Premature detonation.
 

So I go out and am hunting me some ships. It's storming out and there are high seas all about. The ship comes withing acceptable firing range of between -1000 to 1500 yards and I fire my torpedos. All of a sudden my torpedo explodes not even 1/2 to the ship. This has happened on many occasions. Anyone else have the premature detonating torpedo problem? It's driving me mad! MAD I TELL'S YA! Thanks...

Presuming you're playing the Americans- the Mk14 torpedo was very unreliable and had several problems- Not exploding when it did hit the target, exploding prematurely, and also running about 11 feet deeper than supposed to. Not sure how this is modelled in stock but it certainly is in the mega mods. It should improve as the war marches on, cough.

Rule number one, don't use magnetic exploders in heavy seas, in fact I never use them.

In the early part of the war the Mk14 just sucked as Flaxplants said so the best bet is to set the running depth shallow and try to shoot at an angle of less than 75° AoB, also using low speed helps the dud problem.

Ya's gotta wait till mid 43 to get good torpedoes.

You might also try Mk10's not as much power but they do go off.
A Mk10 that explodes is far more powerful than a Mk14 that doesn't.

Magic

I am noticing a lot of variation in the reliability of the torpedoes loaded into my boat, I seem to get bad sets and good sets.

In my current campaign (early days- May 1942) I had many duds and premature detonations on my first couple of patrols, but on my third and fourth patrols I have experienced no issues whatsoever with the torpedoes. Of course I am taking the necessary steps to reduce the failure incident rate, but I am convinced that alone cannot make the difference in reliability that I am getting.

Don't know which mods you are using, I use RFB 2.0. Anyway, better luck with your next loadout! My advice is to fire a few extra for good measure...

I just remembered what made the difference for me- I now (following someone elses advice on here re. duds) set ALL my torpedoes to Contact/Influence, and not Contact. I will set the depth though as if I am using standard Contact torpedoes, and not Magnetic. I'm not a fan of magnetic detonation, it doesn't always work and I prefer to keep the odds of a succesful hit as high as possible.

Also take into account short torpedo runs at close targets. If the torp runs less than 350-400m it will not explode as there is a minimum "arming" distance, but it may be reported as a "dud".


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Good Point. Best thing to do at that sort of range is to hit them over the head with it.

I used to prematurely detonate when I was a young man. Now I hardly get to detonate at all.

Lol :D:woot:

Is it a Mk 14?

Dunno. It's been in the tube so long I forgot. :o

Magic gave some good advice. The game actually has several values relating to torp failure to mimic the historical dysfunction of the M14.

Overall with most mosts you'll get a 50% dud rate until 43, some patrols worse, some better. I've had patrols with 80% failure. If you set them to contact you'll get more duds, influence more prematures.

You do gain some advantage, as Magic said don't use influence in heavy seas, that will give you more chance of failure than you already deal with.

Slower speeds and some angle on impact give some advantage in your favor. In reality the firing pin often broke in two on impact before it hit the detonator, a slower speed and angle helped to resolve this....some.

M10's why slower and less powerful never seldom fail.

Another failure, torps can circle back and hit your sub....

Has anyone been hit by their own torps in SH4 yet, modded or not? Just curious.

Yep, said so in post 10:salute:

Seriously, it can happen and ruin a good patrol. In real life it was sure death, in game, not so much so, but depending on where it hits you may be fighting to get back to base.

Circle runners last all war and seeminly will hit ya at scope depth. You can be safe if you're stopped, moving forward will usually put ya right in the turn path.

Wasn't sure if you were still referencing game mimicry of historical incidence. I was familiar with the historical. Thanks. Here's to dodging our own torps. :salute:

Try thinking of something else, like baseball scores, while the torpedo is still in transit.:03::D

Aaaaah, the "gunther prien special". Some of us have had it. I myself had it once. I savegamed soon after firing a couple of shots in peridepth and then exploded a minute later. I though "what the hell. Am I being shelled?" I reloaded the savegame and watched the same thing happening, with the aid of external view (:nope: shame on me, it was on!) and could clearly see the torp circling and hitting me right in the pooper.