Armour and penetration values and what they mean

[GooseSpringsteen92]

Hello Guys,

I'm wondering if you'd be kind enough to shed some light on the armour values that are listed in the penetration tables for guns and how that relates to the armour value of the ship itself.

So for example if I'm reading it right an AP shell fired from a 12" gun in my 1910 start has a belt penetration value of 20.9" at 10,000m.

It's probably fairly obvious but am I right in assuming that if I set my Krupp III belt armour to 21" it's not actually 21 inches thick but rather has the effective thickness of 21 inches of "standard" steel armour? I'm one of those people who always tries to keep realism in their mind when making a design and from what I understand, even ignoring the insane weight, it was essentially impossible to manufacture effective belt armour of anything close to that thickness within the time period covered by the game? For example I think Yamato had a 16" belt?

The other thing that makes me scratch my head a bit is the "armour quality" value. So Krupp III has a value of 115%. Does that mean I can set my belt to 10.5 inches (a much more plausible value) and understand that it will protect me from the 20.9 penetration at 10,000m?

I've probably not expressed myself very well but I would enormously appreciate any insight you can give 😀.

[Somhairle]

Listed armor penetration values are calculated against the lowest level armor. Listed armor thickness is actual thickness. To find out the effective thickness, you have to multiply the listed value by the modifier. 

So, in the example you provided, yes, 10.5" of Krupp III will defeat the 12" shell you described, but if the enemy is using a heavier shell, different shell type, different propellant, a longer calbre gun, etc.. it may or may not, because those things all effect the penetration value. Hope that's as clear as mud

[SpardaSon21]

There's a reason there's a suggestion out there for the game to show you calculated armor levels for the ships instead of needing you to constantly do the math on your own.