AA fire?

[TheYellowHammer]

I'd like some insight into the types and effectiveness of AA fire.   I know machines guns and the 'burst' shells but how effective were they?  Could a couple destoryers protect a carrier from say, 30 planes?  How easil ywhoudl they get through?

[Nurin]

I'd like some insight into the types and effectiveness of AA fire.   I know machines guns and the 'burst' shells but how effective were they?  Could a couple destoryers protect a carrier from say, 30 planes?  How easil ywhoudl they get through?

Well, it depends a lot, in the carrier that is being bombed, the destroyer escorts that are around it, how heavy is the AA from the DDs, and the planes that are attacking, their velocity and the armor they have... It's hard to say exactly how effective they will be. 

[Guest]

Depends on the Class of Destroyers and Nation,ans well as the Carriers Class and Current Plane Loadout,as AA varied from each ship class in some why,either in numbers or position. 

[AdmiralObsidian]

Depends on the ship your using if its a Carrier than at times easily but Battleships hard to get through

[jatzi]

If you're going for AA protection cruisers are better then destroyers. I think light cruisers are actually ideal for carrier escort during battles due to their speed and fast firing guns. They are ideal for countering any destroyers or cruisers that make it through to the rear to attack the carrier directly. They also carry a decent AA load out, definitely better then a destroyers anyways.

 

We can focus on American and Japanese AA and their real world effectiveness easily enough.. America had 1.1 in guns, 3 in guns, and 50 cal machine guns that were used for AA duty. During World War II we switched to the more effective 20mm Bofors and 40mm Oerlikon machine guns. We also started using 5 in/38 cal DP guns which were much more effective their SP predecessors. Battleships originally had a mixed battery of 5 in guns with different calibers, I can't remember them exactly but I think the surface batteries were 50 cal? The Japanese were infamous for their use of the ineffective 25mm machine gun as an anti-air battery. I'm not sure about their DP guns.

 

I'm sure others can point you to articles containing more detailed info or tell you about it themselves but that's what I know. Basically in the lower tiers AA batteries will be very ineffective, however the attacking aircraft will also not be as effective as their World War II descendants and will therefore be easier to shoot down. As you go up through the tiers AA weaponry will become much more effective however so will the aircraft you have to deal with.

[TheYellowHammer]

I know it's a simplistic question.  But I'm curious as to the 'blast radius' of the 5 inch AA guns ya mentioned.  I mean, how close to a plane to do dmg would the 'burst' have to be.  It seems that there are differ classes of Destoryers in the game, some are more offensive against ships and some have more AA...so would it be a waste of resources of the cruisers's guns to babysit a carrier?  I could see a tier 8 cruiser, for example, staying back in a tier 10 game. BUt if it's top tier vessel don't you need those guns pointed at enemy vessels?

 

So If I go down Destoryer line that has good AA, I gues im committing to that guard duty. Kinda like if you play a scout in WOT and sit in the back people get pissed for not executing your role

 

[OOM911]

So If I go down Destoryer line that has good AA, I gues im committing to that guard duty. Kinda like if you play a scout in WOT and sit in the back people get pissed for not executing your role

 

Not at all! if you got good AA you can still fight on the front lines And I bet most of the group will love you for it, a really good AA ship with some ship to ship firepower traveling with the battleships gives them that much more chance at living threw air raids, after all if there is one things battleships fall easily to its air attack.

[Hydrashok]

I know it's a simplistic question.  But I'm curious as to the 'blast radius' of the 5 inch AA guns ya mentioned.  I mean, how close to a plane to do dmg would the 'burst' have to be.  It seems that there are differ classes of Destoryers in the game, some are more offensive against ships and some have more AA...so would it be a waste of resources of the cruisers's guns to babysit a carrier?  I could see a tier 8 cruiser, for example, staying back in a tier 10 game. BUt if it's top tier vessel don't you need those guns pointed at enemy vessels?

 

So If I go down Destoryer line that has good AA, I gues im committing to that guard duty. Kinda like if you play a scout in WOT and sit in the back people get pissed for not executing your role

 

 

You can definitely escort battleships and even heavy cruisers who would love the additional anti-aircraft fire to help defend them from marauding air attacks.  You probably also want to stay a little distance from any ship you are escort, position between the likely axis of the incoming attack and your escort, mainly because if you are right next to them you may shoot down planes but if the planes have already managed to drop their torpedoes or bombs the damage has already been done.  Positioned further out you will still knock down planes but this time it will be with their ordinance still strapped to their wings! 

[Flatfoot]

Ive done alot of reading here and If its already been answered Im sorry. But are we going to be able to take over the AA guns. I understand theres going to be an AI component involved with them. But are there any plans for us to be able to manually fire? Just like NF. It really brought an Interesting dynamic of dedicated A.A. ships.

 

 

 

[Hydrashok]

Ive done alot of reading here and If its already been answered Im sorry. But are we going to be able to take over the AA guns. I understand theres going to be an AI component involved with them. But are there any plans for us to be able to manually fire? Just like NF. It really brought an Interesting dynamic of dedicated A.A. ships.

 

 

 

As far as I understand you will be able to set your secondary armament (5" or 6" etc) to either focus on anti-aircraft fire or anti-surface fire in the case of secondary armaments that are dual purpose.

[Nurin]

Ive done alot of reading here and If its already been answered Im sorry. But are we going to be able to take over the AA guns. I understand theres going to be an AI component involved with them. But are there any plans for us to be able to manually fire? Just like NF. It really brought an Interesting dynamic of dedicated A.A. ships.

AA will be done automatically by the AI

[Flatfoot]

Thanks for the answers.

[ShocknAwem]

If a.i planes will be in game then a.i aa will be in game

[brian333]

Light Cruisers are generally better AA platforms than Destroyers, but not all Light Cruisers are ultimate AA platforms. For one thing, most cruisers did not have dual purpose mains, and instead relied upon secondaries for AA.

 

The US AA cruisers of WW2 were a response to a problem, but most countries didn't have the capacity to build cruisers specialized for every role like the US did.

[ShocknAwem]

Light Cruisers are generally better AA platforms than Destroyers, but not all Light Cruisers are ultimate AA platforms. For one thing, most cruisers did not have dual purpose mains, and instead relied upon secondaries for AA.

 

The US AA cruisers of WW2 were a response to a problem, but most countries didn't have the capacity to build cruisers specialized for every role like the US did.

 

BB'S like the yamato have good aa,but that might just be tier 10's

[Hydrashok]

 

BB'S like the yamato have good aa,but that might just be tier 10's

 

I think both the Japanese and US BB were continuously updated throughout WWII with better and more effective AA armament. From what I saw of the Games Con footage in the harbor there were no AA upgrades for ships but there were different hulls. My guess is that the different hulls will also contain upgraded AA armaments 

[Levisthered]

Will AA fire be based solely on the blast radius of the shell or will shrapnel be part of the equation? Also in a DD or CL with dual purpose guns will I be able to manually target enemy aircraft?

[Hydrashok]

Will AA fire be based solely on the blast radius of the shell or will shrapnel be part of the equation? Also in a DD or CL with dual purpose guns will I be able to manually target enemy aircraft?

 

As I understand it, and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, the secondary armament of a ship (Think of the 5" DP guns on most US ships) will be able to be controlled to fire on either surface or aerial targets as dictated by the player. However, when the target type is selected it will be controlled by A.I. 

[OOM911]

From what I have heard any of the guns can be instructed, and when you have dual purpose guns (like on destroyer) you can switch over to AA with them, but you can't aim them, you can tell them who to shoot at though.

[TheYellowHammer]

I do wonder what the range of the AA guns will be VERSE the 'spotting range' of scout and light aircraft.  Will they be able to hover safely at a distance and report positions or will bit be too close for that. Even if not, since they're AI I'm curious as to how good AA avoidance will be.

[Hydrashok]

I do wonder what the range of the AA guns will be VERSE the 'spotting range' of scout and light aircraft.  Will they be able to hover safely at a distance and report positions or will bit be too close for that. Even if not, since they're AI I'm curious as to how good AA avoidance will be.

 

Unless they are adding pretty decent AI for aircraft planes will probably continue to orbit the location you send them to regardless of any local or approaching ships with AAA. I can't really see them adding AI that would act on its own initiative to avoid AA. 

[gbgentry]

Will be interesting to see how it varies. According to history.navy.mil the USN during WW2 shot down about 1/3 planes with AA fire while enemies manages 1/10

 

[Deadeye31]

My question is this: how effective will the AI AAA be?

 

For instance, out of a squadron of twelve fighters, how many will a cruiser's AA shoot down? A battleship's? How many with or without the 5 inch guns? Will it be a straight percentage (which will require multiple ships to get to 100% shoot down) or will RNG play a roll? Will evasive maneuvers help to throw off the AI planes and/or help your AA? Will AA be more effective the closer the enemy gets?

 

There are so many variables with the AI planes vs AI antiaircraft that I think this part of the game is probably going to be the most complicated part of the whole game to design.

[Nurin]

My question is this: how effective will the AI AAA be?

 

For instance, out of a squadron of twelve fighters, how many will a cruiser's AA shoot down? A battleship's? How many with or without the 5 inch guns? Will it be a straight percentage (which will require multiple ships to get to 100% shoot down) or will RNG play a roll? Will evasive maneuvers help to throw off the AI planes and/or help your AA? Will AA be more effective the closer the enemy gets?

 

There are so many variables with the AI planes vs AI antiaircraft that I think this part of the game is probably going to be the most complicated part of the whole game to design.

 

Hey, it will depend a lot in what kind of plane is flying over the ship, how many AA guns does the ship have, the pilot officer skills, the AA officer skills. There's a lot of parameters that you have to watch, so, I can't tell you exactly. 

[VoiceOfCommand]

I would hope that the type of aircraft involved would also be a factor... dive bombers were notorious for evading AA as they dived almost at a downward arc whereas torpedo bombers had to come in from the flanks on their runs (think TBF Avenger).... I would say your torpedo planes would have less chances off survival in AA than your dive bombers. So now you have to think whats on your flight deck?