Ammunitions

[matagyah 9]

Hi guyz, can someone teach me everything about the correct ammunitions in the correct situations?

 

T(h)anks

[typhaon 14]

This is what I have learned or understood.

 

There are several things to consider about ammunition:

 

First you should take a look which ammo can penetrate your target (with exception of HE shells, but I'll come to that later).

Of those ammo types that can penetrate your target at the distance, you should chose the one with the highest damage potential.

 

Now it's important to know how ammuntion works:

 

Pure AP shells (AP, APCR, APBC APCBC) shells only penetrate the enemy armor, kill or damage anything in it's path inside the tank and send a small shower of fragments flying in the enemy tank's interior. If they don't have enough penetration to exit the tank on the other side, they can bounce around inside the enemy and do more damage.

Those shells usually only kill or damage only one or two enemy crew members or modules. They are great to take out specific important things inside the enemy to cripple him or to prevent him from fleeing or returning fire. You can also set the enemy on fire or blow up the ammunition, if you can score a good hit.

It's important that the pentration should not be too high, because the shell should not go clean through the whole tank and exit on the other side but rather riccochet inside. You should also keep in mind, that APCR shells are lighter than normal AP shells which makes them lose power quicker over distance and impact with lower overall force and damage potential... it's more like punching a needle inside the enemy... but if you have no other way to penetrate the enemy at all, you ay use them.

 

Next in the row are APHE shells (or APC for Germans) have an explosive core that detonates inside the enemy tank after penetrating. They have much higher damage than normal AP shells, because the explosion can kill or damage several crew members or modules with one shot. Their penetration is often lower though. If you can penetrate the enemy with APHE shells, they should be your first choice.

 

HEAT shells are slightly different from other shells. Their penetration power comes from a shaped charge inside the shells. The penetration mostly depends on the shells size. Distance does not decrease the penetration, so they can be a great choice at greater distance. Their damage potential is somewhere between AP and APHE shells. Bear in mind though, that spaced armor (gun mantlets, skirts or double armor layers) greatly reduce the penetration power and damage potential.

 

HE shells explode on impact. To damage an enemy you really need a large shells (122mm or 152mm shells) or really soft or open topped targets. They are great though to take out stationary emplacements, because you don't need a direct hit.

Smaller HE shells can break the tracks of an enemy or damage external modules like the gun barrel though. Or you might aim for real weakspots like grills on the engine to set the engine on fire.

But even with large shells it's important to aim well. With the big Russian howitzers try to aim for the turret. The explosion will either blow off the turret or break through the thing top armor of the hull... a bad hit might only damage the enemy's gun or tracks though.

 

I guess I have forgotten about some aspects, but that's what came in to my mind right now.

I hope I understood everything right, that I have read in the forums or other sources about ammunition.