Type 4 Heavy

"The Type 4, also known as the Type 2604, is a variant of the superheavy O-I tank that was developed during World War II. The vehicle was designed for breakthrough attacks on enemy fortifications as well as for coastal defense." The Type 4 Heavy is a Japanese tier 9 heavy tank.

Type 4 Heavy
Turret: tier 9 Type 4 Heavy

Turret Armor: 250/200/200

Traverse Speed (deg/sec): 18

View Range (m): 290

Gun: tier 9 12.7 cm/50 3rd Year Type

Rate of Fire (rounds/min): 3.68

Penetration: 230/258/64

Damage: 450/450/610

Aiming Time (sec): 2.30

Accuracy: 0.38

Engine: tier 7 Kawasaki Type 98 V-12 1100

Engine Power (h.p.): 1100

Tracks: tier 8 Type 4 Heavy

Traverse speed (deg/sec): 20

Radio: tier 6 Type 96 Mk. 4 Bo

Signal Range (m): 425

Type 2604
Turret: tier 9 Type 4 Heavy

Turret Armor: 250/200/200

Traverse Speed (deg/sec): 18

View Range (m): 290

Gun: tier 9 12.7 cm/50 3rd Year Type

Rate of Fire (rounds/min): 3.68

Penetration: 230/258/64

Damage: 450/450/610

Aiming Time (sec): 2.30

Accuracy: 0.38

Engine: tier 8 Kawasaki Type 98 V-12 1200

Engine Power (h.p.): 1200

Tracks: tier 9 Type 4 Heavy Kai

Traverse speed (deg/sec): 22

Radio: tier 8 Type 3 Otsu

Signal Range (m): 550

Type 4 Heavy Kai
Turret: tier 9 Type 4 Heavy

Turret Armor: 250/200/200

Traverse Speed (deg/sec): 18

View Range (m): 290

Gun: tier 10 14 cm/50 3rd Year Type

Rate of Fire (rounds/min): 3.88

Penetration: 249/282/70

Damage: 600/600/770

Aiming Time (sec): 2.90

Accuracy: 0.42

Engine: tier 8 Kawasaki Type 98 V-12 1200

Engine Power (h.p.): 1200

Tracks: tier 9 Type 4 Heavy Kai

Traverse speed (deg/sec): 22

Radio: tier 10 Type 3 Ko

Signal Range (m): 750

Type 4 Heavy Kai (15cm)
Turret: tier 9 Type 4 Heavy

Turret Armor: 250/200/200

Traverse Speed (deg/sec): 18

View Range (m): 290

Gun: tier 10 15 cm/45 41st Year Type

Rate of Fire (rounds/min): 2.45

Penetration: 75/334

Damage: 1,100/750

Aiming Time (sec): 3.20

Accuracy: 0.52

Engine: tier 8 Kawasaki Type 98 V-12 1200

Engine Power (h.p.): 1200

Tracks: tier 9 Type 4 Heavy Kai

Traverse speed (deg/sec): 22

Radio: tier 10 Type 3 Ko

Signal Range (m): 750

Performance
Currently the largest tank in the game (larger than the Maus and its tier 10 successor the Type 5 Heavy due to the rear engine area). Staying near cover is a must taking its huge size into consideration, making sure to not get hit by tank destroyers, which often have enough penetration to go through the armor, and artillery. Avoid going open areas as much as possible because this tank's camouflage value is laughably poor.

The 12.7 cm gun has a long reload, long aim time and mediocre gold penetration, meaning that you need to fight enemies as close as possible. The 14 cm gun improves upon the 12.7's rate of fire, penetration, and damage at the cost of worse aiming time and accuracy. The big advantage to using either the 12.7 or 14 cm guns is the excellent depression they both have, while the 15 cm cannot use this as an advantage due to its larger size. The 15 cm gun is a return to the play style of the 15 cm Howitzer on the pre-O-Ho superheavies, with the standard HE rounds, non penetrating shots on any tank have the possibility of causing either minor (as low as 5 for the poorest shots, such as a hit on the skirt of an E 100) or major (around 500, such as a hit on the side of a turret or an engine compartment) splash damage depending on where it hits, while penetrations will guarantee around 1100 damage. The 15 cm premium ammo looses the splash damage capability in favor of a very high penetration of 334 and 350 less damage, this ammo is not recommended for regular usage due to the expensive cost, bad gun handling, and only slightly higher damage than the 14 cm's. The heat rounds on this gun are very useful against sidescraping enemy tanks as they will usually chip away 200-400 damage and have a chance to damage or set fire to the fuel tank.

Mobility is very poor; worse than Maus, so you need to predict few minutes to ahead and have good map awareness to minimize chances to get left in behind. Avoid sidescraping, since the hull cheeks will be easier to penetrate and have ammo racks located behind them. Instead, come out from corners by angling your hull front and hiding hull cheek behind the corner. This is safest option since your lower glacis plate is as tough as front. Your turret armors cheeks and inner gun mantlet can usually be penetrated by premium rounds, TD guns, and tier 10 tank guns. Never go alone, because the Type 4 is big, slow and has a very long reload. High alpha damage makes this tank relatively good at peek-a-boom. Having allies is again a must to make you less vulnerable during your reload. Hulldown is also an option, with -10 degrees of depression on the first two guns, though you can risk exposing the lower glacis plate which will be easier to penetrate due to the angle. Lastly, you can reverse sidescrape unlike the succeeding Type 5 Heavy, since the Type 4's entire rear can be covered behind buildings, exposing only your side and turret.

Overall, Type 4 can be relatively frustrating tank to play due to size, poor mobility and very poor gun stats apart from damage and regular AP penetration, but in a few situations, the tank can do its work very well.