I am back with more auto targeting problems

[I'm goin' down]

Here is a copy of an email I sent to Rockin Robbins. Any help I can get is greatly appreciated, but I cannot keep commanding a ship if this problem is not resolved/figured out.

Hi. sorry to bother you. but i have a problem. Today, I lined up at 90 degrees and fired on a tanker at 500 yards at 0 degrees. It was a broadside shot if ever there was one. The firing solution said poor. The two torpedos made a U turn and missed by a mile! I am missing something that is fundamental. I will post this and see what others have to say, but hopefully you can help "steer" my ship to the correct angle. This is discouraging. I was in automatic mode at the time and PK was recording speed and distance throughout. As you can see, I am floundering.

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[aanker]

Originally Posted by I'm goin' down

Here is a copy of an email I sent to Rockin Robbins. Any help I can get is greatly appreciated, but I cannot keep commanding a ship if this problem is resolved/figured out.

Hi. sorry to bother you. but i have a problem. Today, I lined up at 90 degrees and fired on a tanker at 500 yards at 0 degrees. It was a broadside shot if ever there was one. The firing solution said poor. The two torpedos made a U turn and missed by a mile! I am missing something that is fundamental. I will post this and see what others have to say, but hopefully you can help "steer" my ship to the correct angle. This is discouraging. I was in automatic mode at the time and PK was recording speed and distance throughout. As you can see, I am floundering.

I'm goin' down

I think with with auto targeting you just lock on to the target with the "L" key when the yellow or green triangle (best solution) is on your target, open the door with the "Q" key, and shoot. "W" to cycle to the next tube, open the door with "Q" and shoot. As long as the triangle is locked on the target you shouldn't miss. It is pretty straightforward unless I'm missing something about the situation you describe.

This is stock .... some mods may allow you to open all doors.

Art

ok here is the simple truth, if your range was 500 from target with an angle of 90 degree from target then you have already missed your chance for optimum shooting solution. you would need to fire before it crossed your bow.

you have to lead your target just like shooting ducks, so the torpedo has time to close the distance and hit it. you want to set up to be in range and parallel to your target or at a 45 degree angle so you are going in the same direction as the ship (looking accross his bow) so your torpedo will, after it makes its turn, be hitting the ship at a 90 degree angle.

its the torpedo you want at a 90 degree angle not your sub.

to explain why you missed, at 500 range you have the torpedo comming out straight but the ship is moving too fast for the torpedo to reach it in time and that is why you had a poor firing solution. the tdc actually figured this out and the only solution it had was to have the torpedo make a u turn to come back and hit the ship from a huge circle path, which was too much to ask so your fish just ran a coarse as best as they could follow.


had you switched to your rear tubes you probably would have gotten a fair firing solution and it would be a 60/40 chance you would hit it. next time your in that situation make a hard turn and send a fish up its azz lol.

[Lexandro]

Originally Posted by aanker

I think with with auto targeting you just lock on to the target with the "L" key when the yellow or green triangle (best solution) is on your target, open the door with the "Q" key, and shoot. "W" to cycle to the next tube, open the door with "Q" and shoot. As long as the triangle is locked on the target you shouldn't miss. It is pretty straightforward unless I'm missing something about the situation you describe.

This is stock .... some mods may allow you to open all doors.

Art

You can still miss with autotargeting. Targets do move around if they see fish in the water, a sub or its scope. Even locked on it doesnt take account of the direction change after firing. With the US boats I have become adept at using the AoB dial and setting a notch or two depending on angle and target speed to ensure the fish line up right. And you can open all tubes one after the other in stock before firing so all tubes are flooded and ready. Many a time early on I missed by miles from forgetting to open tube doors before shooting.

But Websters probably got it bang on, bad solution, bad angle, bad shot.

[I'm goin' down]

Oh. I thought the sub had to be at 90 degrees to the target. I will try your suggestions, which make sense. Once I missed my target and the torpedo turned and found a destroyer some ways off that I did not know was trailing. And the torpedo was at the angle you described in your post. I will let you know.:hmm:

[Falkirion]

As everyone has said. You want your bow to be pointed at their side, 90 degrees to give your torps a larger surface area to hit. And increase range to around 900-1100, I've rarely missed with auto targeting from that range.

Check out Legions noob vid. He uses auto targeting and sets up a pretty much perfect shot.

[kiwi_2005]

Even with auto targetting on like i do, if im going to fire at a ship thats 500yrds or less i make sure hes either in front or behind but never 90 cause that close like others have mention 9 out 10 times your miss.

[banjo]

A. if you are 500 yards or less you torpedos may not arm--depends on the mod you are using.
B. don't use PK in auto targeting. Just use the crosshairs.

[Rockin Robbins]

To clarify what everyone else has already said:

For maximum error tolerance you do want your course to be about 90º from your target's course. But you do not want to wait until your target is directly ahead of you to shoot. This is because the topedo is not aimed at where the target is, but where the target will be at the time the topedo arrives.

Let's think of a target approaching from the left. If you shoot when he's right in front of you, the torpedo is going off to the right, maybe at 10º or maybe at as much as 30º, depending on target speed and torpedo speed. Your torpedo is going to be approaching the target from behind, so the target's speed actually makes the torpedo track longer before impact and gives the target more time to see and react to avoid.

If, instead, you shoot 20º before he's right in front of you, the torpedo will be aimed in front of him. His speed will actually help the torpedo strike him more quickly! The shorter distance the torpedo has to travel through the water also makes your shot more accurate.

I hope you've watched my manual targeting video. You leave the PK off, and it isn't even necessary to lock the periscope. Just have the ship in the crosshairs when you shoot.

If you want to have some fun, make a video and we'll all criticize your technique without mercy! Here, I'll post a multiple ship targeting folly I did, which I could entitle Let the Chaos Commense!

You can plan all you want, but at some point it hits the fan and all you can do is duck and cover.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by I'm goin' down

Today, I lined up at 90 degrees and fired on a tanker at 500 yards at 0 degrees. It was a broadside shot if ever there was one. The firing solution said poor. The two torpedos made a U turn and missed by a mile!

Have the stern tubes selected ?! :hmm:

[I'm goin' down]

I am off to try everything suggested. You have given wise advice. I will let you know if it was sound advice soon.

[Diopos]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

...
Have the stern tubes selected ?! :hmm:

My thoughts exactly!. Wrong set of tubes selected?
And as banjo also remarked, turn off the position keeper or the torp will be set according to it and not on the target as you view it through your periscope!.

And BTW even firing at 0 degs bearing with an AOB of 90/270 degs at 500m is not a bad shot in stock 1.4 + auto-targeting.

[I'm goin' down]

I fixed my computer. The problem was with the connections to the graphics card which prevented me from seeing red and green colors. That screwed up the lights for auto targeting on the Auto Targeting. After I got the connections fixed, I went on a quick patrol and fired three torpedos when the triangle was green and the torpedo firing light was illuminated red, two colors that had not been functioning. I had two hits, packed my bags and flew to NYC where I am visiting my son, and I have not played since. I return hom tonight and will test it again, but I think the problem may have been my computer hardware. All of your comments were great and are appreciated. They will serve me well in the coming weeks. Thanks. I'm goin' down should not be goin' doiwn as quickly in the future.

Originally Posted by I'm goin' down

I fixed my computer. The problem was with the connections to the graphics card which prevented me from seeing red and green colors. That screwed up the lights for auto targeting on the Auto Targeting. After I got the connections fixed, I went on a quick patrol and fired three torpedos when the triangle was green and the torpedo firing light was illuminated red, two colors that had not been functioning. I had two hits, packed my bags and flew to NYC where I am visiting my son, and I have not played since. I return hom tonight and will test it again, but I think the problem may have been my computer hardware. All of your comments were great and are appreciated. They will serve me well in the coming weeks. Thanks. I'm goin' down should not be goin' doiwn as quickly in the future.

thats great to hear,

but with it still working and the only problem was seeing some funny colors sounds strange, was it a bad connection thing or just loose plug?

[I'm goin' down]

to make a long story short, the computer was set up with no screws. Parts were smapped into place. According to the repairman, that created a problem with parts not being fixed solidly into place. The video card, therefore, could move. Also, there was a probability that the adapter was defective or failing. He tossed all of the clips and screwed all parts that were clipped to the back of the computer frame into place. He gave me a new adapter. That seemed to do the trick, but if it doesn't he said I will have to change the video card. I just returned from out of town, and I will test SH4 tomorrow to see if I have better luck.