Difference between revisions of "M8 LAC (China)"

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(minor changes in survivability and pros & cons. Improved armaments, added usage)
(Readded section description as comments, plus some edits)
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== General info ==
 
== General info ==
=== Survivability and armor ===
+
=== 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.''-->
 
<!--''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.''-->
  
This vehicle´s intended design leaves us with only 12.7 mm of armor at a 59° angle slope at the front hull, Side hull is only protected with 9.5 mm. And the strongest part being the gun mantlet with 25 mm plus 19.1 mm of turret armor. As a result this vehicle is only protected against light MG fire, with the sides easily penned by heavy MG fire. Although this may prove an advantage when fighting against shells with delayed fuse. The crew is very tight, so one AP shell at the center could kill everyone inside, but notice that there is a huge gap between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment, meaning it will absorb plenty of shells and saving the player from being destroyed quickly. There are some rounds stored at the turret, and at the vehicle´s floor, bringing less rounds eliminates the rounds stored in the turret. Also keep in mind that it is an open top vehicle, making it vulnerable to artillery and aerial attacks.
+
This vehicle´s intended design leaves us with only 12.7 mm of armor at a 59° angle slope at the front hull, Side hull is only protected with 9.5 mm. And the strongest part being the gun mantlet with 25 mm plus 19.1 mm of turret armor. As a result this vehicle is only protected against light MG fire, with the sides easily penned by heavy MG fire. Although this may prove an advantage when fighting against shells with delayed fuse. The crew is very tight, so one AP shell at the center could knock out everyone inside, but notice that there is a huge gap between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment, meaning it will absorb plenty of shells and saving the player from being destroyed quickly. There are some rounds stored at the turret, and at the vehicle´s floor, bringing less rounds eliminates the rounds stored in the turret. Also keep in mind that it is an open top vehicle, making it vulnerable to artillery and aerial attacks.
  
 
=== Mobility ===
 
=== Mobility ===
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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. Advise about how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.-->
 
{{main|M6 (37 mm)}}
 
{{main|M6 (37 mm)}}
  
The M8 LAC is armed with an [[M6 (37 mm)|''M6 (37 mm)'']] cannon as its main armament. This is a small caliber fast-firing gun with a maximum penetration of 84mm at 100m ( M51B1/B2 shell), being able to penetrate almost all the opponents it will ever face. While it lacks the post-penetration damage to one-shot most enemy, it can quickly finish them off with its fast reload. The penetration and trajectory drops a lot beyond 500m. Note that the gun has a vertical stabiliser, giving the player a huge advantage in some cases, but keep in mind that the stabiliser only works when the tank is slower than 10 km/h.
+
The M8 LAC is armed with an [[M6 (37 mm)|37 mm M6]] cannon as its main armament. This is a small caliber fast-firing gun with a maximum penetration of 84mm at 100m (M51B1/B2 shell), being able to penetrate almost all the opponents it will ever face. While it lacks the post-penetration damage to one-shot most enemy, it can quickly finish them off with its fast reload. The penetration and trajectory drops a lot beyond 500m. Note that the gun has a vertical stabiliser, giving the player a huge advantage in some cases, but keep in mind that the stabiliser only works when the tank is slower than 10 km/h.
  
 
=== 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|M2HB (12.7 mm)|M1919A4 (7.62 mm)}}
 
{{main|M2HB (12.7 mm)|M1919A4 (7.62 mm)}}
  
The two MGs on the M8 LAC are the good old ''[[M2HB (12.7 mm)]]'' and the ''[[M1919A4 (7.62 mm)]]''. The roof-mounted .50 cal can traverse 360 degrees and has great depression & elevation, posting a big threat to any plane that is flying too close to the M8. It has an unbelievable penetration of 31mm at 10m, meaning it can easily penetrate plenty of lightly armored vehicles and even the side of some medium tanks. The 7.62mm, on the other hand, can only efficiently damage exposed crews due to its low penetration.  
+
The two machine guns on the M8 LAC are the good old [[M2HB (12.7 mm)|.50 cal M2HB]] and the [[M1919A4 (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm M1919A4]]. The roof-mounted .50 cal can traverse 360 degrees and has great depression & elevation, posting a big threat to any plane that is flying too close to the M8. It has an unbelievable penetration of 31mm at 10m, meaning it can easily penetrate plenty of lightly armored vehicles and even the side of some medium tanks. The 7.62mm, on the other hand, can only efficiently damage exposed crews due to its low penetration.  
  
 
== Usage in battles ==
 
== Usage in battles ==
 +
<!--When using this vehicle keep in mind that you are virtually naked to every main gun, that means you shouldnt expose yourself unnecesarily and not give the opponents a chance to shoot at you, coupled with the fact that the main gun can penetrate every other vehicle in its rank and its excellent mobility makes this vehicle a hit and run tactic very viable, ambushing your opponent on your terms, after you destroyed it change your position again and find concealment and or cover, use your fast reverse speed to your advantage, avoid 1 on 1 fights, and fair fights.-->
 +
 
At the start of the match, the M8 LAC is best used for a point-capping vehicle. Find a road connecting a point to unleash its scary 90 km/h on-road top speed and it is likely to get to the point before the enemy can. Once the point is capped quickly move away as there are likely to be artillery strikes which can critically damage the M8.  
 
At the start of the match, the M8 LAC is best used for a point-capping vehicle. Find a road connecting a point to unleash its scary 90 km/h on-road top speed and it is likely to get to the point before the enemy can. Once the point is capped quickly move away as there are likely to be artillery strikes which can critically damage the M8.  
  
After capping a point, there are two good options (just examples, the player is free to play in their own way). One is to hide at the side of the point, waiting for the enemy to re-cap it. Use its small profile to set up a good ambush, and flank the enemy unexpectedly. The fast firing gun will truly shine when attacking several enemies from the side or rear, giving the player a surprising amount of kills. Once the enemies are wiped out, quickly re-cap the point and ambush again. Note that the player might want to change their position as some enemy might try and revenge.  
+
After capping a point, there are two good options (just examples, the player is free to play in their own way). One is to hide at the side of the point, waiting for the enemy to re-cap it. Use its small profile to set up a good ambush, and flank the enemy unexpectedly. The fast firing gun will truly shine when attacking several enemies from the side or rear, giving the player the opportunity to knock out a surprising amount of enemies. Once the enemies are wiped out, quickly re-cap the point and ambush again. Note that the player might want to change their position as some enemy might try and revenge.  
  
Another playstyle is the hit-n-run tactic, thanks to its great mobility and small profile. If careful enough, it is able to travel between points like a ghost without being noticed and flank the enemies. The stabiliser will help a lot as it gives the player the ability to fire first. If the first shell missed or didn't penetrate, it can even kill the enemy with the .50 cal alone!
+
Another playstyle is the hit-n-run tactic, thanks to its great mobility and small profile. If careful enough, it is able to travel between points like a ghost without being noticed and flank the enemies. The stabiliser will help a lot as it gives the player the ability to fire first. If the first shell missed or didn't penetrate, it can even finish off the enemy with the .50 cal alone!
  
 
=== Pros and cons ===
 
=== Pros and cons ===
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'''Pros:'''
 
'''Pros:'''
  
* The M51 shell has 84 mm penetration at 100m. Enough to pen every other vehicle in its tier.
+
* The M51 shell has 84 mm penetration at 100m, enough to penetrate every other vehicle in its rank
* Pintle mounted HMG is very lethal against other similiarly armoured vehicles and slow planes, such as tier 1 biplanes.
+
* Pintle mounted heavy machine gun is very lethal against other similiarly armoured vehicles and slow planes, such as biplanes
* One of the fastest vehicles on road with a max speed of 60 km/h.
+
* One of the fastest vehicles on road with a max speed of 60 km/h
* Reverse speed of 12 km/h.
+
* Reverse speed of 12 km/h
 
* Small profile
 
* Small profile
  
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* Wheeled vehicle, performs poorly off-road and cannot turn in place
 
* Wheeled vehicle, performs poorly off-road and cannot turn in place
* Virtually no armor, tight crew and open top make this vehicle very vulnerable.
+
* Virtually no armor, tight crew and open top make this vehicle very vulnerable
* M6 Cannon requires precision shots, as post penetration effects are weak.
+
* M6 Cannon requires precision shots, as post penetration effects are weak
 
* Turret traverse is rather sluggish
 
* Turret traverse is rather sluggish
 
* Looks very similar to the USA [[M8 Greyhound]], the lighter colored camouflage can be hard to distinguish in Simulator Battles
 
* Looks very similar to the USA [[M8 Greyhound]], the lighter colored camouflage can be hard to distinguish in Simulator Battles

Revision as of 07:03, 13 January 2020

Rank VI USA | Premium | Golden Eagles
A-10A Thunderbolt (Early)
␗M8 LAC
us_m8_greyhound.png
␗M8 LAC
AB RB SB
1.0 1.0 1.0
Class:
Research:Free
Purchase:Free
Show in game

Description

GarageImage M8 LAC (China).jpg


The ␗Light Armored Car M8 is a rank I Chinese light tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision". It is identical to the USA M8 Greyhound.

General info

Survivability and armour

This vehicle´s intended design leaves us with only 12.7 mm of armor at a 59° angle slope at the front hull, Side hull is only protected with 9.5 mm. And the strongest part being the gun mantlet with 25 mm plus 19.1 mm of turret armor. As a result this vehicle is only protected against light MG fire, with the sides easily penned by heavy MG fire. Although this may prove an advantage when fighting against shells with delayed fuse. The crew is very tight, so one AP shell at the center could knock out everyone inside, but notice that there is a huge gap between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment, meaning it will absorb plenty of shells and saving the player from being destroyed quickly. There are some rounds stored at the turret, and at the vehicle´s floor, bringing less rounds eliminates the rounds stored in the turret. Also keep in mind that it is an open top vehicle, making it vulnerable to artillery and aerial attacks.

Mobility

While it has poor armour and survivability this vehicle excels in terms of mobility, as a wheeled vehicle it reaches 60 km/h on road in arcade with stock modules. and 40 km/h off road.

On realistic it reaches 38 km/h off road, and 55 km/h on road with 7 gears, it also has 12 km/h reverse speed on two reverse gears.

Armaments

Main armament

Main article: M6 (37 mm)

The M8 LAC is armed with an 37 mm M6 cannon as its main armament. This is a small caliber fast-firing gun with a maximum penetration of 84mm at 100m (M51B1/B2 shell), being able to penetrate almost all the opponents it will ever face. While it lacks the post-penetration damage to one-shot most enemy, it can quickly finish them off with its fast reload. The penetration and trajectory drops a lot beyond 500m. Note that the gun has a vertical stabiliser, giving the player a huge advantage in some cases, but keep in mind that the stabiliser only works when the tank is slower than 10 km/h.

Machine guns

The two machine guns on the M8 LAC are the good old .50 cal M2HB and the 7.62 mm M1919A4. The roof-mounted .50 cal can traverse 360 degrees and has great depression & elevation, posting a big threat to any plane that is flying too close to the M8. It has an unbelievable penetration of 31mm at 10m, meaning it can easily penetrate plenty of lightly armored vehicles and even the side of some medium tanks. The 7.62mm, on the other hand, can only efficiently damage exposed crews due to its low penetration.

Usage in battles

At the start of the match, the M8 LAC is best used for a point-capping vehicle. Find a road connecting a point to unleash its scary 90 km/h on-road top speed and it is likely to get to the point before the enemy can. Once the point is capped quickly move away as there are likely to be artillery strikes which can critically damage the M8.

After capping a point, there are two good options (just examples, the player is free to play in their own way). One is to hide at the side of the point, waiting for the enemy to re-cap it. Use its small profile to set up a good ambush, and flank the enemy unexpectedly. The fast firing gun will truly shine when attacking several enemies from the side or rear, giving the player the opportunity to knock out a surprising amount of enemies. Once the enemies are wiped out, quickly re-cap the point and ambush again. Note that the player might want to change their position as some enemy might try and revenge.

Another playstyle is the hit-n-run tactic, thanks to its great mobility and small profile. If careful enough, it is able to travel between points like a ghost without being noticed and flank the enemies. The stabiliser will help a lot as it gives the player the ability to fire first. If the first shell missed or didn't penetrate, it can even finish off the enemy with the .50 cal alone!

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • The M51 shell has 84 mm penetration at 100m, enough to penetrate every other vehicle in its rank
  • Pintle mounted heavy machine gun is very lethal against other similiarly armoured vehicles and slow planes, such as biplanes
  • One of the fastest vehicles on road with a max speed of 60 km/h
  • Reverse speed of 12 km/h
  • Small profile

Cons:

  • Wheeled vehicle, performs poorly off-road and cannot turn in place
  • Virtually no armor, tight crew and open top make this vehicle very vulnerable
  • M6 Cannon requires precision shots, as post penetration effects are weak
  • Turret traverse is rather sluggish
  • Looks very similar to the USA M8 Greyhound, the lighter colored camouflage can be hard to distinguish in Simulator Battles

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

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.


China light tanks
Type 63  Object 211 · Type 63 · ZTS63
Type 62  Type 62
WZ551  ZSL92 · PTL02 · WMA301
ZBL08  ZLT11
Type 86  ZBD86
WZ502  ZBD04A
ROC  M41D · M64
Type 59  QN506
USA  ␗M8 LAC · ␗M3A3 Stuart · ␗M3A3 (1st PTG) · ␗M5A1 · ␗M24 · ␗M18 GMC · ␗M41A3
USSR  ␗T-26 · T-26 No.531 · ␗PT-76