Was thinking of a new concept of posting very short bits on tanks, armor, ammunition and physics and mechanics in the real world and World of Tanks. Goal is to be informative and at the same time provoke room for discussion and additional input as provided by the readers. So here we go!

When to fire HE Shells?

HE shells are perfect for low health and/or weakly armored targets in World of Tanks, but beware that your gun calibre and length make a big difference in the decision of firing HE or not.

As a rule of thumb, the bigger the calibre the better, as it can pack more explosives. However the longer your gun, the more kinetic energy the projectile needs to withstand. This is the case in real life as well as in the game. In order to deal with the increased velocity and kinetic energy, a stronger projectile with thicker walls is needed; this limits the amount of explosives that can be stuffed inside the shell, hence losing effectiveness.

The rule is also applying vice versa, AP shells will lose effectiveness on short, stumpy guns as the lack of speed degenerates the penetration values.

Would you like to see more of these short bits? Or would you like to have a “bit of armor” on a specific topic, please comment below and leave your suggestions and thoughts. Thanks.