Secondary explosion instant death
 

Odd thing I noticed when attacking unescorted convoys with the deck gun - ship blows up, sinks, a minute later I get all those messages "taking damage hull destroyed engines destroyed etcetera etcetera" then the you're dead screens. Don't remember seeing that until recently, but when it happened while submerged near a sinking ship it happened again.

Set up a mission with 4 docked tankers, drew range circles around them, then proceeded to test. At 300 yards commence firing with the deck gun, explosion after a dozen rounds or so, "enemy ship destroyed" message, no damage to sub. At 250 yards about 1 minute after the destroyed message comes the series of "you're screwed stupid!" messages.

Thought maybe this was a mod soup problem, most likely suspect bombs.zon so replaced that file with the original, same thing.

Went to my backup copy of original unmodified 1.4, copied that folder to desktop and copied the new mission with the 4 tankers into it, same results.

So the question, no damage if you're 300 yards from a sinking exploding ship no problem, 250 yards you take 100% damage? Is this new, or have I just never noticed it before?

I haven't tried it lately, but I have experienced similar. I never could decide if it was the explosion of the sub's ordnance, or the ship's explosions, but I suspect it is the shell's "proximity" effect. I do not remember how much damage we took at the time, but it was rather considerable... we may well have sunk, but I do not recall... Seems to me that the deck crew on my boat was killed by the "blast" also... :hmmm:

That's why I tested with the stock game, I had several with my play copy where I was submerged, got one hit on a big ship which didn't sink right away, then it ran close to me before sinking - at which time the explosions start, and if it's close to me I get the total destruction. Don't remember that years ago, in fact on several occasions I ran under a sinking ship and had it come down on top of me. Most of those I managed to escape before being forced down to crush depth and no damage. The one test I ran with a 3 inch deck gun, another with a 40mm BOFORS, same thing. Currently I'm just being careful to stay outside 500 yards of everything until long after it sinks, I was just wondering if anyone else gets this.

Merchants loaded with ammo and/or fuel will produce a secondary that can damage surrounding vessels. You should be able to test it out for yourself by setting multiple tankers 250yds apart like dominoes. Destroy the first and watch the rest blow up as well.

Gotta try that dominoes thing, sounds like fun!

:/\\x:

Meantime just got to keep my distance from cruisers and tankers, although I recently got too close to a small split freighter that was apparently carrying ammunition. This one;

https://scontent-msp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...73&oe=5EA8C301

secondaries from the BB blew up the destroyer, trouble there is you don't get credit for sinking both ships.

One thing always irritated me about destroyers, do an "up the kilt" shot (opposite of down the throat) and the blast invariably makes the depth charges and racks vanish into another dimension, no secondary explosions from all them depth charges;

https://scontent-msp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...f3&oe=5EA825EB

This guy took one up the butt, then continued steaming along at 8 knots. Note the ash cans and racks are gone, enough damage to leave him down by the stern but still in the fight.

Well-ell, you need SH4 v1.5 with FotRSU on it then... You'll see them ash cans light-up and cause all sorts of mayhem, even getting thrown into other ships and lighting them up! I cannot remember if Stock SH4 v1.5 does that or not... I've got both here, and I'll see if there's a setting in the Depth Charge's sim file... :salute:

The depth charges .zon file I once tried increasing the damage radius to make evasion more challenging, but the silly lubbers were always wrecking their own racks so were limited to one attack each. :doh:

As for 1.5, tried it for a few months, went back to 1.4. Aside from Das Boot the main difference I saw was 1.4 works fine most of the time, crashes occasionally. 1.5 crashed most of the time, worked as often as government employees. :zzz:

If I could remember just 10% of what I've learned... wow. I'd need a new hat, I do know that!... :hmmm: - but the damage zone you want to play with is the depth charge racks, I think... wait, no... is it the zone of the ship below the rack?... :hmmm: - that sounds more reasonable... maybe... a mind is a terrible thing to lose. :o :salute: