A practical merging of the Chi Ri and Chi To

With the name Chi Ri II, the patterned way of thinking would figure that this Chi Ri II would be a better tank than the Chi Ri.

Well… yes and no.

Let’s look at Germany. The Tiger 2, the Jagdtiger, the Maus…bigger is better was the trend. But bigger meaning better is highly debatable. What if Germany made more of less complicated and lighter fighting machines? Well, the E-series was apparently going to help with that… a little.

With that concept in mind, the Chi Ri II was designed to be more practical than the Chi Ri. The designers were considering the final desperate battle for the homeland of Japan. They imagined destroyed bridges and railroads, the need to transport over water with landing craft, limited resources, and so on. A simplified Chi Ri sounds like a good idea, thus a better tank…for this kind of dire situation. However the war ended before development could begin.

The other point is that the Chi Ri II took many characteristics from both the Chi Ri and the Chi To while removing some characteristics from the Chi Ri. It could be said that it is as much a Chi Ri II as it is a Chi To II.

Characteristics to be borrowed from the Chi Ri (likely a none exhaustive list)
Electrically moved Turret rotation.
The wide 600mm treads.

Characteristics removed from the Chi Ri
Secondary 37mm cannon.
Large H9II gasoline engine. This enabled reducing the size of the hull.

Characteristics borrowed from the Chi To (production model).
Similar 7 road wheel style coil spring suspension
Upper front hull armor sloped (Chi To production model still has a better slope)
400 HP diesel engine supercharged to 500 HP for the Chi Ri II.
Very similar turret.

Main armament was the Type 5 75mm cannon.
Shell Weight: 6.615 kg
Muzzle Velocity: 821 m/s
Kinetic Energy: 2229 kj
Historical Pen: 75 mm (1,000 meters) goal (met), 80 mm (1,000 meters) expected

There is really nothing innovating about this tank. Bringing the good points of both the Chi Ri and the Chi To together created a stable and sound tank design.

In terms of WoT, the answer to the question “better” is where the “no” comes in. The simplification and practicality delivers a tank that is somewhat less, or perhaps, equally potent to the Chi Ri. Therefore the Chi Ri II could be either a tier 6 or tier 7 tank and not a tier 8 tank.

Armor

Front Upper Hull: 75mm
Front Lower Hull: 50mm
Side Hull: 35mm
Top Hull: 20mm
Rear Hull: 35mm
Bottom Hull: 16mm

Front Turret: 75mm
Side Turret: —
Top Turret: —
Rear Turret: —

Estimated values for optional cannons

Tier 6 Type 5 75mm model II (no auto loader)
AP Damage: 135
AP Penetration: 137
Rate of Fire: 14.5 r/m
Accuracy: .36

Tier 6 Type 5 75mm model I (single tray auto loader)
AP Damage: 135
AP Penetration: 137
Rate of Fire: 19 r/m
Accuracy: .36

Tier 7 Type 5 88mm cannon
AP Damage: 220
AP Penetration: 144
Rate of Fire: 10 r/m
Accuracy: .38

The 88mm cannon may be a bit of a squeeze but looks feasible, especially for WoT purposes.

Mobility
Weight is about 35 tons. The 500 HP supercharged Mitsubishi AL Type 4 V12 diesel engine gives a 14.2 hp/ton rating. This is undoubtedly the weak spot in the Chi Ri II as far as game implementation is concerned.

Dimensions
It is quite a bit smaller than the Chi Ri and thus a common size medium tank.

Length: 6,492
Width: 3.05
Height: 2.792

Assessment
The weak spot is the hp/ton rating. With 14.2hp/ton, it just cannot compete with the other tier 7 medium tanks in mobility. All the other attributes such as firepower, armor, and soft stats are workable in tier 7 if mobility was good enough. The weak engine bumps it down to tier 6 quality. There are no other engine options available for the Chi Ri II. The large H9II engine would be too large to fit in the Chi Ri II, thus shutting access to the H9II’s rich de-tuned upgradability.

Sources:
Maru [丸] 2011 October magazine edition. 平成２３年１０月一日発行
WoT Discussion forum: Japanese Tank Tree & Guns Discussion: posts by Daigensui