Long Distance Targeting & Shallow Water Sonar

[ecsmith62]

Couple of different items :
1) In SHIII I have noticed that you are able to target a ship that you have no possibility of seeing. If you just keep hitting the L key, you are breifly able to target a ship up to 20K away, even at night or very bad weather. I wish they would fix this, as I can't stop myself from using this "cheat" :).

2) Modern recreational forward scanning active sonar is unable to see further than about four times the depth of the water. I assume that this was also true for the Allied Asdic during WWII. I am not sure if the AI takes this into account - i.e. The destroyer should have to be much closer to the u-boat in shallow water to find it, and I don't think this is the case based on my experience in SHIII.

oh, and No 3) I wish I was able to back port while going forward on the starboard engine. This is a very useful low speed maneuvering trick with small craft. I don't know what the sound reprecussions of this are (i.e. cavetation), but the game has a port and starboard engine repeater, and I would love to use them.

Other than that, I have seen many good suggestions in the threads.

ECS

[DeepSix]

I vote "no" - but only because, historically, U.S. sub skippers were indoctrinated (early war) to make a sonar approach and to fire at an unseen target from about 100 ft. down. But if that could be done in the game without allowing the target-lock you're describing (I know it well :D ), then I'd be for it.

[Threadfin]

Most US fleet boats by mid-late 1942 had SJ surface search radar, and the info gathered was fed into the TDC. So US boats certainly could gain bearing, range and speed info on targets outside of visual range. BTW, the L key cheat only works if you are using auto-targeting. Otherwise this cheat only reveals target bearing, nothing more.

[don1reed]

USN also used a technique called "high-scoping". While on the surface, they'd raise the scope to max and peer over the horizon for targets. Sometimes atmospheric phenomonen occurred and allowed for further distances to be viewed, particularly north of Japan in Kurile Islands, Kamchatka, & Sea of Okhotsk.

Cheers,

[Sailor Steve]

The L-key cheat works any time you ask the Weapons Officer for information. I used it until I figured out that it was indeed cheating. Now, if I ask the WO for targeting and it unlocks before he can answer, I assume the range is too far for him as well.

I liked SHI with the solution degrading with distance, but for SHIV I'd be glad to have him tell me "Too far for an accurate solution, sir".

[Threadfin]

USN also used a technique called "high-scoping". While on the surface, they'd raise the scope to max and peer over the horizon for targets. Sometimes atmospheric phenomonen occurred and allowed for further distances to be viewed, particularly north of Japan in Kurile Islands, Kamchatka, & Sea of Okhotsk.

Cheers,


Good post and exactly right. In Fluckey's book he describes this phenomenon and IIRC he estimated they were able to see ships at 45,000 yards! Several times they would set up the approach only to find there were no ships there :)