How Close is Too Close??

[Barkhorn1x]

In terms of torp. arming. No closer than 400 yds.? 300? 200?

What's the deal?

Thanks.

[Quillan]

I've never fired closer than 400 yards in this game, and those have all worked properly. I'm guessing 300-350 yards.

[Chock]

The historically accurate figure would be 450 yards, but whether this is implemented in SH4 I don't know (I guess it probably is, but then again, some stuff in SH4 is poorly researched - i.e. the USAAF Lancaster).

On real torpedoes: At 450 yards the detonator safety mechanisms released and the weapon would be live, also at this distance travelled, more advanced torpedoes such as the 14 and 18 would also enable some counter-mining devices to prevent sympathetic detonation from other torpedoes fired in a spread. It was this, along with the poorly-designed contact head of the detonator and the faulty depth control on early torpedoes that led to many duds and misses.

In theory a glancing angle should offer more chance of a detonation on an early US torpedo than a square-on hit, owing to the poor design of the Mark 3 detonating trigger. (I've found that on many occasions the opposite is true in SH4 however).

One other issue with torpedoes in SH4 is that an under the keel detonation if it happens in the right place, is almost always a great hit. A US study from 1943 determined that this was not actually the case in reality, when it was found that a loss of stability was invariably the cause for most sinkings, rather than flooding. This is not implemented in SH4, as you will often see ships that would be massively unstable, owing to hits, still merrily making their way along.

So, go for 450 yards minimum.

[SteamWake]

If you hear "Torpedo in the wa....." Doink... you might be too close.

Honestly I let one loose the other night on a ship targeted at about 400 yards.

A second ship slipped its bow in and "intercepted" the shot Im guessing closer than 200 yards damn near hit me.

We all cringed as the torp detonated and shook the entire boat.

Ive been working alot harder on my situational awarness since this mishap.

[Chock]

When one of my multiplayer sessions degenerated into a 'screw it, let's surface and blast them' affair (we nailed four destroyers BTW), I actually rammed a destroyer and while my boat was riding over the mid section of the destroyer, I launched a bow torpedo for a laugh, it just pooped out and then sank.

What a disappointment, I thought I was in for a ringside seat on the mother of all explosions. :arrgh!:

I demand that the devs fix this at once! - That's a joke by the way, before the flames arrive.

[bruschi sauro]

I am guessing from 300/550.:yep:

[Tarl]

I think the 450 is about right in game. I was in a big storm, visibility down, rain, huge waves..........I popped up the scope for a quick look, right in the middle of a convoy. A huge tanker was 406y to my rear, I quickly fired 3 torps and all three (3) struck but did NOT explode. I'm assuming they didn't arm. :(

[Barkhorn1x]

450 it is then. Thanks all.

[SteamWake]

I read a thread here that someone had a torp premature detonate as soon as it left the tube or it hit a rock or bottom or something.

He claimed it blew up as soon as it was launched and sank him.

I have had shots inside of 450 yards detonate but if you use 450 as a rule of thumb your safe... except for those circular runners :up:

[Steel_Tomb]

lol i normally fire from 1400 :arrgh!:

[maerean_m]

I've been surprised once by a DD and had to fire from 100 meters. Enough said, the DD when down :D

[TripleDaddy]

I tend to engage at near point-blank range and I've never had a torp detonate inside 200 yards. I have had successful attacks inside 400 yards though...

[Chuck B.]

Just to clarify: Is the range set comes from the TDC in yards or feet?

[Platapus]

lol i normally fire from 1400 :arrgh!:

Yikes! that is far for a normal shot. I like to get up close and personal.

However I have shot at crippled ships at over 2000 but never normal shots.

How is your miss rate at that distance?

[mcoca]

Just to clarify: Is the range set comes from the TDC in yards or feet?
Meters.

No, I'm not kidding. See here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=112747

[Chuck B.]

Oops!

I better switch back to metric then, since it doesn't make sense to have a mixed system really.

[cmdrk]

Just to keep things clear. The torpedo run is the factor in arming distance. There are several distances involved - the distance to target track and distance to target at time of firing are others.

Although, there seems to be experiences with a very short arming distance. Torpedo malfunction maybe?

[Barkhorn1x]

Just to clarify: Is the range set comes from the TDC in yards or feet?
Meters.

No, I'm not kidding. See here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=112747

Yea, ain't that sumthin'? It KILLS me to use metric in a WWII US Fleet boat - just as it would KILL me to use Imperial in a U-boat. Where's the immersion in that?

So my solution is to get real close so the diff. in measurments hardly matters. Hence the start of this thread.

[tater]

CCIP posted that in the tweak files the arming distance for all torpedos is set to 220m (240.59 yards) default.

tater

[mcoca]

Yea, ain't that sumthin'? It KILLS me to use metric in a WWII US Fleet boat - just as it would KILL me to use Imperial in a U-boat. Where's the immersion in that?
I agree, but on the other hand, I completely understand the devs decision of making the engine do the calculations in metric. I can only begin to imagine the bugs if they had tried to switch the underlying code to imperial, and I do software development for a living.

So my solution is to get real close so the diff. in measurments hardly matters. Hence the start of this thread.
Sorry for the thread highjack :) I have tested the arming distance with a single mission I created, using the bearing overlay in yards and map contacts on to measure distance. The torpedo launched at around 325 yards detonated correctly, while the one launched at around 275 bounced off the ship. So, if the arming distance is not 300 yards, it's not far from it.

In any case, for a roughly 90 deg AOB solution, I think the 9% error in the conversion is not significant. I know I hit ships perfectly without any correction.

[joea]

Yea, ain't that sumthin'? It KILLS me to use metric in a WWII US Fleet boat - just as it would KILL me to use Imperial in a U-boat. Where's the immersion in that?
I agree, but on the other hand, I completely understand the devs decision of making the engine do the calculations in metric. I can only begin to imagine the bugs if they had tried to switch the underlying code to imperial, and I do software development for a living.



Too bad, couldn't it be converted somehow to imperial when shown up but yea that makes sense.