T-34s use HE firing at Lt. Armor / Armored Cars?

[Dirtweasle]

Is that what I should expect?

I am paying a game where a platoon sized group of German armored cars has just shot up my BA-10 armored cars with what seems to be 20mm AC fire. My platoon of T-34s overwatching the armored cars advance open up at the German ACs. But they do not use their AP amoo, just HE. It takes aprox. 2 1/2 turns for the T-34s to destoroy the enemy armored cars. I never did see an actual hit to the ACs, it seems all were indirect damage from the blast to the wheels, and imobillized the ACs. Then they bailed out 1/2 way into the 3rd turn of the gun battle..

Is there a problem either with selecting AP for light armor, or registering hits with HE?

[Guest Panzer Boxb]

I just played a QB where my StugIIIF's engaged BA-64's with HE and knocked them out with direct hits. They still had some AP left after finishing off those nasty KV tanks.

[Seanachai]

Originally posted by Dirtweasle:

Is that what I should expect?

I am paying a game where a platoon sized group of German armored cars has just shot up my BA-10 armored cars with what seems to be 20mm AC fire. My platoon of T-34s overwatching the armored cars advance open up at the German ACs. But they do not use their AP amoo, just HE. It takes aprox. 2 1/2 turns for the T-34s to destoroy the enemy armored cars. I never did see an actual hit to the ACs, it seems all were indirect damage from the blast to the wheels, and imobillized the ACs. Then they bailed out 1/2 way into the 3rd turn of the gun battle..

Is there a problem either with selecting AP for light armor, or registering hits with HE?

I have seen this behaviour even in CMBO, and have also noticed it in CMBB.

Tanks tend to try with HE on light vehicles before using up AP and such. Often HE can indeed knock out these vehicles.

I believe BFC has gone to some effort to model a more 'real world' approach to ammo use. You and I, for example, may know that the battle is only X minutes long, or that most if not all AFVs in a given battle have been knocked out, but the crew would not know that, and so tend to try and preserve ammo they will need if something more disturbing than an armoured car shows up.

I've also found that HE is pretty likely to make an AC crew decide to be elsewhere.

I've had an HE hit on a 'regular' Russian AC (whose actual behaviour was 'green' because of the time period), whose AC took a hit from HE. The 'detailed gun hit' stated it as an upper hull hit, no serious damage, but the crew instantly bailed and the vehicle was listed as 'knocked out'.

[Dirtweasle]

Seanachi, Good explanation thanks - it makes perfect sense to me now.

[tools4fools]

I knocked out a T-60 with a Stug F8 and it seemed to be a HE round as well. It was a near miss but still close enough to knock out the T-60.

A HE round against a lightly armored vehicle would maybe make sense as well since an AP round could go sraight throu it without doing much damage. This sure will not happen if a HE round hits home...

[offtaskagain]

In the demo my KVs frequently ran out of AP ammo and killed Pz IIIs and IVs from the side with HE. They were penetrating hits from within 100 meters.

[Chad Harrison]

Agreed with Senachi. Take the StuG's for example. They only have about 20-25 rounds of AP ammo. And you need that ammo to knock out those T34's!!

Chad

[Shades]

I've read about accounts where the German tank commanders would call on HE to fired at light armored vehicles saving their AP for the big guys.