When to use AP .vs HE?

[Kayback]

I've searched the forum, and I can't find anything worthwhile on this topic.

When do you use HE's and when do you use AP rounds for your deck gun.

The last SH game I played was SH1, and I absolutely loved it. Even on the higher settings I could often sink many more ships by stalking lone merchants or troop carriers and hitting them with the cannon than by attacking fleets with my torpedo's.

The only memorable torpedo fleet attack I ever made in SH1 was a head on shot against the Yamato battleship, wich resulted in me sinking it and playing dodgem with it's support craft for the next 3 hours. Wicked mission.

I was deadly with the deck gun.

However in SH4 I seems to be driving around and around pumping shot after shot into the smallest little cargo vessle and not significantly damaging it.

I'm assuming it's AP for war vessels and HE for lighter skinned vessels? Or is it AP for shooting under the waterline?

I've got another question as well, another thing I've searched for and can't find. The game crashes with 100% certanty every time I launch my, ummm, launch. Either to drop off people or supplies, the hame goes to a black screen, hangs, and eventually crashes. I can't find reference to a fix to this. Does the 1.2 patch fix this, and do you need to start a new career after every patch?

KBK

[SteamWake]

I dont really know if it makes any difference but it makes sense to me (shrug).

I use AP when aiming at the water line. HE for everything else.

[Herr Karl]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I dont really know if it makes any difference but it makes sense to me (shrug).

I use AP when aiming at the water line. HE for everything else.

Yeah, I use AP for finishing off my victims by aiming at the water-line also. I like to save my torpedoes whenever possible.I use the HE especially to target opposing guns.

[DragonRR1]

Originally Posted by Herr Karl

Yeah, I use AP for finishing off my victims by aiming at the water-line also. I like to save my torpedoes whenever possible.I use the HE especially to target opposing guns.

Yup

[TheBrauerHour]

I use AP for waterline and for the Armored guns on some merchants. I also use AP to punch holes where I think the boilers are. If I see a tanker or merchant with barrels or boxes on deck, I then switch to HE. I also put a couple of HE rounds in the bridge of a ship just for laughs if they have ticked me off. All wooden ships (Sampan, junk) automatically get HE.

Due to realistic flooding of compartments, imagine that it will take a while for a ship to sink. The japanese crewmembers wouldn't just sit by while you punch holes in their ship, they would attempt damage control in hopes of saving the ship until the help they radioed for arrives. Unless you hit some explosive cargo or get a shot into a boiler, don't expect a fast Deck gun attack.

[CaptainHaplo]

Unless your just having some fun and playing with the Autogun mod!
Good Hunting!
Captain Haplo

[IsaanRanger]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

Unless your just having some fun and playing with the Autogun mod!
Good Hunting!
Captain Haplo

I remember that, I had the trainer in SH3, It even works with GWX and the autogun is enabled. you should try enabling it and go Flank speed into the Gibraltar Strait. I was popping off PT Boats and Destroyers as I zoomed past. Yes its cheating, but was fun with Unlimited Ammo and Automatic Fire. My crew did a good job.

[tycho102]

Always lead off with HE's to the cargo. Catching the deck cargo on fire seems to slow the boat faster than AP's to the engine, and with passenger liners, HE's into the berthing area will put that sucker under in a dozen shots.

Plus, the fire and smoke help "mark" your target -- especially at night.

[nattydread]

Im not sure if it applies in game, but Ideally you'd want to use HE on unarmored, thin skinned targets, use AP for armored targets(anything bigger than a Destroyer)

The AP shells would theoritcally leave only a small hole in the merchants ships no bigger than your fist (assuming they are only kinetic rounds with no explosive charge), allowing for less flooding, the HE on the other hand would take that same ship and put a hole in it big enough to fit your head through if not your torso.

Most of the HE damage will be on the hull, but if you desire to damage internals like engines and stuff, you want to use well placed AP. The AP on the engines would certainly cripple the ship eliminating is abilty to maneuver and get away, but the AP's contribution to sinking would be minimal unless it set off a secondary explosion.

The HE on the other hand will cause the big gaping holes that will allow for flooding while possibly setting off fuel easier than AP, thus making HE more likly to set off those catastrophic secondary explosion to really rip the ship up, causing structural failure.

[C-4]

I use AP to calibrate my gun, and to determine enemy range by test-fire, and everything else with HE. Until I run out of HE.

[Mudrik]

I too try to use AP to punch holes in the waterline or create holes that I can then pump some HE at.

The deck gun is a very underrated weapon and I find that it is best used to either attack lone ships or finish off ships after a torp attack.

All I would like is some more deck gun ammo. There must have been space somewhere in a sub for a few hundred extra rounds

[nattydread]

Originally Posted by Mudrik

I too try to use AP to punch holes in the waterline or create holes that I can then pump some HE at.

The deck gun is a very underrated weapon and I find that it is best used to either attack lone ships or finish off ships after a torp attack.

All I would like is some more deck gun ammo. There must have been space somewhere in a sub for a few hundred extra rounds

On an unarmored vessel HE doesnt need AP to makes holes for it, HE should do a vastly superior job of opening large holes on a merchant compared to an AP round.

AP is like a sniper round, it can quickly disable systems if it hits in the right place and essentially kill the ship...but not neccesarily sink it which is the objective. HE is like a shot-gun, not very precise but spreads the damage around so much it litterally tears the ship apart causing structural failure which leads to the ship sinking much faster...even though its systems and propulsion may still be intact and functioning.

[Fearless]

AP for the waterline and HE to watch the fireworks

[nattydread]

Why AP for the water line? If you hit the hull at the water line the hole will be more than enough to cause flooding. Now if you want to hit below the water line, use AP, it would hoepfully have the energy to power through the water and still penetrate the hull I guess. But consider this, Ap is a pure kinetic round, once the round hits the water it experiences a density of 1000 times greater than teh air it was going through. Im not a physicists, but since drag is exponentinal, I believe the square of the velocity or something, your available kinetic energy goes down significantly. So your handicapping the only thing that round has going for it. The lower you try and hit the hull the worse it'll be since it will have more water to pass through. use HE at the water line and the explosion will tear a hole below the waterline and above leaving a bigger hole to flood as the ship beigns to sink and list.

[deamyont]

There are explosives in AP rounds aswell, its not just a ball of steel inside...