The oldest vehicle in Forgotten Hope Secret Weapon is the Renault FT! Rodolphe Ernst-Metzmaier designed the Renault FT-17, also known as the Mosquito. It was the most succesful tank during the First World War. It was the first tank operated by a small number of crew (2 crew members) and the lightest tank in the war. This was the forefather of all light tanks. More than 3000 were built in France and five variants were designed. The tank was adopted in the mod from the FHT Mod which originally got it from Battlefield 1918.
Renault FT-17 MG[]
| Renault FT-17 MG | |
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Renault |
| Category | Light tank |
| Speed | 7 km/h |
| Main armament | 8mm Mle 1914 Hotchkiss (96 x 50 rounds) |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Used by | France Germany Finland |
| Crew in‑game | 1 |
| Historical Picture | |
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The first variant was the machinegun design. In FHSW, this vehicle was given the name Renault FT-17 MG but in real life it was either just called Renault FT or Char mitrailleuse. It was a 6 ton tank with 22mm armor. The main gun was an 8mm Hotchkiss mle 1914 machinegun installed in a cast turret, the Berliet tourelle. The turret was able to rotate 360° which meant that the FT-17 was the first operational tank design with a 360-degree traverse turret. Further more, the tank was very small. Not much bigger then a car.
The Renault FT was a lightly armored and very slow vehicle. It is slower than the TOG-2! With its machinegun, it can only destroy light non-armored vehicles and personnal. If you are crazy, then use this tank. If you want have some medals and kills, then ignore this tank.
Later in 1930s the Hotchkiss machine gun was replaced with the 7.5 mm Reibel machine gun these tanks were called FT modifié 31
A single unarmed FT tank was bought by the Dutch military which was retrofitted with an schwarzlose machine gun. It was only used for testing. As World War II began it was used in a test of the defensive lines and the tank was meant to fail and prove that tanks would not be an issue. Unfortunately for the defence planners the tank performed far better than expected and showed that military preparations were inadequate.
Renault FT-17 37mm[]
| Renault FT-17 37mm | |
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Renault |
| Category | Light tank |
| Speed | 7 km/h |
| Main armament | 37mm Puteaux SA-18 |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Used by | France Germany Finland |
| Crew in‑game | 1 |
| Ammunition | 
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| Historical Picture | |
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From 1918, this variant of the FT (called ingame the Renault FT-17 37mm) was produced as the Char à canon 37. It was the FT-17 that was given the newly designed 37mm Puteaux SA-18 gun placed in a new turret design, the Omnibus tourelle. The Omnibus tourelle was riveted, and was used for mounting on FT-17 designs. Neither vehicle had a secondary armament.
The Renault FT is a lightly armored and very slow vehicle. It is slower than the TOG-2! With its small gun, it can only destroy light armored vehicles and infantry, uniquely for a vehicle with this gun you have the option to fire either APHE or Shrapnel. The shrapnel or canister rounds as they are sometimes called are quite effective at close range against anything without armour.
On the custom eastern front map Moscow there are FT 17 with the 37 mm gun. Russkiy Reno were the first Soviet tanks and which lead to the first Soviet tank design called the T-18 or MS-1.
Renault FT-17 Pill Box[]
| Renault FT-17 37mm Pillbox or Renault FT-17 MG Pillbox | |
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| General Historical Information | |
| Place of origin | France |
| Designer | Renault |
| Manufacturer | Renault |
| Category | Light tank |
| Main armament | 37mm Puteaux SA-18 KwK 18(f) or 8mm Hotchkiss mle 1917 (MG-257(f) |
| General Ingame Information | |
| Used by | Germany Finland |
| Crew in‑game | 1 |
| Ammunition | 
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| Historical Picture | |
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There were still many FT-17 tanks in WWII. This tank was used in France in 1940 and remained in service right up to 1944 when the Germans used them in the street fighting in Paris. It was used by the Germans under the designations "Panzerkampfwagen 17R 730(f)" and "Panzerkampfwagen 18R 730(f)". But already before the war FT turrets were taken to fortify defensive lines like the Maginot Line. The Germans would also use turrets from damaged vehicles as coastal defence guns and other fortifications. The turret was placed on bunkers and used as pillbox machineguns or anti-personnel cannons. One map that uses these pillbox turrets is Alpenfestung on the first and second defence lines. Berlin 1945 also does.
The Finnish decided to use their FT-17 tanks as pillboxes in the Winter War by digging the tanks down, otherwise they were used for training. On the level Suomussalmi both types of FT-17 turrets are placed on a wooden foundation. The FT-17 with mg is on Ilomantsi. The FT-17 were the first tanks bought in 1919 by Finland. The male 37mm remained unmodified throughout their service but the female tanks were rearmed in 1937 with an air-cooled anti-aircraft variant of the maxim gun sporting a fire rate of 900 rounds per minute.
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