Ubisoft Forums > Silent Hunter > Silent Hunter 3 - General Discussion > Does anyone fire torpedo's on their TDC solutions?
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I can't seem to hit using a TDC solution. I take the time to plot them and every time I use one I miss. It's almost always better for me to just take a shot using the periscope and guess. Needless to say I miss a lot. If someone out there uses TDC solutions and has good results i would like to hear from you.
From what I have seen so far you have to be inside 1000 meters, and you have to shoot at the beam...stern and bow quarter shots have a high "dud" rate...I have two just fail to explode when hitting the target at a low angle of incidence. The targets also zig-zag, so a good beam shot from inside 1000m is the trick.
I went through the torpedo tutorial about 5 times only using manual TDC. Now that is all I use. It really isn't that hard once you get used to it and know what you are supposed to do. Plus, there are several ways of going about it.
Now, get a range reading. You don't have to be 100% dead on accurate here, but try to get it close. Note this is hard in rough weather with choppy seas and the realism setting to allow periscope bob on. Usually I do this pretty far out as I'm setting up an attack run. Probably around 3000 meters give or take.
Now you need an AOB. What I do is imagine that I am on the target ship facing forward. While facing forward, where would I point to point at my uboat? That is where you drag your little circle, the direction you would point to point out the uboat.
Now take a speed measurement. If I have a lot of time I take several 20 second to 1 minute readings. I also check the recog. manual to see if the speed checks out ok - getting 15 knots for a ship with a max speed of 9 is just plain wrong and you need to retake.
If you keep getting bad results for the speed recheck the AOB and range. If on the surface, the watch office should be able to tell you the range.
You now have an initial firing solution. Because I sometimes forget, I usually open my torpedo tube doors for the tubes I'm firing. If you don't, that extra few seconds for the doors to open will throw off your aim when you fire.
I go to the attack map now and make any changes I want to running depth, speed, mag or impact, or salvos for the torps.
Now I move into position which depends on the situation. If no enemy that can shoot back is present, I close to about 600 meters. If there is, I close as close as the situation allows trying to get at least 1500-2000 meters away. All the while I take periodic range measurements. I try to position myself so the ship will pass by me at 90 degree angle and fire a little before it passes in front of me. About 10 degrees to the left or right of straight on depending on which way the ship is going.
As the ship usually zig zags, I set my AOB at 90 degrees (or whatever AOB I want to fire at in the zig zag) to port or starboard. Fire when he is ziging into that position after making a final range adjustment and moving the scope to aim for a specific point. Make sure you click the little checkmark on the notepad to actually enter the info into the TDC before you fire. You'll usually see the gyroscope angle update.
As you get some practice you can finesse things a bit. Such as if you are pretty sure you underestimated the speed of the target, move the scope out ahead a bit before firing to compensate.
You can approach this a few different ways too. For example, you know you are going to fire from 700 meters. So you could enter that in to the TDC manually and either piece together the other things from the map or set up a solution from long range and then just adjust everything manually and move into positon to make that firing solution work.
Somethings to remember, fire between the ranges 400-1000 or maybe only up to 800 if it is a smaller ship.
Also remeber to look at the gyro angle in the periscope if you say that you are better of guessing, this is the bering the torpedo will take when it leaves the tube, if it seems of then your solution might be wrong. Remember to calculate the fact that it takes 10 seconds from you give the order to the torpedo is in the water, use the fast setting on the torpedo to lessen this.
I to usually use my WO to do the TDC but sometimes i do it myself. And i agree that it is what hes there for.
It seems that the TDC doesn't account for the "moderate" and "fast" settings on steam torps. If you use the TDC, make sure your torps are set to "slow"
Here is my dilemma, I take the time to plot the solution. Then as soon as I lead the target I loose the solution. That makes plotting the solution as good as guessing. Thanks for all of your input... I will try your suggestions.
It's easy.. just takes practice and it's much more rewarding. Do the torp tutorial on manual over and over again to get good at it. I'd turn off realistic reload times for practice as well.
2) Open the tube doors before you take your shot.
I must say I have a lot of hits - more than misses. I play at 89% realism (external views enabled), but also use the weapons officer. Have him identify the target, then plot a solution, and then fire off soon afterwards - that is, if the "gyro angle" is somewhere between +/- 20â? of 0â?. Otherwise wait, and let him plot a new solution when the position is better. Use impact pistols at targets with angle-of-bow close to 90â? stb/prt, and remember to set torpedo depth above target draught. Use magnetic pistols for targets at a "bad" AOB, and set torpedo depth 1-1.5m lower than target draught. You can make pretty long shots as long as the ships are unaware of your presence. I usually lock on to target with the periscope/uzo view, except for escorts. For those I put the crosshair at the bow of the ship, because they tend to speed up once they spot the incoming torpedo - and they often do.
My best shot so far is hitting a C2 freighter at 3000m with a slow-running torpedo (set them at fast if you can). Took it forever to get there, though.
As long as you click the check mark on the notepad and the TDC is not set to manual on the attack map, it should stay in the "computer" after you click the check mark. So even though you lose the data on the notepad, the solution is still set and ready to be used. You can unlock the target and lead them a bit or aim where you want.
I have been playing the convoy attack as practice. I still can't figure out why the two attack ships want to fight each other.
I think the TDC is good on ships that move slow but anything that is moving over 3 is to fast to plot as a target.
TDC does take into account the speed of your torps -- just be sure to set the speed first, before you mess with everything else. If you change the speed right before you fire your solution will be off.
As soon as you click the check box at the bottom it sends the info to the TDC -- you can hit F6 to double check before firing. So, don't worry if your notepad goes blank...it's still saved in the tdc. Also when you set it up right..you're aiming where you want to hit...don't try to lead or you'll miss ahead of the target.
I sank a destroyer with a TDC solution and he was moving at 7! Having the weapons officer solve the problem makes a lot of sense so I started using it. I also stopped leading the enemy ship. I did set torpedo's to fast in the TDC before getting any solutions. Thanks for the help guys.
Alright. I'm **** at manual TDC but I ain't giving it up, and I am getting better (2 ships sunk on my last patrol)When I have that mastered I want to go to no map updates, and then to no outside view.
Give the speed calc a fair bit of time. 30 seconds is better than 10 if you can afford it.
Get your WO to do the calc for you (select WO, torp attack - ID target + calculate solution) This in itself seems like it's doing all the work for you, but at least it gives you some figures on the notepad to look at.. and check what the WO sent to the TDC against what you're seeing in the periscope.. get a feeling for the data against the view. Also, bear in mind the WO can be wrong - as I found to my cost against an armed frigate off the Firth of Forth Estuary.
IMHO, doing manual torpedo calculations is fun but, it is the Weapons Officer's job. If you want to skipper the boat properly you have to trust your people and let them do their job, so you can focus on tactics and other things COs need to worry about. The technical advice above on how to improve TDC is all good stuff.
Maybe you can shed some light on this.. because I'm not an expert in anything naval..
I often wonder whether some sims make you do too much in trying to be realistic but, playing a sub commander (i.e, they guy at the periscope - if the films are to be believed) wouldn't you be the only one in a position to call AOB, range and speed - at least until late war tech came along and some of those things could be deduced by other means?
I'm all for letting the computer take care of what was historically done by the crew.. but I want to avoid having the computer do things for me that, historically, I would have done..