Destroyer's Evasive run..frustrated..

[eatmafish]

well, not sure if anyone playing manual TDC found it the same. I tried many times trying to attack a nearby DD. because of their smart evasive manouvers - speed and course changes within a matter of seconds (all stop and pinging me like crazy, then went all flank when they saw the torpedo) , it seems almost impossible to hit them, even with salvos of all 4 aft torps at a DD only 700 meters away.:stare: I'm now heavily frustrated. :damn: any vets out there got any tips on attacking evasive DDs or maybe we can only rely on luck and call it a night? :88)

[AVGWarhawk]

Do what I do when they are ready and waiting for your torps. Set the torp speed 2-3 kts higher the you normally would. When they attempt to motor off, blamo......plus add some spread:D

[Rockin Robbins]

I've abandoned firing spreads at escorts. They're not good enough tonnage to justify multiple torpedoes, and they're capable of dodging a spread just as well as a single torpedo. With this in mind I've changed my anti-escort tactics.

If you have the renown to spend on some cuties, when you have at least two escorts hunting for you, set AoB to zero or 180. Then when both escorts are arrayed ahead or behind you, giving you more than one possible target for your cutie, ascend to 99' (max torpedo launch depth) and loose a cutie in their direction. Now the fun part: Once the cutie gets 800 to 1000 yards behind, hit full power for 20 seconds or so, pointing straight at the cutie. This will turn the cutie back toward you. Bad move? Where do escorts have to go to kill you? Hehehehehehe. Repeat as necessary until you hear a boom. It works well and you can control that cutie for an amazing amount of time before it becomes inactive. Disadvantage: escorts are not profitable renown-wise compared to the cost of the cutie. However, if the cutie gets you to the merchies, you don't care!:arrgh!:

I've been playing with some Mark 18s and single down the throat shots. I had good success with Mk 14s last cruise. I seem to be much less likely to hit my target with the slower Mk 18. But I've only shot 3 or 4 of them and hit one. Maybe I just got unlucky, but I don't think so. I think the slower speed hurts my chances.

Here's what I do. First I set up AoB for zero or 180 depending on forward or aft torpedo tube. When the escort is charging straight at me and the bearing steadies, I lock the periscope and press the range/bearing send button on the TDC. I am at ahead slow. Then I switch to the attack screen (F6 in TM) watching the torpedo track line and the escort range. If the escort gets to 400 yards and is on the line I shoot one torpedo, hit full left or right rudder, "D" to dive and "5" for ahead emergency. Down scope! Once you are 30º off your original course, hit the apostrophe to straighten the rudder maximizing speed on the way down. Upon reaching the thermal barrier, go to silent running and change course again. Somewhere in this process you are supposed to hear a boom. It's not supposed to be you that's blowing up.

[AVGWarhawk]

I've abandoned firing spreads at escorts. They're not good enough tonnage to justify multiple torpedoes, and they're capable of dodging a spread just as well as a single torpedo.

If they are after me with a good fix they get the full salvo:yep: . Other than that, I do avoid them. If need be I up the kts by 2-3 just in case they floor it.

[eatmafish]

thanks captains for your tips. I tried another 4 or 5 times at the same Akatsuki. Bearing was steady at about 180. wait until range close to 300 meters :arrgh!:.. tried without position keeper..don't think you need PK at this range right? but still.... all my stern shots missed ! :huh: unfortunately external cam was disabled so no visual verification.. but how can we miss at this range? something is wrong there or maybe i was chased by a ghostship? :88)
btw, tried both contact /magnetic detonation so depth can't be an issue.
a screenie just before my attack:
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/616/sh48jh8.jpg
since she's steady on bearing 182, what i did was leave PK off and leave all settings to 0. or is range or speed still a factor here? sry for the noob questions. :oops: just can't believe what just happened.

[Rockin Robbins]

Oh, I forgot. Set torpedoes to run on the surface. Those DDs don't drag much water and torpedoes like to run deeper than set.:oops:

OK, from your example, you needed to hit the send range/bearing button to get that 2º correction. You also should have been looking at the attack map when you fired, so you could read the range right off the 360º bearing plotter. That's much quicker and more accurate than the stadimeter. Fire at 400 yards for a high probability shot and get the sam hill out of there. If you hit you'll hear it...

And your hit probability is still something less than 50%. Cheers!

[eatmafish]

thanks and very good point Robbins. I tried again with a salvo of three fishes setting all depth at 1m by contact. one missed, one hit but was dud (dud torpedo setting turned on). :damn: another one finally impact :D. but it could very well be a ghostship as it quickly shakes off the hit and resumed on chase at full speed! :88) didn't even saw her caught any fire through my periscope as a result of the hit...had to launch the final aft torp seconds later when the beast closed within 250 meters...saw the trail of torp directly went thru the ship on my attack map but no impact! and i thought it was also set at 1m by contact :huh:. one thing i'm sure is that next patrol I will untick that dud torpedo setting box for sure. :oops:

[Will-Rommel]

Torpedoes need a minimum of 300 meters to arm their explosives pistols, this is why you want to fire at approximatively 400m. If you fire at 300m or less, the fish wont explode because you give it no time to arm itself.

[Wilcke]

DD hunting can be a lot of fun although it does not pay much in tonnage dividends. For some visceral fun load up the Burma Convoy single mission and just pop the old periscope up and yell "Here DD", "Here DD" and watch them saunter over for a quick cup of tea!

Good practice squirting torpedoes out at them. You can have up to 4 DD's running around you!:up: Good, quick and dirty action....ya gotta be quick or your :dead: !

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

Yep, I've given up hunting DDs. When I intercept a TF I go in and get the big target then high-tail outta Dodge! All I have to do is dodge the DDS and escape which isn't easy to do. So don't bother going for DDs unless one is parked up in port.

[k1l0]

ahead flank towards the DD, same over there ... head on, fire and crash dive , 90% success rate :88)