HE round usage?

[Chilibird]

Howdy,

I've spend some time playing the campeign missions of DT while I wait for the next Account Server reset so I can play online

I just managed to beat the first level today Dang, it was hard! And now I'm stuck on the second one (Where you have to capture and hold the Antimatter facility)

Well, anywho.. I was curious as to the best use of HE rounds. I know that at close range, AP rounds are great for AFV killing if you can plant the round correctly. (I've had a number of 1 shot kills from a MBT when the AP round goes in the right place, like the battery). HEAT rounds are really good for long distance tank killing, as they don't rely quite so much on speed and penetration. (Taking out a turret is sometimes just as good as blowing the vehicle up all together).

But I have yet to even manage a kill using HE rounds. As far as I can tell, I'm not even damaging my target. What good are these rounds? I occasionally see the bots in Paladins (keep in mind, I'm still very early in the Campiegn ) take out another vehicle with their HE rounds, but I can't seem to manage it myself, even with the MBT's 120 MM gun. Do I need to get up close and blast the HE round right into the chassis of my target and kill the 'squishy' parts inside?

So, basically.. what are HE rounds good for, or best suited to use for?

-Ice

[aittam]

shrike are good meat for HE and infantry too, probably you can damage also a wheel on a paladin, just try setting up a game w/o opponent bots and shoot at your mates and then check after selecting them on the tac map what kind of damage they took

personally i find HE good also so shake enemy vehicles when trying to aim

[yurch]

HE rounds are undirected blasts and have a very low penetration. They do not have enough penetration to defeat the armorings of nearly every chassis and mounted turret.

Exceptions are:

Deployable Turrets, deployable equipment.

Tires.

Shrike chassis.

Infantry.

ATGM mounted turrets.

Ion-weakened armour.

The 120mm has a shrapnel effect and will shake the screen. The other, smaller HE rounds don't have these abilities. HE does more damage then average versus structures, but be warned, many structures are still very tough. The internal damage is quite good against vehicles if you can manage penetration.

Combat wise, HE rounds are generally too inaccurate and too underpowered to justify thier deployment. Accuracy will be an issue against fast or small targets like infantry, deployables, and the Shrike.

The 120mm is of particular interest, though, as it can be used as an initial shock weapon against Paladins and Shrikes to destroy tires and possibly their ATGM launchers.

[bjarmson]

Yeah, the 120mm HE round is mostly for specialized uses. If you have time to chamber one its great for killing Shrikes close in. It can kill AAD towers (but it takes something like 15-20). I sometimes like to use manual targeting and lob them into a turret or light vehicle area, at distance, from the other side of of a hill. If you get the distance right you may get a kill or two (and you utilize a round you don't normally have much use for). I also will fire them at distance (try to lead a bit) at light vehicles when they're coming down craggy slopes and must move fairly slow.

[ August 10, 2006, 10:43 PM: Message edited by: bjarmson ]

[C Colapietro]

120mm HE is also good for taking down trees, for what that's worth...

[poesel]

And clearing minefields (with 120mm). Which is IMHO the only real use it has. I usually do Shrikes with the coax - no wait for weapon switching.

[aittam]

Originally posted by poesel71:

And clearing minefields (with 120mm). Which is IMHO the only real use it has. I usually do Shrikes with the coax - no wait for weapon switching.

yep these days is much better to fire a heat or ap to a big target and while reloading switch to the 20mm coax and spray, it works even against paladins

[bjarmson]

120mm HE is great against Shrikes. I now regularly fire them at distance at Shrikes (try to lead them a bit), because even near misses often do damage. Shrikes slowly weaving their way down steep terrain are fairly easy targets, and once you get them to slow/stop, really fat targets. Don't forget about using them to take out AAD towers (need to be within1500/2000m or they arch too much and get zapped by the AAD ions), usually takes about 15-20 rounds. Of course, they make mincemeat of infantry, a well placed HE round can take out a whole squad.