RatZ1LLa's T-54 First Prototype Review

HBFT: T-54 First Prototype Review by RatZ1LLa   What’s up all, I’m RatZ1LLa and I was kindly hooked up with a T-54 first prototype to test on 9.6 live servers. I’m a north american player and streamer on twitch.tv, and I’ll give you a rundown of the T-54 fp!   Fire Power: ●100 mm D10T-K ○175 AP Penetration ○235 APCR Penetration ○50 HE Penetration ○250 Alpha ○6.99 Reload with 100% Crew + Rammer (2146 DPM) ○6.83 Reload with 100% Crew + Rammer + Vents (2196 DPM) ○6.54 Reload with 100% Crew + Rammer + BiA + Food (2294 DPM) ○6.41 Reload with 100% Crew + Rammer + Vents + BiA + Food (2340 DPM) ○0.38 Accuracy Dispersion at 100 m ○2.6 Aim time ○-6 Depression ○34 Total Ammo   Mobility and Maneuverability: ●520 Horsepower ●44 km/h Top Speed ●Terrain Resistance ○1.055 on Hard Resistance ○1.151 on Medium Terrain ○1.822 on Soft Terrain ●14.64 Specific Power   Miscellaneous: ●1,300 Hit Points ●120/90/45 Hull Armor (Front/Sides/Rear mm) ●180/120/75 Turret Armor (Front/Sides/Rear mm) ●380 Base View Range ●418 View Range with Coated Optics + 100% Crew   Gun: The D10T-K 100mm on this tank leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike a majority of mediums this gun has high dispersion, so moving your turret to a new target and preparing to fire seems like an eternity combined with the 2.6 second aim time. The disadvantage with the gun here is that you are forced to expose yourself to the enemy for much longer than desired with a medium tank to get your shot off. Also, having low penetration even on the premium round has made this difficult to play in a tier X match and perform well enough to be a big influence for the team.   Mobility: Good news, it can beat a T95 in a drag race. Bad news, it’s too slow to be called a medium tank. I play this tank more like a heavy support since blitzkrieging the enemy isn’t something the T-54 first prototype excels in. Being slow it is very difficult to flank your enemy to get good shots on their sides without being caught first. I found it was ok to get to decent spots, but you’ll struggle to rush the southern hill on Karelia or the northern hill on Malinovka. I do however like the hull traverse (42 deg/s) which has helped me point my front end at the enemy quickly to bounce some shells and save hit points.   Survivability: Currently I’m sitting at a 69.23% survival ratio in the T-54 fp, and my thoughts are at tier VIII this thing is a monster, but starts to fall off hard in tier IX and X matches. Your 120mm frontal hull armour starts to become voided at higher tier matches and 1,300 hit points disappears fast when you have very little to fall back on in the armour department. As far as module damage, I haven’t noticed anything too extreme that gets knocked out match after match just don’t give up your side armour for free otherwise your turret will be hanging out next to your hull.   Equipment: Rammer, Vertical Stabilizer, Vents   Crew Skills: ●Commander: BiA, Sixth Sense, Repairs, Camo ●Gunner: BiA, Snap Shot, Repairs, Camo ●Driver: BiA, Smooth Ride, Repairs, Camo ●Loader: BiA, Safe Stowage, Repairs, Camo   Pros: ●Armour in tier 8 matches ●Russian Medium crew trainer ●Makes good credits ●Looks good   Cons: ●Gun Handling ●No Preferential Matchmaking ●Sluggish acceleration ●Low top speed   Conclusion: Would I purchase this tank? Yes, for the purpose of crew training for three tier X Russian mediums. As far as credit earning I found it was ok, I was making roughly 60-70k on a 2k damage game. If one has the Obj. 907 and isn’t worried about credits I’d elect to pass on the T-54 fp until it was in game for gold, and I’d use tournament winnings to purchase it. Currently as it sits I believe it needs preferential matchmaking. Seeing a tier X match come up on the loading screen is difficult to swallow knowing you’ll get penned almost every shot, and your ability to output damage back when not in a flanking position is a rarity; 1,300 hit points in a tier X match disappears quickly. Having said that, I like the ability to crew train my Russian medium crews in tier VIII strongholds. Seeing a tier VIII random battle match is like a dinner bell going off on your turret and hull, you get a lot of confidence bouncing shells and being able to output good damage. I have a feeling i’ll be putting a ton of battles on it even with the above cons, since I did have a lot of fun just playing the tank for what it is and challenging myself to do better each match with it.   9.6 Live Stats: http://i.imgur.com/j7UAhHj.png