Why have armor piercing shells on planes?

[waystin2]

I was just playing in LW.  Any old airplane can now kill a heavily armored Osti, Wirble or Panzer in two passes so why in the world would you need armor piercing shells in airplanes?

I can see tracking them or turreting them but a total kill in two passes?  I'm going to quit using the specially equipped planes.  Why bother?

What plane Bald?  There was a bug a year or so that allowed any plane with .50's or better to kill the Wirbel or Osti in one pass to the frontal armor.  Tested it, filmed it and posted up to HTC and they corrected it.  I hope I am understanding what you are describing...

[matt]

And the 38mm at the field can land 276 hits all over the osti or wirb from 600 meters and it drives off undamaged.

yep

[Daddkev]

  we have Tanks? 

[MK-84]

And the 38mm at the field can land 276 hits all over the osti or wirb from 600 meters and it drives off undamaged.

1.  Field auto guns are adjustable in lethality for gameplay purposes.  and did you really count out 276 hits?   
2.  Do you understand that the Osi or wirb has --->NO ROOF<---
3.  Do you understand that that a field gun firing an essentially flat trajectory will hit the armored sides of the vehicle?
4.  An airplane diving in can shoot the top of the turret, which does not have armor due to there being --->NO ROOF<---
5.  Take a Wirbl for example,  Lets see, a quick check of the armor tables shows...oh my, 80mm of frontal hull armor, 16mm for the turret that also has --->NO ROOF<--- and a whopping 11mm on the hull top.
     Hmm....where would I want to shoot this thing? The the hull top that has at best 11mm, or the sides that range from 20mm(rear) 30mm(sides) or 80mm(front)


In simple terms, bullets go through thinner things better than thicker things, the top is thinner than the sides

[Butcher]

we have Tanks? 

What the hell? Why wasn't I notified of this? WHEN DID WE GET TANKS?!?!!?!?!?!?!?
 

[Tilt]

YUP

please model the PTaB............

[Shuffler]

An 88mm flak burst over a osti or wirb would be interesting.

[lyric1]

I would think that rounds fired directly into a wirbles turret would kinda bounce around inside and make  a mess outta the rest of the tank.

Very true & what would be inside that turret? People

I thought that part of the damage model of the flacks was not so much the mechanical but the human element. You take two bullets to a pilot & he is dead the plane go's boom.

So in keeping bounce a few rounds inside that open turret & the same result in that all the crew is dead hence no one to fire the gun. With no human figures in AHII on GV's you get a smoked turret instead of a corpse?

 

[BaldEagl]

Waystin, I was upping into a bunch of F4's, 190's and 109's in a Wirble last night.  Every time the first or second pass killed my turret and the second or third pass killed me.

HT said in the release notes that cumulative damage would kill a GV.  I expect that's what I was experiencing and if that's the case then no armor piercing shells should be needed anymore, just enough cumulative damage with anything.  Thus my question, why even have planes with armor piercing shells?

Rich.  I'm not in the V squad so make sure you know what you're talking about before you open your mouth.

[AWwrgwy]

Thus my question, why even have planes with armor piercing shells?

More effective, ie faster, damage?


wrongway

[Delirium]

I was just playing in LW.  Any old airplane can now kill a heavily armored Osti, Wirble or Panzer in two passes

I would like to see the film of that one.

[Karnak]

The cumulative damage doesn't mean a P-51 can strafe a Tiger II to death.  If the round cannot penetrate it does no damage.  Now, on the open topped vehicles the round can enter the interior and do damage, eventually resulting in a destroyed vehicle.  Prior to this version a P-51 could not kill a Wirbelwind or Ostwind because once the turret was destroyed it stopped allowing the damage to progress even though that same turret gave the P-51's .50 cal rounds access to the interior of the vehicle.

[icepac]

1.  Field auto guns are adjustable in lethality for gameplay purposes.  and did you really count out 276 hits?   
2.  Do you understand that the Osi or wirb has --->NO ROOF<---
3.  Do you understand that that a field gun firing an essentially flat trajectory will hit the armored sides of the vehicle?
4.  An airplane diving in can shoot the top of the turret, which does not have armor due to there being --->NO ROOF<---
5.  Take a Wirbl for example,  Lets see, a quick check of the armor tables shows...oh my, 80mm of frontal hull armor, 16mm for the turret that also has --->NO ROOF<--- and a whopping 11mm on the hull top.
     Hmm....where would I want to shoot this thing? The the hull top that has at best 11mm, or the sides that range from 20mm(rear) 30mm(sides) or 80mm(front)


In simple terms, bullets go through thinner things better than thicker things, the top is thinner than the sides

What I do understand is the axe you grind.

I was 600 yard away and laid rounds on every single part of the wirb including about 80 rounds landed on the tracks.

A p51 strafed it down in one pass and I got no assist.

[MK-84]

What I am trying to explain is how to properly attack a GV, in this case an open topped wirbl, but it is clearly falling on deaf ears because then I get comments back, "but I shot every part and it didn't die"  Also the angle at which you hit the target can make a huge difference.

[Tilt]

.  Prior to this version a P-51 could not kill a Wirbelwind or Ostwind because once the turret was destroyed it stopped allowing the damage to progress even though that same turret gave the P-51's .50 cal rounds access to the interior of the vehicle.

really? An ost/wirblewind can now be destroyed by strafe damage incurred thru the main gun deck?