Not all heavies are created equal. The Tiger II is less BR sensitive, you’re right. But that is because it relies more on firepower than armour. The T26E5 relies more on armour instead.
In a full downtier at 7.0 it will still be a monster and the 7.3s it will meet can be managed. At 7.7/8.0 it will struggle, but fortunately the American lineup is very versatile (more so than the German one). T29, M46, T92, Scorpion, they all give you the tools to handle anything an uptier throws at you, and that’s before we even mention CAS.
The Tiger II has no such luxury. There are no 7.0 and 7.3 German lineups in a meaningful sense unless you’ve been playing since before Night Vision, and 7.7 is a half-lineup. So the Tiger II has to do it all, it’s the backbone of the whole bracket for Germany.
On paper sounds great to have a 100mm, multiple 20mm mounts, and a bonus of 2x torpedos in a coastal spawn sub chaser.
So it’s a pity you are relatively slow, have poor manouverability, the 100mm cannot shoot low angles over the bow with up to 1km blind spot which is not ideal in PT boat lanes, and the 20mms start to run out of effectiveness at these BRs.
Plus you will be completely outclassed if you face even the worst reserve destroyer (even HMS Churchill will trouble you!).
I actually have little complaint about the Gunboat itself. Yes it has the same low angle blind spot at the bow as Gabianno, isn’t exactly the most nimble, and relies solely on 20mm for Secondaries. However being faster and with 2x 100mm mains with decent arcs (except as already mentioned) she’s better equipped to deal with challenges.
However it’s all for nothing as she has a Destroyer spawn point and is out gunned at the start of 3.7 matches where faster ships sporting 4x 100mm+ isn’t uncommon. .Even at 3.3 she will face stiff competition but at least the reduced mains can be balanced against the better secondaries. Still maybe not the best first spawn but better later on once aircraft appear and bluewater/coastal fleets close on each other.
Vehicle: A-6E Tram
Gamemode: Ground Realistic
BR Change: 10.7 —> 10.7
Reason: It has awful flight performance and is aleredy denied by SAMs like Osa and Tor M1 at 11.0 it will become unplayable against Pantsirs and VT1 carriers. Skipper standoff weapon have practical range of ~10.5 km launched from 4-5km alt and is a laser guided weapon which preverts you from spamming them on different targets. Outside of it being premium it has little to no advantages over planes like A-7D or A-7E which are currently a 10.7 alternative. More over at same 10.7 there’s Buccaner S2.b with much better flight performance that now operates data-link missiles with greater range.
Reason: This Leopard 1A5, unlike the other Leopard 1A5s, was used primarily with MECAR M1001 and M1060 APFSDS-T, giving it vastly better options than DM33
Reason: the only difference between the GR.7 and the Harrier T.10 (11.7) is the AIM-9M that it can carry, which in a match does not have that of an impact to warrant a BR increase
I believe that the T26E5’s armor is certainly sufficient for BR 7.0, but whether its performance, as it is, would still be adequate at 7.0 remains questionable. If it were given the HEAT round that the M36B2 has (the T26E5 and the M36B2 share the same gun), then it would fully be able to handle the 7.0 level.
In that case, the T26E5 would be comparable to the M46 – one has thicker armor, the other has better mobility.
Wait I just realised, the BMPTs arent in this BR change lol.
So uhh, obviously:
BMPT, BMPT-72: 11.7 → 12.7.
I feel like the reasoning is kind of obvious here. They utterly ruin the game. They’ll probably still ruin the game at 12.7, but at least they’ll ruin it slightly less.