M4A3 105mm Sherman underpowered

[Jarbeefis]

Is this thing underpowered or what?
It's a 105mm HOWITZER cannon, significantly bigger than most other tanks.
And all I get is a basic HE with 28mm piercing, and HEAT with 130mm (or something like that) piercing.
The HEAT isn't that bad most of the time, but by god that reload time.
I have enough time to shoot and take a ♥♥♥♥ by the time it's done reloading.
If you're gonna give it that much of a reload time, at least let me destroy most things in one shot.

Doing good with the American tanks take skill, because they don't have the armor or the high damage shells that the Russian/German tanks come with.

[Tankfriend]

I don't really see the problem. The 105mm HE shells are powerful enough to regularly one-shot medium tanks like T-34s, Panzer IVs, and Shermans with a hit to the turret.
Only thing you really need HEAT for is heavy tanks like KVs.

[Desert Kitsune MarlFox]

105mm HE shells on the gun mantlet will almost always pen the top of the tank of basicly anything even the top tier tanks as they never really excede 30mm top armor. and doing that you will more than likely kill the driver and machine gunner(plus any nearby ammo resulting in an ammo rack explosion) from the front and the engine and fuel tank explode the tank from the back.

[Dakota]

The 105 HVSS is not underpowered and the reload isn't that bad (try upgrading crew loader skills, they help a little bit). The HE shells aren't meant to penetrate.....mostly, they're there for knocking a tank out with force, I play the HVSS, and I shoot tanks that have 50mm armor in the front and one shot them quite often. You just gotta learn how to master the mighty Sherman derp gun.

[Masterofgaming22]

funny thing is it used to be incredibly OP lol

[GoreTiger]

Originally posted by Masterofworlds:

funny thing is it used to be incredibly OP lol

How? it used to have such a high BR that it got raped by tigers constantly.

[Masterofgaming22]

It used to have such a low BR that it could club everything it met. IIRC the highest it would meet was KV-1 L-11. It also had a higher pen on its HE

[GoreTiger]

Originally posted by Masterofworlds:

It used to have such a low BR that it could club everything it met. IIRC the highest it would meet was KV-1 L-11. It also had a higher pen on its HE

when? It's BR used to be ether 4.7 or 4.8 meaning it got stuck in alot with tigers/tiger II's and got destroyed. They lowered its BR to 4.3 to give it a better fighting chance.

[Masterofgaming22]

back in CBT before it was released to public https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuAHP0oUpZ4

[Katokevin]

Not sure how people don't figure this out, but bigger gun size does not equal better penatration and damage. This is a 105mm Howitzer, but due to the very short barrel and weight of the shell, this gave it a very low muzzle velocity of 472m/s for HE and 381m/s for HEAT. It was desighned for infintry support and not intended to face tanks head on. It could, but it was not as common to do so.

[Max Headroom]

It was designed as a breaching gun meant for taking out debris and/or walls. It also had anti-infantry uses and as a last ditch effort would fire on armored targets.

Take that with a grain of salt.

[Jarbeefis]

I just feel like I struggle with every Sherman, though I rarely do go on a good streak.

If it wasnt supposed to be against other tanks. Then why put it in there?

[Holy Mold Emperor]

howitzer=/= cannon
lower velocity, heavier shell, shorter barrel, lower accuracy

[WickedestCard]

Put a HE shell into the turret of any light or medium tank and it's almost always a OHKO. When it first came out, it ate everything for breakfast due to it's BR being at 3.7. Now it's still quite good at 4.3 but it will meet tanks that can go throught the front armor.

[Procrastinating Gamer]

Originally posted by Fox Ransom:

I just feel like I struggle with every Sherman, though I rarely do go on a good streak.

If it wasnt supposed to be against other tanks. Then why put it in there?

Same reason we have the first few versions of the Panzer IV and the StuG III A - the short-barrelled guns they had were meant for the same purpose as Luftwaffles and Ed Hardy mentioned for the Sherman's 105; infantry support, soft targets and debris/walls/etc. At that stage of the war it was the Panzer IIIs that were the dedicated anti-tank vehicles with their 50mm guns. Then the T-34 came along and the Germans quickly whipped up the Panzer IV F2 and StuG III F with the long-barrelled, high-velocity 75mm guns.

The Sherman 105 is there for the same reason as those early Panzer IVs and StuGs; completion. That and if they didn't have it in there you'd have a lot of history buffs complaining about it not being there when the Soviets got their derp guns.

[Dakota]

I have never struggled with the Shermans, probably just your playstyle, for instance, I can't play the tier 1 Soviet tanks, they're just terrible for me, but I have taken an M4A1 out in SB and gone 12/0