Thanks for replying.
My experience with the M4A3s is as a Panzer or T34 gunner who kept bouncing repeated rounds off an M4A3/76, and I know about the difference in field gun ammo. I paired up with another T34/85 the other day toe-to-toe against a single M4/76 and all we did was bounce rounds off the M4 until it took us
both out. A few days ago I hit an M4/76 driven by
redctchr four times broadside with Panzer AP at 800-yards before he located me and finished me off. Just minutes ago I struck an M4/76 driven by
Fish62 eight times with a Panzer IV AP at about 1200-yards... every round richocheted off the M4 and struck the dirt or bounced into the air. The M4/76 drivers know this, and just sit there and take the rounds knowing their best bet is to slug it out... and probably win.
This hard-to-kill problem exists only with the M4A3/76; not the lesser-gunned M4A3/75 even though both A3 model tanks are identically armored except for the turret differences used in mounting the upgraded 76mm gun. But, while the 75mm version is one of the easiest armored vehicles in the game to defeat, the same welded hull tank sporting the 76mm gun requires nothing less than a Panther to hope for a one-shot kill at shorter ranges. I would expect the damage modeling for both M4 versions to be identical... it clearly isn't.
Of course I was being funny about driving the M4/76 like I was Superman... everything in the game dies. If you want a film I'll see what I can do. But, in talking about the M4's to the other guys who fight tanks in the game, I can't recall a single one who wasn't aware of all this, or disagreed. I know... everyone complains about damage modeling; but there is a serious modeling problem with the M4 and it's been there for a very long time. The historical M4 received main gun updates, and in the Jumbo model extra armor. But in all other instances the thing was literally a sucker for any anti-tank round. Not so with Hitech's interpretation of the vehicle.