I'm of the opinion that the 3.7 cm Pak 36 is an under-used weapon in game (in both senses of the word: under-used because it's next to useless in a fight and under-used in that it doesn't appear in many maps). However I think I may have come across something that would get a lot more use out of it and give it a new lease on life.
Gentlemen, behold:
The German 37mm Stielgranate 41 'Pak 35 / 36'
"The 37mm
Pak 36 anti-tank gun, for example was formidable enough in 1936, but by 1942 it was of very little use against anything more then a light tank or an armoured car. To permit it to remain in service and do some useful work, it was provided with a 'spigot bomb' shaped-charge projectile which could deal with virtually anything on tracks. The 3.7cm
Steilgranate 41 consisted of a large shaped-charge warhead about six inches in diameter, with a long tail rod. Around this tail rod was a sleeve carrying four fins. The dimensions of this device were such that when the tail rod was slipped into the muzzle of the 3.7cm
Pak 36 gun, the sleeve and fins fitted snugly around the barrel and warhead was in front of the muzzle.
A special cartridge was provided and the sights suitably adapted, and the projectile could be fired with adequate accuracy up to a practical range of about 300 metres or an absolute maximum range of about 800 metres. The warhead contained 2.42kg (5.34lb) of a TNT/hexogen composition and could blow a sizable hole through 180mm of armour plate at any range, which was quite sparkling performance for 1942. This device saw quite a lot of use..."
Hogg, Ian V.,
German Secret Weapons of the Second World War2nd Ed., London: Greenhill Books, 2002.
Obviously I realize that you can't implement the actual reloading animation due to the restrictions of the Battlefield 2 engine however I thought a neat compromise would be that once the weapon has been fired to have a reload sound of a guy shuffling/walking/moving to the front of the gun, metal sliding against metal (the shaped charge being fitted to the gun barrel), the standard Pak 36 reloading sound, and finally the shaped charge actually appearing on the end of the barrel.
In terms of ingame implementation I'd recommend Normandy maps for now and it being a mobile weapon rather then a static implacement.
[EDIT] Just found that it is featured in the 'Carentan' episode of 'Band of Brothers', not that I'm saying that's a legitimate excuse/reason for it to be ingame.
Questions/Comments?