Definitive torpedo depth/exploder status in 1.2

[GTHammer]

Originally Posted by nomad_delta

3. Is a ship's "draft" the distance that it extends below the waterline, and is that (in theory) what I should be using to determine my torpedo's depth settings?

a. Is there a consistent part of all ships draft that is best to hit?, such as: "as low as possible without going under" or "dead center of the ship's draft" or does it vary with each ship? If it varies, where can I find this information for each ship type?

I've be planning on running some new tests to try and get some of these answer myself. The above is the only part I can definitively answer at the moment.

3. The draft measurement is the depth the ship extends beneath the surface.

a. If you are using contact torpedos or wish for them to make contact and then detonate it is best to hit low, under any armored belt if the ship has one. However, for maximum damage a torpedo should explode underneath the keel, thus directing all of its energy into the ship. For this to occur the torpedo must past just beneath the keel. Or at least thats how it should work...I'm off to fire off loads of torps on diff settings. We'll see how it goes.

[Jaber]

Great thread! I think there are a lot of us out here with these same questions.

I started getting much better torp effectiveness once I switched to 'Contact' setting and aiming for low (but not under). Previously when I had set to Influence the torps would explode too early or seem to not induce much damage....

[SirMoric]

Yes, the magnetic exploder works. I've used it from time to time and been succesfull a couple of times putting large holes in the bottom of ships and even breaking them apart.

I'm not keen on using them though, since I don't like "loosing" torpedoes to faulty devices, especially not after I've begun using 100 pct realism where my accuracy is rather bad and only one hitting in a spread of four need to explode.

rgds

[GTHammer]

Ok well here's what I've found out after a few rather infuriating efforts. Apparently my computer has issues with the external view, no matter how low I set the graphics settings....

Anyway...The Mogami Heavy Cruiser from the training mission is listed as having a draft of 4.4 meters. This converts to approximately 14.44 feet. I fired a number of torpedos at the target to determine the depth required for the torp to pass under keel. I did jump from 25 feet to 28 feet, decided to for go the foot by foot thing. My torp set for contact+influence passed under the keel without exploding. Sadly my computer crashed shortly after I watched this occur. However after rebooting and reloading I fired another torpedo set to run at 28 feet and to explode by contact alone. This torpedo passed 1/3 of the way under the keel and then exploded. I had read something about this before. Apparently the switch is backwards or setting for contact gives you only influence...(Didn't have the patience for another reboot and reload to fire one set on contact that actually hit the side.) Oh yeah and duds were off.

So in conclusion....1. The draft depths in the manual/chart are off. The dial has to be set in feet because 28 meters would have been way to deep. 2. Torpedos set to explode by contact+influence don't, they will explode by influence when set to contact though....

This info is pertinent to 1.2 without any mods affecting ship dimensions or torp stats. Oh and if anyone has any ideas why my computer likes to crash while I'm in the external camera...feel free to chime in...Thanks

[Jaber]

Ok, I got home a bit ago and tried this a number of times. First off I am using SH4 1.2 with mod RFB 1.27 at 100% realism (no map contacts and external camera unchecked) but with the original Torpedoes_US.sim.

I performed the testing using the torp training within the school using the S class sub. I performed the test 12 different times (total of 48 torps) with various Contact and Influence settings/depths.

What I noticed is I never had a 'Contact' only torp go off 'early.' Typically Influence/Contact torps would only go off if very close to the hull, if at all (unless direct contact.)

What I did have is a problem with the selector switch staying in the ‘Contact’ position. When I clicked to a different torp and came back it would be selected back to the default Contact/Influence position. Sometimes it would take 4-5 tries before it would stay there. Maybe this fault was only my computer, but this could explain some of the issues we are all experiencing with the Contact and Influence settings…

On another note it was interesting see the failure rate of the orginal torpedoes_US.sim; about a 1 in 5 failure during the brief testing I did. And those seemed to me a mix of duds or bad gyro. (this does not take into account any 'dud' influence detections).

[The Avon Lady]

Somebody yesterday on the SH4 Mods forum posted this link:

US NAVY TORPEDOES, by Frederick J Milford, Part Two: The great torpedo scandal, 1941-43.

As it says, historically both exploder types and the depth mechanism were messed up untill later in the war.

So the question is if these are bugs imitating reality or reality imitating buigs? :p

As far as the exploder switch not keeping its position between switch screens or torps, this is definitely a bug. In SH3, the equivalent switch retained its position. But both games suffer also from the torpedo settings not being saved between game sessions, which is a pity.

[Jaber]

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

...As it says, historically both exploder types and the depth mechanism were messed up untill later in the war....

It was interesting that I did notice quite a bit of variation to torps that were set to the same depth. Some higher/lower than other ones. At first I thought draft of the ship was off, but really think after all the talk it was the depth mechanism. You think this was actually programmed in to be off just a tad sometimes...?

What eles interesting out of all of the testing tonight isthe importance of a spread across a ship to destroy it effectively (with contact). You could land all 4 torps dead center with no sink... It was also impressive to watch how fast the ship went down when the Influence actually did work. Zip!

[nomad_delta]

I've noticed the exact same problem with the game not 'remembering' the Contact/Influence setting on each torpedo. Mine does the same thing -- every time I change torpedos it resets it back to the default. I end up having to change the setting on each torpedo right before I fire it.

nomad_delta