I think it has to do with the damage modeling in SHIII. For the merchies, most torpedo hits in the bow are essentially non-hits. Early on, I have had this problem with both impact and mag shots. You get a hit in the bow area, but the ship does not slow down or seem to begin flooding. Now, with experience, I aim for the fuel tanks to the stern. This has greatly reduced those wasted bow torpedo hits.
However, with the warships, it is different. I have sunk both a Dido and a Fiji with single hits to the bow. The Dido was in a convoy and took one of my torps in her bow. So I swung my IXB around to fire the aft tubes. As I'm halfway thru the turn the Dido noses under. The Fiji was caught by dumb luck. I was setting up for a bow shot on a small merchant when the sonar man reported a warship closing at high speed, fearing a destroyer, I held my attacked to I could ID the warship. It was a darn Fiji doing 21 knots. To fast and to far away for a submerged attack, I surfaced, in full view of the small merchie, and want to flank speed for intercept. Now both targets are zig zagging, but I quick race ahead and submerge to a 3km range for a 3 torp spread at the Fiji. I take the shot, but with her zig zag, I only get one hit well forward. Quickly readying the last torpedo for a final shot at the fleeing Fiji. From a bad angle, I go with a mag setting, but at this distance, I'll be lucky if it dosen't premature. I fire my final shot, it barely misses the bow. The damn Fifi slowed a couple of knots and all my fore torpedoes are gone! I chase after her at max submerged speed, The Fiji steadily growing larger in the periscope, after about 15 minutes, she heads for Davey Jones locker bow first.
Who'd have thought merchies would be tougher than cruisers?
Happy Hunting
|