|
|
Post by jb433333 on Dec 5, 2023 20:14:27 GMT -6
Is Conning Tower Armor really necessary? Personally myself i only install like 4 to 5 inches of conning tower armor and leave it. I'm wondering if you guys do the same thing.
|
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Dec 5, 2023 21:40:26 GMT -6
Is Conning Tower Armor really necessary? Personally myself i only install like 4 to 5 inches of conning tower armor and leave it. I'm wondering if you guys do the same thing. I've had plenty of COs live or die based on conning tower armor... |
|
|
|
Post by wlbjork on Dec 5, 2023 22:30:38 GMT -6
I armour against 6" gunfire at 5,000 yards and find it fine.
I don't see that many CT critical hits, so I consider the trade-off worthwhile.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nicholas on Dec 6, 2023 0:46:56 GMT -6
Is Conning Tower Armor really necessary? Personally myself i only install like 4 to 5 inches of conning tower armor and leave it. I'm wondering if you guys do the same thing. I've had plenty of COs live or die based on conning tower armor... So conning tower armor now does something useful? Sweet. I've always espoused putting armor there back in RTW2 despite other's say so. 1.5 on my DDs, half a foot of armor on CLs and a foot of armor, at minimum, for my capital ships. Have yet to see a CO die, but I wasn't exactly looking for it. |
|
|
|
Post by jb433333 on Dec 6, 2023 7:51:05 GMT -6
I've had plenty of COs live or die based on conning tower armor... So conning tower armor now does something useful? Sweet. I've always espoused putting armor there back in RTW2 despite other's say so. 1.5 on my DDs, half a foot of armor on CLs and a foot of armor, at minimum, for my capital ships. Have yet to see a CO die, but I wasn't exactly looking for it. I personally just leave it at 4.5 as i've never seen a CO die on the conning tower |
|
|
|
Post by jwsmith26 on Dec 6, 2023 9:09:08 GMT -6
It's not just the CO dying. The crew quality can also take a substantial reduction after a conning tower hit, seriously reducing the ship's offensive ability.
|
|
|
|
Post by oldpop2000 on Dec 6, 2023 10:21:50 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by jb433333 on Dec 6, 2023 22:53:00 GMT -6
The KGV and Vanguard only had like 4.5 inches of conning tower armor due to the fact that really no one really used the conning tower. The CO's preferred the open bridge |
|
|
|
Post by oldpop2000 on Dec 7, 2023 7:27:09 GMT -6
The KGV and Vanguard only had like 4.5 inches of conning tower armor due to the fact that really no one really used the conning tower. The CO's preferred the open bridge That is true and with the advent of surface search radar, the Combat Information Center's evolved. The captain would spend his time down in that center, not on the bridge. I will have to research that more. |
|
|
|
Post by oldpop2000 on Dec 7, 2023 15:55:01 GMT -6
The issue, IMHO, is that we know about the historical evolution of the CIC versus the conning tower but I don't believe that the game reflects that evolution. Hmm!
|
|
|
|
Post by t3rm1dor on Dec 8, 2023 7:23:52 GMT -6
I think it is always nice to have conning tower armour , but it is something that can be dropped as well if other elements take priority. From experience it doesn't seen important until you get a random hit that makes the ship lacking it get his crew killed.
|
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Dec 10, 2023 12:53:45 GMT -6
Something I noticed with a 1921 Italian Battlecruiser. Total tonnage was 27855 with 10 inch conning tower armor. This total tonnage did not go down until I went to zero thickness. That is entirely wrong, someone needs to see this. It should have gone down with every reduction in thickness. I checked a 1924 USA battleship, same results. You should make a bug report if that's the case. |
|
|
|
Post by oldpop2000 on Dec 11, 2023 11:12:50 GMT -6
Something I noticed with a 1921 Italian Battlecruiser. Total tonnage was 27855 with 10 inch conning tower armor. This total tonnage did not go down until I went to zero thickness. That is entirely wrong, someone needs to see this. It should have gone down with every reduction in thickness. I checked a 1924 USA battleship, same results. You should make a bug report if that's the case. I made a mistake. The conning tower figures are in weight, not thickness. Sorry for the stupid mistake. I deleted the post. |
|
|
|
Post by director on Dec 29, 2023 23:04:50 GMT -6
I use 2" for CLs, 3" for CAs and 6" for capital ships.
Even in close engagements, US and British battleship commanders tended not to use the armored towers, and there are reports of men being stunned by hits that did not penetrate. I do not know if officers in other navies used the armored towers or not, but I tend to doubt it. I've been on museum ships and the problem is that you just cannot see anything from inside the tower.
|
|
|
|
Post by jwsmith26 on Dec 30, 2023 11:21:30 GMT -6
Everything I have read indicates that conning towers were used very seldom in combat for the reasons that director mentions, especially after aircraft became a factor since they provided no ability to scan the sky. However, that is not the case in RTW, where the control tower is considered to house the commanding officer and is critical to the functioning of the ship. A single penetrating hit against a conning tower in RTW will likely render your ship largely ineffective offensively due to a substantial loss in crew effectiveness and the possible death of the commanding officer. It may not be a very accurate representation of historical reality, especially during the missile age, but it is how the game works currently. For that reason, I generally armor my conning towers with the same level of protection I provide to my main gun turrets. I find the relatively small amount of armor/displacement that this costs is worth avoiding the potential neutering of an important ship in the midst of a battle. I should also mention that it is quite probable that players are experiencing conning tower hits more often than they realize. It can be quite difficult to notice when a conning tower has been hit, especially when you're engaged in a large fleet battle, unless you are paying close attention to the battle log. When viewing the battle at an operational level the ship itself provides few clues that it has been compromised, it does not lose speed, it retains its position in line and maneuvers normally and may be blasting away at a furious rate - but the crew level may be reduced to such an extent that the ship just can't hit anything. |
|
