2C
This page is about the French heavy tank 2C. For the other version, see 2C bis. |
Contents
Description
The Char FCM 2C is a rank II French heavy tank with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Sky Guardians".
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour protection is mediocre, at best. The frontal armour will do little to stop standard guns like the American 37 mm or the Soviet 45 mm, and the sides are vulnerable to autocannons or even the infamous M2 Browning at close ranges. What you do have, however, is a whopping 12 crewmen, which means that even if your main crew has been disintegrated, you are still in the fight as long as you don't get ammo-racked.
Armour type:
Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hull | ___ mm | ___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom |
___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
Turret | ___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
Notes:
Mobility
The mobility of the 2C is sluggish; you will have little chance capturing points at the start. The 2C does have an electric transmission, giving it the benefit of being able to quickly reverse from a bad situation instead of needing to turn 180 degrees like most tanks.
Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
Arcade | 16 | 16 | 70 | 646 | 954 | 9.23 | 13.63 |
Realistic | 16 | 16 | 442 | 500 | 6.31 | 7.14 |
Modifications and economy
Armaments
Main armament
The 75 mm, despite looking impressive, is best attributed as lackluster, even underpowered. Your penetration is on par with German short 75 mm guns, but unlike the German versions, the 2C's gun only has access to its basic APHE round and a HE round. There is no HEAT shells available to counter Matilda or Churchill tanks, and you will suffer against M4 Shermans without proper support. Even the reload rate is inferior, with 5.5 seconds at max crew where pre-F2 Pz.IVs can already achieve about 4 seconds out of the box.
75 mm APX Canon de 75 mm modèle 1897 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
Arcade | 128 | ±20° | ±140° | - | 8.1 | 11.2 | 13.6 | 15.0 | 16.0 | 7.15 | 6.32 | 5.83 | 5.50 |
Realistic | 5.9 | 7.0 | 8.5 | 9.4 | 10.0 |
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 | ||
Mle1900 | HE | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
Mle1916 | APHE | 66 | 65 | 58 | 51 | 45 | 40 |
Shell details | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
Mle1900 | HE | 500 | 5.3 | 0 | 0.1 | 695 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Mle1916 | APHE | 558 | 7.44 | 1.2 | 14 | 350 | 47° | 60° | 65° |
Ammo racks
Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
128 | 97 (+31) | 67 (+61) | 61 (+67) | 55 (+73) | 28 (+100) | 1 (+127) | No |
Machine guns
The two machine guns on the 2C are of dubious utility. The front one has limited traverse arcs by virtue of being bow-mounted, so its use is limited to whatever you point your tank towards. The rear turret is of more doubtful use, however, as it cannot fire to the front and, being a normal MG, lacks the power to damage anything short of open-tops.
8 mm Hotchkiss Mle 1914 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
Bow | 5,000 (150) | 600 rpm | __° | __° |
Rear turret | 5,000 (150) | ___ | __° | __° |
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).
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Neutral steering gives the tank decent reflex mobility
- Can climb over rough terrain with ease due to its World War I design
- Reverse gearbox lets you pull out quickly of dangerous situations
- Has a dozen crew members, highly survivable
- Flank attacks from behind are easily shrugged off due to containing no essential crew
- Large unoccupied zones, can absorb shells
Cons:
- Awfully slow top speed
- Armour is mediocre at best, very vulnerable to high calibre HE or autocannons
- Limited turret traverse, very prone to flanking
- Poor elevation and depression angles
- Extremely large, easily spotted and hit
History
The FCM 2C was a French "super heavy" tank designed to conquer the "no man's land" of WW1. It was dimensionally the largest tank ever produced, and for a time the heaviest. Ready for production by February 1918, the war ended before any of the vehicles were completed, and so the order of 300 was eventually reduced to just 10, finished in 1921. The standard 2C mounted a 75 mm APX 1897 field gun, similar to the cannon which would be mounted on the M3 GMC tank destroyer. The 2C had many innovative design features for the time, including a hybrid drive, leaf spring suspension, the world's first three-man turret, and stroboscopic cupolas. All of the 2Cs were named after ancient regions of France.
One 2C, No. 99 "Champagne", was given a new two-man cast turret with a 155 mm howitzer. The commander was given his own compartment behind the turret. The side machine gun ports were also removed. This variant would be known as the 2C bis. Eventually, Champagne would be returned to its original configuration and its turret would be used as a makeshift static emplacement in the Mareth Line. Champagne would be the only 2C to survive the invasion of France, with the other nine tanks either being scuttled by their own crew to prevent capture, or breaking down.
Media
- Skins
See also
- Related development
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
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 |