The 20mm

[yurch]

I'd like to point out some things about the 20mm weapon systems and make some possible suggestions.

First off, the 20mm AP and HE are fired three at a time, with a reload time of 1.2 seconds. The burst appears to be evenly distributed along that reload time.

This gives the 20mm a rate of fire around 150 RPM (3/1.2*60)

AP is fired at more than twice the velocity of HE, and has one tenth of the deviation.

However, the 20mm AP (and AP only) shots appear to be handled by the engine as a 5 round 'clump' or 'packet'. This is also in accordance with the muzzleflash, which appears 15 times.

This would put 20mm AP at 750 RPM, which is fairly impressive for a single barrel weapon mounted on a ground vehicle.

This raises many issues.

1) While the RPM may in fact be 750 RPM, the shots are fired in clumps, removing the benefits of such a high fire rate. Examples include the probability of scoring a hit while firing on high velocity or small objects, and the ability to circumvent point defense systems. It appears all 5 shots of the 'packet' are stopped at once by point defense ions.

2) This puts the ammo count of 20mm AP effectively at 200*5 = 1000 rounds.

3) This 'packet' effect does not occur for 20mm HE, which causes at the very least inconsistancies with using the same firing animations and sounds.

I would imagine that the 'clumping' is to help performance in netcode or processing department. With this in mind, wouldn't it just be easier to appropriately increase the stats of each single projectile and only fire one instead of five? We aren't getting the benefit of the high ROF in the first place, with the only meaningful difference I guess being multiple hit effects being played when a clump hits a target.

If the benefits of a higher ROF are desired, perhaps bursts can be changed to a 4 or 5 round? (or, decrease burst time?) Additionally, an ammo count of 201 (or 102) is actually more appropriate if we're firing 3 round bursts - it's divisible by three and the last shot doesn't end up making all those muzzle flashes and noises for the remaining divided burst.

Lastly, I've been playing with a low frequency of particle sparks coming from 20mm penetrations (less than 25). For the most part it looks good, and I would recommend it for later.

[aittam]

sometimes you scare me

this is one these times

[aittam]

well you got me twice with that 20mm and the first time has been a single burst against my light tank.......

ok it's been fun

[yurch]

Well, none of this really intends to change the overall damage potential of the 20mm, this is more about likelyhood of hit.

20mm is a fairly nasty weapon for ambushes.