After years of spraying trucks and trains with my machine guns to no end, I finally took the time to experiment with ground attacks to see just what you could take out with just machine guns. Turns out, that would be just about everything. You just have to put enough lead into em.
Thing is, you have to pick your target, you can’t just spray rounds into a supply truck column and expect something to go up. You can, of course, hit a whole truck column with strafing runs to soften them up, but after a couple of these, you have to start aiming at individual trucks before you run out of ammunition or get hit with ground fire.
I flew in behind the enemy lines to attack specific target types. Then, after I had destroyed the specified target, I stopped firing and either headed for home or quit the game.
Since my object was just to find out how many hits (not rounds fired, actual hits on the target) it took for each type of target I put on the invulnerability setting and unlimited ammo. Very unsporting of me, I know, BUT THIS IS FOR SCIENCE!!!!!!.
Here are the results:
Supply stacks – 1-2 hits easiest target out there, easy to see and go up in a very satisfying blaze. Usually well protected though.
MG nest – 2-3 hits, very easy to knock out but hard to spot…and they shoot back.
Field gun – 2-4 hits, very easy but even more difficult to spot than MG nests. You really have to get down on the deck to see them.
Flak gun – 2-4 hits, like MG nests, they shoot back.
Trucks, both covered and flat bed – 25 hits
Truck mounted AA guns – 25 hits, just like any truck, except it fights back.
.
Small tent – 20-30 hits, they will start to smoke then holes will appear in them. Easy target, visible and a large target. You can usually take one out in a single pass.
Large tent – 50 hits, very easy target, can be taken out in a single pass. Well protected by ground fire.
Parked aircraft – I used to think they wouldn’t go up, but after a few good passes they catch fire. To make them flame, you need about 80-90 hits. They do not count as aerial victories, only as another ground claim. Not really worth it unless you are on an airfield attack mission or just want the satisfaction. Lots of ground fire to deal with, as everybody knows.
Small hangar tent – about 100 hits and the whole thing just collapses.
Large hangar tent – about the same as the small tent hangar, very easy, big as a balloon but you have to take some ground fire.
Locomotive – between 150 and 200 hits. It may depend on the angle of attack.
Box car – about 125 hits and they flame up and get holes in them just like a bomb hit them.
Mark IV tank - Surprisingly, you can take out one of these monsters with about 200 hits from your machine guns. Suicidal though, They really, really shoot back and they’re always around the front line where the ground fire is thickest. I was only able to do this by making myself invulnerable. The pings on my machine from bullet strikes sounded like rain.
I tried to attack a German A7V during the Battle of Cambria with an SE5a, but every time I found one, the artillery took it out before I could get to it. Maybe I can spot some behind the lines on the road. I see them traveling near the aerodrome sometimes when I fly German.
Trenches - The best way to attack is from behind. Most of the shooters are facing forward. Best to not get closer than about 200 yards before turning around for another pass. You’ll take some hits regardless.
Buildings – I took out one of the huts at the rail station just to see if it would go up. It did, but I had been firing at other targets as well so I don’t know how many hits it took, probably about what a tank needs, about 200 or so.
I attached a few shots of the carnage I wreaked in the rear areas with my superpowers.