Manual Targeting - Is There a Halfway-House

[Friscobay]

Originally Posted by ParaHandy

I'm pretty new to this game (kudos to you all for keeping this forum and, to an extent, the game alive nearly a decade on). I'm playing the stock game with GWX and SH3 Commander.

I've been playing with most of the settings ticked apart from the big two. It's getting a little bit too easy for me to intercept a ship then fire off the eels. I'm just not sure I'm ready for 100% difficulty*.

I'm curious as to the effects the two separate boxes have. WO Assistance, and Manual Targeting. I can pretty much intercept a ship/convoy and get myself lined up to 90 degrees to the target almost without fail. How much of a stretch is it from here?

Also, if I play Naval Academy using manual targeting does the game walk me through the ins and outs?

I absolutely love this game, and can't believe I'd never so much as heard of it 6 months ago but I'm just finding it a bit easy playing the way I am now.

Cheers in advance...



*I say difficulty as opposed to realism deliberately

Welcome Aboard ParaHandy!


My own experience was that repetitive viewing of a 2007 YOUTUBE video created by a WERNERSOBE [ which drew me to SUBSIM to begin with ] of the TDC basic-use tutorial, got me to first base in calculating shots without disabling manual targeting. Within only the space of a few hours, saving and resaving over and over again using the moment when I was perfectly at right angle to a Japanese large freighter, I began entering the data first blowing it by failing to follow a step, and then parking three fish in succession into the bow and midships of the target and sending her to Davy Jones upon getting sequencing correct.
After mastering this portion of targeting then, it was off to directional calculations on the navigational map and the use of rulers, pencils, and protractors where I thanked Neptune that I was decent at Trig back in school. I see this as a sort of ''phase two'' of learning the whole range of manual targeting and acquisition. Back to the TDC tutorial, and it really is a case of ''practice makes perfect''.

Good Hunting!


Silent Hunter 4 Basic TDC Tutorial--WernerSobe - YouTube



www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFqpZ5jRljo Cached
This is the quintessential video on how to manually target using the American TDC in Silent Hunter 4 published in July 2007 by WernerSobe. This is the ...

[Tupolev]

My own personal experiences has shown target speed to be the absolute most critical factor for accuracy. The most accurate way (in my experiences) to estimate target speed is to steer a parallel course and match speed to the target.

All you need to do is plot the target's course, steer that course, then adjust your speed until the relative bearing to the target no longer changes. Your speed = target speed. If you're shooting 90 AOB and 0 gyro, accurate range isn't going to be a factor.

Now, being able to tell if you're speeds are correctly matched can be hard in heavy seas, but thats the added challenge in crappy weather. I'll often give up on an attack in situations like that.

If I'm forced to attempt a submerged attack or otherwise can't match speeds on the surface, I think fixed-wire is a better estimate than a plotting estimate. You can take lots fixed-wire measurements and average them in the same time it takes to plot.

On the other hand, I've also played using WO assistance and just cranked the failure % on h.sie's patch to replicate misses.

T

[Warren Peace]

Personally, I keep WO assistance on at all times (thankfully the mods I'm running don't dock me points for this, still at 100% 'realism'). He's a dead useful mammal, especially when surfaced. Ask him for the nearest visual contact, he'll give you a range and bearing. Plot that point on your map, wait 3 minutes and 15 seconds, then ask him again and plot the second point. From those two points, you have everything you need to get his course (connect the dots), range (draw a line/circle from your where you will be shooting from to his course line. It's not perfect, but it is close enough that it won't matter), speed (take the distance between both dots and multiply by 10), and AOB (use the protractor to draw a line from your boat to the target, then along the targets course. The angle you get is the AOB).

It isn't perfectly accurate, nor the easiest method, but it taught me pretty much everything I know about manual shooting.

[ParaHandy]

I appreciate every reply, thanks for taking the time to help me out.

What I'm doing at the moment is tracking the target's speed using the 3.15 sec. method. I'm drawing a course of the target's heading and then just lining up at exactly 90deg to it's course. I'm then using the zoomed in map to work out my rage to the path of the target. The speed and range are then input into the TDC and the AOB set at 90 deg. Once in position I'll use my rudder to fine tune the angle and continually check speed and heading and make fine adjustments on the TDC. It's been fine so far, but I'd imagine it's a very rudimentary approach which will be limited - I'm halfway thru my second patrol and the only torpedo I've missed with was one which failed half way to the target.

The seas have been rough so would that render the Stadimeter useless anyway? I'm not even sure I'd trust myself as I'm hopeless using the recognition manual anyway. As far as the speed is concerned I've not really figured out how to use the Data Notepad for calculating speed yet. Any advice on this?

ETA - I'm setting my shots up at a range of around 700 - 900 metres. I'm not sure why other than it's worked so far for me. Is there an optimal range for using my methods?

[Pisces]

Yes, as close as possible and just outside of torpedo arm distance (400m give or take). The closer the target is, the wider angle it's bow and stern make. So the best margin of error.

But proximity increases the danger of detection (especially later in the war). And even you yourself can become collateral damage if things start flying in the air after torpedoes hit. So there is a trade-off.


Speed
Like I said, notepad procedure to get speed is not so optimal. It depends too much on uncertain measurements. Instead try the 'Fixed wire'-method:

Turn your bow (or aft) just in front of the target.

Set periscope to the bow (or 180 at aft). This eliminates your own speed from corrupting the following time measurement, or else you would need to be at a dead-stop.

Make sure your boat has stopped turning before the target starts crossing the line. (Make sure you have rudder amidship, and no waypoint active)

Time the duration of the target passing across the periscope line.

Use the time to ID the target, at least good enough to identify it's length from all the other classes. Alot of them have the same length in the game.

Grab your calculator: Divide length in meters, by time in seconds. This is the speed in meters per second. (Obviously)

Then to convert to knots simply multiply by 2 (to be exact it would need to be 1.94)

This method doesn't work that well when only the bow or the stern is in view, as it's width obstructs the view. But it works for most of the AOB range.