O-I was the designation given to a proposed series of Japanese super-heavy tanks. The vehicle was planned to be very heavy and have a crew of 11.
Historical Plausibility:
As far as I’m concerned, a chassis was developed and there are tracks displayed at a japanese engineering school, however it was never completed. With that being said, Implementing the O-I into the game is certainly more realistic than the “Ho-Ri” production and prototypes.
Game implementation:
I could see this being implemented as a defensive tank that could be supported by infantry. Since the tank is so large, it’s an easy target for CAS and American tanks. However, it has a large crew, so it should be relatively survivable.
I think it is a very cool vehicle even if never produced. I think it would be very impractical on most if not all of the pacific maps.
I am not sure how the crew size issue would be addressed, I think the largest tank crews in game are around 7 or 8. Maybe just underman such tanks like they did with the LVT(a)(1).
The problem of adding new things for japan persists.
In regards to practicality, I think it would be very affective for defensive usage, especially in urban areas. However it would be very vulnerable to anti-tank weapons.
Oh the chassis you say? Well by all means we must have everything we need to properly model one then!
What’s the total weight of a completed tank?
What cannon does it use?
What’s the performance of said cannon?
What’s the cannon’s RoF?
How many grams of HE filler is the HE shell?
How many inches and commie inches can the AP shell pen?
What shells were it given?
How many of each shell does it carry?
What’s the engine horsepower?
Horsepower to drive sprocket?
Top speed?
Reverse top speed?
Acceleration?
Braking power?
Gears in the transmission?
Turret traverse?
What’s the min/max turret elevation?
How many machine guns does it have and how much ammo for each?
Does it have neutral steer?
How good is the suspension dampening?
Is the gun stabilized?
Where are the commander, gunner, and driver optics mounted? Are they fixed slits or periscopes?
If they’re periscopes, whats the traversal of them? We talking 360°, 90°, 5°? How far around can you look while buttoned up?
How thick is the armor?
What’s the total effective thickness?
Weak spots?
Shot traps?
They can just increase the size of the tank squad. Unlike infantry squad, there is no artificial limit on tank squad size since it follows the crew size of the tank it use.
