Shell library - nrlulz/ACF GitHub Wiki

This page presents the different kinds of shell provided by ACF, what their effects are, and how to use them to win battles.

Speed

Fast shells make it easier to hit your target, but they have a larger chance of bouncing off sloped armour. Slow shells make it more difficult to hit targets - especially moving ones - because you need to account for gravity and movement, but they come with advantages. Slower shells use less space for propellant, so your shell can become more powerful. Slow shells can be fired at a higher angle, meaning they fall onto the target at a higher angle too. This makes them very effective against sloped armour and 'pancake' tanks. Fast, piercing shells can tear apart unsloped armour. Heavy shells do more damage versus all types of armor than light ones.

Armour Piercing (AP)

AP shells only pierce through armour. This makes them extremely effective against ductile armour, but bad against brittle armour. AP shells are best used to snipe critical components within a vehicle. They are also good for "battering" very thick armor apart.

Armour Piercing, High Explosive (APHE)

APHE acts like an AP shell until it meets armour that it can't pierce - then it explodes. APHE combines AP and HE behaviour, but is less potent than either one. APHE will not pierce brittle armour, but it will kill it. Very useful against spaced and composite armours as the explosion will occur between the plates and tear it apart. Bad against very ductile and low-armoured vehicles unless you target critical components - the shell will pass straight through the vehicle without exploding.

High Explosive (HE)

HE explodes on contact without piercing at all, however these shells carry a lot more explosive power than APHE and HEAT. These shells are bad against ductile armour (which is for use against explosions), but very good against brittle armour which will be quickly shattered by the blast. High explosive is good for hitting wheels or other vulnerable, small components. It is defeated often by spaced armor that will sacrifice itself to set off the HE charge further out from the tank, decreasing its effect.

High Explosive, Anti-Tank (HEAT)

HEAT shells explode on contact, releasing a small stream of molten metal (known as a penetrator) which proceeds to pierce the armour. The secondary explosive effect is considerably weaker than a HE shell of similar size. While HEAT can surpass AP in penetration ability, it must sacrifice considerable muzzle velocity to do so. A low muzzle velocity can actually be useful though, as it results in a higher arcing trajectory. This can result in a less angled impact into armor, or hitting the less armored top of vehicles. The penetrator itself does very little damage and is easily defeated by layered or spaced armor, however it cannot ricochet and devastates sensitive components like ammo or engines. The high penetrative ability, high arc, and the penetrators immunity to ricochets makes HEAT very useful against sloped armor and pancake tanks.

Hollow Point (HP)

HP shells are like APHE shells but with no explosion. They have low piercing ability but apply a large pushing force when they flatten against armour. These can be used against light vehicles to throw them around. They're almost never used, but can be hilarious...

Smoke (SM)

Smoke rounds release a large obscuring smoke cloud. Use this smoke tactically to hide yourself while you move, to reduce enemy accuracy or more. WP filler produces a quick cloud which dissipates quickly, while smoke filler slowly releases a long lasting dense cloud.