French Premium ST Guide – Lorraine 40t. History, performance characteristics and tactics of application, pros, cons and farm indicators
Hello tankers!
“Back to get better” is the motto of the new premium car, but many of you, including myself, remember it still old, and with different characteristics. After its replacement, there were many rumors about its future fate – no one wanted to lose such a technique – neither the players nor the developers of World of Tanks , and now, it happened! Having reincarnated in a new visual quality, this tank has lost some of its characteristics for the sake of balance, but has not lost the main thing – the love of the players and the driving gameplay, meet the favorite of many – Lorraine 40t !
Historical reference
For a long time, French armored vehicles frankly lost to both German tanks and allied vehicles. The successes of German and Soviet engineers in the face of the Tiger II and IS-2 (and later the IS-3 ) haunted the minds of French generals. The coveted AMX-50 was supposed to be the solution to this problem , with the advent of which the attitude of the French command to heavy tanks changed. Initially, the required characteristics could not be achieved, and the designers had no choice but to deliberately reduce the mass of the tank by reducing the armor. And since the construction of the first prototypes was carried out on the territory of Lorraine (fr. Lorraine), then the project of the new machine was decided to be called Lorraine 40t.or Char de bataille de 40 tonnes. French attempts to repeat the experience of their foreign colleagues were not crowned with the same success, but nevertheless they were not a failure, on the contrary, quite remarkable samples of technology turned out. And the breakthrough pace of tank building made it almost an obsession to install a 100 mm gun, and then 120 mm, on a new tank.
Unfortunately, projects like Lorr. 40t often hung for a long time at the development stage for various reasons, or came out in a very limited edition. On them the German “Maybachs” were widely used as power plants due to the lack of their own developments. At the same time, the French tank fleet consisted mainly of Shermans, M24 and M26 of all stripes, as well as German Panthers; the machines of their own design, unfortunately, did not cross the line of prototypes. The same fate befell our tank. Only two samples were produced, on which, together with innovative design solutions such as a “pike nose” and an automatic loader, archaisms were used that were no longer characteristic of tanks in other countries.
The tank was not mass-produced, it was not in service. At its core, it is a lightweight version of the AMX-50 tank .
Photos of one of the prototypes
Analysis of the performance characteristics of the tank
Detailed performance characteristics of the tank in the screenshot below, we will immediately discuss what you will encounter in each battle.
Full list of tank performance characteristics
Armor protection. As always, there is no need to talk about armor on French vehicles. It’s no joke – in those levels of battles where our car plays with such numbers, even inferior LT guns are not surprising. Any object flying in our direction pierces the tank right through, so we shouldn’t expose our fragile carcass. Here you can recall the already legendary joke about the tumbleweed, which is “criticized” by half a tank. For the sake of decency, I will designate the numbers: 40/45 mm in the frontal projection, 30/30 mm from the side and 25/20 mm from the stern (hull / turret). No screens, no tilts, no “bends”, the tank is quite picky about the pilot’s hands and does not forgive mistakes. You just need to come to terms with this.
The number of hit points in our car is 1,300 units. Not much. In Tier X battles, we can easily be swept away with two shots, without even chewing.
Firepower. This is the main difference between our “pre” and the rest, because the “Laura” is the first Tier VIII farm machine with an automatic loader. Our weapon is the same as that of the pumped AMX 50 100 , and the same as it was before, only with balanced adjustments for the number of shells in the drum. At first I didn’t really like it, but later I realized that a drum for four shells is trite easier to implement than the old one for six. After all, our cannon is quite capricious and requires a complete stop and information in order to effectively fire.
The caliber of our gun is 100 mm, one-time damage is 300 units, there are 4 shells in the drum, respectively, we issue 1,200 damage per drum, provided it is fully realized. For the sake of balance and to preserve the unique AMX 50 100 chips, we have reduced a couple of shells in the drum. The main shells for our cannon are BB with 232 mm penetration, which is a very decent result. Premium ammunition is BP with a penetration of 263 mm, there are also land mines with 50 mm of penetration and 400 alpha, but who needs them on a drum tank. In most cases, we have enough penetration and the main projectile, especially since it is not much worse than premium ammunition. But fans of airspeed and max numbers can use premium shells on a consistent basis. In this case, our farm tends to zero, but the effectiveness, in theory, should grow.
The accuracy of the gun is 0.38 m per 100 m, mixing: 2.7 s, we reload the drum in 36 s, and inside it in 2.5 s. Thus, the full implementation of the clip comes out to us in 7.5 s. The tank has such figures with only a 100% crew and without equipment, which, together with trained tankers, will give us slightly different indicators: 0.33 m per 100 m accuracy, 2.16 s for aiming and 32.38 s for drum reloading. All other characteristics are unchanged. As you can see, we pay for the automatic loader with mediocre accuracy and stabilization, which is revealed only with “full stuffing”. But you can live with this, especially since our tank opens up best of all when firing at medium and short distances.
Dynamics. Traditionally a strong indicator of our machine. From time immemorial, French technology was famous for its dynamic characteristics and lack of armor (AMX-40 does not count). German Maybach HL 235, boosted to 850 hp gives us a good 21.25 hp / t specific power and an impressive 60 km / h forward and 23 km / h reverse, which is quite good with a tank weight of 40 tons. The vehicle’s agility is also at a good level and amounts to 34 ° / with. The dynamic characteristics are average. The tank drives well in a straight line, picks up speed quickly, but has an average cross-country ability and gets stuck on turns.
Detection. The basic view of the car is 380 m, the average is at the level. Although in our case it does not play a big role, because often we will fight almost point-blank with the enemies in order to realize our capricious cannon. But it is also worth noting that even without specially pumping the view of the car, we can get about 420-430 m of view. If we put the “optics”, then we can get the maximum view of 445 m.
The tank’s camouflage is mediocre due to its large size. There is nothing you can do about it, you just need to know it. In addition, our cannon is equipped with a muzzle brake, which unmasks us more. There is no point in specially pumping a disguise for this tank, unless you have a crew from the Batshat on it, then this can somehow be justified.
Farm quality. The shells for our weapon are quite expensive, so you shouldn’t expect sky-high farming from Lorca. She earns silver no better and no worse than her colleagues, it is more of a car for fans of the automatic loader, so that you can “get fun” and at the same time farm. And at the same time pump your drum implementation skill. For an average battle with 1800-2500 damage, we will be given 40-60 thousand silver without PA and 50-75 thousand silver, taking into account the active PA. In general, everything is like everyone else.
Choice of equipment, consumables and crew perks
Leveling up the crew Once you have decided to buy a Lorca, then, for sure, you already have the top branches of France, or you are thrifty and decided to prepare the crew in advance. But one way or another, we will have to pump it carefully and thoughtfully – there are only three tankers inside and each performs several functions at the same time. For example, if one of the crew members is injured, the drum will charge more slowly, because the drum in this machine is charged by everyone except the mechanic drive. You need to know this and, based on this information, build your behavior on the battlefield.
- Commander:“Bulb”, “Combat Brotherhood”, “Repair”, “Jack of all trades”
- Gunner:“Repair”, “Combat Brotherhood”, “Smooth Turret Rotation”, “Master Gunsmith”
- Mekhvod:“Repair”, “Battle brotherhood”, “Smooth ride”, “King of the off-road”
Choice of equipment. Equipment for drum technology is somewhat different from standard equipment for tanks with cyclic loading. At least the fact that the “Sender” is not available for installation here. Therefore, we have to either pump firepower to our car, or review – here everyone chooses for himself.
Play Style “Support”: “Stabilizer”, “Drives”, “Fan” – this build will balance the car in all respects and direct it more into dealing damage, which we already do best.
Style of play “Big-eyed sniper”: “Stabilizer”, “Drives”, “Optics” – this set of equipment is typical for fans of ambush tactics. But remember that in this case it will be problematic to implement our tool. But you will almost always see the enemy first than he does you.
The choice of shells. The vehicle’s ammunition consists of 48 rounds – 12 cassettes, four rounds each. You need to distribute them appropriately – remember that land mines are not needed at all, it will be a shame to be left with a land mine drum in a Tier X battle. There are also supporters of the theory that projectiles cannot be interfered with, you need to charge a full ammo of one or the other. In a way, I agree, but real fights, where mixed shells would interfere with you, will be about five percent of the force. Of course, it’s up to you to decide, I can only recommend the following shell assemblies:
Set-up of shells for playing in random (BB / BP / HE):
- “Support”– 36/12/0
- “Big-eyed sniper”– 24/24/0
Choice of equipment. The equipment is presented by the classics of the genre – a repair kit , a first aid kit and an auto extinguisher . You can, of course, establish and “coffee”, but I prefer to do this only in extreme cases, or when confidently go to the next mark.
Information window about our car
Tank tactics and tips
Our main task on the battlefield is to deal damage. More damage, more damage! Our tank is a damage dealer, not someone else. Everything points to this, especially his weapon. Rapid-fire, penetrating, damaging, but only close. In general, on this machine you need to be able to combine the incompatible – to behave at different times and aggressively and accurately. Carefully – until they see you, and when there are several “shot” opponents, or one “on the drum” for you, then there is no time to think.
Particular attention should be paid to the implementation of the drum on this machine. As long as you are charged, you pose a serious threat to anyone. And this, in turn, relaxes a little. And so, one shot in the wrong direction, did not come down, one into the rink, one did not pierce and only one went with damage – in total, you wasted three shells in vain, respectively, did not cause the damage that you should have inflicted, instead of the supposed 1200 units issued only 300. Then you are defenseless for almost 40 seconds. This is where inexperienced players usually get paid. Therefore, always remember – you need to implement each shot, and then, one or two or three drums, you see, and it is no longer so offensive to leave the battle with two or three thousand damage inflicted. In addition, it is useful for your virtual wallet, because you bought “premium” for this.
It is also worth noting that shooting with this cannon requires some skill. There is a caste of guns in our game (mostly French) that do not have time to come down completely between shots in the drum – so this is our gun. Each time you need to complete the target a little longer than the next projectile is charged. And it’s a little annoying, especially when shooting at a distance. What can you do – these are the parameters of our weapon. You just need to come to terms with this. Everything that we can improve with equipment and perks, the rest no longer depends on us. But always remember that the key to effective play on such tanks is accuracy, miscalculation of the situation and competent implementation of the drum. Which, by the way, can be “reset”, if necessary, with the “C” key. Excuse me for such details, but you often see players in the random house, who just shoot the remains of the drum into the ground or somewhere else. Do not do like this! If at least one of these in the random house becomes less, this can already be considered my small victory.
Separately, I would like to talk about the use of a tank on the battlefield. It is big and cardboard, fast but large, it still has to be afraid of artillery. Plus, it requires some kind of analysis of the situation in battle, and not everyone can analyze it, hence the huge number of players using drum technology with one or two or three shots per battle. Here you need skill: you should always stay close to allies and points of collision, while doing this should be done so that you can see the enemy, but he does not. This is our strength. If you understand that you can pick up the enemy from the drum, or an ally needs help, then feel free to roll in and help. At the same time, it is advisable to wait for the enemy’s shot or to know that he is discharged. And when entering, keep caution and your HP, which can be useful in exchange with another opponent. In our case, the ideal exchange is the one that did not exist. Remember this. If you are really unbearable or the enemies are squeezed, remember that dynamics is also your defense. You can almost always flee the scene or flank and surprise the enemy with an unexpected turn of events.
A typical battle on the Lorca looks like this: you reload on the way to the position, which you occupy among the first and preferably near the places of possible lightning. Give out a drum on the adversary’s constriction or catch an unsuccessfully lit one and retreat to a “cooldown”. Save HP, don’t shine and repeat until the end of the battle, implementing each projectile. As you can see, there is no secret and no “nogib!” Button. Just cold calculation, methodical analysis and repetition, just like in school.
With regards to the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of our car, it is one continuous vulnerability. No joke – 30 mm of armor in a circle. So it is highly discouraged to see your tank for someone else besides you and your allies, otherwise they will quickly make a sieve out of it. We are often criticized, we are even afraid of landmines, but this is the price to pay for a gun with an automatic loader. Stretching across the field or standing for a long time in one place are contraindicated for the same reason. As I said before, you must be the last one the enemy sees, since you decide to roll into it. Take care of your bulky carcass, save HP, tank your allies and you will be happy.
An overview of the advantages and disadvantages of the tank. Outcomes
Advantages:
- excellent overall dynamics and acceleration dynamics;
- good cross-country ability and fast set of speed;
- good overview for your level;
- a penetrating rapid-fire magazine gun with 1200 damage per cycle;
Disadvantages:
- almost no booking;
- huge dimensions of the tank;
- frequent crits of the crew and modules;
- mixed professions for the crew, reloading suffers in case of concussion;
- the drum takes a very long time to charge, between shots in the drum we do not have time to come down completely.
As a result, I would like to say that the Lorraine 40t is by no means a bad tank – it is gorgeous! It’s like a breath of fresh air to all those who wanted a “drum prem” for themselves – get it, sign it! But the totality of its conflicting characteristics will be incomprehensible to a beginner or a player who first sat down at the levers of a drum tank. This I mean that only a good player can realize the full potential of the car, or at least one who already had experience driving a tank with a loading magazine. In this case, nothing new will happen to you. In all other situations, or if you are not sure of yourself about this tank, buy yourself another, the same AMX M4 49 or Revalorisé , for example.
