PoorOldSpike wrote:
PS- we've got a bit of a mystery on our hands, namely the game's StuH 42 Artillery version has got an attack strength of 12 against soft targets, and an attack strength of 6 against armour, BUT the AT version is 10 against soft, and 5 against armour.
Both versions have the same 105mm gun, so do members have any ideas why their stats are different?
I think it is the different Ammo it uses
The StuH uses a Howitzer Cannon instead of a Regular Anti Tank Cannon
Howitzers usually fire with lower speed and a higher elevation, so the impact of the Ammo comes from above
An AT Cannon is designed to fire in a straight Line with higher speed and usually no elevation above 35 degrees
So the StuH with its howitzer is pretty good in doing surface Damage with its heavier Grenades with more Explosive Charge and Shrapnells that are designed to do Damage sideways (up to 30 Meters to each side of the Impact according to Wiki). In a straight line it is far less effective because it has far less Penetration Power. Although the StuH was able to fire at Lower Elevation it was far less effective especially to the stronger Front Armour of opposing Tanks. So it relied on Hollow Charge Bullets to have some effective Impact in AT Mode.
The other StuG basically sported regular Anti Tank Guns and while they were able to fire over the Heads of the Units they supported you can say as a Rule of Thumb "The closer they come the harder they can hit the target"
With a howitzer and it's relative slow speed Fire it's just the opposite. At least in a comparison to regular Guns
The success of the 88 in an Anti Tank Role is mainly due to their high velocity Bullets that could virtually penetrate anything in Range on a Straight Line. But I don't think it fires the same Ammo vs Tanks as it does in its AA role either.
The AA Rounds had timers that let them explode at a certain height (depending on time set) and the damage it inflicted in the Air was also more of an Area Damage than an impact of the Rounds. (Wiki said in the Air Defence Mode Bullets quite often just punched Holes into Bombers but exploded way later because of a wrong set timer so the Damage was often not Critical.)
But don't ask me further on that. I'm no weapons buff and generally not interested in weapon technology or historical accuracy at all. I just googled to come up with an explanation. Usually I just play the game and I'm interested in the challenge of winning a scenario or a Campaign. So I take any strengths and weaknesses of the Game just as they are
