Lights Vs Mediums Vs Heavies - ULTIMATE TANK GUIDE

what's "super marine"?

Lights for recon, when i just wanna pad some early game armour on infantry, Light SPG's are also pretty good early, but i mainly play as turkey where basic lights are unlocked, and med/heavies aren't, and you have practically no military factories at the start of the game

Medium for pretty much all serious armour later on, the cost difference being as small as it is, and the armour/BT being significantly better once you add turrets.

I've never built a heavy tank, captured some sure but never built a single one, only place i could see them as useful would be as an infantry div flame tank, the production cost is too prohibitive, and they're too slow for anything else

Wasn't until this video that I noticed that the 40's medium tank chassis uses less steel than the 41's light tank chassis. That seems wrong somehow, but will factor into my decision making when deciding if I have the steel to make mediums

I always go heavies with mech and Inf space marines. It kills anything ingame.

cavalry and a super heavy, i call it the iron burger;)

Modern tank

amphib only, reject land and embrace the sea!

I find that light tanks are the only viable choice with minor nations (I usually play Belgium or the Netherlands) early on due to resource constraints (not much steel, and usually no chromium), with the exception of Turkey because Turkey can enter WWII whenever it wants in Hoi4 so you have more than enough time to build up mil factories to churn out a crap ton of medium tank divisions and heavy tank divisions and also you have A LOT of chromium and steel. I wonder how light tanks compare to mechanized (not motorized) in terms of cost effectiveness?

on the wheled (half track and Wheeled).
my best bet is on artillery and Anti air tanks as both does not really need the Hardness. because they should not be in a direct fight.
think M3 Gun Motor Carriage (halftrack artilery), or the 102/35 on Fiat 634N (a litterly AA piece put on a trucked... did work well shelf life was not long though that said was a rush job).
that said there should be a way to get wheled armor for cheap if not free (army XP for nation whit no armor devlopment but that have trucks), to simulate the different kind of just put our Artillery/anti tank or anti air gun on the back of our truck and wield some armor onto the cab... I dont care if it looks dumb as long as it works untill we get some real self propeled anti air, anti tank or artilery.

or for a more legit build the M13 halftrack AA gun (or just the M3 halftrack whit the AA upgrade from COH1).

another feture I think is missing is wheeled cars might have less fuel consumption.... why does the light have the same fuel use as medium.

I usually use all 7 2 divisions with one army of light tank divisions I use for breakthroughs and speed

Tbh, first time I mass deployed medium tanks in any real capacity, I succeeded in my first german allies conquest by like, 1943
Of course the US was in a civil war and canada joined the axis but lets ignore that-

Dont get how a tank with bad soft attack is suppose to punch through infantry..

amphibious tanks for the win!!!

"The one that people don't focus on as much, hardness.."

Me who builds tonks to throw in as recon mainly for that hardness to make space marines: 👀

兩棲坦克 屬於"特種部隊"，基本上就是來突破特殊地形的"河流" 你最最喜歡用來當成防禦線的地方，就超級可能被特種部隊擊穿

其實重型與中型之間的差別，就是在"裝甲"
當敵人只有裝備 AA的時候，他們可以打穿 中型的坦克
但是當敵人只有裝備 AT的時候，才有機會打穿重型坦克
也就是重型坦克 才有更多可能性去獲得"裝甲優勢"

Self-Propelled AA: ;-;

What’s reliability??? I am german, whats that

Medium artillery tanks + Armored truck + Anti tanks gun + rocket launcher 😅

Super heavies for the win

I remember the good old before no step back tanks, when my light tanks were so op I rushed the world conquest in 1936

bEC of that i tend to do 71 Soft attack with one tank in 1940

It seems to me that it makes sense to team up a few medium tank divisions with some light tank or motorized divisions. Use the light tanks or motorized to speed ahead and surround enemy units and bring in the medium to break those surrounded units or deal with anything the light tanks or motorized can't deal with.

I wish they had heavier artillery pieces for heavy SPGs. I want a heavy, fixed superstructure SPG that's basically just a Karl-Gerät so I can make some unholy division with like 2k soft attack that just strength deletes units.

Depends on who you play. Mediums unless you have limited industry or everywhere you'll be fighting is mountains and jungle (Italy, Africa, South America)

Medium tanks are the best investment honestly. You have good soft attack, armor, piercing, and speed all in one package. The AI seldom produces any AT higher than 2.

I once made 10 all super heavy battalions, it was hilarious

I would love to see divisions designed specifically to get maximum overruns

one thing unmentioned is that superheavy have arty as well. (at least in base game) that thing had something like double the soft slapping power of heavy arty, and double the hardness, so if you wanted to keep someone like stalin in his siberia, you had a literally 1 of those + one mechanized as a wall. 3 divs? 30? non issue just stays there and slaps.

:D if you make it a fixed turret it is no longer a tank but a self propelled gun, thats what set the 2 apart.

I prefer the Heavy tank line less upgrades and more punch yes more IC but one must set up for them ; )

I like to go with:
- balanced medium tanks with howitzers, 3 man turret and basic radio - they give breakthrough, soft attach and hardness
- cheap light SP Art - they give more soft attack for very little cost
- elite medium TD with best armor you can get, all armor modules - for armor and piercing.
those TD are expensive but you only need one battalion per division to bump armor and piercing by a lot (because special ways those stats are calculated)

Also very important - all of them have speed o 8km/ (even at cost of armor). This way when I transfer to mechanized no speed is wasted.
Obviously they need air support to keep their speed.

Medium tank destroyers with t2 heavy cannons with reliability mods. Move to hybrid engine late game with extra bonus to defense.

You NEED a maintenance company 2 though.

Love these. Super hard to kill.

It's worth noting that reliability affects the chances units will break down and half to be replaced. I try to keep mine as high as possible and never go under 80%

Personally I make tank divisions that are 4medium 1 light, and the armored recon support. This with 3 or 4 half track infantry divisions makes the numbers of tanks similar to real life panzer divisions. I also find this division setup is just solid all around and works in almost any situation. The one downside is that the organization will be right around 30%, so you just half to be careful with chain attacking.

Isn't the whole point of Super Heavy's to make it impossible for late game fort turtling players?

iam most likely doing ligh+medium TD/modern td+ medium/modern with mechanizeth infantry

what about the modern tank. is it good?

I've always been a medium tank user. I still feel they're the most real rounded design

Say what you want I'm creating a 44 width super heavy tank template to do the D Day. 😈

Call me crazy but a small full superheavy tank division (less tan 10 width) with engineer company and anti-air support company maybe the ideal defense troop with his 100% hardness against most AI divisions specially if you can have green air and 10L fort.

TLDR at the bottom

Lights were the best choice when no step back came out because they were so cheap and that little bit of armour from a light tank battalion slapped on all of your divisions was a great help. However with the balance changes and the introduction of partial piercing for land units I can confidently say that the small armour and hardness bonus from light tanks is now no worth the albeit small production cost.

It is now much more effective in terms of cost/effectiveness to instead make Medium tanks supported by Mot/Cav (and later Mechanised) to perform breakthroughs or to create Medium TD's that you spread across your divisions for defence.

Light and Heavy tanks do certainly have their place however but it is more situational. Lights are better for colonial powers such as UK or France who may want tanks to support their units overseas or to provide quick tanks to use on exploitation divisions which are designed to exploit breakthroughs to achieve encirclement rather than to achieve the breakthrough in the first place.

Heavies with their high fire power and fort attack buff are great at tackling fortified enemy defensive lines. There is a debate that can be had on Whether Heavies are actually worth it for that role considering other things such as engineers can provide the same bonuses cheaper as a support battalion however the armour/hardness/breakthrough bonuses of the heavy tank cannot be ignored.

Alot of this choice of course comes down to the industrial and manpower capabilities of whatever nation you are playing however if you are playing a nation that does not have the industry to field a sufficient amount of Medium tanks but may have enough for light tanks it is often better for you to use that industry on cheaper weapons/equipment that can provide more necessary support.

It is important to consider that if you are low on manpower then tanks of any kind could actually be a good substitute, using tank divisions and sacrificing industry instead of manpower to supplement the fire-power of your standard divisions.

TLDR
1. Light tanks use to be best but they are not anymore
2. Medium tanks are best for cost effectiveness.
3. Light tanks are best at supporting divisions in rough terrain and for early game exploitation.
4. Heavy tanks are best at breaking through fortified lines
5. If you are a poor nation don't build tanks, not usually worth it.
6. You can use tanks to substitute a lack of manpower if you have the industry to spend.

what i don't understand is why would you get a lower production cost for lower reliability because i thought reliability is just the likelyhood for your equipment to breakdown and if you're decreasing reliability then the production cost would be lost because you'd have to produce more.

Use Super heavy tank, tank destroyer, spaa, and spg divisions as a rapid response force. Their defensive ability is insane.
Quickly plug gaps and reinforce weakpoints in the line.

Im one of those weird people who tend to stick with light tanks throughout the war because I start with them and theyre cheap and zippy. As my industry and research allows I will then add a few heavy divisions in to act as breakthrough elements, including SPAA, SPGs and mechanised infantry. But then Im also one of those weirdos who plays HOI4 more as a simulator rather than a game so meta's really arent my thing.

are light tonks rly cheaper 🤔 i would say only slightly, light tank battalions need 60 tanks, medium tank battalion need 50 tanks. in the end of the day i would argue that medium are even cheaper, because u get much better stats per production compared to light tanks.

I'm so confused, so what is the summery? Mediums suck? Feels like that is such a basic take... Please take more variable into account, like modul research, overall production types, have we even considered the Equipment conversion? What a about division ratios? When are mediums cost efficient with mechanized when aren't they cost efficient with mechanized? With Division is the most cost efficient with the current meta tank in each category? This was not a Ultimate Tank Guide, at best it was "Heavy Tanks or Lights?" You've done better videos in the past, From now on Imma get my meta from dankus, this is a big L for the Feedback Community RIP Bozo

Light is best tank. I only use light but I will try heavy and medium but steam have an error from 7 September 2022

Depends on the country I'm playing and strategy. Light tank division with motorized to hit weak infantry lines and rapid break outs. Heavy with mechanized to rofl stomp anything and steady push. Medium tank with motorized is the generic one I use for lots of different roles.