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Tactics vehicle manual and ammo

kirvixus

Member
Jun 24, 2008
12
1
I am trying to figure out the difference between the types of tank ammo; specifically what they are and when to use one versus the other. I know there is armor piercing, armor piercing composite rigid, and high explosive, but what does any of that mean really by comparison? are certain tanks more susceptible to certain ammo? I looked in the game manual in section 5.3.2.2 "ammo types" and it says "see the vehicle manual for full details", yet there is no vehicle manual in the downloads section. does anyone know where I would find that?
 
HE= High explosive, used for soft targets such as infantry. May be effective sometimes against Armor

AP= Armor Piercing, Effective against armor only though I was able to hit a soldier one time with AP direct hit

APCD= just a harder harder shell cap that was historically made of various alloys ( tungsten etc..) that would penetrate armor better but due to alloy scarcity was not always available in large number.
 
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Large caliber HE could damage armor, yes...

and with APCR, it can be more effective at shorter ranges than traditional AP rounds, but not so much at longer ranges.




Post necromancy, I know, but I -have- managed to occasionally one-shot an IS-2 with APCR from a PzIII at 900 meters. Range was known because it was on the ... I think it was Lubjankow Shiessbahn map, with range markers.

First time, I thought it was a fluke. 5th time the target respawned and I did it ... I figured maybe it wasn't. :D
 
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APCR statement of "only good at short ranges" is incorrect. The round is good at any range and is better then AP, the downside is tungsten is a lot dearer so it was not widely available and tanks on both sides only carried a limited supply.

This is historical, I would have to review RO Code to see if tripwire downgraded it in long range.
 
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isn't the base thing that makes apcr better, that it got better velocity and flightpath due to the soft outside.




Not exactly.


The outside of the projectile provides an aerodynamic shape for flight, but the tip being soft doesn't help that. What it -does- help is overcoming the slope of enemy armor.

With traditional AP rounds, when you hit something at less than perpendicular, the ogival surface of the round will tend to cause the round to glance off the target, when it hits a sloped face.

When the soft nose of the APCR hits, it deforms to match the face of the armor, rather than glancing off. This gives the solid core of the round a better purchase on the face, and rather than tending to glance off, it should plow right on through.
 
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isn't the base thing that makes apcr better, that it got better velocity and flightpath due to the soft outside.

Ya, it's not that ACPR isn't 'as effective', but it has a worse Ballistic Coeffeceient do to the shape of the round.

In code, a lower penetration value of a round is used to help model it's loss of velocity at range.
The external ballistics will reflect as the round not being able to travel as far (ie: drops faster)
 
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