86 hits in a battle, didn't sink any ships

[waynejr2]

I had a battle where I had 86 hits and didn't sink any ships.  I know that 18 of those shots were on another ship but not certain if all the rest were on a battleship.  I feel like there is something I am missing with hitting and causing damage.  The rounds were mostly HE but I fired a few AP at the battleship and they didn't seem to do more damage.   Any thoughts or perhaps a guide to recommend.

[Killer1941]

What ship are you using? I'll post a vid that will show you when to use AP or HE.

[WarKitten_1]

HE will always cause some damage and a chance to start a fire, (just did a match HE only on a BB and was surprised when I did nearly 3000 on a single hit.)  I have sunk ships (usually DD/CA, but again today sunk a Carrier and a CA in the same match, with only HE, took a while but I did it.   AP does more damage but, you run the risk of over penetration (so close your shells just go though the armor before exploding).  He may not do as much damage by themselves, but you can cause a lot of it with continuous hits and the good chance of multiple fires which can cause the ship to "bleed" to death (same with flooding).  Have done that too after being killed and took them with me!

 

Watch the video link and try with both (AP has a better chance of good damage farther out you are, HE will do damage/fire at any range.

 

Have Fun!

 

WarKitten_1

"Do what you want, cause a pirate is free...You Are A Pirate!"

 

[Killer1941]

Oh yeah might as well add, it isn't about sinking ships. It is mainly about how much damage you do. I think sinking a ship gives a base amount of exp but it is all about how much damage you do in a game.

[Savage_Bunny]

I have those days,  tonight in a BB I had several matches in a row doing 77k damage and no kills.  I attacked an Omaha and dropped it to 1 health...

 

At that point I was ready to just start ramming things.

[Q_ARMM]

I've gotten a Confederate award in my Aoba without making a single kill. 

[waynejr2]

Oh yeah might as well add, it isn't about sinking ships. It is mainly about how much damage you do. I think sinking a ship gives a base amount of exp but it is all about how much damage you do in a game.

 

You correct read what I wrote but didn't explicitly state.  Yes, this thread is exactly about damage.

[Nitemare111]

The importance of kills is to remove enemy firepower from the fight.  The importance of damage is to score credits and xp.  I've had games with 5 kills, and scored less than games with 0 kills, but a crapton of damage.  HE is more reliable for damage, AP is very variable, but can produce instant results if you crit or magazine someone.

[WarKitten_1]

Q_ARMM....nice pix, an original?

 

WarKitten_1

"Do what you want, a pirate is free...You Are A Pirate!"

[PPH402]

You were in a St Louis? If so switch to AP when shooting at other cruisers except maybe the St Louis. The St Louis has great armor for it's class and tier and is hard to citadel until you get 8 inch guns. The other cruisers around that tier can be citadeled fairly easily, especially the Japanese ones. You'll end up doing more damage and probably sinking more ships.

 

Stick with the HE for shooting at battleships. They have better armor than the St Louis can easily pen so the HE is the better option. Plus there's the chance of setting fires, the bane of BBs.

 

HE for destroyers. The St Louis's guns probably won't over pen with AP, but you want the crit chance from the HE. Low level DDs seem to have a problem with their steering and engines being critted.

 

For carriers start with HE to set his deck on fire. Once you're sure the fire is going and he can't fix it I like to switch to AP. CVs are big enough your shells won't go all the way through and you can rack up the citadel hits on them. 

[Q_ARMM]

Q_ARMM....nice pix, an original?

 

Yes, I built it myself back in 2000-2001.

[56Bravo]

I had a battle where I had 86 hits and didn't sink any ships.  I know that 18 of those shots were on another ship but not certain if all the rest were on a battleship.  I feel like there is something I am missing with hitting and causing damage.  The rounds were mostly HE but I fired a few AP at the battleship and they didn't seem to do more damage.   Any thoughts or perhaps a guide to recommend.

 

What everyone has suggested.  In addition go ahead and move into PvP where you'll be making much more XP and credits for your efforts.  After watching the HE vs AP video, understand that AP requires more accuracy out of you as a player than HE, but has a much higher damage potential.  

 

Although sinking an enemy is the goal as you deprive the enemy of another set of guns to sink your own team, doing more damage and landing accurate shots is how you need to accomplish that.  There are just times when events during a match conspire to make it so you can't get that final volley into an enemy, but if you've taken most of his HP, he won't last long anyway.  Experience and familiarity with your ship and it's armament will allow to to know what shell work best for a given situation.  Good luck and keep shooting.

[FCPTJoe]

As mentioned, it happens. I have, with my St.Louis, had > 100 hits and no sinking. Primarily because I didn't focus on one ship but "spread the wealth" OR there were multiple ships firing and it just so happened that my salvo wasn't the one that sank it.  80+ hits is really contributing to the cause, keep it up!

[czarpeppers]

The kill is completely dependent on who has the killing blow. You could be working on a battleship for the whole match only to have a destroyer pull up at the last minute, fire a round, and get the kill.

 

You may think I'm being negative about this, but I'm not, I think it's good that way. In this game you have to worry more about causing damage instead of obsessing over getting kills. Just fire at what you can fire at and cause as much damage as possible, it still pays off at the end of the match.

[waynejr2]

You were in a St Louis? If so switch to AP when shooting at other cruisers except maybe the St Louis. The St Louis has great armor for it's class and tier and is hard to citadel until you get 8 inch guns. The other cruisers around that tier can be citadeled fairly easily, especially the Japanese ones. You'll end up doing more damage and probably sinking more ships.

 

Stick with the HE for shooting at battleships. They have better armor than the St Louis can easily pen so the HE is the better option. Plus there's the chance of setting fires, the bane of BBs.

 

HE for destroyers. The St Louis's guns probably won't over pen with AP, but you want the crit chance from the HE. Low level DDs seem to have a problem with their steering and engines being critted.

 

For carriers start with HE to set his deck on fire. Once you're sure the fire is going and he can't fix it I like to switch to AP. CVs are big enough your shells won't go all the way through and you can rack up the citadel hits on them. 

 

Yes, it was a St Louis!

 

Thanks to everyone!