@joejccva
Sounds very lucky... A DD coming straight at you is a very small profile target, and you must use magnetic fuse (don't see how an impact fuse would work at this angle) therefore setting the torp at the right depth, which by heavy sea can be really tricky (without talking of the risk of early boom from the magnetic fuse if early in war.)
I wouldn't try that too often as it seems to me the risk of being caught pants down at periscope depth versus a very lucky shot is too high.

As far as targetting, I use Weapons Officer assist. I can put the crosshairs where I want the torpedo to go and hit the check button to update, fire and off she goes to where I want it. There is no need to lock your target all the time;)

AH, so it's the Weapon's Officer and not the Watch Officer. I was wondering how I could get the watch officer to calculate anything, because that officer is not accessible when submerged. Thanks for the clarification. Do you use the 3-second rule or just open tube and wait for the proper position in the cross-hairs and press FIRE.

Now with respect to the colour chart I printed out from the PDF file of all the ships for their sensitive points on two sheets. I find there are several colours: green, gray, purple, orange, red and blue. I do not know what the colours mean. Could some please tell me. Thanks.

Oh, BTW, in SH3, I have sunk DD with a bow shot several times using only 1 torpedo.

Rob

Yes Rob it's the Weapon's Officer that does all the calculations and the ship identifications. I should have explained it better. I'm sorry about that :oops:

OK the colour chart works like this:
Green is for the propelas in the back of the ship. Don't try to fire there as your torpedoes might not explode
Blue is the ship's keel. This is to be hit my magnetic torpedoes about 0.5m under it's position
Pink (or at least it seems like pink) it's the amunition bunker in the warships. If you manage to hit there you can blow up the whole ship with one shot.
Yellow is the engine room (usually below the smoke stack) If you hit there you can either blow the ship up or you can imobilise it.
Orange is the fuel depot. If you hit there under some conditions you can blow up the ship.
Grey is for all other areas.

It's important to remember that these diagrams are for the stock game and not for GW. They do work in GW though for warships and for most merchants. In the case of the merchants some times you might need to alter a bit the position of the torpedo hit but this comes with practice. As a rule of the thumb try to aim for the amo compartments in warships and for the engine room in merchants (both the same as in the stock game in GW)
Also important is to set the correct torpedo depth. Again as a rule of the thumb set the depth to 1m if you're chasing DDs and to 3-3.5m for most merchants. In the case of Tankers set the depth to 1m as well.

If you need more information on this or if you are unsure about anything feel free to PM me or post on the forum and I'll be more than happy to help in any way I can.

Mel

Thanks very much Mel for the information. If I have any other question I will PM you.

Rob

It sure makes life easier (have been using it as well in the beginning :oops:) but this Weapon Officer identifying instantly a ship kms away, (that he can't see anyway as he is down in the command room) and giving an instant distance and AOB is imho one of the main bugs of the game as it draws you to use totally unrealistic tactics. Since I don't even man the place anymore, I find the game to be very different and more rewarding. Just a point of view, no critics intended as each of us can play the way he wants...;)

Well, weapons officer assist in my view is correct. These are the reasons, as I dial in the AOB, speed, distance, these are the verbal commands given by me for the weapons officer to make the adjustments. It makes no sense for me to be bouncing back and forth dialing in everything. I would not need my weapons officer then and he is nothing but dead weight. Again, it is assist only, no automatic updates other than when I hit the check button on the pad. When using assist, the ships are not identified other than cargo or patrol craft. To me, I see the picture of the attack and how it will come together, I rely this information to the weapons officer (via electronically with the pad). After all, I'm the captain and he is to do my bidding!

I can understand your point if it was full weapons officer doing the calculations. Just driving the boat around , point and shoot is ok for the those just starting out until the get the idea of torpedo launching. Other than that, weapons officer dialing in the information looks to be the correct way to play. But hey, that is just me.

What I was referring to is if you go through the WO menu, think it is "plan torpedo attack" or something like it, you have an option "identify" which will give you the exact type of locked target, and "solution" which enters instantly in the notepad the exact range and AOB.
On my version I have direct access to the TDC and torpedo settings from the periscope/UZO screen with slideouts, so I don't need to go back and forth to the TDC screen, this is why I consider WO dead weight and don't use one anymore...;)
I often had problems with the notepad, I prefer to use the dials directly.
Again no critics or offense intended, each one of us finds what is best suited for himself. Just wanted to say that working on my own now, I find it more rewarding when it goes "boom" at the right place...