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★ FV4005 Review: Death Star 2.0 with a Top Hat ★


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Cookies and death rays! Get your cookies and death rays here! Also have British monocles and Cuban cigars here, but get your cookies and death rays here!

 

In this guide, I shall cover all of the various Pros and Cons of the FV4005, explain the gun choices and/or performance, equipment choices, give you a general overview of its gameplay style and compare it to other Tier 10 Tank Destroyers. Let's get started, shall we?

 

***Please note that from this point on in the guide, I may refer to the FV4005  as "Top Hat" or "Ol' Brit"; in connection with the image at the end. ^-^***

 

Table of Contents:

  • General overview (Pros and Cons)
  • Equipment, ammo and consumable layout
  • Gun choices and / or performance
  • Gameplay style
  • Comparison to other same-class tanks of its Tier
  • Overall Rating

 

General Overview:

 

Pros:

  • Highest alpha damage on any non-artillery in the game, and more alpha damage than the Bat-Chat 155 58 and Obj. 261. Scary, really.
  • With HESH, can one-shot every Tier 8, almost every Tier 9 and even a handful of Tier 10's, assuming the shell penetrates.
  • 5.05 m splash radius; can damage multiple tanks in one shot, or damage tanks with near misses.
  • Has a pseudo-turret which turns 45 degrees in either direction
  • Incredible penetration with the AP at 310, with 1,150 alpha damage to boot - this makes the AP even more dangerous than the German death star, and very comparable to the Obj. 261's AP
  • Good terrain resistance values, almost half of what's on the FV215b 183; which allows for much better acceleration and traversing
  • Good track traverse speed of 30 degree/second for the kind of cannon on the tank. Good terrain resistance values only helps further with track traverse
  • Surprisingly good accuracy of .36, makes the gun fairly reliable when aimed in
  • Rather quick aiming time considering the caliber of the gun, at only 2.88 seconds.
  • Good DPM with either shell, with equipment can reach 2,725.32 with AP and 4,177.22 with HESH

 

Neutrals:

  • Reasonable gun depression of 5 degrees. Not great, but not terrible either.
  • Reasonable soft stats for such a large caliber gun. With the good aiming time and accuracy, you'll get your reticle onto the target fairly quickly
  • Alright view range at 390m. The tank is either fighting at close ranges or sniping at exposed targets though, so the view range doesn't really matter
  • Acceptable shell velocity of 830m/s - better than the Obj. 261's without a doubt, despite having an entirely superior gun
  • Turret traverse is only 12.51 degrees/second, although alternatively this brings your turret traverse soft stats down, which is actually fairly important for such a high caliber gun
  • 12 round ammo capacity may seem very low, but the gun does so much damage per shot that it usually doesn't have any real ammo problems
  • Crew and modules are vulnerable to HE, but will easily resist regular shells
  • The tank is very tall, although this gives you the advantage of being able to shoot into hull roofs and turret roofs.

 

Cons:

  • The tank is very large, easy to hit
  • Hull armor won't do much other than block HE shells and bounce a few shells at strange angles
  • Turret has 14mm of tissue paper all around. At least your crew has something to blow their nose with.
  • Very limited gun elevation of only 8 degrees. This can be a very annoying thing
  • Low HP of only 1,850. The minimal armor makes this problem worse
  • Vulnerable to HE shells, as can be expected with any tank with such little armor (crew does a much better job at surviving than something such as the waffle though)
  • Very expensive HESH shells, at $8,000 apiece. I suppose this is expected from a 183mm cannon though. AP shells are also quite pricy, at $2,250 apiece
  • Limited forwards and reverse speeds, at only 35 km/h fowards and 12km/h backwards. You will reach your top speed at a rather quick rate, unlike the FV215b 183 thanks to your good terrain resistance values, although once you reach that speed, you're stuck with it - can be rather limiting.

 

 

Equipment:

 

Personally, I mount Improved Ventilation, Gun Rammer and Enhanced Gun Laying Drive on Ol' Top Hat. Other equipment could be considered, but is situational.

 

Recommended:

 

Improved Ventilation: Ol' Top Hat makes rather good usage of the Ventilation, even though the gun handles fairly well for a 183mm as it is, Vents do give it a nice touch.

 

Gun Rammer: If you can mount a Gun Rammer on a tank, you should; regardless of the vehicle. Ol' Top Hat is fine with it, so long as you have some tea as well.

 

Enhanced Gun Laying Drive: A 2.88 second aiming time may be very good for a 183mm cannon, but improving it with an Enhanced Gun Laying drive will give your gun more consistency, which is an important thing for a vehicle with such a hard-hitting gun.

 

Optional:

 

Coated Optics: Coated Optics Monocoles will bring your view range up to 445m with the Ventilation, which is always nice. However, I don't really think this is the kind of tank that should be spotting things on its own, thus only use these if you feel as though it's necessary, or as though the GLD isn't doing much for you. You can replace Vents or GLD, whichever you feel like.

 

Binocular Telescope: Ol' Top Hat has 390m of View Range, which with Binoculars, will be enough to spot tanks at a distance. If you find yourself sniping with that .36 accuracy, Binocs may occasionally come in handy. However, even though you can snipe, you should be spending more time up close rather than from afar. Replace Vents or GLD if you mount Binocs, likely Vents; as you'll want the GLD effect to make sniping easier.

 

Darth Vader: If you're going to operate a Death Star, may as well have Darth Vader on board. He probably knows its functionality a bit better than you do.

 

 

Ammo:

 

My ammo layout on the FV4005 is 10 HESH, 2 AP.

 

In general, the HESH will give you far better usage of the gun than the AP would - if you're going to shoot AP, why not just use the Jg.Pz.E-100? With HESH, you can one-shot any Tier 8, quite a few Tier 9's and even a handful of Tier 10's (especially Russian mediums). If you don't penetrate the tank, you'll still usually do 500-900 damage with splash. Also, regardless of whether or not you penetrate, you'll do rather significant internal module and crew damage to your opponents.

 

The only time to shoot AP is if you know you're going to be shooting something such as an E-100, which you can't penetrate with HESH. However, if the E-100 is angling well, your HESH will still do a healthy amount of damage, and kill a couple of crew members.

 

 

Consumables:

 

For Consumables on the FV4005, I use a Small Med Kit, Small Repair Kit and Automatic Fire Extinguisher.

 

Small Med Kit: Standard with practically every tank in the game. Ol' Top Hat doesn't even need a Large kit, as the crew is not allergic to the interior of the tank, unlike something such as the Waffle

 

Small Repair Kit: Once again, standard consumable. If your Top Hat has a hole in it, wouldn't you want to patch it?

 

Automatic Fire Extinguisher: Your Extinguisher actually is a pressurized bottle of tea. Since Ol' Top Hat isn't all that flamable, you could consider replacing your pressurized tea canister with Pudding and Tea, to cheer up your jolly good crew.

 


Guns:

 

Ol' Top Hat has acquired Darth Vader's Death Star's laser, and has equipped it as it's own weapon. This makes the gun more dangerous to get hit by than almost any arty's. The closest match to Ol Top Hat's 183mm is the FV215b 183's 183mm.

 

Below, I've compared the two guns. On the left is Ol' Top Hat, on the right is the Original Deathstar 1.0. Blue is a superior value, whereas green is an approximately tied value.

 

Guns:

Rate of Fire:         2.09                         (2.09)   
Aiming time:        2.88                         (3.26)
Accuracy:             .36                            (.38)
DPM:                   2,398.57                   (2,398.57)
Penetration:         310/230/92             (310/230/92)
Damage:             1,150/1,750/1,750   (1,150/1,750/1,750)  

Shell Velocity:      830/830/830          (830/830/830)

Soft Stats:           .32/.32/.34             (.26/.26/.40)    
Ammo capacity:   12                             (12)

Gun Arc Limit:     45/45                       45/45

 

The verdict? Ol' Top Hat may look friendly, and he really is to most people, but if you cross onto his bad side - he may just one-shot you. Also, compared to the FV215b 183's gun, Ol Top Hat's weaponry is more accuracy and aims in rather decently more quickly. The soft stats on hull movement are worse, but that's because Ol' Top Hat gets around a lot more quickly, and turns more quickly. Turret traverse soft stat is better, but that's only because he likes to enjoy the scenery and turn his turret a bit more slowly.

 

183mm L4:

 

The 183mm L4 is actually a 182mm gun. Because logic and all. Anyways, Ol' Top Hat's gun boasts incredible penetration and alpha damage with the AP, and decent penetration yet mind-blowing alpha damage with HESH. The HESH is capable of one-shotting a lot more tanks - you could very well one-shot at least one tank in every battle you play. The gun also has rather good aiming time for a 183mm (182mm), and has surprisingly good accuracy. This gives you decent sniping capabilities, and you should have no problem hitting tanks where you want to up close. The accuracy is perfect for penetrating those poor M103's in their checkerboard armor of "weakpoint" / "strongpoint".

 

To get a good understanding of what Ol' Top Hat is capable of doing to your tank - imagine an artillery, say the Obj. 261. Now imagine it with over double the penetration, 50 more alpha, a third of the aiming time, half the dispersion (double the accuracy), double the shell velocity and a 3mm greater caliber. That is the FV4005's 183mm. A gun so good, it makes an artillery's cannon look weak.

 

 

How to play it:

 

Ol' Top Hat is quite a fine ol' chap, although a bit shy; and a bit allergic too. You see, whenever you try to communicate with him, he pokes around a corner, sneezes out of allergies, and pokes right back behind.

 

That's how you should play the FV4005 - get close to the action, stick with a few allies, and peek-a-boom. As soon as an enemy is distracted or reloading, you can put a massive 183mm shell into it's tank. If something is trying to side-scrape, just pop a shell into or between its tracks - you'll do 500-600 damage to the tank just by hitting the tracks, and likely still kill some crew. If the tank is low HP and holding a corner, you can always put a HESH round into the ground next to it - assuming the tank has little enough HP, or isn't very armored, you should be able to kill it just like an arty could.

 

Most importantly however, support your allies. You have a fair amount of mobility - use it. Shoot at enemies which your allies need shut down, and provide that continuous 183mm support fire. It's a mutual-benefit relationship - you need your ally's HP and armor to take the hits, and they need your accurate death laser to tear the enemy down.

 


Comparison to same-Tier Tank Destroyers:

 

HP: Very bad. 1,850 HP is very low for a Tier 10 TD, especially for one with so little armor. At least you're not the waffle, your tank's HP is entirely it's own; whereas the waffle sucked all of the HP out of its crew for the 2,000 the tank has. Too many calories perhaps?

Armor: Very bad. Your hull may get the occasional strange bounce or shot-absorption, but beyond that, you'll be penetrated by anything and everything. Your turret also will be penetrated by all HE shells that come at it. Somehow though, it manages to remain thicker than the waffle's.

Mobility: Good. Ol' Top Hat is reasonably mobile for a Tier 10 TD. The acceleration and top speed are "average", but the track traverse is "Very Good"; thus it balances out to be "Good".

Penetration: Best in class. The penetration on Ol' Top Hat's AP round is the best out of any AP round on any Tier 10 TD. Your HESH also has ridiculously good penetration for essentially being a giant HE shell.

Alpha damage: Best in class. 1,750 alpha damage with HESH would be "Average" for a Tier 10 artillery. For a Tier 10 TD, it's simply unheard of. Even the AP with 1,150 damage has the best damage out of any AP round (and also would be "Average" for artillery AP&quotSmile_blinky.gif. Artillery cannons on TD's for the win!

Aiming SpeedBad. Even though 2.88 second aiming time would be considered "bad" for a Tier 10 TD, you do have to keep in mind that this is a 183mm cannon with 1,750 alpha damage. 2.88 seconds is the same as on the Foch, and is also significantly better than the FV215b 183's aiming time.

Accuracy: Very bad. .36 accuracy statistically is "Very Bad" for a Tier 10 TD. However, it still is better than the FV215b 183's 183mm, which has the exact same gun. Also, considering this gun is entirely superior to the gun on the Obj. 261 (which is a Tier 10 artillery of all things), .36 accuracy is actually pretty damn good.

Shell Velocity: Average. 830 m/s shell velocity is "Average" for a Tier 10 TD. It does contribute to making sniping a bit difficult with this tank (that, and the long aiming time), although it's not terrible. Did I mention it's twice as good as the shell velocity on the Obj. 261, the Tier 10 artillery with an inferior gun? =P

View Range: Best in class. 390m is technically "Best in class", although 5 other Tier 10 TD's are tied for this title as well, so don't feel too happy about it.

Camo Value: Very bad. Ol' Top Hat likes everything big. Bit hats, big guns, big tanks. He wants to be noticed... thus, you don't really have any feasible camo value. (When someone asks though, you can always say it's almost 20 times better than the waffle's... you may have 1% for camo, but waffle has .06%)

Battle effectiveness: Strange. This tank is hilarious in it's own way, but in terms of battle effectiveness? Well, you're going to be dishing out a lot of damage and wrecking plenty of internal modules and crew members. However, the gun still can be a bit inconsistent. In terms of accuracy, the gun is actually rather reliable. Sure, you'll occasionally get some strange misses, but the accuracy is for the most part just fine. The biggest thing is the HESH round. Sometimes you'll do 600 damage to the tracks of a BatChat (true story), other times you'll penetrate the front of a Maus's turret for 2,000 HP (also true story). One shell you'll penetrate an IS-7's angled side from 700m away, right out of draw distance, firing blind, doing 1,700 damage to him (true story), other times you'll do 600 damage to one's overly-exposed lower plate (once again, true story). Essentially, it's an RNG box. Over the course of the battle, you'll do quite a bit. However, consistency wise? Egh. The tank looks for opportunities and uses them. Everything what the tank has going for it is the mobility (which is pretty good) and the antimatter artillery cannon (which is a giant RNG slot machine). So all in all - it depends. There will be battles when doing 8,000 damage in 5 shots was as easy as writing your name. Other times, doing 2k will be a challenge - have you sacrificed enough dissidence to SerB?

 

Overall Rating:

 

6.5/10 (Good)

 

Ol' Top Hat all in all is a rather good TD. It makes its impact by not only massive amounts of damage, but also by how quickly it eliminates enemies, by the internal module and crew damage it deals, by the way it breaks side-scraping as though it wasn't a real thing, and also by reacting to your ally's positioning. The tank primarily revolves around damage, but it has quite a bit more flexibility than something as the waffle. Even though waffle's gun is a lot more consistent, it's a one-dimensional machine. Ol' Top Hat gives another life to the battle.

 

Also, it's a 183mm cannon which is superior in every single way to a Tier 10 artillery's cannon (poor Obj. 261). Fair and balanced, comrade. One-shotting tanks is simply hilarious. Honestly, it's like the KV-2 of Tier 10, except with a significantly more accurate gun. And just like the KV-2, the only thing that really makes the tank "good" is what the gun is capable of. It's an RNG slot machine in many ways with the HESH rounds, but when the gun works, it does things so dirty that you feel as though you need to take a shower every time you click your mouse button. Sometimes the tank will work wonders, other times it will fail you. All in all, it balances out to usually have quite a decent impact on the battle.

 

Compared to the FV215b 183, Ol' Top Hat sacrifices all of the armor for a rather decent increase in accuracy, aiming speed and overall mobility. The lack of armor does take away a bit from what Ol' Top Hat is capable, but it's not devastating. As a TD, especially if you want to be able to carry with not only the gun presence, but also an armor presence, than the FV215b 183 is probably a better choice. However, that doesn't mean that Ol' Top Hat isn't good. Just not quite as good as the FV215b 183. Although, if you ever want to get your hands dirty with a 183mm cannon only (cannon only, ignoring armor and whatnot) FV4005 takes the cake (FV215b 183 still has the pie though); simply because of how it can get the gun onto target a lot faster (30 degree / second track traverse with good terrain resistance values will surprise some tanks) and because of the improved gun handling stats, allowing you to get a handful of dirty sniping shots in.

 

Good TD. FV215b 183 is better, but don't entirely discredit Ol' Top Hat - he's still quite the capable chap.

 

 

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.

 

(Ol' Top Hat says "Hi!" Smile_Default.gif)

 

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