If you enjoy sniper tanks the Swedish TDs are the finest in the game. They hvae good camo, good guns, and good mobility. So you'll want to relocate around, get your shots, stay in the bushes, and don't be afraid to move around the yard, just out of range of the enemy.
The line changes pretty dramatically at Tier 8, but even the lower tier TDs are playable.
Tier 5 - Ikv 103
The tier V Ikv 103 has HUGE alpha, 320, at Tier 5. That's massive. However, unlike it's later cousins the accuracy on the gun is terrible - in the .5 range depending on your crew/equipment. So as a sniper it's not brilliant, but when you hit you hit very hard.
The one big downside on the stock gun is the shell velocity is awful.
Gun depression is extremely good at -12 degrees
Don't plan to overcome the accuracy by driving in front, by the way, your armor is pretty non-existant too. So it's not a brawler.
Mobility is pretty good, and camo is fairly good too.
Overall I didn't love it, but it's sometimes pretty fun when RNG smiles on you.
Orzanel plays the Ikv 103
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Tier 6 - Ikv 65 Alt II
The tier VI Ikv 65 is one that I hated at first, but managed to make it work as I got more experienced with it. Accuracy, alpha, and pen are all very good for tier 6. Shell velocity is a lot better than the 103 was at Tier 5. Gun depression is an excellent 10 degrees.
Concealment is decent, view range is kinda meh, but mobility (like all the Swede TDs) is excellent.
Just like the 103, the armor is non-existant. Virtually everything can pen you with HE.
This one might be my least favorite of the line, especially since it can see Tier VIII, but it's not unplayable.
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Tier 7 - Ikv 90 B
The Tier VII is the last of the "conventional" TDs before the UDES. It's decent at Tier 7, though the gun isn't a lot better than the Tier VI. Still 240 alpha, standard pen is up to a very good 210 and shell velocity on the AP rounds is an excellent 1275.
Like all the Swede TDs it doesn't have any armor, nominally, but 10 degrees of gun depression and a LOT of angling means you can actually get some trolly bounces.
As with most of the Swede TDs, camo is pretty good and mobility is excellent.
DezGamez plays the Ikv 90 B
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Tier 8 - UDES 03
At tier VIII the Swede TD line gets amazing...almost. When I first loaded into my shiny new UDES 03 I was very disappointed...the stock gun is underwhelming, especially if you're expecting the wow. But when you upgrade to the to 10.5 you get a serious boomstick that shoots lasers with 390 alpha, 283 pen and, in siege mode, fantastic accuracy. Yes, that is a Tier 9 gun.
The standard rounds are APCR, which gives great shell velocity - almost 1400 m/s. I never even carry gold in my UDES - no need. The only reason I don't play my UDES 03 more often is because I have the STRV S1, which is the premium Tier 8 and it earns better credits.
The armor is 20mm, so anything 60mm and up (which is pretty much everything you see) will overmatch you. But the top speed is an amazing 70km/h so it's very fast to shift around the yard.
Introducing siege mode
The UDES is the first tank in the line to feature siege mode. When you press X to get into (or out of) siege mode the tank settles into the hydropneumatic suspension. It takes 2 seconds to enter (or exit) siege mode and what you gain when you're in siege mode is much better accuracy, fantastic gun depression, and the ability to pivot left or right and NOT drop your camo net or binocs if you have thoes.
What you lose is mobility. In siege mode you can bare crawl forwards or backwards. If you're going to relocate more than a few meters, you'll want to get out of siege mode to do it.
Driving forwards or backwards?
You see a lot of people driving the high tier Swede TDs backwards. With the STRVs (including the premium STRV S1) that sometimes makes sense - they do 50 forwards and 45 backwards, so you don't sacrifice THAT much. And if you're falling back, you may want to drive backwards so that you can more quickly get your gun on target if something appears.
With the UDES, however, it does 70 forwards, and only 50 backwards. So you're giving up a lot of speed, to drive backwards. And the UDES/STRVs can't fire very usefully, except at point-blank range, unless they're in siege mode.
Skill4LTU plays the UDES 03
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Tier 9 - Strv 103-0
The tier IX picks up right where the tier 8 left off, in fact it's not very much different. The top gun is just a refinement on the playable stock gun, with slightly better pen but otherwise the same alpha, accuracy, and rate of fire.
1500 m/s shell velocity on the standard ammo.
You've now got 1500 HP, which is nice, but even with "twice" the armor you only have 40mm, so anything 120mm and up will overmatch you.
The 103-0 is significantly slower than the UDES, but 50 km/h is still pretty good.
Taugrim plays the 103-0
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Tier 10 - Strv 103B
At the top of the tree the Strv 103B just builds on its predecessors. Alpha and pen are the same, but accuracy is even better, and reload is a full second faster. As a result I get over 4,000 DPM in mine.
You get 300 more HP over the 103-0 but otherwise armor and mobility are essentially unchanged except for one thing - there's a grill of sorts across the upper glacis of the tank that protects it from HEAT shells.
Skill4LTU plays the Strv 103B
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Crew for the Swedish TDs
The Swede TDs, like some other lines, change crew partway up the line and it's a bit of a mess. Thru the Ikv 90 at tier 7 they have four crew: Commander, Gunner, Driver, Loader.
But at the tier 8 UDES 03 the Gunner is gone, and the gunner duties go to the Commander and the Driver. To make matters worse, the Loader is gone too...and now there's a Radio Operator who does the loader role.
I'm in the habit of once my commander completes his second skill, I reset everybody, give them all Brothers in Arms (BIA) and the commander gets Sixth Sense as his second skill, as we start to work on the 3rd skill.
For the loader hopefully he's got his second skill done at that point too. I'll start him with concealment, but reset to BIA and Safe Stowage with two skills done, and restart concealment.
Tiers 5-7
- Commander: Sixth Sense, BIA, Concealment, Situational Awareness*, Recon*, Repairs...
- Gunner: Concealment, BIA, Repairs, Armorer, Snap Shot...
- Driver: Concealment, BIA, Off-road driving, Repairs, Clutch Braking...
- Loader: Concealment, BIA, Safe Stowage, Repairs
*If I plan to move this crew up to the Tier 8+ tanks, I'll probably prioritize Recon over Situational awareness because starting with the UDES much of the crew shuffles and the tanks get a dedicated Radio Operator.
Tiers 8-10
- Commander: Sixth Sense, BIA, Concealment, Recon, Repairs...
- Driver: Concealment, BIA, Off-road driving, Repairs, Clutch Braking, Controlled Impact
- Radio Operator: Situational Awareness, BIA, Concealment, Safe Stowage, Repairs, Firefighting...
Equipment for the Swedish TDs
In my opinion there really aren't that many useful options for equipment on the Swede TDs. Gun rammer is obvious - improve the load time and boost the DPM of these beasts. Beyond that my traditional loadout is binocs and camo net. Boost the view range so you can spot for yourself, and add even more camo to the already stealthy bush wankers.
One extra bonus - in Siege Mode you can rotate the tank left and right all you like and it doesn't drop your binocs or camo net!
One plausible option is the turbo instead of either binocs or camo net, but these tanks are already pretty fast, so is the turbo helpful? Maybe.
Low noise exhaust system? Maybe. Adds more camo without the 3-second stationary limitation of the camo net. But at tier 8-10 you're going to spend most of your productive time in siege mode so you might as well use the camo net, which gives better camo.
Improved rotation? Improved aiming? Optics? None of those seem very useful in a tank that already rotats with ease, is laser accurate, and can't really shoot on the move anyhow.
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What do you think of the Swede TDs? Let us know in the comments below!
GLHF!
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