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  • Just look at THIS!

  • Almost eight tons of German high-alloy steel!

  • A threat to any enemy!

  • The most powerful gun in World of Tanks!

  • Thousands dream of it!

  • Millions tremble before it!

  • But sometimes even this gun can't compensate

  • for theoutstandingskills of a player.

  • To avoid this happening too often,

  • today we'll talk about armor penetration.

  • Explaining Mechanics Armor Penetration

  • Any gun has a standard set of characteristics:

  • damage, accuracy, aiming time, and rate of fire.

  • But all this is useless

  • if you're unable to penetrate the armor.

  • To fire effectively, you should learn

  • how penetration mechanics work, understand their principles.

  • Let's start with some theory from our confidential informant.

  • Every shell in the game has its penetration capability.

  • The documentation specifies its average value

  • when firing from 100 meters.

  • The actual penetration can be 25 percent higher or lower.

  • The damage caused is calculated in a similar manner.

  • Thanks, CI!

  • Let's go further and have a small experiment.

  • We'll take two T57 Heavy and two AMX tanks.

  • This choice is not accidental:

  • both vehicles feature 120-mm guns, equal average damage,

  • and almost the same penetration

  • with Armor-Piercing and High-Explosive shells.

  • The key difference is the type of Premium shells they have.

  • The AMX features Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shells,

  • and the T57 Heavy can fire High-Explosive Anti-Tank shells.

  • The targets are placed not far from our vehicles.

  • I don't think any of the tanks will have problems

  • penetrating their armor, but let's see.

  • The first tank fires an AP shell;

  • the second shoots an APCR shell;

  • the third vehicle goes for a HEAT shell;

  • and the fourth firesan HE shell.

  • None of them had a problem.

  • Let's make the task more complicated:

  • we'll put the targets behind cover and repeat the experiment.

  • As you can see, the result is a bit different...

  • The HE shell dealt only splash damage,

  • and the HEAT shell got stuck in the fence.

  • But this isn't over yet.

  • Now we're going to remove the obstacles

  • and take the target a bit farther away.

  • The guns fire, and...

  • The result is different again.

  • Few people realize

  • that different shell types would be best

  • for firing at the same target in different situations.

  • To do this correctly, you need some theory.

  • As you know, there are four shell types,

  • each with its unique properties.

  • The main shell type used by most tanks

  • is the Armor-Piercing shell.

  • These shells fly quickly,

  • but their penetration capability slightly reduces with distance.

  • Their penetration capability also reduces

  • when they hit a destructible object, like a fence or a vehicle.

  • The fastest shells are APCR ones.

  • Only weekends pass by faster.

  • APCR shells can go through fences too,

  • but with distance they lose

  • their penetration capacity more than AP shells.

  • The HEAT shell is a different story.

  • Its penetration capability doesn't depend on the range

  • and remains the same along the entire trajectory.

  • But this comes at a price: this shell is the slowest one.

  • And if it hits a fence, it won't go any farther.

  • HE shells fly almost as fast as AP ones,

  • and they don't lose their penetration power with distance.

  • After hitting any object, an HE shell detonates,

  • and its fragments can damage a vehicle nearby.

  • In addition, these shells have the highest potential damage

  • and the lowest penetration capability.

  • And now let me give you some pieces of advice.

  • If you want to cause damage through fences,

  • fire AP shells or APCR shells.

  • To fire at a slow and well-armored vehicle

  • located far away, you'll hardly find

  • anything better than the HEAT shell.

  • If you take a shot at scouts from a long distance,

  • the ideal choice is the APCR shell.

  • And if your enemies are paper-thin,

  • send them some High-Explosiveparcels.”

  • And some more tips.

  • Any destructible building consists of sections.

  • If you want to destroy the building quickly,

  • fire an HE shell at the joint between these sections.

  • You can also use an HE shell to knock down a tree.

  • Or knock off the base capture

  • without exposing yourself to enemy fire.

  • With a large-caliber HE shell

  • you can even shoot down an airplane!

  • That last one is a joke, of course, but the rest work!

  • So, we already know how shells fly.

  • But what about all these hits,

  • ricochets, penetrations, and non-penetrations?

  • That's simple!

  • We have two parameters:

  • shell penetration capacity and armor thickness.

  • Both are measured in millimeters.

  • If the first number is higher than the second one,

  • the enemy receives damage.

  • Arithmetic, first grade!

  • However, this is true

  • when the shell hits the armor at a right angle.

  • In other cases,

  • the penetration power is calculated differently

  • Let's take a point on the armor

  • and draw a tangent and a normal through it.

  • Speaking simply, a perpendicular line.

  • The shell's angle of entry

  • is an angle between the normal and the projectile's trajectory.

  • In this case,

  • the shell has to penetrate a much thicker layer of armor.

  • The relative armor is calculated

  • as the ratio of the nominal armor thickness

  • to the cosines of the entry angle.

  • The smaller this angle is,

  • the higher the chance of penetrating the armor.

  • Geometry, seventh grade!

  • That's why you shouldn't always fire rapidly.

  • Sometimes, it's better to wait a few seconds

  • and fire with certainty.

  • Each vehicle has its weak spots.

  • Normally, these are the cupola,

  • driver's hatch, and lower glacis plate.

  • However, if there isn't any chance to choose,

  • the theory will help you again.

  • To ensure higher shell effectiveness,

  • the design of shells allowed them to shift,

  • adjusting to the normal vector.

  • This resulted in thinner relative armor.

  • This effect is calledshell normalization.”

  • The normalization angle for AP shells is five degrees.

  • The normalization angle for APCR shells is two degrees.

  • HEAT shells are not subject to normalization at all,

  • neither are HE shells.

  • That's how it looks in practice!

  • The armor plate thickness is 38 millimeters.

  • The shell's entry angle is 60 degrees.

  • In this case, the thickness of the relative armor

  • is 76 millimeters, which is one millimeter thicker

  • than the maximum allowed penetration capability of the shell.

  • However, we know that AP shells normalize by 5 degrees.

  • Due to this, the relative armor thickness decreases,

  • which gives us an opportunity to penetrate the vehicle's armor.

  • Not each time, but still.

  • But there's more than that!

  • Using a higher caliber will allow...

  • And now we will talk about one of the main axioms

  • of armor penetration mechanics: the Two Calibers Rule.

  • This rule says:

  • If the shell caliber is more than twice the nominal armor thickness,

  • the shell's shift angle to the normal vector

  • increases according to the formula:

  • So!

  • If you use a higher caliber,

  • the normalization factor will greatly increase!

  • The target, the angle,

  • and the armor penetration performance is the same.

  • But the shell has to pierce 50 millimeters of armor

  • instead of 66 millimeters.

  • Now, each shot results in damage!

  • But that's too simple!

  • Let's increase the angle.

  • It's still able to penetrate, but wait,

  • what do we have here?!

  • Ricochet!

  • By the way, talking of ricochets!

  • AP shells and APCR shells

  • ricochet at an angle of 70 degrees or more,

  • losing 25% of their penetration capability.

  • HEAT shells ricochet at an angle of more than 85 degrees

  • with no loss to their penetration capability.

  • HE shells don't ricochet at all.

  • And now it's high time for another important axiom

  • in World of Tanks: the Three Calibers Rule.

  • It only applies to AP shells

  • and APCR shells and says the following:

  • If the shell caliber

  • is more than thrice the nominal armor thickness,

  • there will be no ricochet.

  • Whatever the thickness of the relative armor,

  • the shell will attempt to penetrate it at any angle.

  • Woah-woah-woah!

  • Easy!

  • In summary, if the angle is more than 70 degrees,

  • there's no point in using

  • AP shells or APCR shells.

  • Unless you're trying to aim

  • at an enemy vehicle hiding behind a building!

  • Or you're firing from a really big gun!

  • If you use HEAT shells, you can fire at even greater angles.

  • However, note that this type of shell

  • doesn't normalize and it will have to pierce

  • the whole thickness of the relative armor.

  • So, don't be too surprised if you hear

  • We didn't penetrate their armor.”

  • But we're not finished!

  • We haven't mentioned the screens!

  • When an Armor-Piercing or Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid shell

  • hits spaced armor, the following happens:

  • The entry angle

  • and the shell's precise penetration capacity are calculated.

  • At the same time, the ricochet

  • and the Three Calibers Rule are being verified.

  • If neither of the two is triggered,

  • normalization and relative

  • armor thickness are calculated.

  • Then, if the shell has enough piercing power,

  • it penetrates the screen.

  • But its penetration capability

  • is reduced by the value of relative armor thickness.

  • Then, if the projectile hits the main armor,

  • the abovementioned calculations are made again.

  • And it's only after this

  • that damage is or isn't inflicted on the enemy vehicle.

  • When a HEAT shell hits the screen,

  • the situation is somewhat different.

  • The Three Calibers Rule doesn't apply here,

  • the ricochet angle is different, and the shell doesn't normalize.

  • Hence, the cumulative jet attempts to pierce the screen

  • at the same angle as the shell's trajectory.

  • If the armor has been penetrated,

  • this jet will lose 5 percent of its armor-piercing power

  • for every 10 centimeters of travelled distance.

  • That's why HEAT shells rarely deliver damage

  • when hitting spaced armor or tracks.

  • The effect on the armor made by High-Explosive shells

  • is quite a long story, which we'll tell you next time!

  • And now, a few words about one painful issue:

  • Critical hit.”

  • This doesn't happen very often,

  • but every time it does, players get frustrated.

  • This message should be familiar to every tanker.

  • It's played when a shell penetrates the screen

  • but doesn't hit the tank's main armor.

  • And if a shell penetrates the screen,

  • then hits the main armor, but fails to penetrate it,

  • the player hearsWe didn't penetrate their armor.”

  • You can also hear this message when firing at any external module.

  • Each gun, track, and piece of optical equipment

  • has its own armor thickness.

  • When a shell hits these elements,

  • it doesn't rebound and has to pierce through their armor.

  • After this, if the projectile doesn't hit the main armor,

  • the player hearsCritical hit.”

  • And if it actually hits the main armor

  • without penetrating it, the firer hears

  • We didn't penetrate their armor.”

  • Of course, there are other situations

  • when you may hear these messages,

  • but we've discussed the most frequent.

  • That's all for today.

  • Remember: You can research a top vehicle,

  • mount the most expensive equipment and consumables,

  • or even fire Premium shells.

  • But if you don't learn

  • how to effectively penetrate enemy vehicles,

  • the only thing left is to rely on your skillful comrades!

  • If you want to know more

  • about what happens to a shell after it penetrates the armor,

  • click the Like button and leave your comments!

  • We'll make a video!

  • Use these mechanics and win some battles!

Just look at THIS!

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