Just Seems To Me..It BE The PK

[Seminole]

I have done all the manual targeting methods ever invented,read all the threads, and tried all the fixes and tips. I have had varying success with all of these and my tonnages are always way over what they ought to be historically. Boringly so. With that said and after sifting through all these methodologies.....These are my reflections on manual targeting.

I just wanted to bring up what appears to me to be the main bug-aboo with manual targeting....the PK. It simply just doesn't keep correct track of the ranges. For example input an accurate range using clickable dial method. Make absolute certain of imputtng correct target speed and AOB. Then watch as the target approaches. The PK's range tracking will be way off..as much as a couple of hundred yards over a matter of a few minutes. :shifty:

I know the stadimeter gets a lot of heat for being inaccurate. (There is even a mod to correct accuracy. )I haven't found this to be always the case though. Sometimes the stadimeter can be accurate. In any event there is the clickable dial method of imputtng the ranges and that is always very accurate. Despite which method is used it is the PK that louses things up by keeping an inaccurate updated track of the ranges. Proper tracking depends upon proper speed estimates (and target course and AOB) but these are almost never a problem. (thats why sonar attacks can and do work) Speed can be determined out to the decimal point level..though only whole numbers will be permitted for TDT data entry which may have a bad impact on the PK's final tracking inaccuracy.

Another piece of evidence against the PK is the success of the Dick O'Kane method. It is presented as owing this success to not having to use the stadimeter for range estimates ...maybe... then again...maybe not...could it not be stated equally that the Dick O'Kane works...because the PK is left turned off.?...I certainly think this is the case.

Finally take stationary targets. Look at how easy it is to hit these even with the PK turned on. You can pop stationaries from impossible angles (angles even greater than 90 degrees :yep: ) at impossible distances...again... even using the stadimeter for range estimate and with the the PK on. Why?...well.. because the PK doesn't have to track stationary targets and therefore can not louse up the tracking....and ought not the stadimeter be just as inaccurate on stationary targets as moving ones???...Hmmmm....:hmm:


Yep...I'm convinced..it is the PK.

[Mush Martin]

:hmm:..........I dont have such troubles.
if my range was crawling off by a few hundred
yards as the situation progressed my first thought
would be that I had a few degrees of arc wrong on
the AOB/Target Course setting. at 9000 yds it makes
a big difference in the result.
my solution once set right holds for miles as Long as I
remain undetected and the target holds its course.
You have to refine everything really well for it to work
its only as good as the input. but otherwise it works
peachy, and I shoot three times further out than doctrine.

Honest ask Urge he has almost mastered it.
(Warning: the mush method while all manual relies on
use of the nav map and map udates and may not be
considered historical by nature, and while developed
in single missions it does have applications in career)
M

[ReallyDedPoet]

You have to refine everything really well for it to work
its only as good as the input.

Yes, this has been my expreience :yep:, I usually make a number of adjustments in setting things up for a kill.
Either my speed estimate was off a bit or range, etc. When you get that kill it is all worth it.


RDP

[Rockin Robbins]

I agree. The PK works perfectly. The limitation is the accuracy of information fed it, and surprisingly for some, the order the information is fed to it. I'm working on a PK/attack map video to take you step by step in how to refine your solution, parameter by parameter and how to determine when the solution is good enough to shoot. I'll do this both for the stock game, where it's much easier, and for TMO, which is much closer to reality.

The PK/attack map refinement process with map contacts on, by the way, is analogous to the checks made by a tracking party to similarly check for a good solution on the TDC. As long as you have radar on your boat and are running TMO it is much more faithful to reality than running with map contacts off, in that you perform the decision making functions of the captain of the boat.

I'm not going to promise a date, but I do promise the video will be made. Afterwards, you will understand the PK and will be deadly using it.

Learn as many ways to kill the enemy as you can and become proficient in each of them. The best captain is not the one who knows a lot more about one strategy or technique than his contemporaries, it's the one who knows just a little more about a lot of them. Seminole, I like your style. You're not afraid to ask the hard questions.

[Urge]

Mush is the zen master of extreme long distance shots (and very creative shots at that). Check out this thread- http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=138312
for some amazing examples of precision targeting. Urge

Here is another thread http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=139384
with a great shot of creative targeting.

[tomoose]

Glad to hear about the video, thanks for taking the time to do it. I for one will be making good use of it. I'm a habitual PK user and have decent success with it but freely admit I could use improvement. It's determining the accuracy of my input that I find causes me grief, LOL.
I'll await the premier.:up:

[Quillan]

Since I went to manual targeting, I've gone with the Dick O'Kane method all the way. I never ever use the PK. I use a modified version of the method, though.

Using radar, I plot an accurate true course for the target, and get accurate speed readings on the target. After manuevering to the firing position, I lie in wait. I pick a spot where I will fire, determine range and AOB at that point, and input that data along with the target speed. Then I just shoot as the target crosses. As long as I am not detected and the target doesn't change course/speed, I hit if there are no mechanical difficulties with the torpedo.

[Mush Martin]

Mush is the zen master of extreme long distance shots (and very creative shots at that). Check out this thread- http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=138312
for some amazing examples of precision targeting. Urge

Here is another thread http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=139384
with a great shot of creative targeting.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
do you have any idea how many misses it took to get that way.

[edit] I use PK eighty percent of the time, D.O. method twenty percent of the time

[Urge]

Good judgement is the result of experience and a lotta that comes from bad judgement. Urge