- Yes
- No
Ramming has always been a part of naval warfare since antiquity. Even with the advent of modern fire control system and aircraft that gradually increase the distance between combatants, the tactics of ramming one’s ship onto the enemy are often used, typically when the ship in question is within close proximity and that it has significant difference in terms of displacement.
As of current, ramming an enemy ship in War Thunder only results into them being pushed and lodged around with little damage. This will only results into a kill if the rammed ship were capsized. Therefore, my proposal is to implement a proper ramming damage mechanics.
Damage on the bow of HMS Viscount (D92) after ramming an U-boat.
As a rule of thumb, ramming damage should be calculated based on three factors;
- The difference in the displacement of the two ships.
- The speed of which the collision took place.
- The location of the collision.
Arguably the biggest factor in deciding the resulting damage were the ship’s displacement. This has been demonstrated several times by various unintentional collision that a ship that is at least 8 times heavier would be able to easily shear off part of the ship or even cut the smaller ship in half, as demonstrated in the case of the collision between the heavy cruiser Myoko (16,000 tons) and destroyer Hatsukaze (2,000 tons) resulting in the latter losing the entire bow, wheas the collision between the RMS Queen Mary (80,000 tons) and the HMS Curacao (5,400 tons) resulted into the latter being cleanly sliced in half and sunk.
The second factor is the speed, naturally a ship that is moving fast will have a grater force in colliding another, oftentimes this will cause the rammer’s bow to be stuck into the hull with the other ship if the force is sufficient.
Damage on the HMS Camderdown after collided with HMS Victoria in 1890. Note the gaping hole below the waterline due to the colliding ship being equal in size and displacement.
The third factor is the location of the collision. Naturally, the rammer’s bow will be the place where they will receive the damage, though depending on the two factors above the bow damage of the rammer may range from minimal denture to a catastrophic leaks. On the other hand, the rammed ship’s were bound to be damaged by collision as a result, though it depends on where the collision occurred. Such as if the collision occurs on the bow section, the ship will receive leaking damage at that section, and should the damage is sufficient, that damage might be unrepairable. If the ship’s displacement and speed is sufficient, that said part of the ship may be sheared off entirely. Resulting into instant destruction in some case.
As for how this could be implemented, I think this could work in tandem with the existing “hull integrity” mechanics, of which should that specific section of the hull were rammed with sufficient force, it will results into a breakup of that part of the hull from the ship. If this occurs on the amidship (which is typically the strongest part of the hull), this will results into the ship being instantly destroyed. Otherwise, this will results into the damage on the ship’s structural integrity and leaking damage. Should the ramming ship being of roughly equal or less displacement, then the rammed ship would be the one who take the full force of ramming instead. If that collision damage results into the sinking of the enemy, then the one who is left standing is credited with a kill.
Obviously, to prevent teamkilling, I think the current handling of ramming should be kept for allied players. Though if anyone deliberately pushed their allies and capsized them, they should be flagged with a teamkill as a result.