EU Questions & Answers

ZeZergling, on 13 May 2012 - 12:24 PM, said: Overlord, I hear the new German tier 5 TD, the Dicker Max, is being removed from the second TD line and is going to be available only as a premium tank.
Apparently this is because the Devs are unable to get it to work when compared to the tier 6 Nashorn.
This is apparently due to the Dicker Max being armed with the 320 damage, 200mm pen 105mm K.18 historically, versus the 240 damage, 203mm pen 88mm L/71 that armed the Nashorn.
The lower tiered Dicker Max has the stronger gun, but this is only because of the flawed, unrealistic and unhistorical approach to gun damage and German gun penetration.
IRL stats for those guns:
105mm K.18;
Muzzle Velocity = 827 m/s
Shell Weight = 15.56 kg
Kinetic Energy = 5321 kj
Historical Penetration = 180-200mm (200mm pen in WoT is reasonably accurate)
88mm L/71;
Muzzle Velocity = 1000 m/s
Shell Weight = 10.40 kg
Kinetic Energy = 5200 kj
Historical Penetration = 230mm (203mm pen in WoT is historically inaccurate)
IRL, armor-piercing shells inflict most of their damage by kinetic energy, so both guns would expect to inflict similar damage, even if tanks don't have 'hit points' IRL.
At the same time, the 88mm L/71 had at least 15% higher penetration than the 105mm K.18, so it was the superior gun.
If both guns had historically accurate penetration, and damage was calculated more logically than a simple 'caliber = damage' rule, then the Nashorn would clearly be the stronger TD.
tl;dr the Dicker Max is only superior to the Nashorn because of WoT's failings in historical accuracy and realism. Relegating the Dicker Max to premium only status instead of fixing WoT's flaws is a poor tactic that will cause more problems in the future.