Torpedo Question

[Rogue187]

Probably an old question but why are aireal torpedoes "ordered" at air HQ and not simply expended as part of base supply for aircraft squadrons that can carry torpedoes? Also, why can you only order 20 at a time? I know you can keep typing in 20 to build them but, but why not be able just type in 50 or 100? It seems like unnecessary micromanaging when you really dont know how many torpedoes you will need. Just curious.

[rms1pa]

A.the game is not torpedos in the pacific.

B. filling Hqs with torps eats supply. use the add 20 once then go to the TOE screen and make it 100.

in-game design choices limited several historical torpedo squadrons , those dutch float planes had torpedos but not in game. there were mods to the B26 to carry torps also.
some brit torp units also limited.

some uses were very rare or never persued historicly so they were left out of game.

have fun and play on.

rms/pa

[BBfanboy]

The developers did address this question once a long time ago. IRL torpedoes were a very expensive and hard to manufacture item. Consequently they were not available everywhere, nor in unlimited quantity anywhere.

The best way they could come up with to limit the omnipresence of torpedoes was to require and Air HQ to release them. This forces the player to decide the best place to put his air HQ, just as torpedo stocks would have been placed at strategically useful places IRL.

[Itdepends]

I believe f you turn replacements on for the Air Hq it will also convert supply on its own to maintain the level of torpedoes you set it at.

[GetAssista]

ORIGINAL: Itdepends
I believe f you turn replacements on for the Air Hq it will also convert supply on its own to maintain the level of torpedoes you set it at.

Not quite. Maintaining the level is done through clicking TOE link on LCU screen and entering the desired number of torps there

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: GetAssista

ORIGINAL: Itdepends
I believe f you turn replacements on for the Air Hq it will also convert supply on its own to maintain the level of torpedoes you set it at.

Not quite. Maintaining the level is done through clicking TOE link on LCU screen and entering the desired number of torps there

Disregard, I just repeated what you just wrote....[:D]

[cardas]

The question as to why they are treated so specially was answered, but not the one about the 20 torpedoes at a time limit. A charitable guess from my side is that it's there to protect the player, torpedoes cost quite a lot of supply (relatively) after all. Imagine somehow accidentally ordering, say, 100000 torpedoes in Tokyo. If you somehow glossed over it and didn't notice then that's something which would actually have long term supply consequences. By having the 20 torpedo limit there's no way that you'd do such a costly mistake. Of course, the fact that you can put 9999 torpedoes as the automatic refill makes me question why the limit would be 20.

It's also noteworthy that you can't order torpedoes in an Air HQ unless you have more than 2 times the required supply in a base. That may be the reason for the 20 torpedoes at a time limit as well? Because of the special nature of ordering torpedoes it was simply easier to limit how many you could order at a time due to some blah, blah supply checks. Depends on how the behind the hood programming looks like.

[wegman58]

ORIGINAL: cardas

The question as to why they are treated so specially was answered, but not the one about the 20 torpedoes at a time limit. A charitable guess from my side is that it's there to protect the player, torpedoes cost quite a lot of supply (relatively) after all. Imagine somehow accidentally ordering, say, 100000 torpedoes in Tokyo. If you somehow glossed over it and didn't notice then that's something which would actually have long term supply consequences. By having the 20 torpedo limit there's no way that you'd do such a costly mistake. Of course, the fact that you can put 9999 torpedoes as the automatic refill makes me question why the limit would be 20.

It's also noteworthy that you can't order torpedoes in an Air HQ unless you have more than 2 times the required supply in a base. That may be the reason for the 20 torpedoes at a time limit as well? Because of the special nature of ordering torpedoes it was simply easier to limit how many you could order at a time due to some blah, blah supply checks. Depends on how the behind the hood programming looks like.

And if your base is well supplied, you can always order more than one batch of 20.

[spence]

in-game design choices limited several historical torpedo squadrons , those dutch float planes had torpedos but not in game. there were mods to the B26 to carry torps also.
some brit torp units also limited.

some uses were very rare or never persued historicly so they were left out of game.

The original designer seems to have bought into the prewar Japanese Doctrine that had the lesser surface ships (cruisers and destroyers), aircraft and submarines of the Combined Fleet would be whittling down the American Battle-line as it advanced across the Pacific before "The Decisive Battle" between the USN and IJN. The G3 and G4 bombers were designed with that purpose in mind. That why their cruisers and destroyers carried torpedo reloads.

Operations Research shows that the Japanese reliance on torpedoes effectiveness was overblown. Although able to produce spectacular results at times such results were far to rare to have a strategic effect. Although many Allied twin-engine bombers could be rigged to carry torpedoes like the G3s and G4s the Allies recognized that the increased training required to deliver torpedoes effectively (such as that received by the groups which sank POW and Repulse) and the cost of the constant maintenance of torpedoes were not justified by the results obtainable with torpedoes rather than bombs so the Allies (Americans anyways) did not pursue an operational torpedo-bombing capability for their twin-engine bombers (torpedo capability was rigged and tested on the B-26, various B-25 versions, the PV-1 and PV-2. As far as I know it was only used operationally by B-26s at Midway and in the Aleutians although there is a photo of one being loaded onto a PV-1 in the Aleutians during a snowstorm (probably not for show).

[Zorch]

Very interesting.
I wonder how many torpedoes a B-17 could carry. [:D]

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: spence

in-game design choices limited several historical torpedo squadrons , those dutch float planes had torpedos but not in game. there were mods to the B26 to carry torps also.
some brit torp units also limited.

some uses were very rare or never persued historicly so they were left out of game.

The original designer seems to have bought into the prewar Japanese Doctrine that had the lesser surface ships (cruisers and destroyers), aircraft and submarines of the Combined Fleet would be whittling down the American Battle-line as it advanced across the Pacific before "The Decisive Battle" between the USN and IJN. The G3 and G4 bombers were designed with that purpose in mind. That why their cruisers and destroyers carried torpedo reloads.

Operations Research shows that the Japanese reliance on torpedoes effectiveness was overblown. Although able to produce spectacular results at times such results were far to rare to have a strategic effect. Although many Allied twin-engine bombers could be rigged to carry torpedoes like the G3s and G4s the Allies recognized that the increased training required to deliver torpedoes effectively (such as that received by the groups which sank POW and Repulse) and the cost of the constant maintenance of torpedoes were not justified by the results obtainable with torpedoes rather than bombs so the Allies (Americans anyways) did not pursue an operational torpedo-bombing capability for their twin-engine bombers (torpedo capability was rigged and tested on the B-26, various B-25 versions, the PV-1 and PV-2. As far as I know it was only used operationally by B-26s at Midway and in the Aleutians although there is a photo of one being loaded onto a PV-1 in the Aleutians during a snowstorm (probably not for show).

Yeah is is probably a little out of whack to have given the capability to Catalinas and Japanese 4E patrol bombers as well.
We know they did it, but it was extremely rare. However, it is fun in the game though..[;)]

[MakeeLearn]

A Martin B-26 Marauder of the 70th BS, 38th BG armed with a torpedo on Fiji during 1942.

[geofflambert]

Air HQ's are required in the game for an inventory of aerial torpedos to be available, within the command radius of that HQ. This is the game's simulation of the diffuculty of obtaining them. Nonetheless, all you need is one of these HQs and sufficient supply to produce them on demand. The number 20 is arbitrary and just serves to make you think about what it is you are doing. If you could put any number in there you wanted you could easily exhaust the supply and therefor the operations of a major base.

[spence]

Very interesting.
I wonder how many torpedoes a B-17 could carry.

I have no idea if the bomb bays were big enough to hold an aerial torpedo or four(weight-wise they could do that and still have a decent range). Are you going to work up a Mod with that capability?
[:D]

[jmalter]

The HQa can purchase torps, but one should also click over to set its TOE to maintain a desired # of torps, and set its Replacements ON.

I always keep at least 1 USN PBY-5 airgroup staffed with high NavT pilots. The planes can carry 2 torps each & can deliver serious smack. Based in NE Oz & supported by a torp-supplied HQa, these Cats have often proved essential to defending Port Moresby from IJ cruiser bombardment & amph assault.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: spence

Very interesting.
I wonder how many torpedoes a B-17 could carry.

I have no idea if the bomb bays were big enough to hold an aerial torpedo or four(weight-wise they could do that and still have a decent range). Are you going to work up a Mod with that capability?
[:D]

B17s could probably not carry any torpedoes internally. They were restricted by the wing which was one single intact wing that made up the under body of the aircraft-limiting it's bomb load and the bomb size that they could carry. B24 did not have wings like that and could carry a lager load in tonnage and size. Just google B17 bomb bay to see how really small they actually were.

[MakeeLearn]

”Miss Torpedo” 1952

[jmalter]

Hurrah for Miss Torpedo 1952!

Ughfortunately, I'm set to 'use historical' in my prefs, so most often I get the "Missed Torpedo" message.

[rustysi]

Watching a documentary lately, it stated that it required 4000 man-hours to construct each German torpedo. Seems to me that similar efforts were required by everyone else. That adds up to two years of labor by one person for each warhead!!! Given that and what I've heard about their maintenance its hardly surprising they were not ubiquitous.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: MakeeLearn

”Miss Torpedo” 1952

She's no dud!