Damage System
Contents
Damage is modeled as deducting points from one or more health pools.
This article deals with how damage, once inflicted, affects the target, and what can be done to decrease its effects.
The Ship Model
The model of a ship in World of Warships is deceptively simple. Obvious to the viewer there is the hull, the superstructure, and various armaments. However, unseen except through the Armor Viewer, there are layers of armor and structure. Further, the ship is divided into logical sections and modules, each affected differently by enemy actions.
Causes of Damage
A complex item such as a ship is comprised of a number of health pools: that of the ship itself, segments of the larger pool corresponding to ship sections, and modules.
Damage may be caused in several ways:
- the impact of shells (e.g. over-penetration by AP shells)
- the detonation of explosive charges on the exterior of a ship (torpedoes, non-penetrating HE shells, bombs, rockets )
- the detonation of explosive charges in the interior of a ship (penetrating shells, bombs, rockets)
- blast damage from non-impacting explosions, including depth charges against submarines
- fire
- flooding
- anti-aircraft artillery against aircraft
- ship-to-ship collision, or ramming
Damage may be immediate or caused over time (damage-over-time or DOT), such as continuing fire or flooding. Fire is a major threat to all warships except, oddly, aircraft carriers.[2]
Gunfire
The way shells fired from enemy guns interact with the target ship, its armor and modules, is very complex. To a slightly lesser extent the same is true of air-dropped bombs and rockets.
Fire
Modern warships are made of steel. While steel itself may not burn, nearly everything else in the ship does.
Flooding
Ships float because their hull keeps the water out. Put a hole in the hull and the ship has a tendency to sink. Torpedoes can cause flooding.
Damage Saturation
Damage Saturation occurs when a ship has taken excessive damage to a specific area (bow, stern, superstructure, casemate). When saturated, an area is no longer capable of taking damage exceeding 10% of the ordnance's listed alpha damage.
Ramming
Ramming is a collision with another ship which results in damage or destruction.
Damage Mitigation
Upgrades
'Standard' upgrades Main Armaments Modification 1 , Auxiliary Armaments Modification 1
, Sonar Modification 1
, Damage Control System Modification 1
, Engine Room Protection
, Damage Control System Modification 2
directly impact how a ship takes damage.
Other upgrades affect it indirectly — AA Guns Modification 1 , Airstrike Modification 1
, Torpedo Lookout System
, Concealment System Modification 1
— by improving defense systems or improving spotting and concealment.
A number of others improve the ship's ability to dodge by improving the performance of the propulsion, rudder, or diving planes.
A few Unique Upgrades also affect damage mitigation.
Damage Control Party
All ships have Damage Control Party consumables (DCP). Most have unlimited charges with a relatively slow reload or 'cooldown' time. Damage control parties stop, and for a short time prevent, Damage Over Time (DOT), notably fire and flooding. They also repair incapacitated modules, such as main battery turrets, torpedo tubes, engines, and steering. An active DCP also terminates and prevents any submarine 'ping lock' on the ship.
Skillful use of the DCP consumable takes knowledge and practice. It may be wise not to use one's DCP, saving it for later. For instance, DOT is 100% repairable (if the ship has a Repair Party), and fires are greater or lesser threats depending on ship type and applied modifications, so letting one fire burn may be the best move. On the other hand, four fires or two floods practically demand the immediate use of one's Damage Control Party.
There is also a Special Upgrade that affects the performance of the Damage Control Party consumable: Damage Control Party Modification 1 .
Repair Party
All battleships, higher tier cruisers, and a few destroyers can deploy a Repair Party .
Repair Parties restore points over time, some more or less effectively, e.g. Royal Navy repair parties are particularly effective.
Signal Flags
Increasing the Health Pool
Module (hull) upgrade
Commander Skills
Vigilance
Survivability Expert
WASD Haxx
The best way to mitigate damage is not to get hit in the first place.
Notes
- ↑ Exception: Steering Gears and Engine modules can be reduced to zero points, but cannot be destroyed.
Exception: Ship sections are parts of the hull. As such they cannot be independently destroyed. See Damage Saturation for more. - ↑ Because their Damage Control Party consumable is automatic rather than player-controlled, and because they have no Repair Party, the duration of fires aboard aircraft carriers is set artificially low. Historically, fires aboard aircraft carriers were a major, often fatal, problem.