Now this might be hot take, but i think Valentime l fits better on BR 1 rather than on BR 2.
Let me explain. The 2 pdr(40mm) gun is straight up BR 1 gun by all account. It has a good penetration but the AP shell is just solid AP shot with small diameter which is some of the worst AP shell in the game. Ofc, naturally much weaker HE as well compared to other vehicles on the same BR since it’s only 40mm.
The armor, which the main selling point of this vehicle. It’s good but i think it’s not good enough on BR 2. The frontal armor protection consists of flat 60mm and sloped 30mm RHA mixed on the hull, the turret also comes with 61.1mm CHA frontal armor protection mixed with flat and some curved area.
But since the turret made of cast homogenous armor and cast armor gives only 94% of supposed protection, it gets less effective protection which is around 57mm effective thickness on those flat area. This is the value that the other BR 2 vehicles will have no problem penetrating it, even BR 1 vehicles like Panzer 3J, M41 with 75mm gun could penetrate it unless they hit those curvy area on the turret which can be avoided relatively easily in Enlisted due to the penetration indicator.
Mobility is abysmal and IIRC it is the second slowest vehicle in the game right next to Churchill VII by having only 24.02km/h. This ofc naturally comes with a terrible acceleration as well.
The crew composition is awful as well. The total crew member is only 3 which consists of Driver, Gunner, Commander but because the turret is two-man operating turret, commander is also burdened by doing loader’s job and using the commander view by looking out from the hatch slows down the reload speed as if one lost a loader.
Considering all that, i think Valentine l belongs to BR 1 rather than BR 2. The firepower is just BR 1 material so it will fits right in on BR 1, with relatively good protection for BR 1 but not overly protective.
An experimental incendiary mortar mounted on the chassis of the “Valentine” infantry tank appeared between 1943 and 1945 (active testing was conducted in Great Britain by the Petroleum Warfare Department; specifically, official trials were recorded on April 20, 1944).
While I agree that the 40mm 2pdr is a BR1 cannon and that 3 crew is weak, I don’t agree that a tank with 60mm all around should be in BR1. If it was just 60mm in the turret front I would say yes, but that level of protection all around makes this thing very difficult to take out with BR1 bombs, AT rifles, and Explosion Packs/TNT. Not that Explosion Packs and TNT actually work well on this thing, but you also have to remember that many BR1 players don’t even have these yet, or only have a few because they’re really expensive.
I do love this tank though, and think it’s a crime we don’t have any of its variants available for the Allies.
Alright so let me go thru all of this. First of all, Explosion packs/TNT should have no problem destroying Valentine unlike KV-1, Valentine has a thin armor under the belly/roof that those works well on it as you can see here :
The AT rifle can’t do much about Valentine which is true but considering that some BR 1 vehicles like Panzer 3 J etc are already completely immune to AT rifles at least frontally with 50mm armor, and the fact that Panzer 3 J comes with a better mobility, better gun, 5 men crew members means that Valentine having 60mm on front and side of hull as a trade off is a reasonable amount i believe.
As for against the aircraft bombs, BR 1 bombs that it would faces are 2x 200 kg from Potez 633, 1x 250 kg bomb from Re.2001 CN, 4x 50 kg bombs from Bf 109 E-7/U2, 4x 60kg bombs from E13A1 and 2x 60kg bombs A5M4. Both 200 kg bombs and 250 kg bomb will have absolutely no problem taking it out Valentine as these bombs are even able to take out KV-1 as long as the pilot knows how to drop them accurately. 50kg bombs and 60 kg bombs will require more precision to take out but this is true for almost all vehicles in the game anyway unless they are open-topped vehicles and i’d argue that Valentine is even easier to take out than other medium tanks as the acceleration is god-awful thus won’t be able to escape from dropped 50 kg bombs lethal radius.
Yes, but many BR5 tanks have similarly weak bellies and tops, so that’s not a unique weakness. Even a King Tiger can be one-shot by a well-placed explosive pack from an experienced player that knows where to aim, but that’s hardly the point. We’re talking about putting the Valentine up against brand new players.
Which is why I said:
The Pz.III J has 30mm sides and 30mm all around the turret. This makes it relatively easily take out the 3 men in the turret from any angle and also rack it from the sides.
It has 7mm more penetration at 100 meters and a slightly better HE shell, but the Valentine reloads faster. I think that’s a fair trade-off.
You listed a currently unobtainable Premium and a single German TT plane that has 200kg bombs. The largest bombs Japan has at BR1 are 60kg.
Again, remember we’re talking about BR1 here. We don’t need another reason for new players to scream “pay to win!” and run away. We only want that to happen when they fight against the F-80 in BR5, but by then they’re too invested/addicted to quit
