Warhawks97 wrote:being penetrated doesent mean death outright lol.
No-o-o-o-o, I concur.
But it is very dangerous.
Even heavier guns often had to hit the target several times before destroying it.
Mmmm, no-o-o-o-o... not so much I think. I may be wrong, but I think if a shell penetrates armour, the crew usually abandon the tank. They know they can be hit, they know another shell will be on the way, and very ilkely they cannot get into cover before the next round arrives.
Any shell entering the crew compartment is pretty much fatal, I think - that much metal at that much speed. People are going to die or be injured, from the shell itself or fragments of metal from the hull flying around.
In fact a tank really is like most things the minimum set of things needed to make a given entity. Engine, fuel, ammo, crew, gun. If you put a great big lump of metal through one or more of these things, I agree the tank can in some situations still move - maybe the gun is destroyed and most of the damage is external - but in general, big problems.
Certainly in WW2 from what I've read it's common practise to put a few rounds into a hit enemy tank, just to make sure.
Like what you think would happen when penetrating the engine deck deck armor? You think it blows up right away?
I think the engine stops working. "Wipes tanks" was a rather emphatic phrase, rather than something intended literally. You get a mobility kill. If the units involved are pushing forward, the vehicle can be recovered for repair. Otherwise, it's lost.
It would look to strange when guns have to hit a tank multiple times to kill it completely while a simple strafe with a single 20 mm shot would make the tank blowing up.
If a 75mm gun is firing against Jumbo front armour, then indeed many hits could be required. If a 20mm cannon is firing against top armour, then indeed, one hit could be plenty - just as 75mm firing against a Stuart would only need one shot - and with an aircraft 20mm cannon you're looking at some rounds per second, so maybe a few hits, not just one, in any given strafe. If the 20mm shells penetrate the engine deck armour, engine stops working. If they penetrate turret top, then the turret crew are probably dead or incapacitated, which is normally three men - gunner, loader, commander.
There are basically levels of realism which COH as the basis for BKM cannot simulate.