Kuma - HE vs AP

[PESC_TWZ]

First off I'm a noob and have enjoyed learning the game while looking forward to becoming a better player.  One of the hulls I play at the moment is the Kuma.  Usually I've been flinging as many HE shells as possible and have gotten to where I can usually get 1000 or more points in a match.  In wanting to improve my skills I watched a lot of videos, one of them being IChase's one on how to hit Citadels more often.  It was very informative so I thought I'd give it a try.

 

I played one match using the Kuma and fired all HE and ended up with about 1600 points on 18 hits or so if I recall correctly.

 

I then played another match using the Kuma and fired all AP and ended up with 88 points (not a typo) on 24 hits.  I got 0 citadels even though it looked like a lot of the shells were in the sweet spot.

 

I must be missing something and am looking for advice or help in understanding what is the difference.  Thanks to all of you who post helpful things, I appreciated it.

[Vasidic73]

Kuma's guns may not be strong enough to pen whatever ship you were trying to shoot.

[Killer1941]

Which ships were you firing at with AP? I'll direct you to another one of iChase's vids.

 

 

[Goose21891]

Unless its an Omaha, Murmansk, Marblehead, Kuma, or Tenryu, the 140s won't really pen with AP much

[PESC_TWZ]

Unless its an Omaha, Murmansk, Marblehead, Kuma, or Tenryu, the 140s won't really pen with AP much

 

Thanks for the prompt replies.  I was trying to sink BB's specifically but didn't realize some AP won't penetrate some hulls.  That's an ez adjustment.  Thanks.

[Elysion]

HE at everything other than:

 

Other t4 cruisers at close to medium range showing you their side

tenryu at close to medium range showing you its side (do not fire AP at st louises)

t5 cruisers showing you their side at CLOSE range (~5km)

 

Kuma is great spamming HE at range, particularly if you get advanced fire training on her and give her a 15km range. Of all the ships that have her particular gun, shes the least accurate with it, which means going for citadels even against things you can pen at long range can be unprofitable, because the citadel damage with such a low caliber isnt worth the extra lower damage non citadels you will get as oposed to just continuing to shoot HE at them.

 

If any cruiser in your general level range (other than st louis) is close and showing you its side though, you can land multiple cits per volley and realy kill them fast.

 

Cruisers in general function like this. Shoot HE at everything, shoot AP at other cruisers that are showing you their side and not super far away

[alexf24]

To follow up with the previous, the reason St. Luis is excepted from the AP penetration list for your Kuma is that it is a Protected Cruiser.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_cruiser

[G0lfSierra1]

Never fire AP at battleships in a Kuma. Load up some HE and set them on fire a bunch of times and watch how much more damage you do per game.

[Fog_Heavy_Cruiser_Chokai]

Almost always HE. I rebought my Kuma- I call her the T4 Cleveland. Sure use AP on a select few cruisers but HE on all else. I don't know if it's sad or great that I have higher average damage on my Kuma than Omaha, Furu, Phoenix, or Aoba (and Cleve but only has two battles in that so it didn't count XD).

[Samalander]

To follow up with the previous, the reason St. Luis is excepted from the AP penetration list for your Kuma is that it is a Protected Cruiser.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_cruiser

 

The reason why the St. Louis is so hard to get citadel hits on with AP is that she has a small citadel that is located under the water line with pretty decent side  armor. The best ships that can get citadel hits on her are ones that have high arc guns that can hit with plunging fire through the deck armor which is thinner than her side armor.

[Business6]

The reason why the St. Louis is so hard to get citadel hits on with AP is that she has a small citadel that is located under the water line with pretty decent side  armor. The best ships that can get citadel hits on her are ones that have high arc guns that can hit with plunging fire through the deck armor which is thinner than her side armor.

 

Not true.  You can blast right through that armor on the side with any BB AP for a citadel.  Hell, you can do it with the Omaha's AP.