Torpedoes not exploding at all???

[Navyseals5432]

Soo I started playing SH3 today it's the GWX oneAlex mod. I tried single missions and even if I made the realism to zero percent, the torpedoes go under the ship and never explode. I'm getting real frustrated and as I have terrible anger management i already broke my mouse

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Navyseals5432

I have terrible anger management i already broke my mouse

Navyseals5432! ...get help ASAP!

[Hooston]

This game is all about slow buildup of tension and meticulous detail. Chill. Press BACKSPACE to pause the game. Have a beer (or something). All of the little dials on the TDC (next to the periscope view on your mod) have to be set to the right value or you will miss. At low difficulty levels you can ask the weapons officer to do all that for you.
Running deep is caused by:

• Setting the wrong torpedo running depth (deeper than the target's draught). For impact fuses you ideally want to be about 2m above the target's keel so you hit the side of the ship properly. An impact fuse and 2m running depth will work fine for just about any target in calm weather.

• Bad weather. With your mod setup setting a shallow running depth in rough weather will paradoxically cause the torpedo to malfunction and go deep. If the wind strength is 15m/s you need at least 6m running depth, which means you will struggle to attack shallow draught targets like destroyers in bad weather. This feature completely confuses new players (as in real life!)

• Sometimes torpedoes go wrong just for the hell of it, especially in 1939 and 1940.

There's a lot more to it. Impact fuses like to hit square on to the ship side, magnetic fuses want to go about 1m under the target from any angle but are generally less reliable. At first you will struggle to hit anything. if you stick with it you will soon be looking for higher difficulty settings!
Go to the Naval Academy and practice on the torpedo attack and convoy attack sections. Use the external views to see what you are doing wrong. The weather should be nice and the targets are set up to be hit.

[Shadowblade]

Originally Posted by Hooston

• Setting the wrong torpedo running depth (deeper than the target's draught). For impact fuses you ideally want to be about 2m above the target's keel so you hit the side of the ship properly. An impact fuse and 2m running depth will work fine for just about any target in calm weather.

I was using depth - half of targets draft - for impact shots.

Is torpedo with depth - 2m above the target's keel - more destructive?

[Hooston]

It is said that the magnetic fuses under the keel are most destructive in terms of reducing a ships overall "hit points". However I understand that the most important thing is where the torpedo strikes in relation to the various "hit boxes" in the ship structure damage model, which in turn varies ship by ship. Some people on this forum have compiled diagrams about where to aim for each ship type.
I like to go for an impact fuse fairly deep under the funnel as it is most likely to work and a ship is not going anywhere without a boiler room, even if it does not sink. But what would I know?


Didn't someone find a reference that half draught is the historically correct setting? Not sure in what period or with what type of fuse. Can someone remind me? It would have been guesswork anyway because of the large variety of merchant ships and the variation of draught with load. I'm very sceptical about the way we set the magnetic eels to 1m under the keel.


PS The torpedo malfunctions in bad weather are part of HSie and Stiebler's patch. There's a manual called Readme_V16B1.pdf which might be in OneAlex's compilation or you can google it.

[stork100]

OneAlex produced a very thorough explanation about this:

[Navyseals5432]

I did all that you guys told me To do and I am happy towards the results!! I sunk a 10.000 tonner after stalking it out of Gibraltar as I'm not sure if it's a good idea to launch in the middle of a storm, however after the sea calmed down and I did everything that was told here I sunk her!!

My gratitude to everyone that help!

[bstanko6]

This game is very serious in terms of simulation. You will make many mistakes in the future. Embrace the process and you will get there. A lot of guys here including myself have been playing this game since SH1! You will get there!

[Hooston]

The difficulty and complexity of SH3 is its strongest feature. In fact the career mode eventually becomes more or less impossible at the highest difficulty. Unfortunately that can put off the new players, who are the ones who pay the publishers. There seems a continual pressure from publishers to make games faster and easier. The original SH3 developer team made a real effort to engage with people like Onkel Neal, resulting in a classic game.

[stork100]

Originally Posted by Navyseals5432

I did all that you guys told me To do and I am happy towards the results!! I sunk a 10.000 tonner after stalking it out of Gibraltar as I'm not sure if it's a good idea to launch in the middle of a storm, however after the sea calmed down and I did everything that was told here I sunk her!!

My gratitude to everyone that help!

Nice one mate, that's what we're all about. 10,000 tons towards your Knights Cross. SINK 'EM ALL as the saying goes.

Originally Posted by Hooston

The difficulty and complexity of SH3 is its strongest feature. In fact the career mode eventually becomes more or less impossible at the highest difficulty.

Nice to hear you mention that. I completely agree. Even in the stock version it's like this constant tightening up of difficulty until death becomes inevitable. In my experience using GWX, doing 1945 careers from a fresh start are a white knuckle ride. Typical patrol involves about 6 weeks snorkeling, total submerged warfare. And got about 20% chance of making it back alive, because it's so easy to get detected. I absolutely love the way the difficulty is modeled, especially late war.

[SDFilm]

And if it hasn't been said already, one of the mods included in Onealex Mod is a torpedo mod which increases the dud rate of shallow-running torpedoes in rough seas; I've turned that feature off as sometimes even average winds are enough to make the torps useless in hitting destroyers and other shallow/medium draft vessels.

[Toybasher]

Originally Posted by SDFilm

And if it hasn't been said already, one of the mods included in Onealex Mod is a torpedo mod which increases the dud rate of shallow-running torpedoes in rough seas; I've turned that feature off as sometimes even average winds are enough to make the torps useless in hitting destroyers and other shallow/medium draft vessels.

I'll also note that even if set to a "valid" depth, there's a pretty high chance for the torpedo to run deep anyways.

Impact Pistol:

Until June 1940: 20%

June 1940 to June 1942: 10%

June 1942 onwards: 3%


Magnetic Pistol:

Until June 1940: 25%

June 1940 to June 1942: 10%

June 1942 onwards: 2%



Apparently SH3 can't really simulate RNG torpedo duds very well, (duds by bad impact angles or premature magnetic detonations are in, at least) so Hisie patch (with values further tweaked by OneAlex, the table listed above are the exact values used in OneAlex) has the above chance for a torpedo to run deep anyways despite being at the proper depth to simulate failure to explode due to manufacturing flaws, a real poor depth-keeping flaw that could cause the torpedo to run deeper then expected, etc.


Very frustrating in the type II as your torpedo count is very limited + you don't have an 88 deck gun. You can sink ships with the AA gun, but expect to use a ton of ammunition. I still do it anyways because tonnage is tonnage, and you can always dive to avoid aircraft.