True Life Navigational Maps

[Sailor Steve]

A part of the problem is that even if you had such a mod you still wouldn't know how deep the water is because the game doesn't have the actual water depths.


Side-note: Any fan will know that your second quote wasn't said first by you, but by Jayne Cobb on Firefly.

[hunter301]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

A part of the problem is that even if you had such a mod you still wouldn't know how deep the water is because the game doesn't have the actual water depths.

If the game doesn't have the actual water depth then why does it tell you the depth under keel when asked?
I know anything over a 1000 feet is just stated so but whenever your in the shallows the game gives you the depth when asked.

[Sniper297]

What he means is the actual depth in the real world and the depth in the game might or might not be the same in any given area. For example the west entrance to Kobe harbor in Osaka Bay might be 42 feet deep in the real world, but 60 feet in the game. The fathometer in the game gives you the distance from the keel to the bottom as they made it in the game, and if they tried to make the exact real world depths everywhere in the game they would still be programming it and might have it finished 200 years from now.

I suspect they made the destroyers ignore the fathometer ping because of necessity to use the fathometer, since you look at a chart that says 70 feet you have to subtract 15 to 17 feet on the surface or 50 to 66 feet submerged depending on what sub type and what depth you're running at - after all, the actual depth minus the keel depth is the issue, zero depth under keel is where you actually hit the bottom.

The charted depths in the real world weren't accurate in WW2 for the simple reason that until submarines came along anything over 100 fathoms was "who cares?" The fathometer was invented sometime around 1925, prior to that they used lead lines cast at intervals to chart depths, and extrapolated between casts.

Simplest way in the game is to take soundings any time you're not in dark blue water, sometimes if the depth is too shallow for evasion I just let those targets go and look for targets in deeper water.

He who chickens and runs away, lives to chicken another day.

[hunter301]

Originally Posted by Sniper297

I suspect they made the destroyers ignore the fathometer ping because of necessity to use the fathometer, since you look at a chart that says 70 feet you have to subtract 15 to 17 feet on the surface or 50 to 66 feet submerged depending on what sub type and what depth you're running at - after all, the actual depth minus the keel depth is the issue, zero depth under keel is where you actually hit the bottom.

Where does your depth gauge show relative to your sub?
From the water line or from the keel?
Is your depth gauge already calculated for your draft?

[Sniper297]

Yikes. Go to the control room view in the game, read the depth gauge where it says "SALT WATER DEPTH TO KEEL", then hover the mouse pointer over the button that says "DEPTH UNDER KEEL".

[Revus]

Hey fellas, Sorry it took so long to reply.

Heres a good one for the Yellow sea:
https://www.oceangrafix.com/chart/zoom?chart=94028

Parent site:
https://www.oceangrafix.com/chart/de...d-Korea-Strait

Cool thing about the charts is how much you can zoom in. Ill have to do some testing to see how accurate the soundings are, as well as how they line up Long/Lat wise.


Update: some of the charts are not viewable online, need to be purchased. Many charts do work though

[Revus]

Even better:
https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/

Its an interactive bathymetric map. Happy hunting

[hunter301]

Originally Posted by Sniper297

Yikes. Go to the control room view in the game, read the depth gauge where it says "SALT WATER DEPTH TO KEEL", then hover the mouse pointer over the button that says "DEPTH UNDER KEEL".

Honestly I just noticed this. I don't typically do the stroll around the sub other than being on the bridge so I never noticed the depth under keel on the meter. And I guess constantly looking at the 3 big round dials always kept me from looking down and the smaller number below. Now that I know they're there I don't have to keep switching back and forth on the dials.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Although I think if I'm within 16-17 feet of the bottom I'm already in trouble...LOL.

[Sniper297]

Try going into the control room view while on the surface and look at the big depth gauges (the fine scale ones that go to 165 feet) and you'll see the depth varies around 15-17 feet, sometimes to 20-22 if the weather is rough. Just took a look at a pic of a real one, minimum number is 15 feet. Check the game; yep, same.

[Rockin Robbins]

The sub captains had crap for charts, often using 20 year old National Geographic map inserts to figure out where they were. Soundings? Forget it! What we have in the game is magnitudes better than what they were stuck with.