Chieftains getting smashed by T-62s, tips?

[Flan]

As per the title the T-62 (its HEAT shell to be exact) smashes Chieftains in most of my battles. I'm getting hits and killing one or two crew but the T-62 will return with a single HEAT shell to just about anywhere on the tank and blow up the ammo. So it seems like unless very lucky I can't effectively use the the Iranian MBT against tanks and need to use ATGM and captured tanks and save the MBT for attacking apc and infantry.
Did this happen much in the actual battle? Iran tank crew complain their shells couldn't cause enough damage and the enemy tanks just needed to hit them once?

Also the L15 apcr seems to have a lot of trouble with bushes and trees, a lot of my shots are just stopped dead by them where bullets and other shells pass through fine.

Small other thing I noticed:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790160994
The BRDM "dust map?" has a bunch of track marks strewn across it.

and
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790175857
The chieftains IR light seems to point off to the left instead of where it is on the model.

[Battleshipfree99]

Obsolete. L15A5 APCR updated.

Some of us are proposing improving the L15A1 APDS ingame or adding L15A3/A5 APDS for Chieftain mk5.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/312980/discussions/0/3051734893994833911/?ctp=8#c3191367619802969460

https://steamcommunity.com/app/312980/discussions/0/3191367471981493604/?ctp=2#c3191369524218068714

For now, Chieftain stands no chance against T-55/62 (even inferior to Olifant Mk1 with M456 HEAT). Deploy TOW, Dragon ATGM and AH-1J support wisely, they are the only tank killer you have.

[Flan]

Except for it being stopped by trees it seems like it has enough power, it puts holes in the front of T-62 and T-55 out past 1km just unless it goes through the gun or gunner the T-62 will send a HEAT shell back and touch off the ammo which is basically everywhere in a cheif an the APDS has no explosive or fire element so it often won't set off ammo and fuel either without sustained hits. So usually it ends with damaged maybe dead T-55/62 and all cheif burning.

Sometimes they work great and pass right through a tank at 1.5km https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790180678

And sometimes they hit a ammo box and shatter into bits
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790180696

The APCR type stuff has always been inconsistent.

[Battleshipfree99]

@Flannelette
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761460076
See all the "stuck"? That's the main issue. L15A1 can't fully penetrate T-55/62's frontal armor, and thus partial penetration is just doing minimal damage inside and to the crews.

Originally posted by Flannelette:

Sometimes they work great and pass right through a tank at 1.5km https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790180678

And sometimes they hit a ammo box and shatter into bits
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790180696

The APCR type stuff has always been inconsistent.

Wait. When did GT update the L15A5 APCR? I didn't notice that! lol

My sreenshots are outdated with L15A1 APCR.

[Flan]

Stuck on a white marker means it went clean through and stopped somewhere later on, (makes a hole decal mark)
At that range 1.5km it's right at the edge of that shells effectiveness for that armor so it usually makes the broken or stuck with grey marker.
The greyed out stucks are ones that stopped, but the white one went through the loop thing and then stopped on the armor.

Oh yeah it's a 15a5 now (beta)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2790182656

[Battleshipfree99]

Stable version also updated. L15A5 adds another 50mm penetration that L15A1.

[Flan]

It's got the armor defeating power now but still lacks the stopping power to win in a front on assault :S.

[Battleshipfree99]

Originally posted by Flannelette:

It's got the armor defeating power now but still lacks the stopping power to win in a front on assault :S.

Just done some tests. L15A5 has better accuracy, penetration and after penetration effect than previous L15A1. Chieftain is also more likely to survive 1~2 HEAT round, less likely to burn.

In a frontal defense position, a Chieftain platoon can surely defeat a T-62 platoon out to 1800~2200m (it takes some time though, since APDS can't achieve a one shot kill that easy).

When attacking, T-55/62's HEAT round still possess a great threat to Chieftain in the open, so a frontal attack won't come out well.

[archibaldthe1]

Nice! This is one of those “if the feedback checks out, it may be added, even without explicit acknowledgment” moments! It’s also amazing that developers are continuing to churn out updates in a middle of a war zone.

I haven’t tested myself yet, but was T-62 changed at all? I remember it was not willing to fire the AFSDS round, preferring HEAT. Yet, HEAT supposedly has worse post-penetration effects and worse probability to hit beyond 1km.

[Battleshipfree99]

Originally posted by archibaldthe1:

I haven’t tested myself yet, but was T-62 changed at all? I remember it was not willing to fire the AFSDS round, preferring HEAT. Yet, HEAT supposedly has worse post-penetration effects and worse probability to hit beyond 1km.

T-62 is not updated. It still has awesome sight quality and observability. Since 3BM3 can only penetrate Chieftain ~1100m, T-62 prefers firing 3BK4 HEAT beyond 1km.

What changed is Chieftain's burning rate (ammo explosion) and L15A5. Now L15A5 can penetrate T-62 up to 1500m, while still generating enough shrapnel to do enough damage at 2200m.

This turns into a more even fight. At least Chieftain is standing some chance against T-62.

[archibaldthe1]

Originally posted by Battleshipfree99:

T-62 is not updated. It still has awesome sight quality and observability. Since 3BM3 can only penetrate Chieftain ~1100m, T-62 prefers firing 3BK4 HEAT beyond 1km.

What changed is Chieftain's burning rate (ammo explosion) and L15A5. Now L15A5 can penetrate T-62 up to 1500m, while still generating enough shrapnel to do enough damage at 2200m.

This turns into a more even fight. At least Chieftain is standing some chance against T-62.

Thanks for the summary! One can hope that this was a “Chieftain” update, and “T-62” update is yet to come. Of course, anything at all done by devs these days deserves standing ovation, so this is already exceeding expectations by a long shot.

[professional.XMAZ]

+1 on this, my chieftans are getting absolutely wrecked by T55s as well. I'm not an expert but in the ww2 scenarios I can definitely hold my own

[Flan]

This is the thing I was talking about where the L15a5 was getting stopped by a bush
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2791534836
Went through one bush then vanished when it hit the bush in front of the BRDM
Seems odd but not sure if it's important, happens since forever with all APCR type shots they just seem to be deleted from the simulation under certain situations.