Ruler maptool with a finer grain
 

So right now the ruler maptool measures distance in intervals of 50 yards: 0...50...100... ~ ...1700...1750...1800... . Right now is TMO 2.5 with no other mods installed; 83% realism (external camera, because I'm learning, and stabilized view, just because). Is there a mod that chances the intervals to 10 yards, or even 1 yard? Something more useful for developing target solutions?

A contact moving at 8 knots is already going 4.5 yards per second. Why would you need that much resolution if your plotting accuracy isn't going to be that good anyway (because of time slip)? I doubt your solution will be that much different if you could.

Besides, if you mean the marks along the line, then it's hardcoded anyway. No chance of a mod doing this any time soon without changing the executable.

Okay, let's do math. Question: why would the ruler measure distances accurate only to 50 yards?

How do you measure speed? The easiest way is that the number of hundred yards a target travels in 3 minutes is its speed in knots. 1000 yards is 10 knots. When you measure accurate only to 50 yards, you are making a difference of ½ knot. If you are accurate to half a knot from 1000 yards away you get a boom every time.

Why would more accuracy help? Is one boom that much better than the other? You'll not find someone to help make a more accurate ruler because it is already accurate enough. The modders have done the math.:D

Yep, it's accurate enough.

Besides, you can't mess with the unit of measurements anyway....their hard coded.

One note about the ruler. As you pull it out from your starting point, you'll notice the 50 yard increment change from zero....50.....100....150.....and so on. That point of the increment change is dead on accurate. The remainder between the increment changes are guess work......but at the change point, its accurate.

Yeah, hard-coded: I was afraid that would be the case.

Mostly I wanted the increased accuracy of the ruler for plotting target position. Without map updates I have to manually measure and mark target position. Over time and after a few measurements I can resolve the speed and course of the target, and thus its AOB. Right now I'm rounding distances to the nearest 00 or 50, or eyeballing it. This has been working for me so far. I do the best I can and get in close. The gameplay is realistic (get in close, avoid detection) and suspenseful (will the torpedoes hit?). When it works out I'm so happy. My last sinking was so spot on at ~1700 yards it took my breath away.

I guess I love TMA. :P

The desire for greater granularity for the ruler comes from the perfectionist in me. I'm annoyed that I can't be more precise. Its a pet peeve. Its like, wanting to take $50 out of an ATM but the ATM only dispenses $20 bills so I have to withdraw $60. No biggie, just annoying.

Ah, Scurvy and you are two peas in a pod!:D:D:D

Did you ever study the meaning of significant figures in chemistry, physics or math? You use numbers to indicated the precision of the measurement. Suppose you have a sonar that is accurate to plus or minus 10. Then the number 50 means somewhere between 40 and 60. Numbers, then represent not a precise point but a range. Identifying your error envelope and mitigating that so it has no bearing on your result is what real precision is all about. It means that you realize that 43 is a fictitious number and needs to be rounded to the nearest ten to account for the known error of the device.

Real precision is recognizing that real error exists, quantifying that error and changing your methods so that these known (and perhaps some unknown) errors have no effect on the boom.

Error cannot be eliminated all the time. Our methods can render that irrelevant.