Company of Heroes: Eastern Front

Author Topic: Why the Landkreuzer Will never work.  (Read 2289 times)

Offline Cranialwizard

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Why the Landkreuzer Will never work.
« on: April 18, 2010, 06:02:06 AM »
The Landkreuzer in reality never made it off the drawing board because of it's sheer size. 1500 tons was nearly impossible. It was for sheer propaganda.

Some major difficulties in development:
1. The Panzer VIII Maus was already destroying roads as it was. The Landkreuzer 1000 was nearly 25x Larger. I can't even imagine the 1500.
The destruction of roads and bridges would have made the Landkreuzer just an obstacle.
(See picture A)

2. The tank would be so large that all Allied aircraft could practically say to each other, "Holy Moly, a giant metal 800mm CANNON??!?!?! EVERYONE BOMB IT."
The sheer size of the tank would make it an easy target.

3. The tank was too large to transport by train or by ship. Making it impossible to transport would be even more of a problem than getting it to MOVE.

4. The materials required for such a tank were humongous. The armor was planned to be 250mm on all sides. The main cannon was to shoot a 800mm shot that traveled 23 miles. (See picture B) PLUS two 150 mm sFH 18/1 L/30 howitzers and a mass of MGs all over.

To top the sundae with a cherry, it was to be engined with 4 Dual U-Boat engines. (Gas Guzzlers!)

Picture A-Landkreuzer 1000 "Ratte"


Picture B-The shot to be fired



Picture C-The plan of the Landkreuzer 1500 in comparison to:Panzer VIII Maus, a truck(Of some sort, not 100% positive what that is), and a Person.



Picture D-A final sketch of the 1000 Ratte. It was never developed.


Even if the tank was developed, it would be too large for COH. Imagine 800x a Tiger. There is the 1500 Monster.
"Balancers are 10 a penny"

Offline stryker

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Re: Why the Landkreuzer Will never work.
« Reply #1 on: April 18, 2010, 06:40:24 AM »
The other thing to consider is the competing technologies.  Rockets were already showing greater range and payload without the associated transport issues of this proposed tank.  Aircraft were delivering more ordinance over greater ranges already, and the day of the big gun was pretty much over.

This really was a pretty bad solution to a question that wasn't being asked.

Nice article Cranialwizard.  And I have to agree with you on the problem of scale for CoH too.  It's not only too big, but unless it is for a fantasy mod, it has no place in CoH.

Offline Gerrit 'Lord Rommel' G.

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Re: Why the Landkreuzer Will never work.
« Reply #2 on: April 18, 2010, 11:06:24 AM »
Hm; i fought it was quiet sure for everyone that such a "senseless" unit wont be a serious alternative for the Ostheer.
And because of this i cant see any sense to discuss about such a "doting unit".

I close here  ;)
Lord Rommel
May the force be with you.