Since the accepted wisdom in AH3 is that tank combat takes place between 1000-2000 on average, the data collection of tank round effectiveness places the 85mm AP up there in the top 3 heavy guns not 88mm. In my testing I found even at 90deg against the T34\85 armor, shot placement at 1500-2000 could result in ricochets if you were not hitting under the upper sloped armor. The Panther a little less, while the only benefit the Panther had was it's hitting power against Tiger2 at 1500-2000. The two rides seem to me as identical in hitting power for normal MA engagements with the Hv round being problematical versus the AP.
What then is the difference in the Panther and T34\85 that causes so many to choose the T34? Should only the Tiger1\2 be perked or even only the Tiger2? From the shooting data you can extrapolate how well other rides in the tank stable will be expected to do between 1500-2000. From 1500-2000 the Tiger2 is the only beast in the stable, maybe at 3000 it's gun becomes equally ineffective as all the rest.
I will also venture from my range experience that no two players are getting the same results when they line up the aiming reticle. In the T34\85 at 1500-2000 I found just the width of the horizontal line high or low translated into ricochet or hits into the tracks and wheels. Same with the german optics triangles and the US\Brit ladder. Offline my drones are not effected by the internet for positioning, so is it possible internet issues can make what you think is a just under the upper armor killshot a ricochet off the sloped armor just above? I have listened for years during fights, players complaining about things like that after firing 5-7 shots. The T34 sloped upper armor takes a lot of rounds if all you want to do is create ricochets. That sloped armor may well be 1\2 it's selling point versus other rides. My squad has 3 hard core tankers and from time to time they have logged for the evening due to that. And this is all AH3 standard combat range 1500-2000. Until I got used to the T34\85 sight, I scored lots of ricochets off that upper armor at a 90deg to the tank shot on my range. It took awhile to learn where to aim for a 1 shot kill. And that may well be another issue entirely since with each tank tested especially at 2000, I had to learn where the 1 shot kill spot was for rounds less than the 88mm.
I remember a long time ago someone telling me the reason they could shoot faster than most other tank players was that they used dry erase marks on their monitor so they could stay in commander mode for the better vision. I tested something like that on my tank range but, with a silk thread taped on my monitor frame. Works pretty good 1000-1500, and I do use a ball mouse which gives me very good control of my turret. This leads to another common complaint I hear, how can players see through trees or over hills. The gun position aiming port is 3-5ft below the eye level of the commander while the round in some cases will arc just over the hilltop dropping into the target or pass through the leaves of the trees on the way out.
So just like with air combat ACM, some tank players invest more time and effort into the game like I just spent my Sunday building a test arena with a gunnery range to collect data on the tank cannons in this game. My current terrain in production still benefited from it since I needed to know something about how a tile looks on flat ground that I'm using on the terrain.
