Torpedo question - automatic targeting on TMO
 

I've been getting back into SH4 with the TMO mod after spending some time with SH3, and I found a small difference of behavior with the torpedoes that I hope someone can help me with.

Now, I play with automatic targeting turned on, and on SH3 I was pretty used to using the 'lock' option on the periscope, it would lock the crosshairs at about midships, and you could be pretty certain that the torpedo would pretty much hit more or less where it was pointed out, taking into account that you got into a good position before shooting, and shooting from about 600 m away.

now, on SH4 TMO, i have found that using the same tactics does not produce the best results....the torpedoes seems to hit further back on the ship, and sometimes just miss the back, this is shooting at merchant ships that were not aware of my presence before the torpedoes were fired.
I have found I get better results by not using the lock option, and instead manually pointing at the very leading edge of the bow of the ship....and then I get a hit closer to midships.

It seems to me that either:
1 - the speed of the ship is getting underestimated by the automatic targeting system
2- the torpedoes are running slower than the speed that they are set to.

In my current career I just got the report for the battle of midway, to give you an ideia of the date in case this is related to torpedo behavior.

Could someone shed some light as for the the reason for this?
-am I doing something wrong?
-is this just the game simulating some sort of irregular torpedo behavior?
-is the game just simulating that maybe I have a green crew member calculating the ship's speed?

thanks in advance.

some possible causes:
Did you open the Torpedo tube before lining up the shot? Takes a little time to open before the torpedo shoots out at the point in the ocean you selected. (ship has moved some by then) I never had SH3, maybe it didn't have this kind of delay.
Did you wait a little bit of time between selecting and firing? (similar situation)



Or, others can answer, is it something in TMO?

Yes, I always open the torpedo tubes before firing, since I am still learning my way around SH4 maybe I am slightly slower between selecting the tube and firing, but I don´t think there is a big delay there.

Not opening the torpedo doors is the most common cause of your error.
TMO doesn't change targeting behavior. It will change ship and torpedo behavior. If you're running TMO only, it may be ship behavior. TMO changes all AI to the highest level. The ships may have spotted your periscope and took evasive action. Just a minor turn or speed change will cause you to miss, especially from a long distance. I will fire a salvo of three or four aimed at different points along the length of the ship. I use auto-targeting and don't bother to lock on.
:Kaleun_Salute:

Playing again yesterday I realized what my mistake was.

I was hitting the button to open the torpedo doors, but I was firing too soon and the doors were not totally open yet...causing a delay.

mental note, the torpedo doors take longer to open in SH4 than they do in SH3 ....check :ping:


thanks a lot for the answers :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:

Somebody was working on a mod that would add something to indicate outer door position for each tube, dunno what happened to that. Meantime what I did was use Silent3ditor to open the NSS_(subtype).sim file for each type of sub, select the wpn_SubTorpedoSys, and change auto_open = True to auto_open = False . That prevents the tube from firing at all unless I manually open the outer door, and I got into the habit of opening the outer doors long before the target is in firing range. To my way of thinking that's the best way to deal with a flawed feature, if it can't be fixed then disable it.

I've always wondered - in game are there any deletrious effects if the outer doors are kept open?

I suppose in real life that would be a Very Bad Idea as, if I recall correctly, torpedoes don't take very well to prolonged submersion in sea water. But in the game, what would happen? About the only thing I can think of is that the sub becomes noisier submerged, if in fact this is modeled, due to the open doors (disturbed water flow and all that). Or maybe the fish have a higher rate of failure.

Anyone knows?

All my testing shows the programming is very simplified, having the doors open for a month has no effect on torpedoes, flow noise, speed, range, or anything else. Stock game has the max depth setting at 30 meters (99 feet) so if you dive deeper than that the doors will shut by themselves. You can change the depth in the same SIM files, I have mine set for 99 meters so I don't have to screw around with it, I open the doors and leave them open.

The animation subroutine for an outer door indicator exists - if you change to external view and go underwater with the camera view you can look at the doors from the outside to verify open or shut. If someone could find out what controls that animation and apply it to some kind of light or symbol on the torpedo control panel it would eliminate the problem.

Does the game give a message when you try to fire with the door closed?

I like this, and might just try it.

I don't think so. Sometimes when I forget to open the doors and I fire a torpedo I get a message "outer door opening" and then there's the short delay before the torpedo actually fires.

No message, it just doesn't fire. Lesser of evils to me, because I hit the fire button and nothing happens, at least I don't waste a torpedo. Hit the Q key, count to 5, then take another bearing on the target before shooting. Even if it takes a whole minute to start over and you got a less than perfect angle and firing solution, you'll still get a much higher percentage of hits than that useless automatic door opener gives you. :down: Good habit to get into, if the target is in visual range, cycle through the tubes and open all the outer doors. Check the little message window, if you see "closing tube 3" hit the Q key again to get "opening tube 3" before hitting W to cycle to the next tube.

Thanks for the answers. I'm perfectly fine with it, I was just wondering.

I'm in the habit of opening the doors while I'm getting to the firing point.
Every so often, though, there seems to be a longer delay between firing and hearing the "Torpedo in the water!", so a little reassurance that everything's working as expected is a good thing.

An oldie but a goodie.
I’ve installed TMO v2.5 and RSRDC_TMO and I have no problems with opening the doors but the issue I’m having is with auto targeting on, I have the ship locked with Green indication, I fire the torpedo and every time the torpedo turns port away from the target. I have no idea why. The torpedo will not travel towards the target.

Any ideas?

are you using position keeper while you are approaching the target?:hmmm:

Thanks for your response. Yes, I am using it.