Fun with math and the Hitman Periscope

[Leoz]

Hitman optics.

How to quickly find out distance with the Hitman scope. The method behind the madness.

Disclaimer: this goes under the assumption that SHIII is different for each person and how they want to play the game, that there is no wrong way to play it as long as you are enjoying yourself. So, for some, this might not be your cup of tea.

The Hitman scope comes with some documentation that has a chart to calculate range with the perisope.

For the purpose of this exercise we will look how it relates to the GWX mod as that is what I mostly play.

Both the Attack scope and Observation or Night scope have two magnification settings with this mod. 1.5x and 6x.

The vertical scale for each scope is marked in "mils". So on the attack scope you will see a vertical scale at 20, 40, 60 and 100 mils and so on. Each mark is 20 mils.




On the Observation Scope it mils are shown where each mark represents 10 mils.




In the attack scope, if a ships stack or mast was let us say, 25 meters from the top to the waterline and half-way between the 20mil and 40mil mark on the attack scope, it would be at 30mils.

The chart that comes with the mod is excellent. So in the chart, you look at which ever magnification setting you are using, let us say x6, line up 25 meters (height of target) with the 30 mils mark and you get. 3333 meters distance to target.

So what if you don't have the chart?

For example: take 25 meter target height and divided it by 30 mils to get .833. If you are using the 1.5 magnification setting on your scope, move the decimal place 3 over to the right. Your target is 833 meters away.

If you are using the x6 magnification setting, multiply .833 times 4, and get... 3.33. Move the decimal place 3 over to the right to get 3330 meters distance. Close enough.

The Hitman scope doesn't come with a UJag stop watch. So, your methods of gathering info on target speed are plotting time and distance on multiple observations over time, pacing the target and as a final check, putting the stopwatch against the ships length: Ships length in meters divided by time in seconds that it covered its' own length x 1.85 to get speed in knots.

It is best used when you manually plot everything on the F5 map to keep your brain from exploding.

Enjoy.

Note, for me, I don't mind if I miss things due to goof ups. So, this might not be for you if you are wired to always get a score no matter what. This mod will punish mistakes.

That is, it can be a juicy target and you can still goof things up. Karma of sorts. Better luck next time.

Thank you Hitman, where ever you are.

Download section: Hitman Optics for GWX
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1519

[B_K]

Hi,
I planned to open a new thread about periscope ranging, but let me attach a few words.
I use Ahnenerbe 1920x1080 with some additional mods and I have problems with scope marks.

I figured out that Attack scope mark "10" at 1,5 zoom shows 4,7 degrees (4,7 shown when using built-in stadimeter notepad) and twice that (9,4) where horizontal bar crosses the vertical bar. It corresponds to 0,082 radians at "10" (5 tick marks) and 0,164 radians at 10 tick marks. 0,94 degrees per division. No way to match that with 10 mills. (1 radian=1 deg*pi/180, 1 mill=0,001 radian)

At 6x zoom values in degrees, based in stadimeter, are proportional to the above: 1,175 deg at "10" (5 tick marks) and 2,35 degrees at bars crossing. 0,235 degrees per division.

In my opinion this is wrong. You can use stadimeter or RAOBF disk pretty accurately, but you can't use scope graticule to find the range.


Observation scope graticule seems better but i didn't check deeper.

If I used your graphics, the ship takes 3,5 marks and has 25 meters height. In my scope the range at 6x zoom would be 25/tand(3,5marks*0,235deg/mark)=1741,4 meters

If we now say that 3,5 marks at your scope is 70 mills=0,07 rad, we have
25/tanr(0,07)=357 meters for 1,5 zoom and 1428 meters for 6x zoom.

300 meters - the difference big or small? it depends, but it is not zero.

How can be it fixed? Can someone explain what's wrong with ahnenerbe's scope or am I wrong?

[Leoz]

Your command of math is far above mine.

I have not used that mod.

Using the Hitman Mod for GWX is important because GWX by itself moves the visual zoom up more from what the stock game scope has.

The wonderful MaiGui Mod gives you 3 zoom choice.

Hitman is interesting because for GWX it reverts back to the 1.5 zoom and 6x zoom settings in the stock game and for actual WWII periscopes.

In my opinion (from what I read) stadimeters were in earlier war setups.

In the end, SHIII is a game and not a pure sim, no matter how many mods one tries. Unlike the stadimeter in big U.S. fleet boats in SHIV, you are locked into an unrealistic setup with the SHIII stadimeter. You have to slect what is in the recognition manual.Which makes absolutly no sense. Also in the SHIII stadimeter you can't put in the length of a ship.

I can only tell you what works for me. The Hitman scope doesn't use a stadimeter and for all that it works for me fine. The Hitman mod also has a mention of how to guess the height of various parts of some ships and not just using mast height. For example, I use the top of the stack for some ships.

If you are that good with math, I would stick to a calculator and stopwatch and forget the stadimeter.

[B_K]

Hi :-)
i discovered how to repair my scope, by editing optical parameter called AngularAngle in cameras.dat to get the proper Field of View.

more on that here http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...&postcount=355

Now i can properly measure the distance.