Mark 18 torpedoes - utterly useless

[Mios 4Me]

Am I doing something wrong or are these completely useless?

I've noticed issues during normal patrols where they've been an occasionally unreliable sniping tool, but they've been atrocious playing in the Missions section during the Leyte battles. I have missed with several salvos against crippled Yamatos and a Kongo at ranges from 700 to 1500 meters and in normal attacks from 330-345 degrees from ~1500 meters, using depths of 4.5-9.5 meters to try cracking the magazines. I used the entire loadout of torpedoes to sink the Musashi off Palawan because every single Mk 18 missed. Every followup Mark 14 hit.

Wish there were a way to have a full complement of Mark 16s instead...

[fireftr18]

The 18 is slower torpedo compared to the 14. I've been using them with tremendous success. Keep in mind, you shot them at crippled ships. Remember, the target speed entered when the torpedo is fired is the target speed that will determine the torpedo path. Once the torpedo is fired, the path is set and can't be changed. If you have a target slowing quickly, that will put the target behind the torpedo path.

[propbeanie]

... and if you neglect to open the torpedo doors prior to firing, and let the game open them for you, you lose a couple of seconds on the solution, and will miss behind... Not forgetting to mention that if you have the "Duds" activated in the game, when the 18s come out in 1943/4, they were actually worse than the 14s, as far as speed, accuracy, and even failures of their motors to start up, resulting in torpedoes barely making it out of the tube, and then dropping to the ocean floort... Even after they were through their "teething" period, they had a nasty tendency to run erratically, in spite of checking, double- & triple-checking them, even to the point of pulling them out of a tube if not fired, and pulling routine maintenance and charging of the battery - which could make hydrogen and then catch fire / explode. Read up on the Tang sometime, to find out about the 18 torpedo. When they work and you allow for their slower speed, you can really take out some ships, but they do have a tendency to turn around (literally), and bite you. Of course, the 14s could do that trick also.. One of the main problems with the 18 was that it was an exact copy of the German G7e, warts and all...

[Mios 4Me]

Thanks for the analysis; it explains a lot. I hadn't allowed for quick deceleration which accounts for some instances, but can't make sense of the failures on the crippled Kongo and Yamato off Samar in my thread of why i love the game. I had a stern shot on the former moving slowly away at a 45 degree angle, using a Mk 14 and a Mk 18, one set at 10 meters and the other at 5 meters, hoping to crack the magazine of Turret B. The Mk 14 was dead on; the Mk 18 was lost without a trace. From the bow, I fired four Mk 18s at the latter which was approaching at reduced speed at roughly a 40 degree angle from 850 meters. All were aimed at the A and B turrets. Again, nothing. Maybe he combed them but I don't see how.

In the case of the Palawan ambush, the Yamato captain can really shave off some speed quickly if I'm detected, but even with no audible alarms nor searchlights and attacking from <1500 meters, the Mark 18s are a little behind the aiming point. Before I begin attacks, I open all doors, so it's not that.

[propbeanie]

One of the great things about SH4 is Monday morning quarterbacking, something the guys at Cavite and Pearl never had the luxury of. Take a Single Mission you are now familiar with (Samar??) and play it like you always do. When you are finished, don't exit the scenario. "Save Game" it, naming it something memorable (NO SPACES IN THE NAME), but also tick the "Save Replay", then exit the scenario back to the menu. Now "Load Game" and from there, select your Save, but tick that "Load Replay" instead of "Load", and you'll be on the outside of your sub, looking over your right shoulder, like an umpire over the catcher... you can click in the time line below to advance, but there is no rewind. You'd have to reload to do that... but you can follow your torpedoes around and see what happened. There are little marks on there, like green vertical lines are torpedoes shot, and brown ones are ships sunk?? Been too long since I did it... This is also a good way to "record" a video of what happened, going through the scenario a few times, moving the camera about as appropriate for different camera angles. Very nice feature. Do some editing and post it on ToobYu or some such... Just be aware that some effects look different from various angles. Also, do not do this in a Career, because your save file would be ~huge~.

[Mios 4Me]

Excellent idea - I just started playing the Missions and hadn't tried that. I really do need to clean out all the old saved patrols from the previous career once I find the correct folder.


I took your suggestion, reconsidered my targeting priorities (COM, i.e. engines vs. magazines), watched for speed dropping off, and scored a near-perfect game: two Kongos, one Yamato sunk and only three friendly ships lost. That last number looks to increase by one SS as the IJN brought its A-game DD skippers and there's no one left in the area to distract them.

Realism wasn't set very high, so I won't post it online, but will enjoy creating the video, I think.