Torpedoes not homing on Victor III in Ocean Vulture mission.

[Dron22]

I am playing Sub Command Campaign commanding a US Seawolf sub, I am now on the Ocean Vulture mission. I have completed all objectives, but in the briefing it implies that sinking Russian submarines will be good as they will not appear in future missions. So I sunk the Akula II and the Kilo with no problem, but I cannot hit the Victor III as my torpedoes keep passing deep under it every time. I tried different presets, like setting the floor to 250 feet but torpedoes still keep going at over 500 feet deep anyway. I used "show truth" and it seems that my torpedoes are just not homing on it.
Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong here?

[Hinrich Schwab]

I am unaware of any bugs in that mission. What range have you been engaging the Victor at? MK48s are wire guided. Have you been leaving the muzzle doors open so fire control can correct for aspect changes? Also, Russian naval doctrine states that one should crash dive and maneuver away when a torpedo is close, thus the torpedo would run too deep trying to over-correct.

You also haven't indicated whether the Victor is dropping countermeasures. If it has, it would explain a lot.

EDIT: Here is another thread that deals with the homing abilities of the MK48. The answer may be in that thread.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=192395

[Dron22]

Thanks for your reply. I just went and tried sinking the 3 Russian subs again with "show truth" constantly on. The Victor did launch counter-measures, but what do they do except attempt to lure your torpedo to home on them instead of the submarine? The Victor stayed at a depth of 200 feet all the time, all it did is go full speed for a bit and then suddenly went to 4 knots again when my torpedo was getting close to it. Every time my torpedo missed it I used wire guiding to turn it around and try again, but it will not home on to the Victor. I even tried firing 3 torpedoes at the same time, but they all missed it.
Actually, the Akula II did try to maneuver as you said, it went deeper and then suddenly went up to 100 feet at the last moment, but the MK48 still hit it and it sunk.
I like the campaign better in Sub Command than in Dangerous Waters, but I already encountered many bugs in Sub Command, so that's why I think a bug is a possibility here. I might not be a bug for this specific mission, but rather a bug with the Victor III class submarines being immune to torpedoes homing onto them.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Dron22

Thanks for your reply. I just went and tried sinking the 3 Russian subs again with "show truth" constantly on. The Victor did launch counter-measures, but what do they do except attempt to lure your torpedo to home on them instead of the submarine?

Passive countermeasures cavitate and active countermeasures establish a closer reflective surface for the sonar ping. Both are designed to obstruct the sensor and create a cleaner return signal, masking the evading sub.

The Victor stayed at a depth of 200 feet all the time, all it did is go full speed for a bit and then suddenly went to 4 knots again when my torpedo was getting close to it. Every time my torpedo missed it I used wire guiding to turn it around and try again, but it will not home on to the Victor. I even tried firing 3 torpedoes at the same time, but they all missed it.

This tells me that your torpedoes were set to passive homing and that the Victor went to silent running so as to not produce a clean enough signal to allow acquisition. Using active homing should make him sweat a bit more.

Actually, the Akula II did try to maneuver as you said, it went deeper and then suddenly went up to 100 feet at the last moment, but the MK48 still hit it and it sunk.

Sounds like the AI made a mistake during its maneuvering. It only works if the torpedo is painfully close and one blows ballasts. Simply making a fast ascent at flank speed won't work.

I like the campaign better in Sub Command than in Dangerous Waters, but I already encountered many bugs in Sub Command, so that's why I think a bug is a possibility here. I might not be a bug for this specific mission, but rather a bug with the Victor III class submarines being immune to torpedoes homing onto them.

I suspect that it is the homing sensor setting on the torpedoes. The Victor is detecting a passive homing torpedo and is going quiet to prevent target acquisition. I am almost certain that passive homing is the default setting, so this would be logical.

[Dron22]

Thanks again for the answer.
I think the torpedo was set to active homing, as far a I know it's the default setting.
Actually when I fired the torpedoes, I wanted to set one to passive seeking but I could not figure out how to make the torpedo use passive homing. On the Akula it's fairly straight forward, but on the panel on the Seawolf it's not so clear.
So how do you set torpedoes to active or passive homing on the seawolf?
And also, how can you tell when a torpedo fired at you is using passive homing? Is it just if you cannot hear the constant pinging noise, then you can assume it's using passive seeking?
P.S As for silent running, do you just have to change speed to 3 or 4 knots or is there some special function to activate it?

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Dron22

Thanks again for the answer.
I think the torpedo was set to active homing, as far a I know it's the default setting.
Actually when I fired the torpedoes, I wanted to set one to passive seeking but I could not figure out how to make the torpedo use passive homing. On the Akula it's fairly straight forward, but on the panel on the Seawolf it's not so clear.
So how do you set torpedoes to active or passive homing on the seawolf?

The setting is on the torpedo preset screen. It may be necessary to disable autocrew to make the change. Also, the autocrew likes to use passive homing for some reason.

And also, how can you tell when a torpedo fired at you is using passive homing? Is it just if you cannot hear the constant pinging noise, then you can assume it's using passive seeking?

You shouldn't hear the ping even if it is active. Unless the torpedo is coming at you, you won't know unless you fired the torpedo and set the homing type. I will double check this and get back to you on it.

P.S As for silent running, do you just have to change speed to 3 or 4 knots or is there some special function to activate it?

There is not separate "silent running" function, but if you are at slow speed or manually adjusted below that threshold, you are considered silent.