Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: darkzking on March 18, 2014, 11:41:44 PM

Title: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: darkzking on March 18, 2014, 11:41:44 PM
303s and 50cals had Incendiary ammunition so they should have it in here. bin 1942 standard loadout for 303s was half AP and half Incendiary
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: save on March 19, 2014, 04:57:29 AM
and please add the minengeschoss for the 20mm 151
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: ReVo on March 19, 2014, 05:18:51 AM
and please add the minengeschoss for the 20mm 151

We'll never get that because then the MG 151 would be just as deadly as the Hispano's.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: bozon on March 19, 2014, 05:29:37 AM
AFAIK, the current ammo  in AH represents the averaged properties of the munitions in the belt. this saves the need to track individual bullets by type.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: danny76 on March 19, 2014, 05:39:55 AM
I was under the impression it was already modelled. Ball ammo would not normally ignite fuel unless it caused a spark. Unlikely with copper lead and aluminium. Tracer would certainly do it. Although burning anything but fuel tanks isn't modelled I don't believe so setting fire to aircraft structure with incendiaried wouldn't be possible anyway :old:
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Coalcat1 on March 21, 2014, 08:54:29 PM
       The damage done by 50 cals. is already screwed up. In WWII, it would only take a 1/4 second burst to kill a 109 from a P51-B. In here, it takes at least a 1 Ro more second Burst to kill one in a P51D. Incidiary rounds would start to fix the underwhelming damage of the 50s.  :aok


                                                         :salute Coalcat1

                 
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Karnak on March 21, 2014, 09:05:08 PM
Incendiary is already modeled.  Sorry to burst your bubbles, but the .50 is simply inferior to 20mm cannons.

And yes, the rounds are averaged across the belt.  It'd be nice to have individual round times modeled, but not allow players to just use 100% mine shells in the German rides.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Saxman on March 21, 2014, 09:06:27 PM
Check your convergence settings. When my gunnery is on I can saw the wing off a 109 from an F4U-1A with a single tap of the trigger.

That said, I WOULD love to see actual ammunition belt options sort of like ClOD, being able to change the mix as appropriate (IE, tracers in only one pair of guns, tracers by individual aircraft, API vs mixed ball/incendiary etc). Make it part of the Perk system, IE all-API in US aircraft would cost X perks, non-refundable.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Coalcat1 on March 21, 2014, 09:11:32 PM
Check your convergence settings. When my gunnery is on I can saw the wing off a 109 from an F4U-1A with a single tap of the trigger.

That said, I WOULD love to see actual ammunition belt options sort of like ClOD, being able to change the mix as appropriate (IE, tracers in only one pair of guns, tracers by individual aircraft, API vs mixed ball/incendiary etc).

    You must have been real lucky, have mine set to 200, where I start shooting, usually takes about 1 sec. Of ammo for me to kill a 109 in a pony or even a jug.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: FLS on March 21, 2014, 09:29:41 PM
Anyone else wondering how many 109s were shot down with a quarter second burst in WW2?  What's that, 13 rounds in a B model? I'm thinking it wasn't too many.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: guncrasher on March 21, 2014, 09:46:00 PM
       The damage done by 50 cals. is already screwed up. In WWII, it would only take a 1/4 second burst to kill a 109 from a P51-B. In here, it takes at least a 1 Ro more second Burst to kill one in a P51D. Incidiary rounds would start to fix the underwhelming damage of the 50s.  :aok


                                                         :salute Coalcat1

                 

I thought it was pretty much standard to shoot 2 and 3 second bursts.


semp
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: The Fugitive on March 22, 2014, 09:52:17 AM
Anyone else wondering how many 109s were shot down with a quarter second burst in WW2?  What's that, 13 rounds in a B model? I'm thinking it wasn't too many.

But thats how it works in WT !!!!   :devil
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Coalcat1 on March 22, 2014, 10:26:30 AM
Anyone else wondering how many 109s were shot down with a quarter second burst in WW2?  What's that, 13 rounds in a B model? I'm thinking it wasn't too many.

        It happened in WWII in plenty of cases, the pilot, engine or hydraulics where hit forcing the pilot to bail out or dive away from combat.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: The Fugitive on March 22, 2014, 10:30:26 AM
        It happened in WWII in plenty of cases, the pilot, engine or hydraulics where hit forcing the pilot to bail out or dive away from combat.

....again, this is NOT WWII.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: BnZs on March 23, 2014, 04:54:52 AM
Incendiary is already modeled.  Sorry to burst your bubbles, but the .50 is simply inferior to 20mm cannons.

One .50 round is definitely inferior to one 20mm round in destructive capacity. However, the multiple .50s installed on an airplane may be putting out anywhere from 2 to 8 times the rounds per second as the typical two 20mm installation, with those rounds having the potential to pass through and through an airplane at typical combat distance. So when it comes to killing fighters the issue is a little more complicated. It is like comparing different shot sizes for bird hunting, the problem in-game being that our "birds" don't have all that many "vital organs" per the damage model.

An interesting thing is that .50s are perfectly adequate for trimming the wings off buffs, while they often frustrate on fighters and snapshots. This is because when shooting the large wing root of a buff every single hit landed on "wing root" goes to damaging "wing root". Whereas the same burst at the same distance on a much smaller fighter may end up having some of its rounds assigned to wing root, wing tip, aileron, flap, and fuselage, not going over the critical limit for any one part, even though by all rights the single-seat fighter should be much more likely to take critical damage from such a burst than a large bomber.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: BnZs on March 23, 2014, 05:04:12 AM
....again, this is NOT WWII.

Clearly it is not, that is why the P-51s and Spitfires are shooting at each other. OTOH it *is* a game played with WWII equipment whose main bragging point is almost obsessive attention to detail in the flight model, a game which bothers to model armor and armor penetration on tanks with that same level of detail, etc.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: save on March 23, 2014, 07:36:10 AM
at 50-100 yards it probably will award you the kill in AH, like  gun-cams you see.
Its just us cartoon pilots that kills stuff regularly at 800 yards.



       The damage done by 50 cals. is already screwed up. In WWII, it would only take a 1/4 second burst to kill a 109 from a P51-B. In here, it takes at least a 1 Ro more second Burst to kill one in a P51D. Incidiary rounds would start to fix the underwhelming damage of the 50s.  :aok


                                                         :salute Coalcat1

                 
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Debrody on March 23, 2014, 08:01:07 AM
        It happened in WWII in plenty of cases, the pilot, engine or hydraulics where hit forcing the pilot to bail out or dive away from combat.
Lost a 262 to one 303 ping from 800+ behind, with no damage prior. Pilot killed.
Killed a Lancaster with one 13mm round from a 109G6. Pilot killed.
Killed a Tempest and got killed in a Tempest by one 20mm round - engine or radiator hit.
Pumped 30-35 taters into a lancasters back in a K4, took all my ammunition to bring that bastage down as at that high altitude, couldnt really aim to one spot.
Everything's possible in AH. Takes some luck or some bad luck but its possible.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: BnZs on March 23, 2014, 08:03:13 AM
at 50-100 yards it probably will award you the kill in AH, like  gun-cams you see.
Its just us cartoon pilots that kills stuff regularly at 800 yards.

So far inside convergence it is often difficult to get the job done. There may still be many, many hits all over the airplane but too spread out to land enough damage points on any one part.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Karnak on March 23, 2014, 10:51:08 AM
One .50 round is definitely inferior to one 20mm round in destructive capacity. However, the multiple .50s installed on an airplane may be putting out anywhere from 2 to 8 times the rounds per second as the typical two 20mm installation, with those rounds having the potential to pass through and through an airplane at typical combat distance. So when it comes to killing fighters the issue is a little more complicated. It is like comparing different shot sizes for bird hunting, the problem in-game being that our "birds" don't have all that many "vital organs" per the damage model.

An interesting thing is that .50s are perfectly adequate for trimming the wings off buffs, while they often frustrate on fighters and snapshots. This is because when shooting the large wing root of a buff every single hit landed on "wing root" goes to damaging "wing root". Whereas the same burst at the same distance on a much smaller fighter may end up having some of its rounds assigned to wing root, wing tip, aileron, flap, and fuselage, not going over the critical limit for any one part, even though by all rights the single-seat fighter should be much more likely to take critical damage from such a burst than a large bomber.
Per the US Navy an installation of two M2 20mm cannons (Hispano Mk IIs) was approximately equal to an installation of six M2 .50s.  That is that 20 rounds per second from the Hispano was as destructive as 72 rounds per second of M2 .50.  That is pretty close to what we have in AH, so no, six or eight .50s did not magically make them better than 20mm cannons.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: BnZs on March 23, 2014, 12:03:15 PM
Per the US Navy an installation of two M2 20mm cannons (Hispano Mk IIs) was approximately equal to an installation of six M2 .50s.  That is that 20 rounds per second from the Hispano was as destructive as 72 rounds per second of M2 .50.  That is pretty close to what we have in AH, so no, six or eight .50s did not magically make them better than 20mm cannons.

"Better" is a loaded word.
They went with 6x.50s in the vast majority of US planes for the duration.  That indicates in R/L there were balancing factors that made .50s a viable alternative, such as having more lead of *adequate* destructiveness in the air when targeting fighters. Whereas in our game I think you'd have to be crazy to take 6 .50s over 2 Hispanos if you have the choice. IMO this is tied to the damage model and the need to usually saw off a part to knock another plane out of the fight.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: FLS on March 23, 2014, 02:48:03 PM
        It happened in WWII in plenty of cases, the pilot, engine or hydraulics where hit forcing the pilot to bail out or dive away from combat.

I'm sure a lot of aircraft were only hit with a dozen rounds but it's unlikely that only a dozen were fired.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Karnak on March 23, 2014, 03:54:30 PM
"Better" is a loaded word.
They went with 6x.50s in the vast majority of US planes for the duration.  That indicates in R/L there were balancing factors that made .50s a viable alternative, such as having more lead of *adequate* destructiveness in the air when targeting fighters. Whereas in our game I think you'd have to be crazy to take 6 .50s over 2 Hispanos if you have the choice. IMO this is tied to the damage model and the need to usually saw off a part to knock another plane out of the fight.
Logistics were simplified by using only the .50s and the .50s worked fine against the targets they were mostly being employed against, German and Japanese single engined fighters.  The US Navy had wanted to go to cannons but the M2 20mm was never satisfactory for service due to manufacturing issues.  American fighter pilots remarked on how tough the H8K was to shoot down.  If the Japanese had miraculously been producing H8Ks by the thousands and using them in mass formations we would have been pressed to switch to cannons as well.

The fact is that for the weight of the P-51D's six .50s it could have almost carried the Typhoon's four Hispano Mk IIs.  The M2 .50 is a heavy gun, as is the Hispano.  The best air-to-air fighter guns were the MG151/20, ShVAK 20mm, Ho-5 20mm and B-20 20mm.  Against heavy bombers the 20mms were serve in a pinch, but you'd really want MK108s.  Heavy guns like the Browning .50, Hispano and MK103 cost more in performance than the advantages they bring are worth.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: guncrasher on March 23, 2014, 09:03:08 PM
I'm sure a lot of aircraft were only hit with a dozen rounds but it's unlikely that only a dozen were fired.

I have read several books were pilots mention "lots of 2 and 3 second bursts".


semp
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: BnZs on March 23, 2014, 11:12:56 PM
Nothing you say is untrue Karnak, but it isn't quite the whole story either. 4xHispanos for instance, more destructive than a 6 .50s? Definitely! However, even 4 cannons still amounts to less lead in the air and fewer chances for hits. If the .50s are adequately destructive on a target, then opting for a denser "shot pattern" with more hits is a rationally defensible choice. OTOH, I believe that if the disadvantage of .50s relative Hispanos was as large in WWII as it is in-game, American fighters *would* have been universally armed with Hispano clones by war's end, instead of being retained to successfully shoot down fighters on into the early *jet* age.


Logistics were simplified by using only the .50s and the .50s worked fine against the targets they were mostly being employed against, German and Japanese single engined fighters.  The US Navy had wanted to go to cannons but the M2 20mm was never satisfactory for service due to manufacturing issues.  American fighter pilots remarked on how tough the H8K was to shoot down.  If the Japanese had miraculously been producing H8Ks by the thousands and using them in mass formations we would have been pressed to switch to cannons as well.

The fact is that for the weight of the P-51D's six .50s it could have almost carried the Typhoon's four Hispano Mk IIs.  The M2 .50 is a heavy gun, as is the Hispano.  The best air-to-air fighter guns were the MG151/20, ShVAK 20mm, Ho-5 20mm and B-20 20mm.  Against heavy bombers the 20mms were serve in a pinch, but you'd really want MK108s.  Heavy guns like the Browning .50, Hispano and MK103 cost more in performance than the advantages they bring are worth.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Fish42 on March 23, 2014, 11:43:02 PM
Nothing you say is untrue Karnak, but it isn't quite the whole story either. 4xHispanos for instance, more destructive than a 6 .50s? Definitely! However, even 4 cannons still amounts to less lead in the air and fewer chances for hits. If the .50s are adequately destructive on a target, then opting for a denser "shot pattern" with more hits is a rationally defensible choice. OTOH, I believe that if the disadvantage of .50s relative Hispanos was as large in WWII as it is in-game, American fighters *would* have been universally armed with Hispano clones by war's end, instead of being retained to successfully shoot down fighters on into the early *jet* age.



The ROF between the 20mm Cannon and the 50cal were not that different. Although the 50 Cals would have 3 rounds in the air every-time it fired, if you missed in a close range shot with 1 then you were most likely missing with the other 2. At longer range were the dispersion would spreed the rounds out more then it starts to make a difference, though lose of energy is taking its toll on the round by that point too.

The US did not like to change major items in their supply chain. They would stick with something that mostly worked instead of rolling out a new item.

I know the Aussies when they acquired the Sabre, they redesigned the plane, replacing the F-86F's six machine guns with two 30mm ADEN cannon.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: BnZs on March 24, 2014, 12:40:57 AM
The ROF between the 20mm Cannon and the 50cal were not that different. Although the 50 Cals would have 3 rounds in the air every-time it fired, if you missed in a close range shot with 1 then you were most likely missing with the other 2.
Possible. But in AHII in a fairly accurate burst, if one .50 hits the part labeled "wing root" for the purpose of the damage model, another hits the part labeled "aileron", and a third hits the part labeled "outboard wing", assuming no previous damage, there is absolutely zero chance that ANYTHING will be accomplished. Whereas in real life an airplane wing tends to contain many more targets which can greatly reduce an airplane's combat effectiveness if a bullet or two passes through them. Up this to 6 or 8 guns poking holes and the chances increase exponentially. By comparison a single Hispano ping won't destroy the outboard or inboard wing section in AHII either, but it has a significant chance of popping the aileron right off.
The same logic applies to 8 .303s. Certainly it is not the best gun package, but it's "Swiss Cheese" effect was far from useless on single-seat fighters during the BoB.

Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Les Paul on March 24, 2014, 07:16:40 AM
The .50 cals in-game are amaaaaaazzzzzzzyyyyyyballz (Amazyballz) as they were in real life.

In the event that I am not in my early war German warbirds (Carrier missions!) I up the F4U-1A which has 3x .50's in each wing. Now, most people set their convergence for all the guns to converge in the same spot, I tend to fan mine out so that I get one winged convergence points at ~300-350.
Why do I do this? I have noticed that in most cases, I am really hitting planes with just one wings set of guns, and I must say 3x (6x) .50cals ROCK everything I hit, it usually doesn't take more than a good half second to full second burst to annihilate anything in my gun-sights.

And let us not forget about the B17s magic set of .50 cals... Do I need to say more?

What is more ridiculous to me, is when I encounter a P47 or P51 flying afk straight and level whilst in my 109F4. I like to get up nice and close to that afk bird, and use my brutally ineffective 7mm MGs and subsequently use a 500 round burst into their wingtip or wing root (Depending on which I line up with first) to no effect. Only to have to then hit their wingtip/wingroot with 2 or 3 20mm hits after that (My patience usually wears thin after round 500). I have also done the same in my K4 to conserve my glorious 65 rounds of 30mm destruction! The K4 has 13mm MGs, and I have personally witnessed pumping around a full 150-200 rounds into an AFK Jugs (Not the pony, that baby will die long before that... Like 100 rounds in..) wing before achieving the ever so devastating effect of knocking off its aileron... Before placing another 50 to take his wingtip off! I get it, the Jug is durable...but damn!

The above scenario's are the extreme's I have seen in the effectiveness of weapons. In most cases it takes less (Sometimes much much less) than what is described above.

Pretty much, fly any other countries fighters and use their MGs...Or fly a plane with a singular 20mm... Then go back to your American Bird. And you will realize just how glorious those .50 cals are. If you think the damage model hurts .50 cals more than any other gun, you are sadly mistaken. Sometimes (Key word "sometimes") I find myself requiring 2 bursts (2-3 hits each) of my 1 MG151/20 nose cannon to take the wing tip off of anything other than a Zeke (And sometimes the Zeke is included in this anomaly!).

But yeah, for any wing mounted guns I tend to fan the convergence out so that I get singular wing convergence sets at the desired range of shooting. I find this greatly increases the power of my guns (Because I am usually only making hits with one wings set of guns.) as well as my accuracy because my guns are firing at a softer angle (Since my convergences is usually set in the 600, 625, and 650, with a singular wing convergence happening at 300-350ish)

All in all I think the guns are really accurate in their ballistic properties (They just lack variety in the ammo rack), and its more of a problem with the damage model of ALL the warbirds. Though I do think the MG151/20 is a little underpowered in this game (But only by a hair.)
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Scca on March 24, 2014, 05:53:16 PM
       The damage done by 50 cals. is already screwed up. In WWII, it would only take a 1/4 second burst to kill a 109 from a P51-B. In here, it takes at least a 1 Ro more second Burst to kill one in a P51D. Incidiary rounds would start to fix the underwhelming damage of the 50s.  :aok
Citation ?
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Coalcat1 on March 27, 2014, 09:17:45 PM
Citation ?

          I've seen gun cam footage of a 109 going down from burst from a P-51B that was less than 1 sec. Then again, the rounds may have hit the engine and pilot, disabling the aircraft.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Karnak on March 28, 2014, 12:48:26 AM
          I've seen gun cam footage of a 109 going down from burst from a P-51B that was less than 1 sec. Then again, the rounds may have hit the engine and pilot, disabling the aircraft.
I've see a photo of a Ju88 that was shot down by a single hit to the tail from a Spitfire's 20mm Hispano as well.  I also have photos of a Mosquito Mk XVI that survived a 30mm hit to the tail and a 30mm hit to the #1 engine nacelle.

Don't read too much into things like that.  They can't be modeled without an insanely detailed damage model.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: bustr on March 29, 2014, 07:03:39 PM
Cannon HE ammo did not all detonate exactly the same when contacting their target. One problem all cannon ammo suffered was surface detonation as soon as the fuse contacted the target's skin. Even if the fuse was designed to delay detonation, if the round hit at an oblique angle causing it to first push into, then lift the edge of the aluminum skin. Your resulting explosion would more likely roll up an area of skin while creating an area blast rather than a blast focused inside of the airframe structure. Bomber crews more often were killed by tiny bits of shrapnel from these kinds of explosions.

Even if the round penetrated on a delayed fuse, not all rounds detonated on the expected delay. Or a round would pass through say a rudder or the wing, detonating off the delay during the exit. MK108 30mm not destroying a target becomes more possible while being shot from farther out than 200m-300m. It's a very slow round, and at distance you can expect some number to not penetrate and surface detonating.

Just after the war the AAF continued testing on causing fuel tank fires. They found in most cases, the amount of explosive to actually create a fuel tank explosion would have been sufficient on it's own to blow up that section of the aircraft. And would not have been practical as any kind of fighter mounted weapon. Fires were started by igniting already leaking fluids trapped inside of wing or fuselage structures. Past 110mph, "most fires" will not stay lit in the slipstream and why many films and pictures show volumes of black smoke. Which is the result of internal fires burning in the doomed plane with the flame extinguishing at the exit hole exhausting the results of the internal fire.

Are we sure we are not like the player BNZ, attempting to describe a general feeling by players that the method of the damage function be revisited? Or is the OP and some others thinking, Hitech should be modeling a very gruesome manner of dying where you get to watch your virtual pilot roast to death in the cockpit? I've always enjoyed Hitech's wisdom in not going down the gore path that immature minds find so thrilling in the xBox generation.
Title: Re: Add Incendiary ammunition
Post by: Oldman731 on March 30, 2014, 12:39:54 AM
Cannon HE ammo did not all detonate exactly the same when contacting their target. One problem all cannon ammo suffered was surface detonation as soon as the fuse contacted the target's skin. Even if the fuse was designed to delay detonation, if the round hit at an oblique angle causing it to first push into, then lift the edge of the aluminum skin. Your resulting explosion would more likely roll up an area of skin while creating an area blast rather than a blast focused inside of the airframe structure. Bomber crews more often were killed by tiny bits of shrapnel from these kinds of explosions.

Even if the round penetrated on a delayed fuse, not all rounds detonated on the expected delay. Or a round would pass through say a rudder or the wing, detonating off the delay during the exit. MK108 30mm not destroying a target becomes more possible while being shot from farther out than 200m-300m. It's a very slow round, and at distance you can expect some number to not penetrate and surface detonating.

Just after the war the AAF continued testing on causing fuel tank fires. They found in most cases, the amount of explosive to actually create a fuel tank explosion would have been sufficient on it's own to blow up that section of the aircraft. And would not have been practical as any kind of fighter mounted weapon. Fires were started by igniting already leaking fluids trapped inside of wing or fuselage structures. Past 110mph, "most fires" will not stay lit in the slipstream and why many films and pictures show volumes of black smoke. Which is the result of internal fires burning in the doomed plane with the flame extinguishing at the exit hole exhausting the results of the internal fire.

Are we sure we are not like the player BNZ, attempting to describe a general feeling by players that the method of the damage function be revisited? Or is the OP and some others thinking, Hitech should be modeling a very gruesome manner of dying where you get to watch your virtual pilot roast to death in the cockpit? I've always enjoyed Hitech's wisdom in not going down the gore path that immature minds find so thrilling in the xBox generation.


Thank you, Bustr, this is a most excellent post.

- oldman