What rounds should I be looking for in plane belts for air targets?

[Wandering Flare]

Since not every cannon has Air Targets belts, I'm not too sure which belts to pick. Should I take the ones that have high-explosive incendiary rounds over those that have fragmentation incendiary rounds? What are the better ratios of this and that provided I'm gunning strictly for air targets?

[𝒞𝒶𝓈𝓊𝒶𝓁 Sinner]

It depends on the guns and country really. Most of the time it's best to go with tracers or stealth (if you know how to aim). I personally take ground target rounds. Seems they usually have enough explosive to make enemy planes catch fire.

[Toblm]

High-explosive incendiary rounds vs fragmentation incendiary rounds should largely be a wash. I would say that depends on the belt content. 4/4 rounds of frag. incend. could be better than 2/4 he incend.

For air targets more explosive and more incendiary round usually work better. Purely AP and usually Universal belts tend to be sub optimal for air targets.

[Col. Cornbread]

I guess you're using planes with the 20mm ShVAK, any of the belts can be used because everything is incendiary,
Ground and tracer are both good, Armored target belts also will 1 tap planes.

[Wandering Flare]

Originally posted by Col. Cornbread:

I guess you're using planes with the 20mm ShVAK, any of the belts can be used because everything is incendiary,
Ground and tracer are both good, Armored target belts also will 1 tap planes.

Those are so far my favourite guns, but I am doing other nations as well and that's where I'm wondering.

[Chaoslink]

Personally, I don’t see the focus on incendiaries for anti-aircraft belts. I tend to find that AP ammo works better for me and prefer such when I’m not using stealth. Unless they fill stealth belts with marshmallows, the extra time on target you get when the enemy doesn’t know you’re coming outweighs the downsides of whatever less effective rounds are in the belts. Who cares if my bullets will do a bit less damage if I’m landing 3x as many.

Still though, I’d much rather break off wings and bust out engines or pilots than cause fires. Fires are the least preferable way to take out aircraft in my opinion, as the aircraft is still likely to be dangerous even after having a fire set. Plenty of times I’ve been set aflame I’ve gone on to kill 2-3 more enemies before burning out simply because I wasn’t seen as a threat.

Even for SPAA like the M16 I prefer full AP belts to APIs or API-T rounds. Maybe that’s just me though. I tend to be aiming for specific parts of my target plane rather than just trying to hit it. I’m typically the guy that shoots you down with just 50 .50 cals rather than 400. Can’t remember the last time I locked up my guns from overheating.

[Wandering Flare]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Still though, I’d much rather break off wings and bust out engines or pilots than cause fires. Fires are the least preferable way to take out aircraft in my opinion, as the aircraft is still likely to be dangerous even after having a fire set. Plenty of times I’ve been set aflame I’ve gone on to kill 2-3 more enemies before burning out simply because I wasn’t seen as a threat.

This is actually something I've noticed myself. A friend of mine that played more planes than I have at the time told me that setting a target on fire means you can just leave them as they'll burn down almost instantly, but I've had plenty of cases where people I set aflame either put themselves out or just kept going on a killing streak. I once put myself out 3 times even!

My issue with AP rounds is that oftentimes, unless it's a 20mm cannon, they don't seem to do very much of anything. I'll get Hit after Hit and my target won't seem any worse for wear, so I've had little faith in them and instead used Inc. just for the chance of setting them aflame to deal some actual damage. Maybe my aim just sucks and I kept putting holes in wings, I dunno.

[Maj.Tryhard]

Originally posted by Martin Vol:

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Still though, I’d much rather break off wings and bust out engines or pilots than cause fires. Fires are the least preferable way to take out aircraft in my opinion, as the aircraft is still likely to be dangerous even after having a fire set. Plenty of times I’ve been set aflame I’ve gone on to kill 2-3 more enemies before burning out simply because I wasn’t seen as a threat.

This is actually something I've noticed myself. A friend of mine that played more planes than I have at the time told me that setting a target on fire means you can just leave them as they'll burn down almost instantly, but I've had plenty of cases where people I set aflame either put themselves out or just kept going on a killing streak. I once put myself out 3 times even!

My issue with AP rounds is that oftentimes, unless it's a 20mm cannon, they don't seem to do very much of anything. I'll get Hit after Hit and my target won't seem any worse for wear, so I've had little faith in them and instead used Inc. just for the chance of setting them aflame to deal some actual damage. Maybe my aim just sucks and I kept putting holes in wings, I dunno.

Yeah, if you don't have cannons, you prolly don't want AP. AP rounds for the smaller calibers often just punch through or get lost in the fuselage. AP for a cannon, on the other hand, is much more likely to have an affect on the enemy.

Regardless, I prefer belts heavy with incendiaries and frags in most cases. Some weapons work very well using AP against planes, but excepting those, I only load AP if I plan to do some CAS.

[Til_Dovre_Faller]

Stealth is amazing
Universal is very good
Default is good/bad
Tracer is /\/\ at leaft good to scare enemies off

[Col. Cornbread]

I mean if you want to know which belts to use you need to tell us which nation cannons you are using.

As there are differences because of the changes in the recent ammo update.

[Wandering Flare]

Originally posted by Col. Cornbread:

I mean if you want to know which belts to use you need to tell us which nation cannons you are using.

As there are differences because of the changes in the recent ammo update.

All of them. Really, I'll eventually end up getting each one at least up to Rank 3 for the sake of challenges and non-repair SL gain, so I might as well be ready for each one.