Do Torpedos ever hit anything?

[AfghaniGoat]

Tell officer to calculate torpedo course. Wait until 100%. Launch 3 torpedos (because they are THAT inaccurate). Wait for impact.... Nothing. Missed by a mile.

This has happened to me 5 times in a row now. The only thing I seem to be able to hit is a stationary, abandoned U-boat. I hate to say it, but my opinion of this game is moving ever more in the direction that "it sucks".

I am starting to get very pissed. I played this game a few months back and had a lot of fun. Came back and now I cant sink a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing. WTF

[Czar Salad]

What direction are you attacking from? Usually for me, the "plot intercept course" button puts me in a head-on position, which makes it almost impossible to hit the ships

[Hessan]

Here is my thoughts on torps. You need to use proper torpedo strategy. We are not talking modern torpedoes here shot from long range. The average shot is from less than 2000 yards as the torpedoes here are not homing until T5. And I also agree that you should never ever fire head on unless you are trying to take out an enemy trying to chase you. Its about a 98% miss shot and I can tell you why. If you shoot head on, You are shooting a single screw in the middle of the side of a 3 story building that is painted the same color as the building from 2000 yards away with no scope on the riffle. The optimal shot is always a side shot. Then you are aiming for the side of the building with a 50 cal slug, not the screw on the building. Cannot miss figuratively speaking. In my current save, even letting the crew calculate the torpedo solutions so far I rarely miss freighters.

You also have to consider your target too. A MTB is too fast and manuverable to hit with a torpedo unless it is anchored. Your destroyers and corvettes you will want to hit em hard with your first shot (maybe a 4 tube volley). If you miss or don't disable the ship, the captain will just go "Holy Crap", sound the alarm, and then come at you head on at flank speed to depth charge you. This will also make any merchant ships he is guarding start evasive action as well making your shots on them harder. Generally, escorts are a waste of your first torpedo shots for this reason. You want to have the advantage of not having the ships alarmed. Remember that ships have radio now and react to seeing their convoy mates blasted or spotting a sub. I like to have a straight on shot from the side with me pacing the convey until I have several solutions ready. Also watch your range too. I like to torpedo fairly close with less than a minute run time. Once I have my solutions, then I just go as fast as possible target to target, flooding tubes, and sending them a couple of nice little presents each. I can normally wipe out or at least cause crippling damage to about 3 ships this way before they know what hit them. The ides is to try to time the run time on the torpedoes so they all hit at once.

[Ruby]

HI,

you're doing something wrong. Follow the tips from Hessan.
Three ships are torpedoed and sunk.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1944931607

Cheers Ruby

[Hessan]

One thing I will add. Convoys and merchants travel at 6 knots. You can easily remain outside of detection range and outrun em at their non-alarmed state even on electric motors as long as you have an engineer man them with two assistants. Diesel engines and a snorkel and you can forget the engineer. Remember that the ships only floor the gas pedal and start zig zagging once they are alarmed. Merchants do not carry radar or sonar so unless you are being totally daft (ie. surface running or decks awash and get too close or get to close without lowering the snorkel), they are sitting ducks. You can execute a strike on one or two targets possibly 3 and remain far enough out to remain on snorkel (I would kill the diesels though and go electric as you get closer as they do put out a small plume of exhaust smoke that I am not sure if it might make you visible.

[Pootentate]

Thanks for the tips, Hessan! Very helpful!

[Hessan]

I highly recommend doing the HQ jobs for the snorkel and its upgrade an investing on having it and the radar coating installed. It will totally change your torpedo game as it will allow you to run Decks Awash all the time since it allows you to run your Diesels all the way down to scope depth (the diving planes operators are totally daft and cannot seem to hold depth very well so if doing so you might want to have an engineer assist them when running at scope depth to prevent constant switching as the snorkel goes under which will cripple your speed). BTW, to raise and lower it, there is a switch added in the control room by the nav table on the back wall.

The main advantage to leaving it up when on electrics is to keep your O2 reserves full as it also allows you to vent the breathing air in the boat.

Once I had the snorkel, i went to a decks awash to scope depth then back to decks awash strategy. I had to pay for it by not having two engineers on the boat for a few patrols but you can counter this if you can make sure to always send your crew to the german alps after every mission. This speeds up research and gives a 25% bonus to skills.

[hektor]

Like was said above, if you are relying on using an intercept course you will never end up in an even mediocre firing position.

The only success I have had with head on engagements was firing aft while being chased.

[Jabrwock]

Intercept course only really works for long-range intercepts and deck gun attacks. Otherwise it's best to plot their course and figure out the best place to intercept them at right angles so you get a good torpedo shot.

I too did my first 2 missions without an extra engineer just so I could get the snorkel. The first 6 months in the atlantic is easy pickings anyway, so many isolate ships and unescorted convoys.

[Hessan]

The snorkel makes a world of difference against those pesky buzzards in the sky (ie. Airplanes). I am still early war and they can easily be avoided by going to scope depth as soon as you spot them if you are using my decks awash strategy and then dropping the snorkel. Normally I have been able so far to leave the scopes up but if the bird gets too close, might want to drop them as well. Just send your radio guy to the hydrophones so you can hear if the plane depth charges you.

[No Toilet Paper | Boy]

Originally posted by AfghaniGoat:

Tell officer to calculate torpedo course. Wait until 100%. Launch 3 torpedos (because they are THAT inaccurate). Wait for impact.... Nothing. Missed by a mile.

This has happened to me 5 times in a row now. The only thing I seem to be able to hit is a stationary, abandoned U-boat. I hate to say it, but my opinion of this game is moving ever more in the direction that "it sucks".

I am starting to get very ♥♥♥♥♥♥. I played this game a few months back and had a lot of fun. Came back and now I cant sink a ♥♥♥♥ing thing. WTF

What range are you firing torpedoes at?
What ships are you firing at?
What angle is the enemy ship at?
Have the ships been alarmed to your presence?

With T1, T2 and T3 Torpedoes it's basically a 95% success rate if you fire torpedoes at range of 1km or below at merchant ships who are perpendicular and are not taking avoiding action.

You're likely firing Torpedoes too far away and at the narrow front or rear of ships.