IIRC - torpedos are loaded while WEPS station isn't taken. You don't get information about loaded tubes - the officer isn't there to tell you - but the loading sequence works despite of that.

Just ran a test and you are correct, Sir. I'll edit my post accordingly.:hmmm:

I think that's correct, but only if you leave the 'auto-reload' option checked. Otherwise you have to have the station 'manned' to order reloads.

No need to feed the TDC while loading torpedos.

The WEPS station has not to be manned for reloading the tubes; auto-loading checked/unchecked is irrelevant either.

:yeah:

Respectfully, (and I just tried it twice to confirm):

With SH3 + GWX, empty torpedo tubes will NOT reload with AUTO LOADING unchecked, no matter how many poeple - qualified or not - are in the torpedo room and no matter whether the Weps station is manned or not.

Unchecking (off) autoload allows you as the player to manually reload any empty tube with any internally available eel, but the game won't do it unless autoload is checked (on). The Weps station does not have to be manned to do this manually.

This is exactly how SH3/GWX works for me.

Hmmm. I've been using 'integrated orders' for so long I suppose there must be a hotkey to bring up the torpedo load out screen without the WO being at his station. Asking the WO for torpedo loadout/reloading data is the only way I know to access it.

Since I use the 'no fatigue' option on Commander I just keep everyone at their stations and just manually rotate the bridge watches out of habit and for change of faces.

So many replies. :doh:

But so much useful information too! Thanks a lot guys!

I'm sort of baffled by the lack of "lol noob" comments around here. Then again, this isn't your average Counter-Strike or Battlefield forum. :haha:

Since I'm on a roll with this "asking silly questions" thing:
Did I lose the tonnage from that one british merchant ship I sunk in the patrol grid I was supposed to be patrolling because I saved and exited the game after the sinking? Mind you, a fair deal away from the wreck, but still. It shows up in my captain's log and on the map, but not in the patrol report.

We are adult and patient, honest and smart U-Boot men - no triggerhappy hyperactive egoshooter kids.
Due to SH3 Copmmander we are used to train rookies and we do remember our own first wobbly steps in this game and how we were happy to find a bunch of helpful people over here at Subsim.

We like to keep it this way.

If you choose to load/select your torpedos manually - well - you have made your choice and no WEPS officer or torpedo crew will help you out. > I < is the hotkey for popping up the torpedo loadout screen.

I have no idea what happened to your patrol report. Are you sure you sunk the ship and was it a foe at all?
Don't know if neutrals or axis show up in the report, I successfully try to avoid sinking them.

EDIT: Oh wait - you didn't finish your patrol but saved and exited. The report will show your claim after docking (at home or at other friendly port), I guess.

I think I'm gonna try to automate that whole torpedo loading affair after this disaster. Manually doing it would be just making my life that much harder :haha:

Short summary of my patrol, to(hopefully) better illustrate what I mean with the missing tonnage:

Left Kiel
-> Arrived at my designate patrol grid AN18
-> Patrolled for 24 hours as per my orders
-> After 24 hours started heading back home
-> Ran into a lone british merchant ship while heading home, but still in AN18
-> Sunk the ship(got the report it sunk, shows up in my captain's log etc.) -> Resumed on course back to Kiel, got about 80km or so away from the wreckage and then I had to quit so checked no ships were around me and saved & exited
-> Few hours later resumed playing(encountered another merchant ship & the torp loading trouble) and finished my return trip to Kiel

Which is when I noticed in the end of patrol report that it said I had no tonnage to claim.

The ship was flying the british merchant navy red-with-union-jack-on-the-corner flag, so I'm assuming it wasn't neutral but indeed "hostile". Or do those merchants still count as neutral?

Later in the war you'll have more different torpedo types to choose from and you should get used to load your torpedos manually. It's no problem at all.

The Brits turn hostile 2nd or 3rd September 1939 - if you started your patrol in August 1939 they may still be neutral right now. ;)

You may have run into a rare undocumented bug with your torpedo status and the save game. The saves seem to be tricky for some of us while others have no problems at all.
I do save at periscope depth and it works fine, others try that and get a corrupt save that won't load again.

Try to reproduce your situation the next sortie and we may get more info about your mess.

Ah. The timing could be the issue then if indeed the british could still at that point be considered neutral.

So let's hope they didn't realize to be sunk by a German U-Boot, or they'll consider you guilty to start the Second World War.

Aw schuks.. I knew this patrol was going to end badly, but I didn't expect it to be the reason the Second World War started!

I always keep Auto-Reloads off, the reason being that in real life it was extremely dangerous to reload torpedoes while in combat. A steep dive angle while being depth charged could cause the torpedo to break loose, possibly killing someone or wrecking everything in the torpedo room.

If you're using GWX don't even bother. You don't get the renown for going to your patrol grid.

That's something the game screwed up. In real life they were ordered to go to a grid and stay there until ordered otherwise.

I go there and stay for a week. If I haven't seen a ship by then I roll a six-sided die. On a 1 I move to an adjacent grid. After two weeks I move on a 2, and so on.

What month was it? In GWX you start in August, a month before the war begins. The purpose is to get some sailing time in and be on station when the war starts on September 1 (for the Poles. The British are September 3). Before that everyone is neutral.