Newbie Torpedo help

[f16falcon]

Hi Guys,
OK im easing myself into the life of a u boat kapitan....Torpedoes, i want to run on manual settings (is this wise), so any help you guys have on targeting and firing would be helpfull. Im reading Wazoos tutorial now, but any advice from experienced kapitans would be welcome...such as indentification and time etc, and is it a case of timing a ship from point a to b..to determine speed etc??
Thx

[_Seth_]

Hi mate! A good tool to use to train yourself before getting into the hardcore manual targeting world, is an intercept calculator. Here is one made by David Sandberg: http://files.filefront.com/intercalkrar/;6284331;;/fileinfo.html

And remember: Take in account that if you fire your torpedoes with the torpedo tube doors locked, this will affect the calculations you have made. Always open the tube doors before firing, to get the best result! Good luck, matey, and happy hunting! :up::up:

Edit: Timing a ship:

The 3:15 rule:
When you spot a ship, mark its position on the map with an x. Start the stopwatch, and when the clock reaches 3 minutes and 15 seconds, mark the ships position again. The distance between those two points indicated the speed of the ship. IE: If the ship has travelled 1200 meters, its speed is 12 knots. If it has travelled 800 meters, its speed is 8 knots.

The 90 degree way:

Position yourself at an 90 degree angle of the target. When the bow of the ship passes your crosshair (scope/uzo) start the stopwatch. let the watch run until the ships stern passes your crosshair, then stop the clock. Now: Take the length of the ship (see in rec.manual) and DIVIDE it with the time, then multiply with 1,946. If the ship is 91 meters, and the time it took to pass with one shiplength is 32 seconds, the figures will look like this:
91 divided with 32 = 2,84... Then multiply 2,84 with 1,946 = 5.53 knots!

[AVGWarhawk]

What I did was use the academy for torpedos over and over. Used outside view to see how the torpedos run. How depth settings worked. Practiced over and over. As far as doing all the manual inputs. I do not do them. I use Weapon Officer assist. In my view that is what he is there for. Other than that if he is of no help then all he does is eat my ham and bananas I have stowed on the overhead pipes. You got to earn your keep on my boat:nope:

[f16falcon]

Guys, thanks to both of you, yes i want to know the theory of manual targeting..but like AVGWarhawk says, weapons officers were there for a reason. So to make it more real as a Kapitan i would delegate this responsibility to my officers..would i? Great advice guys..thanks so much! What distance is a good range to loose off one of my babys? also what level of realism is the best to play at?
Im learning so much and i will practice.

[_Seth_]

Other than that if he is of no help then all he does is eat my ham and bananas I have stowed on the overhead pipes. :rotfl::rotfl::up::up:

[Iron Budokan]

When I first started playing I did everything myself to prove to myself I could do it. No more. Now I put the weapons officer to work otherwise I might as well use him for ballast...

And if I have to kick that lazy watch officer out of his bunk one more time.... :damn:

[TarJak]

I'm the same. When I started using SHI back in the day I taught myself how to do all the calulations use a whiz wheel and the TDC setting. Now Weps gets a workout instead of hanging around the radio room perving on the pinup girls. That's what not he's there for so put him to work.

[AVGWarhawk]

Guys, thanks to both of you, yes i want to know the theory of manual targeting..but like AVGWarhawk says, weapons officers were there for a reason. So to make it more real as a Kapitan i would delegate this responsibility to my officers..would i? Great advice guys..thanks so much! What distance is a good range to loose off one of my babys? also what level of realism is the best to play at?
Im learning so much and i will practice.

I have everything turned off with exception of outside views and the weapons officer assist. But again, when I first started I pretty much had all the helps on until I understood the dynamics of silent running, torpedo usage, how the crew sleeps on the job;) . I did not bother with theory much. Just watched outside view and my torpedo trail. Once I saw the best postions for best results. Off I went. Then I simply turned them off and have not looked back. But, I can dig where you are coming from on learning the theory:know: ....then seeing in practice.

As far as distance of first shot, I get to within 2000m. No closer than 500m..the torpedo needs some distance to arm. I prefer the bow as close to 90 degrees as possible to the target. I'm a big impact trigger fan as well. The magnetic just does not do it for me. It is all in what gets the job done for most, so all suggestions are good!

[High Voltage]

Hey welcome aboard!
I agree that Impact torpedoes are preferable as they tend to be a little more reliable, but for them to work properly you have to be as close to perpendicular to your target as possible, to keep them from simply deflecting off the hull and alerting everyone to your presence.:nope:

If you spot a juicy target but are unable to get yourself in the ideal AOB=90 position, then it's worth it to go with magnetic: As your torpedo will be coming under the vessel at an angle, it will spend more time under the hull, giving it more time to detect the ship's magnetic field and detonate.:up:


hope this helps, and listen to what your fellow Kaleuns have to say, the experienced ones have learned their lessons through countless sinkings and ships sunk!!

High Voltage

[f16falcon]

Fantastic advice guys, and yes im more than willing to listen to wise words of the seasoned!! Thanks so much!