Light Tanks & ATRs

[FNG]

Having been stuck overseas when Enhanced hit the beach, I have only recently got my hands on it and started to play. I decided to have a go with the Germans from '39 and see what happened. Overall, I really like the look & feel of Enhanced. However, I have found light tanks absurdly hard to kill with 'conventional' AFV main armament, and Anti-Tank Rifles viciously effective against the same targets. I appreciate that the game tries to model 'over-penetration' by high-velocity rounds against lightly armoured targets, but surely a Polish 7-TP that has got three 37mm penetrations to the front turret is going to suffer some degradation in performance? Or the breathing ability of the chap in the turret?

In two engagements against the Poles, I lost numerous AFVs to enemy tanks and armoured cars that had suffered multiple penetrating hits (and in some cases * type damage) that drove on regardless and engaged at point-blank range. I have no issue with this kind of occurence as an occasional happening, but it seems remarkably ahistorical for massed panzers to be overrun by shot-up ACs. The flip side of the coin is that ATRs are lethal against the same targets.... It all seems a bit out of whack to me....

Still, overall I am enjoying Enhanced enormously - yet another great evolution in the life of this most excellent game - kudos to all involved [&o]

[FlashfyreSP]

Unfortunately, my ATR units ca't seem to hit the broad side of a barn door 50 meters away.

I suppose this is another case of "it don't feel right"...me, I like the fact that not every hit is  "kill", and that with luck my tanks and a/cs can survive hits and still keep working.

[Alby]

I cant get my ATRs to kill anything other than a halftrack here and there.
[:(]

[GaryG48]

Okay, FNG, so where can I get some of those ATR? I'm sold. Do you have an 800 number? The first time I kill a Russian anything with a German ATR I'll buy the house a round!

  --Gary

[azraelck]

Hey, I've done wonders with ATRs before. Granted, it was against Calvary and infantry, and not anything remotely armored, but hey, at least the had more use than nothing.

I usually trade them for a real ATG, or more MGs depending on my core.

[FNG]

The PzB. 39 has been very effective for me against all the Polish light tanks and armoured cars, consistently getting more kills than the 37mm main armament of my Pz-38(t) and Pz-IIIe. I have just started a surprise match up with the Belgians in '40 and as yet have not encountered any armour.

In previous versions, I have had Pzb 39, Boys and PTRDs score mobility kills against medium AFVs. PTRDs also got some kills against earlier model Panzer III and IV.

[azraelck]

Now I have never had a PzIII kill anything with it's 37mm... or even the 50mm low velocity gun. The PzIVs have always preformed much better, even early when they were mostly meant for infantry support rather than tank-on-tank combat. That 37mm is worthless IMO, and two early war campaigns as the Germans showed them unable to match up to even the 20mm autocannon of the PzII. THe PzII was just as good at knocking out enemy light tanks and armored vehicles, and much better at dispersing infantry. I even used them to disable a lot of enemy tanks with flanknig shots; knocking out the suspension consistently for some reason.

As a result, in early war campaigns I use primarily the light PanzerII, with medium PanzerIV and ATGs for enemy tanks and SP guns for close support of the infantry. The PzI-based 15cm SiG33 SP is excellent for that role. I kept a platoon of them until 1943 on my last long campaign as the Germans (ended when Enhanced messed with my core too much for taste), when their poor armor left them knocked out more than actually supporting the infantry. I also kept some PzIIs in the fold, exclusively acting as infantry support and armored recon at that point. They were in until the end of the campaign, early 1944. A company, IIRC. PanzerIVs made up most of my armored force.  

[KG Erwin]

The irony about the PzB 38/39 is that it was only available in limited quantities 'til the Russian Campaign, and by that time it was dang near useless against heavier Soviet AFVs.

However, if you use 'em in 1939 (Poland) they are quite useful.

On the flip side, I dread hearing (but not seeing) those Polish wz.35 Ur ATRs -- an unprotected Pz I or II moves forward at its own risk. "Panzerabwehr! Scheisse!"

[sabrejack]

The Soviet ATRs that are found in Guards Infantry squads are deadly in Enhanced. I've lost plenty of halftracks, armoured cars and even a few tanks (to side shots). They're usually fairly accurate too.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

Well, my Soviet armored car recon platoons fear them.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin
The irony about the PzB 38/39 is that it was only available in limited quantities 'til the Russian Campaign, and by that time it was dang near useless against heavier Soviet AFVs...

[Alby]

Hi Mike, Long time no see!!
[:)]