Im ok with HE shells getting nerfed so that they wont allow to farm infantry without any effort, but seems like to me that HE also got worse when it comes to dealing damage to enemy tanks which made Chi-Ha short gun got so bad that there is no reason to use it anymore.
It always was my favorite Japanese tank, and I even bought a camo and decals for it, but recently it started under performing so much that its huge cannon no longer make a noticeable difference when it comes to infantry kills, and it became absolutely useless when facing enemy tanks. Like you can get some more kills per shoot when it comes to infantry, yes those 1-2 additional kills per shot, but its super long reload would allow a different tank with lower caliber rounds to shoot more in same time and actually kill way more of enemies
Seriously, its huge 120mm was the only special thing about it and now it barely makes a difference considering it isnt much of a threat to infantry as it was and it cant do anything to most of the tanks of its BR. I remember destroying Shermans with it, now it cant even tickle them on testing ground no matter how many times I shoot…
So does it deserve to be on BR III now?
I think not as it has:
Paper armor that even BR I Chi-Ha has it better because of additional tracks on front, it can be destroyed with a single tank/rocket launcher shot from the front
Extremely long reload time
Extremely long turret turn time
Worst accuracy
Shells that cant damage enemy most of BR III tanks, not to mention BR IV tanks if uptiered
Somehow 150mm tank like 15cm sIG 33 B Sfl can single shot US tanks with a HE shell by hitting their sides but 120mm cannot put a scratch, I dont get it, I cant even imagine the nightmare of this tank fighting KVs in Manchuria…
Feels like a medicore BR II tank now
Still can’t pen the shermans at that point with the Chi Nu (still waiting on Chi Nu II to BR3), so I just stick with the Chi Ha short since it’s still alright vs infantry. I have noticed the Chi Ha’s gun does seem a little weaker though, like OP says.
Yeah I will switch, I noticed that I stopped using it at all because it became unreliable and today when I tried it for the first time since a longer time it was just too frustrating. Too bad I bought a camo for it and it cant be even used on BR Chi-Ha Kai but well
Over-pressure is a bit counter-intuitive in the War Thunder damage model - you need to aim for somewhere ADJACENT to the thinnest armour - not the front plate.
So for example if you hit the bottom of the gun mantlet, over-pressure will act against the hull roof armour on top of the driver, which is usually much thinner than the mantlet.
Similarly aiming at cupolas means you get over-pressure against the turret roof armour - again usually much thinner.
So you have to place your shots with an eye to the adjacent armour thickness - see attacking a Tiger 1 from about 6.30 in this video, showing why aiming for hte thick turret armour is what you need to do - which is counter intuitive:
My brother, in general, all HE are ruined, from the smallest 20 mm, with which you can’t even kill a fly, to the 120, 122, 150 and 152 mm, which are useless. Tanks are practically unplayable against infantry now. Not even super-pressure is useful against Shermans, when they should take out George Bush in one shot.
They need to fix the explosives because you can’t even use grenades because they don’t kill. Go for the Ho-i. At least its heat is still good against infantry and can knock out Shermans.
I think it deserves br 2. It has br 1 chassis and big gun that has more cons than pros. It is nowhere near comparable with other br 3 big cannon tanks like m4a3 105 or kv 2
Even ho-i is better at bullying noobs. Both have shit armour but atleast ho-i can fire extremely fast while chi ha has lot slower reload and just barely better splash damage
HO-I has excellent HEAT shells, probably the best in the game so a single hit to most BR3 tanks will destroy instantly, that and the fact HEAT also works against infantry is a huge advantage since you dont need to switch shell when you spot an enemy tank.
Besides the HE shells is also very powerful against infantry so HO-I is def a top tank for BR2. Only weakness is the lack of coaxial MG.