how to increase torpedo accuracy?

[Pak0tac]

on high mission difficulty im forced to "snipe" enemy ships from max distance, but i keep on missing. any idea if i can increase torpedo accuracy? (im using auto-aim mode, not the manual calculation mode)

[PenttiOy]

You can input some calculations manually like the distance to further increase accuracy of it hitting or having T5 without doing full manual calculations. Having more crew increases speed of calculations though not the maximum.

[Dewgle]

You should not have to snipe targets from extreme ranges. The maximum range of a T2 torpedo is only 5 kilometers after all (2.7 nautical miles). You need to get closer.

Most new players try to attack the sides of a convoy from the outside at extreme ranges when it's actually far easier to attack convoys from the inside. You'll miss fewer shots and you'll be harder to locate after the first explosion as the nearby merchant ship propellers will help to mask your sounds.

While surfaced, race ahead of the convoy using your diesels. Get into position ahead of the convoy, submerge to periscope depth and wait for them to come to you. Then, using your map tools, draw lines on the map to plot the paths of the enemy escorts and position your boat in between them so they sail past you. I've been just fine doing this at periscope depth but you can dive down deep if you feel you need to, to avoid detection. But the important part is that you position yourself in between the path of the enemy escorts and cut your engines off so they don't hear you.

Wait for them to pass by and then you begin making a little noise. The enemy cannot hear directly behind them. Their sensors point to the front and sides (which is why attacking from the sides is dangerous). Now you should be inside the middle of the convoy with merchants & tankers all around you. Go ham. Go absolutely hog wild, you can't miss at this distance. Then once you've had your fill, carefully begin making your exit.

It's possible to attack a convoy in this way and escape without ever getting detected. Hug a merchant if you have to, sailing along underneath the merchant ship as if you're wearing them like a hat. Or simply dive and start sailing in the opposite direction of the incoming escorts. With patience and practice you'll become a pro.

But starting off trying to attack convoys from the sides at extreme distance is not likely to be successful. Here's a video of me infiltrating a convoy from the front
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1632798764

Edit: Make sure you have the detection hint icon turned on until you get used to the game and used to how the enemy detects you. This setting cannot be changed mid-career.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2784802244

[El Rushbo]

It's best to be less than 1000m from your target when engaging. Attacking from the inside was ideal as escorts would expect any attacks to come from outside the convoy. In really only a few U-boat captains were brazen enough to sneak inside the columns of a convoy. Using night to their advantage, U-boats would sneak in on the surface where ASDIC would be useless, and in darkness they would be almost invisible. Usually escorts wouldn't have any sign of a U-boat in the area until something blows up.

As the war progressed and the Allies developed better tactics and technology like radar, the nighttime surface attacks became nearly impossible. While getting close to the target was ideal, late in the war that was getting exceedingly difficult, hence the development of pattern-running and acoustic guided torpedoes to increase the chance of scoring a hit from a distance.

[Maviba]

You're not supposed to snipe torpedos.
That's not how they did it during WW2 and probably won't work.

Best way ist trying to sneak to beneath the convoy and attack them from there,

[Lipi]

If you're doing tonnage war, just intercept a convoy where depth is less than 200-150 and hug the seabed as you approach the convoy from the front. Go dead slow (FWD1) and maintain 1.5km distance from all escorts and their hydrophones will not detect you. Once behind the first couple of escorts (and having say 2 km distance, if there is an escort to your port/starboard) you can come to periscope depth and go FWD3 - it matches the convoy speed of 13km/h. Approach merchants as close as 400m, they usually can't see you unless seas are stormy and your conning tower is playing peekaboo. After that at 99%-100% accuracy you shouldn't be missing.

During escape, move at least 2kms away from your last known position at flank speed before the escorts arrive - they sometimes depth charge blindly so stopping immediately is a bad idea. Again stick to the seabed and reduce speed as they get closer. Cut engines and use blue light (use blue light anyway if you're running and not aiming) if they're right above you.

In Black Pit where there's no seabed to hide in you will really have to predict their moves and be able to run away very fast, attacking from the edge of the convoy. Or get sonar decoys to fool them. You can hide from hydrophones by cutting your engines but sonars will invariably detect you if you're in front of their bow.

[Kosmo-not]

By "max distance", I wonder if the OP is referring to 5km or 12km.

As Pentti stated, you can manually input values for the firing solution.

Course is an easy one to get. The first thing I do when I encounter a convoy is to sail in front of it and get its course by using the AOB tool when the masts line up. I write this down, as it applies to all ships in the convoy.

Speed is also an easy one to get. The way the periscope behaves during the speed measurement means you don't have to be stopped or heading at your target to do it. Maybe the devs can add an option to change this behavior for the more hardcore players. Be sure you've correctly identified your target.

As for range, the automatically determined value is probably more than sufficient. Doing it manually at long range means estimating how far below the horizon the waterline is, because of earth curvature. Having an accurate range is more important for close range shots, or for determining if you're in range for your torpedo type and speed.

Reduce parallax by pointing the boat in the direction the torpedo will be fired. This reduces/eliminates the affect of range error. No need to be exact on this one. Pointing roughly in the proper direction will do just fine.

Fire your torpedo as to have it impact close to 90 degrees AOB. I see a lot of people taking shots at bad angles and getting frustrated when they miss.

At long range, it helps to have observations done from as high up as possible. If you're on the surface, raise the attack periscope all the way and use that (but is darker at night compared to binoculars). If submerged, you can set your depth to 5m to get that extra height, but be sure to have an officer supervising the depth steering station to avoid broaching (very helpful in heavy seas).

Of course, don't fire at evading targets at long range. If you're re-attacking a convoy, make sure the ships have slowed down to their original speed (they increase speed to catch up to where they're supposed to be after they stop evading).

[Dewgle]

Originally posted by Kosmo-not:

Speed is also an easy one to get. The way the periscope behaves during the speed measurement means you don't have to be stopped or heading at your target to do it. Maybe the devs can add an option to change this behavior for the more hardcore players. Be sure you've correctly identified your target.

This is very wrong.

You need to be stationary to the target in order for the speed tool to output an accurate value. The reason for this is because the speed tool is performing a simple formula in the background. Distance / time = speed.

Imagine a road with two sets of cones. You know the distance between the cones is exactly 100 meters and you have a stopwatch in your hand. A car comes racing down the road. You measure the time it takes to cross both sets of cones with your watch. Because you know the distance between the cones is 100 meters, all you have to is divide distance by time and you get the speed in meters per second.

The speed tool in Uboat is doing exactly the same thing except the ship's length is used as "distance" in that equation which is why accurate identification is important. A 100 meter ship takes 24 seconds to cross the vertical line of your periscope, we use the formula which tells us that ship is moving at 4.1 meters per second or 8 knots. Simple.

This is why being stationary to the target is important. If you're moving parallel to the target that's moving at 8 knots, your speed will be subtracted to the target's. If you're moving at 6 knots on a parallel course, it will appear as if the target is moving at a speed of 2 knots. It gets even more complicated if you're approaching the target at an angle.

[Kosmo-not]

Originally posted by McDewgle:

Originally posted by Kosmo-not:

Speed is also an easy one to get. The way the periscope behaves during the speed measurement means you don't have to be stopped or heading at your target to do it. Maybe the devs can add an option to change this behavior for the more hardcore players. Be sure you've correctly identified your target.

This is very wrong.

You need to be stationary to the target in order for the speed tool to output an accurate value. The reason for this is because the speed tool is performing a simple formula in the background. Distance / time = speed.

Imagine a road with two sets of cones. You know the distance between the cones is exactly 100 meters and you have a stopwatch in your hand. A car comes racing down the road. You measure the time it takes to cross both sets of cones with your watch. Because you know the distance between the cones is 100 meters, all you have to is divide distance by time and you get the speed in meters per second.

The speed tool in Uboat is doing exactly the same thing except the ship's length is used as "distance" in that equation which is why accurate identification is important. A 100 meter ship takes 24 seconds to cross the vertical line of your periscope, we use the formula which tells us that ship is moving at 4.1 meters per second or 8 knots. Simple.

This is why being stationary to the target is important. If you're moving parallel to the target that's moving at 8 knots, your speed will be subtracted to the target's. If you're moving at 6 knots on a parallel course, it will appear as if the target is moving at a speed of 2 knots. It gets even more complicated if you're approaching the target at an angle.

I implore you to test it out. Pass in front of a target while performing a speed measurement, or do it while moving relative to a stationary target. You'll see that the periscope tracks a stationary position relative to the target. You can do whatever speed in whichever direction and still get the same speed measurement.

The only assumption I'm making is that you are locked onto the target.

[Dewgle]

Originally posted by Kosmo-not:

Originally posted by McDewgle:

snip

I implore you to test it out. Pass in front of a target while performing a speed measurement, or do it while moving relative to a stationary target. You'll see that the periscope tracks a stationary position relative to the target. You can do whatever speed in whichever direction and still get the same speed measurement.

The only assumption I'm making is that you are locked onto the target.

You are.. correct, wow that is broken. Gonna have to slip that into my next video.

[RimmerA]

I'm going to have to disagree slightly with McDewgle here (dangerous, I know). Sometimes attacking from the side of a convoy is a good tactic. It all depends on the position of the escorts. If you have a long, spread-out convoy with a gap in escort coverage you can exploit that by lining up a "hit and run" attack from the side. And I've found that approach works particularly well when combined with a night surface attack. The key is to observe the convoy first, get the position of the escorts and slide in through an opening.

Then turn around and GTFO after firing the torpedoes.

[Dewgle]

It's a viable tactic, it's just not one I'm keen on teaching. The current state of the AI allows for a lot of cheese[www.urbandictionary.com].

If you're patient and careful enough with your calculations you can effectively snipe targets from the maximum effective range of your torpedoes, wait for the panic to die down, rinse repeat. Akin to "Must have been the wind" stealth archer attacks in an Elder Scrolls game.

Or take it one step further and try to lure the AI escorts away from the convoy and just sail towards the unprotected merchants on the surface, gunning them down one by one with your 8,8cm deck gun.

I'm hoping the AI get a major overhaul in the next update. I want to see steam torpedoes leading escorts right back to the u-boat that launched them, whether day or night. Easier to spot during the day, harder at night unless the enemy is using search lights. And in general I want to see an increased use of the enemy search lights during nighttime ASW operations.

The periscope cannot be detected, that needs to be fixed. Steam torpedoes need to be detected more easily and the AI escorts need their behavior overhauled. Their sensors are perfect. They have the historically appropriate range and detection radius but their ASW behavior leaves a lot to be desired.

Their pathing sometimes gets them stuck in traffic jams and their tactics are nonexistent. Instead of sending all the escorts after a potential hostile, one or two should remain behind in a 'screening' position between the convoy and the assumed location of the enemy sub.

Heck, I'd even love to see enemy escorts (and perhaps merchants) dodging incoming torpedoes in advance once they're already in an alert state.