Is Naval Academy mission "First Casemates" even beatable?

[thunda]

This has to be a joke? My weapons deal basically no damage to the Monitor. I've been at this fight for 20 mins at 3x speed and nothing is happening. I even use Super Heavy shells, doesnt do anything.

[Gear]

I just beat it for the first time after reading this :P I just increased displacement to get an extra pair of guns, got all the penetration upgrades, for gunpowder Lyddite 1 is the most advanced but it actually lowers PEN so avoid that. I restarted a couple times because once you get into bad positioning, it takes forever to get back.

[thunda]

Originally posted by Gear:

I just beat it for the first time after reading this :P I just increased displacement to get an extra pair of guns, got all the penetration upgrades, for gunpowder Lyddite 1 is the most advanced but it actually lowers PEN so avoid that. I restarted a couple times because once you get into bad positioning, it takes forever to get back.

Ah alright. Damn what a mission though, and one of the supposedly easier first ones

[Silamon]

That mission is based on the real life Battle of the Hampton Roads, which lasted 2 days and ended with both sides claiming to be the victor, and neither side actually taking any significant damage.

It is intended to be a long battle

[Peter Hansen]

I used, as much HE as i could. I won the battle, but it took a very long time. Also belt armor and maybe ext belt, is the only armor that matters

[AsdingO_mAn]

Ironclad mission was TOO BORING especially Confederate side.

[SteelCandy]

I switched to HE ammo and after burning it down finally won.

[thunda]

I beat it once I realized I could put the 10" cannons on top of the ship lol. I just had one in the front mount.

Just do everything you can to maximize the amount of 10" cannons and penetration, everything else is meaningless. Really easy win.

[detheagle666]

^ This. This is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gold lol @thunda, thank you so much. I was so frustrated, my last run had the monitor-like ship at 0.5% structure and 39% flooding, when it sank both of my virginia-class ships. WTF! I pounded that thing for 1 and a half in-game hours! Then I saw you're post, switched it up, and boom 5 minutes later an almost perfect victory.

[Adseria]

I managed to beat it. My recommendation is to ignore direct damage. Your guns will struggle to penetrate, even at point-blank range. Instead, try to maximise the number of shells you can place on target (many small, rapid-fire guns are ideal), and try to "sink" her with extensive fires.

[thunda]

Originally posted by Adseria:

I managed to beat it. My recommendation is to ignore direct damage. Your guns will struggle to penetrate, even at point-blank range. Instead, try to maximise the number of shells you can place on target (many small, rapid-fire guns are ideal), and try to "sink" her with extensive fires.

Wrong. Read my message above. The way to do it easily is to stack 10" guns on top of the ship, maximizing penetration with your other decisions. You can beat it in minutes that way since your shells actually penetrate with almost every shot.

[detheagle666]

Yea, I've tried to burn the monitor down. If you read my post above, it will tell you what happened. All you have to do to beat this is max out speed, stack all 3 10inch guns on the deck, get heavy or super heavy shells, and then devote all the rest of your tonnage to armor. It's extremely easy once you think outside of the casemate box lol