Looking for a clear explanation...

[Cross]

As far as I can tell Penetration is the thickness of the armor an AP round will penetrate at POINT BLANK RANGE. It would be nice to have penetration values at different ranges but those are not listed. Just point blank. I guess that must be one hex or less. HEAT rounds don't matter. Same at any range. APCR or Sabot rounds are usually more effective at shorter ranges than straight AP because they don't shoot as far.

Actually SPWW2 does have accurate penetration data for all ranges now. This was only released in the last 4.0 update. Go into your WinSPWW2 folder and you will see a WW2_APCalc.exe file. Just enter the nation and weapon and it will give you the average and maximum penetration at any range.

If you just want the average penetration for some common weapons at various ranges, I made my own Excel spreadsheet guide. I'll attach it to this post. Feel free to change it to your own taste, or add weapons that you use or come across.

If we're talking SPWaW, I believe they have penetration data in the unit information screen.

Warhead size does effect penetration. The larger warheads maintain penetration at greater ranges; but this effect is taken into account in the penetration calculator/guide. Warhead size also effects damage.

In addition, the more the penetration exceeds the armour value, the greater the damage is likely to be. IOW, a penetration of 11 against 10 armour will likely cause a little damage (**), but penetration of 20 against 10 armour will likely cause a brew up.

Hope this helps,