The performance of the D-25T in game, although not the absolute worst, is not only unbalanced, but also inaccurate to real life.
- Historical Accuracy
For reference, according to historical documents featured on the Tank Archives webpage, the BR-471 could penetrate:
-The armor of the upper front plate of a Panther tank at 2000 meters,
-The armor of the upper front plate of a Tiger II at 200 meters, although one document states as much as 600,
-The armor of the front of the turret of the Tiger II at 1100 meters
This is the Tiger II tank after penetration trials.
I am not sure the image paste will work, but as you may be able to see, it is the production variant, H variant in game.
- Game balance
Between the IS-2 (1944) and the Tiger II (H), both at 6.7, there currently exists a degree of imbalance.
Let us compare the performance of their guns against the opponent’s armor.
The IS-2’s gun can penetrate the Tiger, at a combat distance of ~100 meters, at:
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The front of the turret
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The machine gun ball
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The lower front plate (which only takes out the transmission)
The Tiger’s gun can penetrate the IS-2, at a similar range, at:
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The front of the turret
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The cupola
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The lower front plate
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The driver’s optics (though this shot is unreliable)
It should also be noted the Tiger’s gun has over 2 times the reload speed.
- A possible solution
I have made, through the use of the aforementioned documents, and an online penetration calculator, a possible new penetration table for the BR-471D shell (it’s the only one I had a good screenshot of).
It presents as such:
(Note that the BR-471D shell was an experimental improved variant, with greater performance than the BR-471 shell).
As you may see, the improvement in angle performance and flat penetration would allow it to match the gun’s performance in real life.
- Issues
Such good performance of the gun could possibly cause a battle rating change. However, this appears as almost a non-issue, since this would still make the tank more accurate to real life.
If its performance, considering the higher tier, may decrease, one may also decrease the reload time, from over 20 seconds at an Ace level to about 16.5.