85mm AA

[Liken]

I have recently played several battles were I have engaged stugs at about 1000m with an 85mm AA gun. The stats say at 1000m it can pierce 100mm at 0 degrees and 80mm at 30 degrees. But it could not get a penetration on the stug. The stug had 80mm at 10 degrees. Has anyone else seen this? What is the Max range that the 85mm AA can penetrate the frontal armor of a stug?

[YankeeDog]

A couple of points:

1) The 'stats' for armor penetration listed in a units' information window are approximate only, and actual armor penetration varies considerably depending on the exact type of armor involved - i.e., Brinell Hardness, Face Hardened or not, etc. The quality and type of armor on the StuG you were trying to kill depends on the exact StuG model involved.

2) Numerous engagement factors can affect the penetration chance of an armor piercing projectile. For example, you mention that the StuG model you were targeting has 80mm of armor at 10 degrees slope. If that StuG is facing up an incline, or is higher in elevation than the gun, the armor slope relative the gun will be more than 10 degrees. Horizontal angle also matters - unless your 85mm had a 'dead-on' shot into the frontal armor, this horizontal slope would also increase effective armor thickness.

So, while the 'stats' may say that an 85mm AA can penetrate a StuG's frontal armor at 1000m, practically speaking the gun doesn't have much excess penetration power available to overcome any of the additional factors mentioned above that could increase the effectivness of the StuG's armor.

As far as the the maximum range at which the 85mm AA has a decent chance of penetrating StuG frontal armor, I really don't know. I try to avoid taking StuGs on frontally with any weapon if I can avoid it, and against German armor in general I try to avoid fighting at long range, so I have only a small number of relevant incidents to draw upon. In my experience, killing penetrations seem to be quite likely at 500m and below. Any more complete answer is beyond my expereince and would have to be qualified based on the exact date - the quality and characteristics of most Russian AP ammo varies considerably over the course of the war.

Cheers,

YD

[MikeyD]

I believe BFC models pretty crappy Russian shells for the first couple years of the war (tendency to shatter). I'm not surprised they didn't live up to their stats at their max range. An 85 is more-or-less equivalent to an American Sherman's 76mm gun, not the German 88, and you should expect similar performance.