Torpedo loadout combinations?

[Paul Riley]

As new torpedoes become available later in the war it gets a bit of a challenge trying to work out your best loadout for the patrol.
Personally,I still like to use the early steam torps as the speed is still a winner,but the bubble trail is not.Electrics are good for stealth,but their speed can be a bit of a letdown,not to mention their depth problems etc.
In my last patrol I was engaging a convoy in both day and night scenarios,so naturally this would be a consideration,and you would want to take torps for day and night respectively?,both steam and electrics.I also had a great opportunity to sink a light cruiser towards the end of my patrol but had no torps left,so maybe you would want to take two of the newer falkes for this job?
I am very interested in what some of your loadouts might be,and why you want to use that loadout.In other words,what conditions influence your choices?

:know:

[danlisa]

I usually split my tubes between electric & steam. That way I can loose a couple of electics towards a few targets but before they reach half way, I fire off a couple of steams on fast run. That means that as the electrics detonate and the convoy starts to zig zag the steams will reach their targets before the ships deviate too far off course. Usually this results is a 4 ship kill in one attack run.

Other than that the only other torp I use is a late war homer and then only in a stern tube to deter the following destroyers.

[Murr44]

I tend to stick with the default loadout: tubes 1 & 4: G7e, tubes 2 & 3: G7a, tube 5: G7a. If I hit a ship with 1 forward tube shot and it requires a second torpedo I sometimes try to finish it off with a stern shot. Otherwise I find that I just don't use stern torpedoes all that much. Like you I prefer the old G7a because of the speed. I remember reading somewhere here that the G7e loses accuracy with distance so it's best employed in short range shots.

[Leg]

I usually I keep 2 tubes with electric torpedos and 2 tubes type 1; in the stern (with the type IX) an electric and one steam.

A question, what's your torpedo load? I've heard that in real uboats they kept all electric torpedoes in the internal reserves and the steam ones in the external ones as they did not need great manteinance compared to the electric. Is that true?

[Paul Riley]

Cheers for the replies so far on this topic :up:
Well,I have just done a bit of planning for my 4th patrol which i'm about to embark on,and i've just finished the torpedo loadout on paper.This is my current loadout,based on certain conditions from my previous patrol

4 standard electrics loaded in the fore tubes.I found during the last convoy engagement that the attacks alternated between day and night,and I have no problems attacking in both conditions as I attack around the clock anyway.Some people prefer to attack only at night,and break off in the day,so naturally they will tailor their uboat for that.

I also put 4 standard steam torps in reserve too,as I still like to use them,and find I can still hit targets effectively with these.These then will be saved for a following night attack,at ranges not exceeding 2000m.

Towards the end of my last patrol we were spotted by what looked like a Light Cruiser (our first encounter with said class of ship) at about 10.000 tonnes,and I wished I had 2 torpedoes for that ship,but sadly we ran out.Therefore,I thought it prudent to also pop in 2 Falke Torpedoes in the fore tubes also,reserved exclusively for any high value warships only,light cruisers,battleships etc.You never know when a perfect opportunity will arise to sink some proper tonnage.And I still have not managed to sink a major warship yet in my career,other than 1 or 2 small DDs earlier in the war.
Incidentally I have not used the Falkes yet,but i'm hoping I may get the chance soon.

There are 3 spare steam torps in the external tubes,and 1 more Falke in the aft tube for emergency pursuits.This seems to be a popular choice with many of you,and having an emergency solution in the rear seems a logical choice.

I think this hopefully we give me a fairly balanced offensive capability.

Let me know what you think :up:

[Synthfg]

Because I tend to gun for the escorts in my type IX I load

2 Type II and 2 Type I in the Bow tubes and 1 of each in the stern

With the internal reloads a mix of both and the externals all type 1's (apparently the II's don't like the water)

In later campaigns the II's get replaced with III's and some of the I's with acoustics

I lost all faith in the pattern followers following an incident when playing SH II where the eel

i) Missed it's primary target and carried on into the convoy,
ii) Missed 2 intermediate streams of traffic before pulling a 90 degree turn less than 50m from a sure hit on a tanker,
iii) Came back through the convoy missing everything again
iv) Turned just before hitting a large merchant on the near stream

I took this as a sign form King Posiden that this method of attack was not for me :wah:

[Task Force]

And if you get in a path following torpedos path... you will also go boom...

I always take steam... I dont like for my target to have time to react as a slower eletric torpedo sails towards it.

[Kapt Z]

Mostly steam torps and maybe one or two electrics in the stern for the first few years then transition to more electrics later on.

[Bent Periscope]

I’m in early 1942, just obtained an IXC and knew I was sailing the Americas after my obligatory trip to Africa’s western coast.

I only had access to the original steam and electric torpedoes. I only took steam torpedoes since I’m expecting to mainly encounter single ships and not too much defense. I usually hear them, figure out their course & speed and then I race ahead to set up for a 90% angle attack at close range.

When I’m ready, I get as close to their course as possible, usually I end up a little over 300 meters. I do this by going to PD when I first see them and then keep popping up the periscope for quick checks while keeping an ear on the hydrophone. During this time, I am checking my position, speeding up if necessary and adjusting the AOB to make sure that they Cross my T.

Since I use Steam torpedoes and shot from so close, they never see it coming until too late. Basically, with a 44 knot torpedo traveling 350 meters only gives them @ 15 seconds to get out of the way once I LOS. Unless I miscalculated my shot, it’s a sure hit even if I am shooting during daylight. Of course at night time, it is even easier.

If I don’t sink them, I’ll surface on the bow or stern depending on the location of their gun, and fire away until they go down.

At least that is what I have been doing when the weather is nice; hopefully, that is the case in the Caribbean and USA East Coast.

Those Catalina planes are becoming a pain in the butt, I’m thinking about taking them on during the day rather than diving all the time.

[Paul Riley]

Bent Periscope,

I agree totally about planes becoming more of a menace.I am in the very last day of Oct 1942,and my last 2 patrols have seen some very hostile air attacks,mainly around the bay of biscay.On my last patrol I tried to fight it out with a single bomber,only to witness in horror as my AA fire just bounced off his plating,while his MGs opened up on the watch crew,killing 2 of them instantly.Now this may have been a combination of only having 2 double AA guns (VIIC mounting),and inexperienced flak gunners (my priorities seem to be leaning more towards observation and detection lately instead of sheer firepower).My personal opinion is get under as soon as you can and look after your watch crew,because unless you have some serious calibre and excellent gunners you are gonna get torn to shreds in a slugging scenario.You may fare better against incoming fighters,as I downed 6 on my last patrol,but against the heavier bombers its safer to dive.And in any case,you never really get much time to react in order to see exactly what is coming your way :o
Another thing,always make regular weather checks every hour inside known Air Zones,and on days with even minimal cloud go under,I have been caught off guard during those conditions.Clear days are perfect for Em.Dives.

We could save this conversation for another post on AA tactics?

[Platapus]

Does any one know precisely how SH3 and some of the more common mods model surface ship AI seeing and reacting to the bubble trails of steamers?

After all, it does not matter what happened in real life when we are playing a computer game.

I am trying to find the citation of a piece I read a while ago stating that in reality the bubble trail was not all that visible from ships. From the air they were very visible but this source claims that the sea conditions needed to be pretty uncommon for the crew of a ship to see the trail.

Anyone else remember reading this?

In any case, how does the base game and the more common mods model the AI for spotting the trails?

[Threesixtyci]

I don't like to mix them up in the tubes, as in default. Mainly because of that torp speed calculation glitch... that SH3 has. Lately, I've been selecting all steam.

But, I last left my career in the mid 40's and that was about 4 weeks ago. I've been playing other stuff since then; mainly PS2 stuff. And more recently, I just couldn't pass up Steam's $9.99 HL2 Orange box weekend special. (I never bought/played Episode 1 & 2, and it seemed like a good price to me... especially with it coming Team Fortress 2 and Portal) I also just received X3:Terrian Conflict 2.0 in the mail, today.... So, it'll probably be a while before I fire SH3, again.

But when I do fire up SH3 again, I imagine it won't be long before I start outfitting Electrics. Or maybe have them all be electrics. I just upgraded to a Type VIIC, from the Type IID.... not that long ago. And Convoy hunting was seemingly, becoming the norm. I think it'll be safer not to be leaving any bubble trails from here on out. Well... when I get back into SH3, anyway.

As for HL2... I just finished Episode 1 last night, and I'm about to start Episode 2. I hear it's a bit longer than Episode 1, so... I'm guessing it'll take me about 2 days to finish it. But then there's X3... heh, I don't really know when I'll fire up SH3, again...

[Paul Riley]

X3 Reunion is that?,bloody brilliant.I have that and the original,and will prob get Terran Conflict soon enough :up:
You'll be back in that VIIC before long,you'll begin to miss the sea.