Some questions about SH5 + TWOS
 

Hi. I've been playing SH5 + TWOS (full realism) for a couple months now, and have often referred to these forums whenever I've had an issue or question, although I hadn't made an account until now. Just wanted to say some of you have been incredibly helpful to me, without knowing it, and wanted to voice my appreciation to those of you who are active on these forums.



Now, to the topic of this post; I have some questions, and thought I'd put it to these forums since I couldn't find the answers using the search function.



1) So, after experiencing some issues, I did a complete reinstall of SH5 and TWOS. I later found out this was unnecessary, but it doesn't matter so much. However, I noticed there were some changes, namely differences in UI, and crew mechanics. One specific example are the weps officer's abilities such as 'preheat torpedo' being replaced with an ability that make the crew work harder, and an ability for transferring torpedo from external reserves. Was TWOS updated, or was my previous or current installation of TWOS faulty and features are missing? I could perhaps answer this question myself, were it not for the fact that I've never played SH5 vanilla.

I'm not particularly a fan of the whole crew 'upgrade' system as a whole, as it feels a tad gamey, but I'd still like to understand the change.



2) Bearing to contact with Hydrophone. So, for various purposes, not least the four bearings method, it is very important to know the exact bearing to a hydrophone contact. With my previous installation, it was possible to click 'send information to TDC', and as a convenient side-effect, my hydrophone operator would handily shout out 'contact, merchant, bearing 146!' or some such. With my current installation of SH5 + TWOS, that button no longer exists. Also, the hydrophone operator cannot be relied upon to yell out his contact reports on his own at the precise timings required by four bearings. Manually operating the hydrophone station, I tried:

a) Going to the left and right boundary on the hydrophone of where the target was audible, and calculating the average to get the correct bearing to contact.

b) Listening for when the target was loudest, and using that bearing.

However, both methods failed to produce accurate results, perhaps due to my own inexperience, imprecision of the hydrophone, or a mixture of both. I was wondering, what methods do you chaps use to get an accurate bearing to a hydrophone contact? In all of the four bearings guides, it's just assumed that you know the exact bearing to the target.



Thanks in advance.

1) Yes there was an update. It’s unrealistic to believe that it’s a special ability to preheat torpedo since that was something they are trained in doing. However when forcing them to work harder than they usually do, that would be an extraordinary skill. Also exchanging the torpedo from the external reserve was a very lengthy and very serious process. If you haven’t done it yet it’s awesome. It stops your boat dead in the water while crew moves the torp, even after it is moved you stay immobile to simulate the tools being placed back in the boat!

2) as far as hydrophone contacts, it’s very unrealistic to have a button that automatically sends this information to your TDC. You listen for a contact you have to manually input this information yourself. As far as the operator goes, the game limits him, but gives you the advantage of hearing far out. A perk for doing it yourself. TWoS prides itself on realism, and gives the player a few perks for doing things the hard way!

As far as accuracy goes with the hydrophone, it takes time and experience to get there. It’s not a precise tool, so don’t expect to be surgical with it. It’s a tool to give you an idea where the target maybe.

Here is a video I did for SH3. It talks about triggers, ignore these, as SH5 has different triggers, but the method is the same:

https://youtu.be/HFhJn8dZI9o

https://youtu.be/hM4c6xqpgic

Thanks for the reply.

I understand why having pre-heating torpedoes as an unlockable skill makes no sense, as like you say, it was something they were trained to do from the get-go. Shouldn't it then, by that logic, be an ability unlocked from the start of the game, rather than removing it completely?

Regarding the hydrophone, I understand the logic there, but realistically speaking, the captain wouldn't need to manually operate the hydrophone. He has a hydrophone operator, specifically trained to perform that task, and theoretically should be more proficient at it than the captain. The captain has other responsibilities, the hydrophone operator exists for a reason. On the flip side, I understand the appeal of doing everything manually.

Regarding your video, do you know what the triggers are for SH5?

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I don’t know the triggers because TWoS changes things around. I will have to dive into the files and see what it is. One thing is for certain 1000 m is short range anything from 1000 to 3000 m is medium 3000 out of anywhere else is long. I still use 20 km as the limit to the hydrophone operators range to hear. It may be wrong but it gives you a clue.

Thanks Berb and Aktung.

Alright Bstanko, I was wondering about that. Thanks.

About the updates to the hydrophone officer. I find it very strange that the Hydrophone officer/Soundman does no longer call out bearings, if I read that correctly. I also think removing/changing soundman perks in the abilities screen is strange, especially since the Captain relied on his soundman during combat/sitting on the attack periscope station. That the soundman cannot send data to the TDC (relay it to the XO/Captain) is weird.

I came across this strange text in the abilities screen (Will add an image later) and would not know what it means.

Ability Hydrophone OFF Level 3
No sound contact will be reported while this ability is active

Icon is two red ships on a zigzag line.

Any info on this is welcome. I have not yet upgraded to 2.2.25 so that might have something to do with it.