New Unit; Advanced T34 Russian tank (1343-T34/85)

During the 1930s the Russian army adopted an American tank design (abandoned by the Americans as being "Too unconventional") that utilised a medium tank design with high speed and manuverabilty and a Turret mounted towards the front of a long chassis. The first BT tanks were use in the Spanish civil war along side the T26 (a british design manufactured under licence in the soviet union), and far outperformed the early German panzers (though the Nationalists had better air suport and in the Spanish colonial troops better infantry). The BT tanks and T26s used similar turrets and between them developed revolutionary "sloped armour" designs (inclining Armour at an angle significantly increases its ability to resist attacks) which was then incorporated in to the successor of the BT7 and the T26 the T34. The early T34s used a 76mm cannon, bigger than anything else available at the time, but later to be too small to reliably destroy the panther and tigertanks of the Germans; Finaly the T34/85 (85mm long barreled cannon) was introduced-the Best all round tank of WWII (the TigerII was stronger but less reliable and uneconomic, the panther is the only other tank to combine the best inovations of tank design with an economic design that could be reproduced quickly and easily).

You can download the files from here; download

Add the contents of the zip file to a new folder in your CivIII/art/units folder called "advancedT34" and add the unit to your scenario. I recomend using it as a Russian UU or as a general replacement for the Firaxis tank (the american Sherman) for all the Eastern-bloc countries.

kewl

Here is a preview of the animation; from the Northeast Direction, I think this shows off the unique aspects of the unit, such as the forward location of the turret and the sloped armour. As with my tigertank Ive gone for a turret explaosion death, as this is how most of the tanks of WWII were destroyed);

I have been waiting for this unit for a long time . Great Job Smoking Mirror .

Thanks SM,

I've been using your static version for some time now. I'm glad to have one that is fully animated. Excellent job!

sweeeeet unit sm

Very cool. I've always hated that Firaxis tank unit.

This unit almost makes me proud to be Russian...
Wait, I am not Russian!

Anyway, this is perhaps the best looking Tank I have found yet.

2 Things however:

1. The Tank that Firaxis made is not the Sherman, as the turret and body are wrong (Sherman had a very high profile, made it an easy target) The tank that firaxis used is more like a Matilda II than anything else.

2. There is a strong arguement over what the best tank of WWII was. It basically revolves around the Panther or T-34/85. They were almost equals, except for a few things. The T-34/85 was much more reliable than the Panther, which was liable to break down on you. However, the Panther had better optics, as well the fact that the Germans put more radios in their Panzer units. It all really came down to crews, the superior crew would determine the winner of a match between the two.

Note: The American Pershing tank was an equal, if not superior tank, to the two afore mentioned. However, only three of them got to Mainland Europe before the war ended, and only one saw combat. The short fight was in a German city(I forgot which one), and a Panther was camped near the center. A Sherman went in after it, and got blown apart( Sherman vs. Panther is not a fair fight). So then the Pershing went in after the Panther, which fired but the shot was deflected. The Pershing proceeded to smash the Panther apart, the first shot knocking the turret out of action, the second damaging the engine, and the third hit the turret, cooking off the ammunition. However, the Pershing was a Heavy Tank, not like the Panther or t-34/85, which were medium tanks. The fact that the Pershing saw combat only once in WWII prevented it from being the Top armored unit in the war.

I agree that the firaxis tank looks nothing at all like a Sherman. They seem to think it does, however, as the pediaicon lists it as being a Sherman.

Dude, that is the best death animation! Very nice work on all the details. I like the camo pattern alot.

Cool unit.
Here is units_32.pcx for this wonderful T34:
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads/Advanced_T34_units_32.pcx

GREAT UNIT SMOKING MIRROR! I have to say you did it again Smoking Mirror Beetween you and Kingboat Anyway keep up the great work!

Okay...

First, while the Pershing saw limited action, it DID see action - including during Market Garden when it helped secure a bridge that it was too heavy to cross! The Pershing was a serious ass tank, 90mm main gun could knock out anything. Of course, it was about time, the short 75 sucked (though the long 76mm could defeat German tanks with a quality shot of APCR).

Also...this T-34/85 - why doesn't it look the the unit preview in that other thread? THAT'S the one I've been frigging waiting for...

Venger

Sorry venger, whats up? is it the camo, or were you wanting the t34/76?

I'll probably do a winter version at some point, but I felt that a summer one would be of more use.

Post the picture of the one you wanted so i can see what you mean.

Originally posted by Venger
Okay...

First, while the Pershing saw limited action, it DID see action - including during Market Garden when it helped secure a bridge that it was too heavy to cross! The Pershing was a serious ass tank, 90mm main gun could knock out anything. Of course, it was about time, the short 75 sucked (though the long 76mm could defeat German tanks with a quality shot of APCR).

Click to expand...

In a stand-off fight, the PzKw VII "Tiger II" would pound the Pershing into smouldering scrap metal...

Originally posted by CurtSibling


In a stand-off fight, the PzKw VII "Tiger II" would pound the Pershing into smouldering scrap metal...

Click to expand...

I'm going to f**k the dot for no one else will. It's PzKpfw VI (Tiger II) Ausf.B

Sorry could not resist

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And you are absolutely right. Pershing would not stand a chance against Königstiger.

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Smoking Mirror,

Your animating ability is outstanding.

Excellent unit!

Sweeet !!

I love to have a russian early UU/FlavorUnit instead of the regular tank.

It's funny : we've made the T family (T34, T90 etc...)


SM, you're always the best in tank units ! Go on !