Panther Armor Skirts

[shift8]

There appears to be a error in the function in the armored skirts on the sides of Panther tanks. Correctly, the side skirts on the Panzer 4 do not stop bazooka rockets from penetrating. For some reason however, the Panthers skirts seem to block every single one. I did about 100 tests using the M9 bazooka with zero degree's deflection and did not see even one rocket penetrate the side skirts. Rockets successfully penetrated the upper hull and lower hull, but never through the skirts. AFAIK, this is not historically accurate. The skirts on the German tanks were designed to stop attacks from anti-tank rifles, not shaped charges. Both American and German testing of shaped charge weapons against the skirts showed that they were not effective in stopping shaped charges. 

Edited March 24, 2017 by shift8

[user1000]

Wouldn't the bazooka shot distance matter? Far away = lowered velocity = no penetration?

Edited March 24, 2017 by user1000

[Rinaldi]

HEAT is not affected by distance.

[Vanir Ausf B]

It's not 100% but it should be 0%. I've sent a note to BFC asking for the skirt armor protection vs HEAT to be removed entirely. Note that doesn't mean it's going to happen.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I think it might perhaps be allowed minimal protection value vs. HEAT, but as you say it was really only there to proof the Panther against Soviet ATRs and it usually fell off before too long anyway.