Looks like the Firefly gun mantlet overlaps the turret armour (51 + 89), not sure if it's correct as most articles say the Firefly had no armour advantage over a regular Sherman (other than a thicker mantlet that's too similar to change the FAV). I think having a FAV progression 9 -> 10 -> 11 for the different Sherman Hull/Turret/Mantlet combinations feels right but the majority should be 10. Then there's the Rhino (12) and Jumbo (17) with additional armoured platting. The Panther's AP might need adjusting down to keep the 'who kills who, first' ranges correct/ and not OP, so it'd won't just be allied nerfs.
The gun mantlet is pretty small on the sherman, its almost the equivalent of taking the panzer 4s gun mantlet into equasion....by the same regard, King tiger with its pig head gun "mantlet" should get extra points also, and thats apsurd.
Thats why i said only the late war Sherman with the new 76 gun and flat enlarged gun mantlet protecting the turret face should get 11, (at most) earlier shermans 9-10, and thats already streching it when we have Tiger with 12 armor and panzer 4 with 8...
Good spot - the StuG IV looks like an outlier
The StuG III has layered armour (30fh + 50fh) and the StuG IV single 80mm plates. There are calculations for 'spaced' armour that show the dual plate StuG III less protected against angled hits, hence it's lower FAV. However the British did some tests in North Africa that suggested that plates 'in contact' gave better protection, perhaps because a shell had to pass through 2 layers of face hardening, rather than one. OTOH it's not certain the Brits used the right ammunition. The FAV and penetration will depends on Eugen's assumptions on Shell type, calibre, angle, velocity, etc
The stug 3 should go down to 9 and stug 4 to 10.
Same difference, the Pz IV G had 'in contact' plates (30fh + 50fh). I estimated 7 AV for both, the G is -1 and the H +1 .
Id say 7 for G and 8 for H, or in the case of leavign the Shermans with the same armor as now ...buff panzer 4G to 8 and H to 9.
The M10 hull has 38mm at 55° (66mm effective), so only a little less than the Pz IV H. What lets the panzer down is it's 50mm mantlet, which is the same as it's turret armour, while the M10's 57mm mantlet boosts it stats. and they end up with similar FAV. It then comes down to aim and reload times, range, accuracy and AP
The issue is really overmatch when faced with 75s and 88s, the M10 is really just a glorified marder when it comes to armor...the gun mantlet was an even bigger shot trap then seen ontanks like the T34 or Panther...6 armor at best, but 5 is more realistic.
One other point regarding Shermans, the fact they are using 50 cals as modern unmanned weapon platforms with pinpoint target aquisition is already an alert to nerfbat the Sherman...most sherman crews removed the 50 cals as they were useless in actual combat, and only usable if you got behind the turret, firing it while fully exposed to enemy fire (please dont pull out Audie Murphy example as an excuse).
Commander MGs on the turret are overall gimicky and shouldnt even be modelled in a serious game like this (the only ones i could give a pass are maybe Hetzer (if we had one) and Stugs (had an MG shield, and m18)
