Units armor - how to destroy tanks and vehicles in Steel Division 2 Steel Division 2 guide, tips
Last update: 20 August 2019
The destruction of armored vehicles in Steel Division 2 can prove to be problematic. This is due to several dependencies such as armor, gun caliber, penetration, distance and units' experience. All this affects the combat efficiency of the armored vehicles.
There is one simple rule when fighting tanks - if your vehicle has a larger caliber than the opponent's armor, you'll probably win. To determine this, use the two values that are on the icon of each unit.
- Top value, on an orange background, marks the possibility of breaking through enemy armor. Enemy armor below this value should not cause any problems for your running or car.
- The lower number, on a white background, indicates the thick part of your unit's armor. Armor of each tank, armored car, etc. is always the thickest in front. On the contrary, the sides and back always have a lower armor thickness.
- If your car has more penetration than the enemy tank. It breaks through armor fast or starts to set a lot of critical damage.
- In turn, the gun with the same or lower value of penetration usually does not penetrate the armor, and the missiles will just bounce off the armor of enemy units. However, massive gunfire affects stress and can cause the enemy to retreat.
It is worth noting that after investigating the types of enemy unit, also you will see the armor and penetration values of the opponent's forces. This way you can quickly decide whether to withdraw your troops or stay and start fighting. If you want to remove your tanks, you should use the "reverse" order. Tankers will throw the reverse gear and will slowly retreat, still facing the enemy. Thus, not only will your tank still be able to fire, but it will still face opponents with the thicker layer of armor. If you issue a regular movement order, units tend to make a u-turn and expose the thin part of the vehicle to enemy units.
How to effectively destroy enemy vehicles?
First of all, be sure to add combat vehicles with heavy anti-tank weapons. Tiger, IS tanks, Sherman Firefly, etc. Such tanks have good armor, their gun copes with all opponents, but usually these units are expensive, slow, and available at later stages.
It is worth investing in anti-tank guns and creating ambushes. It is best to hide such units in the forest or buildings, where they can attack by surprise. It is also worth deploying them so that they overlap the territory where the enemy will be. Such cannons usually have a shorter range of effective penetration, but often start firing when there are zero chances for advancement. Here the "effective shot" mode might prove useful. The squad further zeroes in on possible targets, but shots only when it gets at least 40% chance to hit and penetrate. This way your guns won't expose your position too quickly and they will start fighting the enemy only when they will be able to destroy it.
Also worth installing works in cross position. This regards deploying two guns at two different locations, where they can cover the same area with fire. Even if the enemy tank will focus on the struggle with one division and is installed face forward, is another weapon can attack weaker to side of the tank.
Another way is to use infantry with armor-piercing weapons or special units with rifles or armor-piercing machine guns. The problem with these units and their armament is very small range, usually up to 250 meters. Most tanks can hit targets at a distance of 1-2 kilometers. No one in this situation will come close to danger. The advantage of infantry is the ability to hide among the many obstacles off-road. Therefore, it is necessary to deploy such units in narrow passages between dense forests, in houses, among numerous buildings, etc. But if you do not have such option, reduce the field of view between your units and the enemy through the smoke screen and use multiple infantry units. Storming several units should ensure success or at least force the enemy to retreat. This way, you can also force enemy tanks to approach your guns.
What if you have a lot of weak tanks, and the enemy throws heavily armored vehicles all the time? Then you can just use group attack tactics. Sample scenario: you have a few T-34s, but you will have to face the inevitable Tiger. If you just put your vehicles in front of the Tiger, everyone dies. It is best to send tanks as close as possible to the enemy, while dispatch other vehicles to surround him. Of course, you will lose a few vehicles but at least defeat the heavy armor of the enemy. You can make it easier for yourself by attacking from the forest or leaving a smoke screen. Try to lure the enemy closer to your position to reduce the distance needed to strike at the weak points of the enemy units. Deploy your tanks behind houses or thick forest to easily surround the enemy.