"what's the best way to work out torpedos ?" Topic

I'm interested in the night actions in the Solomons. What is the best way to handle torpedos? I suppose an abstract way is simplest. How do you do it? I'm using home rules with the following parameters: 2400 scale ships, 1 turn = 3 to 5 minutes, 1" = 500 yds, but haven't found a very clean way to handle this aspect. Comments appreciated! Cy

Personal experience, bitterness from being bad at it, but …

I'm tired of launching and trying to time my torpedoes against the vector of a moving ship. Not my job, my job is to tell the bosun to figure it out. Just seems familiarity with a game's mechanics shouldn't define the better player.

Personally I'd prefer to roll against a chart with rapidly decreasing probability for longer distances. Give my bosun a +1 for being a veteran.

I just read a book on the naval campaign. Roll a d6. US torpedoes hit on a 6. Roll another 6 for them to actually detonate.

79PA I think you are wildly optimistic

I agree with thomoss I like a chart as he describes with a better chance for quintuple tube mounts to hit and a reduced chance for twin or single tube mounts.

Fatman

I agree with Thosmos; I don't work out deflection for the Gunnery Officer so why for Guns (T) – to use RN terminology. I favour a system where you decide the target, determine how many moves to get there, and then just dice depending on how the opponent reacts,

In its favour, it actually sparks a more realistic response; players will tend to turn away to increase the distance and present a smaller (stern on) profile. With "guessing the target ship response" (like in GQ) a player may continue course, which is pretty much unheard of except where the torpedo launch wasn't observed, and be perfectly okay.

The thing in many systems is that the firer has to guess the target's reaction; continue, turn starboard, port or reverse course – whatever the target does there's a 1 in 4 chance they'll be in the danger zone. With the system I use the best way is ALWAYS to turn away and put on speed if you can, which is what ships did in real life.

Nick

Of course in a night action it would be nearly impossible to know when the enemy had launched torpedoes or against what target. So perhaps the firing player measures the range to the target (maybe several targets to keep the other player guessing), figures out how many turns until a possible impact, and records all that on a piece of paper. Each turn he records what the target does during its move (straight, turn, etc.) and than after the right number of turns you roll on a chart, modified by how the target has maneuvered. Perhaps the maximum probability end of the chart is the optimum situation: one turn running time and the target makes no turns. Many chances to hit determined by the die roll. But with each extra turn of running time and each course change of the target, you shift columns toward the minimum probability with fewer and fewer chances of a hit.

My rules are a little less granular than yours, so we just resolve gunfire and anyone surviving with TT resolves them after. In your case I would:
1. Announce launch.
2. Calculate turns to arrive based on 40 kt TT (maybe put a d6 at the launch point)
3. On designated turn target rolls to detect.
4. if detected, ship is turned to point at launch point then major negative to hit, (if you want to get complicated you could back the ship up one move then turn it). otherwise
5. If target doesn't detect or chooses not to comb roll to hit normally. (It doesn't matter if a ship that did not detect is pointing at TT, roll is normal.)

It is really a matter of how complicated you want the game; a few ships in gory detail or a lot of ships with simpler detail. I want to run whole fleets so simpler is better for me.

At least with submarines, the Captain is usually the one crunching the is-was 'banjo' slide rule. There are plans to make your own online.

But you should be putting fish in the water at about 3000 yards, and aiming for around 5000 yards run time.

I have been trying to produce a workable set of torpedo rules for some time. What I have at the moment is:
Players record torpedo launches – launching ship, target, no of torpedoes
Both players move
Resolve gunnery
Resolve torpedo firing.

My rules use a 6 minute move, so a torpedo travelling at 35 knots will move 7000 yards. The chance of hitting decreases arithmetically with distance and if the target is bow or stern on.

I am trying to develop a supplementary rule for "browning" shots fired at a group of ships, but that is still very much a work in progress.

The fly in the ointment is the Long Lance, but I don't have any Japanese ships that is not a problem, yet!