The Ostwind has always been the most potent AA unit for me (but i never really played def doc). I never had any other unit that cleared the sky like the Ostwind did.
However, when the calculations are true its just another mess i hate in this mod. But its typically. Axis single 20 are made by axis, so it must be better than Bofors (which is credited to be one of the most successfull anti air guns at its time).
Also multiple barrel mounts were developed to perform better against the new, very fast flying planes of world war two. Single cal 50 and also 20 mm quickly outdated because (1) their rof didnt ensure to knock out a plane in the very short moment you can actually fire at it (in BK, we dont have close range and longe range anti air which is sad) and (2) a didnt hit didnt ensure killing a plane (esspecially true for the cal 50). So there were two further developments. The first was the development of heavy calibre automatic guns that allowed to fire at planes sooner and at higher altitude with high accuracy and "one hit to kill" philosophy. Furthermore the shell was large enough to mount different fuses making the shell exploding near the target. The US had the most advanced (but only used in the pacific theater on ships mostly) with radio proximity fuses.
The other development were twin and quad mounts (or more) as close range defence against fighter bombers and straffing runs. The ammount of bullets fired in second largely increased the chance to hit the target and that multiple times in the very short moment the plane was in front of the barrel(s). The weakness here are low magazin capacities as the german 20 mm had (only 20 rounds per clip). In order to avoid that they developed guns that had clips instead if magazins and you could put the next clip on top of the other before it had been depleted. That was possible for the bofors guns but also for the axis 37 mm Flak 43.
The ultimate development being used were quad 40 mm bofors guns on allied ships in the pacific.
What does this mean for the topic?:
That we could and should deeply think about AA performences again.
In terms of effectivity the 40 mm and 37 mm should belong to the best in general due to accuracy and one hit kill chances. That followed by quad and dual mounts and lastly the single 20 mm and finally single cal 50.
How exactly could they behave?
1. 40 mm and 37 mm would have a high damage, superior accuracy at range but also very decently at any other range and, if any, very short reload time for continues shooting due to clipp system. It shouldnt mean to ensure kills, just saying that they would be the best when taking all aspects into account.
2. the quad 20 mm would have average accuracy at range, therefore extremly effective at what comes closer. A top class point defense aerial defense. The disadvantage would be short bursts due to limited magazin capacity but average reload time.
3. quad cal 50 would be less deadly in the same burst duration as the quad 20mm and slightly less accurate, therefore the burst duration would be quite long due to large ammo capacity. The reload time would however take quite long. Generally a good point defense weapon.
4. Dual mounts (cw 20 mm and cal 50) can be explained by itself now obviously. However for CW the trench in could improve accuracy ( as all static modes would do)
4. Single 20 mm and cal 50 would be the last in the line. However static modes (or ground mounted) would provide better accuracy than those mounted units without. But generally multiple would be required to protect an area.
5. Furthermore we were teached by markr that all aa guns have a circle and planes which flight path crosses it will be fired at. Here again, calibre could make a difference with the larger one have a larger circle than smaller ones.
That way, aa´s would be more different and special, clearly supposed for certain roles and the decision which to build a strategic one. For covering larger areas larger guns are preferd but at higher cost. Esspecially good to counter henschels and straffing that start shooting from a distance.
Smaller ones (esspecially quads) wouldnt cover a really large area (simply their circle of activation is smaller and accuracy at far distance quite low) but they would be cheaper and good in defending nearby units esspecially against bombers by shooting them before the drop.
Single mounts would be rather supportive, deployed in numbers or simply focused on ground support role.
But from what i can see currently its mess. I dont want to say i tried to make it that way in my private stuff but i spend lots of time with it to get it working this way at least partly (couldnt finish my work).
Somehow i am not surprised about what markr figured. The single 20 mm is (was) in my opinion always way too crazy compared to others, being far more effective than its quad mount brother. The single one killed units better through smoke, killing vehicles as good as a bofors and sometimes it felt that it has a accuracy of laser guided ammuntion. I am not talking about the Puma 20 mm, but those (ugly looking) from def doc. That bofors comes out so bad while single 20 mm and crusader are so plain "OP"..... thats bullshit.
Tiger1996 wrote:Wirblewind seems to have a very low magazine for some reason though, it shoots very little then stops for loading... That's just weird.
Yes, 20 round clips. That has been the weakness of german 20 mm aa guns (or most of them). The allied used oerlikon 20 mm on their ships with 60 round drum magazin.
What is even more strange, is the Ostwind. This vehicle is completely un-realistic in Bk Mod btw. Believe it or not, it was more realistic in vanilla CoH.
If you compare, you would notice how the Ostwind in Bk Mod shoots as fast as 20mm cannons, which is total bullshit actually. The Ostwind in vCoH on the other hand is shooting just as supposed.. a bit slower, more like Bofors. And if you would load it with HE like in Bk Mod (i know this is not possible in vanilla CoH but I am just illustrating), then the explosion would be bigger, or I mean pretty similar to 37mm AT gun HE.
But now in BK, it fires so rapidly somehow...
Nope. That weapon was a beast. 8 round clipp with 250 rpm (just the gunners couldnt put clipps quick enough so it made 150 rpm in praxis. But that would be reflected by reload or cooldown. The 20 mm had, depending which, 280-450 rpm. In praxis less due to reload. So the rof doesnt differ much.
The only thing is that the 20 mm in BK is too slow. I tried to increase it in my private mod but the sound kept the same. So for every shot you could hear it fired two or more which was also not satisyfiyng for me.
The 37 mm HE are correct (at least in relation to 75 mm HE shells). Also same calibre doesnt mean same bullet size. The Panther 75 mm was larger and heavier than those of 75 mm shermans for example. The 37 mm is just abit over the top. It would be more than that of the stuart tank i would say. I will do further researces here.