Ricochet

[Legionary74]

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[davidaspy]

Torps need at least 300m to arm. Anything less than that and they are going to just bounce off.

[Legionary74]

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[razark]

The torpedo requires a run of a certain distance before it arms. If you are closer than that distance, the torpedo will not have time to arm, therefore no explodey fun.

I'm not sure what that distance is, but 300 meters sounds a bit too close.

Edit:
Yeah, what he said.

[Brag]

Distance to arm is 300 meters :D

[desirableroasted]

Why do my torpedoes keep ricocheting off ships?

With merchant ships I usually close in within 300 meters and fire, and they will ricochet.

They just bounce off the hulls, is it the distance?

Im running SH3 commander with no mods, and dud torpedoes is off.

One ricochet is ok, but 5!?!?!?

If you are firing impacts, you want to be sure of two things, too:

1) You are firing at, say 70 to 110 Angle on Bow to ensure your torpedo has enough "bite". At greater angles, it may bounce.

2) You are firing fairly shallow (this depends on the target). All merchants have a curved hull, so if you fire too deeply, you will hit the curve and slide off.

Finally, ignore anything you read about "depth-keeping" problems.

[reignofdeath]

Torps need at least 300m to arm. Anything less than that and they are going to just bounce off.

as a rule of thumb (Seeing as how I always set up 90* angle attacks) I use is at least 700m distance between me and where the target will be when it impacts. I usually do 1k shots for good measure.

[HW3]

You also need to keep in mind that if you are too close to a ship that explodes when hit (ship carrying ammo), you will sustain damage from the explosion.

:yep:

[Legionary74]

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[K-61]

I always like to clarify the arming distance question to new players. The torpedo must run a minimum of 300 M to arm. In the minds of new players they often interpret this: "I must fire from 300 M away and I'll be alright." They are not the same thing. Your minimum firing distance must take into consideration the movement of both the torpedo and the target. If your target is moving toward you, then you must fire at greater range than 300 M. By the time the torpedo hits a closing target the torpedo will have travelled less than 300 M. Very important to consider this if you are firing at an escort which is closing in on you. On the flipside, you can fire from less than 300 M if the target is pulling away from you. It's all a matter of mathematics and very logical once you understand it.

As others said, you could suffer damage from a target carrying ammo or other volatile cargo should it go off with a great boom! I learned this the hard way once when firing the deck gun. It really makes you feel stupid when your gun crew gets killed from debris flying off of the ship you were gunning down. You tend not to make that sort of mistake more than once.

[HW3]

I once passed within 800M of a ship I had torpedoed, when it blew up and destroyed my u-boat as well.:oops: I never made that mistake again.:yep:

[VONHARRIS]

Notice this as well : When homing torpedoes are available and you have one make sure to fire it when the target is at a distance of min 500m nad max 1200m. Once I fired a T IV at a closing escort but it was too close (200m) the fish didn't aquire the target and the DD passed right over the uboat , droped its D/Cs and ........ (no need to write more)
I have even fired a TIV at a Bogue carrier at 2500m but it missed sinced the fish locked on an escort. That means even if you select a target for the torpedo the torpedo will lock on the noisest one closer.
Also when firing homing torpedoes pay attention to speed limits of the target.
The TIV will not turn to reaquire a lost target but the TXI will.
And one more : you can get killed by one of your homing torps if you run at high or flank speed. This has happened in real life in WWII.
Good luck!
Happy hunting.