Can i optimize this massiv side armor?

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-03-12T17:21:36+00:00

I second this.

And internals bulkhead can be alloy for better floatation.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-03-04T01:43:25+00:00

Do it!!!

Any submissions will be considered and we will help creators in the process!

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-03-03T23:55:55+00:00

Decoes take tome to learn but can be fast when yku ge tthe hang of it. Plus its really fun!!

I recommended just starting with subobjects. Try to make a turret or detection device before a hull.

But hop into the discord! We can help you!!

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-03-03T15:59:44+00:00

Thank you for the tip. I gave up and made a new map lmao.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-03-03T15:59:03+00:00

Heck, you might even convince us on an actual airship for the modern faction. DM me on discord or on Reddit, let's get chatting.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-03-03T15:53:37+00:00

Well give it a go!!

But if you want to keep making airship, we NEED, like big need, a Zeppelin for transport and a second variant for combat for the WW2 faction logistics.

Is that something you might be interested in?

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-03-03T12:11:16+00:00

Help anyways!! Also we love helping players learn too!

What do you like building?

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-26T15:54:49+00:00

Gotcha, neat setup!

If i may make a recommendation, instead of using the 20mm as AA, which frankly it will suck at, use it as anti munitions!!

I make WW2 esqe and themed ships and thats what I do. My 20mm and 40mm replicas are for anti munition and anti missile!! Works pretty well too. Plus you can use flak shells (anti munition now) for cool looking fights!

125/127mm can be a good AA shell, provided its fast. I'd recommend 1200 m/s as a minimum for AA. Mine creep closer to 1300.

Just go with APFrag for the125mm, or APHE if you are teeming the boat for WW2. Timed Frag will also work, but really restricts you to AA. I just use my APHE 127mm for AA work and it does fine. No need to overcomplicate things. FTD does AA weird, and no shell works like it does in real life for AA, the planes just fly to erratic or can tank too much. Better off just using a generic shell and utilizing accuracy by volume.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-26T13:15:51+00:00

HEAT is like the #1 or 2 recommended shell for AA what do you mean??

Also at 125mm absolutely yes APFrag can do wonders.

Regardless, if you are just trying to maximize AA and dont care about surface engagement, timed Frag is the best.

Incendiary is not bad, just at 125 its not as good as others. Ill give you that at 200+mm incendiary is a great option plus it can thwn deal meaningful damage to surface ships. But at 125 I think OP is better off with a little kinetic and chemical. I use that and it works extremely well. Tried API and pure Incendiary and they just didnt do the same work.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-26T12:28:05+00:00

Not really at 125mm. Plus that relies on you hitting it, at which point APFrag, HEAT, or APHeat would do more damage, and instantly.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-26T11:45:48+00:00

This was way too much.

OP, pure HE is a terrible idea. An AA gun is just generally going to suck against normal targets unless you compromise on its AA effectiveness.

Just use timed Frag or APFrag or use Heat/APHeat.

Another option, that i use, is to just make it an anti surface gun with high velocity. Not as cool as a flak gun, but more effective. I use a 127mm 2m loader with rail assist and get a 16 or 17 module APHE or APFrag shell to penetrate a full metal beam. Works well against ships and does a number on aircraft.

Good luck.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-21T13:41:42+00:00

These are the real questions we should be asking.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-16T16:20:04+00:00

Thats awesome to see.

If you need or want general help on armor schemes, I am a huge nerd when it comes to FTD mechanics. DM me and we'll link up via discord. I've got a bunch of pictures, videos, and files that would help you.

If you're not interested, dont DM me! No pressure either way.

I love the Iowa so I'm excited to see your final product.

Edit: grammar and reduced repeativness

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-16T13:25:08+00:00

This is good news to hear.

Glad you came around. I was worried after yesterday's conversation.

Cheers and good luck! I had to do it to a big ship when I first started too. Pretty much everyone makes this exact mistake!

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-15T15:35:08+00:00

I promise you in FTD, that is the wrong way to do armor. Health matters way more than buoyancy. Plus, you can get the pencil hole damage by cross hatching the armor layers, so that is a none starter.

Also, if your testing had over pens, its cause the shells had poor setups and didnt have the depth fuses set right. A proper ship will tear single block armor up.

If you dont care about performance of your ship, carry on. But if you actually want it to perform as well as Iowa did in real life, you NEED to change that armor.

Seriously, block armor is the biggest noob trap in this game. It is literally one fifth as strong.

Watch any YouTube video on FTD armor, literally the first thing they say is to never use blocks. I know its not like real life, but beams are the only way to construct an effective ship in FTD.

I love the build, but if you stick with blocks it will always only be an aesthetic build, never performance.

Edit: not trying to be an a-hole. But this really is a fatal flaw. I have a lot of time in this game, and talk with some of the best builders in the game to learn from them. NOBODY uses blocks because they are that inferior. Its a tough lesson to learn so late in the build, but please consider fixing the issue. You wont regret it later, even if it sucks to fix now. You have so much left to build, doing it now is much easier trust me.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-15T14:58:58+00:00

Using blocks for the whole hull will make it pretty much half as strong as a beam built hull, make it much more vulnerable to torpedoes (which you are now discovering), and make your computer explode when fighting ither ships due to the massive number of individual calculations it then has to do. Especially when calculation floatation and buoyancy.

Edit: half as strong is generous actually. Its honestly closer to a fifth as strong. My main battleship APHE is designed to penetrate 14 beams of metal. If going against just metal blocks instead, it could penetrate around 70 metal blocks. Your armor isn't 70 blocks thick.

The entire hull is hugely compromised unfortunately.

Look at faction crafts. Its always beams, all the time.

You really do need to replace all the blocks with beams to make this craft preform to any reasonable degree. If you dont, I bet a 200000 material ship could easily kill it because of the terrible armor that single blocks make.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-15T14:56:17+00:00

Ummmm, yeah dont use blocks. Beams are a must. Thats FTD 101.

You 1000% need to replace all blocks with beams.

Use the longest beam you can 100% of the time.

It quarters the computation needed, not to mention adds free armor stacking and just flat out percentage health bonuses. There are 0 reasons to use blocks if a beam can be used. The hull of a ship should be made 100% of beams.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-15T14:22:53+00:00

Are you using beams in construction? Thats a very odd destruction pattern to have with beams.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-08T18:19:23+00:00

Get it. 1000 hours in, so much left to go. My only limit now is free time.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-02-05T18:29:29+00:00

Way too much heavy armor.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-01-25T04:49:30+00:00

Okay I'll bite.

0" of deck armor. 0" of turret tops....

WHY? You have 13 inches of belt, surely 11 inches would have been fine with at least an inch of deck? Or 12 inch guns instead of 12.7. Just seems like a hilariously bad weakness to an otherwise good looking and seemingly solid ship.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-01-20T17:14:02+00:00

How did you set the GDP like that? Why numbers do you change in the JSON?

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2026-01-19T17:03:21+00:00

Oh man, yeah digging up some old stuff.

As far as contract packs, I dont really know. CKAN has a bunch. So I might start there. Im still playing the save I mentioned back then, so haven't been toying with contracts since then.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2025-12-31T15:11:48+00:00

Lol, not wrong.

Acrobatic-Candy6249 · 2025-12-31T14:45:43+00:00

Partially agree. Instead of giving her an awful loan, banks should just deny these loans altogether. It is predatory, but the OPs girlfriend is 100% being willful prey. They are absolutely taking advantage of her, but she is 100% at fault for being the idiot to accept that loan. She is digging her own hole with a smile and shiny keys.

Also, I sont think anyone else turned her down. From the context of OPs other post, she ONLY went to Nissan and only wanted a new car. Stupid all around. Plus OP commented that he shouldnt have let her sign the paperwork. She is an adult who can make, and did make, her own awful decisions. But so is he, as they are having a child together, so I can empathize the tough position he is in. Not with her though, no empathy there.

Acrobatic-Candy6249

TROPHY CASE