Sabre

[Beeda2004 2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(tank)

https://army-guide.com/eng/product2895.html

0.33

[Lt_Don_Shaljian 1]

Does anyone have any experience with the Sabre?  Any comments on how the vehicle plays?

[MK_Regular 24]

Back when I played it the Sabre was very much an ambush vehicle, although that might have changed if they reworked the autocannon since then.

A few things to note about the Sabre (as of over a year ago):

• mobility is excellent, 80 km/h both forwards and backwards with good acceleration and traverse
• armour is paper, it can be penetrated by 7.62mm MGs and 76mm HE
• view range and camo are on the better end for a tier 6 AFV, but nothing that special
• the missiles deal lots (800-1000 on average) of damage and can be guided in 3rd person from behind obstacles (useful considering the lack of armour), but they have a very long (28 seconds) reload
• the autocannon has decent penetration for tier 6, but damage output is severely lacking due to the 1.8 second reload between 6-shot bursts that deal ~140 damage (sustained autocannon DPM on my sabre is just over 3.3k, which is pitiful)
• the designate target ability isn't particularly useful to the vehicle since the ability is bugged (and has been for years) and doesn't work for HEAT-type ammo, which means that it will only serve to improve your anemic autocannon burst damage by 10%. It is best used on targets that you cannot kill to encourage your teammates to kill them while your ATGMs are reloading

The end result is a vehicle that can decimate a single target in a very short period of time by slapping it with missiles from behind cover and then finish it off with the gun, but can only do so once every ~30 seconds. During the downtime, it would be best to use your mobility to retreat (since you probably got spotted if you used the gun) and/or relocate to a new/better position where you can set up for another attack.

Overall the vehicle was OK-ish for when it got introduced, but it has been powercreeped to hell and back with the introduction of other high burst DPM vehicles that don't have many of the drawbacks (like the low sustained DPM) of the Sabre (cough XM247 and AMX-13 DCA cough). I would not recommend buying it until the low-tier rebalance is implemented and players can try the "new and improved" sabre.

Edited May 21, 2021 by MK_Regular (see edit history)

[Lt_Don_Shaljian 1]

Thank you MK_Regular for this excellent and thoughtful information.

[knutliott 41]

IIRC the Scorpion Kastet is basically the same type/style of vehicle, but is superior in every way except for top speed in reverse.