M14 Arming Distance?

[Dignan]

Had a frustrating encounter last night. Lined up a Dick Okane attack on a merchant convoy of 3 vessels in heavy seas, heavy fog and cloud cover. Daylight. Set up about 500 yards off of the target course line. I fired three torpedoes at the first ship and three at the second. Never got a "dude report" from the SO but when I went to the attack map. All six torpedoes were shown on the map as not moving at about the target course line. My guess is that they never armed but did make contact with the targets.

I was under the impression that arming distance was around 400 yards? Is it actually 500 or longer?

[Armistead]

500 is right on the line, With M14's, I want at least 600 yards at point of impact to be sure, that way if I'm off, I'm OK.

Mod's probably change torp factors. I thought it was 400 yards to be specific.

You're right, they just hit and dropped.

[tater]

450 yards. Remember that is the run of the torpedo, not the distance to the target. If the target is at 500, and is closing the track, it's easy for the fish to lose 51 yards of run and not arm.

[Dignan]

All makes sense. Thanks for the clarification. I'll give more distance next time.

[Sailor Steve]

Never forget that if the your lineup is a perfect 90 (or any other angle except trailing) the target is heading toward you. This means that if you fire at 500 yards he may be closer than 400 when the torpedo gets to him. You need to measure the range to the intercept point, not just the target itself.

[Armistead]

This is a very old guide that went with Sh2 I think, still the torps operate basically the same, even though the values are probably off. However it shows it game how you still need to shoot at slow speeds, correct angles, lower speeds, ect to have a better chance with the M14 in the game.. All these still have a value in the game. I'll try and update them sometime.

Torpedo Types

Mark 10 a.k.a. "Old but reliable ammo"�
Available since: Always
Range and speed: 3200@36kts (Single Setting)
Warhead power: 80-160 radius 3-6m
Depth keeping fault chance: 70% chance of deviating 0.8m-1.2m
Dud chance: 1% (0˚-70˚); 25% (70˚-90˚)
Renown cost: 0
Notes: Default torpedo for the S-Class. Slower and with a shorter range than the mk14, but extremely reliable.

Mark 14 a.k.a. "Standard ammo"�
Available since: Always
Range and speed: 8200@31kts (Slow); 4100@46kts (Fast)
Warhead power: 100-170 radius 3-7m
Depth keeping fault chance: 70% chance of deviating 1.5m-3.3m
Dud chance: 1% (0˚-35˚); 34% (35˚-70˚); 99% (70˚-90˚)
Renown cost: 0
Notes: Default torpedo for all modern fleet boats. Faster and with a longer range than the mk10, it packs a roughly 20% stronger punch but is much less reliable.

Mark 16 a.k.a. "Hard hitter... if it hits"�
Available since: 1945-01-01
Range and speed: 12500@46kts (Single Setting)
Warhead power: 180-250 radius 3.5-8m
Depth keeping fault chance: 70% chance of deviating 1.5m-3.3m
Dud chance: 4% (0˚-35˚); 45% (35˚-70˚); 100% (70˚-90˚)
Renown cost: 400
Notes: Fast torpedo with an exceptionally long range, but also terribly unreliable

Mark 18 a.k.a. "New and reliable ammo"
Available since: 1943-07-12
Range and speed: 3650@29kts (Single Setting)
Warhead power: 120-180 radius 3-7
Depth keeping fault chance: 55% chance of deviating 1.2m-2.8m
Dud chance: 1% (0˚-35˚); 34% (35˚-70˚); 99% (70˚-90˚)
Renown cost: 500 (200 from 1944-01-16; 0 from 1944-09-01)
Notes: Slower, 10% more powerful, with a shorter range and much more reliable than the mk14

Mark 23 a.k.a. "The new standard ammo"�
Available since: 1943-01-01
Range and speed: 4100@46kts (Single Setting)
Warhead power: 120-180 radius 3-7m
Depth keeping fault chance: 70% chance of deviating 1.5m-3.3m
Dud chance: 1% (0˚-35˚); 34% (35˚-70˚); 99% (70˚-90˚)
Renown cost: 100 (0 from 16-01-1944)
Notes: Same range, speed and reliability than the mk14 but toughly 10% more powerful. Definitely replaces the mk10 as the "standard"� torpedo since 16-01-1944.

Mark 27 a.k.a. "Homing destroyer defense"
Available since: 1944-01-01
Range and speed: 4570@12kts (Single Setting)
Warhead power: 50-100 radius 1.5-5
Depth keeping fault chance: N/A
Dud chance: 1% (0˚-25˚)
Renown cost: 500
Notes: Slow acoustic homing torpedo with a small warhead primarily used for defense against destroyers.

General Torpedo Information

Dud torpedoes
Dud torpedoes depend primarily on the angle of impact and secondarily on the torpedo type, selected torpedo speed and time period. In general, all torpedoes have a high dud chance at low angles and a much lower dud chance at high (close to 90) angles. I believe this was modeled to represent the impact pin getting bent instead of triggering the explosive charge (the lower the angle, the higher the speed – the higher the chance of the pin bending)... if so, it's definitely well done. Do note that in my experience there is no such thing as a "magnetic dud chance". Excluding prematures and other issues, the torp will either 1) hit and normal dud rules apply; 2) run less than 2m below the keel and explode if mag det was on; OR 3) run deep.
Also note that running mk14 torps at slow speed will result in a 50% dud reduction factor. This is a huge advantage when shooting mk14s taht will impact at angles between 35˚ and 90˚.

Premature torpedo detonations
Premature detonations depend exclusively on the torpedo type, time period and state of the sea (waves). In rough seas, look for up to 60% prematures, while in calm seas this value drops significantly. It has been mentioned that the magnetic detonator has nothing to do with prematures, however, I haven't been able to precisely verify it. If this was indeed the case, there would be absolutely no reason in the game to switch from impact+magnetic to impact only detonation.

Depth keeping problems
This is the major issue with magnetic detonations. Torpedoes have a very high chance (70% - with only the mk18 having 55%) of having depth keeping problems and the depth range varies up to 3.3m in the worst scenario (above OR below). This makes it really hard to get a keel shot as the magnetic detonation range is only 2 meters from the keel and the depth keeping problems mean that even a perfect shot will almost 70% of the time either hit high or run deep.
Lesson learned? aiming 1.3 m ABOVE the keel level and leaving impact + mag detonator on will give you the best hit ratio. This can be lessened to 0.8m ABOVE keel if shooting mk18s and to even 0.8m BELOW keel if shooting mk10s.

Torpedo minimum arming distance
arming_distance is set across all torps to 220 meters except the mk27, which has 150 meters.

Torpedo max dive angle
max_dive_angle is set to 20 degrees for all torpedo types and I don't believe that it really has an impact on most firings

Torpedo maximum turn angle
max_turn_angle is 135˚ for all torps except the mk27, which has 180˚

Magnetic detonation range
mag_detonation_range is 2m for all torps except for the mk27, which has 1

Circular runner torpedos
circle_runner_chance is 0.5% for all torps except for the mk27, which has 0%

Gyro problems
The chance of having gyro problems is 0.3% at the introduction time of all torpedos and drops to 0.2% in later periods for all torps except for the mk16. The max_deviation when having gyro problems is always 50˚. This does not apply to the mk27.

Homing torpedos
The mk27 will run straight for 200m before homing.

Depth (???)
This parameter I still haven't figured out - It's 1.5 for the mk27 and 1.8 for all other torps ... is this the default torpedo depth in meters?

[Floven de Sorezé]

Thank you, I actually had the same problem yesterday evening too. When you listen closely you can hear them collide with the boat and then explode some moments later when they touch the ocean floor or have sunk too deep.

I'll take 600 yards as my new minimum then.

[tater]

If you're not shooting from the hip you should have a good idea of the torpedo run to target.

[ETR3(SS)]

Pet peeve of mine. This is a M14:


and this is a Mk 14:

Note the differences.

[Dignan]

Originally Posted by ETR3(SS)

Pet peeve of mine. This is a M14:


and this is a Mk 14:

Note the differences.

My bad. You are correct. Your first picture isn't showing but I know what an M-14 looks like . I wasn't paying attention to what I was writing.

[Armistead]

Most of us hear use M14 because were in a sub forum and know what we're talking about, why that crawls under anyones skin is silly.

[ETR3(SS)]

Some of us have been in the military and recognize that M14 and Mk 14 are two very different things. Whether or not it crawls under someones skin is no more silly than Sailor Steve and his spelling checks on the forum.