Gunnery and Armor
Probably most important mechanics of this game.
First post gonna keep for official and confirmed by WG info.
Official World of Warships guides/introduction to this topic:
FIRE FOR EFFECT: SINKING A SHIP TYPES OF SHELLS AND ARMOUR Wiki - Gunnery & Armor Penetration (outdated, especially HE shells info)
AP Shells
Bounces/Ricochets
0.0x shell damage
at critical angle of impact (<~20-40°)
armor thickness has to be greater than 1/14.3 of shell's caliber
Over-penetrations
0.1x shell damage
Fuze - Minimum armor thickness for shell fuze activation (caliber(mm)/armor(mm)): 410/68; 356/59; 203/34; 155/26
Fuze delay - cant find dis/confirmation or this is currently active; most AP shells fuze might have delays of 0.033 second
Citadel penetrations
1.0x shell damage
Magazines detonations destroys ship
Penetrations
0.33x Shell damage
Citadel excluded
Conclusion
Dealt damage info compared to count of hits gives You rough picture of what happened.
Different sound effects also indicates different outcomes, but looking for more reliable info than "dzing means this, dzong - that"
HE Shells
(to be added, due to lack of info about last changes)
Dispersion
In tolltip of Artillery->>Main Battery You can find value of shell dispersion.
The dispersion value displayed in port is the horizontal length of the dispersion ellipse at the maximum fire range
It gives a value where 50% of the fired shells will land around the point of aim
Armor
Armor values
In tooltip of Survivability->>Armor tab you can find armor values of ship
Its rather "Yes - she has some armor", than reliable information.
Citadel Locations
Roughly engines room is located under smoke stacks
Roughly magazines storage located under main guns
Citadel locations, width, length, depth varies by ship
Destroyers dont have citadels, but magazines still can be detonated
Armor angling matters
At 30° Angle of impact AP shell has to penetrate twice ticker armor than at 90°
Angled armor thickness=[armor thickness]/COS(90-[angle of impact])
As long as armor is ticker than 1/14.3 of AP shell caliber, AP shell can bounce off at <~20-40° angle of impact
Range matters
Due to shell trajectory (in form of arc), range is one of the factors at what angle shell will hit hull armor
Shell trajectories varies by caliber, main batteries model, ship and shell type.
Range is main factor at what angle shell will hit deck armor
Higher range: Hull armor becomes more effective, while deck armor - less effective.
Shell looses velocity over range, reducing penetration potential.
Keep Your ships armor angled! Even DD can bounce off another DD AP shells.
Dear WWS, asking You help to put this technical info into useful practice to help current and future members improve them gameplay, with suggestions, tip&tricks, resources, examples in text or media, gameplay experiences or even observations about this topic.
Any questions or suggestions what should be added regarding this post are welcome.
Few guides:
Battleships armor guides
AP Aiming guide
Its old but still legit guide, useful to know how to deal with Angled enemies.
Armor angle determines at who You shoot.
When I'm in BB (or even CA), my ship angle to enemy also partly determines which target I shoot, which side my main batteries are pointed and what course my ship is going.
If I'm against wide line of enemies, targeting ships on sides lines while keeping bow/stern towards middle of enemy BB formation.
Doing this, to keep minimum angle towards most of enemies, and lowering even more between salvos (during reload).
If I will target ships in middle or opposite side of enemy formation, my broadside would be exposed for heavy damage.
If I need change course with exposing broadside, trying do this with help of iceland's cover or when enemies are distracted or reloading.
Example (promise later upload better one):