Helena main guns

[Kaiserliche_garde]

So Helena and Cleveland have the exact same main guns (152mm/47 mk16) and exact same HE stats (damage, velocity and fire chance) except Helena only has 25mm of base pen and Cleveland has 30mm.  When IFHE is applied to their respective commanders Helena only gets 31mm of pen and Cleveland gets 37mm of pen.  Helena will face 32mm plated Battleships at tiers 8 and 9 and would benefit from the increased pen, but Cleveland will face less than 32mm plated Battleships at tiers 6 and 7 and doesn't benefit from the increased pen against lower tiers.  What gives?  Is there any "official" explanation or reason for this difference?

[Verytis]

It is based on tier difference. Been that way since IFHE rework.

Cleveland is T8 and needs the increased pen to fight same tier cruisers.

 

This means T7 CL HE is just terrible when uptiered, while the T8 runs over lower tier BBs.

[Nevermore135]

1 hour ago, Kaiserliche_garde said:

What gives?  Is there any "official" explanation or reason for this difference?

A while back WG reworked the IFHE skill, and one of the big changes was dropping the pen bonus from 30% to 25%. At the same time, tier VIII+ 152mm cruiser guns were buffed to 30mm (1/5) HE pen from 25mm (1/6) HE pen. The goal was to make IFHE less of a “required” skill. The fire chance penalty was also increased at the same time.

Edited March 20 by Nevermore135

[tocqueville8]

• If Cleveland penned 25 mm, she'd need IFHE (31) to damage even the lightest plating (superstructure aside) of lower-tier BBs (26), or same-tier cruisers like Baltimore and Hipper (27). And even with IFHE she'd suck against same or higher-tier BBs (32, at least)
• If Helena penned 30 mm, she wouldn't need IFHE to pen same-tier BB (26), and with IFHE (37) she'd pen higher-tier BBs in a few too many places.

It's balancing. Same with Shchors and Chapayev.

Edited March 20 by tocqueville8

[WES_HoundDog]

and they can give the Helena a citadel while their at it.

[ArIskandir]

7 hours ago, Kaiserliche_garde said:

Is there any "official" explanation or reason for this difference?

Yes, you need "strong incentives" to progress through the tech tree and move up to T10 where you'll require PT to make significant profit. If you feel the experience sucks enough you might want to spend some $$$ to progress faster to T10. 

[GandalfTehGray]

I still despise that change,probably more now since operations are random and I don't know if I'll need the ifhe pen on Atlanta /Boise due to the operation played.