AMX-50 Surbaisse

From War Thunder Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Rank 6 USA
F-5C Pack
This page is about the French heavy tank AMX-50 Surbaisse. For other versions, see AMX-50 (Family).
AMX-50 Surbaissé
fr_amx_50_surbaisse.png
GarageImage AMX-50 Surbaissé.jpg
AMX-50 Surbaissé
AB RB SB
7.7 7.7 7.7
Class:
Research:120 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:340 000 Specs-Card-Lion.png
Show in game

Description

In the early 1950s, France started the development of a 120 mm-armed AMX-50 in response to the perceived Soviet threat of heavy tanks like the IS-3 and T-10. The vehicles was heavily armoured, with armour increased to 90 mm in the front, and equipped with a 120 mm gun. The project faced challenges with weight and mechanical reliability, leading to adjustments in design (from 59.2 metric tons to 57.8 metric tons). Additionally, a tank destroyer variant named AMX-50 Foch was developed. The project eventually resulted in the construction of five complete AMX 50 prototypes. Recognizing the weight issues, a parallel medium tank project called Lorraine 40t was started in 1952. The same 120 mm cannon was later used in the development of the AMX-50 Foch, a heavy tank destroyer intended to support the medium tanks from long ranges.

It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance". On the battlefield, the vehicle is very easy to recognize due to its shape which simply cannot be mistaken for another French tank. The AMX-50 Surbaissé differs from every heavy tank in its general playstyle. Since it has rather thin armour which will not protect it against incoming enemy fire, you have to use its medium tank-like mobility to perform deadly flank attacks which will often prove very catastrophic for the enemy team. Indeed, since you can keep up with most medium tanks and even outpace some, especially the British medium tanks, many enemies will find themselves completely caught off guard and at the mercy of your autoloading 120 mm gun which will allow you to fire one shot every 6 seconds. The tank is also a great long-range sniper (1,500 m and beyond) as it comes equipped with a rangefinder that will allow you to quickly range very distant targets and deliver accurate shots upon them. At such distances, your armour will start to become difficult to penetrate for most lower rank guns you'll encounter. Overall this tank, while being a heavy tank, is not meant to be played like one. You must use your mobility and your accurate fast-firing armament to prove effective against the enemies you'll come across.

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades
Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle
Armourfront / side / back
Hull60 / 30 / 30
Turret90 / 60 / 40
Crew4 people
Visibility167 %

Armour type:

  • Cast homogeneous armour
  • Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull sides, Hull rear, Hull roof)
Armour Front (Slope angle) Sides Rear Roof
Hull 60 mm (30-85°) Front glacis
100 mm (8-57°) Joint plate
60 mm (21-74°) Bottom glacis
30-60 mm (0-23°) Top
30 mm Bottom
30 mm (0-50°) 20 mm
Turret - 60 mm Turret
40-60 mm (0-12°) Turret base
40 mm (0-30°) Turret bustle
20 mm (21-31°) Pivot ball
10 mm (69-76°) Turret underside
20 mm
Cupola 60 mm 60 mm 60 mm 20 mm

Notes:

  • Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 30 mm thick.
  • Wheels are interleaved to offer stacked protection values.

Mobility

Speedforward / back
AB55 / 7 km/h
RB and SB52 / 6 km/h
Number of gears5 forward
1 back
Weight57.8 t
Engine power
AB1 622 hp
RB and SB850 hp
Power-to-weight ratio
AB28.1 hp/t
RB and SB14.7 hp/t
Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 55 7 57.8 1,097 1,622 18.98 28.06
Realistic 52 6 752 850 13.01 14.71

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference
AB5 468 → 7 234 Sl icon.png
RB5 791 → 7 661 Sl icon.png
SB9 215 → 12 191 Sl icon.png
Total cost of modifications97 400 Rp icon.png
163 400 Sl icon.png
Talisman cost2 200 Ge icon.png
Crew training98 000 Sl icon.png
Experts340 000 Sl icon.png
Aces1 300 Ge icon.png
Research Aces780 000 Rp icon.png
Reward for battleAB / RB / SB
150 / 210 / 250 % Sl icon.png
202 / 202 / 202 % Rp icon.png
Modifications
Mobility Protection Firepower
Mods new tank traks.png
Tracks
Research:
6 800 Rp icon.png
Cost:
11 000 Sl icon.png
230 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank suspension.png
Suspension
Research:
5 700 Rp icon.png
Cost:
9 100 Sl icon.png
190 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank break.png
Brake System
Research:
5 700 Rp icon.png
Cost:
9 100 Sl icon.png
190 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank filter.png
Filters
Research:
6 400 Rp icon.png
Cost:
10 000 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank transmission.png
Transmission
Research:
11 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
18 000 Sl icon.png
360 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank engine.png
Engine
Research:
11 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
18 000 Sl icon.png
360 Ge icon.png
Mods tank tool kit.png
Improved Parts
Research:
4 400 Rp icon.png
Cost:
11 000 Sl icon.png
230 Ge icon.png
Mods extinguisher.png
Improved FPE
Research:
3 700 Rp icon.png
Cost:
9 100 Sl icon.png
190 Ge icon.png
Mods tank reinforcement fr.png
Crew Replenishment
Research:
6 400 Rp icon.png
Cost:
10 000 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank horizontal aiming.png
Horizontal Drive
Research:
6 800 Rp icon.png
Cost:
11 000 Sl icon.png
230 Ge icon.png
Mods tank cannon.png
Adjustment of Fire
Research:
5 700 Rp icon.png
Cost:
9 100 Sl icon.png
190 Ge icon.png
Mods new tank vertical aiming.png
Elevation Mechanism
Research:
6 400 Rp icon.png
Cost:
10 000 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods smoke screen.png
Smoke grenade
Research:
6 400 Rp icon.png
Cost:
10 000 Sl icon.png
210 Ge icon.png
Mods tank rangefinder.png
Rangefinder
Research:
11 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
18 000 Sl icon.png
360 Ge icon.png

Armaments

Main armament

Autoloader
Automatically feeds projectiles into the breech. The speed does not depend on the skills of the loader
Ammunition46 rounds
First-order19 rounds
Reload6.0 s
Vertical guidance-8° / 14°
Main article: SA46 (120 mm)
120 mm SA46 Turret rotation speed (°/s) Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode Capacity Vertical Horizontal Stabilizer Stock Upgraded Full Expert Aced Stock Full Expert Aced
Arcade 38 -8°/+14° ±180° N/A 24.3 33.6 40.8 45.1 48.0 6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00
Realistic 17.9 21.0 25.5 28.2 30.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
10 m 100 m 500 m 1,000 m 1,500 m 2,000 m
120 mm Obus explosif HE 39 39 39 39 39 39
120 mm Obus de rupture APBC 301 298 286 272 258 245
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(m)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive mass
(TNT equivalent) (kg)
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
120 mm Obus explosif HE 762 22.84 0 0.1 4.65 79° 80° 81°
120 mm Obus de rupture APBC 1,067 23.1 - - - 47° 60° 65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the AMX-50 Surbaisse
Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
3rd
rack empty
4th
rack empty
5th
rack empty
6th
rack empty
7th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
38 36 (+2) 34 (+4) 32 (+6) 30 (+8) 25 (+13) 20 (+18) (+37) Yes

Notes:

  • Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
  • The visual discrepancy concerns the crossed out racks: they are modeled but always empty.
  • Rack 7 (autoloader magazine) is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 19 shells.
    • This rack gets filled first when loading up the tank and is also emptied first.
    • As the AMX-50 Surbaisse is equipped with an autoloader, manual reloading of the gun is not possible.
    • Once the autoloader magazines have been depleted, you can't shoot until the loader has restocked the autoloader. The restocking time is longer than the normal reload time of the gun. Take this into account when playing.
    • Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from racks 1 to 6 into rack 7. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready racks.
    • The depletion order at full capacity is: 7 - 1 - 2 up to 6.

Machine guns

Ammunition3 000 rounds
Belt capacity200 rounds
Reload5.0 s
Fire rate900 shots/min
Main article: AAT-52 (7.5 mm)
7.5 mm AAT-52
Mount Capacity (Belt) Fire rate Vertical Horizontal
Coaxial 3,000 (200) 900 N/A N/A

Usage in battles

Playing the AMX 50 Surbaissé requires 2 things:

  • Good map knowledge
  • Gunnery discipline

As mentioned previously, the AMX 50 Surbaissé is not heavy, that probably is something you'll learn the hard way while playing your first matches in this tank. You have to play it like a medium tank and you always should try to look for a good flanking route that will eventually get you to a spot where you'll be able to decimate several tanks of the enemy team from the side of from behind. As a result, this tank requires a lot of forethinking before deciding which way to go and this decision must be taken in accordance with the map but also in accordance with what nation you face. The tank can also be used as a very effective long-range sniper especially in down tiers. The combination of fast-firing 120 mm gun and rangefinder can prove very effective especially at a range over 1,500 m where your armour will start to matter especially against a lower-ranked opponent such as Tiger IIs. To turn this vehicle into a deadly sniping machine, it is very much advised to bind rangefinding keys and sight adjustment that are intuitive to you. In this way you will be able to range targets and adjust the gun very accurately in such a way that, with practice and discipline will grant you the ability to deliver shots in a "Point aimed, Point hit" fashion.

Every enemy you can encounter which do not result from deliberate up tiers from the enemy can and will easily get through your armour. The tank's armour cannot withstand guns that are more powerful than the German 7.5 cm KwK 42 or the US 90 mm M3 gun

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Powerful 120 mm gun
  • Reload of just 6 seconds
  • Large autoloader magazine (19 shots)
  • Very good AP round with high penetration power
  • Extremely fast turret rotation speed when upgraded, especially for a heavy tank (characteristic of oscillating turrets)
  • Good acceleration
  • Average top speed of about 48 km/h
  • 4 Smoke Grenades

Cons:

  • Gun elevation & depression angles are poor
  • Ammunition rack in the back of the turret is a weak spot from any angle
  • Armour values are inadequate against expected opponents
  • Smoke grenades will often leave a gap in the smoke screen

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins
Videos

See also

Related development

External links


Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX)
Light tanks 
AMX-13  AMX-13-M24 · AMX-13 (FL11) · AMX-13 · AMX-13 (SS.11) · AMX-13-90 · AMX-13 (HOT)
Armoured cars  AMX-10RC
Medium tanks  AMX M4 · AMX-50 (TOA100)
MBTs 
AMX-30  AMX-30 · AMX-30 ACRA · AMX-30 (1972) · AMX-30B2 · AMX-30B2 BRENUS · AMX-30 Super
AMX-32/40  AMX-32 (105) · AMX-32 · AMX-40
Heavy tanks  AMX-50 Surbaissé · AMX-50 Surblindé
Tank destroyers  ELC bis · AMX-50 Foch
SPAAGs  AMX-13 DCA 40 · AMX-30 DCA
Export  AMX-13

France heavy tanks
B1  B1 bis · B1 ter
2C  2C · 2C bis
ARL-44  ARL-44 (ACL-1)
AMX-50  Somua SM · AMX-50 Surbaissé · AMX-50 Surblindé
USA  ▄M4A3E2