Quick first impressions of the new Japanese TDs in World of Tanks. The tier 5 is awful, but the tier 6 and 7 tanks are kinda good *IF* you have the big boy gun. And the good news is that you DON'T need to unlock the upgraded tracks to mount the bigger gun or engine.
The Ho-Ni III (Tier 5)
The line starts with the Ho-Ni III, which comes off the Chi-He and costs about 13,500 XP. It may be called the Ho-Ni (and players are already calling it the "Horny") but it's pretty Ho-Rri-Ble, especially when it's not fully upgraded. The view range is terrible, even with BIA, Recon, and Situational Awareness you may struggle to get to 400m. Mobility is meh and you'll want a good camo crew because it seems to get lit constantly.
Getting lit all the time is bad because your armor isn't much better than a T67.
The gun isn't bad for Tier 5 - fast firing, semi accurate, with decent pen and alpha for the tier, but it's a bit trolly and the limited 10 degrees of gun traverse mean you'll want improved rotation mechansim to reduce the bloom from the constant pivoting back and forth.
The Ji-Ro (Tier 6)
The Ji-Ro is a bit better and gets a serious big boy gun after 17,500 XP. The big boy gun does 300 alpha (at Tier 6!) and has .35 dispersion - so shouldn't be as derpy as you'd expect for that hard a hitter.
In fact...now that I've had a chance to play with the big boy gun...it's quite pleasant. Hits hard, is surprisingly accurate, and the shell velocity is ok.
Top speed is 40 but it'll take a while to get there because the P/W is a dreadful 8.6 and that's with everything stock. It doesn't get much better with the bigger engine, and putting the big boy gun on is going to make it nearly immovable.
The traverse is so slow that anything getting to your side or butt has you. You won't be able to rotate fast enough to deal with them. So the tank being ponderously slow means it's harder for you to push forward and get in trouble.
The Chi-To SP (Tier 7)
This one finally feels a bit more comfortable mostly because now you get 250mm of frontal hull armor, which is quite nice at Tier 7. The stock gun is a lightweight, but not completely useless. The big boy gun is where it's at, though, 320 alpha and 205 pen is quite nice at Tier 7. Even with a mediocre crew I'm seeing nearly 2800 DPM without running food.
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More to come as I continue to grind the line...
GLHF!
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