Difference between revisions of "ST-A2"
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The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a Rank {{Specs|rank}} Japanese medium tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in [[Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai"]]. | The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a Rank {{Specs|rank}} Japanese medium tank {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in [[Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai"]]. | ||
| − | It is a sidegrade to [[ST-A1]], which takes sniping duty as | + | It is a sidegrade to [[ST-A1]], which takes sniping duty as its main work while neglecting most of the other roles. One can literally treat them as the same tank, but they have some minor quality of life differences, which will be mentioned here. |
== General info == | == General info == | ||
=== Survivability and armour === | === Survivability and armour === | ||
| − | <!-- | + | <!--Describe armour protection. Note the most well protected and key weak areas. Appreciate the layout of modules as well as the number and location of crew members. Is the level of armour protection sufficient, is the placement of modules helpful for survival in combat? |
| − | + | If necessary use a visual template to indicate the most secure and weak zones of the armour.--> | |
| − | Armour on ST-A2 is about the same as ST-A1, but there are some differences to | + | Armour on ST-A2 is about the same as ST-A1, but there are some differences to its weaknesses. |
| − | + | For instance, the hull is now raised to engine deck level and slope goes all the way up the turret, resulting in turret being well above engine deck. The frontal armour is even more angled now, with effective thickness of about 90-100 mm, but it now also connected to engine deck, and in connection spot it's about 80 mm effective thickness like before. Most of tanks can still penetrate entire armour with no issues, so overall on tank's own BR it changes only rear gun depression and ability of certain tanks to just explode the tank with HE when it's hulldown. | |
| − | + | ||
| − | + | Since hull is raised higher, there is less chances that enemy APHE will hit driver optics on accident or will be stopped by transmission and won't destroy the tank. Also, '''gunner's head''' is now above gun breech, so random shrapnel has a chance of hitting him, if enemy shell explodes above it, resulting in complete crew knockout, unlike with ST-A1. | |
| − | + | ||
| − | + | For the turret, the commander cupolas was raised a bit and the pintle-mounted machine gun was removed. Overall it makes it harder to destroy tank with HE, but nothing more. However, the turret neck is no longer a weak spot for SPAA to exploit, but tank can still be destroyed by SPAA firing at MG port because their shells still cause spalling or explode and hit ammo rack despite it being rotated away from the weakspot. Still, it will definitely take them longer to deal with the tank that way. | |
| + | |||
| + | Ammo rack in back of the turret is now facing turret and is much narrower a target, so the gun breech shields it entirely. Because of that, as long as the ST-A2 fires off first two rounds in first-stage rack, the chances of tank exploding due to ammo rack being hit through the turret is reduced. It came at a price, though, as it is now even easier to shoot the tank from the side or back. The block outside of turret's back isn't even modeled, so if HESH hits back of the turret, it's going to explode the entire tank. | ||
=== Mobility === | === Mobility === | ||
| − | <!-- | + | <!--Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forward and backward.--> |
| + | |||
| + | The 3D mobility of this tank is the same as predecessor, as well as their effective off-road and top speed - about (AB/RB) 40/33 km/h forward and 18/15 km/h backwards off-road, and 50/33 forward and 20/17 backwards at top speed. | ||
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|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
== Armaments == | == Armaments == | ||
=== Main armament === | === Main armament === | ||
| − | <!-- | + | <!--Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: <code><nowiki>{{main|Name of the weapon}}</nowiki></code>. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.--> |
| + | {{main|M3A1 (90 mm)}} | ||
The gun is the same as ST-A1, and so are the optics. So one must unlock APHE as the very first module and then try to get aim adjustment as soon as possible, leveling it same way as ST-A1. | The gun is the same as ST-A1, and so are the optics. So one must unlock APHE as the very first module and then try to get aim adjustment as soon as possible, leveling it same way as ST-A1. | ||
| − | Due to turret being elevated above engine deck, gun can now depress enough to fire at tanks behind it, no matter how low their profile is, as long as they stay on even ground. | + | Due to turret being elevated above engine deck, the gun can now depress enough to fire at tanks behind it, no matter how low their profile is, as long as they stay on even ground. |
| − | |||
| − | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | ||
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=== Machine guns === | === Machine guns === | ||
| − | <!-- | + | <!--Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft, but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.--> |
| + | {{main|M1919A4 (7.62 mm)}} | ||
| − | The 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun was removed, so ST-A2 only has [[M1919A4 (7.62 mm)| | + | The 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun was removed, so ST-A2 only has [[M1919A4 (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm M1919A4]] in its turret. It still can be used to damage open-top SPG, but fighting light tanks with it is not possible. Planes are also harder to engage with it. |
| − | On other hand, | + | On other hand, its trajectory is similiar to APHE shell up to 760 m, so you can use it to check your aim in RB, if necessary, which further confirms sniper specialization of ST-A2. |
== Usage in battles == | == Usage in battles == | ||
| − | <!-- | + | <!--Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).--> |
| − | As before it is required to stay out of sight and find a good, defensible spot on the map and use your current best ammunition to destroy enemy tanks from your effective range. Due to armour still being completely inadequate for | + | As before, it is required to stay out of sight and find a good, defensible spot on the map and use your current best ammunition to destroy enemy tanks from your effective range. Due to the armour still being completely inadequate for its BR, it's still recommended to snipe enemy either from afar (Preferably with HEAT-FS) or flank them and snipe from angles they don't really expect (again, the further away the better), using your superior optics. |
| − | It is also recommended to avoid rushing down super-light SPG and tanks like [[AUBL/74]], as 7.62 MG will likely fail to destroy it in case if you miss, unlike 12.7 mm of predecessor. | + | It is also recommended to avoid rushing down super-light SPG and tanks like [[AUBL/74]], as 7.62 mm MG will likely fail to destroy it in case if you miss, unlike 12.7 mm of predecessor. |
=== Pros and cons === | === Pros and cons === | ||
| − | + | <!--Summarize and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - they can be substituted with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".--> | |
'''Pros:''' | '''Pros:''' | ||
| Line 229: | Line 231: | ||
*Can defend itself against other tanks in case of a rear flank, unlike ST-A1 | *Can defend itself against other tanks in case of a rear flank, unlike ST-A1 | ||
*Harder to hit ammo rack in turret from the front, and overall better protection against autocannons, HEAT and pure AP in turret | *Harder to hit ammo rack in turret from the front, and overall better protection against autocannons, HEAT and pure AP in turret | ||
| − | *Harder to be destroyed by HE shot to the turret, can technically tank some attacker's plane assault with | + | *Harder to be destroyed by HE shot to the turret, can technically tank some attacker's plane assault with its front |
*Harder to destroy by poorly aimed shot in down-tier | *Harder to destroy by poorly aimed shot in down-tier | ||
| Line 235: | Line 237: | ||
*Worse against light tanks than predecessor due to lack of 12.7 mm MG | *Worse against light tanks than predecessor due to lack of 12.7 mm MG | ||
*Still can be destroyed in one shot by nearly anything on battlefield via crew knockout, as long as they have APHE or HESH | *Still can be destroyed in one shot by nearly anything on battlefield via crew knockout, as long as they have APHE or HESH | ||
| − | *Raised turret still cannot use certain | + | *Raised turret still cannot use certain hull down spots, but raises tank's profile |
| − | *Hull | + | *Hull weak spot is even more relevant now |
== History == | == History == | ||
Revision as of 16:37, 18 May 2019
Contents
Description
The ST-A2 is a Rank IV Japanese medium tank
with a battle rating of 6.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced along with the initial Japanese Ground Forces tree in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai".
It is a sidegrade to ST-A1, which takes sniping duty as its main work while neglecting most of the other roles. One can literally treat them as the same tank, but they have some minor quality of life differences, which will be mentioned here.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour on ST-A2 is about the same as ST-A1, but there are some differences to its weaknesses.
For instance, the hull is now raised to engine deck level and slope goes all the way up the turret, resulting in turret being well above engine deck. The frontal armour is even more angled now, with effective thickness of about 90-100 mm, but it now also connected to engine deck, and in connection spot it's about 80 mm effective thickness like before. Most of tanks can still penetrate entire armour with no issues, so overall on tank's own BR it changes only rear gun depression and ability of certain tanks to just explode the tank with HE when it's hulldown.
Since hull is raised higher, there is less chances that enemy APHE will hit driver optics on accident or will be stopped by transmission and won't destroy the tank. Also, gunner's head is now above gun breech, so random shrapnel has a chance of hitting him, if enemy shell explodes above it, resulting in complete crew knockout, unlike with ST-A1.
For the turret, the commander cupolas was raised a bit and the pintle-mounted machine gun was removed. Overall it makes it harder to destroy tank with HE, but nothing more. However, the turret neck is no longer a weak spot for SPAA to exploit, but tank can still be destroyed by SPAA firing at MG port because their shells still cause spalling or explode and hit ammo rack despite it being rotated away from the weakspot. Still, it will definitely take them longer to deal with the tank that way.
Ammo rack in back of the turret is now facing turret and is much narrower a target, so the gun breech shields it entirely. Because of that, as long as the ST-A2 fires off first two rounds in first-stage rack, the chances of tank exploding due to ammo rack being hit through the turret is reduced. It came at a price, though, as it is now even easier to shoot the tank from the side or back. The block outside of turret's back isn't even modeled, so if HESH hits back of the turret, it's going to explode the entire tank.
Mobility
The 3D mobility of this tank is the same as predecessor, as well as their effective off-road and top speed - about (AB/RB) 40/33 km/h forward and 18/15 km/h backwards off-road, and 50/33 forward and 20/17 backwards at top speed.
| Mobility characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | Add-on Armour weight (tons) |
Max speed (km/h) |
| 34.2 | N/A | 50 (AB) |
| 45 (RB/SB) | ||
| Engine power (horsepower) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 775 | 954 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 442 | 500 |
| Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 22.66 | 27.89 |
| Realistic/Simulator | 12.92 | 14.62 |
Armaments
Main armament
The gun is the same as ST-A1, and so are the optics. So one must unlock APHE as the very first module and then try to get aim adjustment as soon as possible, leveling it same way as ST-A1.
Due to turret being elevated above engine deck, the gun can now depress enough to fire at tanks behind it, no matter how low their profile is, as long as they stay on even ground.
| 90 mm M3A1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Stabilizer | ||
| 40 | -10°/+13° | ±180° | N/A | ||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 22.85 | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | 32.64 |
| Realistic | 14.28 | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | 20.4 |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| 9.75 | _.__ | _.__ | 7.5 | ||
| ST-A2 Optics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Which ones | Default magnification | Maximum magnification |
| Main Gun optics | x8 | x16 |
| Comparable optics | Type 74G | |
- It is important to remember the earliest your enemy would have x16 scope is at a battle rating of 7.3/7.7 (AB/RB) with German Leopard I while even the SPG class tanks will most likely have an ~x6 or x8 at best.
- Be aware when utilising guns which lack stabilizer, attempting to shoot on the move while viewing through x16 optics is almost a guaranteed miss due to the movement of the vehicle over the terrain. If needed to aim at targets on a move, do not change pace or make sudden changes as the gun will fire less predictably and most likely result in a miss.
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 0° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| M318 shot | AP | 174 | 171 | 159 | 149 | 133 | 122 |
| M71 shell | HE | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| M82 shot | APCBC | 182 | 180 | 168 | 153 | 140 | 128 |
| M304 shot | APCR | 264 | 260 | 245 | 226 | 210 | 191 |
| M332 shot | APCR | 271 | 270 | 245 | 217 | 192 | 170 |
| M348 shell | HEATFS | 305 | 305 | 305 | 305 | 305 | 305 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity in m/s |
Projectile Mass in kg |
Fuse delay
in m: |
Fuse sensitivity
in mm: |
Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent): |
Normalization At 30° from horizontal: |
Ricochet: | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||
| M318 shot | AP | 853 | 11 | N/A | N/A | N/A | +4° | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| M71 shell | HE | 823 | 11 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 925 | +0° | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| M82 shot | APCBC | 853 | 11 | 1.2 | 20 | 137.2 | +4° | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| M304 shot | APCR | 1021 | 7.6 | N/A | N/A | N/A | +1.5° | 66° | 70° | 72° |
| M332 shot | APCR | 1178 | 5.6 | N/A | N/A | N/A | +1.5° | 66° | 70° | 72° |
| M348 shell | HEATFS | 853 | 6.5 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 926.17 | +0° | 65° | 72° | 75° |
| Smoke characteristic | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity in m/s |
Projectile Mass in kg |
Screen radius in m |
Screen time in s |
Screen hold time in s: |
Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent): |
| M313 | 821 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 50 |
Machine guns
The 12.7 mm M2HB machine gun was removed, so ST-A2 only has 7.62 mm M1919A4 in its turret. It still can be used to damage open-top SPG, but fighting light tanks with it is not possible. Planes are also harder to engage with it.
On other hand, its trajectory is similiar to APHE shell up to 760 m, so you can use it to check your aim in RB, if necessary, which further confirms sniper specialization of ST-A2.
Usage in battles
As before, it is required to stay out of sight and find a good, defensible spot on the map and use your current best ammunition to destroy enemy tanks from your effective range. Due to the armour still being completely inadequate for its BR, it's still recommended to snipe enemy either from afar (Preferably with HEAT-FS) or flank them and snipe from angles they don't really expect (again, the further away the better), using your superior optics.
It is also recommended to avoid rushing down super-light SPG and tanks like AUBL/74, as 7.62 mm MG will likely fail to destroy it in case if you miss, unlike 12.7 mm of predecessor.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Overall better sniper qualities than ST-A1 (but they only really matter in RB)
- Can defend itself against other tanks in case of a rear flank, unlike ST-A1
- Harder to hit ammo rack in turret from the front, and overall better protection against autocannons, HEAT and pure AP in turret
- Harder to be destroyed by HE shot to the turret, can technically tank some attacker's plane assault with its front
- Harder to destroy by poorly aimed shot in down-tier
Cons:
- Worse against light tanks than predecessor due to lack of 12.7 mm MG
- Still can be destroyed in one shot by nearly anything on battlefield via crew knockout, as long as they have APHE or HESH
- Raised turret still cannot use certain hull down spots, but raises tank's profile
- Hull weak spot is even more relevant now
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, 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>, as well as adding them at the end of the article. This section may also include the vehicle's devblog entry (if applicable) and the ingame encyclopedia description (under === Encyclopedia Info ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- encyclopedia page on the tank;
- other literature.
| Japan medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| Type 97 | Chi-Ha · Chi-Ha Kai · Chi-Ha Kai TD · Chi-Ha Short Gun |
| Type 1 | Chi-He · Chi-He (5th Regiment) · Ho-I |
| Type 3 | Chi-Nu · Chi-Nu II |
| Type 4 | Chi-To · Chi-To Late |
| Type 5 | Chi-Ri II |
| Type 61 MBT | ST-A1* · ST-A2* · ST-A3* · Type 61 |
| Type 74 MBT | ST-B2* · Type 74 (C) · Type 74 (E) · Type 74 (F) · Type 74 (G) |
| Type 90 MBT | Type 90 · Type 90 (B) · Type 90 (B) "Fuji" |
| Type 10 MBT | TKX (P)* · TKX* · Type 10 |
| Other | Ka-Chi |
| USA | ▅M4A3 (76) W · ▅M47 |
| *Prototype | |
