Spoiler



This is a fascinating tank, designed for a projected trench war in Europe. It's like a land-yacht, but past the silly size of it the tank does have one or two tricks to it. Oh, and bear in mind that unlike the other Tier 6 tanks this thing will never fight any higher than Tier 7.



Mobility

Look, it's enormous. I hope if you intend to get this to realize that it's going to be slow. Weighing in at over 80 tons and possessing a mere 600 horsepower it's the slowest of all the Tier 6 tanks (indeed, one of the slowest in the game).



For comparision, the next slowest tank at this Tier is probably the KV-2, with a HP:Ton ratio of 10.56. The ToG-II* though? 7.38. And it even matches the KV-2 at traverse speed, having only 20 degrees per minute.



This is just very poor handling. The only other tank that compares is the Churchill VII, which is still a tad bit faster at 8.59. The ToG-II* then gets the combination of the poor acceleration of the Churchill VII with the very poor hull-handling of the KV-2.



In its defense though, it does have a few fast turret traverse speed.



Firepower

Number one reason to love the ToG-II*? That gun. The 17 Pounder it packs is superior to the 77mm on the Churchill VII in several respect, making it so that this lumbering behemoth isn't totally useless.



The penetration values are fairly average for a Tier 6 heavy tank at 171mm, allowing it to damage almost anything it sees . This is drastically superior than the Churchill VII's 148mm, and on par with the 122mm D-25 on the KV-1S or the 90mm on the M6.



Better still is that it's the most accurate heavy-tank gun: A 0.34 accuracy makes it better than the 0.36 on the Churchill VII or even the 0.38 of the 90mm on the ARL-44 or the M6 Heavy tank. Aim time is 2.3 seconds, which is par for the course at this tier (MUCH better than the ARL-44 or the KV-1S though, just so you know). Plus, an unusual advantage to being SO slow is that the ToG-II* retains much of its accuracy even while moving forward at a snails pace.



Basically, when you get around to the ToG-II* you get the impression that the gun is ideal for long ranged engagements. It may not have the heaviest hitting power (only 150 damage), but it has reliable hitting power.



Heck, it even shoots fast.With a 100% crew and with vents and a gun rammer you'll pull 4.2 second reload times. The listed DPM is 1800, which means it either leaves other heavy tanks in the dust (KV-1S, ARL-44, T-150) or is on par with them (M6). There is one interesting exception:



The Churchill VII, which returns with a vengeance. THAT tank can shoot at a noticeably higher fire rate, putting its reload times up to 3.6 with the same setup. 4/5 of a second may not strike anyone as particularly fast, but combined with the superior armor a smart Churchill VII has a very good shot at defeating a ToG-II* in a straight slug-fest



[it has happened to me once while in the Churchill VII...the ToG-II* and I just traded blows like a bunch of colonial-era soldiers, and I came out on the top despite his epic HP advantage]



Regardless of that one exception, the 17 Pounder is otherwise a superior weapon in every respect to the 77mm on the Churchill VII. AND IT GETS BETTER! Unlike the Churchill VII, the ToG-II* has 10 degree of gun depression, putting it in the same class as the T-29 series of tanks for "best at going Hull Down".



Survivability

The armor on the ToG-II* isn't necessarily THAT bad. 76mm with a very small amount of slope makes it roughly equivelant to the KV-2 or M6 in terms of what can and cannot hurt it.



Here's the problem. It's gigantic and slow. This makes it rather easy to hit.



Gigantasism does have advantages though, and in this case it comes in the form of making the crew and modules rather well protected and hard to hit. So there is that. And, since the sides are just as tough as the front in terms of thickness, there's little reason not to angle your hull a full 45 degrees to get the absolute maximum amount of protection possible. Or, you can even do the "reverse side-scraper" effect, where you enter a corner backwards and take advantage of your immense length to peek around corners while exposing almost no hull (for an exmaple of what I'm talking about, refer to guides on the subject that pertain to the VK4502(P) Ausf. B or the FV415B).



Artillery will obviously be a major hinderance to the ToG-II*, not only becuase it's easy to hit, but because it's so hard to hide. Rocks aren't really good sources of cover since a part of you will probably be sticking out. Just stay cautious.



There is one thing though, a so called "best for last" aspect: hitpoints. Just like the Tier 5 mediums are useful partially due to a large HP pool, so too is the ToG-II*. It packs a show-stopping 1400 hitpoints. Only 2 tank in this tier range can hope to top that, the Tiger-H and the Tiger-P at 1450. You may be tempted to employ the ToG-II* as a bullet sponge, and you could. But I wouldn't rely on hitpoints saving you. Sure, you have over 500 more of the things than any other Tier 6 tank. But don't sqaunder them.



Oh, one thing though. Don't think you can win a straight shooting match with a KV-2. It has a chance to penetrate with HE, and if it does you'll be having a rather bad day. Even with EVERY shot penetrating and hitting for almost maximum damage you're cutting it very close on getting all 5 shots needed to kill a KV-2 during 1 reload cycle. You need 6 shots to reliably kill the KV-2, but unfortunately they can reload in 19.8 seconds if the crew has BIA, vents, and a rammer.....and in 19.8 seconds you'll only get off 4 shots, 5 if you count your very first shot. 5 shots would do 750 damage on average....and the KV-2 has 860 hitpoints. You can win such a firefight, but you need a lot of luck to pull it off.



On the plus side, this is the only Tier 6 tank that can do this to you. Even the KV-1S with the mighty 122mm can't win a straight up brawl with a ToG-II*. Again, I don't recommend just eating lead as a strategy....however, if it's the last guy alive and you have the HP to spare, it's a thing you can do to maximize your damage.



Tactical Utility

It's big and slow, easy to hit and easy to hurt....but it retaliates very well with a combination of a fast and accurate gun combined with more hitpoints in one tank than a platoon of 3 Tier 5 medium tanks.



To enjoy this tank you need to like being big and slow. If you can't tolerate that, then don't even both with this tank. If you do like that, then what you have yourself is something with a very solid gun and a large HP pool. You also have an advantage with regards to your MM. You'll usually be top tier, and at the worst you'll fight Tier 7 tanks. You cannot get into tier 8 matches.



Because of this, the ToG-II can be lethal if platooned. 3 ToG-II* tanks would give you guys 4200 Hitpoints. Compared to other Tier 6 heavies, you're looking at having a "free" reserve of around 1650 hitpoints. This is the equivelant of having 2 extra tanks on your team. Granted, those free tanks are going to be moving very slowly and those hitpoints can drain pretty quickly, but it's still an appreciable advantage.

