Rough weather

[Tempest123]

Okay, I'm new to the sim, Started a few careers, sunk a few ships, playing at full real except for the weapons officer assistance, which I think is more realistic anyways (I want a least one crew member who actually does something except "get tired"). I've had trouble with ships in bad weather, lots of torpedo failures and misses, and of course no deck gun usage. Whats the best way to deal with a zig zagging ship in bad weather? Should I just tail him until things get better?

[VONHARRIS]

Torpedo misses and duds were part of a real U boat attack , so just let them happen.
As for trackinga ship in bad weather , I always think by the tonnage.
For example if I intercept a small merchant in bad weather I will fire ONE torpedo and go, or even I will let her pass. On the other hand I will not let a whale factory ship escape that easily.
It is up to you.
Just enjoy the game.

[Bakkels]

Originally Posted by VONHARRIS

Torpedo misses and duds were part of a real U boat attack , so just let them happen.

That's true, but there's one thing you can do to avoid this in rough weather; set all your torpedoes to explode on impact instead of magnetic. (In the tdc screen -where you can manually target your torpedoes etc- set the 'pistol' switch for each torpedo to 'I' instead of 'M') Also, don't set your torpedoes to run to deep, this way, they don't miss their targets. Magnetic detonation was designed for torpedoes to go off about 1,5 meter under your target without the torpedo actually hitting the ship. Beside the damage from the torpedo's explosion, it also creates a vacuum which makes the target flood with water. So basically, a torpedo set for magnetic detonation causes more damage.
In rough seas however, the target goes up and down because of the bigger waves, so the magnetic torpedo sometimes misses the target as it's too high in the water to set off the magnetic trigger.

[maillemaker]

Bad weather can be a real killer. Visibility can be so low that you can't see them until it's just time to fire.

Early in the war (before 1941) you can get away with this, as usually the merchants don't have guns. If you run into a ship like this that has guns, like a destroyer, they will paste you before you can get under.

You can use your sonar to try and shadow them until weather is favorable.

Magnetics are risky in bad weather. The more waves, the more likely a predetonation is. Predetonation is unlikely under 500m though - I've never seen it in-game. However, normally with magnetics you try and shoot under the hull, and in rough seas the ship may buck so much that your torpedo passes under it without going off.

As said above, I tend to run torps shallower and with impact pistols in rough seas.

Steve

Zig zagging means you've been detected. Attack over.

Disengage. Then you can take up the chase again in a few hours, if the weather permits.

An attack in Heavy Fog is not a good idé.
Visibilty 300 meters and under.
Torpedo arming reqires 300 meters and over.
Realy simple math says it isn't worth the risks.

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by Snestorm

Zig zagging means you've been detected. Attack over.

Disengage. Then you can take up the chase again in a few hours, if the weather permits.

An attack in Heavy Fog is not a good idé.
Visibilty 300 meters and under.
Torpedo arming reqires 300 meters and over.
Realy simple math says it isn't worth the risks.

Visibility that poor you usually end up running into the other boat! If you have fair-poor visibility and can see about 1000m or so you still have a shot of the large ships, though it will require either some measure of manual targeting.

You'll need to watch the movement of the boats and wait until the point when they zigzag towards your heading. Once they've started turning towards you plot the solution, unlock the scope and aim the recticle towards the forecastle of the ship, maybe a bit ahead of it using a medium to low depth setting. Imagine the ship is a baseball bat and you need to time your pitch (for this analogy assume you're in batting practice) so that when it reaches the batter the ball is in the position where his bat is swinging such that it makes contact.

[kapuhy]

With really bad weather (like, you can see the target at 300-350 meters and your crew spots it at 200), I had some success attacking from stern tube at point blank range, something like this:



Red - enemy ship, black - U-Boat, green - torpedo path. I position myself on parallel course, overtake him and then turn 90 deg. away. With torpedo already pre-set in TDC, I fire when he starts to fade into the fog at about 300 meters. Even a zigzaging ship has little chance of dodging a shot at this distance (especially if it's big, and I don't even try to attack small ships in such a weather).

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by kapuhy

With really bad weather (like, you can see the target at 300-350 meters and your crew spots it at 200), I had some success attacking from stern tube at point blank range, something like this:



Red - enemy ship, black - U-Boat, green - torpedo path. I position myself on parallel course, overtake him and then turn 90 deg. away. With torpedo already pre-set in TDC, I fire when he starts to fade into the fog at about 300 meters. Even a zigzaging ship has little chance of dodging a shot at this distance (especially if it's big, and I don't even try to attack small ships in such a weather).

That's about the only way I've found to do it, and it's difficult to pull off, unless you can plot an intercept from sonar bearings. Even then, it's difficult to be in perfect position, last time I did it, I took damage from the explosion.

Originally Posted by kapuhy

With really bad weather (like, you can see the target at 300-350 meters and your crew spots it at 200), I had some success attacking from stern tube at point blank range, something like this:



Red - enemy ship, black - U-Boat, green - torpedo path. I position myself on parallel course, overtake him and then turn 90 deg. away. With torpedo already pre-set in TDC, I fire when he starts to fade into the fog at about 300 meters. Even a zigzaging ship has little chance of dodging a shot at this distance (especially if it's big, and I don't even try to attack small ships in such a weather).

That or staying paralell to him, and firing off a 90 degree shot at 200 to 300 meters.
The torpedo travels about 100 meters before starting it's turn.

Either way can be pretty risky, and requires the TDC to be preset.
If he sees, and turns toward us we loose.

Without the element of surprise, the whole thing is just a big crap shoot.
Not my style.

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by Tempest123

Whats the best way to deal with a zig zagging ship in bad weather? Should I just tail him until things get better?

"Zig-zagging" ships actually run a slow, regular serpentine course, with no speed changes. You can set your watch to them.

So, if you have the patience, you can easily calculate how often the target (and this can be a merchant OR a capital warship) will reach the end of the curve and, for a few seconds, be parallel to its original course.

Knowing that, it just requires positioning.

In rough seas, you probably want an AOB 90 impact shot at 2-3 meters under the waterline (depends on target), just behind the bow. Try to make the shot at 320-350 meters so that the AOB changes little during the torpedo run.

In calmer, but foggy, conditions, run a magnetic under her from just off the stern, say at 250 meters distance.

I find bad-weather shots tricky, so if the target is under 5K tons, I weigh the weather, my position, whether I want to invest in possibly chasing this thing if I just wing it, the time of day. all that. A coastal freighter at nightfall in bad weather is probably getting a pass.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

"Zig-zagging" ships actually run a slow, regular serpentine course, with no speed changes. You can set your watch to them.

So, if you have the patience, you can easily calculate how often the target (and this can be a merchant OR a capital warship) will reach the end of the curve and, for a few seconds, be parallel to its original course.

Knowing that, it just requires positioning.

I've bagged at a least a couple that way, when I was spotted on the surface and the weather was too rough for the guns. I just submerged and waited until I saw what zig they were zagging and set up a shot accordingly.

Sometimes the dumber ones even resume a straight course before I've gotten myself into position.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

"Zig-zagging" ships actually run a slow, regular serpentine course, with no speed changes. You can set your watch to them.

That's true 99.9% of the time, but I have seen a few of them continue around in a few circle or another radical manuever to alter their course. I'm not sure what does it. They could be attempting to ram me, as after my initial attack on unarmed/escorted merchants, I usually pop to the surface to quickly close in for the kill.

I too wait for them to hit the apex of their zig, but on occasion, they've never returned from their zag. Very very rare though, so it shouldn't alter your tactics in these scenarios.