Burning ships and planes

[Platapus]

Two questions about flaming stuff in SH3+GWX2

1. Burning ships. Will a ship that is fully engulfed in flames eventually sink on its own? Can I save ammo by just following it and waiting for it to slowly sink. Or will burning ships just burn and keep on living. I am pretty stingy with my ammo and am always looking for ways to save some for another fight.

2. Burning planes. Will an aircraft that is on fire eventually crash? I know that in real life aircraft don't like being on fire for very long. However I have seen flaming planes circling and circling and circling ....... If a plane is flaming can I just dive and wait it out or can flaming planes keep on flyin?

[Keelbuster]

Unless something has changed dramatically from previous mods and even stock SH3, flames are just candy. Sometimes when a compartment is destroyed, it explodes violently, but then in that case the damage has already been done and the fire is more a sign that you've already succeeded. Otherwise, things can burn forever and not sustain any further damage as a result of the flames. Sadly...

[Madox58]

Depends on the zone.
Some zones do very slow damage.
VEEERRRRY slow.
Set the Bismark on fire and it may burn for weeks.
Set a small fishing boat alight.
It will go down quicker.

[Amiral Crapaud]

Two questions about flaming stuff in SH3+GWX2

1. Burning ships. Will a ship that is fully engulfed in flames eventually sink on its own? Can I save ammo by just following it and waiting for it to slowly sink. Or will burning ships just burn and keep on living. I am pretty stingy with my ammo and am always looking for ways to save some for another fight.

If you like to save ammo chap, use your gun to shoot below the target's floatline, straight through the water. Sometimes you may even score a lucky hit: just today, I broke a coastal cargo in two with three ridiculous 88mm rounds this way - luckily, at medium range, the HE shell must have hit the keel critical point, and this 1500 tons merchant had the dubious privilege to become the best cost-efficient victory of the U-bootwaffe so far in this war...

But more generally, especially with GWX which tries to be very accurate with that kind of damages, hitting an unarmored target under the water will happily and unvariably make her embark tons of water, and although you may have to wait a long (looong) time, this will cost you less rounds than cleaning & incinerating the whole deck, especially with larger freighters.

[Wreford-Brown]

@ Platapus - I managed to hit a Town class and set it alight. It's now been merrily sailing along for over 24 hours with it's convoy, but it can't make over 8 knots.

I should put it out of its misery, but I can see the flames a long time before I can see the rest of the convoy. I may even let it go - it's been a great help in racking up the tonnage!

[Madox58]

As far as a ship burning and not sinking?
Do some research on the U.S.S. Enterprise
Tell me it didn't happen in real lfe!
Better yet,
Tell those guys.
At around 85 years old?
They would probably punch you out still!
:lol:

[Elmer Kosterman]

Would it be difficult to make a mod that would put fires out after a couple of hours?

[johnm]

When using the S-boote mod, I was hit and set on fire by aircraft. Spent the whole of the patrol burning merrily. My crew said they'd repaired all damage but still in flames. Returned to base ok still on fire, perhaps I should have used it as a barbeque!

[Platapus]

If you like to save ammo chap, use your gun to shoot below the target's floatline, straight through the water..


It was saving the gun ammo I was posting about. I don't like to waste any ammo if the ship is doomed.

Evidently due to the answers on this thread, the ship/plane aint dead until it is dead. :)

[Slateford-5]

Haven't come across this in the game a such. I can readily accept a burning ship hulk lingering on for hours, maybe even days on end, but from the tutorial, I do recall feeling slightly cheated at watching my flak gunner pop away at a Fairey Swordfish which was on fire and trailing black smoke continuing not just to fly, but to make attacks and circle around....

[Amiral Crapaud]

If you like to save ammo chap, use your gun to shoot below the target's floatline, straight through the water..

It was saving the gun ammo I was posting about. I don't like to waste any ammo if the ship is doomed.

Evidently due to the answers on this thread, the ship/plane aint dead until it is dead. :)
Let's say that watching a ship embarking water is leading you somewhere - watching it burning, on the other hand, is just nice if you're waiting for his little friends to come along join your hide & seek game ;)

If you really have a lot of time to spare, actually, any light merchant can go under with half a dozen chosen hit under the floatline. You just have to wait... But while it's ok with a Coastal Merchie, don't try it with a C3 - in that case you'd better shoot a fish first and finish the job :arrgh!: