Char Futur 4

The Char Futur 4 is a French tier 9 medium tank. It has great mobility and speed, an accurate and high DPM gun, but also a complete lack of armour. Its comparable to a Leopard PTA due to very similar characteristics.

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Armour

(The Char Futur 4 in the images is using Improved Assembly)

vs 240mm AP (top image), 50mm HE (bottom image)

Flat ground:
Upper plate 100mm (auto-ricochet to 75mm guns or smaller)
Lower plate 66-68mm
Turret 100-115mm

VS all tier 9-10 tanks:
The Char Futur 4 is very weakly armoured, any tier 9-10 tank that it faces will very easily penetrate it with standard ammo.

Frontally, only HE from guns with 68mm penetration (some 120mm guns like on AMX 50 B, 122mm guns like on the 121, 130mm guns like on Vz. 55, and 150mm+ guns like on the E 100) or more will be able to go through the lower plate.

The upper plate and turret will only be penetrable by HESH and HEP type shells, as they have over 100mm of penetration.

The side armour is easily HE-able by any enemy, as they are flat, and only 25mm thick.

Spaced armour:
The Char Futur 4 has spaced armour covering both the sides and rear of the tank.

On the side, the boxes that cover the rear half of the hull count as 5mm of spaced armour, this will stop HE from penetrating.

The long stowage box that extends over the rear of the tank also counts as 5mm of spaced armour, and it makes the rear quite hard to HE.

To HE this tank, you will need to either shoot the hull side, above the tracks and in front of the spaced armour boxes; or the hull rear, below the stowage box. The turret has a small and odd shape, but the sides can be penetrated by HE with over 52mm of penetration.

Gun

The Char Futur 4 mounts a 105mm gun

-Damage per shot is 340 on AP, 290 on HEAT, and 450 on HE
-Reload time is 6.7s, giving it 3365 DPM
-Penetration is 244mm on APCR, 290mm on HEAT, and 55mm on HE
–Estimated aim time is 3.4s/3.6s
–Base aim time is 1.8s, but it can get down to 1.47s.
-Dispersion is 0.299/0.269
–Gun handling is 0.15/0.22/0.07, or 0.13/0.19/0.06 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -7 degrees

Overall this is a good gun for a tier 9 medium. It has both good dispersion and great aim time, along with a fairly quick reload and great DPM for its alpha damage. Penetration is slightly above average thanks to quite good premium ammo. Gun depression is also decent but nothing amazing.

Gun handling is very much mixed, due to the tank having very different factors in each aspect of its gun handling.
Dispersion-on-hull-movement (forward/backward) is 0.15, which is decent.
Dispersion-on-hull-traverse is 0.22, which is extremely poor, worse than heavy tanks.
Dispersion-on-turret-traverse is 0.07, which is very good.

This poor dispersion of 0.22 on hull traverse generally doesn’t limit the tank, as its countered by the great aim time and dispersion. Overall the gun feels fairly accurate, but does bloom out quite a bit after turning the hull.

Mobility

-Top speed is 60km/h, reverse is -22km/h
-Traverse speed is 62.52 deg/s on hard terrain, and 56.8 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 23.1 hp/t, it has a strong 713 horsepower engine for its 30 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 23.1 hp/t on hard terrain, and 21.4 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Ground resistances are 1/1.1/1.5

The mobility of the Char is very impressive, its one of the most nimble tier 9 medium tanks. The top speed is high, and both acceleration rate and traverse speed are very good for a medium tank. The only mediums more agile than the Char in tier 9 are the Leopard PTA & AMX 30 1er.

Special mechanics

The Char Futur 4 has the “adaptive concealment” mechanic.

This allows the tank to be much more sneaky in battle, as it goes unspotted 30% quicker than the majority of other tanks. This is very useful for resetting camo, repositioning, and just for generally shooting when unspotted, since the Char’s reload is 6.5s, and it goes unspotted in 7s.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

Char Futur 4 has no special provisions/consumables.

Gun Rammer:
Char Futur 4 has quite impressive DPM, and that’s one of the tank’s main strengths. It also doesn’t lack penetration, being average to good on both its standard and premium ammo, with good accuracy also helping it to aim for weakpoints. The Char Futur 4 really doesn’t need calibrated shells, use gun rammer instead.

Gun rammer will increase the DPM from 2926 up to 3146, and reload time from 7s down to 6.5s.

Improved Assembly:
The Char Futur 4 has no armour at all, so it doesn’t gain any benefit from using enhanced armour.

Its far more useful to use improved assembly, which would increase this tank’s somewhat low 1600 base HP up to 1696 HP.

Vertical Stabilizer:
The Char Futur 4 has the perfect combination of stats for it to need vertical stabilizer, and that is, having very good accuracy (0.299 even without using refined gun), but boor gun handling stats (0.15/0.22/0.07). Due to this, it should use vertical stabilzer.

The stabilizer is essential for the Char’s gameplay, as this is a fairly fast and constantly active tank, it will often be moving around the battlefield, flanking, circling, or relocating. Due to this constant movement, and the very poor 0.22 dispersion-on-hull traverse, vertical stabilizer will be vital for improving this and allowing the tank to be more accurate during and after movement.

Gameplay advice

The Char Futur 4 is a lightly armoured and quick tank with a good gun, so it plays the role more of a support medium. Other tanks with a similar playstyle are tanks such as the Leopard 1, Leopard PTA, or AMX CDC.

Generally it should be more cautious in its gameplay, as its HP isn’t as high as other mediums, and its armour is extremely thin and will never get bounces.

General gameplay:
Take this tank to the medium flank and use a position on the 2nd line. The 2nd line works well for the Char, since its accurate and can provide covering fire, and also early ambush shots on enemies. It also has high speed and good camo rating, which lets it very quickly and easily get into position, generally without being spotted.

Though this tank can take a frontline position to scout enemy tanks, its armour is weak and HP is low for a medium, so if you start taking hits, you lose HP quickly. Be prepared that you may need to run away if you push up to cap a base or scout enemies.

Stop to aim:
Due to its poor hull movement dispersion, the Char is quite inaccurate while its moving, especially with its high top speed.

You should stop to aim each shot that you want to actually hit, as shooting on the move doesn’t work well in this tank. The great aim time and dispersion mean that this tank is able to aim in and become accurate very quickly, so it doesn’t have to stop and aim for too long.

Look for flanking opportunities:
Like most support tanks, the Char is a great tank for flanking. The good mobility allow it to very quickly relocate and get around enemies, and the accurate and high DPM gun allow it to get shots off effectively even at a long distance.

If there’s a flank which is open (no enemies), or your notice some allies needing support, use the mobility to take advantage of the situation. An open flank can provide great sniping shots, or let you fully get behind enemies.

The Char’s gameplay is very similar to other quick and lightly armoured mediums, and can be played in the same way as them. Try to avoid being shot at, but use the great speed to flank enemies and circle around them, and utilize the great gun and DPM to support allies and deal damage.

Overall

Overall the Char Futur 4 is a good tank. It has some very nice features, and is a comfortable and capable tank in battle.

The gun is great, having good DPM and alpha damage, good penetration, but poor gun handling, however that’s balanced out by amazing aim time and dispersion.
The mobility is very good, with a 60km top speed, and great acceleration which lets the tank easily use that speed. Traverse speed is quite standard for a medium.
Armour is terrible, the Char can’t be easily HE’d frontally, and has spaced armour on its sides and rear, however its armour is no issue to AP from any enemy.

Is it worth getting?

The Char Futur 4 is worth getting for some players. If you enjoy tanks like the Leopard 1 or Leopard PTA, then you should enjoy this tank and find it to be worth getting. It offers many similar characteristics to those tanks: light armour, high level of mobility, good accuracy, good DPM; and its gameplay is also fairly similar.

For other players though, the Char Futur 4 won’t be worth getting as much. Its similar enough to the Leopard PTA (free in the tech tree) that you can get the same sort of gameplay experience from the Leopard, without missing out on much of what the Char offers.

The Char Futur 4 is worth 15,000 gold. Its a great tank with an interesting feel, but it isn’t easy to play, and its also very similar to a free tech tree tank, Leopard PTA.

Camo cost:

“Mjölnir” camo: 3D, costs 5,000 gold

Firing animations of the camouflage

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