A/N: ...So, since I had fun writing that other bit on VC Weaponry...Well, I see no reason not to do it again with other stuff from Analytic Cormorant examining the stuff the Intel and Combat teams bring back! As usual, my opinions, as expressed through the rough draft notes of an elderly Diamond Dogs scientist. All hail the Valkyria Chronicles Wiki and Wikipedia for providing actual hard numbers 
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R&D Analysis: Tanks (Yes, much better working title for these reports, must remember to go back and edit the first one before sending it to Boss, Kaz, and That Ocelot)
Cormorant's Commentary: Tanks arose in this strange new world of ours we've found ourselves in for much the same reason that they did in our own. Namely, as a side effect of the trench warfare of their first major modern war (The First Europan War, also referred to as EWI in the literature the Intel Team has kindly acquired for R&D).
As a bit of background information, the first Europan War was, to a great degree, a result of the local Industrial Revolution, as the industrialization of Europa led to a much greater demand for Ragnite. This led to the two major superpowers of the continent, the Atlantic Federation and the East Europan Imperial Alliance, beginning to compete for resources, ratcheting tensions higher and higher. When an Imperial Prince was assassinated, open warfare broke out between the two superpowers.
Much like our own World War I, the majority of the war consisted of trench warfare, which is quite frankly a nasty business.
At the onset of hostilities, it appears neither side used armored vehicles to any great extent. The Empire, however, appears to have been the first to roll out the idea of tanks, and their opponents were forced to build their own to counter them.
Of some note, according to what histories we've been provided with, the Federation started on the backfoot, originally, compared to the Empire when it comes to the armored warfare game. The lack of a unified infrastructure, as well as the previous focus on infantry forces, left them quite shocked by the introduction of the Imperial armored corps. Accordingly, the Federation nations began to develop their own heavy armored units, and, while lacking the Empire's technological and military edge, did possess a larger, if more disorganized, economy as an over-all entity.
As such, in another of the moves that continues to puzzle R&D for the parallel development of this world and our old one, the general Federation tanks are, while of middling capability, something that the Federation can build in enough numbers to match the edge of the Empire's tank forces with sheer numbers.
As an aside, seeing the West go for quantity while the East goes for quality is rather bemusing for myself and a few of my colleagues from the Soviet Union, given some of the sterotypes of the Cold War. (Side Note: No, no, take this out in the next draft, Boss doesn't need the color commentary or already knows it.)
There is also a rather interesting arms race that has developed between the Empire and their neighbors. Given the Empire's initial edge in heavy armor, most of their neighbors found themselves unable to match it head-on, leading to the development of lighter tanks designed for ambush tactics. This led to the Empire developing larger, tougher tanks that can deal with blowing through ambush tactics. It's a bit of an endless cycle, although most of the commentators I see these days note that, on average, Imperial armor generally has an advantage against Federation armor. I'd imagine this is one reason, among many, for the heavy integration of infantry with armor units.
Another note for our troops, Boss, is that the mix of Ragnoline that is commonly used by tank units from the local powers burns very, very hot, requiring a heavy external radiator to deal with the excess temperature. Given it's also glowing blue, the troops can't really go wrong with shooting for the big glowing target with heavy munitions when dealing with an enemy tank. (R&D Side Note: See if we can put together a better heat sink than the locals. I'm sure the Armor Unit would love a tank with heavy armor and no giant target for all the Lancers infesting the area to gleefully ram explosives up their tailpipes.)
With that said, I will be moving on to my analysis of the intelligence provided by the Intel Team. Some of this is from other members of the R&D team, but, given my previous employment, a good deal of this is my own analysis and opinion.
Federation Vehicles
I shall start with my analysis of the Atlantic Federation's main tank, the Minute.
As alluded to earlier in this intelligence analysis, the Federation was hampered during EWI due to a lack of centralized infrastructure, as well as, if I am interpreting things correctly, fairly constant problems between the member states. In essence, everyone agreed that the Empire winning was Bad, but they all wanted battle plans and the like to benefit their state first, then the Federation.
To address this flaw, the Minute was designed to be easy to assemble and cheap to make while still having acceptable capabilities. In doing so, the Federation was able to create a design that could be produced by all member states on their own. The standardization of parts would also help ease logistical issues. According to the documentation, a Minute carries a 75mm cannon as well as a 7.62mm machine gun, as well as a top speed of roughly 47km an hour. Basically, this tank's roughly equivalent to one of our world's WWII era M4 Shermans, Boss. In addition, given pretty much every member of the Federation as well as their non-Imperial neighbors have access to these things, they're often customized as resources allow, so expect some variation when dealing with veteran units.
The United States of Vinland apparently sells these to just about anyone who wants them, so they're pretty common outside of the Empire and form the bulk of non-Imperial armor units out there. Might be worth seeing if we can procure some of our own at some point for reverse engineering and customization, if nothing else.
One exception I've seen reference to in the intelligence take is that Gallia has their own variant of tank, apparently the result of EWI and one of their local generals seeing the writing on the wall and building up an armored corps in time to stop the Imperial invasion of Gallia during EWI cold. Their main tank carries similar firepower to the minute but trades armor for additional speed and maneuverability, which I would imagine plays to their strengths, given the terrain. I saw a few old newspaper clippings one of Ocelot's unit pulled from a library mentioning an attempt by the same general to get a next generation tank program going, but nothing further beyond that. Given my personal experience with how government weapons programs operate, I'd imagine that would probably mean either it's top secret or never happened.
Imperial Vehicles
As opposed to the Federation, the Empire has a much more robust and advanced tank program already in place. They started the armor arms race, and they've spent considerable resources and manpower to stay on top of it.
The Imperials field a larger variety of armored units than their Federation opponents. In part, this is a result of culture. According to Intel, given the Empire has held onto more of their older feudal traditions as a rule of thumb compared to the Federation, they have managed to apply the concept of knighthood to their armor. Leads to a rather enthusiastic support of the armor corps, I'm suspecting, from both their nobility and the commoners.
The Imperial Light Tank is probably the eldest of the models still in wide-use. Frankly?
They're outclassed. The Federation Minute is slightly faster, heavier armed, and heavier armored. On the other hand, given the Light Tank is still, after all, a tank as well as quite mobile, the Imperial Forces use it for supporting light elements, outriders, flanking maneuvers, engaging enemy infantry, and what have you. Intelligence suggests most Light Tanks carry a 45mm cannon, a short ranged 85mm mortar, and a standard 7.62mm machine gun, all turret mounted. Respectable firepower for a light unit, and light tank or not, it still has enough armor to shrug off bullets.
By contrast, the Imperial Medium Tank is a rather nasty customer, Boss. This model of tank, nicknamed the Fatherland to the Imperials, is pretty much the gold standard of armor design in the current era. Mass-manufactured cheaply by the Imperials, slightly heavier armor than the Minute, slightly larger cannon than the Minute, and it still packs the anti-infantry mortar and machine gun. In addition, the Imperials snuck a nasty little trick in to deal with anti-tank troopers: Namely, this thing has a second machine gun turret on the back, covering the rear of the tank. Advise our troops to not chance running up and slapping C4 on the Radiator unless they're heavily armored. Much like the Minute, this model of tank is also easily customized, so if you see a non-standard Imperial Tank, I'd give good odds they customized a Fatherland.
Third on the threat line-up is the Imperial Heavy Tank. This one is much more specialized than the Medium Tank. Carrying heavy armor and a long-barreled heavy main gun with a fast loading magazine in the upper turret and a wide-muzzled heavy cannon capable of firing mortar shells in the tank's main body along with a heavy machine gun. It's a tough customer, although, like most armor around here, taking out the radiator will mission-kill it fast. The weapons and hull are both easy for the Imperials to swap out, apparently, so you often see heavily customized versions of this for their tank aces and elite formations.
Finally, and this one's just rumors according to the Intel Team, the Imperials have been working up a new model of tank entirely. The Assault Tank is probably the Next Big Thing in armored vehicle design for the local powers. Among other things, it's the first mass-produced design to feature
sloped armor, which helps deflect shell hits away from the tank, and the fact that said plate is
welded, not riveted. If you'll excuse some leftover nationalistic sentiment and some fondness at seeing them blow up Nazis, Boss, this tank's the local equivalent to the USSR's T-34, albeit with a shorter gun, and probably going to have just as large an effect on local tank design as the T-34 did in our world. And we
know the locals are able to customize their tanks with improved cannons and the like.
If you can manage to acquire some of these, I'm pretty sure that, with proper facilities and some development time, given we're cheating with about forty years of armor development, the R&D and Engineering teams can turn out something that'll rip the local armor apart.
There's rumors of the Imperials building even larger tanks, but without confirmation from the Intel Team, I'm hesitant to even speculate. Artillery and airpower meant that, for example, the Nazi Land Cruiser idea never took off, and the Maus was a boondoggle that didn't get out of the prototype stage.
...On the other hand, well...there was the Shagohod. Hm.
We'll pull some preliminary and tentative threat assessments together, Boss. I still have some of my old notes on analyzing that thing after you trashed it tucked away somewhere.
Diamond Dog
Can't leave out our own organization, Boss.
As you know, our motor pool has a number of M551 Sheridans. Now, don't let the designation fool you. While the United States (of America. Not used to having to specify that now...) calls this an 'Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle', let's be honest about what it really is. It's a light tank. A tank that can be airdropped (in the 'regularly dropped from the air' fashion, not the joke that paratroopers tell about 'anything can be airdropped. Once.' fashion.), but still a tank.
It's an exceptionally versatile light tank, mind you. it carries a delightfully large and heavy-hitting 152mm cannon firing shaped charge shells, a heavy 12.7mm machine gun, and a lighter 7.62mm machine gun, as well as the ability to fire guided anti-tank missiles. From my old notes on such things, back when I was mostly just keeping an eye on Western armor development as a hobby, it did quite well in nasty terrain, and the infantry of the day loved having direct support.
However, in comparison to the local tanks...well, I think the best term is Glass Cannon? It can probably inflict horrendous damage on enemy armored units, but I'm a bit leery of what will happen if they get hit. Aluminum armor is all well-and-good for dealing with small arms and keeping the weight down enough for this to be air-droppable, but I really wouldn't like to be on the line of fire taking heavy shells from the bigger tanks out there.
Also, given the Sheridan's low rate of fire for the 152mm (about two shots a minute, I'm told. By comparison, Chattering Cockatoo, who is a font of odd trivia, mentioned that a M48 Patton crew could make 17 shots in the same time period, and quantity definitely DOES have a quality all its own), I'm a bit worried about its viability in a dedicated armor battle.
I'd suggest using these similarly to how the locals deal with the Imperial armor: Ambush tactics to disable the enemy armor if at closer ranges, hit them with the guided missiles from long range, and direct infantry fire support with the machine guns.
Mind you, if some of the R&D projects dealing with Ragnite pan out favorably, we might have a way to increase the durability of these vehicles, as Ragnite-Metal Alloy appears to be both quite durable and quite lightweight, given its common usage for infantry armor and adding additional plating to existing armored units...
We'll keep you up to date, Boss.
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