APS Shell Types

[Nigerian Astronaut]

I am currently designing a missile destroyer. I have the missiles covered, but I have a question about the APS gun I will use. Is it a good idea to have multiple shell types fired from one gun like the ammo belts for the machine guns for the planes in War Thunder? If so, how hard is it to set up an APS gun to do that?

[colonelmustardgas3]

It depends on the function you are trying to achieve. You need to determine your intended target and your intended effect. After that, you can design your shell to meet your needs.
For AA, I would suggest small AP rounds. My setup generally has 3 Gunpowder Casings, a Base Bleeder, 2 Solid Bodies, 1 Sabot Body, and a Sabot Head. I use this for 75mm and below.
For Heavy AA, I would suggest either HE or Graviton Shots. I use 3 Gunpowder Casings, 2 HE bodies, and a composite head. This is for 85mm and above.
These aren't great with accuracy, but their compact size allows for heavy saturation fire (Basically, by hitting everywhere, I also hit everything.)

Ammo mix can be a tricky thing. The main issue is that to effectively blend two or more ammos, you must make sure they have the same muzzle velocity and effective range. If they don't have approximately the same, the gun will aim relative to the average velocity and range, resulting in neither ammo making contact. This is much more noticeable in AA setups.

[FourGreenFields]

Originally posted by colonelmustardgas3:

HAA

I think you mean AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery, as opposed to AA-guns). At least I've never heard of HAA before.

@OP: Multiple shell types work, allthough they're not allways usefull.
Mixing some tracer rounds into a fast fireing cannon belt will still give you an accuracy boost of 2, without needing the tracer on every shell.
A mix of different kinds of shell (like APHE and APF, or HEAT and F, or HEAT with different pen value) may allow you to fight more kinds of vehicles without having to switch ammo, but will probably reduce effectiveness against the "ideal" target.

I had tried having every n-th shell of a different kind by having n ammo input feeders, with one assigned to the different shell type. However, I remember that lead to issues when pulling out of play or something (shell types put together instead of mixed). May be fixed, but if not you'll need to live with it, or dedicate an autoloader for it.

[colonelmustardgas3]

Originally posted by FourGreenFields:

Originally posted by colonelmustardgas3:

HAA

I think you mean AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery, as opposed to AA-guns). At least I've never heard of HAA before

I have a tendency to make my own abbreviations. It isn't an AAA, as it still is a rapid fire weapon. However, it fires much larger and more damaging shells than my standard AA, so I refer to it as my Heavy Anti-Aircraft, thus HAA.

@FourGreenFields I have noticed that the more diversity of shell types you have, the less combat effective the weapon is overall. I've never had more than two ammo types, and as you mentioned, the additional shell's sole purpose was to give an accuracy buff. Also, I've found HEAT shells to be quite ineffective, unless you are attacking airships. My AA is meant to take out the small, agile aircraft that my main guns or missiles can't. Then again, my main batteries have a 3m Mantlet, so they are pretty capable of downing aircraft.

[FourGreenFields]

Originally posted by colonelmustardgas3:

Originally posted by FourGreenFields:

I think you mean AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery, as opposed to AA-guns). At least I've never heard of HAA before

I have a tendency to make my own abbreviations. It isn't an AAA, as it still is a rapid fire weapon. However, it fires much larger and more damaging shells than my standard AA, so I refer to it as my Heavy Anti-Aircraft, thus HAA.

I'd call that AA-cannon (up until about 5cm), or rapid-fire AAA (more than 5cm). Probably more in-line with common abbreviations.

Originally posted by colonelmustardgas3:

@FourGreenFields I have noticed that the more diversity of shell types you have, the less combat effective the weapon is overall. I've never had more than two ammo types, and as you mentioned, the additional shell's sole purpose was to give an accuracy buff. Also, I've found HEAT shells to be quite ineffective, unless you are attacking airships. My AA is meant to take out the small, agile aircraft that my main guns or missiles can't. Then again, my main batteries have a 3m Mantlet, so they are pretty capable of downing aircraft.

Lower overall effectiveness is what I had expected as well. But, if properly mixed, your cannon will be harder to counter.
For example, an AP + F mix will be have high HP shells vs LAMS, while the F shells will be able to deal with shielded vehicles. Inertial + timed fuse F shell mix will be able to deal both with fast hard-to-hit vehicles (timed fuse), and shielded vehicles (inertial fuse).

HEAT is the only shell type that's still effective against layered shields that are far from the target (with the exception of that anti-shield EMP). F shells would detonate on the first shield, then get reflected by the second shield. AP would simply bounce. HE would not do damage, due to hard-capped max blast radius.
Probably not that importand vs NPC vehicles, but I've seen player-designed ships that'd laugh at any kind of AP, HE or F shell.

[Nigerian Astronaut]

Originally posted by colonelmustardgas3:

Originally posted by FourGreenFields:

I think you mean AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery, as opposed to AA-guns). At least I've never heard of HAA before

I have a tendency to make my own abbreviations. It isn't an AAA, as it still is a rapid fire weapon. However, it fires much larger and more damaging shells than my standard AA, so I refer to it as my Heavy Anti-Aircraft, thus HAA.

@FourGreenFields I have noticed that the more diversity of shell types you have, the less combat effective the weapon is overall. I've never had more than two ammo types, and as you mentioned, the additional shell's sole purpose was to give an accuracy buff. Also, I've found HEAT shells to be quite ineffective, unless you are attacking airships. My AA is meant to take out the small, agile aircraft that my main guns or missiles can't. Then again, my main batteries have a 3m Mantlet, so they are pretty capable of downing aircraft.

How easy is it to mix tracers into my normal ammo belt?

[xchrisx88]

Originally posted by The Nigerian Astronaut:

Originally posted by colonelmustardgas3:

I have a tendency to make my own abbreviations. It isn't an AAA, as it still is a rapid fire weapon. However, it fires much larger and more damaging shells than my standard AA, so I refer to it as my Heavy Anti-Aircraft, thus HAA.

@FourGreenFields I have noticed that the more diversity of shell types you have, the less combat effective the weapon is overall. I've never had more than two ammo types, and as you mentioned, the additional shell's sole purpose was to give an accuracy buff. Also, I've found HEAT shells to be quite ineffective, unless you are attacking airships. My AA is meant to take out the small, agile aircraft that my main guns or missiles can't. Then again, my main batteries have a 3m Mantlet, so they are pretty capable of downing aircraft.

How easy is it to mix tracers into my normal ammo belt?

just make a 2nd tracer shell and give like every 6. ammo input on your gun the tracer shell,
but the tracer and your standard shell need to have somewhat similiar velocity (+/- 30m/s is ok)