Hunting In Bad Weather

[Aldag]

I'm out on my first patrol on GWX 2.0 and currently cruising around the Western Approaches, just had my first run in with GWX's DD intelligence and just about survived.

Then i picked up a lone merchant and tracked it using the hydrophone. My problem is that the weather is so poor, and the seas so rough, i can only see it on the scope at a range of about 300m... Which isn't much use for firing upon it. I'm a pretty new player so i've been using the weapons officer to give me firing solutions, but he only seems willing to do so for stuff i have a visual on (the mutinous cur!)... So, any tips on getting a decent firing solution in those sort of conditions?

Thanks in advance

[Jimbuna]

Get your sonar guy qualified and experienced....dive to PD and work out a firing solution from the sonar plots....tis a bit hard but not impossible http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

[Red Heat]

Hiii

May be this help:

http://silent-hunter-addict.com/files/Main_Page_-_SilentHunterIII_Community_Manual.mht

[GlassTrain]

Be careful creeping up on lone ships in bad weather on the surface. Just after lining up a shot at one that I managed to track down, it started putting holes in my pressure hull with it's deck gun.


Set a TI torpedo at fast speed, use manual targeting, and play Joe Theisman with the 'receiver'.

Clear out any previous targeting information from the TDC. Reset the scope (UZO/Peri) to 0 by hitting the minus (-) key. Go to the TDC and reset the Angle on Bow to 0 degrees. Both Bearing and Angle on Bow dials should be at 0 degrees now. Make sure the Target Speed dial is set to 0, also. And, remember to open the tube(s), of course.

Once you get better at gauging the speed of the target and how long it takes for a TI set on the fastest speed to travel 300-350 meters, you can use the tick marks on the Uzo/Periscope to lead the target. Most of the time (around 7-9kts), aiming at the bow will result in a hit at the stern at that distance on a larger ship. If you want a hit farther forward and reduce the risk of a miss, aim slightly farther in front of the bow. Remember, when the target is just about to fade from your sights, it's at around 350 meters. So, if you release the torpedo at that time, by the time it reaches the target it will have traveled farther than that distance assuming you aren't moving.

[Tessa]

Long as you can see the boat (or if not using manual targeting get a lock on the target) heavy/bad weather can really work in your favor. Long as you can score a good hit (or more for larger targets) the large waves work great for increasing the flooding and making the ships go down even faster. Sometimes with only 1 eel instead of 2 like you would normally have to use in calm weather.

[GoDeep]

I have a related question about hunting in bad weather. I read the GWX manual and some posts here, but I what I would really like are some good tips for torpedo settings in really rough seas.
I know that in rough seas, I should forget about using magnetic pistols because the ships just move up and down too much, so I could easily have my torpedo run under it, but much too deep. Also, it's probably best not to be too far away, probably under 2000 meters, maybe even closer still if you can manage that.

What I usually do now, in bad weather, is try to get as close as possible on the surface (it's still early in the war) and when I have a good fix on my target, I set the torpedo to impact pistol only and a depth of around 2m, so even if the ship moves up and down a lot, I can still be reasonably sure of a hit. It might hit too high on the hull for normal circumstances, but in rough seas, I find that it can do the trick anyway.

Any suggestions as to improve my methods in rough seas?

[danurve]

I try to use bad weather to my advantage. Not always going to work but hey your there as well as your target. With a lone merchant it's easier to concentrate on the task. Now by bad weather I'll presume you mean while submerged and the scope fully extended waves are still cresting it. But even if it is that bad you should still get a few intermittant views so you can get ship keel / tonnage info.
Then comes what eels you got. Magnetics in crappy weather, man that's a coin toss. Once T3's come along it;s a little better, I think. Well I mean this all could depend on your aob. If it's as bad as the weather I/P might be as bad as a dud.
If you roll with I/P try about 1-1&1/2m up from the keel. 2 up in bad weather.
One thing I hate is hearing a good shot bounce off a hull.
For a while late 42-early 43 the boat was sent out with a few of the early homing eels. Yeah they were slow and it usually ment using a finishing shot. But I think I liked them better then the Fat.

[Formski]

Get your sonar guy qualified and experienced....dive to PD and work out a firing solution from the sonar plots....tis a bit hard but not impossible http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

How do you do this with GWX 2.1? Is there a page up somewhere that has the details?

[Tessa]

Large ship (anything over 10,000 tons min, the more the merrier) tend not to move up and down as much as other ships. They still do so its really tricky to use magnetic setting for them. If you've got a really juicy target you can gamble and set all 4 eels to a magnetic setting around 0.5-1.5 meters under the regular draft. As there's a delay in the time between each one launches (albeit only a few seconds) it can be just enough for 1 of the 4 to get a good magnetic detonation and potentially 1 shot sink it or kill its propulsion (or at least slow it down) while hopefully one of the others scores an impact hit. Depending on the draft setting for impact onnly anywhere from 2-5 meters is great, you'll usually score a hit on it and hopefully slow it down so you can get closer to make a more precise shot.

While bad weather makes it harder to target (obviously) it is to your advantage in the sense that you have the upper hand in maneuverability as 50m below your sub still drives the same as if the sea were calm while the escorts have to deal with all the havoc going on topside. Especially in a convoy you can run around at flank to maneuver and then hide under a large tanker or cargo to hide from the escorts, then once reloaded move out to position yourself for the next attack.

[Delareon]

Get your sonar guy qualified and experienced....dive to PD and work out a firing solution from the sonar plots....tis a bit hard but not impossible http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif
How do you do this with GWX 2.1? Is there a page up somewhere that has the details?

Oh yeah that would be interesting. I think the only thing you really had to do on the surface (or better at PD) is to identify the ship.
Maybe if you use impact setting for torps u dont really need that.

The rest should be possible with Sonar only.
The distance to the target is maybe a bit hard without using active pings...

You have to draw yourself some kind of TMA like in Dangerous Waters,
any experiences or tutorials would be fine :|\\

[GoDeep]

I would be very interested to learn how to plot and compute a torpedo track from the hydrophones alone. If someone knows if this is possible to do in SHIII, please let us know :hmm:

This would also help in very good weather, when you're attacking a convoy or task force and want to avoid sticking your scope up. Or later in the war, when there is always the danger of radar...

[Jimbuna]

Get your sonar guy qualified and experienced....dive to PD and work out a firing solution from the sonar plots....tis a bit hard but not impossible http://www.psionguild.org/forums/images/smilies/wolfsmilies/pirate.gif

How do you do this with GWX 2.1? Is there a page up somewhere that has the details?

I'm unaware if one does exist, but here's the method I use:

Ideally you should be positioned ahead and in the projected path.

Some might call this a cheat but my understanding is that the contact line length is equal to the distance and points directly at the centre of the vessel.

Use the pencil tool and mark off the end of the contact line every minute or so.

After say, 4 or more marks use the ruler and draw a line through them and that should indicate the rough course, give or take a few degrees.

Try to get within 500 yards of the end of the hydrophone line.

When the hydrophone line approaches 90 degrees you can fire straight down the route of the line or tweak just slightly to either side for a bow or stern shot. Not too much mind, because you don't know the size or length of the vessel.

Anything more than 500 yards then your only option is to tweak forward (direction of travel wise) of the hydrophonr mark. The greater the distance, the greater the adjustment (this will come more easily with practice).

Always set your eel for impact because you'll also be unaware of the vessels draught.

Good Hunting http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/9708/piratebf4.gif (http://imageshack.us)

[Delareon]

Some might call this a cheat but my understanding is that the contact line length is equal to the distance and points directly at the centre of the vessel.


if this is a cheat or not depends on your kind of how realistic you want the game.
Because from passive Sonar u will never get a distance to target maybe an idea if u are a good and experienced sonar man, in reality in game as you can see you will get.

I know that this is correct in SH4 wasnt sure if this also works in SH3.
For SH4 i found some kind of Tutorial not for the complete process of killing
Ships with only Sonar but for getting distance and course, there must be also a Video for SH4... but since the differences in this case are not that big (instruments for torps looking different and hydrophone station of course) that shouldnt matter to get a idea about it. But i lost the link so maybe u should search in SH4 forum.

The Point why my first thought about creating some kind of TMA will not work
is because for a TMA u need the speed of the target.
From that hydrophone lines u cant get the speed of the targets (if u dont use that
cheat or lets call it simplified Sonar). Because if u dont know the course
u cant calculate the speed.

In dangerous Waters where i have learned about TMA u have a Modern Sub where u
have the Tools to "hear" wich type of ship and how fast it travels before u do TMA.
(TMA = Target Motion Analysis or in other words "find out how far away and which course my target are)

[SmokinTep]

I have sunk some ships in extremely bad weather by use of hydrophone. I got a visual and found out her direction, let it go, then fired after I could not see her again.

[Mittelwaechter]

Here is a tutorial on how to sink a contact by using passive hydrophones only.

http://rapidshare.de/files/38491800/U42HydroHunt.exe.html

(it's an 123MB EXE because the format is from the Bink compressor and the player is included. In best WMV the file would be over 300 MB! To pause the tutorial press spacebar!)

Here is a thread to get you running - over at Ubi - I can't find it here...

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/857101043/m/7821098535?r=8301008945#8301008945

[Delareon]

this is another tut than that i was talking about.
But the one you found looks better than "my" one...
as far as i can remember.

[Jimbuna]

Some might call this a cheat but my understanding is that the contact line length is equal to the distance and points directly at the centre of the vessel.


if this is a cheat or not depends on your kind of how realistic you want the game.


Yes thank you....this chestnut has been debated more times than tongue can tell......people still await a definitive decision. Hence the inclusion of the words "some" and "might"