Crescendo

GGTharos would know more about it than I, but his comment about it being "simply not necessary" sounds about right. For the purposes of a flight simulator, having a tank damage model with a few parameters such as directional weakness and conditions for a 'hit' such as distance and angle is probably all you need. Necessity aside, it would be nice to have a model that takes into account a tank's engine, radiator, fuel, ammo etc. as well as any spalling, but for DCS: A-10C it would be quite taxing to CPU cycles due to the large amount of rounds being fired. That, and we're not playing a tank simulator. :) WWII online has a pretty robust spalling model, so it's not impossible to do it. It's just a matter of priority and compromise.

For DU-rounds, yes. Any spalling produced by DU-rounds will almost entirely be a result of penetration. Non-penetrating DU-rounds may induce a small amount of spalling (if they are lucky), but the effect will certainly be minor.

There is also a phenomenon called 'spalling' where bits of metal on the internal surface of armour will break and flake away due to mechanical stress produced by shock waves during high energy impacts. The rounds fired need not even penetrate a surface to induce such spalling. If spalling occurs, the bits of metal are often energetic enough to wound crew members and damage mechanical parts as they fly around inside the arnour-protected space. That said, the amount of spalling produced by a round fired from a GAU-8 is probably only going to be a small contributer to the total amount of damage, at least when compared to rounds that properly penetrate. This is because the rounds themselves are quite small, and thus the force they impart is less than that of a typical artillery round (which may in fact be specifically designed to induce and exploit spalling). A tank will is best damaged by achieving as many penetrations as possible and as many spalling events as possible to inflict mechanical damage and start fires (both of which may 'cook off' the tank's ammunition), and to wound the crew. To do this one would attack the tank's rear side where the armour is thinnest (tanks save weight by more heavily armouring areas where they are likely to be attacked, i.e. the front), by attacking the rear side as 'straight on' as possible (so that the rounds don't bounce and deflect away), and at dive angle of 20-30-degrees (so that the rounds cluster tightly together - i.e. a flashlight pointed directly at the ground will have a tight beam, while a flashlight laying on the ground will have a spread out beam).

Bahger, this is a really excellent mission. It's a very well-rounded experience for the pilot seeking a simple and self-contained yet realistic scenario. Obviously we are all 'hardcore' flight-simmers if we are posting here, but I find that I am less-inclined than most when it comes to the sprawling 'everything and the kitchen sink' type of missions that seem to be very common in these sort of games. I desire realism of course, but often the needless mission complexity turns me off. I much prefer smaller scenarios in which I can really concentrate on my flying technique, and on my ability to operate the avionics and weapon systems in order to satisfy small, discrete objectives. For these reasons I ended up feeling very immersed when playing your mission. It is simple, but not too simple - it engages the player by presenting an interesting scenario with a definite goal, it is long enough to make the player feel like an actual pilot on an actual mission (but no so long as to tire/bore the player), and it requires him to think carefully through the use of TOT, JTAC, interaction with AI elements, usage of different weapons etc. It is realistic, but not in a cloying manner. 'Less' is definitely more in this case. Good work. :thumbup: