Adjusting rudder settings

[Captain Hammered]

Hallo! Ham here; currently commanding SS-196 Searaven; a Sargo-class boat currently operating out of [REDACTED].
Best boat in the Navy; she's fast, proud and strong and I've trained her crew to crack level.

I have a question about ship operation - in real-life terms; I'm wondering if it's possible to make a particular adjustment in a file somewhere. I personally feel it is highly unrealistic for the rudder to move to 'full' (40deg) when the boat is following a set course on the nav chart - making a gentle adjustment to avoid the Gilbert Islands a day away doesn't require such an extreme manoeuver. I would love to change it so that when following a plotted course, the rudder only moves to 5 deg. deflection. It's not for any reason much more than cosmetic, though the loss of energy is a full-rudder turn is annoying.

Is that possible? I know that this game is highly moddable - a bonus for me since I'm an inveterate MFS modder - but I haven't started exploring the possibilities yet; if this is possible it would be a good place to start.

Thanks folks!

[aanker]

Just draw a line to your destination following any course you need and make manual adjustments to stay on that line; you can select any rudder you want; 2d, 5d, 15d even 40d.

Happy Hunting!

[Captain Hammered]

Originally Posted by aanker

Just draw a line to your destination following any course you need and make manual adjustments to stay on that line; you can select any rudder you want; 2d, 5d, 15d even 40d.

Happy Hunting!

Thank you - sorry if I didn't explain myself very well; I'm referring specifically to the 'follow plotted course' feature on the navigation section with the sub following a course automatically. When sailing manually I definitely do select whichever deflection I feel is appropriate; on 'autopilot' the rudder always goes to 40d - exactly when it shouldn't.

Cheers!

[propbeanie]

I'm not sure what files you would alter, but if you "mod" a setting in the game for the AI control of the rudder, you might possibly also limit the rudder for the user, and could potentially lose the evasive moves. If you want your "autopilot" to do like you're describing, you could draw the routing in the way you want, so that instead of one point for a 90 degree turn, you now might use a dozen, with "transitions" into and out of the course change... ??

[aanker]

Originally Posted by Captain Hammered

Thank you - sorry if I didn't explain myself very well; I'm referring specifically to the 'follow plotted course' feature on the navigation section with the sub following a course automatically. When sailing manually I definitely do select whichever deflection I feel is appropriate; on 'autopilot' the rudder always goes to 40d - exactly when it shouldn't.

Cheers!

I stopped using that waypoint tool years ago because the boat would drift off the plotted course... also, after making a plotted turn the rudder would not return to zero, it would always be one or two degrees off zero and possibly using more fuel - never checked. Anyway, I got tired of it, didn't find it useful, so I began using the method that I described above.

Happy Hunting!

[Captain Hammered]

Originally Posted by aanker

I stopped using that waypoint tool years ago because the boat would drift off the plotted course... also, after making a plotted turn the rudder would not return to zero, it would always be one or two degrees off zero and possibly using more fuel - never checked. Anyway, I got tired of it, didn't find it useful, so I began using the method that I described above.

Happy Hunting!

Smacks forehead-I think you're right; I do recall looking oddly at the rudder at high acceleration levels, it seems to hover around 3. OK, I'll abandon that idea and not bother with it; thanks for the advice