originally “torpedo” was the term used to refer to naval explosive devices, be they freefloating, tethered, or attached to spars. often these were contact fused, but electrical or mechanical command detonation were also used. the famous quote “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” referred to these devices, specifially the tethered kind used to defend harbors.

tethered torpedoes were the preferred deployment, since freefloating ones followed currents, and could easily hit your own ships. Spar torpedoes were explosive charges on basically spears, ram them into the ship, then pull away and detonate. (they got abandoned quickly when the all metal hull became common). you even had “land torpedoes”, which were explosive devices buried underground and fused to go off when people walked or rode over them.

the modern concept of the torpedo, that of the self propelled device, originated in the 1870′s, when the first self-propelled torpedoes were adopted. specifially the whitehead torpedo, invented in 1864. these were similar to the description above. basically an explosive mine with a propulsion system. though whitehead’s torps were fired from tubes. you’d line up the tube on the target the way one might a gun, adjusting for target movement during travel time and so on, then fire the torp, which would then move in a straight line along that course. accuracy sucked, but small boats could carry plenty of torpedoes, and big ships like battleships couldn’t turn fast enough to avoid them..even if they could see them in time. this is what made the Torpedo boat dominate warfare so much.

looking at the wet-navy tactics for unguided torpedoes…i’d expect the “torpedo fan” to be popular. you’d fire several torpedoes, all along slightly different courses, to bracket the target. if you missed with one, or the enemy managed to avoid one, they ran the risk of hitting the others.

i hope that in a future expansion in leviathans though, we see the first “guided” torpedoes..probably using a preset mechanical “program” so the torpedo will conduct turns. or possibly they could trail electrical wire, allowing for direct guidance. (something easily possible as early as the first world war, but not minituarized enough to fit to real world missiles until WW2..and not practical in non-sonar equipped submarines…but certainly an option for big, flying devices..) one would expect these kinds of aerial torpedoes to have shorter range (space taken up by guidance equipment) and use up more space on the firing ship (the wire spools), but be far more accurate.

though to be honest, the idea of guided torpedoes in leviathan probably would unbalance it…

Funny you should use skidding in BT as an example. I had one of those “That was totally WICKED!” moments last week, when I skidded a 30-ton ‘Mech into an already-damaged light building, and put him through the other side… off the map.

We named that ‘Mech “Elvis”.

Thought it would be very, basic, just like guns, but do more damage and harder to hit with.