I use only the combo setting on a non-modded game. I always shoot to hit as low as possible and when the torp has the good luck to pass under (because this torp worked, or the wave action was favorable) I get very nice destruction from proximity only detonation. Is it possible I'm getting an invisible contact detonation rather than prox? Yes.
An advantage of using the combo setting is if I fail to get it under, I will get a good contact hit low on the hull. I've yet to use more than 3 torps to sink any medium size ship. The two pax liners I've taken out so far were done both in very stormy weather with two torps. From my understanding reading the 1.3 patch list, I infer that there are discrepancies between the logical draft and the visual model so torps can "appear" to pass under visually or early when approaching the target and still explode when set to contact. It may be that the setting isn't reversed as much as the visual observation is not accurate as to what's actually happenening. Possibly the ship is larger or lower in the water in the logic than the visual.
An example of getting easily confused by observation alone was the convoy halt bug after the 1st explosion. It surprised many of us to learn it was because we sank the command ship and the AI was slow to select a new command ship to set the course and speed to escape.
-Pv-
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