By Tupinambis:
So I’m mega ultra excited for the Japanese heavies, and I’m going to keep literally every tank in the entire line from tiers 2-10, no matter how bad they are [including the tier 4 Type 95].
That being said, the tier 7 and 8 heavies kind of stand out, and not for really good reasons.
Almost every vehicle in this entire line is noteworthy for having extremely powerful guns. The tier 5 hits for 300 damage, the tier 6 can 1-shot a KV-220, the tier 9 can trade with everything in its tier except for 3 of the tank destroyers, etc etc etc.
Granted, the tier 4 is awful, but its in pretty good company with the B1 and DW2. .
The problem with the O-Ni in particular is that its firepower stats fails or is purely mediocre in every category. 330 alpha is *okay* and 190 pen is *okay*… and that’s it. 5 RPM for 330 damage is really bad, the accuracy at 0.42 sucks, the aim time at 3.3 sucks, the dispersion values while moving the hull and the turret are bad, etc.
Its like a KV-3 that had its alpha and DPM nerfed really hard, or a Tiger P’s gun with the pen and the accuracy nerfed really hard. Its the worst of both worlds. Actually its currently sitting as having the WORST DPM out of all the tier 7 heavies in the game.
Remember, this terrible gun is mounted on a giant vehicle which, in most other tiers, is balanced by having an extremely powerful gun [tier 5, 6], not an extremely weak one.
As another user pointed out that this DPM, while the lowest of them all, is still very close to the T29 and the Tiger P. This is absolutely true, but it also leaves out how both of those other tanks are vastly superior in other categories [aim time, accuracy, pen] and the hulls they are mounted on themselves are better [not giant].
The easy solution is to just buff the ROF to 6 and be done with it, 1980 DPM, while very high, would put it directly on par with the IS and KV-3 in this category.
The tier 8 O-Ho is a bit more complicated
Unlike the O-Ni, the O-Ho actually has extremely good DPM at 6.45 ROF, giving it the highest DPM out of all tier 8 heavies [including the KV-5 and IS-6].
The problem comes in literally every other category.
The pen at 215 isn’t bad at all, exactly the same as the 110… but it also lacks premium ammo of any kind. The lack of premium ammo in of itself isn’t a huge issue; it certainly isn’t a major concern for the SARL-42 and the Sturer Emil. The issue here is that 215 pen really isn’t… amazing or anything, the gun bloom kinda sucks, and the accuracy sucks. Those 3 issues combined together makes this a much more serious problem. Also 330 alpha is really starting to lose its potency at this tier.
Fortunately WG already gave us the perfect gun to turn the O-Ho into a really incredible monster of a tier 8 machine. Its the 127mm “3rd year type” cannon that currently serves as the stock gun for the Type 4 heavy. 450 alpha damage, 230 standard pen. The soft stats are wierdly good on the tier 9 machine, but the ROF and aim time can easily be adjusted into more normal values.
“But Tup, that gun sounds stupid and OP for a tier 8 heavy”. That’s a fair point, but I’d like to direct your attention to another new vehicle that just showed up in the 9.10 test server, the VK100.01P.
This tank has a 128mm gun at tier 8 with 210 standard pen and 490 alpha damage firing at 3.33RPM. 0.38 accuracy, 3.0 aim time, better armor than the O-Ho and very comparable mobility stats. Also not quite as gigantic [though this vehicle, an early predecessor to the Maus, is still huge].
To be fair, nobody knows what the VK100.01P’s fate is going to be, either a CW vehicle, a replacement for the VK4502A, or a new premium, but there’s not much of any reason to suspect that this thing is going to be extremely OP. Likewise, the O-Ho with the 127mm gun wouldn’t be OP either. If anything it would be carrying the tradition of the tier 5, 6, 9, and 10 vehicles of having very powerful, crushing alpha guns for their tiers. Give it something like 4RPM, 3.4 aim time and 0.42 accuracy and we’re golden.
TL;DR:
Buff the O-Ni’s ROF from 5 to 6 RPM, no other changes
Give the O-Ho the 127mm gun from the stock Type 4, nerf ROF and aim time to appropriate levels.
