Learning how to shoot torps, some help needed

[Echo76]

So I've started to use the stadimeter etc to attack ships but I tend to miss 90% of the shots, I'll try to explain this simple:

I'm in a rough T position, ship going west, I'm in the south.
After ID, range and speed I shoot the torp, scope pointing at midships but nearly every torp missses couple of meters by the stern.
Any idea what I might be doing wrong, I haven't tinkered with the AOB as it seems to update on its own?

[Fivepast]

Same thing happened to me during the tutorial - the majority of my torpedoes would shoot a few degrees off course and sail just past the back end of the target. And these were stationary targets! I'm now on my first patrol; God help me when I actually have to hit a moving ship. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

[ParaB]

AOB is very important and you HAVE to set it if you're using manual targetting against moving ships.

For stationary ships simply turn off the TDC and fire away, the torps will always hit where you're pointing your periscope at. You don't even need to lock up a target with 'space'.

To get used to manual targetting I suggest playing with map updates on.

What you want is the angle viewed from the enemy ship towards the position of your boat.

To do that I always plot the target's position on the map using bearing and the distance from the stadimeter (with map updates that's not necessary, of course). Now draw a course line for the target and your boat. Use the graduator tool now to measure the AoB from the position of the target to the position of your boat. You will see the orange line that indicates the torpedo's path change as you change AoB.

Once set the AoB will then update itself.

[Armistead]

Spray and Pray

[Fivepast]

For stationary ships simply turn off the TDC and fire away, the torps will always hit where you're pointing your periscope at. You don't even need to lock up a target with 'space'.

This seems to be my problem - my torpedoes don't shoot where my periscope is pointed. They're close, but they're always off by a few degrees, resulting in a miss - even at extremely close range and when both my sub and the target are completely stationary.

[Fincuan]

They're close, but they're always off by a few degrees, resulting in a miss - even at extremely close range and when both my sub and the target are completely stationary.

This is where gyro angle comes into play. Range doesn't matter when and only when the gyroangle is zero. Immediately when we move away from zero it starts to matter, the effect increasing together with the gyroangle. The effect is also more pronounced at short ranges. I'm sure a search will turn up some nice illustrations because this issue has been dealt with countless times on the SH3 and 4 forums.

Thus: When gyroangle != 0 you need to input range for accurate shooting.

[Fivepast]

This is where gyro angle comes into play. Range doesn't matter when and only when the gyroangle is zero. Immediately when we move away from zero it starts to matter, the effect increasing together with the gyroangle. The effect is also more pronounced at short ranges. I'm sure a search will turn up some nice illustrations because this issue has been dealt with countless times on the SH3 and 4 forums.

Thus: When gyroangle != 0 you need to input range for accurate shooting.

Makes sense - I do recall only getting an accurate torpedo hit when the angle was just about zero.

Thanks.

[B_O_L_T]

Just to emphasize what has already been said, aob is the most important factor to get right, followed by range and speed (these go hand in hand, calculating one requires knowledge of the other, unless you cheat and use the map).

AOB is considered from the targets perspective, when estimating the aob, consider the angle from the bow a crew member on the targets bridge would have to turn to face your boat, that is your aob. You can also use the protractor to calculate the AOB, but need to have plotted an accurate course for yourself and the target on the map, but in all honesty with a little practice it becomes second nature to estimate it with the mk1 eyeball.
When entering aob, target the centre of the ship, the computer adjusts the aob if you move your scope, you can then spread multiple shots by adjusting the crosshairs across the bow to stern. Also enter your estimated aob right before you fire, if you do it at the start of an attack run it will change over time and can be quite different by the time you want to fire your torps.


With practice you should be able to pull off manual shots in the 6 - 7k range, although you should try to get closer to reduce deviation due to errors.

[Echo76]

Finally I got this AoB into my thick skull! And atm there's a fat freighter disappearing into the sea, so rewarding.Thx a lot for your help mates <3