How to tweak torp behavior?
 

By default, you can set torpedoes to run shallow, level, or deep.
However, the current setting for "deep" is nowhere deep enough in my opinion.
I believe right now it makes torpedoes run at 200 ft. If I remember correctly, the sensor "cone" of a Mk48 is 400 ft top to bottom.
This means that a torpedo running "deep" will be at 200 ft, with half its sensor cone height allowing it to detect subs down to 600 ft. Hell, I often carry out my engagements around 400 ft and if I set a torpedo to run "deep" it will actually go up 200 ft :hmmm:.



There are enemy subs that can go down to 2000 ft in the game :wah:



Now, I'm not trying to get my torpedoes to run that deep, but I would very much like to change the "DEEP" setting to 600 ft instead of 200.


In the weapons.txt file I found for every weapon a variable called "DepthSettings". It allows for 3 values: LEVEL, SHALLOW and DEEP. These strings are clearly referring to something, but where and how can I edit that "something"? I can't find the target anywhere.


I just want DEEP to equal 600 ft.


I'm losing my mind here, please help :k_confused:

I've tried to simply replace


"DepthSettings=LEVEL,SHALLOW,DEEP"


with


"DepthSettings=LEVEL,SHALLOW,800"


in my override weapons.txt file. Didn't work. Made it impossible to cycle beyond "shallow" in the depth selection tool, and made my torpedo angle down as hard as it could and run straight to the bottom of the abyss, as if searching for its contact lens. Funny thing to see, but I'm still stuck trying to solve this.

Cannot help with the modding, but DEEP sets the top to run at 30 feet below the layer or 350 feet if no layer, as I recall.

Note that if you fire at 600 feet and set the torp at LEVEL, it will stay at 600 feet.

In my experience, a MK48 set at DEEP has no problem finding subs below the layer no matter how deep. MK37s are another story, but that is part of the challenge (and fun) of early Cold War subs. :yep:

That explains why it felt like aprox 200 ft, layer is usually around 150.



Yeah I know, but the point is precisely for me to be able to engage two targets at different depths without having to change the depth of my big fat sub before each launch. I mean, the fancy Mk48s have wires, they can literally be remote controlled and do all this fancy stuff, yet I can't tell the damn thing "go down to 600 ft and find something to blow up" :hmmm::hmmm::hmmm:


Yes, I could in theory activate the torp and manually adjust its depth, but that means I'd have to not pay attention to the other target while I do that. Not to mention the ton of ways that limits what I can do with torps, due to wire breaks and stuff.



??


I don't usually stalk my torpedoes in 3D view so I've never seen them do this, but doesn't that seem weird?? Torpedo sensor "cones" are wide and flat, how on earth would a Mk48 at ~180 ft detect an Oscar at 700 ft??:o

"DEEP" setting depth is hardcoded. To change it you need to mod Assembly-CSharp.dll.

You're assuming that the torpedo turns on its seeker head literally on top of the enemy target. Angles are what matter here, not really the depth difference. The seeker head usually turns on further away such that the depth of the target doesn't really matter, it's always in the cone (500 ft depth difference vs. activating the seeker from 6000 ft away). And the seeker cone is more of an actual cone, not a fan.

I confess I never actually did the math. :oops:
Vertical angle on torpedo sensor is 15°. Range of sensor is 3000 yd. Therefore with a bit of trigonometry, maximum depth the cone reaches below torpedo running depth is: 2400 ft :o


I honestly never thought this would be the case due to my ability to evade Russian torps by vertical evasion :hmmm::hmmm::hmmm::hmmm:


In the "in-game manual" the tactics section on torpedo evasion mentions vertical evasion as being a viable approach. And it mentions the vertical detection range... for the Mk37. That's where I got the "400 ft vertical" notion. I guess I memorized that number but never where I got it from exactly.
So I guess a Mk48 can literally scan the whole range of depth where submarines can go, even Alfas, and it does indeed just come down to "over the layer vs. under it"...



Jesus, Mk48s really do make enemy torpedoes look like trash in '84, huh?

Mk48 is a goddam OP swimming nightmare... not to mention ADCAP version)
Since I'm playing only Russian campaings of the Epic Mod, I only see them against me...
When mk48 is looking for you - you start to produce bricks at amazing rate))

Well if you are right on top of the torpedo and the torpedo is far enough above or below you, yeah you won't be in the seeker cone for the exact reasons you mentioned. I've been in such a situation a few times with a circle-search and it's a tricky one. You gotta kinda stay with the torpedo because if you start moving away it will just see you again :doh:

In terms of detection, sounds travel as well vertically as horizontally underwater. A 1500 feet/500 yds separation in depth is really pointblank range.

that said, no one knows what a MK48 can really do. The data is classified and they were never used in a war. They may be the uberweapons the USN claims or may turn out to be another MK14. :03:

I would think the easiest way to tweak torp behaviour would be to play around with the sensitivity and range of the sensors.