I started trying to learn the tanking thing and taking them every chance I could today. In a 2v2 engagement on Pavlov's House, I killed around 15 tanks with the loss of four T-34. That is almost 4:1 ratio.
The most fail stuff I did before was to try to angle the armor onwards and expect that penetrating shots generally disable tanks. Also, have to ignore everyone shouting at me to drive the tank head on into the kill-zone front engagement of the two enemy PzIV. and looking at the cut-through images from RO2 showing where the PzIV's ammo storage is. It is a little bit further back than the RO1 images supplied in this topic, and a but further out to the right edge of the tank.
Speed?
I don't know how fast the PzIV is, but the T34 is really fast once you drive in a straight line for a little bit. Fast enough for people to outright miss plenty of times from 200 meters.
Penetrating does not mean kill
My early impression was that all those hit but no effect was the shot being deflected. Most of the time, it wasn't being deflected - it penetrates, but doesn't hit anything vital enough to make the tank go boom.
Armour doesn't matter at closer ranges, so don't waste time on trying to manage it. Other stuff matters
Since armour on the combined arms maps is pretty much irrellevant between tanks, I've stopped trying to face the front armor or angle the T34 at them. Instead I do what is most practical for rapid movement. I first locate the enemy tanks (through team, sound or visual on the flying tracers), then I quickly pop up - sideways - from something I was hiding behind. Take aim at the ammo storage on the PzIV's mid-right, and shoot. I keep shooting until I see the turret turning towards me. If it starts to get close, I REVERSE BACK BEHIND COVER always. They don't even see where the shot really came from. Don't be tempted to get just one more 'finishing' shot. More likely they will finish you instead.
Aiming matters
I started getting tons of side shots, and tons of times the PzIV goes boom in a single shot (maybe 33% of the time). Even frontal shots will do it, but it is harder to judge distance and aim properly, and the ammo storage is smaller seen from the front than the side. The images showed in the opening post are a gross simplification of things. It isn't about hitting certain spots on the outside. It is about pretending you shoot through their tank (you do) and making sure the line goes through that box which is the ammo-storage. This can be here and there depending on the angle of their tank. Can be at the complete front right corner if they face you diagonally etc.
Flank-Tank - do it when they look the other way
Avoid frontal engagements with the PzIV's. They have a real advantage. They see better than you by far (human can be commander and look around while AI guns if I'm not mistaken). They have one more crew to replace the others as they start taking internal casualties.
Doing the flanking thing is essential whenever possible. As soon as their tanks are busy looking the other way, it is generally very safe to pop out of cover without being shot at. You will know they aren't looking at you if you see and hear them shoot at your infantry or other tank, or even blew up.
Don't keep appearing from exactly the same spot, if they know you are there. If you can hear they stopped shooting at other things despite them having juicy infantry targets, they are waiting for you. Aiming at where they anticipate you will appear from. Wait until they grow tired of it, or reverse back more and find another angle.
Don't stick with your tank buddy
Having two tanks spread out sideways from each other means the enemy tanks will not be able to cover both spots at the same time. If they are facing you, your buddy can blow their tank up with impunity and vice versa. It's totally fine to even just stay behind the cover you had, if their tank isn't shooting anymore, since it means it is just stuck there doing nothing and is vulnerable. Meanwhile you can probably keep shooting at enemy infantry to the side of it with the coax or something without exposing yourself. From an unexpected condition, as a bonus.
The PzIV's seem pretty cocky and overly aggressive. I guess they are used to blowing up T-34's with ease and then bombarding HE shells at infantry. And they do usually kill the T-34's at alarming rates. One hit kills are around 50% from any angle. Just don't get hit at all. Pretend it has no armor against their tank). The other T-34's I saw mostly just drove head on into the engagements too...
Avoid frontal engagements with the PzIV's. They have a real advantage. They see better than you by far (human can be commander and look around while AI guns if I'm not mistaken). They have one more crew to replace the others as they start taking internal casualties.
Don't jump the gun
Don't use the main gun for gunning infantry if enemy tanks are around. Use the coax instead. The main gun is incredibly loud and the tracer is like a huge "I'm over here!" sign. Coax seems to be mostly ignored but kills infantry well if you learn to aim.
Do your own driving
Use the driver's position when manuvering, except for the final moment before popping out of cover to take a shot or if urgently needing situational awareness from the commander turned out.
Be prepared
Pre-aim the gun at all possible times against the anticipated threat so you won't waste as much time aligning the thing in the right direction. Use the arrow keys to move the turret rapidly when in commander/gunner view while using the lower right HUD layout of the tank to see where the turret is moving towards. If buttoned out, look in a direction and left click once and the thing turns there immediately.
You can't hit what you can't see
It is worth the risk most of the time to button out as commander to see - for brief moments only or risk getting shot in the head. Because you can't see jack shizznats from inside the tank buttoned in. I'm serious, the gunsight is so zoomed in and there's no periscope. There's some kind of side view slit from inside the turret, to the left, which could be useful when there's a risk of infantry closing in.. from the left only. lol. But hey, the turret turns, that means so does the view slit.Can see above obstacles. Being hull down is good if there's nothing to shoot and scoot from. At least you aren't an obvious target. And if in such a way that only the commander pops up above, it can serve as shoot & scoot location.
