Just don’t rely on your armor when playing the BM «Oplot-T/M».
Assume it can only protect you from stray autocannon bursts (non-aimed and short bursts), and hope that the great and powerful maps randomizer turns to you, not away from you, and rewards you with large rather than small corrals (urban maps) , where you can actually utilize your flanking mobility and play using ambush tactics, taking advantage of the relatively fast reload and quick reverse speed for cover.
Whatever that means, any ERA hit by 25mm + caliber will detonate, proof of otherwise required. Nizh was tested against 14,5mm armor piercing rounds and didn’t go off.
By the way, it’s a shame they didn’t make a separate model for damaged or destroyed side skirts; instead, they just vanish when hit (and the ones that don’t contain ERA basically blow off from the slightest breeze…)
Not sure how to do that though since it’s basically making the tank worse performance wise and I’m not sure the saved weight would make up for it. Maybe as a separate vehicle, that way it could be at a lower BR if needed and double the amount of ground vehicles in the current Thai 12.3 lineup.
The estimated weight of just the ERA in the side skirts is around 560 kg, not including the weight of the side skirts themselves and their other components. Let’s assume the total weight would be roughly 1500 kg. (The weight of the T-84U (Object 478DU9 - 2000) is about 48 tons, while the weight of the BM «Oplot» (Object 478DU9-1 - 2009) is around 51 tons, though it also has other new equipment besides the side skirts). Therefore, I don’t think this will significantly impact mobility — it will simply nominally improve acceleration time (similar to how it is implemented in-game for the T-80BVM). But it will significantly impact the protection of the tank’s bare 70mm side armor.
But I’m not against this kind of functionality, at least for ‘cosplay’ purposes. Personally, I would also like to have the ability to equip a different type of tracks on the BM «Oplot-T»:
By the way, it’s likely that the Malaysian «Oplot» will have better armor effectiveness than the BM «Oplot-T/M» currently in-game. Based on how calculations work in the game, it will feature a full armor package: “steel + textolite + steel + textolite + steel + ERA layer” (500–550mm from the armor + 140mm from the ERA), instead of “steel + textolite + steel + ERA layer + steel (which works as part of the ERA module in-game) + ERA layer” (~340mm from the armor + 280mm from the ERA).
Try making a report about it missing neutral steering without mentionning time. They said they dont accept timing reports based on vids, but if you just bug report missing neutral steering that might be fine.
Remember Nizh is 90% as effective as Duplet against kinetic threats, so its KE effectiveness should be around 250mm (according to the nerfed Duplet value of 280mm) not 140mm. Duplet’s main purpose is to serve as an anti-tandem ERA, the second layer does not affect APFSDS rounds as much.
Although I can totally see gaijin trying to make the ERA’s KE effectiveness 140mm by claiming it’s just one layer of Duplet instead of actually give it 90% of duplet’s total value to artificially nerf the tank.
So the tank’s armour effectiveness in game with correct calculations would be around 500mm + 250mm = 750mm. Combine this with the fact that it would be as mobile as the BM Oplot, it might just be a higher BR than it.
If we take Duplet’s value closer to ~340-360mm which is the amount me and Ralin arrived on after a long discussion and think is a more realistic value, then Nizh should have about 315mm of KE protection. Combine that with the base armour of 500mm, and you get 815mm.
All calculations are approximate ofc but the older Oplot might turn out to be one of the most protected tanks in the game (if gaijin doesn’t artificially nerf it)
Bug reporter said 1 track moves while the other doesnt. Thats not neutral steering. Neutral steering for a tank is having both tracks move in opposite directions to allow the tank to spin in place.
All I know is I remember Duplet performed better than Monolith on the T-14 against 3bm42 which to me screams its underperforming, or all Russian ERA needs to be reevaluated. Why would the T-14 have substantially weaker ERA than Relikt IRL? Idk. But Duplet performs suspiciously in game. Without justifications.
After I received the response to my bug report, I figured that ~12 seconds was just a universal parameter for all vehicles with neutral steering capability. However, I’ve just run some quick tests with the vehicles available to me (M1A1, Leopard 2A4, Challenger 2 TES, Type 90, and the BM Oplot-T/M itself) and got roughly these results:
Have you calculated the protection values for the BM «Oplot-T/M» when a shell hits around the ERA coverage, following this path: 15mm (steel - ERA cover) → n mm (air gap under the ERA) → 30/50mm (Structural steel/HHRA plate, which works as part of the module in-game when hit directly) → n mm (air gap under the ERA) → 60mm (HHRA) → 30mm (textolite) → 50mm (HHRA)?
In-game, those spots usually provide around 390-420mm of protection (3BM42 shot simulation). This roughly matches a 15mm + 30mm + 60mm + 30mm + 50mm package, where the first 30mm layer is modeled as structural steel.
However, if we run the calculation using the actual 50mm plate as HHRA (just like the other 60mm and 50mm plates), and factor in the 30-50mm air gaps under the ERA, the kinetic protection should be roughly 535-545mm, according to the armor modifiers from the official Wiki.
(By the way, has there been any explanation anywhere as to why it has 30mm of textolite instead of 35mm?)
