Tank Armor
Tank Armor is a hidden parameter of most armored vehicles that allow them to potentially deflect certain kinds of incoming fire. Deflected shots do not cause any damage and penetrating shots deal their damage normally. Vehicles with higher tank armor have a higher chance of deflecting incoming fire. Every penetrating shot reduces the vehicle's Tank Armor value (by the damage amount), making the next shots more likely to penetrate. Different ammo types have different chances to penetrate Tank Armor. Deflected shots make a "pssht" sound and produce sparks. The state of a vehicle's tank armor is reflected visually by wear and tear.
Vehicles with Tank Armor
Vehicles that have Tank Armor: Heavy-Duty Trucks, Armored Cars, Landing APCs, Half-Tracks, Tankettes, Tanks, Train Combat Cars, Gunboats, and Large Ships.
Field Guns, Freighter, Barge, most train cars, and locomotives are very resistant to some Damage Types but do not have Tank Armor so they cannot deflect shots.
Penetrating Rounds
Only certain types of projectile can be deflected, if a weapon or ammo description specify it can penetrate armour that means it has a chance to be deflected. All other types of weapons will always apply their damage (but usually less than a projectile designed to penetrate armour) and won't degrade the armour. The following ammo types try to penetrate Tank Armor:
Penetration Chance
Every type of vehicle with tank armor has a unique base penetration chance percentage (e.g. A penetrating projectile with no other bonuses has a 55% chance to penetrate an APC).
Every successful penetrating shot reduces the vehicle's Tank Armor value by the damage amount. Once the percentage of Tank Armor stripped is higher than the base penetration chance it becomes the new penetration chance for the vehicle (e.g. an APC with 70% of its armor gone has a 70% penetration chance).
Most armored vehicles cannot have all their armour removed, they each have a specific maximum threshold to the penetration chance before bonuses are applied (e.g. the penetration chance on an APC before bonuses can't go higher than 90%)
Ammo Type Bonus
Certain ammo types have a specific bonus multiplier to their penetration chance:
| Ammo Type | multiplier |
|---|---|
| 20mm, 30mm, RPG, 40mm | x1 |
| Ignifist 30, AP⧸RPG, 68mm | x1.5 |
| 75mm | x1.5 |
| 94.5mm | x2 |
| ARC⧸RPG | x2.5 (but no range&angle bonuses) |
Range Bonus
Closer shots have a higher chance to penetrate. The bonus starts below 30m (measured between the gun's muzzle and the impact area on the target vehicle) and gives you +1 point for every meter (i.e. max(0,distance-30)). It can thus give you +30 points at point blank range. The one exception is the ignifist for which the bonus starts below 15 meters. Range bonus only applies if the projectile actually hits the vehicle rather than explodes close to it.
Angle Bonus
More direct shots (orthogonal) have a higher chance to penetrate the side and rear armour (side/rear being defined by the vehicle hitbox and not by subsystems like tracks). The bonus is relatively small for shallow angles but is about +30 points at 45° and it can be as high as +40 points when the angle is between 75 and 90°. Angle bonus only applies if the projectile actually hits the vehicle rather than explodes close to it.
Penetration Calculation
The total penetration chance can be summarized in one equation: P = M*min(S0,max(P0,S))+R+A
- P: Total penetration chance (%)
- P0: Base penetration chance (%) (Hard coded value unique to each armored vehicle)
- S: Armour Stripped (%)
- S0: Maximum Armour Stripped (%) (Most vehicles cannot have all their armour removed, there's always a small amount of armour that remains. Hard coded value unique to each armored vehicle)
- M: Ammo Type Multiplier (Innate characteristic to each ammo)
- R: Range Bonus (percentage points)
- A: Angle Bonus (percentage points) (Rear/Side shots only)
Example 1:
The Ironhide has a base penetration chance of 30%, the ARC⧸RPG has an Ammo Type Multiplier of 2.5 and doesn't use Angle or Range Bonuses. So an Ironhide with intact tank armor hit by a Bonesaw will have a 70% penetration chance (2.5*0.3=0.7). If its tank armor is down to 50%, the penetration chance becomes 100% (2.5*0.5=1.25).
Example 2:
68mm shells have an Ammo Type Multiplier of 1.5. If an intact Ironhide is shot on its front there's no Angle Bonus and if the shot came from more than 25m there's no Range Bonus either, so the penetration chance is 45% (1.5*0.3=0.45). The ironhide's armour can't go below 33% so its Maximum Armour Stripped value is 67%, so if its armor is depleted entirely the penetration chance becomes 100% (1.5*0.67=1.05).
Example 3:
If you shoot a 30mm shell (no ammo type multiplier) on the side of an Ironhide with intact armor from 30m and at an 80° angle, the penetration chance is 70% (0.3+0.4=0.7).
Armour Repair
Tank Armor of land vehicles can only be repaired at Garages costs 100 Basic Materials. For ships (gunboats), Tank Armor can only be repaired at Shipyards and costs 50 Basic Materials. For Large Ships, tank armour is repaired at a Dry Dock and costs 10 Naval Shell Platings.
Vehicles specific to one faction cannot have their Tank Armor repaired by the other faction.
Vehicle Packaging
Vehicles with Tank Armour cannot be packaged if their Tank Armor isn't fully intact, the vehicle's Tank Armor must be repaired at a Garage first. Trying to package a vehicle can be an easy way to verify its Tank Armor is intact.
See Also
Gallery
A tank deflecting a shell
A Light Tank with very little Tank Armor left.
Shooting the side or rear of an armored vehicle with an angle closer to 90° maximizes your penetration chance, the impact location on the side or rear is irrelevant.
