Manual targeting in the TDC

[Pitrofsky]

Hi guys, new member here.

I started playing Silent Hunter V a few days ago and close range I could sink ships with the automatic TDC. But I want to target ships way in advance with the realism and immersion of identifying them, determining bearing, angle of bow, all those things.

Since I'm a steam copy-owner, I can't download all those incredible mods like Wolves of Steel or Sober's megamod. So I'll have to do with the vanilla game updated to 1.2.

Now, can someone explain me how in the lord's name I have to determine all the factors involving the manual TDC?

I've seen all the video's on youtube which are unclear as hell and the guides on here with pictures, don't actually load the pictures anymore.

Thanks in advance to the brave soul who wants to teach a noob.


Kapitan Rudolf Seelöwe.

[THEBERBSTER]

A Warm Welcome To The Subsim Community > Pitrofsky
Subsim <> How To Donate <> See The Benefits <> Support The Community
If you are new to SH5 look > > HERE << STEAM is not compatible with the essential application TDW’s Generic File Patcher
Steam Conversion Installation Instructions for SH5 Updated Version
Highly Recommended SH5 > The Wolves Of Steel Mega Mod > Includes Optional KSDCommander And Working Enigma M4 Machine

[Aktungbby]

Pitrofsky!

[maillemaker]

You can buy non-steam versions of SH5 for like $10.

So there is no excuse not to just buy a copy you can easily mod.

For manual TDC, an easy way is the 90 degree fixed-wire attack.

For this attack, range to target does not matter.

You must determine the target speed and course, and then plot an intercept 90 degrees to the target's course.

Set your scope at 000, and turn on the TDC, and enter the target speed in the TDC. Change the Angle on Bow to 90 degrees to either starboard or port. If your uboat is to the right of the target, set it to 90 starboard. If your uboat is to the left of the target, set it to 90 Port. Turn off the TDC.

Now move your scope towards the target. Watch the gyro angle. Keep moving the scope until the gyro angle is 0 (straight up on both dials). This should be 10 degrees or so to the left or right of 0 bearing, depending on your torpedo speed setting.

Now just wait for the target(s) to cross your vertical reticle. As the choice part of the target crosses the reticle, fire your torpedo. You can target multiple rows in a convoy this way. If you do it right they will hit bang - bang - bang - bang from farthest to nearest.



Make sure you open your tube doors prior to firing or you will miss your shot waiting for the doors to open.


Steve

[Pitrofsky]

Hi there maillemaker,

Where do you find these non-steam versions?

Thanks in advance,


Pitrofsky

[THEBERBSTER]

Hi P
I would suggest having a look at Empty Cups YouTube videos which you can find on my tutorials.
You can see all you need know, how to use the tools and equipment when playing 100% realism.
You will need a version of TDW's NewUi mod which contains the real navigation mod in it.
My tutorials have all this information and links.
Peter

[maillemaker]

>Where do you find these non-steam versions?

Amazon sells it downloadable for $10.

I'm sure there are other places also like Direct2Drive (if they are still around) and others.

Steve

[Pitrofsky]

Hey Maillemaker,

The thing is, I'm Flemish and if I remember correctly, Uplay only works on continental basis of accepting codes.

I've had this problem before with earlier titles of Ubisoft where american-sold codes couldn't be activated in Europe and Vice Versa.

I'll try looking on Kinguin and whatnot.

Thanks!

[Pitrofsky]

Alright, bought a key on Kinguin for Uplay, the mod works, just one thing I've noticed.

The ship identification booklet isn't on the megamod. It gives sheets with alot of pictures, but not the booklet that gives more detailed information like you see on youtube.

Is this a different mod that needs to be added with Wolves of Steel or is it included in the real navigation mod inside of it?

[maillemaker]

It's there.

There is a little "grabby thingy" over on the left-hand side of the screen you have to click it and pull it onto the screen.

Steve

[Compans57]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

You can buy non-steam versions of SH5 for like $10.

So there is no excuse not to just buy a copy you can easily mod.

For manual TDC, an easy way is the 90 degree fixed-wire attack.

For this attack, range to target does not matter.

You must determine the target speed and course, and then plot an intercept 90 degrees to the target's course.

Set your scope at 000, and turn on the TDC, and enter the target speed in the TDC. Change the Angle on Bow to 90 degrees to either starboard or port. If your uboat is to the right of the target, set it to 90 starboard. If your uboat is to the left of the target, set it to 90 Port. Turn off the TDC.

Now move your scope towards the target. Watch the gyro angle. Keep moving the scope until the gyro angle is 0 (straight up on both dials). This should be 10 degrees or so to the left or right of 0 bearing, depending on your torpedo speed setting.

Now just wait for the target(s) to cross your vertical reticle. As the choice part of the target crosses the reticle, fire your torpedo. You can target multiple rows in a convoy this way. If you do it right they will hit bang - bang - bang - bang from farthest to nearest.



Make sure you open your tube doors prior to firing or you will miss your shot waiting for the doors to open.


Steve

Thanks. That seems to work perfectly.

I have a couple of questions:

I’m using TWOs though not with attack disc or real navigation. I’d like to expand on the above method. As this is an ideal situation (sub at 90 degree angle etc) how does the tdc work in other situations where things are more hurried? Sometimes there are destroyers around and you have to make a snapshot and hope for the best.

In the above situation, if I entered everything as explained but moved the periscope away from zero to the target early, would the gyros adjust accordingly?

If I’m not at a 90 degree angle from the target, do I work out what angle I’m at on the map and put that in under bearing on the tdc and go from there.

Lastly, does one ever need to input the range?

I’d like a written explanation of all this if possible (I’m not so keen on video tutorials).

Thanks!

[derstosstrupp]

Hi Compans57,

There’s a very prevalent misconception floating around that range only doesn’t matter at a “fast 90”, that’s not true. Range ceases to matter at zero Gyro angle regardless of the impact angle, not just 90. I know you said you didn’t want a video tutorial, but this torpedo triangle video I made hopefully will explain that aspect very well.



Since we’re working with a triangle that grows and shrinks based on the range, the angles themselves don’t change, only the size changes. The only reason that range is there in the first place as a setting on the TDC is to correct for what is known as parallax. Parallax is the error that arises from the fact that you’re not shooting torpedoes out of your periscope, but rather 26 m in front of your periscope. The torpedo not only leaves the boat 26 m in front, but then it also has to turn, creating more of an error. So it stands to reason that, at a 0 Gyro angle, where the torpedo doesn’t turn, Range ceases to matter. But say the torpedo needs to turn 90°, well now you’ve got a torpedo that’s heading toward the target some 130 m in front of where your periscope is, so the only way to fix that is to input the range so that the TDC knows how much to correct for that fact. The Gyro angle will not be 90 then, it will be maybe 91 or 92°, because the torpedo needs to turn that much extra in order to get it going toward the target because of that lateral distance.

Imagine a triangle, the corners of which are your torpedo tube, your periscope, and the target. This is a long skinny triangle. The angle at the target, a very small angle, that’s the parallax error. Now, pull that target close to the submarine, and you can imagine how that angle is getting bigger. Pull it away from the submarine and the angle shrinks, the triangle becomes long and thin again. The takeaway is that, at longer ranges, parallax error is smaller, whereas at shorter ranges it is larger, so, if you know you are going to shoot where your torpedo is going to turn quite a bit, at closer range, that range needs to be fairly exact, at longer ranges, not so much.

The biggest take away however though, is to make sure that your gyro angle is as small as possible, thereby all but eliminating range as even a factor in the equation. The TDC will do the work for you, you just need to estimate the values that It wants: angle on bow, target speed, and, if necessary, range.

[Compans57]

Thanks very much for the explanation derstrosstrupp.

I’ll watch your video.

I was wondering though if you set the tdc as explained for a perfect 90 degree angle shot and (for example the target is moving left to right) move the periscope to target to the left early and fire, does the computer tdc update this information automatically? I played SH3 for years and I’ll admit used auto targeting. There was a triangle that moved from orange to green, green being ideal solution. But I’d often fire when it was a cold yellow instead.

I am wondering if, say, the projected aob at point of impact will be 65 degrees instead of 90, one puts that into the aob dial and use the method posted above in the same way.? I should really experiment in game with this but I’m away from the pc and I’d like to know the principles of it.

Up until now in SH5 I’ve been enjoying working out aob and target speed and I’d like to get away from putting the info in the XO’s box.

Thanks again for your help.

[derstosstrupp]

Originally Posted by Compans57

Thanks very much for the explanation derstrosstrupp.

I’ll watch your video.

I was wondering though if you set the tdc as explained for a perfect 90 degree angle shot and (for example the target is moving left to right) move the periscope to target to the left early and fire, does the computer tdc update this information automatically? I played SH3 for years and I’ll admit used auto targeting. There was a triangle that moved from orange to green, green being ideal solution. But I’d often fire when it was a cold yellow instead.

Up until now in SH5 I’ve been enjoying working out aob and target speed and I’d like to get away from putting the info in the XO’s box.

Thanks again for your help.

That’s correct, the gyro angle will change as the bearing changes. So if you move your optics to the left, the gyro angle will also adjust. If your solution is perfect and you aim at the center of the target, you will hit in the center, and the same goes if you aim at the bow for example with a perfect solution, you’ll hit the bow. Generally, if your solution is perfect, you will hit where you aim.

[Compans57]

Thank you sir!