T-72 varients

[Nikademus]

Hello,

I'm a long time SP player trying to make sense of the myriad of T-72 varients across the ocean of OOB's for my own mod set. From what I have been able to glean, the T-72 started life as a cheaper MBT option for the Soviet Army and WP nations and is alleged to be inferior in most (if not all) aspects to the T-64. Yet from the get go the T-72 has similar FC/ROF stats and superior armor to the T-64. It also has similar/same HEAT protection value despite some (granted...Internet) sources stating that early T-72's (prior to the 90's) built for export or built in WP nations did not have composite armor (Steel substituted) T-72's built for the Soviet army starting with the T-72A? did have composite armor. (alleged)

According to the latest Wikipedia entry on the T-72 it was not until the mid 80's B varient that the T-72 began matching the T-64 in terms of proteciton and? fire control.

My questions for anyone better informed would be...

1) Were export/foreign built T-72's inferior to Soviet service T-72's in terms of HEAT protection?

2) Was the T-64 better protected with superior FC and ROF?

3) Were the Polish T-72's weaker in balistic protection (according to the Wiki site...they were)

4) In relation to question 1) Did WP built/service and foreign export models differ in the same way (T-72's sold to arab countries for example)

5) Will the OOB's ever be standardized in terms of the mryiad of T-72 varient designations (letters, numbers and dashes....oh my!!!!) I do have Zaloga's T-72 book and it 'attempts' to standardize the varients which doesn't come close to matching all the designations seen in this game, nor do 72's with the same designation always match from OOB to OOB.

6) Are the early T-72 marks a bit overrated in terms of protection? As noted, in-game they start off better than the T-64 from the get go and quickly equal/rival even the T-80B.



As it stands right now, i've removed the HEAT protection from foreign exports/WP T-72's for varients prior to 1990 (I made some exceptions if the date was close to represent later T-72 or "upgrades" for that nation), and bumped up the FC/ROF and armor stats for the T-64 a bit. Still...i'd like to get opinions from other OOB modders on what they feel the Sov Tank values should be.

thx in advance.