Part I: https://thearmoredpatrol.com/2017/06/10/japanese-td-line-proposal-part-i/

Hello again! Today we will continue the Japanese TD line. Previously we reached the 5th tier in this new proposal, so let us continue with the rest, up until tier 10!

Things start to get more interesting, too.

Tier 6: Na-To

The Na-To certainly is an unusual looking vehicle. It is based on the hull of the Chi-So medium tracked carrier, which gives it an odd look, almost resembling a tracked tractor. The Na-To uses the 7.5 cm Type 5 cannon, same as on the Chi-To. The gun is mounted on a “turret” with limited traverse, while its armor is absolutely pathetic at 12 / 12 / 4 mm, meaning that the Na-To WILL get overmatched by about everything. Only two of them were ever built, they never saw action.

I would like to point one thing out. While the Type 5 75 mm is a potent gun for a tier 6 medium tank, it isn’t strong enough for a very poorly armored tier 6 tank destroyer. That is one of the problems I had to face with my proposal. The Na-To fits more into tier 5, while the Ho-Nis also would fit into lower tiers than they are now. Sure, wouldn’t I just remove the Ku-Se and downtier these tanks? Well it isn’t that simple. If I downtier the Na-To, it leaves a hole in tier 6. I would just downtier the tier 7 TD then… but it would leave a hole in tier 7, and the cycle continues.

There ARE candidates for the tier 6 slot, but the tier 6 candidates are basically either a Japanese Churchill GCs or a very obscure TD based on the Chi-Ri that has extremely limited information and possibly wasn’t even real. That’s why it is honestly just better to uptier the Ho-Nis and the Na-To, giving them stronger guns as upgrades. As long as they have their historical gun options and their top guns are not completely unrealistic (hey, we have the E 75 with a 128 mm gun jammed into basically a Tiger II turret…), I think it is fine to uptier them. At least they don’t rely on their armor so we don’t have to modify that.

Anyways, back to the Na-To. As a gun upgrade, I propose basically the same solution WG applied with the 10cm gun of the O-Ni and O-Ho: Make the premium ammo the regular kind, adding a new premium ammo (that the O-Ho doesn’t have on its 10 cm gun). This gives the Na-To roughly 180 / 210 mm penetration, which would be quite good. The speciality of the Na-To would be a gun with blisteringly high rate of fire, good accuracy and decent penetration. The Na-To would be an excellent sniper, one of the best in its tier, but it comes at the cost of having useless armor and a somewhat mediocre mobility.

Crew: 6

Weight: 13,7 tons

Armor: 12 / 12 / 4

Engine: 234 hp

Top speed: 43

HP: 600

Gun: 75 mm Type 5, 75 mm Type 5 Model 1, 75 mm Type 5 Model 1 Kai

Alpha damage: 135 / 135 / 175

Penetration: 186 / 211 / 38

Gun depression/elevation: -8 / +19

The Na-To has no armor, is a relatively large target despite its low weight and has extremely low alpha damage for its tier, but what it does have is an exceptional rate of fire and accuracy. The Na-To is the final tank of the line that carries a 75 mm gun. The next vehicle is conceptually similar, but it has one major change – a bigger gun.

Tier 7: Ka-To

The Ka-To is relatively similar to the Na-To in its concept. The pseudo-turret is based on that of the Na-To, mounted on the hull of the Chi-Ri. The main difference compared to the Na-To however is the gun: instead of a 75 mm gun, the Ka-To uses a 105 mm gun. There is not too much information available about the vehicle. One partially finished prototype is said to be built, but the fate of it is unknown.

The gun, 105 millimeters in caliber, hits much harder than the one of the Na-To, having more than twice the alpha damage. Like the Na-To, the Ka-To has a pseudo-turret, giving it a wide gun arc. The hull is large and poorly armored, so the Ka-To is vulnerable when caught in the open. Just like the Na-To, the Ka-To should fight its opponents from afar.

Crew: 6

Weight: 30 tons

Armor: 25 / 20 / 20

Engine: 500 hp (stock), 550 hp (upgrade)

Top speed: 40

HP: 950

Gun: 105 mm gun Type 5

Alpha damage: 330 / 330 / 430

Penetration: 202 / 239 / 48

Gun depression/elevation: -8 / +20

The Ka-To is like the Na-To on steroids. Similar vehicle, but instead of the rapid-firing, super accurate gun, it packs way more punch. The Ka-To is the final tank that represents unusual, very poorly armored tank destroyers. The tier 8-10 are somewhat different vehicles.

Tier 8: Ho-Ri I

The Ho-Ri I is built on the chassis of the Chi-Ri medium tank with a fully enclosed casemate. The Type 1 variant has a casemate located in the back of the vehicle. The Ho-Ri project was divided in two alternative designs, the Ho-Ri I is the first of the two. The Ho-Ri I was never built in favor of the more advanced Ho-Ri design, the Ho-Ri III.

The armor of the Ho-Ri is… unimpressive, as it has the same hull armor as the Chi-Ri, while the casemate armor is increased to 100 mm… which is still quite unimpressive. The 10 cm Experimental Tank gun (which is already, although unhistorically, found on the Japanese heavies in-game) was a powerful anti-tank gun meant to be mounted on the Ho-Ris. The special feature of the gun is an autoloading mechanism, based on that of the Chi-Ri’s. This gives the Ho-Ri I a unique playstyle: Think of a turretless Chi-Ri with much higher alpha damage and penetration. (The stock gun has 215 mm penetration.) Like with the Na-To, the upgraded gun is simply a stock gun that uses premium shells as its standard ammunition, with a more powerful shell type as its new premium shells.

Crew: 6

Weight: ~40 tons

Armor: 100 / 35 / 35

Engine: 500 hp (stock), 550 hp (upgrade)

Top speed: 40

HP: 1400

Gun: 10 cm Experimental Tank Gun, 10 cm Experimental Tank Gun model I

Alpha damage: 330 / 330 / 430

Penetration: 242 / 282 / 48

Autoloader: 3 rounds

Intra-clip reload: 1,8 seconds

Gun depression/elevation: -10 / +20

The Ho-Ri is definitely an interesting vehicle with poor armor and large size, but it also features a powerful autoloading gun with very short intra-clip reload, good gun depression and high HP pool.

Tier 9: Ho-Ri II

The Ho-Ri II is the second variant of the Ho-Ri-projects. Though it is rather similar to the first variant, this version has a mid-mounted casemate, giving it similar looks to the Jagdtiger. Like the Ho-Ri I, the II variant was never built.

The Ho-Ri II has a similar armor layout compared to the Ho-Ri I, which is exceptionally poor for a tier 9 TD. The Ho-Ri II, as an upgrade, gets a stronger version of the 10 cm gun with higher penetration and shell velocity.

Crew: 6

Weight: ~40 tons

Armor: 100 / 35 / 35

Engine: 500 HP, 550 HP, 650 HP

Top speed: 40

HP: 1800

Gun: 10 cm Experimental Tank gun, 10 cm Experimental Tank Gun model I, 10 cm Experimental high-power Tank Gun

Alpha damage: 330 / 330 / 430

Penetration: 290 / 329 / 48

Autoloader: 3 rounds

Intra-clip reload: 1.5 seconds

Gun depression/elevation: -10 / +20

The Ho-Ri II is the natural evolution of the Ho-Ri I. It retains the same armor, but it gains a major penetration boost, a faster intra-clip and more health, as well as a middle-mounted casemate, which is a little more comfortable when it comes to peeking from corners.

Tier 10: Ho-Ri III

Wooden mockup, produced during the early steps of the project, has an incorrect scale.

And here we are, at the tier 10 Japanese TD. The Ho-Ri III, also known as Ho-Ri Toku, was the penultimate Japanese TD design. It was designed to fix some faults and fill the army requirements of the time. This includes a significantly heavier armor compared to that of the Ho-Ri I and II. The aim was to challenge any potential American anti-tank gun: the upper front plate was 125 mm thick, sloped at 70 degrees, while the casemate’s armor was 250 mm thick. However, the sides were still frail and the lower plate was also a weak spot

The Ho-Ri III used the same gun as both of the earlier Ho-Ri variants. However, an idea of using tungsten-chrome-steel alloy shells were proposed at some point, potentially giving the vehicle very high penetration.

Reportedly one prototype of the Ho-Ri III was produced. However, the production model had a thinner armor at 75 mm. A total of 5 vehicles were ordered, but Japan lost the war before production could start.

Crew: 6

Weight: ~45 tons

Armor: 125 / 35 / 35, 250 mm on casemate

Engine: 900 hp

Top speed: 40

HP: 2000

Gun: 10 cm Experimental high-power Tank Gun

Alpha damage: 330 / 330 / 430

Penetration: 290 / 329 / 48

Autoloader: 3 rounds

Intra-clip reload: 1.5 seconds

Gun depression/elevation: -10 / +20

The Ho-Ri III is the apex of the Japanese tank destroyer line. The gun is comparable to that of the Ho-Ri II. However, the Ho-Ri III’s special feature is something that the Ho-Ri II or any of the other Japanese TDs did not have, frontal armor. The Ho-Ri III also gains a significant engine power boost compared to Ho-Ri II, making it a relatively mobile vehicle.

Compared to the current tier 10 TDs, the Ho-Ri III is best comparable to the Object 263. Compared to the 263, the Ho-Ri III has less alpha damage, has lower top speed and has a slightly weaker armor. However, it has an autoloader system, much better gun depression and no open top. The Ho-Ri III is best described as a fusion of the Object 263 and the Chi-Ri. The Ho-Ri III would certainly be a very unique vehicle.

And that marks the end of the main line of the Japanese TDs. Japan certainly has a colorful arsenal of different vehicles: The Japanese mediums have poor armor, but high DPM, above average penetration and good gun depression, while the Japanese heavies have very thick frontal armor, powerful howitzer guns and are one of the biggest vehicles in the game.

The Japanese TDs on the other hand have low alpha damage for a TD, generally one of the lowest in their tiers, with the exception of the tier 10. Their armor is also lacking and after the midtiers even their camo is not outstanding. However they make it up for that by having very good accuracy, a good rate of fire, high penetration and good gun depression values. At higher tiers the Japanese TDs gain an autoloader and the tier 10 (breaking the habit) has a fairly respectable frontal armor.

This is not the final part of my Japanese TD line proposal, however. The third and final part will handle the premium candidates – there are a few of those too! Stay tuned!