K2 Black Panther

[Spyshadow01 2]

IN DEVELOPMENT: K2 BLACK PANTHER

Full article is above, but I'll lay out some highlights here:

• Armor will be roughly equivalent to the 2AX or Altay
• Tank will feature special smoke grenades with "better properties," no other information given
• In its stock form it will be one of the most mobile MBTs in the game, only beaten by hybrid-engine equipped MBTs
• Only shell available for the vehicle is a 850mm pen APFSDS round
• Will be able to chose between a 3 shot ready rack or a 2 shot magazine loader
• Looks like it will have two tiers of mutually exclusive firepower upgrades, similar to the leclerc
• Has the designate target special ability
• Will have three overprogression modules: A hybrid engine, a module that improves view range and designate target's duration (think K1A1), and one that improves module protection and repair times

My immediate thought regarding this vehicle is that the lack of a HEAT round is going to severely harm this vehicle's PVE potential unless the standard AP round has massively boosted damage compared to other 120mm AP rounds.  Given the info in the article, I think the choice between the ready rack and the autoloader is a no brainer.  They both have the same intra-magazine load-time of 4 seconds, but the ready rack then drops to a 9.5s reload when depleted.  The magazine loader, meanwhile, reloads both of its shells in 13s, which is functionally equivalent to a 6.5s reload time per shell.  If the K2's magazine loader is capable of quick partial reloads (like the pre-nerf CATTB), then it will be even more preferable.  A potential argument for the ready rack may be to get both of the "magazine size" tiered firepower upgrades to increase its rack capacity to 5 rounds, but frankly I think the magazine loader with reduced intra-magazine reload or overall reload time will still be preferable.  Designate target might also allow you to more easily complete assist damage contract missions if you really hate AFV/LT gameplay too, I guess.

Ultimately, I think the tier 9s are going to be highlights of this line.  The K2, as outlined in this article, looks rather disappointing.  Does anyone else feel differently?  Maybe someone with more PVP experience can give a good prejudgement on its PVP potential?

[Haswell 294]

Original article in case people want to read the massive wall of text with way too much fluff:

Quote

In Armored Warfare, the K2 Black Panther will be a Tier 10 progression Main Battle Tank, unlockable either from the AS21 Redback or the K-153C Tier 9 AFV.

Gameplay-wise, the Black Panther will resemble the Altay Tier 10 Premium MBT as a highly-mobile MBT that will feature a number of high-tech solutions, compensated by only mediocre armor. Let’s take a look at its characteristics in detail but please do keep in mind that they are preliminary only and are subject to change.

Let’s start, as usual, with the protection levels. The armor on this tank will be quite thin, roughly on par with the Leopard 2AX or Altay. However, the tank will feature ERA, the KAPS hard-kill APS as well as special smoke grenades with better properties than usual. Additionally, the tank uses an advanced ammo rack with significantly reduced damage from ammo explosions.

But where things do get really interesting is its mobility and firepower.

 

 

For starters, the vehicle will have hydraulic suspension, allowing it to tilt to all sides as well as to lower itself to the ground. Thanks to its 1500hp stock diesel engine, it will also feature good mobility (70 km/h maximum speed, acceleration from 0 to 32 km/h in 4 seconds). But all that is just the beginning. The tank will feature an upgraded 1650hp diesel that will make it accelerate even faster (acceleration improved to 3.7 seconds) as well as yet another upgrade that will make it accelerate and turn even better. All in all, it will be one of the most mobile MBTs in the game, second only to the Altay and the CATTB.

Firepower-wise, the Black Panther will be armed with a 120mm L/55 gun, but don’t let that fool you because those are some really sharp claws indeed. Its strength will not lie in a vast amount of available shells though – in fact, the tank will only have one main type of ammunition (APFSDS shells with 850mm of penetration). The real trick is pretty much everything else that there is to this weapon system because you’ll be able to choose from two variants of this gun:

• Ready Rack (3 rounds, 4 seconds between shots, increasing to 9.5 seconds once the rack is depleted)
• Magazine Autoloader (2 rounds, 4 seconds between shots, followed by 13 seconds of magazine reload)

This basic choice does not look all that important with the base values listed above but the difference between both options will become more apparent with the other optional upgrades. For example, after choosing your weapon type, you’ll be able to unlock the next tier of upgrades, where you will choose one of the following three improvements:

• Upgrade to overall reload time (10 percent)
• Upgrade to Ready Rack/Magazine rate of fire (50 percent)
• Increased capacity of Ready Rack or Magazine (by 1)

The next tier of upgrades will feature yet another set of similar modules, so you’ll be able to for example combine two capacity upgrades, or two reload time upgrades, or one from each – all up to you. It’s also worth noting that the gun will have truly excellent depression and elevation values (-11/+20 degrees without suspension, -16/+23 degrees with it).

 

 

The Black Panther will also be able to use the Designate Target ability, making enemy vehicles take increased damage.

Three Additional Progression modules will be available to this vehicle:

• Hybrid engine that reduces this vehicle’s maximum speed to 55 km/h but significantly increases its acceleration (0 to 32 km/h in 2 seconds), agility and, as a bonus, it’s impossible to set on fire
• Improved Targeting System that increases the spotting range and the duration of the Designate Target ability
• Enhanced Maintenance Kit that makes module repairs 30 percent faster and provides additional module protection

And last but not least, Commander Kwon Han will also be possible to unlock from the K2 Black Panther.

 

 

All in all, the K2 Black Panther will be, as we mentioned above, a highly mobile MBT, suitable for aggressive gameplay. While its armor won’t be great, its module protection (especially with the Enhanced Maintenance Kit unlocked) will be second to none and its KAPS hard-kill APS will keep it safe from an occasional stray missile.

In skilled hands, this tank will be a deadly tool in PvP, but will also be capable of delivering sustained fire in PvE, albeit in a more supportive role since its active defenses would get overwhelmed quickly when facing a large number of opponents. Its active suspension will allow for extremely comfortable gameplay and with all Additional Progression modules unlocked, few other vehicles will be able to go toe to toe with it in a duel.

 

[MK_Regular 24]

The reload, cyclic and capacity upgrades all seem to be situationally viable on the ready rack (depending on how many shots you need to fire), while the capacity upgrade seems to be the best option for the magazine loader (with the reload upgrade failing to be relevant and the cyclic upgrade trying its hardest).

If you're going for sustained DPM, the magazine loader with the capacity upgrade is your best bet.

Of note is that the cyclic upgrade on the ready rack is the best option if you only want to fire 3 shots, after which you will want to use the capacity upgrade with either the ready rack (for 4, 5 or 7 shots) or magazine loader (for 6 or 8+ shots) with the cyclic upgrade on the magazine loader being the best option if you want to fire exactly 10 shots.

Edit: corrected the spreadsheet.

A combination of a capacity and cyclic upgrade for the magazine loader seems to give the best sustained RoF, but this can be changed to using a pair of capacity upgrades if you want a slightly different flavour of magazine loader.

The reload upgrades seem to be pretty useless (they focus on sustained DPM, and are outdone in this regard by the other upgrades) unless you really want to have a ready rack.

Using 2 cyclic upgrades is really only for memeing on people by dumping 2/3 shots into somebody in quick succession, at which point you will have a very low sustained DPM for the rest of the engagement.

Edited March 4, 2020 by MK_Regular (see edit history)

[Spyshadow01 2]

Prepare for a big, dumb screenshot infodump.  You can apparently access the K2's tank page via the new commander, who you can access via the commander's tab.

Here is its stat card:

Spoiler

 

 

And here is its full module page:

Spoiler

And here are some screenshots of it in the armor viewer:

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Some things to note here: 

• It has a third gun option not mentioned in its article - a single shot 120mm with a base reload of 7.5s.
• KAPS has 4 charges and reloads in 5 seconds, the same as the K21.
• There's no indication as to what "special properties" the smoke dischargers have.
• Tank accelerates to 70 km/h in 22.5s with the stock engine, or to 75 km/h in 23.4s with the upgraded engine.
• The tank is covered in ammo racks.  Almost anywhere on the front pennable to HEAT can damage either your turret or hull ammo rack.
• Weirdly high turret roof armor in some places may make getting trick shots with PELE/PISH difficult in PVP, or if the K2 gets added to the PVE bot pool.
• Armor viewer confirms that the only ammo type is a 590/850 dmg/pen APFSDS shell, with an accompanying 7.62mm MG.

Consider the hype official dead.

[Haswell 294]

I'll just dump the module stats here, in case they go poof next week.

Gunnery:

Spoiler

 

Mobility:

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Miscellaneous crap:

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In its current form, I'm not impressed at all. Feels like not-a-Leclerc.

[Austin5125 2]

I hope this is not the final version..

[Spyshadow01 2]

Spoiler

A little hidden aspect of this patch, a buffed K2.  Turret face now provides approx 1000/1500 of protection against KE/HEAT, with the mid-hull providing about 850/1200 KE/HEAT.  Turret ring is still 770 against HEAT, and LFP protection is still inconsequential (effective only against autocannons), and according to the armor viewer the T15's missiles can still hit the turret ammo rack through the turret ring weakspot.  Also, something interesting:

Spoiler

Apparently K2 is a wheeled vehicle.

edit:

Spoiler

They also removed the weirdly strong turret roof armor.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Spyshadow01 (see edit history)

[di_duncan 24]

Based on what I've seen of CCs and "supertesters" playing it, it looks great imo.

The armor is more than solid, but suffers when dealing with PISH, PELE and/or HEAT (akin to CATTB). And while the gun DPM is not stellar statistically, it can really shine when it is able to employ it's massive potential burst damage. It seems properly balanced at the moment, which is good to hear after experiencing the "chad phase" of the CATTB. It's only shortcoming is probably the lack of alternative ammunition types, which doesn't help when being rushed by Ophelia'd little wheeled shitheads in GlOps...

Note however that I am basing my opinion from a PvP and GlOps perspective, it's possible it may not be equally effective in PvE... 

[MK_Regular 24]

12 minutes ago, di_duncan said:

Based on what I've seen of CCs and "supertesters" playing it, it looks great imo.

The armor is more than solid, but suffers when dealing with PISH, PELE and/or HEAT (akin to CATTB). And while the gun DPM is not stellar statistically, it can really shine when it is able to employ it's massive potential burst damage. It seems properly balanced at the moment, which is good to hear after experiencing the "chad phase" of the CATTB. It's only shortcoming is probably the lack of alternative ammunition types, which doesn't help when being rushed by Ophelia'd little wheeled shitheads in GlOps...

Note however that I am basing my opinion from a PvP and GlOps perspective, it's possible it may not be equally effective in PvE... 

Considering that most of the enemies in tier 10 PvE either sling ATGMs at anything that moves or are made of paper, being venerable to HEAT and not having an alternative HEAT/HE/HESH/etc... round isn't exactly great.

The K2 seems like it might end up being another PvP-focused vehicle that will have some issues in PvE.