Indien-Panzer Guide

The Indien-Panzer is a tier 8 German medium tank, also known as "mini-Lowe"

Its a rather interesting tank to play and a quite rewarding one for those who do well with it.

The stats:

Cost: 2,420,000 Credits
Hit Points: 1,300 HP
Weight Limit: 39.87/40.0 t
Crew: Commander (Radio Operator), Gunner, Driver, Loader
Engine Power: 500/630
Speed Limit: 50 km/h
Traverse: 34 deg/s
Hull Armor: 90/90/45 mm
Turret Armor: 90/90/45 mm
Turret Traverse: 36 deg/s
Elevation Arc: -10°/+20°
View Range: 380 m

ARMAMENT

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ENGINES

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SUSPENSIONS

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TURRET

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RADIOS

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ARMOR

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Pros And Cons:

Pros:
- Good speed and acceleration (+ good reverse speed/acceleration)
- Amazing gun(s): 212 penetration with 240 damage every ~6 seconds is amazing for a medium tank.
- Good traverse speed (general mobility)
- Amazing long range harass capabilities (600m + shots are viable!!!)

Cons:
- It is HUGE and i mean HUGE for a medium tank. (Seriously it is taller and wider than quite a few heavy tanks)
- Bad camo values (due to its size)
- Your gunner will die at least once every other game
- Your armor wont bounce anything that is flying towards you.
- Average view range (not really a con but not really a pro either)

Your Role in the team:
Sniper, Support, Flanker

What you should never do:
Passive or active scouting, you are way to big for this, that IS-3 that is raging in chat and asks you to scout has a better chance to do it himself
1v1 with heavy tanks that wont be dead after 1-2 shots: you got the traverse speed to move faster than their turrets, but you are a damn big target (ALWAYS judge the risk/reward factor)
Being hull down: Although the great gun depression will give you the feeling that this is a good idea, ITS NOT. You have to remember that unlike a patton you only got 90mm + a weak spot (mg port) on your turret. Every single shot will go right through it and kill your gunner. Just don't do it.

The Grind:

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Equipment

Vertical Stabilizer
Medium-Caliber Tank Gun Rammer
Ventilation

Your equipment is aimed to increase your damage output. Binocs and optics are bad choices since your role is to damage and kill tanks not to light them up for the team! Camo is 100% useless the tank itself is huge.

Crew Skills
If you don't mind spending gold you learn repair as first skill, the moment it reaches 100% you retrain the crew for BiA (brother in arms) and as the second skill you learn the skill listed as 1st below.

Commander (radio operator): Sixth Sense --> BIA --> Repair --> Recon
Gunner: Snap Shot --> BIA --> repair --> Dead Eye
Driver: Off road Driving --> BIA --> Clutch Braking --> Repair
Loader: repair --> BIA --> Safe Stowage --> ANYTHING REALLY

Consumables
If you are not using them, you need to start immediately. You should always carry a First Aid Kit and a repair kit, other than that you can either play safe and carry a fire extinguisher or pay the hefty 24000 credits for a "premium" consumable named chocolate which gives your crew magical abilities, also known as 10% better crew.

First Aid Kit: This is your new best friend. On it you'll see your gunner/driver name written on it. Seriously those 2 are your priority when it comes to resurrecting crew members. The loader is an acceptable choice as well but keep in mind he is not as important as the other 2.
Repair Kit: Be it your tracks gun or turret, it WILL save your life at some point, don't waste it! always value the situation you are in. (example if you get de-tracked in front of an ISU with a BL-10 that is aiming at you, it is a good time to fix the tracks and go to your merry way.)

Review:

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Last Thoughts and Personal Input: I love the tank, it fits my aggressive play style, its mobility allows me to relocate to flanks that need help and its DPM ensures me that i can have big impact on the each game. If you play this tank on its strengths you'll do well. My load out always includes some APCR shells just in case (anyway you wont need them in most games), always good to carry some (35/20/6 AP/APCR/HE). It makes decent money but i would not suggest to grind credits with it.




Originally written by bloodyfear

Another hard to master German tank, IMO.

It does have excellent gun depression and great penetration at range. Unfortunately, there is a gaping hole behind the gun mantlet where you would expect to have spaced armour (due to turret wall and mantlet doubling up), so prepare to get penned there a lot. Another thing that makes this tank fairly hard to play is the huge aim bloom. Whereas the acceleration, traverse and gun depression would make it seem exceptionally suited for hill peekaboo, it takes very long to aim this gun after moving. Combine this with a turret that can easily be penned from the front and you will find yourself shooting from a distance where you can try and stay hidden a lot.
At least the gun depression allows you to have very little of your tank sticking up over terrain. The good acceleration means you can quickly pull back after shooting, limiting exposure. The fast traverse means you can easily reposition and wait to restealth before you poke up again and set up for the next shot. I find myself playing this tank like that a lot and I only really brawl with it in self defense, where the excellent penetration of the 90mm helps a lot.

That said, I have tried the Leopard 1 on the test server and it has a similar (but much more flexible) playstyle. You still have no armour, yet massively improved mobility and very responsive (remeniscent of the Cromwell) and an insanely accurate and punchy gun, with which I had no trouble penetrating tanks at distance. It also has a much better camo value and great view range, so flexible second line support all the way and can double up as a vision control tank in a pinch.

If you roll top tier in this, you can do really well, as you will have no trouble penning IS-3's from distance and they won't be able to see you without help. It struggles in T10 matches however, because there it's view range does not give it an edge and the low alpha let's it down. Unfortunately, probably due to a combination of more people playing T9/10 tanks now and lot of T8 premium tanks with preferential MM hogging T8 spots in T9 games, it does see T10 an awful lot these days. Which is a reality for all regular T8 tanks now I suppose (or have we just been spoiled up to 8.6?).