This evening, I manned a shore battery to engage GVs at a port after the VH was bombed.
I fired on a Panzer about 2k distant. The Panzer was stopped, shooting at the base. First shot was a tad long, readjusted and second shot was dead on.... Nothing, nada, no damage.
Fired again.. another hit. Blew off track.
Fired again.. Another direct hit... Nothing, Panzer still shooting at base.
Fired yet again! Direct hit... Panzer's engine disabled. It's still shooting at base.
Fired again. Near miss.
Fired again. Another direct hit... Knocked out turret.
Fired again. Another near miss.
Fired again. Direct hit and Panzer blows up.
Talk about your modeling issues...
A typical 8 inch gun fired a shell weighing 260 pounds. Muzzle velocity is in the range of 760 meters per second. At the range I was shooting, muzzle velocity would still be well over 700 meters per second. That weight of shell moving at that speed would have pulverized a 27 ton Panzer like a 12 gauge rifled slug hitting a watermellon. We're talking about tremendous kinetic energy being applied. Penetration should have been through and through, in one side and out the other, with relative ease. Hell, even a 260 pound rock hitting the turret at 2,300 fps would have ripped off the turret and turret basket.
And what is it with the wandering zero? Even at short range, shells went right, then left, and sometimes over. We can discount wind, because there isn't any. Remember, the target was stationary.
To say that the armor model is in need of revamping is a huge understatement.
I saw 4 rounds fired from a Panzer bounce off the flat frontal armor of another Panzer at less than 400 hundred yards. The first one SHOULD have penetrated easily. First, the frontal armor of a MkIV is virtually flat, or 90 degrees to the incoming round. Believe me when I tell you that an AP round from the 75mm KwK L/43 gun will blow right through the 50mm armor of a MkIV Panzer at 1,000 yards. At less than half of that distance, destruction of the target Panzer is certain. At least in the real world.
These are the things that drive players nuts.
My regards,
Widewing