m1128 M1128 MGS Slat/Cage Armor as a Modification

[Yontzee 1,673]

 M1128 MGS Slat/Cage Armor as a Modification

M1128 conducting exercises. 

 

• Summary : 
  • This suggestion's purpose is to ask the community if it would rather leave the M1128 MGS in-game with the Slat armor, or have the Slat armor as an optional modification to either increase survivability against HEAT rounds or increase maneuverability without the excess weight.

 

• Reason for Implementation:

  • Currently in-game, the M1128 comes standard with Slat/Cage armor as well as 50mm Wheel Composite Armor w/ two 6.35mm High Hardness Rolled Armor, protecting the wheels from shrapnel/small arms fire as well as the hull from HEAT/ATGM's. However, this armor increases the overall weight of the M1128 by 4.7 tons. This has a hamper on speed and acceleration, preventing the vehicle from moving away from hot areas quickly. Removing the Slat and composite armor will bring the vehicle's weight down to 18.7 tons. This may not seem like much but that's around a fifth of the vehicles weight removed. This will increase the power-to-weight ratio from 15.0hp/ton to 18.65hp/ton. This will also help the M1128 in climbing slopes that it currently has trouble doing in-game. Adding the SLAT armor as a modification will give players the choice between two different play styles similar to the XM8 currently found in-game. Not only this, it will also bring the dimensions of the vehicle down, allowing it to fit in tight spots easier and move through them more quickly.

  • Adding this modification can also set the standard for other vehicles that can equip the Slat/Cage/Mesh armor such as the M1134 ATGM and M1296 Dragoon. 

 

• Pros/Cons:

  • Pros:

    • Increase in Acceleration w/o Slat/Cage Armor.

    • Increase in Speed w/o Slat/Cage Armor.

    • Increase Power-to-Weight Ratio to 18.65hp/ton w/o Slat/Cage Armor.

    • Without the Slat/Cage Armor, better maneuverability to handle inclines/slopes.

    • Decrease in size to 6.95m x 2.72m x 2.9m (L x W x H) for tight locations w/o Slat/Cage Armor.

    • Decrease overall weight to 18.7 tons.

    • Players have a choice for custom play styles.

  • Cons:

    • Loss of fixed HEAT & Wheel protection w/o Slat/Cage Armor.

 

 

• Imagery/Videos:

M1128 equipped with Slat/Cage armor.

 

M1128 MGS with SLAT armor with composite wheel armor. 

 

M1128 MGS without the addon SLAT armor.

 

Another view without the addon armor.

 

An M1128 without the Slat/Cage armor however, equipped with camouflage netting.

 

Rear view of the M1128 without the SLAT armor.

 

M1128 MGS and its cousin, the M1296 Dragoon conducting live fire drills.

M1134 ATGM vehicle with Slat/Cage Armor.

 

M1296 Dragoon equipped with Mesh Armor.

• Sources:
  • http://www.military-today.com/artillery/stryker_mgs.htm
  • https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/iav-mgs.htm 
  • https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub/reports/FY2011/army/2011strykermgs.pdf?ver=2019-08-22-112309-643 
  • https://wiki.warthunder.com/M1128 

 

• Additional Notes:
  • Please come visit my other suggestions for American vehicles:

Edited November 13, 2021 by Yontzee

[ItssLuBu 1,798]

Approved and open for discussion. 

[Yontzee 1,673]

If anyone as any more specific data on the vehicle without the cage/slat armor, please comment along with a source 

[Milocat 4,854]

I would definitely like the option at least to take the slot armor off (totally not because I'm biased and think it looks ugly).  +1.

[EL337GH0ST 195]

This shouldn't be a sugggestion. It's the only vehicle in the entire game that has forced add-on armor which decreases its mobility massively. It should weigh around 18.77 tons without the useless armor, which would give it a respectable 18.66 hp/ton.

This should've been a thing from the day it was added, and it is absolutely disgusting that tanks like the T-80BVM, which CAME AFTER IT, gets an optional armor package BEFORE the Stryker. The T-80BVM didn't even have an optional armor package when it was added, the add-on armor was added in a different update, which makes things even worse.

Edited November 15, 2021 by EL337GH0ST

[MCmaddawg 341]

Funny. I did a suggestion on this as soon as the Stryker appeared in game and it was denied and I was told to post a bug report...

Either way, good that something more is being done about this.

 

Apparently, I wasn't the only one (not even the first one) to make a bug report about it.

 

Here's to hoping they're gonna "fix" it some day.

[Orphican 82]

Massive +1, This has been bugging me since they added the Stryker. This and the exhaust venting directly upward. Unfortunately I don't have any sources other than 3 years serving in a Stryker unit. 

[MCmaddawg 341]

On 26/11/2021 at 10:52, Orphican said:

Massive +1, This has been bugging me since they added the Stryker. This and the exhaust venting directly upward. Unfortunately I don't have any sources other than 3 years serving in a Stryker unit. 

That wouldn't even be such an issue if they didn't exagerate the exhaust smoke so much. IRL, thermals barely pick the smoke up, the exhaust heats up, sure, but the smoke isn't nearly as thick as it is ingame.

Even while idling, you can clearly see exhaust smoke coming out from vehicles, IRL, you would barely see a thing...

Gaijin, please fix.

 

EDIT: To make it clear, the smoke can be as thick as a rip from a vape, but thats not the point. Thermals pick up heat, not smoke. Heat disspating into the air from the exhaust is minimal and you can barely see it through thermals IRL. In this game, they model it weirdly.

 

Video example, skip to 0:40 seconds. Starting up - no smoke, challenger driving - no smoke. The only time it gives off visible smoke in the thermal is when it's going full speed and turning at 1:30 seconds, but even then it's not as pronounced as in Warthunder.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by MCmaddawg

[Orphican 82]

18 hours ago, MCmaddawg said:

That wouldn't even be such an issue if they didn't exagerate the exhaust smoke so much. IRL, thermals barely pick the smoke up, the exhaust heats up, sure, but the smoke isn't nearly as thick as it is ingame.

Even while idling, you can clearly see exhaust smoke coming out from vehicles, IRL, you would barely see a thing...

Gaijin, please fix.

 

Oh I know and I completely agree. I spent my fair share of time behind thermal sights. Unfortunately if there's one thing I've learned playing this game dealing with gaijin for as long as we have it's that you've got to pick your battles because the devs have, and almost always will, side with "gameplay" over even mild realism. Just take a look at the latest "Q&A" video.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Orphican

[MCmaddawg 341]

5 hours ago, Orphican said:

 

Oh I know and I completely agree. I spent my fair share of time behind thermal sights. Unfortunately if there's one thing I've learned playing this game dealing with gaijin for as long as we have it's that you've got to pick your battles because the devs have, and almost always will, side with "gameplay" over even mild realism. Just take a look at the latest "Q&A" video.

I can't say I wasn't dissapointed. I also can't say I don't understand their decisions, from a business standpoint it makes sense, but for the players its rather frustrating.

 

Speaking strictly about BR's though, they're going to have to spread them out in the end or rework them entirely. Imagine F16s fighting Mig21s on the regular. In the end it's going to work itself out, whether the devs want it or not. Probably going to have to rework the whole BR system. As of right now, top tier tanks correspond to top tier planes, however, top tier planes still haven't caught up in tech with the top tier tanks or even helis. So they'll either have to cram the upcoming planes into the top tier tank BRs, or spread out the top tier tanks to meet the upcoming top tier planes BRs. If you understand what I'm talking about. Unless they plan on spreading out the air tree to something like 20.0 BR and leaving the tanks at 12.0 BR at most, which wouldn't make much sense.

[van_gogh 36]

1+

[NAYEONnaise 1,936]

+1

[CptPejelagarto 359]

The Stryker needs this, any help to the mobility issue will be huge.

Plus it looks way better withouth the slat armor!
+1

[MonkeyBussiness 1,228]

YES , let me remove it

[Yontzee 1,673]

I was thinking, with the game's U/I, we probably won't see this for a while. I know that developers have previously said on other issues/suggestions that the U/I has limits. A modification for removable SLAT/armor would be under the protection section and currently there isn't any room for it (as seen in the image below) meaning unless the game developers redesign the U/I, we probably won't see this as a modification for a while and issues like this will pop up for other vehicles of all types.

 

I honestly wouldn't mind a future update that focuses on U/I enhancements to allow for more modifications, optimization, etc.  

 

*Ignore the unresearched modifications 

[A_Random_Rin 104]

On 13/11/2022 at 03:27, Yontzee said:

I was thinking, with the game's U/I, we probably won't see this for a while. I know that developers have previously said on other issues/suggestions that the U/I has limits. A modification for removable SLAT/armor would be under the protection section and currently there isn't any room for it (as seen in the image below) meaning unless the game developers redesign the U/I, we probably won't see this as a modification for a while and issues like this will pop up for other vehicles of all types.

 

I honestly wouldn't mind a future update that focuses on U/I enhancements to allow for more modifications, optimization, etc.  

 

*Ignore the unresearched modifications 

Not a big deal tbh, just like some other vehicles currently in-game, they can simply remove the smoke grenade and add Slat package at the same location instead. The smoke grenade shall come in for free.

[Yontzee 1,673]

1 hour ago, Nonstop_Orga said:

Not a big deal tbh, just like some other vehicles currently in-game, they can simply remove the smoke grenade and add Slat package at the same location instead. The smoke grenade shall come in for free.

That’s true, I didn’t think about that. Appreciate it

[CeladonBadger 2]

On 12/11/2022 at 20:27, Yontzee said:

I was thinking, with the game's U/I, we probably won't see this for a while. I know that developers have previously said on other issues/suggestions that the U/I has limits. A modification for removable SLAT/armor would be under the protection section and currently there isn't any room for it (as seen in the image below) meaning unless the game developers redesign the U/I, we probably won't see this as a modification for a while and issues like this will pop up for other vehicles of all types.

 

I honestly wouldn't mind a future update that focuses on U/I enhancements to allow for more modifications, optimization, etc.  

 

*Ignore the unresearched modifications 

Take a look at Gal Batash modification tree, It already has 7 columns total (Like VCC-80/30, or a lot of planes) and 2 columns for "Protection". Also, a lot of tanks have smoke grenades in "Firepower" tab. UI definitely isn't an issue here.

[Yontzee 1,673]

26 minutes ago, CeladonBadger said:

Take a look at Gal Batash modification tree, It already has 7 columns total (Like VCC-80/30, or a lot of planes) and 2 columns for "Protection". Also, a lot of tanks have smoke grenades in "Firepower" tab. UI definitely isn't an issue here.

Yup, ya'll squashed my theory. Didn't even think about those vehicles. Works for me. 

 

Edit: I guess I was trying to find a logical reason why they didn't add this modification to begin with. 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Yontzee

[TwitchyNGL 595]

[Yontzee 1,673]

2 hours ago, TwitchyTrooper said:

Absolute win! 

[EL337GH0ST 195]

27 minutes ago, Yontzee said:

Absolute win! 

Is it? We only got a 2 tonne reduction despite official documets saying that a fully loaded M1128 should weigh 18.77 tonnes, which is 2.63 tonnes AFTER your remove the armor package. It will still massively underperform in mobility, by a whopping 2.3 HP/tonne. This should be reported immediately (again) when the dev server releases.

[Yontzee 1,673]

Just now, EL337GH0ST said:

Is it? We only got a 2 tonne reduction despite official documets saying that a fully loaded M1128 should weigh 18.77 tonnes, which is 2.63 tonnes AFTER your remove the armor package. It will still massively underperform in mobility, by a whopping 2.3 HP/tonne. This should be reported immediately (again) when the dev server releases.

I just noticed that on the devserver myself, definitely going to have to fix that. 

[Yontzee 1,673]

gg boiz 

[EL337GH0ST 195]

5 hours ago, Yontzee said:

gg boiz 

I'm still kinda annoyed by the .50 cal shield that's even more useless than the slat armor making you a much bigger target (more easily spottable)...it can also get you killed easier with HE/ATGMs...wishful thinking