(FOTS) AP vrs. HE naval rounds

[Father Ribs]

Been looking and among the other items not clearly explained anywhere; trying to determine when to use AP versus HE rounds in naval combat. HE seems to be wonderful for the most part, but at what point will you get better returns using AP and advanced AP rounds? Ironclads I assume always the best AP round, but how about copper plated or iron plated traditional ships? Is HE superior on "open deck" ships, iron plated included? Does AP do less damage than the initial "regular" ammo against wooden ships?

Do people micromanage ammo type in battle? I would if I could get ships to focus on particular targets without changing course.

[Cruzz]

HE seems to be wonderful for the most part, but at what point will you get better returns using AP and advanced AP rounds?

Ironclads have very low chance of catching fire (0.01 vs 0.1 for ironplateds vs 0.6 for others). AP ammunition also has incendiary effects, they're rated low(AP)/medium(adv) while HE is (high). Not sure which incendiary stat from the files would be applied and not going to bother testing this. Apart from the incendiary rating all stats are same or better on AP ammunition.

You're probably better off using AP rounds instead of HE if you are only facing ironplateds or ironclads. Especially on corvettes/frigates because they have a penalty to HE reload rate (ironclads/gunboats don't).

Ironclads I assume always the best AP round, but how about copper plated or iron plated traditional ships? Is HE superior on "open deck" ships, iron plated included?

Copper and wooden ships really don't differ from each other. The only differences according to game files:
Kaiten, Kanko Maru, zero difference.
Kanrin Maru, +1 speed.
Kasuga, +1 speed, +1 to turning rates on low speeds.
Kaiyo Maru (frigate), -1 speed (???).

Though there might be some fun little bonus hidden elsewhere. But I wouldn't count on it.

I'd say ADV > HE > AP vs wooden/copper ships. HE is better than AP despite the reload increase (for non-ironclads) because it has higher damage and much higher fire chance, but worse than ADV because the base damage difference goes away, the reload difference still remains and the incendiary effect difference is smaller.

Does AP do less damage than the initial "regular" ammo against wooden ships?

They have the same base damage as normal shot (adv-ap has slightly more), but slower reload.

[Father Ribs]

Thanks for the info.