help a cluesless person out!

[gonzlor]

Wow this is daunting, I've decided i'll try manual targeting... So far, I've managed to fluke my way through with guessing a few things, but i'd like to be sure.

1. How do I determin the exact AoB?

2. How do I use the stadimeter correctly?

I've watched a manual TDC training video, it was grainy and hard to see, but I've been putting the ghost image of the ship onto the tip of the mast in my sights, is this correct?

3. Best way (in game / no charts ) to determin the targets speed.


I appriciate all and any help :):know:
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[Chock]

Okay, angle on bow is largely a matter of practice, the better your 3D perception, the better you'll do, (in case you don't understand what it is, imagine you are stood on the bridge of your target ship - however far you had to turn your head either to port or starboard in order to see the sub's scope is the angle on bow) Firing a spread with one either side of your dead centre shot will help to minimise calculation errors if working out AOB is not your strong point.
You could try emulating what some sub skippers used to do to get better at it. They would put a model ship on a piece of card with a protractor underneath it, and have someone turn it to an angle, then they'd look at it from a few feet away through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars and try and guess the angle. This is not as stupid as it seems, I used a similar method when learning to fly, by putting a book on the floor of a big room and standing at various distances to get familiar with glide slope angle sight pictures. Practical stuff like that really works well.

The stadimeter image needs to be placed with the image's waterline sat on the tops of the masts on the real image of the ship. This is tricky as in real life (and the sim) these are pretty thin at long range, and were/are often painted a pale colour at the very top to make the the mast look shorter - exactly to screw up range estimates, so look carefully.
In real life, the stadimeter was designed to be used at the high magnification setting on the attack scope, and would be incorrect (without a calculation) if used on low magnification although I'm not sure if this is modeled in SH4, and it may work in both modes although high magnification is the better choice (and the correct one if you are trying to do it like they really did.
At extremely long ranges, the waterline could actually be below the horizon, so watch out for that too.

Speed is the one where you really do need to go to the plotting map to get a good estimate of two timed bearings (with range estimates) which can then be plotted on the map joined by a line and multiplied (depending on how long you timed it) to get a speed in knots. But if you want a quick way to do it, I find that you can get a reasonably decent estimate from the bow wave and a bit of experience, fire a decent spread and this will more often than not result in a hit or two. To do this you'll have to manually set the TDC on the torpedo settings screen.
One other method is to take an AOB guess and then turn on the position keeper and keep watching the target, if the position keeper seems to constantly match your sight picture, there's a good chance your speed estimate is correct.

Whatever methods you choose, don't forget to update the TDC. Good hunting :D

[gonzlor]

With the AoB I'm looking for a write up on exactly how to do it using the nav/attack map as I've seen some people do, but I can't quite get it right, Well... sometimes I can, but normally I screw up by a mile, I'm missing something here :hmm:

[Chock]

If you know the target's course, and its range, you could plot its position on the map with a mark placed on a bearing line from your sub. then if you drew a line along the path that your target was going to take, the angle between that line, and the bearing line from your sub would be the angle on bow.
Presumably that's what you mean?

[gonzlor]

I do think so, I've been trying that, using the protractor , where do I begin calculating the point? from where the 2 lines intercept?

[gonzlor]

Also when should I engage the position keeper? after i've entered speed/distance/aob?

Beacuse im slow at this, by the time I've worked everything out, of course all the information is out of date.

[Chock]

In theory, you should engage it after all three, as you are in effect asking the position keeper to update your correctly observed data for the benefit of the torpedo gyro. But you can update the info as the target closes when you get maybe a better sight picture, possibly offering you the chance at an improved estimate of AOB or range, so either way is good.

[gonzlor]

Thank you for the help!

[Caltone]

Gonzlor, to calculate speed, I've found the nomograph to be the perfect tool. Here's a link and it's already been updated for 1.2

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=110682