freshman's doubts

[divedivedive]

ive been playing sh3 (gwx) a while nowim on my 6th patrol right now. i got a few questions though, theyve been bugging me ever since i started playing

just a few minutes ago i encountered a c2 cargo somewhere around scapa flow and - as always - decided to intercept it and sink it. the sea was quite rough (waves would cover the periscope from time to time).. so i aimed at what seems to be the engine place (a bit off to the front relative to the funnel), set the depth to 5m and impact pistol. 'ruhr eins los!' boom, nothing. still alive. 'ruhr zwei los!', aimed almost exactly as the first one (a bit off to the front of the c2). boom, still nothing. i was really dissappointed to see the ship was still alive.. and since i don't really know if im doing something wrong or should i just fire another torp i decided to ask you guys for help.. and the questions are:

- can a ship sink if i torped it but got no 'she's going down msg' (and by the way, how did they (the watch) know that? i mean how could they tell if it's going down? people on board evacuating? intercepted SOS signal?)
- when firing a torp set to magnetic and ~1m below keel, what's the chance of sinking it with one shot? does this depend on the ship type? (i guess yes)
- if the first 'below-the-keel' shot doesnt crack the ship in half, where should i aim the second torp? still go for the keel, or try something else, like the engine compartment?
- how many torps max should it take to sink a ship? (talking merchants)
- when im off to patrol some random grid, should i 'waste' my trops on ships i encounter on the way there?
- fuel question: if after the patrol i dont have enough fuel to return to base and just 'return to base' through the menu, the boat will.. really return to base? right now im always making sure i got enough fuel for my way back (so its more realistic)

aaaahhh thats quite a lot of reading, hope you find some time to help a fellow sailor!

-divedivedive!

[mowgli99]

welcome dive,

to answer some of your questions i ship can sink if you are within i think 25km but you have to have ship sunk message to get credit.

Don't trust the mag torps till late 1940 but they are very affective. Depending on where you hit the ship it should go down. If it dosent sink on one i personally aim at a spot a little bit to the side. (more holes=more water in different places.) And yes it does depend on ship type. Aiming just fore of the bow mast usally ends up as a k.o.

How many fish. Well for small merchants usally one (or deck gun) medium to large 1-2 sometimes 3 and 1 if your lucky. Also if you cripple a shipin a convoy and are forced under it might sink eventually.

I pesonally go for ships on the way to my grid but not to far out of the way (feul) but yes that is how your supposed to get ships. I've found that theres nothing in my grid most the time.

Dont click on "return to base" as long as your within 25km. If your in range it should say "Dock at...." However if you do click on it dont worry. It wont say dock at and you should click on cancle. About the fuel, yes save feul for return and mabye extra just in case.

Hope this helps . Welcome aboard --mowgli

[GoldenRivet]

another thing worth mention is that it appears that you have to hit the boat in different compartments to create more flooding to sink her faster. try one under the smoke stack and another in the forward bow.

[Shelton]

has anyone sank a C2 with one torp ?

[Brag]

Welcome Divedive dive.
You may find the info on my webbie helpful.

[Brag]

Originally Posted by Shelton

has anyone sank a C2 with one torp ?

Yup--plenty, including battleships. How to do it? Check out my website.

Good hunting

[The_Blockade_Runner]

All the time, A good shot to the engine room can make the whole ship explode and split in half.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Welcome to SUBSIM divedivedive


RDP

[headcase]

Welcome Aboard! Yup, put plenty down with one. Plant between under the fwd mast. It may well take a while, but she'll go down. And don't worry about being Winchester by the time you hit your patrol grid. Just means you get a quicker turnaround to rack up more Limey sods. BdU won't be displeased in the least.

[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by Shelton

has anyone sank a C2 with one torp ?

Pretty sure you'll need an under-keel magnetic detonation for the C2... I've had more luck puttin down the C2 with one shot if I target slightly behind the smoke stack. 'specially in calm seas.

In the straight patched version, C3's would crack right in half with a good side impact (depth 5) targeted right under that square hole in the superstructure. Never did kill a C3 with one shot under-keel though.

[divedivedive]

wow, thanks for all your replies!

i think im just unlucky, yesterday i saw a c2 again today and decided to fire a 2-torp salvo at it.. well it cracked in half after the first one reached it. awww shoot.

[bigboywooly]

There is a certain randomness to the damage models so ships wont always react the same to a torp

Makes for better play IMHO

[Packerton]

Always try to go for Magnetic under the Keel Shots for large cargos and tankers.

And welcome to Subsim!

[minute]

This being GWX, the sinking of ships is governed by flooding (mostly). So most ships won't sink or break up straightaway, they will flood and eventually head to the bottom. Some may explode and break up, but you'll need more to be lucky rather than shoot in the right place.

- can a ship sink if i torped it but got no 'she's going down msg' (and by the way, how did they (the watch) know that? i mean how could they tell if it's going down? people on board evacuating? intercepted SOS signal?)

Yes, sometimes your crew will not see that a ship has sunk. The 'she's going down' message is a compromise. The crew will be able to detect that a ship is really sinking either by visually seeing how much is it listed, or via noise on the hydrophones. This message also means that a ship's crew "abandons" the ship, i.e. it stops trying to fight with you.

- when firing a torp set to magnetic and ~1m below keel, what's the chance of sinking it with one shot? does this depend on the ship type? (i guess yes)

A fair chance Luck gets involved in this

- if the first 'below-the-keel' shot doesnt crack the ship in half, where should i aim the second torp? still go for the keel, or try something else, like the engine compartment?

There is no set location. You could wait to see if it floods and sinks slowly. If you're in a hurry, just hit another area of the ship to creeate more flooding.

- how many torps max should it take to sink a ship? (talking merchants)

One may be enough, but some may need two. With one torp you'll need to wait (sometimes more than 1 hour) for the ship to sink. I've seen cases when a small merchant didn't sunk after three torpedo hits, but also most large merchants will sink with one torpedo in bad weather, given sufficient time.

Usually one torpedo plus some well-placed canon rounds does the trick fairly quickly.

- when im off to patrol some random grid, should i 'waste' my trops on ships i encounter on the way there?

Why not - they're as good as any really. Sink all that moves. You don't need to sink anything in your patrol grid, but you do need to accumulate renown.

- fuel question: if after the patrol i dont have enough fuel to return to base and just 'return to base' through the menu, the boat will.. really return to base? right now im always making sure i got enough fuel for my way back (so its more realistic)

Yes, it does return you to base but you lose some renown that you get if you dock to the base. Don't rely on this feature, it's a cheat really.

[JuJuMan]

Not wanting to derail this thread, how are you guys targetting specific areas for torp impact.I use the scope,press lock and fire (green triangle etc...)???

Are you guys using the TDC and the mind-bogling distance,ID,bearing,AOB etc.....method?

Interested.....:hmm:

JJM