Magnetic vs Impact Pistols
 

I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this or if this is just something that's happening to me.

I've noticed that my torpedoes that I arm with impact pistols tend to do a LOT more damage and sink ships a lot faster than torpedoes set with magnetic pistols. It seems you get a LOT more flooding going on in there when you hit with a torpedo set with an impact pistol.

The only reasoning I can fathom is that usually, you set the torpedoes with impact pistols to explode RIGHT IN CONTACT with the ship whereas a magnetic pistol detonates when it detects enough metal nearby to trigger it, therefore, it could be detonating a couple feet away from the ship instead of being actually in contact with the ship and therefore it does less damage.. IE.. less leaking.

I've tested this theory on a large merchant and Impact torpedoes always sent the thing down in one shot within 15 minutes or so.. maybe 20 depending.
With the magnetic pistols, It took several torpedoes to sink it period (and I waited quite a bit of time for that sucker to go down).

I've now made a practice of using impact pistols at shallow depth as much as humanly possible and will rarely set a magnetic pistol unless an emergency situation demands it.

lo mate
i always use impact torpedoes simply because of the early problems with magnetic....i dont trust them...i know i should get over it but im a stubborn old soul!!!
thing is ( im probably wrong) but in theory i thought magnetic torpedoes were actualy meant to be more damaging than impact as the torpedo detonated under keel rupturing the ship im many places
maybe getting my wires crossed but im sure thats roughly the science!!

im sure one of the dev team will know the damage capabilities of both.


DOWN WITH MAGNETIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are taught from our very first minutes in SH3 that the best AOB is 90 degrees. But it's not quite true when using magnetic pistols. When target is a small ship, the torpedo will travel too much under her keel before it arms and detonates, thus dealing less or even no damage. So when you use magnetic, the more acute AOB could be a better choice.

Impact is not always an option, especially with battleships (because of their belt armour under the water line) or with ships of shallow keel. So my advice would be to train using magnetic triggers, as it would be a real shame to have a BB in the scope and not to sink it. :)

ok youve convinced me mate

will tentativeley give magnetic more attention...i do use them for battleships...but i set a more shallow running depth with impact pistol when encountering shallow keel ships;)

I use almost everytime impact.As a matter of fact i never used magnetic pistol in my carreer (few times when forgot to turn to impact but they blew up prematurely).Used magnetic in single missions with a devastating results :D

I only use magnetics when the ship is coming almost directly toward or away from me. I've never had one break the ship's back though. They just keep minor damaging the ship for me. I know I'm not setting them to run too low either.:hmm:

I'll keep practicing. *shrug*

I 've had good results with magnetics, but you need (like Von Mumit says) an accute angle. A lot will depend on where the torpedo explodes.

If you have, let's say, an aob of 20 degrees, aim near the bridge, the torpedo will explode under the stern, near the engine room. With this shot, usually the ship will sink quite rapidly.

I use a depth of 1.5 meters under the keel in rough weather.

Impacts.....every time http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...ies/pirate.gif

In heavier seas, you don't know exactly at what depth the toropedo will pass under the keel.

If the ship has a keep of 10m, and you set depth for 11m you should sink the target. But if due to heavy seas it passes say 3m under the keel, it may do precious little damage to the target.

I believe in real life by the time the Germans got their magnetic pistols figured out, the allies were already degaussing their ships.

ive only just started - and because im not that accurate yet i go magnetic and 1.5m under keel - havent missed yet, and broke a tanker in 2 once! :yep:

Hmmm, it all depends on the situation

If I have any of the following: bad angle, tanker, serious capital ship, very shallow draft or badly shaped hull (e.g. small tankers almost not vertical sides on those) I use magnetics

If the following applies: BEFORE 1941, good angle, rough water, shallow water, passenger/cargo, cruiser target or if I know the sweet spot (I'm nah tellin' nuh-uh) use impacts

suffice to say that experience counts, I wouldn't even know have many eels I've fired since I started playing this game, but some of the best ones stick in your memory and become something of a signature shot

for example, medium tankers, shot at AOB 50 or 60, magnetic depth 11,5 meters, fast steamer, range 2,5 km, aimed for the far side of the bridge, sinks them with one eel within minutes after hitting 3 times out of 4 :up: useful info if it's your last eel

I've had extremely good results using magnetics against tankers.
However, it always depends on the situation you're facing.
A bad AoB (eg. far from 90) start thinking seriously about using a mag. rather than an impact pistol.
Like always, is up to the Kaleun's to judge at the end.
Mags. were meant to do a lot more damage than impact eels, since they would allegedly break the ship in two, but, a lot of factors need to come into play for it to happen.

This may sound stupid, but why should I ever use Impact Pistol anyway? I mean, if it's rough weather and I need to aim for impact I would still use the magnetic trigger. Should the torpedo miss below the keel for some reason the magnetic trigger would still bring the torpedo to explode while an impact trigger would just miss?

There is a tendency for the magnetic to detonate prematurely in bad weather. http://www.psionguild.org/forums/ima...ies/pirate.gif

But if the torp does hit, that will not set a magnetic detonator off!