In this piece, we cover the technical and gameplay characteristics of the latest addition to the growing lineup of vehicles available exclusively through the ranked battles mode. Introducing the brand new Tier VIII Premium British Heavy Tank, Charlemagne:
Obtaining Ranked Battles Vehicles
Before you get too excited about the tank, allow us to first explain what you need to do to obtain it. There are already a number of vehicles in the game exclusive to players who reach Division II of the Ranked Battles mode, specifically:
- Kampfpanzer 50t - Tier IX German Medium Tank
- Skoda T 45 - Tier VII Czech Heavy Tank
- Concept 1b (previously only available as the Season Reward) - Tier IX US Heavy Tank - Charlemagne - Tier VIII British Heavy Tank
- Various 3D Styles
These vehicles are not free, but redeemable for bonds at starting prices ranging from 12,500 to 20,000 bonds. In the case of Charlemagne, the "sticker price" is 15,000 bonds. These "sticker-prices" can be discounted significantly by completing "Missions to Increase Ranked Battles Items Discount" which are progressed by collecting Top-7-by-EXP placements in the Ranked Battles mode. Considering Ranked Battles are 10v10 engagements, these missions can be reasonably chipped away at by a semi-competent player.
Unlocking the unique Ranked Battles Items however requires a little more nous, where a player needs to: - Complete Qualifications by playing 20 battles in the Ranked Mode - Complete Ranks 1-10 in Division III by Earning Chevrons to access Division II (Note, you can continue past Division III into Division II and beyond for greater rewards)
Depending on the Division, you will need to collect and hold between 2-4 Chevrons to advance in a Rank, totalling 31 Chevrons required to collect and hold to advance through Division III and thereby access the Ranked Battles Items store. I emphasise the "holding" element of this, since a Bottom-5 EXP placement on a defeat in a Ranked Battle will lose you a Chevron and potentially drop you back a Rank.
Fortunately some Ranks stages are "Shielded" (e.g. Division II, Rank 8) or "Permanent" (e.g. Division III, Rank 4), meaning they are either resilient to multiple chevron losses before you drop back a rank or create a very safe "point of no return" from which you can't slide back in the Ranks at all.
Gaining Chevrons in the Qualifications can be difficult, but once you're allocated to a Division a sort of Skill-Based Matchmaking will kick in and attempt to isolate players in a given battle to the same Division alone. The more-talented players will tend to filter up into their appropriate Divisions faster, leaving you to fight for EXP-ladder position amongst your peers. It is important not to get too carried away with selfish play in a bid for EXP-ladder position however, as gaining Chevrons is still substantially dependant on your team winning the game. Turning Ranked Battles into 1v19 as opposed to 10v10 can be highly counterproductive in a game mode where teamwork and everyone playing in a matter befitting of the position, task and purpose of the vehicle is crucial to victory.
Calculation of EXP in Ranked Battles is also tuned firmly towards rewarding play to the role of the tank, therefore an E100 will have much greater potential for success on the ladder by engaging in city brawls rather than sniping from the redline. Consider the "Role Actions" for Heavy Tanks below:
If it doesn't come from the Charlemagne region of Britain, it's just Sparkling Defender!
With its decent mobility, large-calibre main armament and durable pike-nosed armour you'd be forgiven for thinking Charlemagne is a British imagining of the Soviet Obj.252U Defender. For the purposes of this review, we compare Charlemagne to the other pike-nosed Premium Heavies of Tier VIII.
Starting with the main armament, Charlemagne's "120mm Low Velocity Gun" certainly lives up to its name with its standard AP shells exiting the tube at a speed on par with SPG ordinance and among the lowest muzzle velocities possible in a Tier VIII non-SPG vehicle. Compounded with its base dispersion of 0.42m/100m this can make long-distance shots difficult, particularly when the enemy likes to wiggle around.
In spite of this, the Standard AP penetration of 220mm is respectable against its peers and carries a 440HP whack to whatever it can put a hole through. Commanders who find the muzzle velocity frustrating can switch up to a Premium AP shell boasting a more typical 924m/s and enjoy the additional penetration of 270mm. This exceeds the 265mm of the Obj.252U Defenders 122mm APCR and is matched in class only by the HEAT rounds fired by the IS-5 (and for more than that you'll need the T77). Thin-skinned vehicles have much to fear from this tank, as its HE shells will leave a 530HP hole in any tank with <60mm armour facing the point of impact.
Damage output, aim time and accuracy leaves much to be desired against your other Tier VIII Premium Heavy Tank choices. Base DPM of 1650HP/min is at the bottom of the pile against its Polish, Chinese and Soviet counterparts at 1,836-1,953HP/min and its 0.42m/100m base dispersion is among the worst in show. In spite of this, Charlemagne's gun handling facilitates minimal further deterioration due to movement, or traverse of hull or turret. Given the choice between a Gun Laying Drive and Vertical Stabilisers, Charlemagne is one of those vehicles for which the former will be more beneficial.
Staying true to British Heavy Tank doctrine, Charlemagne is a highly-competent ridgeline rider with 10 degrees of gun depression and a well-armoured turret. Shots to the gun mantlet will be laughed off as the 254mm thick spaced-armour mantlet covers 140mm of armour again, leaving no weapon in the game capable of penetrating it. The balance of the turret armour is somewhat reliant on its well-curved construction, such that the 150-170mm of armour stands a high chance of penetration by anything exceeding 220mm penetration with shots immediately either side of the gun mantlet. Hits against the 80mm thick cupola are also likely to find purchase, but like the turret its rounded construction will only be penetrated by a fairly square hit.
As a default deployment, hull-down play will suit this tank best. Keeping the turret-cheek weakspots moving as you work a ridgeline will not overly impact the aim circle of this vehicle thanks to its minimal dynamic gun bloom. Having said that, the vehicle still pokes and sidescrapes well, and has a reasonable chance of surviving frontal assaults against same-tier vehicles thanks to its tough upper and lower frontal plates. In fact, the lower frontal plate is often presents a better effective armour profile than the upper! Tankers are aided in getting to their favourite position by a powerful 750HP Meteorite engine, propelling Charlemagne 35km/h forward with slightly better power-to-weight ratio than Obj.252U Defender. Using the combination of armour and mobility, on the right map and matchup a stellar game is possible by bullying medium lines.
But just remember, not all pike-nosed Heavies with 130mm of upper-frontal plate armour are created equally. Obj 252U Defender is angled for over 330mm effective armour as opposed to Charlemagne's ~220mm effective, while the Soviet is only slightly worse on the lower frontal plate. Here's a heat map of the penetration potential of Charlemagne's Premium AP versus Defender:
Crew & Equipment Builds
Players have a number of different options available to improve the performance of their Charlemagne. As far as those "essential" equipment picks are concerned, a Turbocharger will enhance the already decent power-to-weight ratio and give the vehicle a very handy 39kph forward and 17kph reverse. This will allow you to reach those preferred hull-down positions with time to pre-aim the approaching enemy, and keep your tank mobile while trying to bait shots on your reload. Mounting a Gun Rammer will do wonders to improve the DPM of this vehicle, given its 16sec base reload time for what a stock Obj.252U Defender does in 14.4sec.
Your third equipment choice will mostly be down to personal preference, but as mentioned earlier the usual go-to of Vertical Stabilisers will be of little benefit to Charlemagne as the vehicle has very little dynamic bloom compared to its peers. Improved Ventilation will provide a nice all-round reduction in reload time and gun bloom, and takes advantage of an otherwise unused "Equipment Specialisation" slot. An Enhanced Gun Laying Drive will return Charlemagnes woeful base aim time of 3.36sec to a more civilised 3.05sec, while the Improved Aiming module will reduce base dispersion from 0.42m/100m to 0.40m/100m. Mounting these pieces of equipment should be intended to improve confidence of hitting the point of aim, not to turn Charlemagne into a sniper. Remember the terrible muzzle velocity of Charlemagne's Standard AP rounds will make the tank unreliable in this role.
Being a Tier VIII vehicle, a default loadout of BiA Crew with a Commander trained for 6th Sense is a recommended foundation for competitive play. Ordinarily one would then train Smooth Ride and Snap Shot as subsequent skills for the Gunner and Driver, however going for either Repairs, Deadeye or Off-Road Driving as a second-skill might arguably be more useful given the minimal dynamic bloom of Charlemagne. Intuition is a very useful subsequent Loader skill for the opportunistic tanker, allowing a ~5 second shell switch on Charlemagne for those situations where a Standard AP shell might lack punch or higher damage could be reliably realised with High Explosive. The crew layout of British Heavy Tanks otherwise remains fairly consistent at Tier VIII and above, thus an existing crew from your Caernarvon, Caernarvon AX, Conqueror, Super Conqueror, FV 215b or T95/FV4201 Cheiftain will fit like a glove.
Countering Charlemagne
Charlemagne is a vehicle that is well-armoured but not without its weakspots, even from its optimal hull-down position. Most Tier VIII guns placing shots placed immediately outside of the gun mantlet will reliably penetrate, as will shots to the cupola. The rounded construction of the cupola however will likely require a direct hit in order to be effective. Body-shots are easier, but require some awareness of your own penetrating power. But if you have more than 200mm of penetration you have a decent chance of punching through the upper-frontal plate. Unless the tank is angling upwards, shots to the lower-frontal plate are best avoided as the plate used in its construction is actually 38mm thicker than the upper frontal plate.
Keeping the tank at arms length will probably give you half a chance of dodging its Standard AP and High Explosive shells as they sail through the air at an SPG-like pace with a fairly high degree of dispersion. One needs to be particularly wary of Charlemagne's Premium AP however, as its 270mm of penetration will go through many same-tier (even quite a few over-tier) opponents with relative ease. This shell also lacks the lumbering shell velocity of the non-Premium options, so between this and the penetration characteristics you can probably assume that a player with the aptitude to make it through to Ranked Division II won't hesitate to dab the 2-key when the situation calls for it.
If you have to get up close, avoiding trades is essential unless you're confident in your armour layout. A Charlemagne opponent will likely only present when it's good and ready to send a 440HP alpha-bomb in your direction. The good news is that even with a maxed out configuration of Bond Vents, Bond Rammer, Food and an Orderly Ammo Rack directive, Charlemagne will only be able to fire once every ~12.5 seconds so a faster-firing vehicle has the opportunity to get 2-3 shots in for the price of one in return. But as with most engagements of this nature, the soundness of breaking cover to punish a reloading Charlemagne is inversely proportional to the number of support tanks behind it.
Gameplay Reviews
I couldn't decide whether a Level 1 Mastery game in a Tier VIII-IX matchup or Ace Mastery game in a Tier VII-VIII matchup would represent this vehicle best, so to this end our gameplay end of the review is a double feature:
See Also
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I wondered what this tank was in the game.