They are useful, but there are better builds.
Tanks are useful for 3 reasons:
1) They are fast.
2) They have high combat stats.
3) They have low softness.
So while building a division, you obviously want to take as much advantage of these 3 points as possible.
Some tanks are better at certain roles than other:
LARM: speed +++, stats ++, softness +
MARM: speed ++, stats +++, softness ++
HARM: speed +, stats +++, softness +++
SHARM: speed -, stats ++(+), softness ++++ (note: +1 stats when used on defense)
So if you build an LARM division, you specialize in speed. That is okay, but this build has twoproblems: First: LARM has rather bad hard attack. Second, your LARM does not get a CA bonus, so you are wasting combat efficency. By adding a single MECH, you get better combat stats, CA bonus and thus much better combat efficency.
Now you can argue that you don't have the ressources to research mech. Okay, but then you shouldn't build LARM anyway. If you have limited research capacity and want to build pure ARM division, you should go for HARM divisions. Why that? Well, there are two reasons:
1) HARM has better tech progression than LRAM - once you have unlocked the techs they will give HARM a higher stat bonus than LARM techs offer for light armour.
2) HARM simply is the better combat unit for minors if you lack MECH.
Why? One word: softness.
HARM has only 10 softness, compared to 30 for LARM. Softness is a value, that is unimportant as long as it is high, but becomes very strong if it gets low. So 10 softness is not 20% better than 30 softness, but roughly 50%. Why? Here is the calculation.
In general, most units have much more soft attack than hard attack.
We have a regular INF division with 3 INF brigades. It has 100% softness and 2 HA plus 10 SA. Against 30% softness, it will roughly score 2 + 8*0.3 = 4.4 hits per round. Against 10% softness, it will only score 2 + 8*0.1 = 2.8 hits per round. Against SHARM, it will only score 2 + 8*0.05 = 2.4 hits.
However, here we fight only one division. If we now fight against 10 divisions, we can see that the effect is massive:
LARM: 44 hits, HARM: 28 hits, SHARM: 24 hits. So while LARM will take serious punishment, HARM will stand much longer, and SHARM will be almost immune to the attacks (thanks to higher DEF ratio).
In short: If you build tanks, either get CA or go for minimum softness.
Tanks are useful for 3 reasons:
1) They are fast.
2) They have high combat stats.
3) They have low softness.
So while building a division, you obviously want to take as much advantage of these 3 points as possible.
Some tanks are better at certain roles than other:
LARM: speed +++, stats ++, softness +
MARM: speed ++, stats +++, softness ++
HARM: speed +, stats +++, softness +++
SHARM: speed -, stats ++(+), softness ++++ (note: +1 stats when used on defense)
So if you build an LARM division, you specialize in speed. That is okay, but this build has twoproblems: First: LARM has rather bad hard attack. Second, your LARM does not get a CA bonus, so you are wasting combat efficency. By adding a single MECH, you get better combat stats, CA bonus and thus much better combat efficency.
Now you can argue that you don't have the ressources to research mech. Okay, but then you shouldn't build LARM anyway. If you have limited research capacity and want to build pure ARM division, you should go for HARM divisions. Why that? Well, there are two reasons:
1) HARM has better tech progression than LRAM - once you have unlocked the techs they will give HARM a higher stat bonus than LARM techs offer for light armour.
2) HARM simply is the better combat unit for minors if you lack MECH.
Why? One word: softness.
HARM has only 10 softness, compared to 30 for LARM. Softness is a value, that is unimportant as long as it is high, but becomes very strong if it gets low. So 10 softness is not 20% better than 30 softness, but roughly 50%. Why? Here is the calculation.
In general, most units have much more soft attack than hard attack.
We have a regular INF division with 3 INF brigades. It has 100% softness and 2 HA plus 10 SA. Against 30% softness, it will roughly score 2 + 8*0.3 = 4.4 hits per round. Against 10% softness, it will only score 2 + 8*0.1 = 2.8 hits per round. Against SHARM, it will only score 2 + 8*0.05 = 2.4 hits.
However, here we fight only one division. If we now fight against 10 divisions, we can see that the effect is massive:
LARM: 44 hits, HARM: 28 hits, SHARM: 24 hits. So while LARM will take serious punishment, HARM will stand much longer, and SHARM will be almost immune to the attacks (thanks to higher DEF ratio).
In short: If you build tanks, either get CA or go for minimum softness.
Last edited: