Another Brit cruiser thread, 100% gripe-free

[CapnCarberry]

Been grinding the Brits, liking them but as set back as anyone at the change to the usual shell effects brought on by lack of HE.

 

The fuller pen damage addresses one side of the equation, but that doesn't address the greater module damage HE gives.

 

Thinking about it, I haven't seen this idea in the forums yet, so forgive me if it has been raised and dismissed.

 

The game treats HE shells as having two effects, module damage from 'blast,' and fire damage as if they were also incendiaries, which they aren't. The former lets cruisers disables destroyers to make them easier to kill, the latter to slowly burn BBs to death. If WG wants a new metric, give Brit AP the same or greater 'blast' effect on modules hit as HE that hits them, but the current lower fire risk. 

 

That way the Brits can be as good or better destroyer hunters by taking destroyers apart module by module, and still hurt BB functionality (both of which can be offset with upgrades and Captain skills, which can be offset with new Signals and maybe new Captain skills) without turning them into another smoke HE spammer.

 

HE currently does different damage and fire chance for different guns and ships, this formalized "third effect" tuning could be used with it as well to nerf/buff current flamethrowers and ineffective ships/lines. 

[SireneRacker]

The AP shells are very good even against Destroyers. A Fiji hit my Mahan today. One hit and ~1k damage. They have a better fuze so they won't overpenetrate as easily as other AP does.

[Snoozing_Mako]

The AP shells are very good even against Destroyers. A Fiji hit my Mahan today. One hit and ~1k damage. They have a better fuze so they won't overpenetrate as easily as other AP does.

 

*bounces*

[SireneRacker]

 

*bounces*

 

Every AP shell can bounce off but so far they seem potent to me.

[inktomi19d]

The AP shells are very good even against Destroyers. A Fiji hit my Mahan today. One hit and ~1k damage. They have a better fuze so they won't overpenetrate as easily as other AP does.

Mahan has a little thicker hull than earlier DDs, so it's a bit more succeptable to AP than some of the earlier DDs. 

 

The issue is that AP can bounce or over pen DDs, while HE always does damage. On ships with a 12 gun broadside, that's not such a big deal, since at least some of the rounds are likely to have an effect. But on the early ships, where you get 6 guns at best and 2-3 if you are bow on to dodge torps, it's not uncommon for all rounds to be innefective. Or you might blow out an engine and 90% of the DDs hp with a single hit. It's all RNG. 

 

Where the frustration comes is that HE is reliable. AP could be reliable if you have enough rounds to compensate for RNG, but when you only have a couple of guns firing it's not unusual for RNG to just make everything worthless. That's how RNG works — if you repeat something enough it becomes consistent, but on just one or two shots RNG is wildly inconsistent. 

[Caducus46]

I tend to only bounce AP on a DD at the longer ranges if they're angled. Close range when you're 8km or closer (tends to be my usual DD kill range) the AP shreds no matter what. This is in the Fiji mind you.