peasants who know literally 50% of what they should know.  They are given [EDIT] WONDERFUL DESK JOBS IN KREMLIN [/EDIT] and [EDIT] ARE TOTALLY UNHARMED IN THE FACE [/EDIT].  My other Soviet medium crews take up the superior tier 8 Soviet equipment.   Results I include this section only because there are people out there who cry out over LUCK numbers.  My teams let me down and I was only able to win 69% of my 72 games played in it.  My opponents must hack with their warbackpacks or whatever.  Soviet Steel should dominate regardless of stupid hacks and historical inaccuracy, but I accept the world as it comes to me rather than how it should be.  Soviet Steel will overcome.   EPILOGUE The Type 59, the KV-5, and the IS-6.  All of these tanks were seen as game-changers.  All Soviet or Soviet-inspired.  The Type 59 heralded a new era on what a tank could achieve.  The KV-5 was seen as an underperformer until someone proved it was a beast.  The IS-6 has always been a favorite.  The T-54 first prototype will follow in this glorious Soviet Steel tradition of being a stand-out in defensive ability.