Rooikat Mk.1D
Contents
Description
The Rooikat Mk.1D is a rank VI British light tank
with a battle rating of 8.3 (AB) and 8.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.95 "Northern Wind".
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour on the Rooikat is, to say the least, nonexistent. It will be safe from rifle-caliber machine guns from all angles, but 12.7 mm and above will be able to penetrate the side armour at close ranges. Cannon-armed aircraft will also be a significant threat. This vehicle also has hull-break, so any main gun will probably instantly destroy the Rooikat Mk.1D. Therefore, the Rooikat Mk.1D's key to survival is mobility. It also comes stock with a desert yellow camouflage, which can be problematic on certain maps.
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 134 | 41 | 26.5 | 879 | 1,082 | 33.17 | 40.83 |
| Realistic | 121 | 37 | 501 | 567 | 18.91 | 21.4 | |
The mobility on the Rooikat Mk.1D is best described as good. It's decently fast, both on and off-road, but suffers from a poor turning circle and a somewhat under-powered engine, at least when stock. Users should not be surprised if they have trouble climbing even mild grades from a standstill and it is not uncommon to need to back up and gain some momentum before being able overcome some hills.
Armaments
Main armament
The Rooikat Mk.1D is armed with the Denel 76mm GT-4 cannon. As far as game-play goes, it is essentially a hand-loaded version of the OTO-Melara 76mm/62 gun found on the OTOMATIC. It fires the same APFSDS and has HE with similar performance to the shell found on the OTOMATIC, albeit not VT fused and thus far less useful. Its APFSDS has the ability to frontally penetrate any opponent in its battle-rating bracket, although the odd Maus may be troublesome, particularly if it is angled.
It has a base 8.7 second reload, which can be reduced to 6.7s through a fully trained and aced crew. Unfortunately this reload is exactly as long as the reload on 105mm armed vehicles it may face in its battle-rating bracket such as the Leopard series, OF-40 series, Centauro, and AMX-30 series. It also has the somewhat questionable accuracy of the OTO-Melara 76mm, so do not be surprised if its shots aren't pinpoint, though this matters more for shooting down the odd helicopter than for tanks. It gets access to a laser rangefinder to make long range shots easier which is useful on large maps like Sinai. It has decent turret traverse and good firing angles, so its quite flexible in terms of positioning.
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.
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:
- Currently the fastest vehicle in-game (120 km/h in RB), even with stock modules it can often drive off-road as fast as an upgraded BMP-2
- Access to APFSDS rounds
- Able to hull-break light tanks with the APFSDS round
- One of the only British scout tanks, along with the Warrior
- Sides and front can stop .50 cals at slight angle or at 100+ metres
- Cheap to repair,
3,600 stock, 6,161 spaded - Has a laser rangefinder that can measure up to 4,260 m
- Very good reverse speed at -43 km/h
- Has good zoom for its optics (8.0x - 12.0x)
Cons:
- Despite the indicated top speed, the vehicle will rarely get to 100+ km/h
- Not as good at reversing as other British light tanks or the Object 906
- Weak armour overall, unlike Warrior it will succumb to any autocannon fire instantly
- Vehicle will not be able to stabilise the gun at speeds of 75+ km/h (46.6+ mph)
- Has a rather large turning circle, so turning around in confined areas may require 3-point turns.
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
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
| Britain light tanks | |
|---|---|
| A13 | A13 Mk I · A13 Mk I (3rd R.T.R.) · A13 Mk II · A13 Mk II 1939 |
| A15 | Crusader II · Crusader "The Saint" · Crusader III |
| A17 | Tetrarch I |
| IFV | Warrior · Desert Warrior (Kuwait) |
| Wheeled | Daimler Mk II · AEC Mk II · Fox · Vickers Mk.11 |
| Other | VFM5 |
| South Africa | |
| SARC | SARC MkIVa · SARC MkVI (2pdr) · SARC MkVI (6pdr) |
| Ratel | Ratel 90 · Ratel 20 |
| Rooikat | Rooikat Mk.1D · Rooikat 105 · Rooikat MTTD |
| Other | Concept 3 · Eland 90 Mk.7 |
| USA | Stuart I · Stuart III |
