Notable members:
- M48 Patton series
- M60 Patton series
- M1 Abrams series
- XM1A3 Abrams (Top Vehicle)
American tanks are the baseline of the Armored Warfare MBT class. They are the jack-of-all-trades of MBTs but also masters of none. Their armor is average and so is their firepower in the form of standard NATO tank 105mm rifled and 120mm smoothbore cannons. The iconic Abrams tanks offer solid protection and maneuverability but can be outgunned by the Leopards and outmaneuvered by the high-Tier Russian vehicles. They do not have any significant drawbacks, although the low-Tier vehicles (M48 and M60 series) lack composite armor (unlike the Soviets) and are therefore more vulnerable to HEAT rounds and guided missiles. The protection level only becomes good with the M1 Abrams. One outlier that’s worth mentioning is the M60A2 Starship, offering excellent firepower in the form of its 152mm cannon as well as the ability to fire guided missiles on its tier, but slow reload times and mediocre protection.
American generally use manually loaded guns – with full crew training, they can fire faster than automatically loaded guns, but with untrained crews they do lag behind. Due to this fact, the American vehicles have crews of four men.
The XM1A3 offers a unique choice between a powerful automatically loaded 120mm M256 FASTDRAW cannon (2 shots in quick succession) and a 140mm cannon with high damage per shot and penetration but slower reload.
Firepower-wise, the American vehicles have several advantages over the other nationalities. For one, they have better gun stabilization than other MBT branches – in other words, they can fire more accurately on the move, regardless of whether they are turning or just going forward.
Secondly, unlike other MBTs, the American tanks (specifically the Abrams series) generally lack High-Explosive ammunition and gun-launched missiles. This can be a downside during certain situation, but the high-Tier Abrams tanks have a special type of ammunition instead – the HEAT-MP, a round that works both like a HEAT and a HE round (starting from Update 0.22, both effects are correctly applied).
The American MBTs are ideal for you if you are still deciding what play style you prefer or are a new player. They are quite forgiving to mistakes and at the same time capable of excellent results, although experienced players will ultimately perform better in specialized vehicles.
