Scorpiany Posted September 28, 2015 Posted September 28, 2015 Need to build a new tank... let's see here... the hull of a Type 59... yeah, that will do. What else, what else...? The turret of an M48 Patton? Sure, why not? Let's just put the two together, and... presto! The 59-Patton! In this guide, I shall cover all of the various Pros and Cons of the 59-Patton, explain the gun's performance, equipment choices, give you a general overview of its gameplay style and compare it to other Tier 8 Medium Tanks. Let's get started, shall we? Table of Contents: General overview (Pros and Cons) Equipment, ammo and consumable layout Gun choices & performance Gameplay style Comparison to other same-class tanks of its Tier Overall Rating General Overview: Pros: Good top speed of 50km/h Very well rounded vehicle Good turret traverse speed of 44km/h Nice HEAT penetration at 250mm Very profitable vehicle; like the Super Pershing, if played well, you can spam Premium rounds and still walk away with a profit even on a loss. 9 degrees of gun depression. Good value to begin with, but considering it's a Chinese vehicle, it's actually an amazing number; second highest from all Chinese tanks (Type 64 surpasses it with 10) Good hull traverse speed of 46 degrees/second Very acceptable terrain resistance values HEAT has a 1,219 m/sec shell velocity, which is actually very good. Crew slots are compatible with all other Chinese mediums other than the Type 58, so if you bought it as a crew trainer, it will do the job properly without needing any extra crew (or leaving any behind) Very low chance of fire at only 12%. I haven't had issues with the fuel tanks either, so you can actually run food over a fire extinguisher if you so desire. Tank can easily spot enemies which are hidden behind terrain, without getting yourself spotted (more on this later) Neutrals: 1,895 base DPM. Not a bad value, but could be better Armor is inconsistent. Some parts of the turret will give you ridiculously high auto-bounce armor values, other parts are unusually weak. The armor will get you through and will save you every now and then, but don't rely on it. Mobility will definitely get you around, but don't expect to be circling tanks other than TD's in this tank. It's actually the acceleration which prevents you from doing so, not the terrain resistance Acceptable gun handling & aiming stats 1,400 hit points isn't great, but it's definitely enough to get you through if you play the tank properly Mediocre HP/ton ratio of 14.13. It's not quite bad enough to categorize it as a Con, but it certainly doesn't do you any good either. Tank does require quite the bit of HEAT to play. Whilst the HEAT is actually a very effective shell on the 59-Patton, it certainly cuts into your Premium credit making potential. You'll still profit, just not nearly as much as you may hope for in a Tier 8 Premium Tank can certainly make an impact on the battle, and can carry during the match, but it can't so much carry in a "last-stand" effort. You have to make your presence known during the battle, not after. That being said, it's certainly pretty decent when it comes to doing well in battle. Commander's hatch gives your tank a unique spotting potential. More on this later. It's a "Neutral" because in order to gain that unique spotting capability, you pay with an enormous hatch. Decent camo values. Not sure what the exact values are, but with camo skills, I seem to be able to stay hidden at acceptable distances 54 round ammo capacity. I haven't run out of ammo yet. Reason it's a neutral is because I feel as though it's not enough to put in several HE rounds into the mix. If it was 60, you probably could. Cons: AP penetration is a very sub-par 173mm. The tank needs to shoot HEAT It's a very tall tank as it is, and you have a gigantic commander's hatch. For the most part, this is a downside, although I've managed to create a playstyle which actually counters it, and sometimes makes the tall hatch a good thing. More on this later. 370m view range. You're not as blind as an IS-3 or IS-6, but many tanks at Tier 8 will still have better view range than you. Poor radio range at 525m... but let's be honest, it's radio range. At anything above Tier 6, radio range really doesn't matter. Rear armor is 45mm on the hull, 50mm on the turret. Most rears are weak though, so it really doesn't matter much either... you're not a Japanese heavy. Equipment: Personally, I mount Vents, Rammer & Stabilizer on the 59-Patton. Other equipment can be used depending on your playstyle, although I feel as though this particular lineup will give your 59-Patton the most consistency in battle. Recommended: Vents: There are so many "neutral" characteristics to this tank, that if you want it to stand out and be "good" in many aspects, you need to give it that extra boost from vents (and from food). Rammer: If you can mount a rammer, you should. It's a given for any tank; reloading 10% faster gives you an edge over the enemy at all times. Plus, increasing your DPM from "decent" to "good" is always nice. Vertical Stabilizer: The gun handling on this tank isn't bad, but it's very unreliable without a Stabilizer. The Stabilizer significantly improves the consistency of your vehicle, and allows for more snap-shots. Optional: Coated Optics: A 10% boost to View Range is fairly nice, and you'd think that with somewhat sub-par view range, that Optics would be a primary choice. However, there are two reasons I think otherwise. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, the tank benefits quite nicely with the boost from Vents when stacked with food. Secondly however, even if you put on Coated Optics, you still would not reach the 445m mark for view range as you may want. I don't find myself needing to spot beyond 400m in the first place, and if you're not going to be able to reach the maximum spotting distance with a playstyle that doesn't even need it, why bother? Regardless, if you like to play from more of a distance, then Optics are still a viable choice. Ammo: My ammo layout on the 59-Patton is 29 AP, 25 HEAT. The tank makes enough money shoot a lot of HEAT and still profit, even on a loss if you play well. I don't load HE for two reasons. Firstly, it's a 90mm gun... the HE isn't very useful in most cases. Secondly, depending on what MM throws at me, I do still find myself sometimes running out of AP or HEAT (one or the other, not both). I don't want to limit the number of either shells I have with HE, especially since the HE is very rarely beneficial on this tank. If you hate spamming HEAT, this isn't really the tank for you. However, if you still want the tank, then you could reduce the HEAT count by a bit to load 2 or 3 HE rounds (definitely not more than that). Reducing the AP count isn't necessarily a good thing either, as it will cut into your profits in those battles where MM throws you plenty of tanks that you can penetrate easily with AP. Consumables: For Consumables on the 59-Patton, I use a Small First Aid Kit, a Small Repair Kit and Combat Rations. Small First Aid Kit: Standard with almost (113 being an exception) any tank. Since the crew on this tank is exceptionally important, you will want to put them back into action whenever they die. You don't need a large kit though, since it's very rare for you to lose more than one crew member in this tank, if you even lose any crew at all. Small Repair Kit: Once again, fairly standard. Your ammo rack is the second most common module for your tank to lose (second to the tracks), so it's important to keep a repair kit available for that rack. Your tank will become garbage if you lose the rack. Origini: The 10% boost, combined with Vents, is very useful. It's just the extra edge you need to bring the tank from "Decent" to "Good". The tank has a lot of neutral characteristics, so giving it a combined 15% boost (20% if you toss in BIA!) to the crew would greatly assist you in amplifying the tank's potential. Such a combo helps any tank, but this tank is one which benefits a lot more than some other vehicles would. Gun: The 59-Patton's armament is a 90mm cannon. Aside from the sub-par AP penetration, it's actually a fairly average gun. Nothing special about it, but nothing really bad about it either. Below, I've compared it to the T95E2's gun (since the T95E2 is the Tier 8 medium closest in performance to the 59-Patton). Blue is the superior value, green is a relatively tied characteristic. Rate of Fire: 8.23 (8.34) Aiming time: 2.4 (2.21) Accuracy: .36 (.35) DPM: 1,975.94 (2002.29) Penetration: 173/250/45 (173/250/45) Damage: 240/240/320 (240/240/320) Shell Velocity: 914/1,219/732 (914/1219/732) Soft Stats: .14/.14/.12 (.22/.22/.12) Ammo capacity: 54 (64) The verdict? The guns are practically identical. For the most part, T95E2 has a slightly better gun all around, but not by much. However, the 59-Patton actually has better soft stats on the gun, which helps make up for the other tiny advantages the T95E2's gun has. 90mm Gun M41 The 90mm Gun M41 is the name of the gun on the 59-Patton. Overally, it's a fairly average gun. The AP penetration is lacking, but the HEAT pen makes up for it. Otherwise, there's nothing special about the gun, but there's nothing necessarily lacking either. For the playstyle the tank has, it actually is fairly decent. It will get the job done. Just avoid getting into alpha-trading situations, or DPM situations. You want to use the gun as an opportunistic weapon, don't engage loaded enemies, don't one vs. one opponents either (unless it's a CDC, it will bounce you, you will never bounce it). Essentially, be an annoyance to the enemy team. Be the mosquito that no matter how hard you try, you can never get rid of it; once you get home, you have bites all over your arms and legs, and the mosquito is still alive out there. It waits for opportunities to engage an enemy whenever it can without taking return fire. Most importantly however, stick with allies and play a support role. You actually don't want to be too far away in this tank, the gun isn't quite accurate enough for that, and the playstyle doesn't need long range gunnery in the first place. How to play it: I'm actually going to split this section into two. First, I'll discuss the basics of the playstyle as a whole, and tell you essentially everything about playing it. Then, I'll talk about unconventional spotting with the commander's hatch, and how to use the commander's hatch size to your advantage. Overview of Playstyle: The tank isn't necessarily anything special. It will get to the battlfield at a reasonable speed, it will be able to provide continuous support fire for a while, and its armor will do enough to keep the tank alive. There isn't anything that really stands about the tank. All in all, it's a pure support role vehicle. You want to be relatively close to the front lines with your allies, but you do want to keep a slight distance. You can flank your enemies in the sense of getting behind them, but you certainly won't be able to circle most vehicles unless they're a TD. Make usage of the gun depression and mobility to relocate into a position where you can provide support fire to your allies without taking return fire. Between shots, wiggle both your hull and turret as retreating. The turret and track traverse rates are both great, so you can easily throw off the enemy's aim with simple wiggling maneuvers. The most important thing about this vehicle is to look for opportunities to shoot the enemy without taking damage in return. If you need to change flanks, you can. The 59-Patton certainly isn't slow, and will reach its top speed. It's just when it comes to circling vehicles that it lacks. However, you can relocate whenever necessary. The gun isn't anything special, but it's rather consistent. Always provide support fire to your allies and avoid taking hits whenever possible. If you have to take a hit, wiggle your hull and turret, and try to take the hit hull-down whilst wiggling. The enemy is likely to either shoot your turret and bounce, or aim for your hatch and miss (mobility catches enemies off-guard, and don't expect you to be able to move the cupola nearly as quickly as you can). Using the hatch to your advantage: O.K., maybe the hatch isn't necessarily an "advantage"... having such a giant weakpoint on the top of your tank is never a good thing. However, I have found ways to make the Patton's hatch actually not nearly as bad as people say it is; you can at least prevent it from being a hindrance or a disadvantage. Part 1: So, how to do it? Well, there are two aspects to it. The first one is fairly simple, using the cupola to bait shots. Exposing say, half of your hatch over a ridgeline, and wiggling around up and down, side to side as the enemy begins turning their gun towards you will often times bait the enemy into shooting and missing. It takes practice to get used to, it's not as simple as just exposing a giant "shoot me" box to the enemy and moving. You need to do it tactically. In techincality, you can do this with any commander's hatch. However, the 59-Patton's hatch is unique in the sense that not only can you reveal your hatch without showing your turret (which is a good thing with inconsistent armor), but it's mounted on a surprisingly mobile platform. Let me explain. Most people think of the 59-Patton as a relatively slow vehicle with a decent top speed. The fact of the matter is that the Patton only lacks acceleration, the rest of the mobility is actually very good. You can surprise the enemy with how quickly you can move that hatch. If you time things properly, it's actually very easy to make the enemy mis-fire right as you move the hatch away to safety. It takes practice to get used to, and takes analysis to determine when you can and when you can't do so, but I've found actually quite a fair amount of success with this tactic. I would only employ it against low alpha guns however, unless you have no other choice. It's a good way to avoid little bits of damage here and there, and putting the enemy into slight disadvantages every now and then. Or, you surprise a high alpha gun who thought he caught you off-guard, but then you throw him off with an extremely quick relocation of the hatch. Part 2: This is what's "unique" about the hatch, and it's contribution to your style of gameplay. The hatch is extremely tall. Imagine the M48 Patton's cupola. Now, increase the height by 40%. Then, throw on a view port that's 40% of the height of the original cupola. That's the 59-Patton's hatch. It's absolutely huge. However, the addition of that tall view port on an already very tall cupola on an already very tall tank, means that you can spot enemies where no other tank could. Essentially, you can see over ridges, hills and into depressions and spot vehicles that thought they were hidden, and find the enemy's advances ahead of time. This should be incorporated into your gameplay fairly actively in my experience. Being able to spot vehicles which should have been hidden is a very good capability to have indeed. To top it off, you can remain hidden even when seeing the enemy when using this tactic. It's very convenient for spotting incoming pushes without getting spotted yourself, even if in relatively close range. Notice how I'm not spotted in the image below, even though I'm able to see the enemy T-54 Lightweight? None of the T-54's tank is exposed, but my cupola are so tall cumulatively, that I'm able to spot him safely. Over a ridge: From the T-54 Lightweight's point of view: He can't see any of my vehicle! T-54 Lightweight's point of view (PoV) When I go into Sniper Mode, you can better see how absolutely none of his tank is showing: Sniper mode: Here I am doing the exact same thing to a KV-220, which is only 89m away from me. Despite being so close, and despite me being able to see him, he has absolutely no idea what spotted him. Spotting KV-220 over large mound in the terrain: From his point of view, absolutely nothing is poking over. If you looked very closely, you could see my view port sticking out (above the terrain between the KV-220's ports), but view ports aren't spotting checks for detecting enemy vehicles, although they are where your spotting checks originate from. What this means is, if your view port can see the enemy, and the enemy can only see your view port; you will see the enemy, but the enemy will not be able to see you. From the KV-220's point of view (PoV): To summarize - even though the hatch is a huge weakpoint in combat, you can actually exploit a few tactics from it to your benefit. Firstly, you can use it to bait shots with your tank's unexpected mobility. Secondly, you can use the height of the hatch and view port on top in order to spot enemy vehicles over cover easily, without getting spotted yourself. Very convenient for seeing vehicles in nearby ridges, over rubble mounds, etc. Essentially, you will no longer be oblivious to enemy's locations, even if the enemy thinks they're hidden. This gives you an interesting advantage over other vehicles. Comparison to same-Tier medium Tanks: Mobility: Good. The mobility is actually very good on this vehicle. It has great top speed, track traverse, turret traverse and even terrain resistance. The only downside is the lack of acceleration, which limits its moving potential to some extent. Regardless, you should be able to fairly easily reach your top speed.Alpha damage: Average. 240 alpha damage is right on par with other 90mm's. Other tanks with higher caliber guns will have higher alpha, obviously. Regardless, there are many other 240 alpha tanks at your Tier.Armor: Decent. The armor itself isn't bad. However, it's inconsistent. There are some parts of your turret with 500mm+ effective armor, other parts with 170 only. Your hull is decent, but will only bounce shells when angled. You can try side-scraping against lower pen guns, but don't do so against anything with a good caliber if it's avoidable. The hatch is only 76mm though, so don't get shot in the hatch if avoidable. HP: Average. 1,400 HP is just fine for a Tier 8 medium. It's not great, but it's not bad either. The armor allows you to actually take a few hits, whereas something like a CDC with the same HP pool finds itself a lot more limited with health.Penetration: Decent. 173/250/43 pen is also fairly decent. The AP pen is actually pretty bad for a Tier 8 vehicle, but the HEAT more than makes up for it. The profitability of the vehicle actually allows you to shoot the HEAT.View Range: Bad. 370m of View Range means you're not blind, but it is below average for this Tier. Camo Value: Good. I don't know the exact value for the camo, but it does seem to keep me hidden at reasonable distances fairly often. Whatever the camo value is, it's enough.Accuracy: Good. .36 accuracy isn't award winning, although it certainly isn't bad. It's actually fairly reliable.Aiming Speed: Good. 2.4 second aiming time isn't too bad. With Vents, Stabilizer and Combat Rations, as well as the already good gun handling soft stats, the aiming time doesn't feel very long at all. Shell Velocity: Good. 914 m/sec for AP is just around average, although having a HEAT round with a 1,219 m/sec shell velocity is very good. All in all, your shells will reach their targets at a reasonable rate.Battle effectiveness: Good. The 59-Patton is actually a fairly consistent vehicle, which can make a good presence during battle, every battle. You can provide consistent support fire, and get the job done. As a support vehicle, the 59-Patton excels. However, it's a team-dependent tank. It can't go off and carry on its own, it needs backup with it. Your armor will make your HP last a lot longer than it would with some other mediums, but the armor isn't reliable. Sometimes it will do miracles, other times it just shrivels up and dies. The armor may not be reliable, but it is consistent in the fact that it will typically do its job of keeping you alive for a bit longer, and blocking its fair share of damage. You do need to shoot quite the bit of HEAT in the vehicle, albeit having the profitability to afford to do so. However, the HEAT does have its advantages - it actually is a quick flying shell, unlike the HEAT of most vehicle. This immediately takes out one of the downsides you may expect from such a gun. The commander's hatch is a huge target, but actually adds dynamic to your gameplay. Interestingly enough, there are times when its height can actually be used to your advantage; spotting enemy vehicles which thought they were hidden by the terrain, without getting yourself spotted. You can also use the hatch to bait shells. Just realize that if you do get shot in the hatch, everything other than HE shells will be able to penetrate it, as there's only 76mm of armor on it. (Bottom part is covered with optics, which counts as spaced armor and can block a few shells, but that's right next to the turret roof and is unlikely to be hit). Overall Rating: 6/10 (Rather O.K., leaning towards good) The tank doesn't really excel in any regard other than consistent support fire. At that, it's a great support vehicle. However, on its own, it does somewhat falter. The tank isn't bad, not by any stretch of the imagination. It's fairly well-balanced in other characteristics, and doesn't quite fall behind in them. However, they're not quite good enough to give the tank something which is strongly going for it. It's a consistent support vehicle, which will make you money and doesn't really care too much about the match-making. It has a rather dynamic gameplay, as it doesn't quite play as other mediums would. It's certainly unique in the way it performs the support role, and has a very unique method of spotting and baiting enemy vehicles. Overall, I like the tank. It's not spectacular, isn't anywhere close to OP, but it's not bad either. It's a good, well-rounded medium. For the price (assuming you don't mind the bundle), it's worth it (The tank itself costs $29, the rest of the bundle cost was all of the extra Gold, Premium time & Garage slot). It's certainly a tank which I will keep in my Garage, and will take out to battle every now and then. It hasn't disappointed me, and is rather fun to play. It doesn't stand out over other mediums, but it doesn't fall behind either. "But wait, Scorp! The 59-Patton was only for sale during the first week of September! Why are you only posting a review now, when no one can buy it anymore?!" Well, that's because I got the 59-Patton fairly recently; a reward from the WarGaming Academy Contest. This review isn't going to help people decide whether or not they want to buy the tank, since it's no longer for sale; although it certainly can assist those who already own one and want a more detailed look into it. Also, if it ever goes up for sale again in the future, then you can look back at this guide to make a more educated decision. In addition, when you have to face against one (or you see one on your team), you'll know what to expect from it. Thanks for reading! I hope this guide was helpful! I genuinely wish all of you the very best of luck and fun, both in real life and on the battlefield. (59-Patton says hello!)
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