just beginning to set sail.

[misfitdreamer]

Hi all,
i'm very new to the game and so far i've very confused about how to sail. i've gone through training a couple of times and i can confidently say i've got manual targeting under my belt (that was quite satisfying!) but now i'm confused about how to follow radar contacts and whats the best way to plot a course.. any tips on these two things right now would be great! thanks.

[Quillan]

Are you having problems with how to set a course, or how to figure out where to set a course in order to intercept a target you've detected?

[misfitdreamer]

the latter, interception. also note that i am playing on all realism settings except disabled external camera.

[kylesplanet]

This video helped me alot when I started playing. It is basic and uses auto-targeting but gives a great tutorial on setting up for a good shot.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=111445:yep:

[Rockin Robbins]

That you go visit aaronblood, author of MoBo, Electronic Maneuvering Board and Clothes Washer (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/forumdisplay.php?f=225). OK, I made up the clothes washer part. MoBo is a stand-alone free program that can be run alongside SH4 to give you a realistic plotting board that also calculates the most efficient intercept course for you as just one feature in its very full bag of tricks! It is hosted right here on SUBSIM, or course.:up:

And now you understand the logo on my siggy.

[Quillan]

the latter, interception. also note that i am playing on all realism settings except disabled external camera.
Ok, I'll see if I can give you a step by step to how I'm doing it. I'm running similar settings to yours, with TMO, RSRDC, manual targeting, but I have the external camera off and the event cam on. I'm also in a Balao (currently in early 1944) so I've got SJ-1 radar for most of my detections.

1) When radar picks up a target, the first thing I do is look to see what the time compression dropped to. A surface target drops TC to 8x, while an air contact drops TC to 1x. If it's a plane, time to go deep.

2) Assuming a surface contact, click on the contact. It'll give you some basic information, usually type listed as Unknown or Ship, rough heading (NNE, NE, ENE, etc), and rough speed (stationary, slow, medium, fast, or very fast).

3) I pull up the stopwatch and zoom in on the area of the contact. The radar makes a sweep roughly every 20 seconds. As soon as the next contact updates, I pause the game. While the game is paused, I take the ruler tool, start one end of a line in the very center of the radar contact, and stretch it out in the rough direction it's going for between 2 and 6 nautical miles. This makes sure it can be seen once the map is zoomed back out. Also while paused, I push in the button to start the watch, but it won't start counting until the game is unpaused.

4) I wait for 3 minutes (if running in Imperial measurements) or 3 minutes 15 seconds (if running using Metric measurements). While waiting for this time to elapse, I already know roughly what direction the contact is heading, so if I need to turn the boat and increase speed, I do it.

5) Near the end of the time, I wait for the contact update closest to the appropriate time, then pause the game again. Now, I do two things. First, I take the compass, put the center of the circle I'm going to draw in the center of the new contact, and draw the circle out to the initial position of the contact (the end of the line I drew the first time). The distance the ship covered in the elapsed time in hundreds of yards (Imperial) or hundreds of meters (Metric) is the speed of the target in knots. I can move the circle to the scale on the nav map and zoom in/out as necessary to figure out roughly how far it moved. If you're playing using a nomograph and had an odd time, you can use that to calculate for other times as well.

The second thing I do is adjust the line I drew. The first end stays where it was, but I move the other end through the center of the new contact and extend it out for quite some distance. This will give you the true heading of the contact. How far I extend it depends on things like target speed, my position, and such, but I basically want it to go out far enough to use to figure out where I need to go. This means it is usually between 10-30 nautical miles long. I can use the compass or line tools to figure out the true course from the line.

6) Now that I know the speed of the target and my position, I try to figure out where I need to go. Normally what I'm going to try to do is get to a position roughly 1000 yards off his course and do it so that he never sees me. For me, this means that I generally have to stay between 6-10 nautical miles away from the target at all times. You should know the performance of your boat, so figure out how far you can move in an hour and how far the target will move in an hour. If your distance is enough to get ahead of him and into position, do so. If not, then you need to go further. A Tambor/Gar/Gato/Balao can generally do about 20 knots surfaced depending on weather conditions. This can be the complicated part.

Assuming I am ahead of the target (meaning he's heading closer to me rather than away), I'll figure out how long it will take me at the most direct route to get to that firing position, then see how far he'll move in that time. If his movement will put him within visibility range of me, that means I need to swing wider. Swinging wider also means he'll move further, so I just kind of extend things farther out. Most of the time I'm doing this by estimates. If I think I can do it in an hour, I'll plot courses for an hour and see if it will work. If not, I'll adjust for 2 hours and see again. Eventually I get to a plot that has me going around him, moving in near his course, and getting into a firing position without him ever coming within visibility range of me.

[walrusbomb]

Don't be afraid to scribble lines on the map like a madman.

Draw a line for all potential targets. Draw future Intersection lines. Draw a big 6nm circle for visibility. Draw your 1000yard "sweet firing range" line. Draw lines for your Evasion Route and memorize the bearing for Evasive Action (this is more important than most people think). Draw two lines forming a ever-widening WEDGE for possible shipping lane drift, bad weather drift, or random course drift. Draw lines and circles from any SUNK ship marker to simulate the very same "lines" the enemy Destroyer's are drawing up to guestimate where you could be hidding. Draw lines in the shape of a small horse riding north into the frozen tundra... wait, scratch that last bit. I've been drinking too many Hot Toddys.

[misfitdreamer]

thanks everyone.. this is all very helpful : ).

but i've narrowed down where my confusion is coming from.. and i think it's because i have radar and contacts displayed on map in my gameplay settings.. what i'm confused about it how to mark these on the map in 100% realism settings... what tools do you use? how do you find out the range especially..

above all, how do you approach the convoy carefully?

thank you~!