Ammo Rack Explosion Inconsistency: Crewless vs Crew-Adjacent Storage

Machinery of War Discussion Ground Vehicle
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Different vehicles handle ammo rack explosions inconsistently based on turret design and ammo storage location:

Type 24 IFV (Crewless Turret, Separated Ammo):

Direct APFSDS hit on ammo storage results in catastrophic explosion + complete vehicle obliteration. Vehicle is destroyed in one hit to the ammo compartment

BTR-82 (Crew-Adjacent Ammo Storage):

  • Similar direct hits on ammo storage
  • Result: sometime results in simple cook-off, survivable
  • Players escape with damaged vehicle, engine running
  • I’ve personally escaped multiple times with cook-offs months ago

BMPT (Crew-Adjacent Ammo Storage):

  • Ammo stored directly next to crew compartment
  • Result: Simple cook-off, not catastrophic
  • Vehicle remains mobile after ammo detonation

The Contradiction

Type 24 IFV has separated ammo in a crewless compartment. Theoretically safer for crew. Yet it suffers catastrophic explosion.

BTR-82 and BMPT have ammo directly adjacent to crew. Theoretically more dangerous. Yet they can survive cook-offs.

This suggests ammo rack explosion mechanics are calculated inconsistently based on vehicle nationality or design, not actual storage logic.

Questions

  1. Why does separated ammo storage cause worse explosions than crew-adjacent storage?
  2. Are cook-off mechanics different by vehicle type/nation?
  3. Is this a bug or intentional balance decision?
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  1. Probably a bug or they forgot, you should bug report it.
  2. No. There is a chance that ammo you hit simply doesn’t detonate. Never seen a BTR-82 survive a ammo hit, neither a BMPT if you hit the ammo at the bottom. If you hit the belts in the turret however, gaijin claimed it was “separated” from the crew compartment, which explains why it doesn’t destroy the entire tank. They did however add a chance that it does. Go argue that with them though.
  3. Probably bug for Type 24, the rest is just unlucky i guess.
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Tbf the feed lines/links/chutes/trays not being a guaranteed kill is a concept I really like and think they should implement on more vehicles other than just the BMPTs. And of course it should effectively destroy the autoloader/ammo feed and only allow you to fire a few rounds before needing repairs.

As for why some things blow up and some don’t seems entirely arbritary (and only in rare cases making any sense from the ammunition placement and size as well as the vehicle armour)

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