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Pz.Kpfw. IV Hydrostat. & Schmalturm Engine Buff Needed

2 min read

Hello everyone,

We all know how German Tanks received lots of love from Wargaming last patch, with several buffs required for a long time, and even Premium Tanks got several buffs. But two tanks didn’t get an important engine buff: Pz.Kpfw. IV Hydrostat. & Schmalturm.

I know these two tanks are not the most popular out there, but readers like Matthew D. and others that have send me a couple of emails requesting to cover this issue, feel these tanks aren’t mobile enough. I have both of them and I feel the same while playing: they are both very sluggish.

Currently both Pz.Kpfw. IV Hydrostat. & Schmalturm share the same engine: Maybach HL 120 TRM V12, with a 300 hp power. But when we look at the Pz.Kpfw. IV H, the regular Tier V Medium Tank, the stock engine is the Maybach HL 120 TR with 350 hp power, already better than the one used for the Premium tanks, but if we look at the best engine we get a Maybach HL 120 TRM with 440 hp power.

Technically it’s the same engine, the difference is Wargaming is using the historical value of 300 hp power for both Pz.Kpfw. IV Hydrostat. & Schmalturm but a different unhistorical value for Pz.Kpfw. IV H. Let’s check the Power/Weight (hp/t) for each of these vehicles:

  • Pz.Kpfw. IV H
    • Power: 440 hp
    • Weight: 25,68t
    • Power/Weight (hp/t): 17.13 (hp/t)
  • Pz.Kpfw. IV Hydrostat
    • Power: 300 hp
    • Weight: 23.98t
    • Power/Weight (hp/t): 12.51 (hp/t)
  • Pz.Kpfw. IV Schmalturm 
    • Power: 300 hp
    • Weight: 29.89t
    • Power/Weight (hp/t): 10.04 (hp/t)

Easy to say these vehicles need an engine buff in order to be as mobile as a Pz.Kpfw. IV H. If both vehicles engine got replaced by the same 440 hp engine on the Pz.Kpfw. IV H their stats would be:

  • Pz.Kpfw. IV Hydrostat
    • Power: 440 hp
    • Weight: 23.98t
    • Power/Weight (hp/t): 18.34 (hp/t)
  • Pz.Kpfw. IV Schmalturm 
    • Power: 440 hp
    • Weight: 29.89t
    • Power/Weight (hp/t): 14.72 (hp/t)

Without these changes they struggle to flank and out manoeuvre  their enemies. Replacing the engine would make them able to use the 48 km/h maximum speed and it would increase their mobility, making them much better vehicles on what they are meant to be and similar to other Premium Vehicles like the Cromwell B.

What do you guys think, do we need a buff on these two premium tanks? What other premium tanks you would like Wargaming to buff a bit, in order to improve gameplay?

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15,466 thoughts on “Pz.Kpfw. IV Hydrostat. & Schmalturm Engine Buff Needed

  1. I think many tier 5 prems like Excelsior, T14, Mathilda IV and Pz. T25 desperately need a good buff to their gun accuracy and dispersion.. Since their mobility and penetration are manageable.. But with the gun handlings they have at the moment, it’s too frustrating and way too complicated to have good and fun games in those.

  2. Please please please don’t let yourself become a message board for the eternal “My tank sucks, why does not idiot WG buff it so I can pawn” threads that fills the forums. What you have here is nothing more then “hey, I found that this stat on tank x is higher then on tank y, so can you please buff tank y”. It does NOT contain anything regarding how the tank is performing right now (apart from “I don’t like it…….”) regarding its compe***ors and tier, what could be buffed on it and how such a serious buff would impact its performance (ffs you are suggesting +6hp/ton on the hydro!!!!!!). All things that without you will not be taken seriously, especially not by WG.

    So, doing your job for you, I quickly checked some of the resources that are available to anyone outside of WG, in this case vbaddict and wot-news. Looking at there statistics I came to two immediate conclusions.

    1) They are not popular tanks, especially not the hydro, and from a business perspective you could argue for a buff if you equate better performing with better selling.

    2) Statistically they are doing fine. More then fine even, especially if you consider that they are old-school premiums. So unless you want to rise there performance to defender levels (or argue why the statistics are wrong or incomplete) doing such a buff would require an equally severe nerf somewhere else, and if that is the case then you bloody well need to write about that as well.

  3. I’m not just “buff because I don’t like it”, I’m actually suggesting because I play them and I think they perform OK, but they need the buff tbh. They are slugs, and if you are not a skilled player both tanks can be a pain to play. I also know the Hydro is a rare tank and the Schmalturm was never a popular tank, but why was never a popular tank? And why can the normal Pz IV have 17.13hp/t but not the others? Specially the Hydro… Also I did the article as a suggestion and asking other players opinion, not to moan or “cry a river to buff” tanks 😉 Just getting some ideas out there, not saying they are urgent and they are 100% required 😀

  4. No. Not every tank needs to be as fast as every other tank. This line of thinking was the same line of thinking that got the Centurions “buffed” with a 50km/h top speed (a change which resulted in no playstyle differences) and that got the T95 buffed to a 20km/h top speed (a change which was just ******ed).

    Instead of complaining that your tank it is too slow… play to its strengths, and minimize its weaknesses.

  5. The Russian T-35-85m has a stronger armor profile than the panzer 4 Schmalturm  for example and it has a better power to weight ratio than the pz 4s. Both tanks have lower engines and in today’s meat they are left behind and an engine buff would be in line with the current meta. It wouldn’t be op or game breaking in any way. The heavies are even faster at tier 6 than these mediums which is even more sad and an even bigger reason for a buff. Do a tanks.gg comparison if you want and you will see what I mean.

  6. I would say giving them the top engine is a bit too much – but why not give them 350 or 370hp?
    That would increase mobility and IMHO would be a be a p***able compromise.

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