Replay: War Thunder - Replay - Timestamp 5:46 (my AMX shot) and 5:51 (his BMP shot)
The Incident
AMX-30 (Super) with 105mm APFSDS penetrated BMP-3 gun mantlet at 5:46. Hit destroyed the 100mm cannon breach but killed only 1 crew member.
BMP-3 responded at 5:51 with single 30mm APDS round. This killed 3 crew members (driver, gunner, commander) via spall damage.
The Problem
A 105mm APFSDS round that destroyed a major weapon system caused minimal internal spall. A 30mm APDS round caused catastrophic spall killing 3 crew.
If a 30mm round creates enough spall to instantly kill 3 people, a 105mm round penetrating the same vehicle should cause at least equivalent damage, if not more.
The Question
Is spall damage calculated differently based on vehicle nationality? Or is this a mechanical inconsistency that affects fair play?
Detailed bug report submitted separately with replay and BLK data: War Thunder - Bug sumbission
4 Likes
Bumping for visibility.
This damage inconsistency appears to affect fair play across multiple vehicle matchups. If anyone has experienced similar incidents where smaller caliber rounds create disproportionate spall damage, please share replays and details here or link them to the mentioned bug report:
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/fwoOjQnrerU4
The more documented examples we collect, the stronger the case for devs to investigate. Thanks.
1 Like
Modules are known spall eaters.
Fuel tanks are a great example.
1 Like
Adding another example of the same pattern.
- I shot a Soviet T-72 and spall only shows damaging its breach to orange with no crew losses.
T-72A - Hit analysis screenshot
- Soviet T-72 proceeds to shoot back with an orange breach, fires noramally and kills crew with spall through my breach.
Megach 7C - Hit analysis screenshot
Replay available: (Timestamp 8:37) https://warthunder.com/en/tournament/replay/495891748562100027
Hit replay BLK files:
Adding another example:
I shot a Soviet BMP-3, which had two remaining crew members left, with APFSDS, The round dissapeared right after destroying one of the breaches But, this time, spall spreaded from the other side of the functional breach, where the dead crew member was, instead of the opposite direction, where the gunner was still alive and leaving the latter completely intact dispite witnessing spall puncture him.
BMP-3 - Hit analysis screenshot
To document the inconsistency further, I deliberately exposed my breach to an enemy T-64A in the same match to compare spall behavior under identical conditions and, in fact, he shot through my canon breach causing spall through all directions while killing all of the Magach 7C’s crew members with a single APFSDS round (3BM15)
Megach 7C - Hit analysis screenshot
Replay available: (Timestamps 1:46 and 2:35) - https://warthunder.com/en/tournament/replay/498471761185125112
Hit replay BLK files:
ussr_bmp_3_105mm_imi_m426_106.96.blk (3.2 KB)
il_magach_7c_125mm_3bm15_155.58.blk (1.7 KB)
Realistically, less armor = less spalling. This is why HEAT or MPAT is used against light armor in real combat. You can also change ammo with out firing giving away your position realistically should you encounter unexpected targets. I don’t think modules like breaches are modeled to cause spalling in game. They just absorb everything that hits them. Just like volumetric armor can cause a 4mm structural steel fender to be equivalent to 240mm.
