Cluster Munitions - Capable to destroy tank?

[EnemyAce]

But in this game, even marked hit from 155 HE doesn't destroy a tank but cluster munition does. Now I start to wonder that how this is possible because I don't believe that cluster munition is more powerful munition than 155 HE?

[thatguy96]

is it a direct hit? A "hit" in game doesn't necessarily mean a direct hit. I would think that a 155mm shell coming down in a hex would consistantly get shrapnel hits on a tank, but these hits would not be severe enough to destroy the vehicle or even cause it to become immobilized.

[PlasmaKrab]

Now I start to wonder that how this is possible because I don't believe that cluster munition is more powerful munition than 155 HE?

Yes, it is, if you consider that anti-vehicle submunitions are shaped charges and therefore penetrate more armor than blunt PIBD HE shells.

Also they have more chances of hitting a tank because of the sheer number of submunitions per shell. I know that arty shells can be placed quite accurately in good conditions, but in game terms, you still have one shell in 2500m² (one hex), while the same one round can contain 50-60 bomblets (from the top of my head), that gives 50m² per bomblet.
Given the average top-view surface of a tank is roughly 3x7m so 20m², you have about 2 chances in 5 that a tank will take a top hit that will penetrate its roof armor. And as I wrote previously, a "kill" in game terms is a very loose definition, say a weapons and motor kill or the crew being knocked unconscious is a kill.
So with a good margin, you have one chance in 3 that a DPICM round will "kill" a tank if it hits the right hex. Now I have no idea how much surface a 155mm cluster round will cover, but I have heard that they are designed to endure a spread pattern of at least 1 bomblet per tank-equivalent surface.
Much headache for not much result, I know

[DRG]

EnemyAce said:
But in this game, even marked hit from 155 HE doesn't destroy a tank but cluster munition does. Now I start to wonder that how this is possible because I don't believe that cluster munition is more powerful munition than 155 HE?

The vast majority of "hits" reported and heard in the game when bombarding armour with conventional artillery are residual effects from shrapnel not "direct hits" but it is possible with enough artillery and enough target armour to actually hit and destroy one directly with a 155 HE shell

Don

[Noah_Vaile]

I have found cluster munitions, what I am referring to in fact are rockets from MLRSs, are absolutely lethal to pretty much everything in the hexes they hit. I would include in this cluster bombs as well. These are the most dangerous weapons in SPMBT and I have used them to not just break up enemy concentrations but to virtually eliminate the entire enemy force. I purchase MLRSs instead of artillery, and a lot of them. Just a few IFVs and tanks can finish off the remains after a bombardment or two. At least in this game they are the ultimate weapon. I like them.

[pdoktar]

In the game MLRS does exactly what it is meant to do also in real life, to totally demolish a given area. A battery of MLRS is called in US Army square grid removers, able to shower a whole area of 1 square km with deadly dual-purpose bomblets.

[mr_clark]

According those lines I had an interesting event in my current 1989 SU vs UAE campaign. A 155mm Artillery round landed right on my A-ERA equipped T-64B1V and I got the message "Advanced ERA defeats Penetrator", that is, of course, what I expect the A-ERA to do for a normal AP/SABOT round. But is it intended that also an at least 20kg heavy Artillery warhead is defeated or does it has something to do with the game code "seeing" the penetration value on the 155mm round and thus handling it like a normal Antitank round?

[Mobhack]

ERA can defeat HEAT and cluster munitions are treated as HEAT warheads. So anti-HEAT armour (if fitted) is also relevant.

Cheers
Andy

[mr_clark]

Yes I thought so.
So it applies the same to the non cluster 155 round in my example, except that it's a kinetic penetrator not HEAT.