Any reason to use a propellant other than ballistite?

[ston5883]

I ran lydite on 18 inch guns and got quite a few bounces. It seems to be the TNT and High TNT that works the best for me. The lydite created a lot of fires but worked the structure down slowly. The TNT pens then exploded knocking out compartments and takes the bar down in chunks.

[Hangar18]

On 12/28/2019 at 12:15 AM, ston5883 said:

I ran lydite on 18 inch guns and got quite a few bounces. It seems to be the TNT and High TNT that works the best for me. The lydite created a lot of fires but worked the structure down slowly. The TNT pens then exploded knocking out compartments and takes the bar down in chunks.

Shoot HE. Nothing but HE

[RedParadize]

Not so sure about that. I mean with the 1/12 of shots bypassing armor you can capitalize on only on them to do the damage, but with a 18" and the low armor AI usually have I am not too sure if it's more efficient.

[Hangar18]

1 hour ago, RedParadize said:

Not so sure about that. I mean with the 1/12 of shots bypassing armor you can capitalize on only on them to do the damage, but with a 18" and the low armor AI usually have I am not too sure if it's more efficient.

Armor doesn't matter. Try Lydite 2 with 18". 

It sounds like it shouldn't work ( which is correct) but it's just the way it is.

[ston5883]

1 hour ago, Hangar18 said:

Shoot HE. Nothing but HE

That's what I did. I still see HE bounce. For example when they turn the stern of the ship to me to run away the lydite will still bounce more often the the High TNT. That extra bit of pen on the High TNT over the -50% of the Lydite matters. 

[Hangar18]

On 12/30/2019 at 12:34 PM, ston5883 said:

That's what I did. I still see HE bounce. For example when they turn the stern of the ship to me to run away the lydite will still bounce more often the the High TNT. That extra bit of pen on the High TNT over the -50% of the Lydite matters. 

bounce has more to do with angle than pen I believe.

I don't think penetration increases affect HE, as HE modified stats are noted with HE-XXXXX

[disc]

I do not know how the game treats things, but in "real life" HE shell can ricochet off armor if its fuze does not activate. This can happen at extreme impact angles.

If the shell has a sufficiently sensitive filler, like picric acid (called "Lyddite," "Melinite," "Shimose," etc.), it might blow up even if the fuze has not activated. Sometimes that's nice... other times, not so much.

Unlike the Americans, the Royal Navy was very concerned about the effect of powerful battleship HE shells. This is largely why they preferred distributed armor schemes in WWI, even while the US was developing the all-or-nothing idea.

 

On 12/27/2019 at 4:21 PM, RedParadize said:

Would it not make sense to use semi-AP in ship to ship warfare? I mean even against transport.

British light cruisers used Common Pointed Ballistic Cap (CPBC) shells, later redesignated Semi-Armour Piercing Ballistic Cap (SAPBC). I believe Common Pointed Cap (CPC, very little armor penetrating ability) and HE were also used fairly often.

British heavy cruisers had no "true" AP issued. They used mostly Semi-Armour Piercing Capped (SAPC), though some HE shells were carried too, probably for bombardment use or maybe against merchant ships.

Edited January 1, 2020 by disc

[ston5883]

Have we even got into the idea of a shell shattering. HE shells had a thinner wall than AP and I know at least in tank combat (which the shells was based of naval shells) sometimes if the armor was thick enough the shell would hit at a bad angle or the fuse failed and the shell would shatter against the armor. Since some things are simplified in this game, I wonder if some of the bounces we see out of the HE shells is basically them shattering?

[Hangar18]

4 hours ago, ston5883 said:

Have we even got into the idea of a shell shattering. HE shells had a thinner wall than AP and I know at least in tank combat (which the shells was based of naval shells) sometimes if the armor was thick enough the shell would hit at a bad angle or the fuse failed and the shell would shatter against the armor. Since some things are simplified in this game, I wonder if some of the bounces we see out of the HE shells is basically them shattering?

shatters count as non pens

[skg02]

In the early naval academy I used Ballistite, but then found White Powder really effective when it became available.  I went along with the Hi TNT always notion, until I noticed the extra pen 5% verse 1.5% with TNT - which is cheaper and has less ammo detonation chance. Its only red side is slightly more chance of fire. Doesn't hit as hard as High TNT, but almost as good for damage in general 8% verses High TNT 12%. For HE damage/fires TNT only gets +10% verses High TNT's +25%, but still TNT for me comes in overall as a better choice. With the other Damage Control features the small extra fire chance doesn't matter, and with super heavy shells the TNT damage is still massive. 

Understand all the appeal of Lyddite, but ammo detonation risk seems to big a price to pay.