Torpedoes not homing on Victor III in Ocean Vulture mission.

[Dron22]

I am playing Sub Command Campaign commanding a US Seawolf sub, I am now on the Ocean Vulture mission. I have completed all objectives, but in the briefing it implies that sinking Russian submarines will be good as they will not appear in future missions. So I sunk the Akula II and the Kilo with no problem, but I cannot hit the Victor III as my torpedoes keep passing deep under it every time. I tried different presets, like setting the floor to 250 feet but torpedoes still keep going at over 500 feet deep anyway. I used "show truth" and it seems that my torpedoes are just not homing on it.
Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong here?

[Hinrich Schwab]

I am unaware of any bugs in that mission. What range have you been engaging the Victor at? MK48s are wire guided. Have you been leaving the muzzle doors open so fire control can correct for aspect changes? Also, Russian naval doctrine states that one should crash dive and maneuver away when a torpedo is close, thus the torpedo would run too deep trying to over-correct.

You also haven't indicated whether the Victor is dropping countermeasures. If it has, it would explain a lot.

EDIT: Here is another thread that deals with the homing abilities of the MK48. The answer may be in that thread.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=192395

[Dron22]

Thanks for your reply. I just went and tried sinking the 3 Russian subs again with "show truth" constantly on. The Victor did launch counter-measures, but what do they do except attempt to lure your torpedo to home on them instead of the submarine? The Victor stayed at a depth of 200 feet all the time, all it did is go full speed for a bit and then suddenly went to 4 knots again when my torpedo was getting close to it. Every time my torpedo missed it I used wire guiding to turn it around and try again, but it will not home on to the Victor. I even tried firing 3 torpedoes at the same time, but they all missed it.
Actually, the Akula II did try to maneuver as you said, it went deeper and then suddenly went up to 100 feet at the last moment, but the MK48 still hit it and it sunk.
I like the campaign better in Sub Command than in Dangerous Waters, but I already encountered many bugs in Sub Command, so that's why I think a bug is a possibility here. I might not be a bug for this specific mission, but rather a bug with the Victor III class submarines being immune to torpedoes homing onto them.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Dron22

Thanks for your reply. I just went and tried sinking the 3 Russian subs again with "show truth" constantly on. The Victor did launch counter-measures, but what do they do except attempt to lure your torpedo to home on them instead of the submarine?

Passive countermeasures cavitate and active countermeasures establish a closer reflective surface for the sonar ping. Both are designed to obstruct the sensor and create a cleaner return signal, masking the evading sub.

The Victor stayed at a depth of 200 feet all the time, all it did is go full speed for a bit and then suddenly went to 4 knots again when my torpedo was getting close to it. Every time my torpedo missed it I used wire guiding to turn it around and try again, but it will not home on to the Victor. I even tried firing 3 torpedoes at the same time, but they all missed it.

This tells me that your torpedoes were set to passive homing and that the Victor went to silent running so as to not produce a clean enough signal to allow acquisition. Using active homing should make him sweat a bit more.

Actually, the Akula II did try to maneuver as you said, it went deeper and then suddenly went up to 100 feet at the last moment, but the MK48 still hit it and it sunk.

Sounds like the AI made a mistake during its maneuvering. It only works if the torpedo is painfully close and one blows ballasts. Simply making a fast ascent at flank speed won't work.

I like the campaign better in Sub Command than in Dangerous Waters, but I already encountered many bugs in Sub Command, so that's why I think a bug is a possibility here. I might not be a bug for this specific mission, but rather a bug with the Victor III class submarines being immune to torpedoes homing onto them.

I suspect that it is the homing sensor setting on the torpedoes. The Victor is detecting a passive homing torpedo and is going quiet to prevent target acquisition. I am almost certain that passive homing is the default setting, so this would be logical.

[Dron22]

Thanks again for the answer.
I think the torpedo was set to active homing, as far a I know it's the default setting.
Actually when I fired the torpedoes, I wanted to set one to passive seeking but I could not figure out how to make the torpedo use passive homing. On the Akula it's fairly straight forward, but on the panel on the Seawolf it's not so clear.
So how do you set torpedoes to active or passive homing on the seawolf?
And also, how can you tell when a torpedo fired at you is using passive homing? Is it just if you cannot hear the constant pinging noise, then you can assume it's using passive seeking?
P.S As for silent running, do you just have to change speed to 3 or 4 knots or is there some special function to activate it?

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Dron22

Thanks again for the answer.
I think the torpedo was set to active homing, as far a I know it's the default setting.
Actually when I fired the torpedoes, I wanted to set one to passive seeking but I could not figure out how to make the torpedo use passive homing. On the Akula it's fairly straight forward, but on the panel on the Seawolf it's not so clear.
So how do you set torpedoes to active or passive homing on the seawolf?

The setting is on the torpedo preset screen. It may be necessary to disable autocrew to make the change. Also, the autocrew likes to use passive homing for some reason.

And also, how can you tell when a torpedo fired at you is using passive homing? Is it just if you cannot hear the constant pinging noise, then you can assume it's using passive seeking?

You shouldn't hear the ping even if it is active. Unless the torpedo is coming at you, you won't know unless you fired the torpedo and set the homing type. I will double check this and get back to you on it.

P.S As for silent running, do you just have to change speed to 3 or 4 knots or is there some special function to activate it?

There is not separate "silent running" function, but if you are at slow speed or manually adjusted below that threshold, you are considered silent.

[Dron22]

Ok thanks,
I normally don't use autocrew when firing torpedoes, when I looked at presets, I saw there is a box you can tick or untick which says "Active", is that the preset to make a torpedo use active homing? And if you untick it, then it will use passive homing? Or is that something else?
Because if it is that, then I definitely fired 2 active homing torpedoes at that Victor III sub in Ocean Vulture mission.
When you did that mission, can you remember sinking a Victor III sub before heading for the exit area to complete the mission?
I already tried reloading 3 times, and each time I have no problem sinking the Akula II and the Kilo subs, it's just the Victor III which seems immune to torpedoes homing onto it. I just find this odd, that sinking the more advanced Akula II is easier than a Victor III.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Dron22

Ok thanks,
I normally don't use autocrew when firing torpedoes, when I looked at presets, I saw there is a box you can tick or untick which says "Active", is that the preset to make a torpedo use active homing? And if you untick it, then it will use passive homing? Or is that something else?
Because if it is that, then I definitely fired 2 active homing torpedoes at that Victor III sub in Ocean Vulture mission.
When you did that mission, can you remember sinking a Victor III sub before heading for the exit area to complete the mission?
I already tried reloading 3 times, and each time I have no problem sinking the Akula II and the Kilo subs, it's just the Victor III which seems immune to torpedoes homing onto it. I just find this odd, that sinking the more advanced Akula II is easier than a Victor III.

I honestly do not remember. I will open the scenario on the mission editor to see what it says.

EDIT: I just looked at the mission in the mission editor. Does the target surface group appear in front of you or to your portside, necessitating a stern chase? Knowing this will tell me which set of triggers to look at. As it stands, I am not seeing anything buggy.

[Dron22]

I completed the previous mission with all extra objectives, I think it's supposed to affect certain things in Ocean Vulture, such your starting position.
When I started the mission, the enemy surface ships were sailing towards me from the east, while my sub was heading at bearing 0, straight North to intercept them. After I completed the main objective, I headed East towards the exit area and where the 3 Russian subs are. When I attacked the Russian subs, the surface group was already gone West. I sank the Akula II and Kilo with active homing torpedoes, I tried active and passive on the Victor III pointing them manually directly at it and enable them when there are no counter measures nearby. The torpedoes just pass the Victor III by a few meters and miss it.
Update: After several more attempts at sinking that Victor III sub in Ocean Vulture, I decided to leave that Victor III alone and complete the mission. I now got to Escort SAG mission, where I encountered two Victor III subs and sunk them without any trouble. I am now almost sure that it's bug in the Ocean Vulture mission.
If you have the time, play the Ocean Vulture mission as a Seawolf US sub and see if you can sink the Victor III.

[Hinrich Schwab]

Originally Posted by Dron22

I completed the previous mission with all extra objectives, I think it's supposed to affect certain things in Ocean Vulture, such your starting position.
When I started the mission, the enemy surface ships were sailing towards me from the east, while my sub was heading at bearing 0, straight North to intercept them. After I completed the main objective, I headed East towards the exit area and where the 3 Russian subs are. When I attacked the Russian subs, the surface group was already gone West. I sank the Akula II and Kilo with active homing torpedoes, I tried active and passive on the Victor III pointing them manually directly at it and enable them when there are no counter measures nearby. The torpedoes just pass the Victor III by a few meters and miss it.
Update: After several more attempts at sinking that Victor III sub in Ocean Vulture, I decided to leave that Victor III alone and complete the mission. I now got to Escort SAG mission, where I encountered two Victor III subs and sunk them without any trouble. I am now almost sure that it's bug in the Ocean Vulture mission.
If you have the time, play the Ocean Vulture mission as a Seawolf US sub and see if you can sink the Victor III.

I will see if this replicates for me when I can. Since you took him out in the next mission, I would not even worry about it. If there is a bug, it may be somewhere in the code that I may not be able to get to.