Torpedo Quality?

[the_really_good_man]

Seeing that guns have different marks as gun technology improved throughout the age, is there any consideration for having a similar system with torpedos? I can imagine that just jumping in torpedo size is not always the smoothest of transition, with the American MK14 torpedo being the first example that comes to mind, though not a surface torpedo. Maybe a set of limitation such as unlocking a torpedo size, but not being able to immediately change the type of propulsion. Or improved versions of smaller torpedoes might have a lower dud rate or better cruising characteristics than the experimental larger torpedo.

[RedParadize]

This is a fair point. Would be nice if it affect spread and amounts of dud torpedo. Would be fun to have few fail in early age, like torpedo slowly turning or oscillating.

[arkhangelsk]

On 12/21/2019 at 9:56 AM, the_really_good_man said:

Seeing that guns have different marks as gun technology improved throughout the age, is there any consideration for having a similar system with torpedos? I can imagine that just jumping in torpedo size is not always the smoothest of transition, with the American MK14 torpedo being the first example that comes to mind, though not a surface torpedo. Maybe a set of limitation such as unlocking a torpedo size, but not being able to immediately change the type of propulsion. Or improved versions of smaller torpedoes might have a lower dud rate or better cruising characteristics than the experimental larger torpedo.

It's already implemented. Check the torpedo statistics in the early ships and the late ones. The first are like 27 knots, and eventually you can get 52 knots (without modifiers).

As for dud rate, I actually prefer the current system where they don't dud and you just take a cut in the damage. Eventually it is highly probable we'll eventually be able to save within the battle. What do you think human players do when their game critical torpedo salvo ... duds? Yeah, they go to the Load screen!

The Mark 14 was them fooling around with a new exploder and with poor depth keeping - in game terms they will be reproduced as duds.

[disc]

For our time period, the modifiable torpedo characteristics are broadly the following:

1. Torpedo diameter
2. Torpedo length (combined with diameter, this helps produce total weight)
3. Warhead weight (correlated with torpedo size)
4. Warhead explosive type
5. Engine type
6. Fuel type
7. Torpedo speed (modifiable, but upper bound is dependent on the engine type)
8. Torpedo range (modifiable, but strongly correlated with torpedo size and fuel type)
9. Gyro ability
10. Depth adjustment

Of these things:

1. Torpedo diameter is already implemented.
2. Torpedo length would be alright to add. Essentially it would let us trade off range for weight. Not sure it's worthwhile, but it might be nice.
3. Warhead weight might be subsumed into tech upgrades. The higher up the tech tree, the greater the damage. Conceivably we could trade this off versus fuel weight, so it could be a selectable value.
4. Warhead explosive could be subsumed into tech upgrades. I'm open to making it a selectable option, like shell filler, but I don't know if it makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure there were clear real tradeoffs when it came to explosive tech -- there is not quite the same issue of impact sensitivity as there is for shells. Why would one want guncotton as compared to Torpex, essentially.
5. Engine type is partially implemented, as we can choose electric torpedoes. Though there are other engine types -- radial, two-cylinder, turbine -- I don't think they have clear advantages over each other. Might be abstracted into tech tree upgrades.
6. Fuel type is also partially implemented. We can pick electric, "normal," and oxygen. Many more fuels could be added, including compressed air, dry heaters, wet heaters, semi-Diesel, and even flywheels. I think this would be a great area to expand on. I think "electric" should remain a fuel type, and that more fuels should be added.
7. Torpedo speed can be selected now, sort of. We can pick "fast" as an option. This should be separated from the "fuel" type, because most torpedoes, regardless of fuels, could be adjusted to swim at various speeds. I think this should become its own selectable category. "Normal" would be the default. "Fast" would have a higher speed but a reduced range. "Slow" would have a slower speed but a longer range.
8. Range would be selected alongside speed.
9. Gyro ability would be interesting. Gyro stabilization was introduced in 1896; the vast majority of torpedoes since then have had gyros. Aside from markedly improving accuracy, a gyro can give the ability to fire at more extreme angles and let torpedoes run patterns. Not sure about adding this.
10. Depth keeping might be cool to add. A deeper-running torpedo may do more damage, but it may miss ships with shallow draft. 

Duds would be infuriating. We don't have dud shells right now, either, and I would not like to see them.