Whats up with subs

[Omogoto]

I decided to stop complaining about Subs and give them a try...well got a few questions:
When i fight subs, seems like my depth charges hardly work and chase them forever.
When im in my sub depth charges destroy me. not only that i keep getting one shotted by surface fire?
If I am submerged how can they even see me to fire guns at me?
Sometimes torpedoes go right over me, other times they hit me, but again if i am submerged how are they targeting me? guns or torps?
why when i use honing torps they either dont turn, or appear to be right on target but don't hit?
I could really use a Subs for dummies, I dont think i am playing them the right way. I tried a lot of builds and such, but they dont cover basics very well, more like advanced tactics.
Thanks in advance for any advice or tips.

[rebelyell]

yeah water sausages are kinda boring but. so, you ping a ship send torp ping again torps guides to it. and as for seeing you under water i think is probably from the commander skill on ship {HE} explosive radius. i can see subs under water orange until they get too deep.

[christof]

Any sub that is either surfaced or at periscope depth can be hit by gun salvoes and torpedoes. HE is particularily efficient since it gets a certain explosive radius here that AP doesn't. Meaning you don't have to be quite as perfect on target.
Diving also merely reduces the detection range of submarines, not eliminate it. At least for periscope depth (though it does apply to maximum depth as well when dealing with active hydro).

Torpedoes will pass above you if you are at maximum depth. Except if they were fired by another submarine that is on the same depth and/or has its torpedoes homing in on you (homing torpedoes can change depth, but it takes a certain distance).

The latter might be your problem with homing torpedoes not hitting even though they seem on target: If you are too close while shooting from depth, the torpedoes will not have risen enough and pass under the ship.
If you are even closer, any of your torpedoes will simply not have activated their warheads yet, same as it can happen with any other torpedoes.

Furthermore, you need to have a ping actually active at the time or homing torpedoes will not be able to home in on anything. Their turn radius is also limited, so it's important to fire as close to where you'd have to fire an unguided torpedo as possible.

[Omogoto]

Very informative and does answer my questions.
Thank You for taking the time.

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

To clarify a little bit: in an earlier iteration of the submarines the periscope depth and the depth you became immune to shell fire were the same (6 meters if I recall). This led to a situation where subs could rapidly go between 5.9m and 6.1m depth and easily dodge any surface fire that was thrown at them. Thusly, it was changed to its current form where you need to go deeper than minimum periscope depth to be able to avoid shells.

[Challie63]

Last update, WG said that subs would be detectable with Hydroacoustic Search. They are for about FIVE seconds!!!! then disappear! To everyone!! With Hydro running!! but they get ENDLESS pings to perma-target you, making it pointless to use Dama-con, because four seconds later you get ENDLESSLY pinged, AGAIN, every five seconds by some Gunther Prein Wannabe!!! Always said subs needed their own Battle-tab, for those who wanted to play them and fight against them.
RANT OVER. Have a pleasant evening, all. <o

[TPZHeadacheZFPL]

Subs should go play tetris there not wanted by 90% of us
WG listen to us get rid of them

[Banzai]

Originally posted by Challie63:

Last update, WG said that subs would be detectable with Hydroacoustic Search. They are for about FIVE seconds!!!! then disappear! To everyone!! With Hydro running!! but they get ENDLESS pings to perma-target you, making it pointless to use Dama-con, because four seconds later you get ENDLESSLY pinged, AGAIN, every five seconds by some Gunther Prein Wannabe!!! Always said subs needed their own Battle-tab, for those who wanted to play them and fight against them.
RANT OVER. Have a pleasant evening, all. <o

If you are instantly DCP'ing a sonar ping then you are doing it wrong. Save it for when the torps are inbound and homing in - if you break the sonar ping as they are on final approach they are honestly very easy to dodge. Also using terrain when you know where the pings are coming from means you can get them to hit an island rather than you.

Its the same issue as people instantly repairing the first fire set on them, except the sonar pings dont do any damage.

[christof]

One thing to remember here: If you are trying to go undetected, you will have to remove any pings left on you as well (or wait them out).
What IS nice with the new changes to pings, by the way, is that a nimble ship now actually has a chance to dodge them. And I have successfully hit undetected submarines by blindfiring at where the pings are coming from. So a sub captain will have to think twice on whether consta-pinging is a good idea.

[R[e]venge®-uk*]

Originally posted by christof:

One thing to remember here: If you are trying to go undetected, you will have to remove any pings left on you as well (or wait them out).
What IS nice with the new changes to pings, by the way, is that a nimble ship now actually has a chance to dodge them. And I have successfully hit undetected submarines by blindfiring at where the pings are coming from. So a sub captain will have to think twice on whether consta-pinging is a good idea.

Can i check something, so a Sub Ping will highlight a ship hiding in smoke? or is it only like a "fire" and extends detection?

[Banzai]

Originally posted by Revenge®-uk*:

Originally posted by christof:

One thing to remember here: If you are trying to go undetected, you will have to remove any pings left on you as well (or wait them out).
What IS nice with the new changes to pings, by the way, is that a nimble ship now actually has a chance to dodge them. And I have successfully hit undetected submarines by blindfiring at where the pings are coming from. So a sub captain will have to think twice on whether consta-pinging is a good idea.

Can i check something, so a Sub Ping will highlight a ship hiding in smoke? or is it only like a "fire" and extends detection?

The pings dont increase your concealment range or make you spotted but if you have active pings while unspotted or in smoke then the torps will still home in and the sub will have a small icon showing where their active ping is.

[christof]

Also, talking from personal experience here, you do in fact remain spotted if entering or moving behind smoke if a ping is still active on you. But go unspotted the moment you lose the ping (be it the timer running out or damcon). Provided you're not still spotted from proximity or due to smoke firing penalty, of course.

[Banzai]

Originally posted by christof:

Also, talking from personal experience here, you do in fact remain spotted if entering or moving behind smoke if a ping is still active on you. But go unspotted the moment you lose the ping (be it the timer running out or damcon). Provided you're not still spotted from proximity or due to smoke firing penalty, of course.

Your ship shouldnt be unless being proximity spotted by the sub itself or something else nearby (possibly due to increased concealment range from firing main guns) although as I say the sub will still get a UI icon showing where the ping is.

[christof]

Well, I did thoroughly test this, more by accident. And even without any ship (including the sub) within several kilometres (not just two), the Spotted warning remained on my DD even after smoking up. But immediately vanished after I used damage control or the timer ran out (happened a number of times, hence why I'm sure). As well as in a cruiser where I ran behind a DDs smoke, next ship was a sub at around 8km. I kept the Spotted warning at first, damconned the ping and immediately went dark.

It could be, I guess, that the game treats a submarine's marker "that's where your ping is" that remains even on unspotted targets the same as being actually spotted, at least as far as that warning goes

[HunterKiller]

The last one I had was an Italian sub and it was good. yummy.