attack tactics

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Wim Libaers

It has been claimed that this is, in fact, hardcoded into the game, and that the selector switch is not functional.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=120328 (post number 20 and later)

Hmmmm....I will have to mess with it. Usually I set depth at the shallowest and they work on impact.

read my signature

[amurph182]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Hmmmm....I will have to mess with it. Usually I set depth at the shallowest and they work on impact.

that's because the Contact Influence setting is not "contact-influence" but "contact/influence"...as in it will either explode on "contact" or via the magnetic "influence" trigger.

I may be incorrect, but my reading seems to indicate that selecting a trigger was not as simple as flipping a switch in real life. From what I can recall, all of the torps had the magnetic triggers installed, and that was how they were fired. To disable the magnetic trigger the torpedomen had to take the thing apart and doing so was forbidden by the Navy for quite some time. A few enterprising skippers disabled them anyway and were much more successful with their attacks. They would of course not report that they had disabled them and would have any unused torpedos repaired on the way home. Ironically, their success was actually seen as proof that the magnetic exploders worked since they were afraid to be honest about violating orders.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by amurph182

that's because the Contact Influence setting is not "contact-influence" but "contact/influence"...as in it will either explode on "contact" or via the magnetic "influence" trigger.

I may be incorrect, but my reading seems to indicate that selecting a trigger was not as simple as flipping a switch in real life. From what I can recall, all of the torps had the magnetic triggers installed, and that was how they were fired. To disable the magnetic trigger the torpedomen had to take the thing apart and doing so was forbidden by the Navy for quite some time. A few enterprising skippers disabled them anyway and were much more successful with their attacks. They would of course not report that they had disabled them and would have any unused torpedos repaired on the way home. Ironically, their success was actually seen as proof that the magnetic exploders worked since they were afraid to be honest about violating orders.

I have read much the same! Hell, if I was the skipper I would have told the torpedomen to change the exploder. I'm not risking 70 mens lives over a 10 dollar magnetic exploder.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I have read much the same! Hell, if I was the skipper I would have told the torpedomen to change the exploder. I'm not risking 70 mens lives over a 10 dollar magnetic exploder.

All of the above is true. there was no switch to turn magnetic pistols on and off. There is even some question as to whether the Germans had such a switch. Some skippers did have their chiefs disable them, but it also required recognizing that that was the problem, and having the skills to actually do the job; otherwise every one of them would have done it.

[amurph182]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

All of the above is true. there was no switch to turn magnetic pistols on and off. There is even some question as to whether the Germans had such a switch. Some skippers did have their chiefs disable them, but it also required recognizing that that was the problem, and having the skills to actually do the job; otherwise every one of them would have done it.

I don't know about his. Skippers read each other's patrol reports before going out themselves, and the silent services was (is) such a close-knit community that I'm going to bet that it was within the first couple months of the war that the general consensus was that the torpedos were junk. And it wasn't much longer before plenty of good skippers were reporting that their torps were running directly under their targets. The fact that BuOrd and ComSubPac were ordering skippers to shoot the torps as they had been designed (under the keel) and to not disable the magnetic exploders would seem to indicate that pretty much everybody knew that they ran deep and that the magnetic exploders were crap and that people were actually shooting shallow for contact, and moreover that this was reportedly working better than the ordered tactics. Otherwise, why tell everyone not to do it? Since the torps required routine maintenance and navy torpedomen were well trained, actually disabling them was more time consuming that difficult.

I think that pretty much everyone knew that they didn't work right, but some skippers were just more adept at discerning which orders should be followed and which shouldn't. Let's not forget that most of the early war skippers were older, peace-time navy skippers, who had risen to their positions by playing the game. It took a while for the maverick, do whatever it takes-type of skipper to become commonplace.

That and at least a certain number of torps worked just fine, which would dissuade some skippers from using non-approved tactics since their buddy so-and-so had just come back from a patrol with a few ships sunk and everything had worked well for him.

There was immense pressure on skippers to sink ships. Those that didn't were replaced. Yet there was also immense pressure to operate exactly as ordered. This affects different people differently.

[cali03boss]

Well after reading this all over I understand your guys' comments. But as far as the war date and torpedo settings...I'm playing in November of '43.

And From what AVG said, I guess if anyone would like advice Ill give it out.

Its all about not stressing out.

[amurph182]

Originally Posted by cali03boss

And From what AVG said, I guess if anyone would like advice Ill give it out.

well, based on your original post where you said that you don't understand how people are missing with their shots, I think I can shed some light on that as I was having a lot of problems until recently.

The biggest problem for me was AOB. I was getting it pretty close, but my shots were consistently missing either just forward or just aft of the target. Once I changed my method of determining AOB, my shots are all hitting except for duds and when I rush a shot or make a stupid mistake.

Previously, I was determining AOB either by my manual plot or by eyeballing it. Once I watched wernersobe's vids, where you determine course and then adjust the AOB wheel until it matches the target heading in the tdc, that problem was resolved. I really wasn't off by much before that, but over time the PK will really be off with even a relatively small AOB error.

I was also getting the range wrong by a couple hundred yards...again, not much but enough that over time the PK ends of being off just enough to miss. First I was a victim of the known imperial measurement error with ship heights, but then I was just not being careful enough when using the tool. Some people have said that range doesn't matter at all, but I don't see how this is possible.

I was usually right on with speed but again, even a mistake of a knot or two can cause a problem over time or with a long shot.

+/- ~200 yards and ~5 degrees AOB when you start the position keeper can ruin the entire shot if you just assume that everything is correct. And the indicated bearing and AOB on the pk is close enough to the target's true bearing and AOB that you don't notice an error a lot of the times. It can look like you've set the shot up perfectly, only to have torps miss the target by several yards

[panzer 49th]

My approach tactic: Move in at 1/3 throttle at periscope depth then stop at pre-determined distance and fire torpedos.

(I play on 100% realism and still get an incredible hit rate 99% of my torpedos hit their targets what is going on