Damn tanker wont sink after 5 torpedo hits???
 

so I started the convoy training mission in sub school or whatever. I find the convoy, kill or wound the protecting destroyers, and then go to work on the first tanker I see. I thought, having gotten rid of the escorts (most fled instantly after they got hit once) I could leisurely wipe out the helpless convoy....

so I hit this tanker once, twice, but it doesnt even stop moving. I watch it for awhile, get irritated waiting for him to sink, and pop a couple caps in him with my deck gun (the big one). Third times a charm, right? so I blow him another huge hole in his side. STILL WONT SINK?? 2 more shots with my aft tubes continue to produce the same result. At this point I have zero torps left and deck gun is exausted, yet this damn tanker sails on, not even on fire. can somebody explain this ridiculousness??

TL DR - I torpedoed a tanker 5 times and shot him with my deck gun, and he sailed on alive.

LoL...:haha:
Once upon a time, people were asking the same questions and then somebody invented MODS! :)
TMO and RFB are great choice for Pacific theater...:yep:

P.S.
And welcome to Subsim!:salute:

Tankers, a few things to consider:

Tankers when empty are a series of sealed compartments so punching a hole in one or two of those compartments will not sink one. In order to sink one with the deck gun you will need to punch holes in several compartments. The entire drive train of a tanker is in the rear of the ship, a hit there will usually stop, but not sink it.

Full tankers are another story. If you hit a full tanker amidships with a torpedo it should go off like a bomb. Cargo is a always a factor when it comes to the damage one torpedo can inflict even with other types of merchant ships.

So the question becomes how do you determine if the ship is full or empty?
1. If the ship riding high in the water it is most likely empty, If it is riding low, very little water line showing, it is probably full.
2. What direction is the ship traveling? Headed South, to the oil fields of Indonesia it is probably empty. If it is headed North to Japan it is probably full.

Try this: Station your boat in the Straight between Formosa and the Philippines and go after tankers. You will find that the ones coming from the South will go off like a fireworks display if you hit them with one torpedo in the center of the ship and the ones coming from the North will take several torps to sink.

Good Hunting!

thanks...I should probably start another thread for this, but sadly I cant use most mods...my version is only 1.0 and the patch for 1.4 says I dont have the game installed. I bought the game secondhand, wonder if thats the problem.

hmm never considered that. Thanks! I'll definitely try out that spot you mentioned.

Ouch...I remember that SH4 v1.0 was a disaster ...You quickly need at least patch 1.4. :yep:

A. You sink ships by poking holes in them and filling them with liquid.
B. Tankers are ships that are designed to be filled with liquid.
:. Tankers can be hard to sink.

I wish we could at least get credit for damaging a ship. I remember Silent Service 2 would give credit for damage, and I think Silent Hunter 1 did, as well. Now with SH4, I can damage multiple ships in a convoy, but unless they sink or lose the propeller, they'll happily keep position in the convoy while listing 45 degrees. :nope:

Also, if you get into playing with mods like TMO, your deck gun is going to feel underpowered. It's good for sampans and fishie marus, but it's not going to be as effective in taking out larger targets (but it can be done). Aim for the waterline. You're looking to get not only an explosion, but also the column of water thrown up. That's when you know you're making those holes that let the water in.

Anyway, welcome to your new hobby of getting pissed off at bizarre ship physics. (Wait until you return from a patrol and find half the ships you sank wiped from the record.)

I don't really remember how bad 1.0 was. The 1.1 patch was released so quickly that I don't remember not having it. I think I downloaded it before the game arrived.

one thing to remember if you use auto targeting, the torps will almost always hit the exact same spot every time so its best to fire one then on the next torps you lock, unlock, move the crosshairs forward or back from the centered auto lock position and fire. that way you aren't hitting an already destroyed section over and over wasting torps. you have to lock first then unlock or it wont aim right.

another tip is if you fire one torp and wait for a result it takes more torps to sink that ship because the game simulates "damage repair" between torps. what that means is, if a ship would sink from 2 torps fired at the same time (even at the same spot) it will take 3,4 or even 5 torps to sink if you fire, wait to see what happens, and then fire again.

I have a torpedo testing mission in my torpedo mods you should use and practice sinking stationary ships to see how many torps each takes to sink and how different the results are if the aiming point gets changed after the first torp is fired. you might also like to use the mod itself to increased torp power the mod gives you

Welcome aboard!
 

As Webster has already stated, salvo into separate ship sections.

Welcome to SubSim :salute:

Welcome back
 

..and running at flank speed.
Being retired is very cool:cool:
Finally have the time for a lot of things I enjoy doing now.

Dave

I seem to have a lot of trouble with tankers. I have hit more than one dead astern and although impact has been reported, they don't seem to be phased by it one bit.

Also on my last patrol I had incapacitated a tanker with 2 torpedoes and it was sitting dead in the water. Backed up to it at a 90 degree angle and at 275 yards fired 2 torpedoes from the stern tubes. They missed!

Spun around and faced her. I locked on and looked at the torp depth the auto targeting was using. It was 25 feet I think. Changed it to 15 feet and fired 2 from the bow at again 275 yards. Both hit. She sank.

Not sure I really understand. The first two hit her with auto targeting. The second two missed with auto at short range. The third two hit with auto except I made them run shallower. Is there a different recommended depth? Full, empty, all around?

This weekend, I had a bad experience with a tanker. I found a convoy with two escorts, one out front, one in back. Two Nippon Maru 10,000 ton tankers in the near column, and three freighters on the far side. it was a nice setup, but I should have thought about the water depth before deciding to go in. I only had about 115' to work in.

I came in from their starboard bow, and got myself about 700 yards off the track. I waited for the first tanker to pass, then fired all four stern tubes, shifted target, and fired four bow tubes at the second. Three stern shots exploded prematurely, and the fourth hit an 11,000 ton freighter in the other column. One forward shot missed, the other three hit his starboard quarter. I quickly fired two more at him and started trying to sneak away. Both of those were duds.

While I tried to avoid the two escorts, the freighter that had taken one hit sank. The escorts started dropping charges on me, which left me pretty beat up. I ended up stopping and sinking to the bottom while my damage control crew fixed all they could. The one escort that kept attacking only had Y-guns and no roll-off racks, so even though he knew exactly where I was, his charges kept dropping off to my sides, and I was taking no more damage from them. The tanker, having taken three hits, was stopped, and was sitting at an angle with a third of his deck underwater.

Eventually, I figured out the the escort wasn't going to leave, so it was up to me to leave the party. Ahead flank, blow tanks, man the deck gun! I managed to reach the surface and started a gun battle. Somehow, I managed to sink both escorts with the deck gun (after replacing the dead crew twice).


That's when the tanker's deck gun sank me. :/\\!!

Does SH4 simulate cargo? I never noticed that :hmmm: