I understand that making the MGs on tanks must must be balanced, so need take multiple hits to kill an enemy, (or maybe that’s just me) or else it would be OP. The game lists HE as anti personnel, but on tanks with small calibers, (such as the Stuart) there is not enough HE filler to do any damage. You need a direct hit to actually kill the soldier, instead of using splash damage like you’re supposed to. Historically the US 37mm guns was able to use canister shot. Giving Stuarts canister shot would be useful especially on the pacific maps where it is open. Instead of just giving it to the tank/crew as starter, it should be able to be unlocked.
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thing is how would they balance the canister shot, its basically a giant shotgun to it would have to have a very limited range and wide spread. to use it effectively tanks would need to get close and that kind of a suicide run.
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There has been a lot of discussions on tank HE rounds and how they work already. I will copy paste some info I have posted before.
"I play the majority of my game play in tanks, and I can assure you the HE rounds do plenty. You just need to understand how the explosive radius works.
They do not just explode in a big bubble in every direction like most games. They instead explode in a cone that spreads outwards from the surface it impacted. Unless that surface is a "soft’ surface that the explosion would normally pen through. Like a person or a bit of wood. Then it will blast out in a sphere like radius around it.
If you want to hit infantry with HE rounds. You need to either hit them directly, or hit a surface near and behind them. I find hitting a ceiling above them while they are in a house or bunker to be particularly effective. It causes the cone to spread downward and gives you a wider coverage.
I would advise against trying to hit the ground at their feet. While it does work to an extent, it can be hard to tell where to aim at moderate to extreme distances. Your rounds will usually end up hitting much shorter than you intended. (Edit: To clarify, hitting the ground in front or even at the center of a group of infantry will do little to nothing to them. It needs to impact behind them for the blast radius to hit them)
While its a shame that HE does not just blast in a sphere like radius (like aircraft rockets apparently do), its probably for the best that they do not. Tanks can be oppressive enough without being able to AOE a 5 foot radius with every shot."
I also posted this:
"I would recommend not aiming center mass on infantry and aiming more around their hips and knees. That way if you miss to the left or right of them (due to random round deviation) your round might land behind them and kill them anyways. The downside of this is that your round might deviate downwards and hit the ground in front of them instead.
Really, the best bet is to aim for objects behind them instead and simply machine gun enemies who are in the open. Do not forget you can pop out of the turret and shoot enemies with your commander’s primary in a pinch! An SMG can take out a squad as quickly as any other weapon. You also get the benefit of being able to duck into your tank for reloading and not having a penalty to your aim while your tank moves under you."
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Lately, i havent even been trying to hit the ground near infantry, especially since he has a habit of bouncing 2/3 shots now. the only decent he in the pacific right now is the he from the chi ha 57mm and the 57mm at guns, the he on the 47mms is okay but the he on any of the 37mm guns is near useless right now, even with direct hits
Yeah, the HE on the Stuarts is pretty lackluster. If you want a good anti infantry vehicle, just use the M15 GMC and pray that the enemy doesn’t have the type 97 AT rifle.
i use the m8 greyhound along with the m3 satan on allies, i run the satan as a super agro assaulter which works really well. Ive stopped using the m15 since it overheats too fast and pretty much everyone runs at rifles now or spams arty. The japanese vehicles are a bit better with somewhat better he despite the lack of mgs. the chi ha works pretty solid if its played as a assault gun instead of a tank.
I thought it was just me experiencing this nonsense. With stuff like this, makes me wonder how much longer this game will be in beta… seems like forever
Hmm…when I saw a handful of people stating that their rounds were bouncing, I assumed they simply misunderstood the blast radius…but with this many people, maybe that is not the case.
I use the Churchill pretty much exclusively, tank wise, and I never noticed any issues.
Those who are seeing their rounds bounce, what tanks are you using?
I’m using the PZ IV J on Normandy… I’ll shoot the ground and I can see a white trail with an angle upwards from where the round hit and no troops get hit. Definitely wasn’t like this before I took my hiatus from the game so idk what the excuse for this is aside from this still being in beta
I just tried out the panzer IVs in the practice area and I could not get any of the rounds, HE or non HE, to bounce off the ground or other terrain. So unless the physics are different in the practice area, your issue might be an isolated one.
I would not be surprised if the physics were different in the practice area though. Every time I take the Churchill there the tracks go insane and the whole tank rocks about if its on a bump. It never does that in match.