Please explain hull damage?

[PieParadox]

So I've been trying to figure out whether shooting an empty part of the ship with no parts does damage to the hull. I heard that after a part is destroyed, damage goes to the hull, rather than damage the part. Is it more effective to destroy the hull by shooting a destroyed part, or by simply firing at anywhere on the ship that is not built?

[Kyren]

What's most effective depends on the gun you're firing with! If you are working with a Goldfish and a Carronade - shoot the balloon, and only the balloon. It'll first keep the enemy ship on the ground, and secondly the damage gets transfered to the hull, like you said. If you have your gunner start shooting the hull, then the enemy ship only gets time to rebuild their balloon and the whole game starts again.

By shooting at an empty part of the ship that doesn't have anything attached, you are most likely hitting the hull already, it should have the greatest hitbox of all (except the balloon maybe), and out of my mind I'd say that everything that isn't a gun, engine or the balloon is automatically the hull.

And yes, as mentioned above - shooting at a already destroyed gun, engine or the destroyed balloon will transfer the damage to the hull. Of course damage reductions still apply! So, if you are shooting with your Scylla Double Barrel Mortar at a destroyed balloon, it'll actually do less damage than if you were shooting straight at the hull.

[Mattisamo]

Considering that to "pour" the damage onto the hull via the component requires you to first break it and then aim for that tiny part on the ship... Go for any part of hull you can unless you captain tells you otherwise.

[PieParadox]

Nice quick response! So if their armor is down, should I try to focus non-component areas of the ship (with heavy flak eg)?

[Kyren]

Yes, exactly It'd be actually very unfortunate if you hit their guns or engines with the Flak or a light mortar when their armor is down Remember, the hull health can't be repaired anymore, so every shot you hit will weaken the other ship permanently!

[HamsterIV]

Nice quick response! So if their armor is down, should I try to focus non-component areas of the ship (with heavy flak eg)?

If you are shooting an explosive weapon you should be waiting for a piercing weapon to drop hull armor. At the start of the engaement you can fire a clip or two to help drop the hull armor, but you should be waiting with a full clip for when their hull armor goes down. This is commonly referred to as "Flack Timing." The better you get at it the more deadly any ship you are on becomes.

The opposite is true if you are shooting a piercing weapon. Your job is to drop the hull armor to make an opening for your buddy on the explosive weapon. Once you see that armor drop start reloading so you are on a full clip when and if the engineers manage to rebuild the hull.

Targeting components has its uses but they are very situational. Unless your captain has ordered you to "Take out that Gun/Engine/Balloon" focus on making the kill as quickly as possible.

[Alistair MacBain]

Well a killed frontgun on a goldy infront of u is great and gives u much more time killing the enemy so u should try if u get clear shots on the enemy. Is much safer for ur ship when there is no fire coming from the enemy.

[Erheller]

Quick question: The pyra has a spike on the front of its balloon that counts as hull armor, right? Does this mean that shooting the spike will apply damage to the hull/armor?

[N-Sunderland]

Correct. All of the casing around the Pyra's balloon is counted as armour/hull.

[PieParadox]

When you say that, is it a good idea to shoot at a pyramidion's balloon with a gatling to knock out the armor?? Or is it still better to aim for the body? I want to shoot at an enemy pyramidion's front gun's with my own gatling.. Good/bad?

[HamsterIV]

That depends on how good a gunner you are. The area immediately behind the gun is balloon, it is only the beak and rim that counts as hull. If you can consistently hit a target as small as a Gatling gun on a moving ship and you think it will be in your ships best interest to take that gun out, go for it. If you can't make those shots consistently every shot you miss by less than a margin of 1.5 meters will hit the balloon. Some shots you miss in the 1.5 to 2 meter range will hit the beak and there for the hull, but it is not something I would count on for hull stripping.

When I am shooting a gat against a pyra I aim for the flat section of the hull beneath and to the side of the helm. I know I am not good enough to snipe out individual components so I go with the lower risk reward strategy.

Some times an enemy ship will try and use their balloon to shield their hull. Since the Pyra's beak is still hull you can shoot it when you can't seen the main hull and know you are doing armor stripping damage.

[N-Sunderland]

As Hamster said, don't target the balloon. Always go for the hull.

No matter how good a gat gunner you are, you're not going to be able to damage a Pyra front gun on a regular basis. Those things have really dumb hit boxes, and if you miss your shots can go to waste.