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Post by serenity on Aug 27, 2019 19:26:46 GMT -6
When semi Armored Piercing shells are unlocked, I don't ever use them. I also don't know if I need to be changing which ammo is shot for each gun caliber range as time goes on. I also don't know where to use SAP. I also don't know what percentages i should be using.
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Post by ulzgoroth on Aug 27, 2019 20:32:02 GMT -6
SAP penetration stats are one of the great mysteries. Without any information about those, it's very hard to say when or if it should be used.
It's probably a safe bet to use SAP in large-caliber guns against light cruisers...if you carry SAP rounds for those guns, which you might well not want to.
But is it safe to use battleship SAP against heavy cruisers, or cruiser SAP against light cruisers? I can't tell you, because I don't know what it will penetrate.
As far as percentages to use, well, more of whatever you find you run out of probably? Which is most likely AP. Except that you want to have HE for shooting at destroyers and for AA use in DP guns. The defaults seem not bad really.
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Post by aeson on Aug 27, 2019 21:24:59 GMT -6
SAP penetration stats are one of the great mysteries. Without any information about those, it's very hard to say when or if it should be used. According to William Miller here, SAP rounds have roughly 50% - 70% the armor penetration of AP rounds, with the advantage being that SAP does more damage when it penetrates than AP does.
As to whether or not to use SAP, I personally do not find SAP ammunition to be a good fit for how I handle my ships against comparable opponents, I don't feel any real need for it against inferior opponents, and I doubt if it'd be all that useful against superior opponents.
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Post by blackvoid on Aug 28, 2019 14:24:04 GMT -6
I use 0/50/50 AP/HE/SAP on 4-6" DP secondaries.
30/40/30 on 4-6" main caliber.
70/15/15 on 8" and above. and 50/20/30 after 1940s.
BTW I saw 16" HE pens on 3" CLs. SAP pens on BBs and BCs. Considering excessive pen of late period guns SAP is useful.
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Post by ulzgoroth on Aug 28, 2019 15:51:47 GMT -6
I use 0/50/50 AP/HE/SAP on 4-6" DP secondaries. 30/40/30 on 4-6" main caliber. 70/15/15 on 8" and above. and 50/20/30 after 1940s. BTW I saw 16" HE pens on 3" CLs. SAP pens on BBs and BCs. Considering excessive pen of late period guns SAP is useful. It would be helpful to hint as to your shell selection rules too.
I've authorized some SAP use, but mostly against light cruisers. My BB gunnery isn't strong enough to be confident of defeating battleship armor without full AP, though it is fairly close...
Anybody know what the rules are for 'second choice' ammo, if the right ammo has run out? I'd want SAP to default to AP before HE and HE to default to SAP before AP, but does it?
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Post by blackvoid on Aug 28, 2019 16:01:08 GMT -6
I use auto-selection. Every time I tried to hard code the ammo use, results were underwhelming.
Regarding the order the ammo is spent, last one to go is usually HE. Look at the ship info screen when message pops up like "less than 20% left".
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Post by sittingduck on Aug 28, 2019 17:08:51 GMT -6
Anyone know if the developers have activated the Ammo Auto Select button? It wasn't active in RTW1.
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Post by blackvoid on Aug 28, 2019 17:10:52 GMT -6
It's a checkbox. unless i am missing something.
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Post by bcoopactual on Aug 28, 2019 18:32:49 GMT -6
It's a checkbox. unless i am missing something. What sittingduck is referring to is someone in the RTW1 forum asked about what that checkbox did and Fredrik replied that it actually did nothing. It had been intended to be implemented and inadvertently been forgotten during the game's development and not realized until the question was asked. When semi Armored Piercing shells are unlocked, I don't ever use them. I also don't know if I need to be changing which ammo is shot for each gun caliber range as time goes on. I also don't know where to use SAP. I also don't know what percentages i should be using. A lot of that comes down to personal preference and how you like to fight. Personally, I will start using almost exclusively HE ammo against Battleships and for CA/CL vs. CA in a 1900 start since AP tech is so poor. Once my AP tech can start penetrating typical AI ship armors at shorter battle ranges I'll switch to AP at close range and then the same at medium range once I can penetrate there as well. For early game starts, I'll have Battleships use AP against CA at short range from the start and the same for CA vs. CL at short range. And then when I've collected a few AP techs, I'll switch to medium range AP as well. So to summarize, for short and medium range, I start with HE and switch to AP once my AP tech indicates I can start penetrating at that range. I don't switch long range to AP until after I have directors and I can hit a long enough ranges to be targeting the deck more than the belt of enemy ships. Against a peer opponent (BB vs. BB, CA vs. CA, etc) I prefer to use AP over SAP. But I will switch to using SAP against weaker opponents (BB vs. CA, CA vs. CL) as soon as I get the technology. I personally like SAP and will switch to it in any situation where my AP tech is about twice the typical armor thickness (as determined by Mr. Miller's response that aeson linked above). As far as what percentage of each type of shell to carry, you have to look at what type of opponents that caliber gun is usually used against. For example, I will use a high percentage of HE ammo in my secondary BB calibers since I expect to use my BB against other BB almost exclusively (and the occasional DD that gets too close) and using 4-6 inch gun AP against a BB belt is pointless in most circumstances. For main gun calibers, I generally assume that most of my fighting will be against a peer opponent so whatever type of shell I've set for that that will be roughly 65-80% of my loadout with some left over for taking on smaller opponents if I'm using a different type against them. Hopefully that makes sense. And for reference, if you weren't aware, small/medium/long range is always just the gun's current maximum range divided into equal thirds. So for a gun with a 12,000 yard max range short is 0-4K, medium is 4-8k and long range is 8-12k.
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