Hello everyone , I would like to bring up the topic of the sherman. Over the past few days ive been doing nothing but gv'n with friends on the game. And it has come to my attention that the shermans armor is very over modeled. The round of a panzer should be able to 1 hit a sherman every time no questions asked. Yet it takes 2 to 3 rounds to kill him , if your first shots aren't ricocheted. Normally I wouldn't bother posting this but since the new patch is coming out very soon , I thought id mention it and hope Hitech Creations fix the sherman.
See you on the battle fields Rondar.
This statement illustrates just how strong the misconceptions about armor are on the "stock" sherman.
The M4 had some significant shortcomings however it also had some strengths. The stock gun tube was a was a low velocity 75mm. This came about due to two converging issues. 1st the artillery service had a lot of sway over procurement and the original high velocity tube had a short life span so it wanted a longer life lower velocity tube. 2nd US doctrine envisioned a fluid battlefield where specific anti tank (Tank Destroyer) units engaged enemy armor while US tanks acted primarily in a infantry support role...hence the pitiful 75mm.
This created some significant issues in tactics, forcing the M4's to almost suicidal point blank range in tank on tank engagements. The design also suffered from a high profile compared to other tanks.
However...
The Sherman had a 46 degree slope on its frontal armor, this is almost optimal and predated the panthers sloped armor. It also had a cast turret with both curved armor and a large thick gun mantlet. This made the M4 very tough to kill at range in a frontal encounter from longer ranges. While more vulnerablr from the sides and rear taken "head on" the sherman is close to the T-34 in toughness.