M4A4 or M4A3(76)W

[stealth]

+1

[EDO43]

M4A4:
For the same reasons as the M4A3(76)W, and because it would give some competition to the firefly,

Isn't the M4A4 the basis for the Firefly?  From what I've read, I thought the M4A4 was the export version (lend lease anyway), slightly longer than the M4A3 with Chrysler engines.  Also, it had the same short 75mm gun as the U.S. M4A1/M4/M4A3.  The firefly was a mod to the normal M4A4 that mounted the 17 lb'r gun.  I didn't think the M4A4 was issued with the 76mm weapon.  Someone with Hunnicutt's Sherman book please chime in...

Oh, and the Sherman is a medium tank, not a heavy.

If you want an American Heavy tank, that would have to be the M26 Pershing.  It's 90mm gun could (and did) open a Panther with one round.  Of course with the state of the GV damage modeling (probably because of internet connection issues and not really the damage modeling) it might take one or a hundred and one....one hundred of which bounced off the M3 you shot at just prior to shooting at a piece of armor.

As long as we're wishing for tanks, I'd rather have the 75mm Mark V (Panther) and/or the King Tiger.  Hell, the Panther could even be an Ersatz Panther with sheet metal plates that made it look like an M10 tank destroyer...complete with the U.S. Stars (150th Brigade, Ardennes Offensive....  Otto Skorzeny's attempt to fool us American's into thinking German armor was friendly armor).

[Nemisis]

Thanks FYB, mut I checked wiki, and it kinda didn't say, or hinted that it fired HE rounds only, depending on how you take it. But if it did fire AP, and HVAP, that would be a hell of a puch. 105mm HVAP round would take the turret off a tiger.


-1 to the easy 8, lets just get an MW, and a LW variant before we start sticking on all the extra stuff. And if E25280 is correct about the M4 line having the same armor thickness all the way through, then all we need is one tank, and hav 2 gun options for it (the 75mm L40 medium velocity gun, had more powerfull HE rounds as a slower muzzle velocity allowed it to have thinner walls on the shell and pack in more HE, and an option for the 76mm version). It would be a lot simpler to modify the turret (game wise) than build a new tank.

[E25280]

The 105mm howitzer on the M7 did not use AP rounds.  There was a HEAT round available, but I don't know how widely distributed they were.  It would only be a few rounds per vehicle if any.  They were mobile artillery after all, not tank destroyers.

By '44 Shermans were being armed with both 75mm and 76mm guns.  It wouldn't need to be an "Easy 8" version to have the 76mm gun, but might be a way to easily split the Shermans into "categories" for mid and late war versions.

[FlyinJay]

the m7 howetzer didnt need ap rounds "if I remember directly they were considered tank destroyers becouse you are dropping that artillery on top of them...North Africa they were used with great effect. they would come in handy especially for those pesky gvs hiding in town you are trying to capture...lob a few on their head