Question about early german HEAT shells

[Pak0tac]

So im not sure if im missing here something or not, but at the stage when i get the Tiger there are some other tanks at its BR range on my list each with a researchble HEAT shell.
I research the thing, and tried to use it in game (RB) and it appears that the normal APCBC shells are far better then the HEAT shells, as HEAT got only 80mm of penetration and very low shell speed causing far shots to be very diffuculy due to the arc calculasion.
while the APCPC shells at this stage are very powerful.

So what am i missing here? why there is even an option for HEAT upgrade when these shells are so usless? I only had a single chance to use them, on an enemy M4A3 side armor, it didnt do anything

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Useless beyond 2.3-2.7 BR.

[Illusionyary]

HEAT shells on the stubby 75mm are only useful on the Panzer IV F1 and the Panzer III N, don't bother with them on anything else.

Worth noting that HEAT works as a better form of HE especially when it comes to hullbreaking things, so if you have the option of taking HEAT instead of HE, do so (i.e. on Tiger H1 I'd take say 30 APCBC shells and 2 or 3 HEAT shells for soft targets).

[Pak0tac]

Publicado originalmente por Illusionyary:

HEAT shells on the stubby 75mm are only useful on the Panzer IV F1 and the Panzer III N, don't bother with them on anything else.

Worth noting that HEAT works as a better form of HE especially when it comes to hullbreaking things, so if you have the option of taking HEAT instead of HE, do so (i.e. on Tiger H1 I'd take say 30 APCBC shells and 2 or 3 HEAT shells for soft targets).

ah i see, so HEAT is basically HE shell that got a little bit of armor penetration ability

[Katokevin]

Publicado originalmente por Ambient:

Publicado originalmente por Illusionyary:

HEAT shells on the stubby 75mm are only useful on the Panzer IV F1 and the Panzer III N, don't bother with them on anything else.

Worth noting that HEAT works as a better form of HE especially when it comes to hullbreaking things, so if you have the option of taking HEAT instead of HE, do so (i.e. on Tiger H1 I'd take say 30 APCBC shells and 2 or 3 HEAT shells for soft targets).

ah i see, so HEAT is basically HE shell that got a little bit of armor penetration ability

For gameplay purposes, I'd say yes. As said before, the stubby German 75mm guns are really the only time you are going to use HEAT as your primary round. Past that, it's really only good for reliably hullbreaking light vehicles. At most, you really only need to take 3-5 of them for the rare instance it may be useful.

[Crusader01]

I find them to be useful against M18 hordes

[Slyke]

You aren't missing anything. Early German HEAT rounds that are smaller than 100mm are only good for hullbreaking (unarmored or very lightly armored vehicles). You may have to use them with howitzers, but with long guns their practical use is the same as that of HE rounds.

[Scheneighnay]

German and Russian tanks tend to have way more ammo types than is remotely practical. HEAT in mid-tiers is something so niche you'll probably never use it.

With the sound redesign it does have the added benefit of being very loud because it's HE, but that's an even more niche benefit.

[jaxjace]

Answer* there are many many things in the game that are just there because they were IRL and are effectively useless in game. There are rockets in the game with 20 grams of TNT with 2mm of penetration. They are training rockets, litterally meant for target practice.