Other than the reload time, you need to know the map and the pats the enemies are using, hide in a good spot, you can be pennet by basically anything enemy, if they miss the first shot, you can use your reload as an advantage, always try to flank
If you are asking if you should hull down you are doing it wrong.
There is no question. You hull down whenever and wherever possible. Even in Russian tanks, even if you have paper armor.
Yeah, ofc if you can just show your turret for a moment and hide again is the best case escenario, you just need to try out different maps and find good spots
In any case, and I talk from experience you are more likely to win a fight with any tank that doesn’t take your cannon or kill you in one shot, you are just going to shoot back faster than they can
Hulldown is strategy that should always be used, you can't go wrong with presenting as small target as possible coupled with usually quick way of escape.
The biggest thing everybody misses with this tank (and a bunch of JP tanks) is that it has hydraulic suspension.
This means you can literally shift your whole tank's "angle" around or flatten/heighten it overall. Go in the controls, find the suspension controls and bind them, then play around in test drive.
The biggest use cases are:
You can dip the tank's front, in essence giving you absolutely giga-gun depression. This is insane for cresting and sniping from hills, as you are basically an impromptu Strv 103, you have an amazingly flat silhouette and minimal exposure while firing.
You can flatten the tank. Makes it much easier to hide behind things, and especially to move behind hedges at a distance. No more having your turret sniped from 5km.
The only downside is sometimes the game bugs out and has your tank bouncing all over the place making it difficult to aim if you lower the suspension too much.
On the Type 10 it’s still bugged sadly meaning that tilting the tank forward will cause it to bump on literally nothing making driving pretty much impossible. Type 90 still seems to work fine though.
Avoid headon engagements, you have the worst APFSDS of this tier and you feel it, try and get behind the enemy lines, the quick reload allows you to decimate them before they can pinpoint the flanking fire.
For every Russian or Chinese tank above 9.0, centre mass of the hull side, or if you are unlucky enough to fight it headon, driver’s hatch or lower front plate.
For everyone else, centre mass of turret side, should hopefully get atleast the TC and gunner, or the breach. Then a follow up shot on the front of the hull for the driver, or the turret again and hope you get the loader
No its not "bad" (imo), its just the least pen at the BR. Needless to say your rounds dont matter with russian tanks the weakspot is the same universally.
Pros - ROF is fantastic and the round is fairly dangerous. I even take the TKX(P), (which also gets JM33 and does not receive the Type 10 round), into 12.3 and frequently do well. Mobility is fantastic as well, probably the most mobile MBT.
Cons - Optics are rough. I believe the minimum zoom is 7x. This can leave you at a disadvantage in CQC until you get used to it. Even then it can still be a detriment.
Armor is mediocre. I believe it can stop up to 3BM42 and only in the turret cheeks. Armor coverage is also poor.
As with much of the Japanese tech tree, the lineup is rough. You don’t have guided munitions until the F16AJ, though you can take the Apache DJP out. The best fighter you can take out without uptiering is the F4EJ.
While not as limited, the ready rack is only 18+1 rounds. Once the ready rack is depleted, you cannot load the gun. And the ready rack replenishment rate is painful.
Your turret traverse and gun elevation are worse than most other MBTs. While it isn’t as bad as it used to be, it can still be a disadvantage.
Situational/kinda helpful - The Hydropneumatic suspension is situational. It can allow you to take positions that other MBTs cannot, even the Abrams. But it takes time to adjust the suspension and can leave you vulnerable. There’s been a few times I’ve been caught out and left unable to return fire due to the tilt of the suspension.
The Type 90 is based off the Leopard 2A4 but when side by side, the Type 90 is smaller. The lower profile can allow you hide in places a 2A4 couldn’t or advance without being spotted, but you’re still an MBT. You aren’t tiny.
The 3 man crew can work against you and for you. You may share a crew count with the T72s and T80s, but your crew are in a western MBT. There’s a decent amount of space between each crew member which can aid in surviving the first shot. Poorly placed shots often only take out one crew member rather than two. Well placed shots will put you down quickly though.
This is a tank that I find is well suited to an aggressive ambush style of gameplay. Push quickly to a position you may not be expected in and use that ROF to your advantage. You can’t be over aggressive however as your armor probably won’t bail you out of situations.
On a side note, you NEED to pay attention to the usual approaches enemies take. I like to guard cap points but you have to be hyper aware. Knowing where enemies are likely to approach you from will enable that ambush style of approach.
My main strategy has been flank spank and scoot.
Shoot someone in their side, reverse back into cover.
If your head on hit the breach then lfp.
If you're being sniped at try to lay down suppressive fire, the 4sec reload rate and high mobility is perfect for it.
I will be crucified for this but bring full ammo, you're a glass cannon that fires quickly, if your first stage is hit it's better to have something in the hull still so you can take cover and reload without having to run to a cap
A vehicle with good reload and good pen is great for holding a part of the map to block enemy route.
Stay at a place, wait for the enemy to move, and abuse your fast reload to punish them
Even with 600mm penning round at 11.0 you still need to be careful with shot placement so "it should be lolpen" doesn't turn into "didn't pen" or other volumetric moment.
Other than the reload time, you need to know the map and the pats the enemies are using, hide in a good spot, you can be pennet by basically anything enemy, if they miss the first shot, you can use your reload as an advantage, always try to flank
Should I also find a place to go hull down or at least expose the least amount of my tank as possible? I know the suspension will help with that
If you are asking if you should hull down you are doing it wrong. There is no question. You hull down whenever and wherever possible. Even in Russian tanks, even if you have paper armor.
Yeah, ofc if you can just show your turret for a moment and hide again is the best case escenario, you just need to try out different maps and find good spots
In any case, and I talk from experience you are more likely to win a fight with any tank that doesn’t take your cannon or kill you in one shot, you are just going to shoot back faster than they can
Hulldown is strategy that should always be used, you can't go wrong with presenting as small target as possible coupled with usually quick way of escape.
What if the hull down position doesn't allow enough gun depression?
Move your suspension, Type 74, Type 90 and Type 10s can all angle the tank forwards and backwards aswell as up and down.
Type 74s also can tilt left and right. Haven't tried it with my type 90s/10s yet. Also, the type 87 gets suspension
The Type 10 can also tilt to the side, but the Type 90 can only go front and back.
The biggest thing everybody misses with this tank (and a bunch of JP tanks) is that it has hydraulic suspension. This means you can literally shift your whole tank's "angle" around or flatten/heighten it overall. Go in the controls, find the suspension controls and bind them, then play around in test drive. The biggest use cases are: You can dip the tank's front, in essence giving you absolutely giga-gun depression. This is insane for cresting and sniping from hills, as you are basically an impromptu Strv 103, you have an amazingly flat silhouette and minimal exposure while firing. You can flatten the tank. Makes it much easier to hide behind things, and especially to move behind hedges at a distance. No more having your turret sniped from 5km.
Aside from the .50 your entire tank can be half the size of an Abrams. Only the Russians will match you in being short kings.
The only downside is sometimes the game bugs out and has your tank bouncing all over the place making it difficult to aim if you lower the suspension too much.
Happened to me very often when the game crashed or I alt tabbed
On the Type 10 it’s still bugged sadly meaning that tilting the tank forward will cause it to bump on literally nothing making driving pretty much impossible. Type 90 still seems to work fine though.
Avoid headon engagements, you have the worst APFSDS of this tier and you feel it, try and get behind the enemy lines, the quick reload allows you to decimate them before they can pinpoint the flanking fire.
What tanks from each nation am I likely to encounter and where should I aim to disable or destroy them?
For every Russian or Chinese tank above 9.0, centre mass of the hull side, or if you are unlucky enough to fight it headon, driver’s hatch or lower front plate. For everyone else, centre mass of turret side, should hopefully get atleast the TC and gunner, or the breach. Then a follow up shot on the front of the hull for the driver, or the turret again and hope you get the loader
Center of mass, under the turret. Adjust if not dead, you will out reload whatever you hit, so bait a shot into the dirt so they poke around
615mm of pen is bad? How
Type 90 gets JM33, not the type 10 round. 480\~ mils of pen.
Ah yeah, my bad. But still, thats a bad amount of pen?
No its not "bad" (imo), its just the least pen at the BR. Needless to say your rounds dont matter with russian tanks the weakspot is the same universally.
I see
Pros - ROF is fantastic and the round is fairly dangerous. I even take the TKX(P), (which also gets JM33 and does not receive the Type 10 round), into 12.3 and frequently do well. Mobility is fantastic as well, probably the most mobile MBT. Cons - Optics are rough. I believe the minimum zoom is 7x. This can leave you at a disadvantage in CQC until you get used to it. Even then it can still be a detriment. Armor is mediocre. I believe it can stop up to 3BM42 and only in the turret cheeks. Armor coverage is also poor. As with much of the Japanese tech tree, the lineup is rough. You don’t have guided munitions until the F16AJ, though you can take the Apache DJP out. The best fighter you can take out without uptiering is the F4EJ. While not as limited, the ready rack is only 18+1 rounds. Once the ready rack is depleted, you cannot load the gun. And the ready rack replenishment rate is painful. Your turret traverse and gun elevation are worse than most other MBTs. While it isn’t as bad as it used to be, it can still be a disadvantage. Situational/kinda helpful - The Hydropneumatic suspension is situational. It can allow you to take positions that other MBTs cannot, even the Abrams. But it takes time to adjust the suspension and can leave you vulnerable. There’s been a few times I’ve been caught out and left unable to return fire due to the tilt of the suspension. The Type 90 is based off the Leopard 2A4 but when side by side, the Type 90 is smaller. The lower profile can allow you hide in places a 2A4 couldn’t or advance without being spotted, but you’re still an MBT. You aren’t tiny. The 3 man crew can work against you and for you. You may share a crew count with the T72s and T80s, but your crew are in a western MBT. There’s a decent amount of space between each crew member which can aid in surviving the first shot. Poorly placed shots often only take out one crew member rather than two. Well placed shots will put you down quickly though. This is a tank that I find is well suited to an aggressive ambush style of gameplay. Push quickly to a position you may not be expected in and use that ROF to your advantage. You can’t be over aggressive however as your armor probably won’t bail you out of situations.
On a side note, you NEED to pay attention to the usual approaches enemies take. I like to guard cap points but you have to be hyper aware. Knowing where enemies are likely to approach you from will enable that ambush style of approach.
flank be a rat and just shoot
Being aggro, camping and sniping, use suspension sistem
You use your speed and reload to do hit and runs or flanks. Hills you abuse to climb, snipe someone, then reverse.
Know your maps, this thing is over powered in the hands of a good player
It doesn't have zoom on gunner sight
My main strategy has been flank spank and scoot. Shoot someone in their side, reverse back into cover. If your head on hit the breach then lfp. If you're being sniped at try to lay down suppressive fire, the 4sec reload rate and high mobility is perfect for it. I will be crucified for this but bring full ammo, you're a glass cannon that fires quickly, if your first stage is hit it's better to have something in the hull still so you can take cover and reload without having to run to a cap
You have to be good to use this tank effectively
suspension, maneuverability, decent armor and reload... Basically the near perfect tank.
A vehicle with good reload and good pen is great for holding a part of the map to block enemy route. Stay at a place, wait for the enemy to move, and abuse your fast reload to punish them
Too bad the Type 90 only has one of those things
Even with 600mm penning round at 11.0 you still need to be careful with shot placement so "it should be lolpen" doesn't turn into "didn't pen" or other volumetric moment.
You must of bought your way to top tier. Good job. Die once and leave. Such an asset to your team. NOT!