Astron Rex 105mm

The Astron Rex is a USA tier 8 medium tank. It has decent armour and decent mobility, but its most distinct feature is its 3 shell autoloader with 290 alpha damage.

1. Armour
2. Gun
3. Mobility
4. Equipment, provisions, & consumables
5. Gameplay advice
6. Overall
7. Is it worth getting?
8. Most recently sold for:
9. Camo cost:

Armour

(The Astron Rex in the images is using Enhanced Armour)
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Drag slider Right -> to view 225mm AP
Drag slider <- Left to view 265mm APCR

When flat and facing head-on:
Upper plate 180-190mm (220mm on edges)
Lower plate 125mm

Turret face 220-235mm 
Turret edges 260-320mm
Cupola 120-140mm

Note that the flat angled parts next to the tank’s gun mount are between 220 and 235mm thick, but below each of these plates is a small weakpoint, only 130-180mm in thickness (this can be seen better when using gun depression).

Armour vs tier 7:
Against tier 7 tanks, the Astron Rex has good armour. Its upper plate is well angled and has a good effective thickness, and it will be able to bounce most enemy tanks you face (except USA and German HT, which have high penetration).

The turret is also strong, but there are 2 small weakpoints on the lower left and right of the turret face. Overall the turret is solid, but enemies may sometimes penetrate these weakpoints.

Armour vs tier 8-9:
The Astron Rex’s armour in tiers 8-9 is far less effective. Most enemies in these tiers have over 220mm of standard penetration, so can easily go through the turret face of the tank, and its upper plate.

The tank is far stronger when using gun depression, and will actually be able to bounce most enemies it faces, however tier 9 tanks with high penetration premium ammo will be able to penetrate the turret, even with gun depression.

Low penetration tier 8 tanks (175-190mm) may struggle against the hull armour, but its best to not rely on it.

Note that the Astron Rex’s upper plate is not flat, its very slightly curved, and it means that angling the tank won’t increase its effective armour. 

The side armour of this tank is a good 70mm thick, however it won’t be useful for sidescraping, since the hull is so small and short, you would have to essentially expose half the tank before being able to get the gun on target.

The above images show the Astron Rex faced against a tier 7 heavy tank gun. The left image shows 180mm AP penetration, and the right image shows 220mm APCR penetration.

You can see that the hull does have some armour, and the turret is very strong against a tier 7 enemy.

Gun

The Astron Rex mounts a 105mm autoloader.

-Alpha damage is 290 on AP, 250 on APCR, and 360 on HE
-It has 3 shells in the magazine, with a 3.53s intra-clip reload, so in roughly 7.1s it can burst out 870 damage.
-It has a 21.3s reload, giving it 1838 DPM
-Penetration on AP is 185mm, APCR is 240mm, and HE is 50mm.
–Estimated aim time is 3.4s/3.7s
–Base aim time is 2.65s, but it can get down to 2.11s.
-Dispersion is 0.328/0.295
–Gun handling is 0.1/0.1/0.1, or 0.09/0.09/0.09 with Vertical Stabilizer. 
-Gun depression is -8 degrees

Overall this gun is decent. Its not too great in any one regard, but for a 3 shell autoloader with good alpha damage, its decent. The alpha damage and burst damage are both great, though the intra-clip reload isn’t great. Dispersion is good, and gun handling is amazing, however its reload is long, and has poor DPM. Penetration is low, but acceptable considering that this is an autoloader. -8 gun depression is great, especially with the turret armour and very small profile of this tank.

The most noticeable aspect of this gun will be its aim time, the gun doesn’t bloom out much when moving, and is fairly accurate, but when you stop and need to aim, the aim time does feel quite slow for a medium tank.

Mobility

-Top speed is 52km/h forwards, and -22km/h in reverse
-Traverse speed is 60.8 deg/s on hard terrain, and 55.2 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 17 hp/t, it has a good 575 horsepower engine for its 34 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 17.1 hp/t on hard terrain, and 15.5 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are 1/1.1/1.5

Overall this is decent mobility. The Astron Rex isn’t a particularly fast medium, but its not slow by any means. It has great traverse speed and top speeds, but its acceleration is fairly average. Ground resistances are amazing, so the tank doesn’t lose much mobility even when on off road terrain.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

The Astron Rex does not have any special provisions or consumables.

Calibrated Shells/Improved Ventilation:
Both of these equipment pieces can work on the Astron Rex, though vents are generally a more “skilled player option” due to the low penetration of the tank. 

Vents will help to improve aim time, accuracy, traverse speed, view range, magazine reload time, and terrain resistances all slightly. Vents work very well if you’re good with positioning, taking advantage of the better view range, and are knowledgeable with enemy weakpoints.

Calibrated shells are also good since the Astron Rex is on the lower end of tier 8 penetration levels. Calibrated shells would increase the AP penetration from 185mm to 200mm, APCR from 240mm to 252mm, and HE from 50mm to 54mm.

Improved Assembly/Enhanced Armour:
Both of these can work well on the Astron Rex, as it has enough armour to benefit from enhanced armour, but it can also play a battle role which doesn’t need to rely on that armour.

The biggest benefits that enhanced armour would give are:
-Improving turret front plates from roughly 220mm up to 227mm.
-Improving upper plate armour from roughly 180mm up to 186mm on its weakest point.

Improved assembly would take the tank’s very good 1450 base HP, up to 1508 HP.

Use improved assembly if you want to play the tank with less emphasis on its armour, use enhanced armour if you want to rely on the armour more in battle.

Refined Gun:
Due to the Astron Rex’s great on-move gun handling (0.1/0.1/0.1, the best in tier 8 MT after the Bourrasque), it doesn’t gain as much benefit from vertical stabilizer as it does from refined gun. Refined gun would improve the tank’s fairly decent base dispersion of 0.335 down to either 0.285, or 0.275 when using vents.

This accuracy improvement means the Astron Rex can be very accurate without needing to aim much, especially due to its already good gun handling.

Gameplay advice

The Astron Rex has very unique gameplay, as there are essentially no other medium tanks in game that are like this.

It has most of the “generic medium” features, a good armour profile, but not super strong; a good mobility profile, but also not anything too impressive; and a decent all-round gun, but just with a big autoloader. 

The autoloader will be what causes the biggest difference in this tank’s gameplay, as there is no other medium tank in game with a similar autoloader.

General gameplay:
Take this tank to the medium flank, and take up a 2nd line position. Try to avoid pushing up to the frontline if you are alone, or there are no hulldown positions you can use.

This tank’s low DPM and long reload mean that it is heavily reliant on having support for dealing with enemies, so try to also avoid pushing to flanks on your own, as its very easy to lose a 1v1 in this tank, even against lower tier mediums (some tier 7 mediums have up to 900 more DPM than the Astron Rex).

On the MT flank, use typical medium and autoloader gameplay tactics. Go hulldown, use good mobility to circle slower enemies, isolate and clip tanks within your damage range (870 damage), and try to put in 2-3 shots for every 1 the enemy shoots into you.

Learn to avoid enemies:
Evasive driving and good positioning are essential in this tank. Your full magazine reload is nearly 22 seconds, which is even longer than most heavy tank autoloaders.

Once unloading your clip, you will need to plan ahead for how you can use the time, either relocate while you reload, or look for a potential new target while waiting.
Try to always keep hard cover close to you when unloading, as your tank will be essentially helpless once your magazine is emptied.

Enemy tanks may rush you while reloading, so its important to drive carefully to avoid them for that long 22s period, and try to stay out of the sight of enemy tank destroyers. Don’t just sit there and let them shoot you unless there is really no other course of action you can take.

Use hulldown and gun depression positions:
As shown above, the Astron Rex actually has good armour. Even against higher penetration tanks, there are still some troll red areas that they may bounce off, which is complemented by the tank’s very low profile and small size.

When going hulldown, try to keep moving slightly, as it will make it harder for enemies to aim for weakpoints on the turret. Don’t repeat the same movements, as it will be very predictable for enemies to aim, they just have to time their shot well. Keep your movements odd and erratic, so its hard for enemies to predict where to aim, and you can keep your armour moving slightly to troll enemies.

When using gun depression, also try not to sit still. Though the turret is very strong with gun depression, there are still weakpoints. A small viewport on the left turret cheek, the cupola, and the 2 weakpoints on the lower part of the turret, each side of the gun; these are all easily penetrable, but are fairly small and hard to hit.

Aim carefully:
The Astron Rex often won’t need to aim for too long due to its good accuracy and amazing gun handling, however since the DPM is so low, its still best to make sure each shot is aimed properly, so that the DPM isn’t wasted.

Don’t trade shots with certain tanks:
The Astron Rex can generally put in 2-3 shots for every time the enemy tank shoots once, however there are some tanks you can’t do this against, and you should avoid trading shots with them.

Tanks with autoloaders will always out-trade you. You deal 290 damage, with an intra-clip delay of 3.53s, most heavy autoloaders will deal 310 with a 2.73-3s intra-clip, and mediums will deal 220-240 with just a 1.5-2.5s intra-clip. Any autoloader can dump out its damage faster than your tank, and will generally deal just as much, if not more damage.

Lower tier mediums will also out-trade you. With a 3.53s intra clip, some tanks such as the Comet, T23E3, and Y5 ELC bis have the same reload, but are not autoloaders, and will keep shooting you while you reload for 22s.

Do trade damage with single shot tanks though. For example, you could shoot a Chi-Se twice (2×290 damage), and with a 7.4s reload, the Chi-Se would only be able to shoot back once.

Play cautiously:
Due to that very long reload and poor DPM, you should play this tank carefully. It can’t really push, especially not alone; it can’t out-DPM enemies or fight in brawls; and if a tank has more than 870 HP (or you get unlucky with RNG), then you’ll have to find some way to avoid them for 22s while reloading.

Playing on the 2nd line suits this tank for these reasons, since the 2nd line is far enough from the front line that you can run away/retreat if needed, and you have hard cover from enemies; but its also close enough to the frontline that you can push up and support allies if its needed.

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The Astron Rex is essentially a standard medium, but with a careful and more passive playstyle. Its armour is good and works well in battle, and its mobility is decent enough to get it in and out of positions. The biggest difference to a regular medium is that autoloader with good alpha, but a very long reload.

Overall

Armour – 6.5/10
Gun – 5.5/10
Mobility – 6/10
Speed – 6/10

Astron rex is overall a decent/good tank. 

Armour is decent on both the upper plate and turret, and great when its using gun depression. Side armour is also good, and the small size is convenient.
Gun has mediocre aim time and low DPM; however penetration, & accuracy are decent, alpha damage & gun depression are good, and gun handling is amazing.
Mobility is decent, with a respectable acceleration and traverse rate. Reverse speed is great.
Speed is decent for a medium, 52km/h.

How the tank works, whether its “decent” or whether its “good/great” depends on how skilled of a player you are. This isn’t an easy or simple tank to play or get used to.

Is it worth getting?

The Astron Rex is not worth getting for most players. Its quite hard to use due to its low DPM, long reload, and fairly long intra-clip, and most players won’t find it too fun or enjoyable to play due to these stats, and also its armour and mobility not being anything too special.

Experienced players may find this tank to be worth it, as it is really unique in the game. There are really no other medium tanks that have good armour, a high alpha autoloader, and nice gun depression and mobility stats. Its has novel gameplay which is both challenging but also interesting, which experienced players may enjoy.

The Astron Rex is worth 6,000 gold. Its a good tank, but most players will find it hard to play and may struggle with its reload and DPM. For experienced players, this tank is worth more around 7,500-8,000 gold, as you’ll be able to work around that long reload, and make the combination of good armour, decent mobility, and high alpha autoloader work quite well.

Most recently sold for:

New release crates – December 2022
Prize draw – March 2023
10,000 gold (Tank only), 12,500 gold (Full bundle) – July 2023
7,500 (Tank only) – July 2024

Camo cost:

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