realistic deckgun reload times

Sailor Steve · 05-23-13, 11:12 AM

Reload times are problematic. Way back when Beery changed them from 3 seconds to 20 or 30 seconds there were huge arguments with people insisting they had "proof" that he was wrong.

A 3-4" gun (which includes the 8.8cm gun) can be reloaded in 3-4 seconds, and that is provable. The problem is that when the waves rise, people have to keep their balance, and even light shells are harder to handle. The next problem is that while the gun can be reloaded that quickly, unless the target is 500 meters away the gun captain has to actually aim after each shot. The further the distance the more he has to think about it. Then when there is the problem that a submarine is round, and not really a good gun platform. The gun captain has to "fire on the roll" as they did in the sailing ship days. He has to wait until the boat rolls to the correct position before he can fire.

Unfortunately the game doesn't take any of that into account. If you set it for three seconds they will fire that quickly in the worst weather. If you set it for twenty you'll be waiting that long in perfectly flat seas.

I use Commander to set mine to 12 seconds for the 8.8cm gun and 15 for the 10.5cm gun. I have the allowed firing weather to be 11 m/s because the AA guns are higher up and I think should fire in that weather (not that I ever use them anyway), but I manually disable the deck gun at 7 m/s.

05-23-13, 11:12 AM	#2
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	Reload times are problematic. Way back when Beery changed them from 3 seconds to 20 or 30 seconds there were huge arguments with people insisting they had "proof" that he was wrong. A 3-4" gun (which includes the 8.8cm gun) can be reloaded in 3-4 seconds, and that is provable. The problem is that when the waves rise, people have to keep their balance, and even light shells are harder to handle. The next problem is that while the gun can be reloaded that quickly, unless the target is 500 meters away the gun captain has to actually aim after each shot. The further the distance the more he has to think about it. Then when there is the problem that a submarine is round, and not really a good gun platform. The gun captain has to "fire on the roll" as they did in the sailing ship days. He has to wait until the boat rolls to the correct position before he can fire. Unfortunately the game doesn't take any of that into account. If you set it for three seconds they will fire that quickly in the worst weather. If you set it for twenty you'll be waiting that long in perfectly flat seas. I use Commander to set mine to 12 seconds for the 8.8cm gun and 15 for the 10.5cm gun. I have the allowed firing weather to be 11 m/s because the AA guns are higher up and I think should fire in that weather (not that I ever use them anyway), but I manually disable the deck gun at 7 m/s. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo