Modules

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Learn more about modules. 2 Mar 2021

Modules in World of Warships are used to represent and assign performance characteristics to key components of a ship: engines, steering gear, anti-aircraft guns, torpedo tubes, main battery guns, and so on. Each module aboard ship has three possible states: functioning, damaged, or destroyed. A damaged module loses function until it is repaired; a destroyed module cannot regain function. Some modules can only be damaged but not destroyed, while other modules can only be destroyed but not damaged. Each module on a ship has a certain amount of hit points. Every time that module is damaged by enemy fire, the game calculates a probability of it being damaged (that probability can often be lowered via commander skills or upgrades). The probability of a critical hit that leads to damage increases for lower module health values. Once a module reaches zero health, it is destroyed.

Types of Modules

Hull

A ship's hull characterizes the strength of the ship and determines the size of its health pool. It contains a variety of important sub-modules such as anti-aircraft guns, secondary battery guns, and the steering gear. In the event of a damage, health points are reduced and when they reach zero, the ship will be destroyed.

Engine

The engine propels the ship, and is rated by horsepower. Some ships offer an upgraded, more powerful version, which increases the speed and dynamics of acceleration/deceleration. The engine can receive critical damage and be disabled; while disabled, a ship will not maintain speed and will slowly drift to a halt.

Certain upgrades and commander skills can reduce the chance of a ship's engine being disabled. The Last Stand commander skill will allow a ship's engine to continue functioning — with a penalty — even while the module is disabled. Additionally, the Engine Room Protection upgrade reduces the chance of the engine becoming disabled and reduces the automatic repair time. The Preventative Maintenance skill will also reduce the probability of losing this module by 30%, while the Basics of Survivability skill will accelerate the automatic repair by 15%.

Steering Gear

Found near the stern of every ship, the steering gear controls the rudder of a ship and allows it to change direction. This module can only be disabled, not destroyed. While disabled, the ship's rudder will lock in whatever position it was in when the disabling damage was received; frequently, this locks a ship into a turn that it's unable to get out of until the damage is repaired.

The Last Stand commander skill will allow a ship's steering gear to continue functioning — with a penalty — even while the module is disabled. Additionally, the Engine Room Protection and Steering Gears Modification 2 upgrades reduce the chance of the steering gear becoming disabled and reduce the automatic repair time. The Preventative Maintenance skill will also reduce the probability of losing this module by 30%, while the Basics of Survivability skill will accelerate the automatic repair by 15%.

Magazine

Buried within a ship's citadel spaces are the magazines, where ammunition is stored. They are typically located directly underneath main battery turrets, below the waterline. Magazines cannot be disabled, they can only be destroyed. They are sensitive modules; when one of a ship's magazines is destroyed, so is the ship itself. The chance of this occurring can be reduced (or eliminated entirely) by equipping appropriate upgrades and/or signal flags, such as Magazine Modification 1 or Juliet Charlie ().

Main Battery Guns

The main battery guns are artillery units under the control of the player. The shell diameter of the main battery varies by class. Destroyers have main battery guns up to 150mm; cruisers vary between 102mm and 240mm; battleships start at 283mm and go as high as 510mm diameter shells. For the latter two classes the main battery guns are their primary weapons, but main battery turrets can potentially be damaged or destroyed under enemy fire. Skills such as Preventative Maintenance and upgrades such as Main Armaments Modification 1 reduce the chances of main battery turrets being incapacitated or destroyed, while the Basics of Survivability skill will accelerate the automatic repair by 15% when turrets are disabled.

Fire Control System

The fire control system dictates the firing range of the main battery guns. Most tech tree ships offer an upgrade to this module that increases the range by 10%. This module cannot be damaged or destroyed in combat.

Anti-Aircraft Guns

Anti-aircraft guns serve to defend a ship from hostile aircraft, primarily enemy bombers. They are not controlled by the player, and will automatically fire upon enemy aircraft within range. Anti-aircraft guns may include machine guns, small caliber cannons (20mm - 40mm), or larger caliber guns (76mm - 155mm). Many types of anti-aircraft mount are exposed and highly vulnerable to incoming fire, and can be destroyed by shells or bombs.

Anti-aircraft mounts cannot be disabled, only destroyed; as such, the Preventative Maintenance commander skill has no effect on them. Only Auxiliary Armaments Modification 1 can help prevent their destruction by making each mount more resilient to incoming damage.

Secondary Battery Guns

A ship's secondary battery typically consists of a series of guns mounted along the sides of the superstructure that are smaller than the main battery. They are commonly found on battleships, aircraft carriers and most cruisers, but even a few destroyers have some. These guns are not controlled by the player; instead, they fire automatically at ship(s) that enter their range, assisting in the destruction of enemy vessels. They are generally short-ranged weapons that are highly inaccurate — though their range and accuracy can be buffed through a variety of upgrades and skills — and can be destroyed by shells or bombs.

Like anti-aircraft guns, secondary battery mounts cannot be disabled, only destroyed; as such, the Preventative Maintenance commander skill has no effect on them. Only Auxiliary Armaments Modification 1 can help prevent their destruction by making each mount more resilient to incoming damage.

Torpedoes

The Torpedo module consists of both torpedo tubes and torpedoes, and is most commonly the primary weapon of destroyers (although they are found on other classes of ship). The characteristics of this module include not only damage, speed, and range, but also reload time and traverse speed. A torpedo tube can be disabled or destroyed by enemy shells or bombs, but like other modules, this chance can be reduced through commander skills and upgrades, such as Main Armaments Modification 1 and Preventative Maintenance. Conversely, other upgrades may make them more vulnerable to being disabled, such as Torpedo Tubes Modification 2 .

Torpedoes are also found on torpedo bombers — via flight modules — but in such cases only individual aircraft or aircraft carrier itself can be destroyed. The speed of both ship-launched and aerial torpedoes can be increased by the Torpedo Acceleration commander skill.

Flight Control

Flight control modules are the primary module for aircraft carriers. Which module is equipped determines how many aircraft groups of the different types of aircraft are available. Depending on the module, several sets of squadrons are available with different mixes of fighter squadrons, torpedo bomber squadrons, and dive bomber squadrons. A flight control module cannot be damaged or destroyed by the enemy.

Aircraft

Player-controlled aircraft are only available for aircraft carriers; subsequently, this module type is exclusive to that class of ship. The module provides access to three types of aircraft:

• attack aircraft, capable of showering an enemy target with a hail of unguided rockets;
• torpedo bombers, that attack enemy ships with torpedoes;
• dive bombers, that drop either high explosive or armor-piercing bombs on enemy ships from above.

This module, in fact, is the "ammunition" of an aircraft carrier; each carrier has a limited reserve of aircraft on its deck. The capacity of the deck varies between ships. Individual aircraft can be destroyed by enemy anti-aircraft defenses, but this module itself cannot be damaged or destroyed by the enemy.

Damage to Modules

Modules have three possible states:

1. Undamaged (functions normally)
2. Critically damaged or disabled (temporarily not functioning)
3. Destroyed (does not function for the remainder of the battle)

Damage to a module can occur when a ship receives damage; the fewer surviving hit points a module has, the higher the chance of receiving critical damage. Modules that are already critically damaged that receive large additional amounts of damage are more likely to be destroyed. Any modules that are disabled will repair automatically, which takes a certain amount of time, or they can be immediately repaired via the Damage Control Party  consumable. In both cases, only the disabled state of the module is corrected; any hit points lost by the module are not restored.

Type	Can be Damaged	Can be Destroyed	Found on	Number of modules on the ship
Hull	-	✓	Ships of all classes	One
Engine	✓	-	Ships of all classes	One
Steering Gear	✓	-	Ships of all classes	One
Magazine	-	✓	Ships of all classes, except aircraft carriers	Several
Main Battery Guns	✓	✓	Ships of all classes, except aircraft carriers	Several
Fire Control System	-	-	Ships of all classes, except aircraft carriers	One
Anti-Aircraft Guns	-	✓	Ships of all classes, depending on tier	Several
Secondary Battery Guns	-	✓	Most ships of all classes and rarely on destroyers	Several
Torpedoes	✓	✓	Nearly all destroyers, many cruisers, and on a few battleships	Several
Flight Control	-	-	Aircraft carriers	One
Aircraft (attack planes, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers)	-	✓	Aircraft carriers	Several

When their health points are exhausted, modules become destroyed and cease to function for the remainder of the current battle. They are automatically restored once a ship returns to port and are fully available in later battles with no direct action required by players.

It is worth noting that for engines and rudders:

• they can not be destroyed;
• as they take damage, the chance of further damage is reduced;
• players can invest in the Last Stand commander skill in order to retain most functionality of these modules even when they are disabled.

The following penalties apply while Last Stand is active:

• Maximum engine power is reduced by 20%.
• Maximum speed of the ship is reduced by 20-25% (depending on the ship).
• Rudder shift speed is reduced by 50%.

Protecting Modules

There are various upgrades, flags, and commander skills that increase the efficiency or survivability of modules.

For example:

Upgrading Modules

Most tech tree ships offer several options for each type of module: stock (available by default) and one or more upgrades. To equip the latter you need to:

• accumulate the appropriate amount of ship experience or free experience, although it is also possible to combine them;
• have the necessary amount of credits ().

Once unlocked, an upgrade module need never be unlocked again. The stock module can be sold to recover some of the cost of the new.

When upgrading a module, not all parameters necessarily improve when compared to the previous one. Sometimes, both positive and negative changes occur: for example, a ship's torpedoes may become faster, but their range decrease.