How do you use the deck gun correctly?

[|Nick]

I always have to use dozens of deckgun shots to sin a vessel.
How many shots should I need to sink a ship? How effective is hitting it below the waterline? Are you even able to shoot through the water and hit it below the waterline?
Besides the fact that HE ammo can start fires more easily, does it have other benefits? Like bigger holes with bigger flodding? Can fire even sink the vessel?
Does it make sense to repeatedly shoot the same place or should I spread out my shots?

I use the mod that sinks ships more realisticly, which means it takes longer and theres no direct feedback, which makes it hard to learn the proper use of the deckgun.

[Dewgle]

Every NPC ship in UBOAT has crew on it just as you do. And just like your crew they will slow down leaks and even repair leaks when possible to keep their ship from sinking.

Using HE (high explosive) is good for killing/wounding the crew of an enemy ship and starting fires which I believe adds DoT (damage over time). But if you want to sink a ship quickly then your best bet is to use AP ammunition (armor piercing) which causes more damage to hulls.

Causing fires will apply damage over time and killing their crew will hamper their ability to slow down leaks or make repairs but if you want to just cause pure damage then your best bet is to get as close as possible and hit their waterline with AP ammunition.

No, it is not a good idea to shoot directly at the water as the the water will suck all of the kinetic energy out of your shells and they will sink to the sea floor just a few meters after impacting the surface. So aim as low as you can without hitting the water if you want to cause flooding and help them fill up like a bath tub.

Spread your shots out as well, don't just keep aiming at the same spot. Your goal is to cause as much flooding to as many different compartments of the ship as possible.

[Dewgle]

Originally posted by |Nick:

I use the mod that sinks ships more realisticly, which means it takes longer and theres no direct feedback, which makes it hard to learn the proper use of the deckgun.

This is why I encourage all new players to play without mods for at least 40 hours worth of gameplay so they can understand how the game works.

[|Nick]

I already played way more than 40hours

[Twelvefield]

"Fire on the rise", so sayeth Captain Aubrey, so shall we fire our cannon.

You want to fire when the enemy is at the top of a wave swell and hit as close to the waterline as you dare, so that the water goes into the hole when the ship troughs out at the bottom of the swell. Ideally, you are at the top of a swell as well so that you don't hit water.

Even more ideally, you want the ship to heel over into the hole, to go "helm down" by making a turn so that the deck tips in the direction of the hit. I don't think this is modelled, though.

That being said, I have made damage hitting the water very close to a ship. I am at close range when I do this, so I don't know if projectile speed falls off over time as it should. Although I do know about compartment flooding, I don't know if waterline hits flood faster, but I suspect this is the case. I'm not going to read all of that Patrick O'Brien and then not fire on the rise.

[DECAFBAD]

Originally posted by |Nick:

I always have to use dozens of deckgun shots to sin a vessel.
How many shots should I need to sink a ship? How effective is hitting it below the waterline? Are you even able to shoot through the water and hit it below the waterline?
Besides the fact that HE ammo can start fires more easily, does it have other benefits? Like bigger holes with bigger flodding? Can fire even sink the vessel?
Does it make sense to repeatedly shoot the same place or should I spread out my shots?

I use the mod that sinks ships more realisticly, which means it takes longer and theres no direct feedback, which makes it hard to learn the proper use of the deckgun.

You're using it correctly then! A ship may take many dozens of hits to sink.

[VipreRX]

I put one in the bow, one in the stern, and one right in the middle, all just above the water line. Works for most. Larger ships might get five with the two extra spaced between the other three. More than five shots is usually the result of misses.

[athenian]

Keep riddling the side of the ship above the waterline from bow to stern with AP.

[wolf310ii]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

I'm not going to read all of that Patrick O'Brien and then not fire on the rise.

That is not what "fire on the rise" means. It means the rise of the own ship, refering to the rolling of the ship, so the shots of a broadside go into the hull and takelage of the enemy instead of hull and short into the water.
Or just to got more elevation or range for the guns.

[Dirk Deagler]

i find starting with ap rounds and then shooting a couple he rounds into the holes made by the ap rounds to be rather effective.

[Dewgle]

Originally posted by Tantalis:

i find starting with ap rounds and then shooting a couple he rounds into the holes made by the ap rounds to be rather effective.

That's actually very clever! The reason why you find it to be so effective might be because the follow-up HE rounds are killing all the crew who rush to the block/repair the leaks.

I'm gonna have to try that sometime.

[iSheep]

Shoot a few deck gun shells into them from medium range (when they fill the targeting recticule I can hit them). Then drive by with the 20mm gun shooting AP just above the waterline to finish them off.

[VipreRX]

Originally posted by Easy McDewgle:

Originally posted by Tantalis:

i find starting with ap rounds and then shooting a couple he rounds into the holes made by the ap rounds to be rather effective.

That's actually very clever! The reason why you find it to be so effective might be because the follow-up HE rounds are killing all the crew who rush to the block/repair the leaks.

I'm gonna have to try that sometime.

Does the game engine actually model in that much detail?

[Dewgle]

Enemy ships do have crew members just like you do and they will try to affect repairs to their ship to stem or stop the ingress of water.

The flavor text of HE rounds states it causes more damage to crew. Abandoned ships will sink (eventually) from a single leak whereas manned ships tend to stop flooding on their own unless overwhelmed with damage. This, to me, confirms that the crew of NPC ships will try to stem or stop flooding damage.

[Booze_Rooster]

Mix and match usually works pretty well. If the seas are choppy, dump some AP into the hull when the swells expose it, then shoot a few rounds of HE into the superstructure. Once you have a fire going, go back to perforating the hull with AP. Keep the enemy crew entertained. The last thing you want them to be is bored before they die.

[themanwithgreatpants]

I only carry AP. I find if you shoot them in the rear while approaching from the rear yields the most damage. It can be 5-20 shots on the vessel before it sinks, but my main objective is to disable to search it, then scuttle with charges.
when I run out of deck gun projo's and havent been able to find any while searching ships, the AA guns will sink em as well no problem. When I need to hurry because I'm under fire, ill direct a gunner on AA to shoot the ship I'm shooting manually with the deck gun.