Mechanics needs adjustment

[mdesanta777]

Taking shots from the bow or stern should do much more damage than taking shots on the boardside, since the shot would go through much more of the ship. Raking the bow or stern was a great historial tactic in combination with crossing the T.

Shots taken from the bow or stern should not glance off the sides, they should penetrate the front, since they would hit the front of the ship not the sides. Best angling should be when a ship is at 45 degrees to the enemy, not when it is bow or stern on.

Shots fired at bow or stern should not be more inaccurate than shots fired at the sides, since almost all of the deviation stems from vertical error (ranging) instead of horizontal error.

Bow tanking should not be a thing, not in WoWS, and certainly not in this game.

[CAPT E.]

Sorry, I just saw your post.  FYI, I have just posted a related comment in General Discussions about a perceived imbalance in the game mechanics for stern damage.

[RAMJB]

On 3/8/2020 at 5:32 AM, mdesanta777 said:

Taking shots from the bow or stern should do much more damage than taking shots on the boardside, since the shot would go through much more of the ship. Raking the bow or stern was a great historial tactic in combination with crossing the T.

Shots taken from the bow or stern should not glance off the sides, they should penetrate the front, since they would hit the front of the ship not the sides. Best angling should be when a ship is at 45 degrees to the enemy, not when it is bow or stern on.

Shots fired at bow or stern should not be more inaccurate than shots fired at the sides, since almost all of the deviation stems from vertical error (ranging) instead of horizontal error.

Bow tanking should not be a thing, not in WoWS, and certainly not in this game.

Taking shots from the stern is murderous already at the moment. Raking a ship from behind with a properly timed broadside does truly terrifying damage. Blasts crew, structure, guns, and (importantly) morale like there's no tomorrow.
One of the best ways to deal with a bigger ship currently for me is to double team it, one going for a board-to-board fight and the other on hot chase to it's rear, to open up his guns when appropiate and deliver a properly delivered rake. In my experience standard shot being the best option even if  you're looking for a boarding as it already kills enough crew while it ensures the best accuracy, and on the top of it disables guns and causes major havoc. On the minus side, the AI knows that very well and will do whatever it can to avoid getting pounded from the rear...while looking actively for yours.

In my latest playthrough I had a 5th rate with 18 pounder brass cannons park behind a 74 gun 3rd rate I had t-boned and couldn't properly swivel his ass out of my arcs of fire. Three volleys later from his rear end (helped by focus fire by everyone around him), and the bugger dropped the flag. He still had 500-ish dudes aboard. That saved me pretty a penny in crew replacement costs because I could just drop a prize crew on him without having even had to board...not to mention that I got a nice 74 gunner to boot.

Hell I've had ships surrendering , several times, just as I was about to deliver a brutal rake, just before opening fire...so yeah the AI knows what's up with it. They'll even freakin' surrender if pushed hard enough, before taking a pounding like that.


Front rakes is a different story. In game, but it also was in history. For starters wooden thicknesses at the bow are almost equal to those on the broadsides (they are pathetically low from the rear, you can cause carnage from behind even with 4 pounders on most enemies, that's for sure not true from the front), and the bow rounded countours means a rather high chance of ricochets and bouncing round shot. In fact whenever I'm raking from the front I don't bother aiming for the hull, I'll aim for the deck trying to get guys on the deck. Accordingly my favored shot from the front is usually canister (at least as long as the bowsprit is out of the way). But that means that internal damge and structural damage is much lower, and that you're not knocking out a lot of guns. The end result is that front rakes are leagues away from being anywhere near as terrifying as rear rakes.

Which is, btw, perfectly realistic as this was the case aswell in historical engagements. Getting raked was never good, but getting raked from the front was FAR FAR FAR less bad than getting pounded from the ass.

Being raked from the front is not highly desirable but there are multiple circunstances when I would rather take my chances with an enemy shooting me from the front than from the broadside. Theres absolutely NO situation whatsoever, however, that I can imagine where I would take a shot from the rear rather than from any other angle. At all.

At any rate the mechanics you mention are already in the game, deliver proper results (if adequately done), and are highly effective.

Edited March 16, 2020 by RAMJB

[mdesanta777]

...

Edited November 14, 2023 by mdesanta777