Why won't my ships launch torpedoes

[-Norbert-]

I just had one of my light cruisers drive parallel to an enemy battleship at about half the range that the circle for torpedo range shows as my maximum torpedo range.
I made sure my CL had the enemy B targeted, I made sure that "hold torpedoes" was not active and yet no tropedoes were launched.

Naturally at such short range no friendly targets were between my CL and the enemy, and no ships were behind the enemy or had a course that would lead them there either.

So why did they not launch? Do they really need more than half an hour to calculate a torpedo solution at 1600 yards, when both ships are going in a stright line?

Alternatively, is there any way to manually launch? I've seen videos of RtW2, were people did that, but have not found any way to do it in 3.

[Silamon]

Early on, torpedoes are very slow and can be easily dodged by ships even at close range if they are still able to make a decent speed. That's why they usually hold fire until they have a good solution.

Once torpedo tech has advanced you will often see them being fired even when you don't want them to.

As for manual fire torpedoes, you need to be on captain's mode for that.

[-Norbert-]

How can you get into captain's mode?

[ulzgoroth]

How fast were they going, incidentally? And were you running alongside them rather than ahead?

I'm guessing you were close enough for fast-running instead of slow-running but early fast-running isn't all that fast. Which means you need to shoot them a fair bit in front of the target. And I don't think underwater tubes have a lot of firing arc.

What I'm saying is, with only the description to go on, it seems like you might have actually been in a position where no firing solution was possible.

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by -Norbert-:

How can you get into captain's mode?

It's a difficulty setting, so the controls for that.

[ck07]

Originally posted by ulzgoroth:

... I'm guessing you were close enough for fast-running instead of slow-running but early fast-running isn't all that fast. Which means you need to shoot them a fair bit in front of the target. ....

AFAIK the firing ship chooses the angle for itself, but this comment could be interpreted to refer to some method of manually adjusting that that I am unaware of? Is there one?

[Silamon]

Originally posted by ck07:

Originally posted by ulzgoroth:

... I'm guessing you were close enough for fast-running instead of slow-running but early fast-running isn't all that fast. Which means you need to shoot them a fair bit in front of the target. ....

AFAIK the firing ship chooses the angle for itself, but this comment could be interpreted to refer to some method of manually adjusting that that I am unaware of? Is there one?

He's saying the torpedoes might have been out of arc because they have to lead so much even at close range.

[-Norbert-]

And where can I set this?
When I start a game, I only see checkboxes for harsher peace deals, AI advantage and slow aircraft development and then fleet size, research rate, tech variation and maximum airbase size.

Speaking of options: On the country selection screen I have a dropdown menu to the right of Japan, USA and China, that is empty and consequently I can't select anything in it. What is that field supposed to do?

As for the situation, I was running in parallel, slowly overtaking the enemy (I think my CLs were about 20 kn fast, but I'm not sure), with both formations driving perfectly parallel at 1600 yards and the torpedo range circle showed about twice that for max range.
By the time I gave up, my lead CL had completely overhauled the enemy battleship, to the point that my second CL was now parallel with the enemy, and my CL parallel with the next Battleship in the line.

[Silamon]

Originally posted by -Norbert-:

And where can I set this?
When I start a game, I only see checkboxes for harsher peace deals, AI advantage and slow aircraft development and then fleet size, research rate, tech variation and maximum airbase size.

Speaking of options: On the country selection screen I have a dropdown menu to the right of Japan, USA and China, that is empty and consequently I can't select anything in it. What is that field supposed to do?

Its in the options after you start a game.

The drop down box is for modded campaign starts, which the game does not include. There used to be some there in RTW2 but they got removed.

[-Norbert-]

Ah found it. It's set once you are on the global map, under Preferences.
Thanks.

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by -Norbert-:

As for the situation, I was running in parallel, slowly overtaking the enemy (I think my CLs were about 20 kn fast, but I'm not sure), with both formations driving perfectly parallel at 1600 yards and the torpedo range circle showed about twice that for max range.
By the time I gave up, my lead CL had completely overhauled the enemy battleship, to the point that my second CL was now parallel with the enemy, and my CL parallel with the next Battleship in the line.

Given that, I'd consider it quite likely that your lead CL didn't have a valid shot for most of the experiment, if not all of it. Once you're within the fast-running range, the required lead angle doesn't depend on the range to target. I'm not sure how fast your torpedoes run, but I'd expect a required lead angle in the range of 20 to 45 degrees.

I don't know how big the flexibility of broadside tubes is, but I expect it to be extremely small, so you'd need that lead angle to be the angle between your broadside and the intended target.

(This is one of the reasons it's so much easier to torpedo ships after they lose speed.)

[Magic]

If you are on Captain's mode(see in preferences), you ABSOLUTELY CAN manually choose the target for guns/torpedoes. This mode is, on other hand, is a bit imbalanced due to this.(Imagine later on a DD with 8*torpedoes sights a BB at night combat) If not, you can still order flotilla attack which encourages, although not promise your support destroyers to attack with torpedoes.
In real life, especially for early torpedoes are slow and have short range, thus a extreme range shot, even close range short doesn't promise a hit. Also they need a lead angle, an ideal situation is an relatively slow target cruises just behind your ship in parallel trajectory.

[Hydra]

Just get out of the 1900 period and ships will be launching torpedoes left and right, I dont think people realize how awful torpedoes were in that period.

[ThatZenoGuy]

Originally posted by Hydra:

Just get out of the 1900 period and ships will be launching torpedoes left and right, I dont think people realize how awful torpedoes were in that period.

Yeah well...You say that until a 99% damaged predreadnought nails 2 of yours with instant kill magazine detonation torpedo hits at their max range...

[Silamon]

Originally posted by ThatZenoGuy:

Originally posted by Hydra:

Just get out of the 1900 period and ships will be launching torpedoes left and right, I dont think people realize how awful torpedoes were in that period.

Yeah well...You say that until a 99% damaged predreadnought nails 2 of yours with instant kill magazine detonation torpedo hits at their max range...

So maybe don't have your battleships at point blank range in torpedo arcs of a battleship that is likely desperate at getting revenge?

[ThatZenoGuy]

Originally posted by Silamon:

Originally posted by ThatZenoGuy:

Yeah well...You say that until a 99% damaged predreadnought nails 2 of yours with instant kill magazine detonation torpedo hits at their max range...

So maybe don't have your battleships at point blank range in torpedo arcs of a battleship that is likely desperate at getting revenge?

Ahh yes the 'hindsight' argument.

While hindsight is 20/20, it's not practical.