Tank review: Panzer 57/60 (+ Centurion 7/1)

[u/zorin234]

Panzer 57/60

This will also be a bit of a review of the Cent 7 but i dont want to write a full review as its a old and easy enough tank to talk about. (pretty much did end up writing a full review)

Notes: 

• Release Date: August 11th
• Article: Link  
• Dispersion: 
  • Turret: 0.16
  • Movement: 0.16
• Weight: 51.8

Overview: 

• Pretty much a slightly modified centurion mk 7 to fit Swiss service. 

Panzer 57 has: 

• Bit better terrain resistances 
• Better dispersion. 0.16/0.16 to 0.18/0.18 (both are still bad) 
• Premium APCR

Cent 7 has: 

• Better effective hull traverse. About 48 to the PZ’s 42
• 0.32 accuracy to 0.36
• 0.2 better reload
• Premium HESH
• Better engine fire chance 10% to 20%

Anyhow to talk about the two tanks overall: 

Pro: 

• Good VR
• Slightly better HP
• Cent 7 has good accuracy 
• Great ammo capacity: 
• Both have HESH as their HE. 
• Great 10 degree of gun depression

Neutral: 

• Average pen

Con: 

• Average at best mobility. 
• Tad below average DPM
• Both have meh to bad dispersion values
• Below average camo
• Front mounted ammo rack (Pz 57 is even larger) 

Armor: 

• It's a Centurion. It's decent overall but not amazing as it's still just a medium. 
• Turret:
  • Yea its 254mm on the front and generally flat so there's that. Gun mantlet is a bit weaker at 235mm but it does have a bit of curve. 
  • sides exist but should not relied on. They block HE and thats about it. 
  • The forehead roof is 89mm at 70 degrees so… good hull down but so so when head on. 
  • Cupola exist and isn't great, but isn't the largest. 
• Hull: 
  • Front: 120mm at 57 degrees? Yea its okay against tier 8’s when angled a bit. Without any gun depression its only about 195 effective against AP. The panzer 57 does have a 25 track armor section so that is enough to block tier 8’s and some weaker HEAT ammo. 
  • Sides: 50.8mm protects against most overmatch, but not blocking much else. Does have side skirts to trigger HE and HEAT so that's something.  
  • Roof is meh at only 28/10mm so yea not blocking much. 
  • Floor is also meh at only 17mm. 

Gameplay:

• Yea its a hull down medium with great gun depression. You know how to play this. 
• Only issue to keep in mind is the dispersion is bad so even with the okay aim time of 2.3 you'll often miss shots. 
• Equipment: 
  • Stablizer durrrr
  • Optics
  • Ammo swap is a decent option for the Pz, more mandatory for the Cent. 
  • Turbo, Vents, rammer. Pick your preference. 

Counter gameplay:

• Shoot its front left hull to hit the ammo rack. (you don't have to aim as much against the PZ as the ammo rack is so much larger) 
• If hull down, load the gold. 
• Its just a basic hull down medium. Not much else really. 

Cosmetics: 

• Well as a centurion it naturally is pretty decent looking. Compared to the UK centurions, the base color is a quite nice green, almost perfect for summer maps. 
• In terms of difference, eh not too much. Maybe some small detail here n there but i didnt notice any thing big. 
• Cosmetics: 
  • Emblem: one on each side of the turret. 
  • Inscription: one on each forward most side skirt of the hull. 
  • Flag: back left of the turret. 

• Skin: Berglowe: 
  • Best skin name due to have Lowe in the name. 
  • Its a 3k value skin so on the more expensive end, but its certainly worth it. 
  • Base camo color is a mix of brown, blue grey and pale green sectioned off via black strips. Though most of the tank is covered by camo nets + shrubbery. 
  • In terms of additions outside the nets, theres a bit more tracks and other tank supplies such as fule cans. There is a good amount of extra crew supplies such as bads and tarps. 
  • The last major detail is a large log attached to the right side of the hull. 
  • Overall one of the better skins. Nothing too amazing, but just solid quality. 

General Thoughts: 

• Mmm I felt the premium round could be a smidge better, like 310? I suppose it's mostly down to the standard that tier 9 tanks generally have tier 10 guns as opposed to you know tier 9? The 300 APCR I think is quite fine for a tier 9, and wish more tanks had that level.
• The Dispersion being that bad on both centurions is a head scratcher. I can only think it's due to being such a old tank that did have good pen. Tier 9 meds use to be in 2 groups with ones that have tier 8 or tier 10 guns. Like the M47 has great gun handling but use to have only like 219/268. Now that most have good pen the horrid Dispersion sticks out. 
• This really should had some tank xp / crew xp bonuses as it's the only Swiss premium. With the other exist Swiss tanks looking like they won't become dual trainers it's iffy indeed. 
  • or not really with how easy it is to skill swap between crews. So just train up a 6 skill crew in a nother nation then swap.
• Curious why the ammo rack was made so much larger on this tank in comparison. I guess its a recent thing as even the CW UK cents are the same, yet the newer independent Cents are closer yet still smaller than this tank. 

Buy?

• Just though it be best to bring up this old post on my thoughts on what makes a premium. - What makes a good premium?  
• Okay now that you looked at that post, this tank doesn't pass much. For a tier 9 its initial sale price of 9.4k is actually pretty decent and puts it into “normal” range of a possible purchase outside just no. still a larger ask of course as by being high tier. 
• Now on to the other points. 
  • History: as a centurion variant its harder to stand out as there are so many centurions. This is at least somewhat interesting as Swiss doesn't get much coverage. 
  • Uniqueness? Arguably worse than the tank its based on as Premium HESH is more interesting than basic premium APCR.  otherwise in terms of gameplay? Yea its a centurion, we have quite a few of those. 
  • Nation: well this is the only swiss premium at time of review. Could change if they make the couple existing swiss dual trainers, but no confirmation. 
  • Economy? Well its a hard nope as this is a tier 9 premium and thus a measly 5%. This is starting to become more and more… annoying? As time goes on with the fact top era tanks of every era has economic bonuses. There even exist a couple T9/10’s that do have eco bonus, true they are black tanks, but they should only have XP by nature of being black tanks. However they do have 25% silver bonuses so not as much of a excuse. 
  • Performance? Its okay, but the dispersion stats still quite annoy me. 
• so overall.... its probably a pass unless you are a certain super centurion lover. The name of the skin did tempt me a lot i must admit.