how to sink ships fast...

[melnibonian]

Most of the attacks are based on experience and previous knowledge of the ships in question. Nevertheless here are my "tricks"

Impact Pistols

Small Merchants (Passenger/Cargo. Small Freighters etc)
I set the running depth to 3m and aim just before the smoke stak. By hitting there you can either stop the ship from moving or explode the fuel bunker.

Small Tankers
Running depth set to 1m and aim a little bit ahead of the smoke stak (aft of the boat). If you hit the sweet spot you can blow up the fuel bunker and the whole ship in seconds.

Medium/Large Tankers
Running depth 1m aim just on the first mast (small bridge) from the bow. By hitting there the boat should sink in seconds.

Medium Cargo
Running depth 2.5m aim for the area between the last mast before the bridge and the smoke stak. It's a bit tricky but if you hit it properly you can break the ship in half.

Large Merchant
Running depth 1m and aim for the first mast from the bow. It should go down like a stone.

Empire Freighter
Running depth 1m and aim amidships. It takes a while but it will sink.

Destroyers
Whenever you hit them with a torpedo (running depth 1m) they should eventually go under

Battleships/Cruisers
Running depth 1m and aim for the gun turrets. The ammunition stored there should blow the ship up.

Magnetic pistols

Set the depth to 0.5-1m more than the draft of the boat, aim under the smoke stak or in the middle of the boat and fire. 9 times out of 10 you do break the back and she sinks.

Good Luck and Good Shooting

[Chisum]

The absolute best solution is on the front of the ship(I don't know the name in english, in french "proue" or "étrave").
One torpedos = one ship because water enter quickly and the ship sunk very fast.
One meter is enought, set to impact.

Available for merchant ship. For war ship it's strongly different...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Chisum

The absolute best solution is on the front of the ship(I don't know the name in english, in french "proue" or "étrave").

"Proue" is actually translated almost directly into English as "Prow". More commonly used, as you see everywhere in this thread, is "bow". Bow actually can mean anywhere on the forward part of the ship, whereas prow usually refers to the forwardmost point, also called the "stem".

[Col. Caldwell]

:hmm: Interesting. So, if I were to get a torpedo hit to a passenger liner in the bow would it be enough to sink it? I'm guessing it won't be a one shot, one kill, but maybe punching enough holes in the bow will eventually make it sink under it's own momentum.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Col. Caldwell

:hmm: Interesting. So, if I were to get a torpedo hit to a passenger liner in the bow would it be enough to sink it? I'm guessing it won't be a one shot, one kill, but maybe punching enough holes in the bow will eventually make it sink under it's own momentum.

Possibly, but with no more certainty than hitting her amidships or astern (my preferred method).
At the very least you should bring her to an eventual halt.

[predavolk]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Possibly, but with no more certainty than hitting her amidships or astern (my preferred method).
At the very least you should bring her to an eventual halt.

Jim has FAR more ingame experience then me, but I would disagree with him based on my limited experience (so take that for what it's worth). From a real-world, physics point of view, a bow hit should also be more lethal than a mid- or stern hit. Again, you're inducing a negative angle to the boat that combined with forward momentum, encourages more water to be taken on by driving the bow underwater. Hitting admiships doesn't change the angle of the boat in the water, so you don't get the benefit. Bowshots should, in theory, be especially effective in heavy seas where the negative angle is an even greater impediment.

In real life, with real physics, this should be true. In GWX too, considering the reduced chances of sinking a ship through outright damage/explosions in GWX. But again, jimbuna's got a lot more time under his belt than me, so maybe try it out and see for yourself. Personally, I've sunk a dozen large/medium merchants with a single bowshot (the other two dozen were sinking, but I helped with some deck fire ).

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by predavolk

Jim has FAR more ingame experience then me, but I would disagree with him based on my limited experience (so take that for what it's worth). From a real-world, physics point of view, a bow hit should also be more lethal than a mid- or stern hit. Again, you're inducing a negative angle to the boat that combined with forward momentum, encourages more water to be taken on by driving the bow underwater. Hitting admiships doesn't change the angle of the boat in the water, so you don't get the benefit. Bowshots should, in theory, be especially effective in heavy seas where the negative angle is an even greater impediment.

In real life, with real physics, this should be true. In GWX too, considering the reduced chances of sinking a ship through outright damage/explosions in GWX. But again, jimbuna's got a lot more time under his belt than me, so maybe try it out and see for yourself. Personally, I've sunk a dozen large/medium merchants with a single bowshot (the other two dozen were sinking, but I helped with some deck fire ).

Absolutely no problem mate......we are all here to air and voice our opinions

Ships can sink either one of two ways.....flooding or reaching the total number of damage points attributed to said vessel.

Whether you hit stem or stern does not guarantee a sinking.

I have seen literally thousands of ships sail merrily on their way with submerged stem and or stern.

Thankfully the majority do eventually sink.

Sometimes, the flooding does not happen quick enough for a Kaleun to hang around for fear rhe stricken ship has summoned help.....and hence the need for a coup de grace or a few shells.

[Chisum]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

"Proue" is actually translated almost directly into English as "Prow". More commonly used, as you see everywhere in this thread, is "bow". Bow actually can mean anywhere on the forward part of the ship, whereas prow usually refers to the forwardmost point, also called the "stem".

I was not sure for "bow".
Many thanks Steve.


There is some pics to better explain.

Here I fired 2 torpedos T1, one on the bow and the other in the engines room.
Ship sunk quickly.



This ship sunked after 1 shot on the bow.



The 2 next representing one of my best shots.




But the ultimate best still this one. You need some luck to tuch it there !



To be completly honnest, I must say that I'm NOT in 100% realistic, only 74% and I don't use manual torpedo setup.
I don't know if it's possible to hit with this precision in 100%.

[the.terrabyte.pirate]

Fantastic pictures. I've never seen the damage to torped ships before. I don't have the camera view activated.

If I'm running on impact, I aim at the front of the vessel between the stem and the first mast back. I'm not sure if the game is able to differentiate between the different flooding charecteristics of a hit to the bow vs a hit to the stern, so I kinda do it out of habit as it seems more reliable.

If I'm running magnetic, I'll usually aim under the smokestack, or just in front of it. It'll take a while to sink, but hopefully it'll flood the engine room so that it won't go far in the meantime.

The closes I've come to a cataclysmic keel buster was a coastal merchant with a magnetic eel directly under the smokestack. She took about 40 minutes to settle in the water before I got the "she's going down" message. I watched her sink for about 5 more minutes, and at the last minute there was a big bang, the ship split in half, and it vanished pretty quickly.

If you want to sink ships fast, use overkill. I use a single torp on vessels 0 - 3000 tonnes (but only if the deck gun is empty/can't be used), 2 torps in salvo for 3000 - 6000 tonnes, and 3 torps for anything bigger. If you want a ship to sink quicker, send more torps at it.

[Col. Caldwell]

I sank a T3 tanker in rough seas yesterday. No fog though, which is good. I fired two electrics, one for the bow and one for the fuel tank. The first shot hit the bow, didn't appear to sink much into the water though since the sea was rough. I couldn't really tell. I didn't want to wait for it to sink itself, so I sent a second electric towards the fuel tank. At this point, I thought that if this torp doesn't make a clean hit I'd have to fire a third. So, impact was made on the fuel tank. Some small explosions went off. It didn't break in half but it did go down in one piece. A shot to the bow and then a shot to the engine or fuel tank worked out nicely in this case. I'll have to see if it'll work on other large merchants.

[Grayson02sept1980]

Originally Posted by melnibonian

[..]
Magnetic pistols

Set the depth to 0.5-1m more than the draft of the boat, aim under the smoke stak or in the middle of the boat and fire. 9 times out of 10 you do break the back and she sinks.

Good Luck and Good Shooting

really? I had only few times breaking ships in GWX with "keelbuster" torps and if it was due to explosions (tanker) or lucky shots....

[melnibonian]

Originally Posted by Grayson02sept1980

really? I had only few times breaking ships in GWX with "keelbuster" torps and if it was due to explosions (tanker) or lucky shots....

By saying "break the back" I meant sink and not break in half. Sorry for the confusion

[Keelbuster]

I haven't really had any dramatic 'keelbusting' since Vanilla. In GWX, the keel sometimes breaks and she splits in half, but it is somewhat subtle - the middle just sags and then she sinks. I remember that back in o'le Vanilla, when you sent a keelbuster under the center section of a medium-size ship, she would snap in half and the two ends would surge way up in the air- like this:

[Grayson02sept1980]

http://foto.arcor-online.net/palb/al...6266326561.jpg
here in small:


the tanker was breaking in half with the second torp (impacts at 3m )

I had a real keel buster at a DD and occasional on med merchants but I would dare to say less than 4 times since I play with GWX ... and woohoo it is nice to see it now that it is so rare

[jas39]

thanks for the suggestions. how do you know where the compartments of a ship is-engine room, fuel bunker, etc? i know that the ammo is usually stored below the turrets...