A Few Things I Have Wondered About
 

After years of playing SH3 there are a few things I have wondered about. Perhaps you experienced skippers can answer.

Opening Tubes: While I lay in wait to loose a few torpedoes at a single large target (as an example) I tend to wait until I have an AoB of 5 degrees either way, then I open each of the tubes: Q Y (to switch to next tube) Q Y Q ... then I mouse click on tube 1 ready to fire. However, when the target finally lines up and I press ENTER to fire there is always a delay. When I am just firing a single torpedo it fires immediately. What am I experiencing? Why the delay?

Pre-Mission Torpedo Selection: In the early war years there are just two types of torpedoes. I can't think of any reason to use the pre-war versions (with the bubble trail) so I always load all of the more common torpedoes ... but it's a pain to have to select each slot one at a time and then double-click on each to load the newer types. Is there a faster way to do this?

Cruising Speed: Whenever I leave base and head to my patrol zone I always travel at 7 knots to keep fuel consumption rate low. This allows me to complete my mission and then spend as much fuel as I need when I am racing to targets. Is this a good or bad idea? It obviously takes me longer to complete missions. On my way home, once all torpedoes have been used (I never return to base with any torpedoes on prinicple), I will cruise as fast as my reserves will allow.

I have more questions but this is a good start. Any comments?

Thanks in advance.

You could use "Wolfie's TweekPak" to set your sub's torpedo load-out the way you want it to always be. You can find it here: http://hosted.filefront.com/bobchase/

Then you won't have to mess around with loading them up before each mission because they will already be there for you.

Bob

I do the exact same except I go 9 knots and if fuel is running out before torpedoes, I'll come home half full. :up:

When you cycle through the tubes like that, it actually closes each one. So lets say you open tube 1, then press "y," it closes tube 1. The only ways to open multiple doors simultaneous is to flip the switches in the conning tower (there is one set near the gauges on the side, and one set below the periscope), the switches at Weps station, or by selecting salvo fire.

My Type IIA gets best fuel mileage at 5kts, so I always cruise at that speed to maximize range as much as possible. Each sub has it's own optimum speed to maximize range.

Before the attack, I open all tubes by clicking on the switches at Weapon Officer station. After firing each tube, I cycle them with Y key. That way the open tubes remain open, and the ones that fired automatically close.

I do that when I need to save fuel (patrol to far away sector). Otherwise I cruise at ahead 1/3, which is a bit faster then the optimal fuel-saving speed.

The vast range and faster speed are good enough reasons for me.

The delay is because when you cycle to the next tube, the previous tube door closes. You say this is "at a single large target ". If you set a single salvo of multiple torpedos rather than a whole bunch of single shots, you can open all the doors at once with a singe "q" command. You set up to fire a salvo by setting the tube/salvo selector swtich to the S postion and then select one of the tube combinations for the salvo.

There is no user intereface provided with the game to more quickly change the torpedo loadout. If you always want the same loadout, you can edit the configuration files.



I think it is a good idea, except

1. 7 knots is not always the most fuel efficient speed for all sub/engine combinations.
2. If your patrol area is not very far from base, relative to the range of your boat, it is not always necessary be be quite so efficient.
3. After 1942 the allied air cover gets much worse and you shouldn't be spending your entire cruise on the surface. I'm in mid-1944 and my cruising speed is often 1.9 knots, submerged, except when bad weather grounds the aircraft.

Ask away.

agreed, its generally all i use. (but not always)

I see noone answered why you should choose pre war torps.Well for one they are quite faster (44knt compared to the electric with 30 (28 actauly).Now this is not much of an issue if you have setup your attack perfect, but faster the speed of the torps the less time the target has to evade if you are detected.
Further more the electic torps are quite unreliable and most of the problems were fixed after norwegian campaning.Until them magnetic pistols either didnt explode at all, of exploded prematurely. Furthermore they ran at 6 feet under their set depth.
I'm not sure if the torps in game run 6 feet under but the magnetic pistols are certanly unrealiable.

Amen to that:rock: And they are more reliable in choppy water in the early years,Magnetic's have a nasty tendency to 'pre-detonate' in anything but quite calm sea over any distance:nope:

This is not the cause of the delays, but I suspect you misunderstand what AOB means. And when to fire. AOB as it is used in the game is the angle the view direction makes with the target bow, just like seeing someones face from the side. It is not the angle scale you see in the periscope view. That is (relative) bearing. The direction the torpedo turns to (also in relation to the bow like the periscope) is the gyroangle, and it is a digital dial under the notepad, or 2 dials in the F6 TDC page (one crude dial marked in steps of 10 and one showing the unit and fraction degrees; lower right corner). If you want the torpedos to not turn and move straight ahead out of the tubes (gyro angle is 0 or 180) you usually need to fire when the periscope view (showing the desired impact-area) is further away from your bow or aft-side (between 15-5 degrees before passing 0 or 180 degrees). How much exactly depends on the speed of the target and torpedo, but the TDC calculates that itself. Just line up to make 0 or 180 degree gyroangle.

A ha. You guys are awesome.

I will definitely take advantage of the mod to pre-set my torpedo arrangement and what you advise about opening the tubes makes sense. I guess I just assumed the doors stayed open unless I fired a torpedo or closed the doors myself.

With the speed of cruising, I am glad others do this too. It just seemed to make more sense. There were a couple times when I was new to the game that I just cruised at standard and it left very little fuel to chase down ships. And, yes, I do adjust according to boat type and distance to mission coordinates.

I did not realize that the pre-war torpedoes were faster. I have noticed that that they were more reliable in rough waters. I also have seen the enemy ships attempt to speed away and maneuver evasively with the bubble trails clearly giving away the attack. I'll have to think about this.

As for AoB, I am likely not phrasing myself well and I need a better tutorial than the printed manual for making ... manual attacks. From what I understand, the ideal AoB is 90 degrees on either side of my target. I generally try to position myself ahead of the enemy's path, about 1000 meters from where they will be when I attack. In periscope view I identify the target and ready to fire (after ensure crew are properly allocated). Below the tube selector I can see the AoB meter and, after locking on to the target, I watch the meter until it counts down or up to 360. At 355 or 5 degrees I open the torpedo door and at 0 I fire. If I am trying for an engine or bow hit I will adjust manually.

Thank you all very much. You are going to make me a better skipper and I appreciate it.

:yeah:It's what we're here for.

Argh. Indeed I was mis-using the term. I just spent some time with the manual and learned I was using AoB to mean angle of attack and, yes, it is the gyro-angle that I use to determine when to fire.

I confess I do not play in full realism mode (though that's what I would like to try) and hardly ever looked at F6 because I found the manual explanations to be confusing. Suddenly this has changed. I didn't know we could set torpedo speed. Nor did I look close enough to notice that pre-war torpedoes were faster. This changes things.

I didn't even realize we had a 'salvo' mode. I'm sure I clicked that button before and it didn't do anything or make sense. Now, attacking larger targets is much easier as I can open all involved tubes with a single command. D'oh!

Thanks again.