[TEC] Is AI possible launch torpedo

[SDFilm]

Originally Posted by Tabris

as a fellow bigtime XXI player, I'm intrigued. Have you actually been hit by one before? I had passed over this mod because frankly, the Mk24's performance doesn't look too intimidating compared to the XXI's performance. Here are some of uboat.net's stats on the weapon:

Speed and Endurance: 12 kts for approx. 15 min
Search Pattern: Initial circle search approximately 150 ft (45m) dia. at 50 ft (15m) depth; shift to acoustic homing upon target detection. Initial search depth was later changed to 150 ft (45m).

Unless the weapon is meaner than that in this mod, it kind of sounds like the XXI is immune unless in shallow water. As a fellow elektroboot driver I'm sure you know, we can reach 100m in a matter of seconds, while maintaining 11-12kt even with the dive planes set for crash-dive.

At this point I'll probably still give it a go. Anything that makes the XXI harder to play would be welcome. But like I said, I'd be eager to know if you've actually been struck by one.

- Tabris

After tests, I've found that the mod's Mk24 can hit the XXI but it's significantly harder than with conventional u-boats. As you can imagine, the elektroboot is either being too quiet or when it is loud it's going so fast that the torps struggle to catch it. Still, they seem a little faster than 12kts so they can catch you out if you're not careful. I haven't tested much with depth but I'd guess diving below 25m would be a good way to avoid them.

When the Mk24s did hit it tended to be in the sweet area of 'Ahead Standard' where the XXI is making noise but not going at a full 17kts. It's also more likely if the torps are dropped from your port or starboard so that you're not sailing directly away from them along with giving a large target.

The torps are often dropped some distance (roughly 1500m) away, so depending on the baring they can sometimes linger enough for you to get complacent and go into cruise mode again, when actually you've got a couple of eels on your tail.

The mod readme says that you'll hear "Torpedos in the water!" but this isn't the case and it seems to have been written for an earlier version of the mod when it was just abstract programming rather than having a graphical torpedo.
What actually happens in this latest verison is that you'll see the torpedo drop (or at least sometimes you do, as it can be a little buggy since the 'bomb' torpdo vanishes and then turns into the actual torpedo once it's in the water) and if you're surfaced you'll hear/read "We're being attacked!" and if you're submerged you'll hear a distinct 'plunk' sound and then "Depth charges in the water!"

The air torpedo mod isn't activated by default if you're using Onealex Mod; you have to go into the 'HsieOptionsSelector' to use it. Also I'd recommend adding the Mk24 to other allied aircraft as otherwise you'll probably never see it. Below is the code that you add to other aircraft.
Also it's nice to see another elektroboot player

Replace from ‘basic loadout’ to ‘equipment 5’ to aircraft in their .eqp file:

;Basic Loadout values FIdo&radar after march 1943
  [Equipment 1]
  NodeName=T01
  LinkName=AiR_torp_rack
  StartDate=19380101
  EndDate=19430228
   
  [Equipment 2]
  NodeName=T01
  LinkName=AiR_torp_rack__FIDO
  StartDate=19430301
  EndDate=19451231
   
  [Equipment 3]
  NodeName=B01
  LinkName=BombDummyy
  StartDate=19380101
  EndDate=19430228
   
  [Equipment 4]
  NodeName=B01
  LinkName=BombDummy_FIDO
  StartDate=19430301
  EndDate=19451231
   
  [Equipment 5]
  NodeName=B02
  LinkName=NULL
  StartDate=19380101
  EndDate=19451231

[Tabris]

thanks SD, it definitely sounds like I should try it. Timing couldn't be better, as I'm absolutely determined to sink me a jeep carrier next patrol, so there'll be plenty of aircraft around.

[SDFilm]

I've done more testing and it can depend on which tech level you have; the best of the best 1945 version of the XXI is just too quiet for the Mk24 to aquire it, swimming very close but not turning around. Either that or it's just at a bad angle.

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by SDFilm

Indeed they can work like that, which was a pleasent surprise after hearing for so long that it's impossible. I've recently edited the Hsie/Stiebler version of the air-dropped torpedos to be fired from several different aircraft since the original Hsie mod only had them dropped by one special version of the Avenger. Now the mid-late war years have more of a 'Cold Waters' feel to it. This might at first sound like overkill but it's balanced by two things; in my custom campaigns it's easier to get late-war tech including the XXI sub, plus the torpdoes are far from being an assured hit. They may or may not be dropped in a good direction and then may or may not aquire your engine noise depending on how loud your sub is. They do at least keep you on your toes; needing to dive fast to avoid the plane's conventional weapons, and then go slow or deep to avoid the torpedo from aquiring your engine noise.

Fwiw, the the FIDO mod was strictly a Stiebler product. It never included any graphical functions (as it shouldn't) and worked very well. Rubini made a graphical FIDO mod as shown in the linked youtube videos on the first page of this thread, and he and Stiebler tried to get the two mods to work together with no success.

[SDFilm]

Originally Posted by John Pancoast

Fwiw, the the FIDO mod was strictly a Stiebler product. It never included any graphical functions (as it shouldn't) and worked very well. Rubini made a graphical FIDO mod as shown in the linked youtube videos on the first page of this thread, and he and Stiebler tried to get the two mods to work together with no success.

I guess that's why the readme seems very outdated, talking about there being no graphical torpedo while there's clearly an all-singing all-dancing torpedo in the game. Perhaps they later got it to work or Hsie modded it? Either way, it's nice to see it working finally.
As for now, I'll be looking into making the torpdo more sensitive, as currently it doesn't work against the 1945 Type XXI with the latest anti-sonar coatings, which is exactly the sort of late-game sub that the FIDO is supposed to be countering.

[John Pancoast]

Originally Posted by SDFilm

I guess that's why the readme seems very outdated, talking about there being no graphical torpedo while there's clearly an all-singing all-dancing torpedo in the game. Perhaps they later got it to work or Hsie modded it? Either way, it's nice to see it working finally.
As for now, I'll be looking into making the torpdo more sensitive, as currently it doesn't work against the 1945 Type XXI with the latest anti-sonar coatings, which is exactly the sort of late-game sub that the FIDO is supposed to be countering.

Neither H.sie, Stiebler, nor Rubini have been around or (publicly) modding SH3 for a long time now.
Without looking at things, chances are someone else just added it in.

[SDFilm]

Originally Posted by SDFilm

I've done more testing and it can depend on which tech level you have; the best of the best 1945 version of the XXI is just too quiet for the Mk24 to aquire it, swimming very close but not turning around. Either that or it's just at a bad angle.

Update- They do work against the latest XXIs! It must have been a bad approuch or some error in my earlier installation. The torps followed the XXI as it turned and they hit the tower since they had already swam over the engines of the diving sub.