CMRT Panther variants question

[Lacroix]

i see few variants, VA early,mid,late and VG i think. i was reading something on the internet and it seems there were, kinda panther 1 and 2, panther 2 having 120mm frontal armour. i do not understand which is which and what is proper naming etc, anyone understands this and can explain it to me?

i am asking because if i can have 120MM frontal armor Panther in my game instead of 100mm one, thats kinda a big deal, and i dont know which one is which

[AttorneyAtWar]

i see few variants, VA early,mid,late and VG i think. i was reading something on the internet and it seems there were, kinda panther 1 and 2, panther 2 having 120mm frontal armour. i do not understand which is which and what is proper naming etc, anyone understands this and can explain it to me?

i am asking because if i can have 120MM frontal armor Panther in my game instead of 100mm one, thats kinda a big deal, and i dont know which one is which

The Panther 2 was actually just a variant of the panther with side skirts (which helped against Soviet AT rifles), however it was deemed unnecessary because they simply put the skirts on the Panthers they already had or were producing. Panthers also do not have any where near 100mm thick armor on the front, what they do have is 120ish effective sloped armor. The sloping accounts for the increase in effective thickness, and on some of the later panthers such as the Panther V G (Late) its armor is of lesser quality due lack of good resources that late in the war. In reality the Panthers armor is about 80mm thick and that along with sloping bumps it up to 120mm effective thickness.

Now in terms of what to pick in game its a bit of a trade off, the late model Panther G eliminated the shot trap on the gun mantlet which was a pretty serious weakness, allowing ricochets into the weak top armor below the gun. However as stated above the armor is weaker due to late war materials, you can't really go wrong with the panther in most of its variants though because the big Russian guns you are facing in most cases make its armor negligible. Smart positioning and careful movement will make the panther one of the deadliest tanks on the battlefield, but don't think its armor can take hit after hit in any of its forms. Use its superior gun performance and accuracy to your advantage and always put it in a situation where its armor is facing towards the enemy, and the risk of flanking is extremely low.

Hope this helps!

[Lacroix]

The Panther 2 was actually just a variant of the panther with side skirts (which helped against Soviet AT rifles), however it was deemed unnecessary because they simply put the skirts on the Panthers they already had or were producing. Panthers also do not have any where near 100mm thick armor on the front, what they do have is 120ish effective sloped armor. The sloping accounts for the increase in effective thickness, and on some of the later panthers such as the Panther V G (Late) its armor is of lesser quality due lack of good resources that late in the war. In reality the Panthers armor is about 80mm thick and that along with sloping bumps it up to 120mm effective thickness.

Now in terms of what to pick in game its a bit of a trade off, the late model Panther G eliminated the shot trap on the gun mantlet which was a pretty serious weakness, allowing ricochets into the weak top armor below the gun. However as stated above the armor is weaker due to late war materials, you can't really go wrong with the panther in most of its variants though because the big Russian guns you are facing in most cases make its armor negligible. Smart positioning and careful movement will make the panther one of the deadliest tanks on the battlefield, but don't think its armor can take hit after hit in any of its forms. Use its superior gun performance and accuracy to your advantage and always put it in a situation where its armor is facing towards the enemy, and the risk of flanking is extremely low.

Hope this helps!

that cleared all my doubts and missunderstandings about panther. thanks

i 'd have one more question, is t34 85 's Armour (which side) superior to t34s m1943 Variant's armour ( i think thats the name) ? it says that it has 90mm frontal armour (85 variant).

also in comparison, T34 85 Frontal armour vs panthers frontal armour, would you say panther has a big advantage there or its just a minor advantage in practice ?

didnt play much RT so i dont have idea how strong T34s (85s more precisely) are in practice, is it something between Pz4 and panther , or something like Stug III, or its Almost* as good as panther

[AttorneyAtWar]

that cleared all my doubts and missunderstandings about panther. thanks

i 'd have one more question, is t34 85 's Armour (which side) superior to t34s m1943 Variant's armour ( i think thats the name) ? it says that it has 90mm frontal armour (85 variant).

also in comparison, T34 85 Frontal armour vs panthers frontal armour, would you say panther has a big advantage there or its just a minor advantage in practice ?

didnt play much RT so i dont have idea how strong T34s (85s more precisely) are in practice, is it something between Pz4 and panther , or something like Stug III, or its Almost* as good as panther

I don't want to speak on the T-34/85 models and variants too much because I am less knowledgeable there, but I would imagine that 90mm is once again effective thickness with slope. As for the Panther taking on the 85, yes its frontal hull armor should defeat the 85 until about 100m point blank, however the turret armor on the panther would be vulnerable to penetration from 300 or a little more probably.

[womble]

And then there's the Panther II which never saw service, or even production beyond one prototype hull. That was supposed to upgrade the armour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panther_tank#Panther_II

Assuming someone isn't just yanking the wikipedia chain...

[snarre]

only two panther II prototype was buildet , sou it didint newer soo combat.

[MikeyD]

I'm not sure, they're probably just referring to the T-34-85 rounded gun mantlet if they use the 90mm number. T-34-85 actually has less hull armor than many earlier T-34-76s, many of which had applique armor plate on the bow. But the suspension couldn't handle both the big turret & long gun and applique bow armor too.