How bad is AMX 13 F3 AM with weaker radio?

Question

I'm an artillery guy at heart, quite far with German arty (near to getting G.W.Tiger), had a taste of Russian (up to SU-8), but I decided to have a taste of French, skipping the lower tiers and simultaneously to taste the life of a fast, stealthy scout (ELC AMX), so I'm aiming to get AMX 13 F3 AM through the light tank route.

I'm currently on AMX 12 t and it's advancing slowly. I really don't like this tank. Big, poor armor, terrible angles, poor acceleration, poor aim, six weak rounds in autoloader a significant step back from the slow but mighty ELC gun, and matchmaking throwing me against Tier X opponents which can bounce my direct hit down the driver's viewport or one-shot me with splash damage.

I got it fully upgraded, except for the radio. I'm doing some 5k XP a day, and I'm quite a bit away from the needed 64,000XP needed for the AMX 13 F3 AM.

The 9000XP required for the best radio would make a significant dent in my budget, and I'm really not finding it essential (the tank not being lean enough to sneak deep behind enemy lines; current radio is perfectly sufficient for flanking, stealth-scouting at extended foreposts or leading support fire from second line (while looking for openings for flanking).

Thing is, that radio is the only thing inherited by AMX 13 F3 AM from AMX 12 t. I know the radio is the holy spirit of the artillery. Normally, 13 F3 would have inherited it from its artillery predecessors. That way it won't - unless I spend another 2 days on the light tank grinding for it.

My plan is to get to the arty ASAP, and earn my better radio there. 9k XP in a tier VI artillery is normally a breeze for me. Except I never played a higher tier arty with poor radio. I know it will perform poorly - the question is, how poorly? If it's more than 3 days of grinding, I'm better off spending the time in AMX 12 t.

Any experiences? Insights? Ideas?

Answer 1

I know how you feel, going trough the AMX 12t was one of my worst experiences in world of tanks.

My answer would be to definitely get the radio by using the arty, and not the AMX12t.

The default radio is not that bad, it has a range of 400. In World of tanks whether or not another tank is in radio range is determined by the sum of the two vehicles ranges, and in most battles you will be matched with team mates who will also have decent radio's on their tanks.

The experience gain on the arty will also be much faster than on the AMX12t.

On a side note, I find the French artillery after the 13F amongst the most fun arty to play, so grind trough the 13F quickly and enjoy the Lorraine!