Situational Awareness (SA)

[BillDickson]

Advice please.

I have dificulty with SA in SH4 when at the attack map. There is no updated contacts or bearing lines as in SH3. I have the 360deg bearing plotter installed.

When I lock on to a target with the scope there is no update on the map and the same is when I send bearings from the sonar.

I am using 1.4.

Am I doing something wrong or is something missing.

Please help

Thanks

Bill

[Snuffy]

Yep.

Make sure map updates is unchecked. :)

[micky1up]

the awareness you refer to cant be gained by tools its an experience thing very hard to replicate in a game being a serving submariner in the tactical systems branch i have thiis awareness in abundance only by gaining experience will you help your SA i use no such tools in my game my main tools is my eyes and what my sonar operator tells me about the contacts bearing movment and closure

[Munchausen]

When I lock on to a target with the scope there is no update on the map and the same is when I send bearings from the sonar.

If you've activated the position keeper (the PK button in the lower right corner of the TDC), you should get a target update (white X) on your attack map. You don't need to be locked to get the update but, without the lock, you're update will probably be less accurate.

[Rockin Robbins]

OK, what mods do you have installed, if any? If you have Trigger Maru, you should leave map updates on. The position of the ship is plotted as a dot on your attack map and navigation map (I'm assuming as an SH3 vet you're familiar with which is which). In your attack map, with a proper torpedo tube selected and info input into the TDC (PK is irrelevent) you will see the projected torpedo bearing line plotted from the bow or stern, depending on what tube you have selected.

If you have the PK activated you should see the moving impact point of the torpedo as calculated by your input of target range, bearing and speed. If you have a good solution this impact point should be superimposed on the dot representing your target.

If you are not using Trigger Maru the attack screen is cheating as it gives you more information han a real sub skipper would have: ship silhouettes and velocity vectors. However, the stock setup is good for learning manual targeting and will give you more situational awareness (too much really).

Learn to plot using the map tools. That more than anything else is responsible for situational awareness that allows you to judge changes in your attack or avoidance tactics when you are getting plastered with bad intent. Just as an elementary example, plotting the course of a target tells you instantly when he changes course, as he leaves you line and starts heading elsewhere. No plotted track means wasted minutes when you don't realize the situation has changed, so cannot react.

There is no such thing as "seat of the pants" submarining. Listening to your sonar man, taking a few looks through the periscope and instinctively taking the proper intercept course is fantasy. Submarine handling is careful, methodical, plotted and planned. I hate to contradict mickey1up, but in the game, nothing takes the place of plots, learning to use and coordinate the map tools, the TDC, the nav map and the attack map.

[micky1up]

sorry to contradict you i dont even use my plots i use my main sensor snd my sonar the main sensor even in todays submarine fleets is the trained officers eyes the sonar operators reports , if it was so methodical and down just to plots how come in real life different crews achieved very different results? because experience and ability matters even in modern submarines we spend months training and much of that isnt based on the computers we have we train in manual TMA methods without using pens or graphs or plots this training increases situational awareness, because you can bet you bottom dollar that when it comes to the crunch the computer will reset break or not function correctly when it matters



for example i dont need a computer to tell me that with an angle of the bow of 30 at a range of 4000 yds that a contacts track (dot)will pass 2000 yards from me that comes with experience or that his closure is half his speed with that ATB