How to M41 Gud (WIP)

The M41A1 Walker Bulldog is (imo) one of the best American T4 tanks, yet I very rarely see it used.
I'm writing this guide in hope that more people will know how to use it correctly and to its strengths

Overview and IRL History

The M41A1 Walker Bulldog was an American light tank developed throughout the 50's and 60's and saw combat in Vietnam. Armed with a new 76mm high velocity gun, the M41 was able to wreak havoc upon enemy armor and move quickly throughout the jungles of Vietnam. However, it was loud, and very heavy for a light tank at nearly 24 tons which meant it was unable to be paradropped as was requested by the Airborne forces.

In-game, the M41A1 reflects this: it is moderately fast for a light tank while being one of the largest, and has a very good gun that, with top tier shells, penetrates as much as a KwK 43 or PaK 43, the guns used on the King Tigers, Jagdpanthers, Nashorns, etc.

Strengths, Weaknesses, and Roles

The M41A1 is a light tank that suffers from some pitfalls uncharacteristic of a light tank. While it has little armor, it isn't a speed record breaker and isn't increadibly small (on the contrary, it is nearly the size of a M47 in-game). What, then, does the M41A1 do well?



STRENGTHS

• Quite fast (expect 40 kph speeds)
  
• High velocity gun with good Tier 4 upgrades, very accurate
  
• Incredibly smooth suspension means limited mobile fire capabilities
  
• After spaded, gains quasi-neutral steering, which allows quick on the spot turning
  
• 10 degrees of gun depression is on-par with most tanks
  
• [RB] Default color scheme makes it easy to blend it with a variety of environments
  
• Good horizontal and vertical traverse
  
• LUDICROUS reload rate (>6 seconds with an Aced crew and full reload and leadership skills)
  
• Reverse speed and acceleration is good, up to 20 kph in good conditions

WEAKNESSES

• The tallest light tank in the game, making it incredibly easy to spot in open areas and when moving
  
• Armor is vulnrable to anything 20mm and up (but not 14.5s)
  
• VERY loud, meaning you will probably notify an enemy you a trying to flank that you are there when close
  
• [RB] Default camo is a menace on desert maps
  
• Non-APDS shells are a dissapointment, with poor antislope performance and subpar penetraton

Considering the above, what roles does the M41A1 fit into well?

10/10: Urban Flanker
Above all else, the M41A1 excels in urban combat. With good acceleration and respectable top speed, it can use its APDS shells to destory unwary heavies and mediums while essentially untouchable if one keeps moving. With hard, opaque cover, the M41s size is no longer as much as an issue, as you will not be in large open sightlines as often. As until recently Axis teams completely lacked a countering light tank (and one of them being an incredibly expensive premium), most good heavy tank drivers will attempt to watch their flanks. With some speed, however, they will not be able to fight back effectively if you get to their sides

8/10: Sniper
As mentioned, the 76mm gun on the M41A1 has incredibly high penetration using APDS (~230mm at 100m, 90 to vertical) and good anti-slope performance and accuracy. With this, the M41A1 can effectively spar with most enemy tanks at extreme ranges and use its speed to access sniping spots before other sniping tanks such as Tigers can set up. However, it cannot rely on armor as Tigers do, and its height makes it quite easy to hit at long ranges and very visible if one isn't careful. An M41A1 in this role must have appropriate camo and APDS shells, which will take some time to unlock.

6/10: Open Flanker
While it has been said that the M41A1 excels in flanking in an urban setting, it is not nearly as good at it when the sightlines open up. As stated, its size and average top speed for a light tank makes it easy pickings for good shots. However, if one closes the distance (hopefully with the surprise advantage), it can absolutely tear through entire teams with the quick-firing 76mm.

5/10: Distraction
While using this tank in this way is my personal favorite, it is admittedly not the most efficient and by far the most dangerous way to use it. When cornered by multiple slow, lumbering medium and heavy tanks, one can take advantage of cover such as hills or piles of pipe to force them to either chase you around it or force them to come at you one at a time. With good acceleration, a smooth suspension, and a quick reload, a single M41A1 can stall entire teams without air support or good coordination. However, it is absolutely CRITICAL that one have the tank spaded, as it does not have quasi-neutral steering until the transmission upgrades and the APDS shells allow one to take on a Tiger II (H) by destroying his turret and/or gun.

While there are other ways to use the tank, these are the 4 ways that would be most worthwhile to use it as.

REMINDER: THE M41 IS BIG, SO DO NOT TRY TO BE SNEAKY WITH IT. YOU WILL BE SEEN AND KILLED. ALWAYS SHOOT FIRST

Noteworthy Enemies

The M41A1 has many enemies, but it can deal with most in the normal light tank way (i.e flanking or just shooting them). However, there are a collection of enemies to be EXTREMELY wary of, as they effectively counter your strengths or play their strengths so well there are few situations where you will find yourself with the upper hand, and that you will find yourself up against often.

PUBLIC ENEMY #1: Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger II (H)


The Big Bad Wolf of Allied T4 tankers, the Tiger 2 (H) is the classic enemy that you will find yourself panicking over. Weighing in at nearly 70 tons, the Tiger 2s APCBCHE shells penetrate just as much as your own gun, while packing enough explosive to level a fairly decently sized house. Having armor to spare, you will find that only your APDS shell will reliably penetrate the Tiger 2 (H)'s turret at normal ranges. While the normal version is very sluggish, the upgraded premium Sla. 16 version (shown) accelerates quite fast, and both versions have neutral steering. With all these advantages, there are two options to deal with a Tiger 2 (H):

• Flank it and do what you will with it
  
• Catch it while its reloading and shove a shell where its gunner was.

PUBLIC ENEMY #2: Panzerkampfwagen V Panther II


While almost all other medium tanks are fairly easy to deal with (shoot them first and they die instead of you), the Panther 2 is scary for two reasons. One is that it has the same gun (though thankfully not the turret armor) as the Tiger II while being MUCH faster, and the second is that its frontal hull armor is one of the few armors you will not be able to penetrate reliably with APDS on a level field (and I mean level as in literally flat). Being much more difficult to flank than its big brother, the easiest way to deal with a Panther II is to ambush it and quickly neutralize its firepower, or to catch it while reloading if you feel particularly mental. Thankfully, as it is now a 7.0, it is a rarer find than it was in the past.

PUBLIC ENEMY #3: Spähpanzer Ru-251


While this tank is MUCH less armored than the two above, it is almost more dangerous because of it. The Ru-251 is now the fastest tank in the game, edging out the Type 62 for that honor in the latest patch. While not super rare nor super common, an unsuspecting M41A1 driver facing a 6.7 German team may find himself in a strange position: being outflanked as a light tank. The Ru-251's speed and manuverability makes it better than you in basically every way except turret traverse and suspension stability, and its gun IS better than yours: a 90mm gun with HESH that WILL one-shot you and HEAT-FS that WILL kill all your teammates if you don't kill the Ru-251 first. However, unlike every other tank here, it has even less armor than you, so there is one easy way to destroy it: fire at the lower left hull (if one is facing it). The ammorack here will almost always catch the shell, and it's an easy kill for you. If that's not an option, simply shoot the turret and crewsnipe.

PUBLIC ENEMY #4: Type 62 Light Tank


Another light tank on the list, the Type 62 presents the same dangers as the Ru-251 does: speed and firepower, while lacking in armor. However, it falls flat on its face when it comes to manuverability. The Type 62 has a laughable turret traverse speed, but good hull traverse. This means that it is a valid strategy to immobalize it if a killing blow cannot be landed. With APCBCHE instead of HESH, the danger of an enemy Type 62 is not less than a Ru-251, and it also has HEAT-FS to make your team cry. Therefore, like the Ru-251, it is your job as the light tank to destroy this tank before it destroys your vulnrable heavies and mediums.

PUBLIC ENEMY #5: YOURSELF (but a weaboo)


Trust nobody, not even yourself.

The Light Tank M41A1 SDF is you in every way. It gets the same shells, same gun, and same speed and armor as you. The only difference is camoflague, with the Nippon Steel M41A1 (as it will be referred to as from now on) getting a cyan/grey color scheme. The way to kill the Folded One-Thousand-Times M41 is simple: shoot it in the front left hull (from your point of view if looking it head on) or shoot for the turret. Be careful of flanks, though as this tank is essentially you the chances of flanks are lower than with Type 62s and Spähpanzers.

Aircraft and You

Ground Forces in War Thunder has a strange place in gameplay: while it is mainly ground combat, aircraft often can turn the tide of matches, especially with good attackers flown by good pilots.

Normal wisdom dictates that there are two classes of tank most susceptable to plane attack, heavies and lights. Heavies, on the one hand, get the ability to survive heavy attack at the cost of not being able to run when the bombs begin to form mushroom clouds (pls no Pe-8).

Lights, however, are incredibly vulnerable to even 20mm cannons in some cases. They can be disabled and set alight by anything from an Fw 190 to a P-47, but get the big advantages of mobility away from bombs and the ability to hide in cover that heavies and mediums cannot.

Back on topic to the M41A1, one would be forgiven to think that the M41A1 can simply follow the light strategy of avoiding planes. There are, however, a few small problems with this

THE M41 IS THE SIZE OF A M47 MAIN BATTLE TANK

THE M41 IS LOUD

THE M41 IS NOT A FAST LIGHT TANK

These unique shortcomings shed light on the most insidious to counter and most prevalent weaknesses of the M41: its susceptability to air fire. Weak armor, coupled with average (for a light tank) speed and huge size mean the M41 is a go-to target for all ground attackers, especially ones with HV cannons.

Unlike the rest of the guide, I cannot give significant advice for the M41 on aircraft besides the most common pieces of advice, such as "stay in towns" or "pick the correct camo for the map." This is therefore a warning to any players who drive the M41 to at least have a capable fighter in their lineup as well (I personally use the F8F-1B, as it doubles as a good ground attacker).

A list of the most dangerous aircraft will follow.

FLYING PUBLIC ENEMIES

By Cannon

Horton Ho 229 (RARE)




Fw 190 A/F-8




Hs 129 B-3 (RARE)




He 219 Uhu




IL-2 Ilyushin




By Bomb



Do 217 (ALL)




Arado 234 B & C (RARE)

General Tips

• NEVER FORGET PROPER CAMO
  
• Use your hill-climbing prowess to find cheeky spots to hide in (even though most were just recently patched out)
  
• Work in packs: one M41A1 is scary, three M41A1s is terrifying
  
• Memorize ammorack positions on enemy tanks. Your lack of HE filler means you will have to be incredibly percise to one-shot by ammoracks
  
• Don't be afraid to sacrifice your engine to live to shoot another shell (as long as you have parts and FPE)
  
• Research parts and FPE, don't beeline for the APDS. While the first shell is lackluster, burning to death because of a plane is worse
  
• Focus on the shells above all else except for Parts and FPE for upgrade research
  
• Stay near buildings, it will protect you from eyes in the sky
  
• Your armor is weak, but artillery will normally not harm you all too much. Don't panic unless it is VERY accurate and you risk a direct hit.
  
• When on a non-urban map with few good sniping spots (hull-down positions are key), consider playing for ambushes instead
  
• If an enemy with a long 88 (Tiger 2, Panther 2, etc.) has lost its loader and just fired, rush them! Even with an expert crew, you will be able to fire twice before they fire once.
  
• Don't be afraid to tackle larger tanks if you have an advantage: your APDS shells are terrors for most heavy tank drivers
  
• At long range, 20mm shells will not be able to penetrate you
  
• ALL SPAAs ARE YOUR WORST ENEMY AND SHOULD BE PRIORITIZED AS TARGETS
  
• The M41A1, when spaded, is competitive at even 7.7 games. If you have friends who want to go up to those tiers, don't be afraid to tag along
  
• APCR is useless, don't bother with it

Conclusion

The M41A1 is one of the only good Tier 4 American tanks: when used well, it can essentially turn into a T4 Hellcat. While the stock grind is one of the worst, it is by far worth it. No other tank in the game, in my opinion, carries such great advantages over other tanks while still managing to be underestimated. Until one gets the M56, I would venture to say that there are no other better light tanks that one could get (for free).

Changelog

3/25/2017

• Guide created

3/31/17

• Added "Aircraft and You" section (unfinished)

4/3/17

• Finished "Aicraft and You" section

[Ice1]

keemstar?

[armaghgeddon™]

@GreyStash

If that was a joke it was a shit one

[GreyStash]

It's a joke, ofc a weaboo doesn't get a joke

[armaghgeddon™]

@GreyStash

The M41 is just a tin can why the fuck do you need help in killing it

[GreyStash]

Came to see how to beat the M41 (not that i needed it) when I play Ruskies in Sim or Germans in realistic, was not disappointed with you adding where to shoot the Japanese version which, as you said it is exactly the same. Very helpful guide +1

[fox]

Shit talk my M46 again and I am going to....




cry

[armaghgeddon™]

@ SSexcutioner44

WELCOME TO THE BURGER FIELDS MOTHERFUCKER

listen to me when I say there is no point in using ANY T4 american tanks except the M41A1, M56, Jackson, and the T34

[armaghgeddon™]

@ Zapstone

lemme get uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

232mm penn at 100 meters

[fox]

How to counter Leopard 2A5?

[(>^-^)>XEPBEP<(^-^<)]

i read this guide even though I only have rank 1 american tanks