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Greetings, players! We've decided to continue our series of guides for tier 5 light tanks due to your requests. This time we will tell you about the M24 Chaffee (M twenty four Chaffee).
Let's start out talking about its characteristics and comparing it to the T-50-2 (Tee fifty two), the VK2801 (Vee Key tweny eight O one,) and the ELC AMX (E L C A M X).
The Chaffee has an average armor rating of 580. It has 30 less than the VK2801 has, 20 more than the T-50-2, and 180 more than the ELC AMX. You can feel the
difference especially when compared to the French tank.
However, the ELC is an extremely unique vehicle, because it can't turn its turret 360 degrees and it hasn't got a top tier radio.
The Chaffee's average weight is 20 tons. That's 5 tons less than the VK2801, 4.5 tons more than the T-50-2 and 13 tons more than the ELC AMX . However, it's only
average compared to the rest of tier 5. As reality has shown us, you will face tanks twice as heavy as the Chaffee on the battlefield.
The only exceptions are the French light tanks and SPGs of the fifth tier and lower. Remember that ramming is dangerous for the Chaffee. You should use this tactic only
against the T-50-2 or French scouts. You will not do any damage and will only destroy yourself if you use this tactic against any other tank.
You should never ram artillery, even if it weighs less than you,. You should only hit them by accident.
The advantage of having a low weight is that the Chaffee has great acceleration and maneuverability. However, the ratio between the power of the Chaffee's engine and
its weight is 25 h.p /ton.
With this ratio, the Chaffee isn't the best rock climber. It climbs hills much more slowly than the T-50-2 or the ELC AMX. However, its speed is similar to the VK2801.
The Chaffee hasn't got the ability to get to the top of hills using the power of inertia. That is why the Chaffee will need help, where the T-50-2 and the ELC can climb without it.
The Chaffee is an extremely maneuverable tank. It has the best traverse speed among all of the tier 5 light tanks. It performs turns fairly well when driven on a flat surface
and on good or medium dirt. It loses speed more slowly than its colleagues.
As for its speed characteristics, the Chaffee doesn't have amazing rates: its maximum speed is only 56 km/h. Compared to any medium tank, it is a pretty good speed.
However, the M24 is a light tank. It moves 16 km/h slower than its Soviet and German counterparts.
This fact is compensated for by the high acceleration of the Chaffee. However, its is still a bit lower than the T-50-2 or the ELC AMX. When the Chaffee is at its maximum
speed, its colleagues are still accelerating. As a result, the Chaffee eats their dust.
Due to this feature, in contrast with the T-50-2 or the VK2801, the Chaffee can't run from enemy medium and light tanks or chase them easily.
You will have to use different tricks, such as destroying the enemy tracks, moving through narrow passages, unpredictable maneuvers, and so on. This feature defines
the uniqueness of gameplay for this vehicle.
The Chaffee's gun is one of its main advantages. To begin with, this 76 mm Gun T94 is a tier 6 weapon! The characteristics of this weapon match its tier.
And before we start our comparison with the guns of the Chafee's tier mates, we should mention that when we compare it to the VK2801, we will use the 7.5 cm gun,
not the 10.5 cm howitzer, since this howitzer is a unique weapon and we can't describe it in simple terms.
The Chaffee's weapon has a great rate of fire. Its rate without modules is 19 rounds/min. But if you use a gun rammer, ventilation, and train "Brothers In Arms", the rate
goes up to 22. It is higher than the rates of fire of the VK2801 and the ELC, but lower than the rate of fire of the T-50-2.
Its damage averages 115. The only light tank that is more powerful than the Chaffee is the ELC AMX, which does 240 damage per shot. In theory, the American tank can
do 2,185 damage to an enemy per minute without any modules or perks. But if it has the gun rammer, ventilation and "Brothers in Arms", it can do 2230 damage!
It has the highest rate of fire among tier 5 light tanks. Furthermore, the Chaffee has the highest rate of DPM among the tier 5 and even tier 6 medium and heavy tanks,
except tanks with a howitzer. Your damage is comparable to the damage of a tier 5 TD.
Its penetration is 137mm, and with premium ammunition is 185mm. Only the ELC AMX has a higher penetration. It lets you penetrate the frontal armor of any medium
tank or TD and SPG up to Tier 7.
The high tier heavy tanks, TDs, and medium tanks can be penetrated in their side or rear armor. You may have some problems penetrating of the Maus, the E-100 (E one
hundred), and the IS-4 (I Ess For) though. You should aim into their weak spots to defeat these steel monstrosities.
But, in theory, the Chaffee on flat ground can easily penetrate any tank with ordinary armor piercing ammunition.
Its accuracy is 0.39m. It's better than the accuracy of the T-50-2 and the ELC, but it's worse than the VK2801. It has average accuracy.
Its weapon is not super accurate, but you can easily penetrate targets such as the side armor of a heavy tank from 200-250 meters.
Its aiming speed is 1.7 sec. It's similar to its German cohort and better than the T-50-2 and the ELC have.
The Chaffee is able to recover its aim quickly after a shot. That's why, in contrast to the T-50-2, the Chaffee doesn't lose its effectiveness in battles at long range.
Accuracy penalties for movement or after turret rotation are low. They are lower than the other tier 5 light tanks.
The M24 can aim so fast, that it's possible to aim into enemy weak spots from 50 meters even if you are moving!
The Chaffee has perfect elevation angles. You can elevate the gun up and down freely, which gives you many opportunities to use the landscape to shoot enemy tanks
or to penetrate a tank that is heading down a hill.
While the turret traverse speed is high, its colleagues are faster. However, you have enough traverse speed to maintain your aim at an enemy, while you are performing
the "Carousel" or "Teeterboard".
The Chaffee doesn't have a problem that is common for the American TDs with turrets, when the turret can't turn as fast as it needs to during the "Carousel" maneuver.
Using the traverse speed of its hull and its turret together, you are able to turn its weapon 180 degrees in 2 seconds.
Armor. The Chaffee has the weakest armor among the tier 5 light tanks, except the ELC AMX, which hasn't really got a turret at all as a sign of respect to national traditions.
The hull armor: the front is 25 mm thick, the side and rear are 19 mm thick. The turret armor: the frontal is 38 mm thick, the side and rear are 25 mm thick. The rear of
the VK2801 is stronger than the front of the Chaffee.
The frontal armor has nice angles, which are about 60 degrees, but its armor is extremely weak so there is no use for those perfect angles.
Yes, the Chaffee can be penetrated in the front armor by even tier 3 weapons. And its side and rear armor can be penetrated by a tier 1 tank.
An interesting tip, the Chaffee can be penetrated in the rear even by the M2LT with a 12,7 mm machinegun!
Of course, you'll ask: "Don't these angles help at all? They are increasing the total amount of armor and providing additional chances for ricochets!"
The answer is simple: due to the weak main armor, the total amount of armor is not higher than 50mm minus normalization.
The Chaffee can even be penetrated by tier 5 HE ammunition.
An HE shell may only fail to penetrate the Chaffee when it hits the tracks or an area of the gun or if the shells were shot from a low tier weapon and hit the frontal armor at a steep angle.
In any other case a shell will penetrate the Chafee's armor and do full damage. Furthermore, the Chaffee will suffer from artillery splash-damage due to its thin armor.
The only place where the Chaffee has some kind of armor is the mantlet area of its gun.
We may as well say that the Chaffee doesn't have any armor at all. The majority of shells that are shot into your hull or turret will do damage. The only way to avoid this
is to use your maneuverability.
The Chaffee is equipped with a tier 10 radio, which is a feature of all top tier light tanks. Its range is 745m and it is plenty for 99% of all situations.
View range is the second advantage of the Chaffee. Its range is 400 m and that means that your view range is close to the tier 10 heavy and medium tanks even without modules.
Only the Patton and the Patton 3 have a higher range. Their ranges are 410 m and 420 m.
However, the other tier 5 light tanks have worse view ranges. The view range of the VK2801 is 390 m, whilst the T-50-2 is 370 m. If you combine additional modules and
crew perks properly, you will improve your view range up to 445m and get a great bonus that improves your scouting skills.
When the Chaffee has ventilation and coated optics combined with "Brothers in Arms", "Recon" and "Situational Awareness" it can spot the T-50-2, even if its crew
trained camouflage skill, from 330 meters.
Any heavy tank can be spotted by the Chaffee with this build from 445 meters. And if you equip a binocular telescope, even medium tanks can be scouted from this distance.
The Chaffee with top tier equipment like any other light tank is inconspicuous. Tier 10 heavy tanks without modules can spot this American scout with "camouflage"
from 275 meters.
There is no tank that can spot you from 405 m, even if it is equipped with all the modules, perks and premium consumables (of course, only if the Chaffee is not firing).
The mixture of characteristics like view range and camouflage gives the Chaffee, or any other tier 5 light tank the opportunity to scout enemies without cover and without being scouted.
To summarize, we can say the Chaffee "is maneuverable, with great camouflage and view range, weak armor, has speed comparable to a medium tank and firepower comparable to a TD".
Its most common nickname describes it fairly well: "Mini-Patton".
Let's talk about additional modules and crew perks for the Chaffee that let you use different tactics with this vehicle.
There are 2 gameplay tactics for the Chaffee: "Scout" and "TD".
If you want to try to be a scout, you should choose the following modules: the binocular telescope, the optics, and the ventilation or the camouflage net. These are
necessary for improving the quality of your view range.
In addition, ventilation will reduce the time it takes to get to the best scouting positions. As for the camouflage net, it will help those who haven't found their Zen in hiding in bushes.
You should choose these perks: "Camouflage" for everybody. Your commander should train "Sixth Sense" and "Recon", your gunner should learn "Designated Target"
and "Repair", your driver should learn "Off-Road Driving" and "Clutch Braking", your radio operator should study "Situational Awareness" and "Repair" and, finally, your
loader should learn "Safe Stowage" and "Repair".
It might be useful to train "Brothers In Arms" for the entire team as the third or fourth skill.
If you choose an aggressive style, also known as "Scouting?! I never heard of that!", you should equip the following: ventilation, the rammer, and the stabilizer. Or, in
other words, you should follow the common build of a medium tank. You will enhance your rate of fire and accuracy while moving with this build.
As for the perks: every member should train "Repair" and "Brothers In Arms" as their 2nd or 3rd skill. The commander will need "Sixth Sense" and the gunner should
learn "Deadeye" and "Snap Shot" while your driver should learn "Off-Road Driving" and "Clutch Braking" and the radio operator should train "Situational Awareness"
and "Camouflage" and, finally, the loader should train "Safe Stowage" and "Camouflage".
In other words, you should train perks that increase your rate of fire, accuracy and chance to do critical damage to an enemy.
In addition, you can buy a "Camouflage Net", since 5% more camouflage is fairly useful.
As for consumables, we advise you to buy the first aid and repair kit and spend some money on the 100 octane Gasoline.
It increases the Chaffee's acceleration quite well and the hull and turret traverse speeds.
So a Chaffee with top tier equipment joins a random battle. You should choose your role in it. Your decision should depend on three factors: the first is battle tier, the
second is the map and the third is your setup for modules and perks.
Moreover, the third factor doesn't have much influence on play style.
If you are in battle with a low tier vehicle, you should understand the following: if you get in a bush to scout enemy vehicles and don't shoot, your team will have lost a
tank with excellent DPM. Only low tier vehicles will shoot spotted enemies and do little damage to them.
In these situations you should play more aggressively, just like a medium tank. You should move with the medium and heavy tanks, face enemies in close combat or, if
the map allows, get to a good position for both scouting and shooting and play like a typical TD.
If you want to know about scouting enemies from behind bushes, you should check out our "Explaining Mechanics" series.
Once you don't see any enemies anymore, you should get to the next position and continue using your high DPM.
If your enemies are hiding or if you are playing on a city map and there are no good positions, you should look for a single enemy tank with poor maneuverability and
slow turret traverse speed. As soon as you find it, you should perform a "Carousel".
Once you destroy this vehicle, you should repeat this tactic until the end of the match. You should also help your allies in their duels against enemies by sneaking to the enemy's flank or rear.
You should destroy enemy artillery in close combat if you have the opportunity. But keep in mind that you should only hunt SPGs if you're sure that only the artillery will
be able to spot you after you start shooting.
Even if you penetrate an enemy tank, you won't do much damage, and the chance that enemy will spot you and destroy you are very high.
If the Chaffee is destroyed, your team will have no scouts. Let your allies deal with spotted enemy tanks.
If you think that you may be spotted, you should fall back or get to another position to continue scouting.
Eventually, if you are brave enough, you can even go back to your spot if you are sure that you will not be spotted. You should do your best to remain hidden until the end of the battle.
You shouldn't fight in close combat, unless you're sure that your team doesn't need a scout anymore. For instance, if all enemies are already spotted without your help
and they will be known for some time or if your artillery is already dead and allied medium and heavy tanks can't hit spotted tanks.
You should choose a lone heavy tank. It'll be very good if it is dueling with your ally. Keep in mind, that enemies can kill you with one or two shots and you won't have time to run away.
That is why you should choose assault positions where you have room for maneuvering and some cover that can help you escape if an enemy gets bored and wants to
punish you by destroying your tank.
If you've got at least one tier 4 or higher self-propelled gun and the enemy team has light tanks or fast medium tanks, you should try to predict the position that they
will scout your artillery from and catch them before they get there.
If you are really far away from the position, there is no point in catching their scouts.
You should destroy them from your position or just move to a spot where an enemy scout might drive. For example, common positions for your artillery. When it gets
there, you can destroy it in close combat.
You should not imitate a first generation homing missile, which strikes an area where an enemy is.
Keep in mind that in the majority of situations enemy scouts are as fast or faster than you, so you won't be able to chase them.
You must predict enemy routes and then use a shortcut to get to the proper place at the proper time and destroy the enemy.
The Chaffee can be an active scout as well, but due to its speed and size, players should be really patient and use landscape features to hide from enemies and not get spotted by them.
In close combat the Chaffee can use the same tactics as any other light or medium tank. We've already talked about these tactics in our T-50-2 guide. They are: "Attack
using an angle", "Carousel", "Teeterboard", "Catch Up" and "Thin Trolling". What's more interesting is that the last tactic can be performed by the Chaffee very well due
to its high average penetration and DPM.
You should keep in mind that the Chaffee can perform these maneuvers more easily, since its traverse speed is higher, but, on the other hand, they may be hard for it,
because its acceleration is poor, so it is not easy for the Chaffee to escape.
Terrain resistance has been changed in the 8.0 update, so you'd better not face enemies in swamps or railroads, where you will be slowed down.
If you lose your maneuverability, you'll be an easy target.
You should be attentive in forests as well. Hitting one fallen tree means losing half of your speed, two trees means losing almost all your speed and booking a ticket to your Garage.
You should also be careful of rocks, blocks, lampposts, cars and tractors and of course, fences and buildings.
You will lose speed if you hit something on the battlefield. And the results of these actions are not very nice.
A "Carousel" on the slope of a hill may cause an unpleasant surprise for you; as try to go higher lose your speed. As a result, the chances of getting penetrated for the
Chaffee will definitely increase. That is why you should not perform a "Carousel" on slopes without an exact plan of action.
In addition, if you turn on a slope at maximum speed while you're moving down a hill, you may skid. Despite the fact that the skid will not be strong, the enemy can use
it to aim his weapon at you and fire.
But even the steepest slope hides secrets and benefits. You can elude an enemy by driving down backwards.
After the 8.0 update, your traverse speed is twice as high and your acceleration remains good.
You should also keep in mind, that the Chaffee only has 60 shells. This is a normal amount for the majority of tanks.
However, the American tier 5 light tank can use them extremely quickly, in 3 minutes, due to its fairly high rate of fire.
So first off, you should not equip HE ammunition because it has really poor average penetration and average damage. You can prevent the capture of your base by
destroying enemy tracks or weapons.
Secondly, you shouldn't shoot targets that you can't penetrate -- especially if you shoot from a long distance -- because you will not only waste your shells, but also be spotted by enemies.
Remember, the Chaffee should live as long as possible to provide scouting for its team. That's its main task, especially in higher tier battles. And its second task is to deal damage to enemies.
Fast rushes on artillery under enemy fire as well as scouting in the middle of the map are not good for this tank. You'll make enemies laugh with your screams:
"Attention, SPG! I'll scout them!"
An experienced player in the Chaffee is similar to a sniper-commando in its actions; a fast run to the area of engagement, getting into the necessary spot to scout
enemies, waiting -- and finally, a couple of accurate shots into an enemy that hadn't expected it, before moving off.
In addition, it's also trained to fight in close combat, but it tries to avoid it and doesn't join unless it is necessary. However, in a head-to-head battle it can defeat even the strongest enemy. �