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Originally Posted by Nexus7
Shouldn't this already represent a weak move for him? While he doesn't yet know where you are, you now know where he is...
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It's actually a quite strong position. The problem lies in torpedo average speeds, and the size of the area in which the scenario is taking place.
Suppose you counter fired a snake searching torpedo in response to his shot. Because your torpedo is now zig-zagging, and his is going straight, his will arrive at your position first.
Now... if you could shoot a straight searching torpedo. He'd have to think twice because your torpedo is going to arrive on target at almost the same time his will. Suddenly the gamble doesn't always look so good to him.
In naval warfare in general, one of the most important principles of tactics (see Capt. Wayne Hughes book), is to SHOOT EFFECTIVELY FIRST. The idea is that modern weapons are so potentially lethal that if you are able to always have the first shot advantage, you'll probably do really well most of the time, provided you're able to overwhelm the enemy's countermeasures.
Shooting with no other information, thus confers to the munchkin the first shot advantage. In real life, he wouldn't be at an advantage, necessarily because someone could just as easily shoot a torpedo right back at him with an equal or greater chance of hitting him, so the outcome of this battle ought to be a coin flip. In the battle he described, the person taking the time to develop a firing solution tends to lose, even though, he might have a better idea of where the munchkin is.
Now... none of this really matters, though, if the torpedo is unlikely to find a target. But.. if you don't chose the size of the scenario area wisely, you can make this tactic EXTREMELY effective because in essense the enemy is ALREADY localized from the moment the scenario starts.
Suppose a torpedo can see 2Nmi in both directions. Therefore it searches an area about 4Nmi wide. Traveling at 55kts, the in one hour the torpedo has searched 220 Nmi^2. That corresponds to a box about 15x15Nmi. Now... suppose you are going 5kts and you can see 18Nmi. In one hour, you've only searched 90Nmi^2. Given the scale of the scenarios many people build, recon by torpedo means that in less than an hour, your torpedo will very likely have found the bad guy first. In that situation, it's the best thing to do.
So, given the two factors: your torpedo will most likely arrive on target before his does, and that your torpedo is a more effective searcher than you, in the absense of wire breaks and straight searching torpedoes, it's actually a pretty good tactic.