Always hit first target miss second!

[Reece]

Yes manual targeting problem ... again!
If there a 2 ships one behind the other (seems to be quite common) I have no trouble hitting the first ship but always miss the second. Both ships have been identified earlier, once the torpedoes have been launched for the first ship I unlock, lock the second, then use stadimeter for range & send to TDC, then send AOB to TDC (still the same angle as first), set torp speed higher than first so they should get there about the same time, redo stadimeter & AOB, fire & misses to the rear of ship! I have done this 3 times now and always the same.

One thing that is still a bother is that the range shown on attack map is still too short, why I'll never know, still as I said I hit the first, generally midships!!
I can't figure out why unless a mod would cause this or using the stadimeter wrong, I assume it functions the same whether zoomed in or out, also I calculate the speed & set external to speed estimate button, I assume this is ok.

[AVGWarhawk]

Is the torp missing ahead or behind the second target?

[manucapo]

are you turning your PK off after attacking the first target.
i think that you have to turn it off to target a new target,
after you atack the first target, turn your PK off and then send the new bearing and range to the tdc and after that turn it on again

im not sure this is the right procedure
but it's quite probable that your doing something wrong with the PK

i dont know, correct me if im wrong.

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by manucapo

i dont know, correct me if im wrong.

You're wrong

The PK does not have to be turned off when switching targets, especially if they have the same course and speed(like above).

Reece, are you using the same AOB for both targets? If you are, then you should not. In the pic you posted the AOB of the second target is a lot smaller than that of the first, while their COURSE is the same. If you use the same AOB for both, then your torps will likely go aft of the second ship. In the pic your course estimate is also off by about 48 degrees(comparing the white TDC cross+line to the target's course), which would also certainly cause you to miss aft in that situation. See the illustration below:

[Reece]

Yes the torpedoes always miss aft of the second ship!
Yes I have been setting the AOB to be 90 degrees for a quick 90 type shot, yes this goes back to my old way of thinking with SH3, hard to shake it off after all this time.
The white line should be pointing in the same direction as the ships course? Why didn't I figure that out?

I haven't been adjusting the PK to the ships course as it is on a course of 90deg ... wrong obviously, I didn't think that would make a huge difference.
The reason that I've been hitting the first one, or single ships, is probably because I haven't fired the torpedoes till it was almost at 0 degrees, then it would be 90 degrees, provided I still keep setting AOB, would this be correct? Confusing isn't it!

What I should do:Go back to setting the ships course and when switching to the second ship I should lock on it, get & set range, set AOB, then bounce between setting AOB until PK is set to the ships correct course (approximately).

Thanks again Fincuan, what would I do without your help! (not sink ships thats for sure)

Edit: I'm going to keep trying a mod to get the AOB dial into the attack screen, would be great!

[CaptainHaplo]

Reece - you will find that this can occur even if your using automated targetting - because your first torp hits well before the 2nd - giving the second ship time to speed up and manuever. Given that the second ship is farther away to start with - the time it has is further increased.

To alleviate this problem - fire at the farther target FIRST! Then get your snapshot off at the near target. This creates a situation where, when the torps hit - their impact time is close enough together that the one that gets hit second doesnt have time to react to its brethren taking the first torp. The closer together your torps hit - the better your shot at getting solid impacts on all your targets. Remember - as soon as one torp hits, every ship in the group is going to react - starting to constant helm. vary speed, etc. Hit all your targets at about the same time - and they don't have time to get out of the way.

I have had a few times where I have fired at targets very far away first, let the torps run a good 45-60 seconds before firing the next set - or even gone so far as to put my second salvo on low speed simply so they dont arrive too quick.

Hope it helps!

EDIT - just noticed you are adjusting speed on the torps... still - try your shots at the farther ship first....

[capt_frank]

Originally Posted by Reece

The white line should be pointing in the same direction as the ships course?

I heard a big "clang" in my head when I read this earlier. I was doing the same thing you were with the AOB.

Just minutes ago I scored my first manual targeting kill (using the PK) at 850 yards. Before, I was getting in real close and firing prior to the target entering my 0 degree torpedo course, normally at 345 or 15 degrees, depending upon direction and speed.

Are we having fun now!

[Powerthighs]

Yes! Two ships on the same course but visible at different bearings from your sub don't have the same AOB.

[Reece]

Yes, it's slowly sinking in as to what does what!
@ CaptainHaplo, yes I have actually been doing that in convoys in SH3, it maybe a while before I attempt a convoy in SH4, but I will get there.
@Powerthighs, yes Fincuan made that quite plain & I will have to learn all the settings till I can do it in my sleep, there are quite a lot of things to calculate, set, going back and forth from the attack map, bouncing between PK & AOB etc, but rewarding when that torpedo hits!
@ capt_frank, glad I'm not on my own, good to see someone else getting some usefull information out of this thread.

[black1]

Is it best to fire when enemy ship is at 0 degrees for the straight line speed of your torps?

[Reece]

Certainly I like the torpedo to hit at 90 degrees, large angles the torpedo will bounce off, usually firing when the ship is bearing 10 to 20 degrees (depends on ships speed) the torpedo will hit close to 90 degrees. If it's a magnetic head then it don't matter!

[Peto]

Originally Posted by black1

Is it best to fire when enemy ship is at 0 degrees for the straight line speed of your torps?

Not really. It's best to fire so your torpedo tack runs at 0 degrees. That means your best shot may be when the the target is a few degrees right or left. Less for slow ships and more for fast movers. And when shooting ay 2 ships, always choose the farthest one 1st. If you really plot it out, you can get hits on both ships within a few seconds of each other. When I do that I get a nice nod from the COB.