How do I order my ships to use their torpedoes?

[hardlec]

I am playing the Confederate States of America. I have an advantage in torpedo technology and crews trained in torpedo warfare.
I can't use manual shooting, the ai won't loose torpedoes, and in standard combat the torpedoes stay in their tubes.
The enemy does torpedo my ships.
On one occasion I got the message
Unidentified Ship Sighted and
Your lead ship has been hit by a torpedo at the same time.

[aeson]

It isn't guaranteed that your ships will sight the enemy's ships at the same time as the enemy's ships sight your ships. Sometimes, this works out in your favor; other times, you get torpedoed at night by a ship you never saw.

As to getting your ships to use their torpedoes, it tends to help if you can get your ships in close and have them running slightly ahead and to the side of the enemy vessels on a constant course and at a constant speed. Setting the 'flotilla attack' order also appears to help. Note that submerged tubes are supposed to be inoperable if the ship carrying them is moving faster than 25 knots. Also be aware that destroyers with less than about six tubes appear to be fairly reluctant to launch torpedoes except after fairly optimal attack runs, which often means that they won't attack anything that isn't already almost dead in the water.

[dorn]

I will add that if your ship is larger and you face destroyer that you can expect that in dark the chance that destroyer can see you first is higher. Just remember U-boots attacked convoy early in the war not even being submerged. 

[bcoopactual]

I'm glad you guys gave him a serious answer because as an Admiral's-mode player, my first thought when reading the thread title was "Play World of Warships".

[fleet5]

It's weird how the AI gets those torpedoes launched when I struggle so much.

[Fredrik W]

Your destroyers and those of the AI use exactly the same logic for when they launch torpedoes. If the AI launches more torpedoes, it could possibly be because you offer enemy ships good torpedo solutions. Try to avoid having enemy DDs on the forward beam of your heavy units, and do not follow a straight course for too long.

[dorn]

Aug 23, 2018 5:21:31 GMT -6 fleet5 said:

It's weird how the AI gets those torpedoes launched when I struggle so much.

It depends on several things when AI launch torpedoes:
- ideal position to launch torpedo (side by side, a little forward so torpedo can go perpendicular). 
- your ship has plenty of torpedoes so the captain will not hesitate to fire even if the fire solution is not optimal

Now you thing you have one fleet which is disengaging and second fleet in pursuit a little on side to use more guns. Who has better chance to fire torpedo? Of course the disengaging fleet as her fire solution will be optimal.

So to better your chance for torpedo attack, you should:
1. order your destroyers to torpedo attack (right click on your commanding ship flag and it is one of the icons)
2. be side by side but a little forward
3. have a plenty of torpedoes

[fleet5]

I will remember these tips. Thanks guys.

[garrisonchisholm]

Aug 23, 2018 5:41:20 GMT -6 Fredrik W said:

Your destroyers and those of the AI use exactly the same logic for when they launch torpedoes. If the AI launches more torpedoes, it could possibly be because you offer enemy ships good torpedo solutions. Try to avoid having enemy DDs on the forward beam of your heavy units, and do not follow a straight course for too long.

I find that quite ironic, as I credit my policy of "never steer unless you need to clear (your guns)" to be responsible for the high accuracy which wins most of my fights-  it appears it is also responsible for the high accuracy of the enemies' torpedoes! 

[fredsanford]

If you are still in the early game (pre-1914 or so), don't expect too much from torpedoes. If you look at your torpedo tech details (right click on Torpedoes in the research areas), you'll see the stats for your torps listed as "Torpedoes now have range@speed 800@25/2000@15" for example- the earliest torpedoes. These stats are high speed and slow speed range and speed. Thus, the "high speed" setting only has a range of 800 yards at a speed of 25 knots. Slow speed only goes out to 2000 yards at 15 knots. So if your target is moving at any sort of decent speed, getting a valid firing solution is very difficult. Even if you're playing Captain's mode that allows manual targeting, you have to get very close and ahead of your target to have much of a chance. Your DD will probably eat high explosive before that happens.

Later game, torpedoes are much more dangerous since they are much faster and much longer ranged. "Flotilla Attack" is your friend in that case.

Night time actions are very dangerous for large ships, btw. Fighting them is pretty much a sucker's bet.

[fleet5]

Thanks for the clarifications! I am playing on Rear-Admiral, what do the different difficulty levels do?

[bcoopactual]

Aug 23, 2018 18:54:40 GMT -6 fleet5 said:

Thanks for the clarifications! I am playing on Rear-Admiral, what do the different difficulty levels do?

They are more micromanagement levels than difficulty levels although somethings like torpedo attacks are easier with manual targeting.  To my knowledge, the AI and enemy ships don't fight differently in the different modes (or have different levels of float points or bonuses to accuracy, etc that are typical of games with different difficulty levels) so that's why I don't personally think of them as difficulty levels. 

Here is a screen shot from the SAI manual that describes them: 



Keep in mind that support forces (If you allow them) are always AI only regardless of what level you are playing at.  

[fleet5]

I had a night fleet battle and contact with the enemy was really close. I thought I was surely going to lose because my fleet was steaming south-east-east and they were coming at me at a bad angle[north-west-west(I retreated somehow)]. I had a division of 4 CLs which I couldn't control, I guess those were part of the support forces then.
I probably don't want to play on Admiral just yet. Reading about the huge mess of confusions in Jutland has always intrigued me though so I might try it when I get better in this game.

[aeson]

Aug 23, 2018 19:44:40 GMT -6 fleet5 said:

I had a night fleet battle and contact with the enemy was really close. I thought I was surely going to lose because my fleet was steaming south-east-east and they were coming at me at a bad angle[north-west-west(I retreated somehow)]. I had a division of 4 CLs which I couldn't control, I guess those were part of the support forces then.

If you go over to the Order of Battle (OoB) tab on the left side of the screen, your Support Force, if any, will be listed separately from the Main Force (and Scout Force, if you have developed the tech for it and have one for the battle).

Another way to determine if ships are part of a Support Force is that ships in the Support Force (or in the Patrol Force, or in the Convoy Force) are invisible unless within visual range of a ship in a force that you control (the Main Force, or the Main and Scout Forces if you have the tech for a detached Scout Force and have one for the battle). A Support Force whose ships cannot be seen from ships in a force that you control will show up in the main window as a flag which is vaguely in the vicinity of the ships of the Support Force.

If playing on Rear Admiral's mode, ships that can be seen but not commanded are often ships of your own force which cannot see the flagship.

[hardlec]

In captain's mode I can select the division status, select the ship (even if there is only one ship in the division) then hit "fire torpedo." You will get a dialog to select the target. Then you may get a torpedo off but mainly I get the reply "out of Arc" or "No Solution."

I am no longer putting more than two torpedos on my DDs and using DDs as big minesweepers until I can build 1100 ton DDs which I can equip with 5 inch guns, which, by then usually have decent ASW abilities and by then the torpedoes are usually worth the cost.
I do not put TTs on anything bigger than a CL.

I also stay out of of torpedo range because my opponent is very proficient in the use of Torpedoes.