The FV226 Contradictious, a British Tier VIII Premium heavy tank, is a twin-barreled vehicle with brand-new shooting mechanics different from those employed on Soviet double-barreled heavies and the TS-54, the sole representative of such vehicles in the US nation.
New Mechanic: Selective Fire Modes
Unlike their Soviet and US counterparts, British twin-barreled heavies have two firing modes: Single Fire and Salvo Fire. You can switch between the modes anytime by pressing “X” (for the FV226 Contradictious, this takes 2 seconds). Switching between firing modes neither resets nor pauses gun reloading, and can be done on the move.
When the guns are in Single Fire mode, they shoot alternately (starting with the left gun). In this mode, you can shoot a gun only after the other has fully reloaded. The aiming reticle is always aligned with the barrel that is the next to shoot. In Single Fire mode, the gunplay is much like that of the British single-barreled heavies’ line: stabilization, accuracy, and aiming time are all enviable.
In Salvo Fire mode, you can shoot both barrels simultaneously with a simple left click (you don’t need any time to prepare a salvo). The aiming reticle transforms in this firing mode, into an oval-like zone inside of which your rounds will hit. The center of this aiming zone is aligned with the line that runs between the barrels (i.e., your rounds will land to the left and to the right of the center of the aiming zone). In Salvo Fire mode, the tank’s top speed and turret traverse speed are decreased, guns take longer to fully aim, and accuracy is lower than in Single Fire mode, but the stabilization of the guns improves drastically, the one-time damage is (obviously) doubled, and the DPM stays the same.
The reloading time in Salvo Fire mode is always twice the reloading time in Single Fire mode. If you shoot a salvo, you must wait double the time, as you need both guns to fully reload to be able to fire even one of them. At the beginning of the battle and when you change the shell type, you also need to wait for both barrels to load.
Finally, the guns of the British twin-barreled heavies have awesome-looking caps on their muzzle brakes, covering the barrel that cannot currently be fired. Both your opponents and your allies will know when you enter Salvo Fire mode.
FV226 Contradictious: The Specifics
Except for the twin guns, this is a good old British heavy with decent mobility, good frontal protection, excellent maximum gun depression (-10°), and fast aiming in Single Fire mode (1.8 s). The base reload time of 11 seconds is doubled in Salvo Fire mode, where the tank can dish out around 720 HP of damage in a single discharge.
Maybe I’m a bit delusional, but this mechanic’s … *cough* gimmick *cough* … only purpose is to evade the autoreloading-like gun loading, that you can achieve with the standard double-barrelled tanks.
Sure, as a single-shooter it’s accurate and everything, has 2k-ish DPM, but as a double-shooter it will suck:
– in long range you have worse accuracy and aim-time
– in close quarters you have bad turret traverse, so the enemy can escape your reticle
So every country will have auto reloaders, reautiloaders, clips, double barrel, and wheels… Kind of defeats the point of gimmicks 🙄