Fixing the Panzer 38t nA in HD

Hello everyone,

some time ago, I wrote a an article about how Panzer 38t could (should) be fixed, because currently, it’s very unhistorical in the game. Today, we are going to have a look at Panzer 38t nA.

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A little history first. The official vehicle name (factory one, anyway) was TNH neue Ausführung (n.A.), PzKpfw.38(t) n.A. was the German designation. It was a prototype vehicle, based on the original 38t, but – unlike its predecessor – it was designed specifically for the scouting role. The vehicle development was ordered by the Germans by the end of July 1940 (ČKD was the developer of course) and the first prototype was ready in December 1941. Five prototypes were made in total, with the last one being read in April 1942.

From March 1942 to July 1942, the vehicle was tested at Kummersdorf along with another Czechoslovak product (the T-15) and the VK.1303 by MAN (you know that vehicle as the Luchs). The final report from the testing (from 27.7.1942) was very positive – it was reliable, agile, did not break down and the crew observation possibilites were excellent. The only weakness was the insufficient durability of leaf springs – and there was the somewhat higher fuel consumption (20 percent more than other vehicles of its class, the T-15 suffered from the same issue). The report also mentioned that while the T-15 cannot be considered for mass production (the design had still many teething flaws), the nA might actually be manufactured.

The prototype returned to ČKD for some modifications and in October 1942, final trials took place (again in Kummersdorf). It did better than both its competitors (at some points, the maximum speed reached 70 km/h) and the testing committee and the representatives of the Kummersdorf center both recommended its production. However, OKW (German high command) decided against it, likely after the pressure of the German MAN company and decided to produce the Luchs instead. The prototypes thus stayed with BMM and were used for testing of various parts between 1943-1944, specifically the Tatra T-103 220hp engine. In the end, the Germans gradually took 4 of the prototypes, the fifth one stayed in ČKD until its end of the war. Its final fate is quite interesting, but that’s a story for another time.

In the game

In the game, the nA is a tier 4 light tank in the German branch and it’s not exactly one of the most popular vehicles out there. What certainly does not help is the fact that the tank is completely screwed and almost entirely unhistorical (it’s way too overbuffed). Let’s have a look at it, step by step:

- the weight is wrong: the tank weighed 11,8 tons. In roughly the same configuration, the vehicle weighs 11,62 tons, its top weight is 12,22 tons (that can however be attributed to the 50mm gun) – not exactly a buff, but weight can be compensated by terrain resistance

- maximum speed in the game is 62 km/h, while the historical factory maximum speed was 64 km/h and according to test report from Kummersdorf the vehicle reached 70 km/h.

Furthermore, the engines are wrong, in the game it has 200hp Praga EPA/3 and 274hp Praga NR. Those values are unhistorical and the engine is fake. Two most historical engines for the vehicle would be 220hp Tatra T-103 and 225 hp Praga NRI. Praga NRI was the original engine intended for the vehicle – it was a gasoline 14,236 liter V8, producing 225 horsepower at 2200 RPM. Its output was later on increased to 248 horsepower by using twin carburators.

Now, the armor:

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The armor is completely wrong. In the game, it is nominally 50/25/10 (both the turret and the hull, which is probably the only thing WG got right – yes, both were the same in real life). In real life, the armor was 30mm thick at the front (not 50), 20mm at the sides (not 25) and 20mm at the rear (not 10). The roof should be 10mm thick (not 8mm). The mantlet was 30mm thick (in the game it’s 25mm).

Oh yes and the stock turret is fake (the top one is too, but at least it roughly LOOKS like the real deal). The vehicle did ever have a second turret, but that came only after the war, so historically, only one turret version is correct. As you can see, the historical armor would be significantly nerfed, but I do believe this could be well compensated by increased mobility.

Weaponry

Only two guns are correct: 37mm A19 and 50mm KwK 39, which was decided to be used for the last prototype. Everything else (47mm, let alone 20mm) is fake. I do believe two guns are enough. As for the 37mm A19 performance – 37mm A19 is NOT the stock gun of the vehicle, that’s the A7 (LT Vz.38 gun), it’s the T-15 gun, which is… looking at it, it’s wrong in the game as well. Great. I’ll get into the T-15 later. I do not have specific data on the A19 however. It LOOKS like the A7, but heaven knows how they changed it, will investigate that further, for now it’s enough to rename the stock gun I guess.

Well, that’s about all. Oh yes, the radios considered were FuG 2 and FuG 5, but nobody really cares about radios.

Proposed changes

I would prospose to change the vehicle as such:

- remove fake stock turret altogether, keep elite turret as stock
- armor reduced to 30/20/20 (as described above) with other corrections (mantlet, roof)
- engines replaced by: stock T-103 (220hp), middle Praga NRI (225 hp), top Praga NRI (twin carb) (248hp)
- weight with stock gun changed to 11,8 tons (elite one could be 12 tons?)
- top speed increased from 62 km/h to 64 or 70 km/h
- significant improvement of terrain passability to compensate for the loss of armor and horsepower, possibly mobility buff (the vehicle was judged as very mobile)
- rename stock tracks from 38 (t) n.A. to TNH n.A.
- rename elite tracks from 38 (t) n.A. Verstärkketten to 38 (t) n.A.
- remove 47mm and 20mm guns, rename stock gun to 37mm A19, elite 50mm gun is fine

Well, that’s the basics anyway. The result would be less armored but more mobile vehicle with roughly the same firepower, acting more like a scout.

Sources:
I.Pejčoch – Obrněná Technika
I.Pejčoch – Lehké tanky
V.Francev – Československá obrněná vozidla 1918-1945

18 thoughts on “Fixing the Panzer 38t nA in HD

  1. Have this lil thing as a HC scoutmobile keeper, some tweaking to its mobility would be nice. But I use the czech 47mm with gold on it because it has epic aimtime and better acc than the 50mm which I’m not fond of even if it has slightly better dmg. But as long as 50mm soft stat buffs will be part of the proposal, the removal of 47 is ok :D

  2. So I guess Chamberlain & Doyle are wrong ? Because nearly all what they mention is different of what you indicate.
    As example they refer to a Praga 250HP engine, 35mm of armor in front hull, 8mm on top.

    I also wonder if the model ingame is not incorrect ? The tank looks totally flat.

      • Thanks for the precision :). I was surprised that you did not listed your sources as usual in this article (and we both know the importance of reliable sources, and that’s why I’m surprised of how erroneous is Chamberlain & Doyle on this tank).

        Any pictures of what is wrong on the turrets ?
        You said:
        “the stock turret is fake (the top one is too, but at least it roughly LOOKS like the real deal)” and “The vehicle did ever have a second turret, but that came only after the war, so historically, only one turret version is correct”
        So there was really two turrets ? If I understand you properly, the stock one is a fake, the top one should be stock and there is a second post-war turret (missing ingame) ?

        Do you also have the impression of possible incorrect proportions of the model in regards with what we can see on historical pictures (or on blueprints) ?

        • Second turret was an enlarged post-war construction to house automatic 47mm (even 57mm) gun. It had nothing to do with Germany.

          I almost never judge the incorrect proportions of a model, because there is no way how to measure them in the game. It’s possible (by eye).

  3. And reduce its MM to normal tier 4 vehicle (like AMX 40, A-20, T-80, Ke-Ho, Valentine or Covenanter). And it would still be inferior to all of these tanks …

  4. I’m one of the rare players that actually like this tank, but to buff it would be gladly welcomed :)

  5. Frankly I think that even most Czechs wouldn’t notice any difference in this episode between Pz 38 (t) and Pz IV H and Hetzer.

  6. Oh but I think the best gun on Pz38tnA is the 47mm one, since its aim time and the accuracy on the move is much better…
    The 50mm’s aim time is just too long to be on a low-tier scout.

  7. this tank already has no working armor.(I don’t think this tank had any working part…)
    These nerf’s doesn’t change anything in gameplay matters.
    scout class under t5 are need to remove.

  8. No please, I had to go through the horrible matchmaking as forced scout with this to get to the Tiger and others. now they finally have lowered the maximum battle tier and introduced some other f***ing scouts so that at least I don’t get all that pressure about scouting any more, and now you talk about nerfing just about everything to make it more into a scout? f that!
    In game the 38na never works well as a scout, and it is actually much more manoeuvrable with the ‘stock’ turret and gun, but that reduces view range so scouting is just plain suicide. This tank should have normal tier IV matchmaking (like the A-20 for instance), and when in tier IV matches it actually behaves more like a fast medium than a light tank – which makes sense, since from the 38na you move to the PzIVH and then the heavies.

    So please don’t give WG bad ideas. I don’t care so much about historical details on this, I have kept this tank and enjoy it much more now that I don’t have to always expose myself to tier VIII monsters in this little tin can, and I am hoping one day they’ll finally reduce battle tiers to normal ones for tier IV, so that this tank will feel like the natural extension to the Pz38t of tier III, only one tier higher and on the way to bigger tanks.

    Leave it as it, reduce battle tiers and this tank can be a good middle ground between the light tank battles of the lower tiers and the bigger tanks that come after it.