burned out tanks and crews bailing out

[Mario_Fr]

I`ve just stumbled across this line in Robert Forczyk`s book "Tank warfare on the Eastern Fron 1941-1942":

"In combat, only about one-quarter of tanks hit by enemy action actually caught fire and burned out." [...]"Even those tanks that were considered "knocked-out" could often be repaired, since the damage inflicted by armour-piercing ammunition was usually not catastrophic. Crew casualties were usually limited to 0-2 fatalities per tank knocked out, with the rest of the crew wounded, so it was not unusual for a given crew to have been knocked out several times during the course of the war" (p.19).


Is it possible to model this in the game? It seems that right now maybe too much tanks catch fire and too often crews get completely killed, especially with small calibre guns like 20mm or 37mm.


Cheers

Mario

[DRG]

For the past 19 years----"Casualties" DO NOT= "kills" in this game....."0-2 fatalities per tank knocked out, with the rest of the crew wounded"....... are ALL counted as "Casualties"

[Imp]

My Grandad survived his tank being knocked out 3 times, first 2 times burns caused a delay in return to service. Last time he wanted to go back but due to spalling & the amount of metal in him they refused.
That's what got me interested in warfare, the phycology go back & help out your buddies.

[Cross]

Hello, All,


You may be interested to read this thread here:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=38329



Best regards,

Cross

[Imp]

Originally Posted by Cross

Hello, All,


You may be interested to read this thread here:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=38329



Best regards,

Cross

Never had an issue with this & after looking at the post I still dont & infact the game might handle it quite well.

1) I dont want lots of crews surviving & running around, game will target them where as in real life pity might be taken on the survivors who are at present no threat. In fact need to hunt them as unless they are killed you only recieve partial victory points for the tank.
2) If playing a campaign it only takes one survivor in the crew to main tain the experience level, perhaps with a slight drop due to casulties but still probably better than average.
3) That means even if only one man survives thats a crew that survived & is ready for action in the next battle.
The reduced survivability game to real life can therefore be abstracted as the diffrence is crew members that survived but were not fit to engage in the next battle.
Probably more realistic than 50% surviving & taking part in the next battle.

[DRG]

"Tanks are easily identified, easily engaged, much-feared targets which attract all the fire on the battlefield. When all is said and done, a tank is a small steel box crammed with flammable or explosive substances which is easily converted into a mobile crematorium for its highly skilled crew."*
*
_Brigadier Shelford Bidwell

[Mobhack]

Point 1) You would only get partial points if the tank was not destroyed, and your opponent wins.

If the tank is destroyed and they bail, or you put someone in the hex and so the broken tank gets flamed, you will get the full points. Also you will get full points for a wrecked tank at end game if you win (tank will show destroyed, not as abandoned in the end game review).

Point 2 & 3 - stands if playing a PBEM campaign and its core. Not versus AI which has no core.

However - killing crew adds to the points total (each man you kill adds 1 damage point) and extra kills are always good for raising your unit's experience especially if the unit has less than 5 on its scorecard.

They are worth shooting up on general principles if you have spare shots, or if you think they will return to re-crew (e,g, if arty causes a mortar crew to run away, chase it down with your arty if you still can see it, saves that mortar returning to the battle later)