T-22 Medium On Sale!

The Third Option

By:

IrmaBecx

Special shout out to TackyPing, who has requested this review.

So if you’re quick about it, you could be the proud owner of one of the most sought after tanks in the game. Yes, the T-22 Medium is on sale for the first time, and it’s not cheap. 20K gold they want for the plain jane version, and 25K for all the trimmings.

That’s a lot of gold. And yet I did briefly consider it myself.

I wrote a while back that when choosing between the Russian Medium tanks, you want to get the T-22, and if you can’t get that one, you get one of the other two. That sounds straightforward enough.

But is the T-22 still the gold standard? The non plus ultra of Soviet Mediums? And should you therefore consider throwing all that gold at it?

I fired up the press account loan vehicle to try to find out.

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Russian Medium tanks are famously more fragile than you expect them to be; I found that out the hard way when I first got hold of them. But with the V-shaped hull and pike nose of the T-22, it looks as if this might be the exception.

Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same as the others. A high DPM 100 mm gun, six degrees of gun depression, and it does 55 km/h with about 20 horsepower per ton.

Actually, the armour isn’t all that thick. 80 mm sides and 100 mm front doesn’t exactly sound like an IS-7, but it’s all about the angles. You can autobounce pretty much any gun in the game out to 40 degrees side angle, and you even get a strip of spaced armour long the side. The front plate will likewise autobounce if you use gun depression, or if you wiggle side to side on flat ground.

And that’s really all there is to say about the T-22. It may look funny, but it’s really not a very complicated vehicle.

I drive a couple of games to try to get back into it, it’s been quite a while since I drove the thing. This is not one of those tanks I always have a go in when I’m on the press account. I always figured I’d get around to acquiring it for my collection one day, but now I’m not so sure. The Object 140 is my Russian Medium tank weapon of choice, and this is pretty much the same tank with a different armour layout.

Is it powerful? Sure. Does it bounce shots? Absolutely.

Is it going to be worth all that gold?

Maybe.

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According to my calculations, the T-22 Medium has the fourth highest DPM of any Medium tank, but you’ll have to dole it out 310 alpha at the time. Being Russian it also has those HE shells with a little extra bang in them, 420 alpha rather than the expected 380 or 400. You also get a much slower shell speed than the tech tree tanks, around 1000 m/s. That’s only marginally faster than the HEAT rounds, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Such similar shell speeds mean you can use the same point of aim no matter which shell type you are using.

On flat ground, the pike nose only shows around 240 mm of effective armour. That’s not so great. But you only have to angle it three degrees to either side or upwards to start getting bounces. If you come across something with really high penetration, you’ll need more of an angle.

A lot of people seem to either struggle with or not like pike nose tanks. You sometimes see experienced layers trying to reverse side scrape, which is perfectly doable with the forward placement of the turret, and of course not a lot of things are going to go through that V-shaped hull. You can bounce most shells out to 40 degrees, and a calibrated HEAT round from a Jägeru out to 20 degrees. That’s pointing the gun over the inside rear drive wheel.

My personal experience is it’s seldom practical, but it does work. Just make sure you don’t drive forward when you meant to go backwards.

I’ve been running an “everything to the left” setup, but I will me making a few changes. More engine power instead of traverse, and more hipoints since the tank relies on autobounces anyway. With 90 rounds capacity you can bring a few extra HE shells with no problem.

I’m not sure about calibrated shells. You can fight Heavy tanks in the T-22 Medium if you have a good position with cover, and 330 HEAT penetration is a lot more comfortable than 300. This is one of few tanks I’m running adrenaline on; I don’t actually recall what my rationale was for that.

Out on the battlefield, it seems I’m not the only one taking an interest in the T-22. I see one or two almost every game, which is kind of cool. This is the first time the T-22 has been available as a straight bundle, and I hope people who have been waiting for that are happy with their new tank.

I manage to take a few out as well. It takes a little while to get used to the pike nose.

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The contemporary T-22 doesn’t quite feel like the overpowered monster it has the reputation of being. It’s certainly powerful, but it is still a 100 mm Medium tank, and that’s about as far as you can get from the current Heavy tank and big gun TD meta. It’s still a nice drive. But is it twenty to twenty five thousand gold nice? It’s definitely not 20K gold better than my beloved old Object 140.

But it’s not really the same style of tank as the T-62A or the 140. The kinky armour profile makes it more of a brawler, and it can cosplay a Heavy tank for a short while. The 100 mm won’t have anyone fooled, though.

The armour profile is the great strength of the T-22, but it’s not always easy to figure out what to do with it. I’ve just been going the Medium route and trying to get into as much trouble as I can. This game is an excellent example; it’s a win, and not a very exciting one, but you’ll see me take on first one and then another T-22 Medium by the A cap on Castilla:

So yeah, that may have been one too many. The difference is the second tank has a height advantage on me, and so has an easier time penetrating the shots. I am running calibrated shells here by the way, and you can see me being quite liberal with the HEAT rounds. Also note the 440 alpha strike on the Grille; those HE rounds do make a difference.

The T-22 can bounce the biggest guns in the game, but you’ll have to work a little at it to make that happen. The overall feeling I’m having is the same one I got when I first drove the Object 140: this tank is more fragile than I thought it would be.

Sure, it’s fun to drive, and it’s not terribly hard to be successful in it. But I’m not sure the curious armour profile warrants a place for it in my garage, because that it really all this tank is about.

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So should you buy one?

If you’ve been coveting the T-22 for a long time, then here’s your chance to throw some money at the problem. That’s fair enough. But I do think you need to have a specific interest in the T-22 for it to be worthwhile, something beyond the fact you heard it was good. You also want to make sure the six degrees of gun depression and the pike nose front won’t catch you by surprise.

If you are an avid fan of Russian Medium tanks, and you drive the other two regularly, then likewise this might be a good investment. If you happen to be a reverse sidescrape enthusiast for some reason, then it’s practically a must have.

Do note the T-22 has an even lower credit coefficient than the T-62A and the Object; this is definitely not a premium tank. It’s not going to make you any more credits than your tech tree beater, quite the contrary in fact.

But the T-22 is a nice drive. I had some fun taking it out for a few games. Not enough to warrant a purchase for me, but still enjoyable. I suppose you’re not risking a whole lot by dropping the gold on it except abject poverty. Once you get your head around the armour profile it’s not a difficult tank do drive.

Me, I actually think I’d rather have the 121B; a tier X Type 59. The T-22 Medium used to be on my want list, but over time I’ve grown less interested in it, and I don’t feel it would add a whole lot to my collection. The armour layout is definitely unique, but it’s really not all that different from the other Russian Mediums. If it had a flat front plate, I think you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart.

It’s a good tank. Good and expensive. If you want to treat yourself a little this holiday season then I’m all for that, but I encourage you to do your research and make sure you know what it is you are getting. It’s not automatically going to make you a super unicorn and it doesn’t give you a lot for free. It’s also been in the game for quite a while at this point, and experienced players will know how to deal with it.

I can’t really find a lot of fault with the T-22 Medium. It does what it’s supposed to, and does it well. For me that’s not quite enough to make it worthwhile, especially not in such an expensive bundle.

IrmaBecx says it’s a thumbs up, but still a pass from me.