Theory upon Why MG151/20 Is Underwhelming and Possible Changes

[影笙 7]

As many of you who might be concerned, MG151/20, one of the most iconic weapons in the game and in WWII, had become a bit underwhelming over the chronic nerfs. It just doesn’t feel the same as it used to in either leading or packing a punch. 

 

 

Based on the in-game damage simulation feature and experience in matches, though being comparatively potent as most other 20mm cannons are nerfed to ground in the recent update, the MG151/20 is undeniably underwhelming and unstable when it comes to its ballistics and damage effect compared to what it used to be and even some .50 caliber MGs (Swedish 13.2mm e.g.). 

 

 

MG151/20 in the current state is speculated to have the following major issues: 

1. Overpenetration.

It seems the fuze sensitivity and delay of the MG151/20 HEI and APHE shells are somewhat messed up that it sometimes passes clean through the wings on certain planes or the optimal range of explosive damage. 

 

2. Tremendous Velocity Loss

As many who have played this game since update 1.xx or even earlier might have noticed, MG151/20 rounds suffer from unrealistic drag coefficient, making it much harder to hit targets  from even merely 500m away from behind while it was common to snipe enemies from the rear at 800m and even further with the MG151/20. 

 

3. Damage Reduction Effect of Certain Components

This is something general, affecting more than just MG151/20. On hit, wing spars, armor plates and some other components can massively reduce the damage of the incoming shell. In many cases, these components basically cancel out the explosive damage of the shell and vastly reduce damage from fragmentation going in all directions. 

 

4. Reduced Rate of Fire. 

No need to explain this one. 

 

 

I hereby propose the following changes that can possibly make the MG151/20 more stable and reliable in both damage and ballistics, without being overpowered:

1. Adjusting the fuze sensitivity of the minengechoss shell of MG151/20 to 0.1mm and the fuze delay to 0.05m and that of APHE to 2mm/0.3m correspondingly. Meanwhile, range and amount of fragmentations of HEI should be reduced, making it more focused on damaging the aerodynamics (skins), and still inflict high enough damage to adjacent components without reaching too far.  

 

2. Tweaking the drag coefficient of MG151/20 shells. Though not to be as good as what it was in 2019, it should be improved slightly to make them feel like 20mm cannon shells that leave the chamber at 720~785m/s. 

 

3. Reworks upon Damage Models of Aircrafts. These components are not supposed to be able to absorb majority of the damage from cannon shells. 

 

4. Bring back the rate of fire of MG151/20. 700rpm is just a number unseen anywhere. 

 

 

The goal of this set of proposed changes is to make the MG151/20 have similar damage model as that of ADEN (the ideal minengeschoss damage model) but with lower damage (not necessarily one-tapping everything as it once did but more stable and consistent) and easier to lead at range as the current air drag coefficient is blatantly ridiculous.

 

MG151/20 is expected to be able to inflict severe damage to the airframe of single engine aircrafts within a couple of hits and have a harder time dealing with heavier targets like bombers, while being able to lead targets over 600m away with less burden, especially those which are maneuvering. 

 

 

This is my first post and I might be a bit too bold to throw out such a topic in a time where all 20mm cannons are suffering more or less.

I mainly mention MG151/20 here but other cannons have severe problems as well at the moment. ANM, Hispano, Shvak/B20, and the 23mms are all underwhelming at the moment with their amount of fragmentation nerfed to ground. Berezin for example, is currently doing way better damage than the shvaks with better trajectory as the latter lacks everything. 

[MBDA_Meteor 20]

This is not all. The gun dispersion worse than most 20mm guns also makes using MG151/20 suffer.

[HerrSektor 3,840]

to be honest, the mineshells should work as HESH rounds on tanks... a freaking strong explosion causing the same plane fuselage used as a fragmentation in high dispersion...

 

the Incendiary ones acting like AP shells is nonsense... while having .50s incendiarys doing more frag damage than the 20mm incendiary with a bursting charge of thermite (historical component in german incendiary ammo used against planes) doing a little more damage in the plane while burning...

 

the FI german shells, with more bullet capacity for mass and explosive charge, doing 56x less damage than the soviet 20mm FI shells (yes the 20mm ones that looks like old revolver rounds)

[TerikG2014 1,389]

10 hours ago, HerrSektor said:

to be honest, the mineshells should work as HESH rounds on tanks... a freaking strong explosion causing the same plane fuselage used as a fragmentation in high dispersio

Uhhhh there is no way the explosive mass is of a 20mm projectile is enough to create a HESH effect worth a dam let alone the fact its got the wrong fuse configuration and the wrong type of explosive.

[影笙 7]

On 13/05/2023 at 16:34, TerikG2014 said:

Uhhhh there is no way the explosive mass is of a 20mm projectile is enough to create a HESH effect worth a dam let alone the fact its got the wrong fuse configuration and the wrong type of explosive.

He probably throws this out in the memory of the last update when mg151 was able to destroy most ai medium tank targets in arb.