Torpedo Tips...

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Too often it takes 30 minutes or more for a ship to sink, and by then you should be at depth leaving the area. The ship might sink, but then again it might just sail off with the convoy.

Do you still get the credit if you scarper and it sinks two hours later, or do you need to be reasonably close?

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Do you still get the credit if you scarper and it sinks two hours later, or do you need to be reasonably close?

You need to be close enough to get the "She's going down" message - in other words, within visual or hydrophone range of the ship when the game records her as sinking, otherwise the officer who conveys this information would have no way of confirming the kill.

If you have left the scene and therefore cannot confirm the kill, you won't get credit even if you've done so much damage to the ship that she would sink eventually without you there to witness it in some fashion.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

You need to be close enough to get the "She's going down" message - in other words, within visual or hydrophone range of the ship when the game records her as sinking, otherwise the officer who conveys this information would have no way of confirming the kill.

If you have left the scene and therefore cannot confirm the kill, you won't get credit even if you've done so much damage to the ship that she would sink eventually without you there to witness it in some fashion.

Thanks Frau, I feared as much...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Thanks Frau, I feared as much...

Yep. When it happens to me I chalk it up to over-eagerness. "Captain, you know that one freighter you swore you watched sink? She sailed into Plymouth last night."

Hey, it happened in real life, so why not to me?

[ralphnader23]

Maybe I'm just not pro enough yet, but unless I'm targeting a lone ship, I'm usually diving deep, or lining up a different target when the torpedo hits, so I don't have much of a clue exactly where it impacts, unless I glance at the event camera. I'm just happy to hear the "torpedo impact!" announcement, no matter where the thing hits.

I usually do the following:

Ships less than 3000 tons - If I do decide to shoot at them, 1 torpedo set on magnetic or impact, depending on how I'm feeling.

Ships from 3000 tons to 10,000 tons - 2 torpedoes, one set to impact, one set to magnetic (unless I am not totally certain that my ship type id is correct, in which case i will fire both of them on impact at 3m depth)

Ships greater than 10,000 tons - what a prize! I'll use 3 to 4 torpedoes on these guys, on the rare occasion I run across one.

[Platapus]

As a general rule, I want to use one torpedo detonation per 6-8,000 tons.

But in order to get a torpedo detonation, I may have to launch more than one torpedo to compensate for the dud rate.

Then I have to factor in how many torpedoes I need to launch to get the right number of torpedo hits. Torpedoes do miss either due to my error (90%) or other causes (10%).

Depending on the circumstance and the firing solution, I may need to launch three torpedoes in order to make sure I get the intended one torpedo detonation. This, I feel, is a realistic strategy that I believe Kaluens had to deal with in real life.

Now if you are playing with no duds and auto targeting, this won't apply to your game play.

[Kremmen]

Maybe I'm too cautious but anything other than a tiddler gets 2 torps,but score a dud and a miss and it's surface for gunnery practice (weather permitting) usually to slow the target down or stop him and a torp to finish him off.
In a large convoy I might just aim to slow the targets down with 1 torp apiece right below the stack in the hope they'll fall behind and be easy pickings,though any juicy targets will get 2 to try and take them out.
Dontcha just love it ?
You can setup the perfect shot,all the calculations have been made,position's good,he's right in the scope,LOS.....
Oooooh the waiting,and then....clunk ,and while your torp sinks to the seabed you throw the keyboard at the cat,hoof the 'puter out the window,yell at the neighbour's kids that no,they can't get their ball back,but you'll be back....we always come back.
Gotta love this game

Kremmen

[Arctic wolf]

The other day I sank my first ore carrier. My eel hit her right in middle and I thought maybe I would get to see a Titanic like sinking. However, for two hours she kept on going at 3/4 knots and I finally came up and gave her around 20 rounds from my deck gun. Another two hours, still nothing.

So I finally used one more eel and this time after another hour I finally hear 'she's going down!' Hard work rewarded.

A noob question, what is the difference between impact and magnetic torpedoes? I know how it works, I mean what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of em?

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Torpedoes do miss either due to my error (90%) or other causes (10%).

Ha, we've obviously been reading the same instruction manual, written by Bernard - well it was cheap

[maillemaker]

A noob question, what is the difference between impact and magnetic torpedoes? I know how it works, I mean what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of em?

Magnetic torpedoes should cause more damage, and the game documentation says that they do (there is a passage somewhere that says even a battleship can be sunk with a single magnetic torpedo shot under the keel.

The reason why they are so destructive is because

1) the force of the explosion is vented up into the belly of the ship, rather than away from the hull due to hydrostatic compression for a side impact shot.

2) by replacing the water under a ship, which supports it, with a huge bubble of gas, which does not, the hull can structurally fail.

The problem with magnetic torps in-game is that they have a tendency to pre-detonate on long-range shots. I do not believe I have ever seen one pre-detonate under 1000m, and surely not under 500m.

You can also have outright duds, if you have dud torpedoes turned on, just like with impact torpedoes.

Steve

[maillemaker]

I'll point out that the recent torpedo attack by the North Koreans seems to have been a magnetic shot.

Steve

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Arctic wolf

A noob question, what is the difference between impact and magnetic torpedoes? I know how it works, I mean what are the advantages and disadvantages of each of em?

To expand on Steve's answer a little, an eel set for magnetic doesn't actually have to hit the target - an eel set for detonation on impact does, and as many of us have found out the hard way, it needs to hit it at an angle that will actually make it go boom instead of just glancing sideways or downwards off the side/bottom of the target.

A magnetic eel is detonated (or should be) when it passes through the electro-magnetic field created by the metal hull of a ship. That gives a wider variety of likely "good" shots because the "angle of impact" is no longer crucial. And if you send the eel directly under the keel of your target, when it goes boom you can get the devastating results Steve has already described. You're not putting a hole in the side of the ship, you're basically gutting her from the bottom up.

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

To expand on Steve's answer a little, an eel set for magnetic doesn't actually have to hit the target - an eel set for detonation on impact does, and as many of us have found out the hard way, it needs to hit it at an angle that will actually make it go boom instead of just glancing sideways or downwards off the side/bottom of the target.

A magnetic eel is detonated (or should be) when it passes through the electro-magnetic field created by the metal hull of a ship. That gives a wider variety of likely "good" shots because the "angle of impact" is no longer crucial. And if you send the eel directly under the keel of your target, when it goes boom you can get the devastating results Steve has already described. You're not putting a hole in the side of the ship, you're basically gutting her from the bottom up.

So I guess the depth of the torpedo has to be increased for magnetic, otherwise it'd just be impacting... this could increase my stats somewhat!

[Sgt_Raa]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

I'll point out that the recent torpedo attack by the North Koreans seems to have been a magnetic shot.

Steve

When did this happen????

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

So I guess the depth of the torpedo has to be increased for magnetic, otherwise it'd just be impacting... this could increase my stats somewhat!

I usually set depth on magnetics to run (I hope) within 1 meter of the ship's draft - below it in calm water of course but above it if the sea's bouncing her around a bit. If the water's really rough and I still want to go magnetic I'll even set the depth the same as for impact just to be sure.

The nice thing about a magnetic is that even if it hits the target, it's still going to go off because if it hits, it's definitely inside the EM field. And it seems to negate the problem of impact eels bouncing off without detonating because of the angle of approach was outside the optimum range.