Quote:
Originally Posted by SaS TrooP
Both examples above lead me to certain thought: I believe armoured vehicles in SPWW2/SPMBT are way over-resistant...
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Well, yes.
First, the game engine could be improved if there was something in between 0 and 1 for armor for vehicles; as the jump from 0mm (canvas sides) to 10mm (minimum armor level in game) is pretty big.
The only way you could do this without breaking the game database would be to make 255 armor represent 5mm (0.5cm) armor. I think it's possible, as Challenger II (Unit 028 UK) has a maximum of 185 TF for HEAT; so there's room.
Second, the game engine was designed back in the 1980s to 1990s by Grigsby using data that was easily available to wargamers back when Grigsby started programming wargames.
(I said 1980s because if you squint and look at some of Grigsby's earlier SSI games such as Typhoon of Steel, you can see the same unit database values in SP1, etc)
Also, at that time in combat vehicle design, people were happy with "resistant" vehicles, and the game engine mechanics that Grigsby went with his original designs represent that -- the mechanics work great for "long range" WWII combat or Cold War European Combat where you get at least 300m or so range to targets.
It does kind of break down in "extreme danger close" scenarios such as Vietnam jungle ambushes -- 5.56mm SS109 in theory can penetrate:
15mm of Aluminum armor @ 300m
5mm of 500 MPa Steel Plate @ 370~m
3mm of 860 MPa Steel Plate @ 540m
3.5mm Mild Steel (NATO Plate) @ 600~m
This makes it possible to penetrate light armored vehicles if you're close enough (100m or closer) with an automatic weapon -- it's not for nothing that NATO has steadily refined armor ratings with STANAG levels and adding multi-hit requirements for "lesser than tank" combat vehicles from experience in Iraq.
But in the end, the problem is scale. Steel Panthers is about company/battalion level combat at 'normal' combat ranges; and what we have works well here, with a bit of creakiness around edge cases such as Vietnam Jungle combat and Iraq vehicle ambushes.
A more detailed small arms penetration model and a different scale (something like X-COM: UFO Defense or Fallout:Tactics) based around individual soldiers would work better for simulating Vietnam/Iraq Close Combat....but then it wouldn't be Steel Panthers.