Torpedo Problems?

[Farside]

i've taken down MANY liberty lighters (because they blow soo easily) with T1's, so much so that i prefer them to the others

[bill clarke]

I have the vulnrability mod, and have when the AOB is 80 degrees and distance less than 1000mts, left clicked on the keel, the depth is supposed to be set automatically, but the torp hits the keel, usually not sinking it. Also have fired at the fuel bunkers and the torp has exploded but not sunk the ship, in fact it looked like the torp hit the wrong area.

[chrisy]

Originally Posted by hakkikt

Guess its partly a reflection of what the ship is loaded with, a load of tanks being harder to detonate than a load of, say, incendiary bombs
There's another thread ("sweet spot" or something like that) on this forum that deals with special points to target, like fuel tanks etc.

i havn't seen the sweet spot thread but i know what you mean about C2's! they just wont die.
however i have found you can kill then with one shot if you get it right.
aim for under the funnel or just rear of it ,must be somthing to do with the engine room!if you get it right "KAABOOM"the thing rips its self apart in a fire ball.
also the more direct the shot seems to make a difference i.e 90 degrees sqare on.i use the fast 90 attack method.
im still quite new to the sim and no expert but time is every thing .
give yourself plenty of it and never be to hasty to "LOS" if your not happy with your shot wait and reposition till your happy .
i usally get it so i can get in position all stop and let them sail right into my firing line.
i wasted many a torp tryin to kill these suckers ,somtimes up to 6 hits Dam.

[GulfFulf]

I Have´t Got Any Torpedo Problem for Silent Hunter III i think so.

[FAdmiral]

The mag shots work very well using the default keel depths
used in the ship book. The only one I found to be off was the
C3. The depth listed is way too deep. Set your torp to 10 meters
instead of the 13 in the book. This is in calm weather.....


JIM

[WULFPAK]

The best method is to get into the convoy...
it provides for good aiming and its harder for the escorts to track you.

and take close in shots outside the min range of 300m but inside 500m.

shoot under the keel as mentioned in this thread if the ship is on an off angle, and impact if perpendicular. Use the sound fish out the back door for those ships that passed by.

Thats how the best tonnage is had with the least number of fish and angle off errors.

Got this advice from watching Uboat commanders on the History channel.
It works in SH3 too.

[Skubber]

Originally Posted by WULFPAK

The best method is to get into the convoy...
i
Got this advice from watching Uboat commanders on the History channel.
It works in SH3 too.

I've had good success shooting from inside the convoy, too. (Says something about the quality of this sim, I think when the best tactics seem to agree with what real U-boat commanders liked to do.)

Word of caution tho .... in large convoys there is a decent chance someone's going to ram you if you aren't keeping aware of the situation, esp in lower visibilty. (Like you're really caught up in calculating that perfect torpedo solution... watch out!)
I've had to order "back emergency" on a couple of occasions.

Once I even scraped the bow ever so slightly all down the hull of a small merchant. Scraaaaappe! (Only 1% hull integrity loss.) Gave me and the crew the willies, and probably gave the ship captain something to think about, too!

[illuminatus]

Since I'm a SH newbie, I've opted to leave the game on automatic targeting and the event camera enabled. Previously, I had, on various occasions, shot magnetic torpedoes under the keel of ships -- anywhere from 1-2 meters below their keels -- with mixed results. The little ships sink like a charm, but the larger cargos have remained afloat for my trusty deck gun (I weep when the winds are high).

I had thought this was how it's supposed to be -- big ships take more fishes, until I nailed a C2 cargo in 1 lucky shot. No agony of waiting for it to sink or seeing if I disabled its engines, just BAM, fireworks, explosion, then ocean floor.

Then I came to discover the aimed shots feature (I'm guessing only available with auto targetting on) where if I'm somewhere within 500m of target, and gyro angle is within +/- 10 degrees, the little vulnerability target boxes appear on the ship ID book (provided you have the correct ship), I notice the gyro change slightly depending on which location I target, and that has convinced me that it indeed attempts to fire into the proper position.

What I didn't expect is that it changes the depths of the torpedoes on the TDC as well. I aimed for the fuel tank (just in front of the engine) and, to my surprise, found my fish sailing straight onto the ship as opposed to under (I pre-set my fishes for 7-8m deep usually just in case i need to fire one off in a hurry). I checked back on my TDC and found that it set my depth back to 3m (which corresponds to the slightly higher location of the fuel tank).

The C2 promptly split in half and sank with much fanfare. I was overjoyed. Over the next 3 encounters of the patrol, I've successfully done this on 2 smaller merchants and yet another C2. So far in this current patrol I've fired 6 fishes and sank 7 ships (first kill was deck gun only).

This is definitely a process that rewards the patient. I took my time carefully to make sure I'm parked closeby to the mark's course at as close to 90deg as possible, then slightly adjusting my range for an ideal "aimed shot." So far this excercise has been rewarding. I'm definitely going to use this approach more often when I'm targetting heavier ships.

[Redfoot]

Don't use Magnetics on big ships unless you have no choice. A magnetic hit to the keel will sink most small ships aslong as it hits near the center and directly underneath it. Anything bigger than a Destroyer however will probably survive a single magnetic to the keel, so either send them in salvo's or use impacts and target for weakspots. Also Destroyers are probably the best targets for Magnetics, especially when they're racing towards you and you're in a tight spot (i.e. shallow waters)


Magnetic = lazy/quick way of firing

Impact = precise/deadly

I had a strange thing happen today! I fired four torpedoes at a King George the Fifth battleship from 1000 meters. They all would have hit and I was waiting for impact looking close-up at one of them! It hit the ship; bounced back and sunk to the bottom! Same with all others! Is this a known bug???

[The Avon Lady]

Sound like duds!

What was your AOB.

What were the eels' depth settings?

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

Sound like duds!

What was your AOB.

What were the eels' depth settings?

Nah; I don't think it was a dud. My duds at least always carry on moving forward at greater depth. But these stopped and sank. The eels were set to go at the surface; mainly because I already had hit the battleship with one eel in the engine compartment and it could'nt move anymore. But still it kept floating, which was why I fired four eels more. AOB was about 80 degrees.

[Depth Charge Dodger]

I have had great results with magnetics so far(only had the game 2 months). After reading posts and carefully matching my running depths, they make killing an off-angle target much more predictable.

Rather than using an 8 metre standard depth, I use the draft reading from the target recognition manual, then add a half metre or so depending on weather. 15 metre/sec wind makes for waves that a mag torp just doesn't like. I have gotten almost every mag malfunction I have had so far in heavy seas. Nothing draws an escort like a premature detonation. The closer to the keel the torp explodes, the better the chance for a one-hit kill in my limited experience.

What I like best about magnetics is the ability to shoot under the tiny Small Merchant blocking the C3 in a convoy. The added benefit is the escorts look in the wrong place when this happens.

I use full realism(except for external camera), so there is no targeting a certain section of a ship. I feel satisfied if it hits at all.

Impact is the way to go if I can get a 80-100 degree shot. I run them as deep as possible without striking the curve of the hull. Look at the keel depth in the manual, then stare at the underwater part of the hull in external view, and get a feel for how deep you can run an impact trigger torp. the deeper it goes off the more stress on the keel itself(or so it seems).


Now as far as electric versus steam, I have found that using electrics for the farther targets in a convoy and then firing fast steams at the near targets works well. This keeps you covert longer, as the steam torps will have a very short runing time. The convoy doesn't take any action until the 1st torp explodes, and I try to make sure that both far and near targets get hit at the same time.

I have read items that advise using electrics on escorts to help stay covert in case of a miss or dud. I take a more aggressive/confident outlook. If he dies from the hit, it won't matter if he saw it coming, and a steam is FAST. Hitting an escort safely from 2000 metres seems better than hoping he won't turn before my electric can chug over his way. I have been detected trying to get close enough for a high-probability electric shot.

Electric Magnetic - Killing escorts that are actively hunting you at close range. Killing further convoy targets.

Electric Impact - Rough weather convoy targets. Escorts don't even know where to start looking and sonar is degraded in high seas, so you can keep attacking at leisure.

Steam Magnetic - Nearest convoy and any single target.

Steam Impact - Escort killers, and rough weather convoy targets during attacks at night.


Just some observations so far.

[todd293]

those c2 ships can really be tough one took four torps 3 impact 1 mag before it finally sunk. any advice on the sound torp, I fired one out the back at a destroyer about 2000m away, he was doing 15 knts and I sent it in his direction no hit. IM on 100% realism, so I dont know if it was a dud or not

[hunter301]

Should I be having dud torpedo problems while trying to complete the torpedo training academy??