The AMX-50 (TO90/930) is one of the many, many vehicles in the AMX-50 family—however, this tank has a dark secret: it's not like the others! For one, it stole its turret straight off the Char 25t, meaning it shares the same turret characteristics—including the ability to fire APHE shells, a sort of black magic for domestic French vehicles of this tier. The TO90 also shares the excellent 4-second reload with its brothers and can zoom around the map almost uncontested with its unparalleled mobility, although it can't take much fire because of its thin armor. Let's dive into the TO90's intricacies to see how it stacks up against its peers and adversaries!
| Pros: | Cons: |
|---|---|
| Outstanding mobility | Lacks a stabilizer |
| 4-second autoloader with 12 rounds in the rack | Poor armor protection |
| Has access to APHE shells; one of very few domestic French designs to have it ingame | Lacks alternative shell types (APDS, HEATFS, etc.) |
Survivability
Though not thick, the armor is highly angled and can bounce some hastily placed shots. Unfortunately, it will usually not bounce any APDS or HEAT rounds, so be especially wary of taking any fire. However, it may be preferable to be hit by APDS or HEATFS over APHE, as APHE usually knocks out the tank instantly due to the vehicle’s tight crew placement, while subcaliber rounds like APDS can sometimes only knock out one or two crew members. It is recommended to stay out of the enemy line of fire using your excellent mobility, as your strength lies in executing fast flanking maneuvers, not bouncing enemy shells.
Mobility
The AMX-50 (TO90/30) has excellent, if not outstanding, mobility. It is only around ~1 HP/t worse than the M18 GMC despite the vehicle weighing nearly three times as much, meaning it exhibits near light-tank levels of agility and reactivity. Its reverse gear is also more than adequate, with a -20 km/h reverse speed allowing quick repositioning. The AMX-50's mobility is the vehicle’s strongest asset, so use it wisely. The vehicle can keep pace with most mobile vehicles of its BR with the exception of the odd wheeled vehicle, which allows it to flank exceptionally well.
Armament
The AMX-50 has 7.5 mm MAC 31 machine guns in coaxial and pintle mount alongside the large 90 mm D.911 APX gun.
The 90 mm D.911 APX is a cannon capable of firing the M82 APHE round. Unlike with American vehicles using the same shell like the M26 Pershing, this gun is longer, which adds another 20mm to the penetration of the shell and around 80 m/s to its velocity, making it even more lethal. The cannon may not go through every tank’s frontal weak spots, especially with Soviet heavy tanks, but you have the mobility to flank around them and lay an ambush. The 4-second autoloader leaves much wiggle room in case of a missed shot, which means you can alternatively go for a disabling shot first if in a pinch and finish them off with a second shot, just to be safe.
Usage in Battles
The AMX-50 (TO90/30) is, in a way, a light tank in a medium tank’s clothing, with the acceleration and mobility of something more akin to an M18 than any other medium tank in its weight class (46 tons!). Playing the TO90 is pretty straightforward — you have a 4-second autoloader, incredible mobility, and a round that is widely considered to have excellent one-shot potential on penetrations. As such, the best tactic is usually to pick a flank and pick apart the enemy team from their vulnerable sides.
The higher penetration M82 round compared to its American contemporaries means that some weak spots are more easily penetrated (the best example being the ability to go through the turret face of the Tiger II (H) at closer ranges compared to the single, inconsistent chink of armor the normal M82 round can penetrate). One thing to note is the vehicle’s 12-round ready rack, which is in the style of a drum magazine; in longer engagements, you can find yourself running out of ammunition in the rack, so be wary of drawn-out engagements. Should your rack be depleted, retreat to a capture point or relocate if you’re running low on ammo to reduce your chances of dying from being unable to fire back.
Vehicles you may want to be wary of are heavily armored behemoths such as the Maus or IS-4M. Against the IS-4M, you can’t do much frontally outside of nicking the commander, so destroying its barrel first is highly recommended. Against the other heavily armored tanks, however, the advice is pretty straightforward: disable their gun (s) or get on their flanks without them noticing, then shoot into their much thinner side armor to bypass their frontal protection entirely.
Vehicle positioning is key, but unfortunately, this is very much an acquired skill and not an advantage you can easily exploit, like armor or firepower. Pick either the common flanking route(s) on a map, or a route most people avoid because it gets them 'fewer points' (a good example is near the bottom side of Poland as people funnel into the town for fights, while if you choose to flank widely around C you can secure the capture point, snag a few kills, and then eventually hold the hill and shoot into the sides of enemies on B), and you’ll generally find success.
If you see an enemy ahead, try and lay an ambush, instead of immediately cresting the hill to engage. You don’t have a stabilizer, and as oscillating turrets were historically an ill fit for said stabilizers due to inherent design, you won’t have much luck trying to shoot on the move. The gun depression, while not unserviceable, is also only -6 degrees, which means your gun will be off-target when you go over a hill, furthering this issue. Be more patient, peeking out only when they’re distracted or if you are confident you can win the gunfight, and the enemy team will be wondering why they’re being pushed back to spawn as their entire front line collapses to your side flank push.
It is also perhaps worth it to try and avoid shooting upwards — oscillating turrets generally allow gun depression to an acceptable degree, but are not so kind when the turret wishes to elevate, in part due to the drum-style loader sticking out the back of the turret. 11 degrees of elevation might seem like enough, but when using terrain it can be surprisingly limiting, coming from other vehicles which can elevate into the 30-40 degrees or more.
Overall, the TO90 is both one-dimensional but also very complex. It’s a flanking vehicle first and foremost, and excels in its niche. Advice on how to play it is hard to give outside of simply positioning yourself well, lying in ambush until the perfect moment to surprise your enemies, but at the same time the vehicle allows you to be almost anywhere on the map and have the lethality to handle almost all the vehicles you face, be it head-on or from the side. Your own prowess in knowing those good map spots and where to be at any given time dictate how good the TO90 is in your hands; the sky is the limit with this vehicle, with the only limiting factor being how much you exploit its best-in-class mobility and excellent (and consistently damaging) firepower.
Screenshots credit: KuldueV
