Aiming below waterline...viable tactic? - Page 2

ancient46 · 01-21-09, 03:17 AM

In the stock game sinking is done by exceeding the ship's hit points. Any damage done anywhere will contribute to the sinking. There are mods that ditch this and model the ship sinking on flooding instead.

If you are playing with RFB's new damage model for merchants you have to shoot at or below the waterline. Any shot too high to allow water to enter the hull will not contribute to the ship sinking. You can use all your ammo on a ship and not sink it unless you hit below the waterline to increase the flooding.

Hmuda · 01-21-09, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tater

BTW, I have no idea if the shells actually travel underwater, it might be as simple as the max ramage radius.

The damage radii of the varius shells are fairly large. Meters in some cases. So 5m short, and you might still do damage, even without moving through water.

Actually it does travel under water. Even though I see the splash&flash, a new hole is still puctured as if I hit it normally.

Not to mention that if this was the case, you would see explosions even though you miss completely, but in actuality, you only see them if you hit the target.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ancient46

In the stock game sinking is done by exceeding the ship's hit points. Any damage done anywhere will contribute to the sinking. There are mods that ditch this and model the ship sinking on flooding instead.

If you are playing with RFB's new damage model for merchants you have to shoot at or below the waterline. Any shot too high to allow water to enter the hull will not contribute to the ship sinking. You can use all your ammo on a ship and not sink it unless you hit below the waterline to increase the flooding.

Yeah, I heard that. I have no idea what's the TMO damage model, but it's still seems pretty dependent on accurate shooting. I remember wasting a whole lot of ammo trying to find a tanker's hold. Then I gave up and started shelling the waterline, which resulted a relaively fast demise of the merchant.

Another deck-gun question: I always notice that pretty much one shell is enough to destoy the builer room (ono shot bellow the chimney and a huge explosion follows). But that usually isn't enough to kill their engines. After this where should I aim to completely disable the craft? Propellers doesn't seem to do the trick.

ancient46 · 01-21-09, 04:35 AM

I almost never use the deck gun the gunners on the Japanese ships are too accurate and fill my subs with holes before I can damage them. The new submarine damage model of RFB cures the "Invulnerable Submarine" of the stock game. Battling it out on the surface is no longer a good option for me.

Ships have lousy brakes, it takes a while to stop. Depending on the type of ship, there might be more than one boiler in operation. The Fletcher Class DD I was on had four.
When I set up a torpedo solution I always aim behind the funnel at the engine room, trying to flood both the engine and boiler rooms with a hit. This almost always results in the ship slowing and stopping and eventually sinking. It might work with a deck gun.

Hmuda · 01-21-09, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ancient46

I almost never use the deck gun the gunners on the Japanese ships are too accurate and fill my subs with holes before I can damage them. The new submarine damage model of RFB cures the "Invulnerable Submarine" of the stock game. Battling it out on the surface is no longer a good option for me.

Ships have lousy brakes, it takes a while to stop. Depending on the type of ship, there might be more than one boiler in operation. The Fletcher Class DD I was on had four.
When I set up a torpedo solution I always aim behind the funnel at the engine room, trying to flood both the engine and boiler rooms with a hit. This almost always results in the ship slowing and stopping and eventually sinking. It might work with a deck gun.

I'm not familiar with the structure of ships, so I don't know what's the exact position of the engine and such. I always attacked the section bellow the funnel becasue that's where I suspected the boiler room to be (most of the time I was right

). That always seem to seriously affect the speed, but never completely stopping them. I'll try to aim a bit behind there the next time I'm in a deck-gun situation.

Not that it's a big issue to shoot moving targets. They usually never make me go above standard speed and if they are unarmed I can go as close as I please (but not close enought to be taken out by the resulting explosion if I happen to get a munitions transport :P). Just trying to get the feel for effective shooting.

Ping Panther · 01-21-09, 08:22 AM

It always helps to not sit at all stop when deck gunning a ship. Some throttle on the engines tends to help the sub glide along with less deck rolling.

Plus, another tip is to consider sighting your target more towards the fore & aft of the sub: why?
1) This further reduces the relative deck rolling effects.
2) This also reduces the potential target profile your sub may present to the enemy ship you are encountering with deck guns, rather than coming up exposing your full broadsides.

Deck rolling always throws off the gun sighting. This deck sway is even more noticeable on the U-boats with their shorter beam proportions. U.S. fleet subs were more stable than the German boats.

Last point: Never sit still in a sub is also a good rule. Some movement allows for more immediate dive plane momentum for emergency dives, maneuvering, etc.

My 2 cents.

01-21-09, 03:17 AM	#16
ancient46 Officer Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 239 Downloads: 108 Uploads: 1	In the stock game sinking is done by exceeding the ship's hit points. Any damage done anywhere will contribute to the sinking. There are mods that ditch this and model the ship sinking on flooding instead. If you are playing with RFB's new damage model for merchants you have to shoot at or below the waterline. Any shot too high to allow water to enter the hull will not contribute to the ship sinking. You can use all your ammo on a ship and not sink it unless you hit below the waterline to increase the flooding.

01-21-09, 04:35 AM	#18
ancient46 Officer Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 239 Downloads: 108 Uploads: 1	I almost never use the deck gun the gunners on the Japanese ships are too accurate and fill my subs with holes before I can damage them. The new submarine damage model of RFB cures the "Invulnerable Submarine" of the stock game. Battling it out on the surface is no longer a good option for me. Ships have lousy brakes, it takes a while to stop. Depending on the type of ship, there might be more than one boiler in operation. The Fletcher Class DD I was on had four. When I set up a torpedo solution I always aim behind the funnel at the engine room, trying to flood both the engine and boiler rooms with a hit. This almost always results in the ship slowing and stopping and eventually sinking. It might work with a deck gun.

01-21-09, 08:22 AM	#20
Ping Panther Lieutenant Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: the armpit of the Mid-Atlantic / Quadrant CA42 Posts: 262 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	It always helps to not sit at all stop when deck gunning a ship. Some throttle on the engines tends to help the sub glide along with less deck rolling. Plus, another tip is to consider sighting your target more towards the fore & aft of the sub: why? 1) This further reduces the relative deck rolling effects. 2) This also reduces the potential target profile your sub may present to the enemy ship you are encountering with deck guns, rather than coming up exposing your full broadsides. Deck rolling always throws off the gun sighting. This deck sway is even more noticeable on the U-boats with their shorter beam proportions. U.S. fleet subs were more stable than the German boats. Last point: Never sit still in a sub is also a good rule. Some movement allows for more immediate dive plane momentum for emergency dives, maneuvering, etc. My 2 cents.