Separate Italian tech tree

I saw a topic about Italian tech tree some time ago, this one to be specific: Italian Research Tree 🇮🇹. After some discussion there, i decided to make my own version of the tree proposed there, but since it took me a couple of days, I want to post it as a separate thread so that more people see it, so here it is:

Tier I

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Tier II

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Tier III

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Tier IV

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Lack of Tier V

Probably the biggest thing to clarify here. I don’t believe that all factions should have five tiers as it is not possible in some cases (Poland or France), and just stupid in others, like Japan. And since the game already can handle that (Japan Tier IV does not meet US Tier V in battles), some factions just shouldn’t be forced into the top tier by getting non-existent equipment.

Old premium squads

I decided to include the pre-merge premium squads, these ones:

  • M13/40 (III)
  • Beretta Mod. 31
  • Breda 88 (P.XI)
  • Re.2001 CN
  • Lanciafiamme Mod. 35 (renamed to the Mod. 40)

The only pre-merge Tunisia Axis premium squads I did not include are the Pz.III N and the FNAB-43 squads. The former as it’s a German squad, and the latter because the FNAB-43 is already in the tree.
I also think that the FNAB-43 squad would be a nice “collectible squad” - brought back regularly for sale on different occasions like the Enlisted birthday or some anniversaries related to the Tunisia campaign. Especially that it’s a Bersaglieri squad, so they have cool looking uniforms and feathered helmets:)

Flamethrowers

All of the factions in the game have two tech tree flamethrowers, and I decided to do the same thing here. The problem was the pre-merge flametrooper premium squad, equipped with the Lf Mod. 35 which has stats of a Tier IV flamethrower (Flammenwerfer 41, M2 and so on). So to avoid having a weird situation where the chronologically first flamethrower is not the weakest one, I changed the name of the Premium squad’s flamethrower to the Lf Mod. 40 as I noticed that they have essentially identical gun parts and differ mainly by the backpack design. So now we have the Lf Mod. 35 at Tier III and the Lf Mod. 41 and the premium Lf Mod. 40 at Tier IV.

New weapons and vehicles

So, here are the weapon and vehicle choices with some explanations. I will only touch on the less obvious choices, so if I skipped something you want to know, feel free to ask.

Tier I

  • Vetterli-Vitali
    Because why not? It would be a cool bolt action rifle with a high damage but lower fire rate.
  • Fucile Contracarro 35(p)
    It’s the Polish wz. 35 Ur anti-tank rifle - it was used by the Italians, so it should be added here. Comparable to the PzB 38 and 39, and if you have the event German AT squad, you know this rifle.
  • Brixia Mod. 35
    It’s a very interesting design - breech loaded, using separate ammunition (single loaded projectiles and a 10 round magazine of modified 6.5mm Carcano blanks) and rather small caliber, 45mm projectiles. Its lack of explosive power could be compensated by more ammunition carried as well as higher fire rate. Here is a video showing how the Brixia mortar works.
  • AS.42
    It would serve as the Tier I SPAA for Italy. I know that it provides no protection for the crew, but I don’t think there are other choices here.
  • L3 Lanciafiamme
    Just so that the Italians can get a flamethrower tank. Since I don’t know if adding a vehicle with a trailer would be a good idea, I think it should be the variant with the smaller fuel tank mounted over the engine compartment.

Tier II

  • Mannlicher M1895
    From what I know, Italians used that rifle, so I added it as just another bolt action. It would have high fire rate thanks to the straight pull bolt as well as higher damage as it uses an 8mm projectile.
  • Beretta M1
    I think it should be moved into Tier II - either by getting its recoil slightly nerfed or its magazine being replaced by a 30 round one.
  • Solothurn S-18/1000
    It was used by Italians, both as an infantry AT rifle and as the armament of some of the L3 tankettes. From the game standpoint it should be similar to the Type 97 AT rifle, but with a 10 round magazine, higher penetration and potentially a scope.
  • Lanciabombe Contracarro
    It’s a 60mm AT weapon based on the Carcano carbine. It fired HEAT grenades capable of penetrating around 70mm of armor. When it comes to the performance (penetration and trajectory) it should be kinda similar to the PIAT.
  • Lancia 3Ro
    For an APC squad. The model of this truck is already in War Thunder, so it would be the easiest choice.
  • Pz. III N
    Italians used it, so why not? It would be different from the other Tier II Italian tanks as it has a 75mm howitzer, so it would be good against infantry.
  • Ju 87 R-2
    Again, it was used by Italians so I decided to add it.
  • Beretta Mod. 31
    From the pre-merge radiooperator squad.
  • Fiat 655NM Protetto
    I was split between this and the Autoprotetto S.37, but the S.37 is too small (driver and 8 passengers). That and the Fiat is literally a battle bus, so the choice was kinda obvious:)
  • Scotti Mod. 42
    It’s kinda interesting - just 20 rounds in the magazine, but rather powerful ones (9mm Mauser Export). I don’t know its fire rate, but with that magazine capacity, I don’t think it can go anywhere besides Tier II.

Tier III

  • Beretta Mod. 37
    It’s the only Italian semi auto rifle I found that doesn’t use the Mannlicher style clip. It has a 9 round magazine and shoots the 7.35×51mm, so I think it’s a very good rifle for Tier III.
  • Mod. 28 Tromboncino
    A combination of a Carcano carbine and a 38.5mm grenade launcher.
  • ZB-26
    As Italy lacks machine guns, I have to resort to using captured one. A lot of ZB-26 LMGs were captured by Italy in Yugoslavia, so I think it should be in the tech tree.
  • FM 24/29
    The French Châtellerault LMG. As above, it was captured by Italy, so it should be in the tech tree. It has a 25 round magazine, fires a bit slow, but thanks to this should be very controllable. It also has a front grip, so it chould be treated as an automatic rifle by the game and have the same 25% sprint speed penalty as the BARs as opposed to the standard 50%.
  • OG-44
    From the game standpoint it would be the OG-43 with a 40 round magazine and slightly better recoil (wooden stock), so it should be in Tier III as opposed to the OG-43, which should be no higher than Tier II (but the Italian paratrooper squad is at Tier IV for some ungodly reason).
  • Lf Mod. 35
    Just a standard “1st flamethrower”, the same as the M1 or ROKS-2. I explained the changes in naming above.
  • Panzerfaust 60
    This is about the PzF 60, PzF 100 and the RPzB 54, so I won’t mention the other two in Tier IV. The thing is that Italy just needs AR weapons that are better than the Lanciabombe, so some copy paste is needed here, especially that Italy used all three of these.
  • M42 Contraero
    A bit controversial, as it would shred infantry, but it was already there in the original tech tree suggestion so I decided to leave it.
  • StuG III G
    Again - Italians used it, so why not?
  • Terni LMG
    From what I can gather about this weapon, it seems to be a “Breda Mod. 30, but better”. So I think it should have better recoil stats than the Breda and be at Tier III.
  • 90/53 M41M
    Its gun is very powerful, sure, but it has only 8 rounds, which is why I believe it shouldn’t be higher than Tier III, nor should it be in the research tree.

Tier IV

  • Breda PG
    It’s the Italian experimental variant from the event, so the semi auto one chambered for 6.5mm Carcano.
  • TZ-45
    From what I saw (here), it has a fire rate of around 750 rpm instead of 600, so it would actually fit well in Tier IV.
  • MG 42
    There are photos of Italian soldiers using the MG 42, so it can be added. It’s kind of a placeholder though, as there are some very rare Italian prototype MGs that could technically fit here, but I don’t know enough about them to include them here. The Scotti Mod. 37 seems to be a good candidate, but I need more photos and sources on it.
  • Breda-SAFAT
    It’s the version supposedly used by the Folgore paratroopers. From the game perspective it should be kinda similar to the M1919A6, except with higher fire rate (around 800rpm), so to make it Tier IV, I think it should have a 50 round belt instead of 100 round one.
  • Lf Mod. 41
    Simply as a Tier IV tech tree flamethrower. Do not confuse it with the Lf Mod. 41 d’assalto from the paratrooper squad, the regular Mod. 41 flamethrower is a conventional design with a backpack.
  • Pz.IV G
    As with the StuG III and Pz III - Italians used these, so they fit here. Plus it’s the only option if we want to avoid paper tanks.
  • Villar-Perosa
    It would be very interesting to see how this would be implemented as it’s more of a stationary weapon. But it was there in the original suggestion, so I decided to keep it here.
  • Lf Mod. 40
    It’s meant to be the current Lf Mod. 35 squad, as I explained above.

Battle pass and event weapons:

  • FNAB-43
    As I’ve said, I think it should be a collectible squad, returning on occasions like Enlisted birthday or some anniversaries regarding the Tunisia campaign.
  • Cei-Rigotti
    I think it should be implemented in many different versions (magazine capacities, barrel lengths and so on) and in many different ways. And, since from what I know, all variant were reloaded by stripper clips and had a rather low fire rate, they could all be Tier IV despite being full auto.
  • “Pavesi SVT”
    Could be either a battle pass weapon or for some sort of event squad. From what I researched, not a lot is known about this rifle, so it could be either Tier III or Tier IV weapon.
  • Terni M91
    Probably another Tier II rifle. I think it should be a battle pass weapon since we don’t seem to get event squads with lower tier weapons.
  • SMGs
    In general - the Sosso, the Pavesi-Revelli or the PM-470 could be cool additions to the battle pass or as event weapons.

I’d like to hear what you think about this, and if I got anything wrong about the weapons, feel free to correct me:)

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To be honest, the tree structure seems a bit lacking. How about adding prototype weapons, like the Japanese tree? I feel that the machine gun tree and submachine gun tree are a bit lacking in terms of the number of weapons. Also, regarding the Breda-SAFAT ground version, there are only a few photos, and finding accurate records is difficult (I’m referring to the version with additional units as a ground-operable Breda-SAFAT, not the original). If it’s included in the tree, I think adding the Scotti Mod 1937 at Rank 3 wouldn’t be a problem. Additionally, how about adding the G41 to the semi-automatic tree? There are a few remaining photos of its actual use.

Lastly, I suggest combining the Italian and Hungarian trees, similar to War Thunder. It may be a bit challenging, but relying solely on an Italian tree has its issues (such as a lack of breakthrough tanks or heavy reliance on German designs, making it similar to the German tree). Combining it with the Hungarian tree would allow players to enjoy unique and independent Hungarian weapons (like the Turán tank series, Danuvia submachine gun series, Hungarian-made Buzogányvető 44M kézi páncéltörő vető, and various prototype weapons), filling the gaps in the Italian tree and creating a more diverse deck.

I used a translation tool to write this in English. If there are parts that are hard to understand, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to respond.

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And I’ve looked into additional weapons that could be included in the Italian military. How about the CEMSA 63.5mm L25.5? It’s a 63mm mortar, and you can think of it as a scaled-up version of the Mortaio Brixia Modello 35/Brixia M35, which was a 45mm mortar used by the Italian military.

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Preach GIF - Preach - Discover & Share GIFs

Thank you.

No BR [X] is better than fake BR [X].

I am far from an expert on Italian weaponry and vehicles but I am praying there won’t be paper/prototypes.

Maybe the missing pieces of the puzzle can be brought over from the German stuff you already unlocked.

No thank you.

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Adding prototype weapons with real-world counterparts seems like a reasonable idea. The Japanese tree also includes numerous prototype weapons :slight_smile:

Regarding the addition of Hungarians to the Italians, I am definitely against it. In War Thunder, it works this way, but that’s because it’s more or less irrelevant which machines are in the trees. Arcades are everyone against everyone, regardless of states. Realistic battles are different nations against different nations regardless of the historical positions of states. Therefore, there is no problem in adding other nations to national trees.

Here, the situation is such that the game still maintains a certain historical authenticity. And this is primarily through the maps on which specific nations fight each other. Yes, there is a problem in the form of Italians in Berlin, Normandy, the Ardennes, etc. But this needs to be solved by creating a separate faction. However, if Hungarians were added to the Italian tree, the same problem that the Italians have with the Germans would arise. Hungarians would suddenly start appearing in North Africa, Sicily, southern Italy, or southern France… simply on Italian battlefields where they have no business being.

When adding units and nations, they should be those that really make sense. For example, Commonwealth nations to Britain. For Italy, perhaps colonial Eritrean, Somali, Libyan, or Albanian units and some of their unique weapons. For example, for Libya, an event or premium paratrooper squad “Ascari del Cielo”, consisting purely of Libyans, could be added to Italy. Or a squad “Polizia dell’Africa Italiana”, which was primarily composed of native nations (Askaris) from Italy’s African colonial territories. In the case of Albania, an interesting squad “Milizia fascista albanese” comes to mind, which was a paramilitary organization formed after the Italian invasion of Albania and consisted of Albanian volunteers who approved of the Italian protectorate.

Ascari del Cielo

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Polizia dell'Africa Italiana

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Milizia fascista albanese

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When did Italians use German tanks? I’ve been unable for find any information on this subject other than an Italian unit that started training on panzers in Italy but the armistice happened before they were ever deployed.

I know the Italians used a significant amount of captured equipment, but I’d be interested to learn about their use of German equipment.

Also, which Italian army are we talking about here, the Royal Italian Army or the National Republic Army? From what I’ve read it doesn’t seem the Germans respected or trusted Italians enough to equip them at any point in the war.

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Not from me; I got it from Quora (first Google result for me).

The first German tanks they received only enterred service as late as May of 1943, when the 1ª Divisione corazzata “M” was formed. Created within an effort to re-create an Italian armed corps after most of it had been wiped out in North Africa, this armored division was particular because it wasn’t composed of regulars, but blackshirts. The division was meant to serve as an elite and deeply loyal unit which would be more ardent in the defense of the fascist regime than the classic divisions of the royal army.

The “M” division received 36 German armored vehicles; 12 Panzer III ausf N (Panzer IIIs armed with the short, KwK 37 L/24 75mm infantry support gun found in early Panzer IV), 12 Panzer IV ausf G and 12 StuG III ausf G, with each vehicle type being regrouped in a company. Those were the only armored vehicles of the division, though it did also use German 88mm FlaK 37 guns in its artillery batteries (despite Italy producing a gun similar in capacities, the 90/53)


Italian blackshirt crew of the M division, 2nd Company, “Leonessa” armored group, 1943
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Italian blackshirt crew enterring a StuG III Ausf G, 3rd company, “Leoneassa” armored group, 1943
ita3
Italian Panzer IV Ausf G with the crew emerging from the hatches, 1st Company, “Leonessa” armored group, 1943

Italy technically received the license to produce the Panzer III in August of 1941, and one to produce the Panzer IV in 1942, but never attempted to produce the German tanks, mostly because of Fiat-Ansaldo’s opposition. In December of 1942 German general Von Horstig offered the production licence of the Panzer V Panther, which was a more interesting prospect. Negotiations were undertaken in February of 1943, but it was thought production could only begin in more than a year, with 50 tanks per month expected 18 months from the meetings (If more than 25 vehicles were produced each month, the surplus would be delivered to the Wehrmacht, and not the Regio Esercito). It was planned to purchase at least 10 Panthers before December of 1943, however, the Armistice of September 1943 put an end to those prospects, and no Panther ended up in Italian hands.

There was a rumor that 36 Tiger I were delivered to Italy, however that appears to be false; the confusion was created because photos exist of Italian tankers training on Tiger I in Germany in the spring of 1943; once again the fall of facism but an end to the prospect of Tiger tanks potentially been delivered to Italy.

Again, not from me; just copy and paste.

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There is already a lot of prototypes in this tech tree. I’m not against adding prototype and experimental weapons, but they should not be the majority of a tech tree. Besides, some weapons are more experimental than others, for example I believe that adding the Tokyo Arsenal SMG was a bad idea because of its fire rate (long story short, the 1200 rpm fire rate is a bug, not a feature, the longer explanation is here).

I agree about machine guns, that’s why the MG 42 is there, but the SMGs definitely aren’t lacking. At least two per tier, and the choice between them is between good and very good. I know that people are used to comparing minor nations to Germany or USSR, but if we want this game to grow and be really diverse when it comes to nations and tech trees, we need to accept that not every faction will have 5 tiers full of equipment. Besides, in my suggestion, the Italian tree has more SMGs than the Soviet one despite not having Tier V:)

The problem with the Scotti Mod. 37 is that there is just one photo of this weapon with the stock. If there are more photos and, more importantly, data available for this weapon, I’d be happy to see it in the game, but not yet.
As for the SAFAT, I know that there are only a few photos, but I don’t think it’s a big problem for Darkflow.

That’s not a bad idea, though I don’t think it’s that necessary as I believe that copy-paste weapons should be avoided and I already included a weapon for Tier III. But as a folder behind the Beretta Mod. 37, why not?

image

And on a more serious note, the only reason why I write it is that I want the Italian tech tree to be separate, not to combine it with another one. It kinda works in War Thunder (though I don’t like it there either as you can have Hungarian and Italian vehicles in the same lineup), but in Enlisted we have realistic battlefields, and seeing Hungarians in Tunisia would be about as realistic as seeing Soviets in Normandy.

That’s another good idea, though I’d need more info on this weapon, the only thing I could find is that photo from an article you linked.

Well, there are some prototypes in my suggestion, making it similar to the Japanese tree, but I don’t want to push it too far. The Tokyo Arsenal SMG and Ho Ri is where I draw the line - no fake weapon stats and no mock-up vehicles.

I searched a bit (mainly on Wikipedia, be it English or Italian), and it turns out they were used mostly for training, not in combat. I think these are necessary to fill in the gaps. At least the Panzer IV G, the other two could be premium vehicles, especially the StuG.
EDIT: I see that it was explained way better above as I was writing this comment. So I guess that the Stug III should indeed be a premium vehicle, maybe even the Panzer III.

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I admit that the Italy-Hungary tree seemed a bit challenging, and I acknowledge that. Additionally, I’ve found more information about the mortar I mentioned. You can check the details here and view images here.
Unfortunately, the second link is to a paid resource, so I couldn’t retrieve the information properly.

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Thanks for providing these, I didn’t know about any of these mortars before. @Patton1998, are there any good sources about these mortars in Italian? Or about Italians using the Gewehr 41?

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Yes that’s the unit I was thinking about. They trained in Italy and never deployed before the armistice, after which the Germans disarmed them and reabsorbed the German armor.

Might make a fun gold order or event unit for an Italian peninsula campaign.

I’m all for an Italian faction, but I just don’t know if they’d be competitive enough to be worth the trouble. It might work better as a sub faction of Germany with their own units and soldiers like the Tunisia campaign

1ÂŞ Divisione corazzata "M" - Wikipedia.

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I don’t have time to write everything at the moment so I’ll just comment something

we had them maybe it can be useful in the future somewhere
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I would see it better as a tank for the tech tree (along with all its brothers perhaps)

in its place as a premium flamethrower I would put the L6/40 flamethrower which is better armored and has a turret which would make it more agile and useful in urban combat (the main battlefield for flamethrowers) making it a more interesting premium to invest money on
L6 lanciafiamme 3

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L6 lanciafiamme 2

I would like to make a longer speech on transport vehicles but I don’t know if I have the necessary time now perhaps I will make a sort of dossier with the whole family and variants

now that I think about it, there would also be this as a possible addition.
grenade launcher built with a K98
para RSI on fucile k98 modificato a lanciagranate
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there are some but they are not easy to find so the photos are too

6 - Breda Safat 7.7
7 - Breda Safat 7.7


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another one was found, this time mounted on the prototype of the Mod.36 assault tank
image

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It’s great to have such an expert on your country here, thank you for your services! :muscle:t2::sunglasses:

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I meant the FmW 35 as an example, all “starter flamethrowers” in Enlisted are the same, it would be the same as M1 and M1A1 in the US tree.

Well, some variant of the L3 has to appear in the Italian tech tree, that’s for sure. I really believe that tankettes should be indroduced as Rider II squads, but I’m not sure if Darkflow would want that.

As for the L6/40 in place of the L3 Lf, I agree that it’s a better idea for a premium.

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So, after some feedback (both from this thread and from here: Italian Research Tree 🇮🇹), I decided to change some things in Tier I and III:
Italy tier 1.2
Italy tier 3.2
First, as, I replaced the L3lf with the L6/40lf as it’s just a better vehicle from the game’s standpoint. The other thing that was brought up multiple times is the Breda Mod. 30 in 7.35mm Carcano for Tier III, as well as the StuG III G going to the premium section as the German tanks were never used in combat by Italy.
Btw, @Patton1998, are there any sources about Italians using the Gew 41 rifles? There are some photos here, but I wasn’t able to find much more. Sorry for bothering you btw, I don’t know any other Italians on this forum:)

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for what ? I like to inform people about Italian equipment. There is a colossal general misunderstanding in Italian equipment and italian military history in general. :grinning:

I have to be honest I have never looked into the use of G41s in depth and I have never found any real information other than the photos
they simply existed

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Avanti Savoia

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Gloria al Duce

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There are few adequate ones in the Russian community, they even threw me a ban for no reason