The 3 Seconds Rule

[Perilscope]

I searched, but I do not know if this particular trick as been posted before, here it goes anyway!

Lately while in patrol, I have been under a heavy situation, while attacking a convoy, somehow, I attracted more warships than I can chew up. Under this tense situation, I found out that I have no time for my usual procedure, which is the Approach, Identification, Measurements and Feux… The situation was too dense, no time for such procedures. However, my desire to score no matter what, forced me to use my torpedoes on the enemy warships and merchants without calculation, and in most cases; I got them right on.

Here is what I found out:
When you lock an enemy ship with your periscope, when the time comes, unlock it, but as soon as you unlock it, count up to tree in real seconds and then fire. I found out that in most cases those big ships that are hard to sink, like the C2 and C3 can be sunk in one shot.

When you follow the 3 seconds rule, the timing of your shot after the tree seconds delay, always corresponds with the weak spot on the ships, thus seeking the big ships in one shot. I have not tested on all ships and all the distances, but the C2 and C3 goes down in one shot if you follow the 3 seconds rule. Of course, the torpedo latches must be open.

This trick is very good in multiplayer mode, often in multimode we don't have the time to think, but to act only.

[CybrSlydr]

Is this done with your torpedo tubes already open?

[Perilscope]

Originally Posted by CybrSlydr

Is this done with your torpedo tubes already open?

If I do not make a mistake, the torpedo latches takes about 4 seconds to open, so its not good to leave it closed, most likely you will hit the ship, but you won't sink the C2 or C3 in one shot, it takes exactly 3 seconds from the unlock and shoot.

So:
0- Torpedo latch open
1- Lock the ship
2- Unlock
3- Immediately after the unlock, count up to tree; 1 dead ship, 2 dead ship, 3 dead ship… FIRE!

[CCIP]

How do you target them?

Myself, I've long learned the art of visual estimation. I hardly have to go to either the WO or the TDC for any targeting calculations, because I tend to estimate very accurately at ranges of up to 1km without needing to lock up or calculate (I hit maybe 9 times out of 10, though rarely in the real weak spots)

[joea]

Originally Posted by CCIP

How do you target them?

Myself, I've long learned the art of visual estimation. I hardly have to go to either the WO or the TDC for any targeting calculations, because I tend to estimate very accurately at ranges of up to 1km without needing to lock up or calculate (I hit maybe 9 times out of 10, though rarely in the real weak spots)

I am guessing that's how real skippers did it. Didn't Mush Morton (or another skipper) practice telling AOB with models? Practice makes perfect...I managed some hits in the Caribbean last night, and some misses too.

[donut]

My question exactly How do you target them?

Are you talking, sweet spot shot,or magnetic, over 1000m,or less? Give us more detailed explanation please Impact,what depth?

[robj250]

Originally Posted by donut

My question exactly How do you target them?

Are you talking, sweet spot shot,or magnetic, over 1000m,or less? Give us more detailed explanation please Impact,what depth?

Yes, please tell us. It would be great to sink a C2 with one shot.

[robj250]

Originally Posted by robj250

Yes, please tell us. It would be great to sink a C2 with one shot.

How far away was the ship when you fired, how fast was it travelling, what type of torpedo did you use, did you use impact or magnetic, what depth was the torpedo set for, was the torpedo fast running, medium or slow and any other imformation you would give us would be greatly appreciated.

[Perilscope]

Originally Posted by donut

My question exactly How do you target them?
Are you talking, sweet spot shot,or magnetic, over 1000m,or less? Give us more detailed explanation please Impact,what depth?

My difficulty level is set to 94%, I can choose the target manually or the officer targets. That's how I target them, I just ask the officer to target the boat I locked.

To answer most of the questions, I created a quick set up in the mission editor, and recorded the event while testing in game. You can see everything, the positions, distances and stuff like that.

But like I said in the first post, it's something new to me too, I do not know all the possibilities, I know it works for me, but I guess it comes down to what joea said, "Practice makes perfect".

Here is the video: The_3Seconds_Rule_video.avi
Sorry for the bad sound, for this type of video I rather compress the sound than the video. Also, take note that the video is encoded in Xvid.

You can also download the mission(.mis) file, and try exactly what you see on the video. Plus I added two more boats, one in the front and one in the back, I couldn't add those ship for the video because my pc can't handle very well the game and the video capture process at the same time. By the way, I reloaded the mission two times before I made clean shots, my 3 seconds rule did not apply, the video capture process was too heavy and the game was jerky, so I had to adjust to the new timing, which was six seconds delay instead of 3.

Here is the mission file: 3Seconds_Rule_Test.zip

I hope all this helps.

[XXi]

Within one km, I used to estimate the settings on my own. After some time, you don`t have to calculate precisely, you actually see the speed and can set the angle. Sure, if the target moves quickly, I prefer to rely on WO. But...
two days ago I managed to blow up a Liberty, relying on my own measurements. Torpedo was set to 3 m depth.

[cmdrk]

Originally Posted by joea

I am guessing that's how real skippers did it. Didn't Mush Morton (or another skipper) practice telling AOB with models? Practice makes perfect...I managed some hits in the Caribbean last night, and some misses too.

Dick O'Kane did, Morton's exec, who did the scope work.

[Firebird]

3 torpedoes, 3 ships using your rule . I wonder if I was lucky, guess I'll have to try more... Troop Transport +350m, Large Tanker +600m, Large Tanker +1450m all impact +/- 5m depth ('Happy Times' single mission). 98% realism.

[Perilscope]

Originally Posted by Firebird

3 torpedoes, 3 ships using your rule . I wonder if I was lucky,...

I tried a few more ships, and I realized that it applies pretty much to all ships I have been testing; the King Geaogre V sank in one shot too.

I am wondering if the developers left this on purpose; it seems like a technique for the game testers of something like that, bah, who knows…

Anyway, for me this is good, because before, when trying to sink C2, C3's and stuff like that, I had only a 60% chance of sinking it in one shot, but now with the 3 seconds rule, it exceeds 90% for a one shot one kill.

[robj250]

Where can I get the ogg files "Yavo Kapitan" and "Torpedo Loose"?

[Slick Rick]

I tried it......didnt work for me.....