I think you're right on most parts, even after overmatch is accounted for the T34 seems to have higher armor resistance than the Panzer IV, although some people at Axis History Forum (https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=110070) calculated different effective armors for the T34 against the KwK40 instead of 92.4 mm.
that's because T-34 armor quality would vary.. a 42 model T-34 for example would have better armor than a 1943 model because of the drop in quality in 1943 but a 1944 model would have better quality than both a 43 and a 42 thanks to submerged welding... also the effective armor would also vary depending on the incoming shell type... pzgr 39 will have a different result to pzgr 40
It seems from my research that shell normalization effects vary more in relation to the shape/composition of the shell rather than the raw caliber/thickness ratio.
correct... normalization is far smaller for capped shells and is far greater in subcaliber shells... but also decreases with higher L : D... this is why APCR and APDS has such terrible performance against sloped armor but APFSDS (which has much higher L : D) performs much better against sloped armor... its also why Kontakt-5 is soo effective against APFSDS since it essentially yaws the projectile which functions a lot like normalization
For example, the normalization effect of a sloped armor plate on an 88mm HEAT shell is much smaller than that on an 88mm AP shell.
that's because a HEAT shell doesn't have normalization... the shell explodes on impact thus its motion is not deformed and the shell penetrates efficiently against sloped armor... instead HEAT is decided by geometric thickness for the most part...
Also, while the KwK40/PaK40 are not large enough to cause dishing, according to the report you linked the method of penetration resulting from the overmatch would be ductile hole enlargement. While the T/D ratio of the T34/KwK40 is not small enough to result in dishing (0.6), it is nonetheless smaller than the T/D ratio of the Panther/122mm D-25T (0.65), and I think you'd be familiar with the Kubinka (?) report where the 122mm gun completely overmatched the Panther's front glacis and went straight through the tank (of course there's other factors in play like the differences between the guns under expected circumstances, the much higher explosive content of the 122mm, and the differences in kinetic energy between the shells of both guns, but overmatch still clearly seems to be at play here).
the kubinka trial didn't involve plate overmatch... the 122mm D-25T has over 200mm penetration with the BR-471B flat nosed APHEBC shell which under the calculator returns 133.0mm for RHA and 121.7mm for high brinelle steel
also only 10% of the kinetic energy of a high explosive round (no not an APHE or APHEBC/APCBC-HE) round is from the high explosive itself... the majority of the energy from the impact is still from the kinetic energy of the shell itself...
http://www.tankarchives.ca/2014/12/he-vs-armour.html
"An analysis of natural shots, static detonations, and calculations shows that the contribution of the explosive filler of a 100-152 mm HE shell contributes around 5-10% of the overall impulse (at an impact velocity of more than 700 m/s), and the main damage to the armour plate is dealt by the impact of fragments."
I'll ignore the parts about the T34/85, that's a whole other discussion. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the T34 I would probably compare it to its closest counterpart, the Ostwind. The Ostwind is more expensive, but it can shoot down planes (although it is terrible at that). The Ostwind also packs more raw anti-infantry power, but lags behind a T34 in terms of anti-tank power. I'm not sure but I think the T34 is faster and more survivable. Both tanks are very effective at dealing with light targets (infantry/light vehicles). The T34's inability to deal with heavier vehicles is not a problem with the unit. The unit is great at what it's designed for. It's not designed as a generalist tank. If you want to compare it with generalist tanks like the Cromwell, Sherman, and Panzer IV, then you'd need to buff the unit's AT power, but you'd be giving the tank and the faction a whole new role.
then it would be unfair that the best multirole tank the soviets have is equivalent to an ostwind while other facs have P4Js P4Gs M4A3s and comets to lean on...
either make the T-34-85 nondoc or give the soviets a better option if u wish to keep the T-34 in this state...
stub dick p4
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yeah this is a good idea but only if the 3 min pgren and the 4 min FHT were to somehow disappear