ship killing question

[Boom]

I love killing battleships and destroyers.
No i don't.
I hate it.
Not the activity, but the boats themselves.
I fly over a fleet twice and get 30 rockets on 2 different ships, only to be killed by 140 turrets on my 3rd pass, right after i realize the fleet's 6 battleships are still there.
I change my strategy to bombing. I hit one of the ships with 10 b500s and nothing happens.
I get in a battleship and shoot 1000 rockets out of the gac turret
Nothing
Why are ships made this way and how can i kill them?
The only way i can kill them is fly high enough for them to shoot but low enough for them to shoot horizontally, making them hit their friendly ships with missiles and guns.

[vandal]

Not sure what boats you are talking about but I get one good hit with a rocket and they are dead.

[Doomsday]

Step 1: Equip planes with rockets
Step 2: Press "V' (Velocity Indicator)
Step 3: Aim Circle on ships
Step 4: Fire Rocket
Step 5: Do the Happy Dance

[Boom]

Step 1: Equip planes with rockets
Step 2: Press "V' (Velocity Indicator)
Step 3: Aim Circle on ships
Step 4: Fire Rocket
Step 5: Do the Happy Dance

but here's what happens when I try that

Step 1: Equip planes with rockets
Step 2: Press "V' (Velocity Indicator)
Step 3: Aim Circle on ships
Step 4: Fire 20 Rockets
Step 5: Turn around
Step 6: Fire the rest
Step 7: Reload and repeat... over and over pointlessly.

[bernholm]

You need to hit the side or the tower, NOT the deck. the deck is like the ground.

[Doomsday]

Step 1: Equip planes with rockets
Step 2: Press "V' (Velocity Indicator)
Step 3: Aim Circle on ships
Step 4: Fire Rocket
Step 5: Do the Happy Dance

but here's what happens when I try that

Step 1: Equip planes with rockets
Step 2: Press "V' (Velocity Indicator)
Step 3: Aim Circle on ships
Step 4: Fire 20 Rockets
Step 5: Turn around
Step 6: Fire the rest
Step 7: Reload and repeat... over and over pointlessly.

Which server?
The strength level of ships on the ww3 server require a bunch of rockets hits to kill it. Compared to other servers it only requires one rocket.

[Bombcat]

The challenge of killing ships comes from two principal elements - getting weapons on target, and surviving the ship's defensive fire.
Online, ships are more challenging targets than most - while they are rather long, they tend to be quite narrow, and low to the ground. They can be killed with rockets, bombs, or powerful guns - usually, anything with a gun strength of 2 or more should work. With rockets, align your flight path marker (the little circle you get when you hit the 'V' key) with your crosshairs to score hits. Aim for the body or the super structure from the side, or the area where the superstructure meets the deck from the front. Dive bombing works well, although you must make sure your aimpoint is directly over the target. This is because ships tend to be on water, which greatly limits a bomb's blast radius. Unlike land based targets, a ship will require a direct hit.

Now, offline, ships become entirely different and more challenging beasts, because they move. When attacking a ship off line, it's a good bet to aim for the front of the vessel. This usually leads the target sufficiently, as ships move rather slowly, and tend to be fairly large. You may wish to observe the enemy formation before attacking, so that you can time your attack when the hostile ships are moving in a straight line.

Defensive fire from ships comes in three principal forms - anti-aircraft guns, traditional missiles, and re-targeting missiles. For stock ships, the AAA is particularly deadly, as it can fire horizontally. Fortunately, the range of these weapons is quite limited. Traditional missiles are relatively simple to decoy, just make sure to watch your flare use so you do not run out with 5 missiles tracking you. The Udaloy class destroyers introduced the re-targeting SAM, an entirely nastier weapon. These missiles fire when you are 8000 meters from the launching ship, and will attempt to re-lock after being decoyed by flares. Good tactics here are low flying (letting decoyed missiles hit the water), maneuver, and launching from outside the missiles range - up to 10,000 meters for the rockets, or from 25,000ft or more for the bombs.

[decaff_42]

I've found that some maps like Freedom Ranges require me to fly over 45,000 ft to avoid missiles, at which point, all my bombing become horribly inaccurate and I spend too much time getting up to altitude, dropping, re-arming and repeating. Low and fast is no good either because I don't have enough time to go from weapons to flares in time to prevent destruction. Also the fact that I have the hole US Navy sitting in one spot makes it kinda hard to kill everything.

[Shutter]

Small annotation: I'm pretty sure ships can move online as well, servers just generally don't have them that way that's all. (ground object flag)

[iqmal_97]

^^^
Most helpful Bombcat !!!

As for

Which server?
The strength level of ships on the ww3 server require a bunch of rockets hits to kill it. Compared to other servers it only requires one rocket.

I've killed the Russian ships a buch of times now. For the 2 landing ships at Kamijion, I usually use a Harrier with 6 bombs, and 55% fuel. 3 bombs for each ship.
The Admiral Groshkov, I'd destroy it with an F-15E, with a minimum amount of about 10 bombs hitting the flight deck.
And finally, the Ulvanosk, I use an F/A-18E/F (doesnt matter if 2 seater or 1 seater) with 6 AGM missiles (2 AGM's for each escort ships) or an F-4 with 100+ rockets. Just keep on destroying them until there is none left. And the carrier should be finished off with an F-15E Kamikaze Divebombing attack.

[Shutter]

For the record, I've been told the japanese users of that server do not appreciate it at all when people blow up the STP's and ships.

[Philster]

Probably the most powerful tool against ships are rockets, but they can be a pain to learn to use properly. Practice with them a lot, as being able to aim rockets is one of the skills every ground attack pilot needs.

When it comes to ground attack against stock destroyers, the tactic I use is to fly low right above the ground. To many times I have seen people fly right over a fleet of ships in a ground attack mission, instantly killed by the guns or a horde of missiles. Staying low and sniping with rockets/AGMs/bullets will keep you away from the turret and prevent any missiles from being fired at you by the stock Burke. Like Bombcat said, there are many other tactics you can use, but this is how I approach ship attack.

[Shutter]

Probably the most powerful tool against ships are rockets, but they can be a pain to learn to use properly. Practice with them a lot, as being able to aim rockets is one of the skills every ground attack pilot needs.

When it comes to ground attack against stock destroyers, the tactic I use is to fly low right above the ground. To many times I have seen people fly right over a fleet of ships in a ground attack mission, instantly killed by the guns or a horde of missiles. Staying low and sniping with rockets/AGMs/bullets will keep you away from the turret and prevent any missiles from being fired at you by the stock Burke. Like Bombcat said, there are many other tactics you can use, but this is how I approach ship attack.

I reccomend about 30-40 feet when nearby. If not close by, you can do the following trick on ships:

1. Fly just within rocket range, snipe ship once
2. Turn hard to avoid weapons envelope
3. You are safe. Rinse and repeat.

[Philster]

Yeah, when you are low, the only thing you have to worry about is getting gun raped by the turrets. Udaloys are a different story though. If you ever attack a fleet, try to go for the udaloys first.

[iqmal_97]

For the record, I've been told the japanese users of that server do not appreciate it at all when people blow up the STP's and ships.

Yea, I'm aware of that. But that was me then. Now, I'm usually a bit more caring with the IFF4 ships

[Shutter]

For the record, I've been told the japanese users of that server do not appreciate it at all when people blow up the STP's and ships.

Yea, I'm aware of that. But that was me then. Now, I'm usually a bit more caring with the IFF4 ships

Cool, I was just letting you know.

[Raven]

Dance in, blow the ship up, foxtrot out.

[iqmal_97]

Dance in, blow the ship up, foxtrot out.

tl;dr version.

[Seagull]

Some planes have a unrealistic but strong gun wich can destroy ships. (but its kinda dangerous cause you have to fly closer to the ship than when u use rockets)
When you aim with rockets use the thingy when u press V like doom said. (only over 30 knotes)
If your in a heli and under 30 knotes use the HUD aiming cross.
1-2 Rockets are enough to destroy a ship.
Also when i attack ships i try to attack them from far but not too far away, zoom the HUD and aim on them.

[Bombcat]

Small annotation: I'm pretty sure ships can move online as well, servers just generally don't have them that way that's all. (ground object flag)

It is certainly possible for ships to move online. I am fairly certain that it is not possible for aircraft carriers to move online, however, and the stock Burke and Udaloy destroyers are both configured as aircraft carriers. Any ship which did not have some kind of landable flight deck should have no problems moving.