Problems converting to SH4 from SHIII

[kanolsen]

I have played SHIII for a number of years, so the keyboard layout is in my blood, as well as the technique for attacking.
I have tried a couple of times to convert to SH4, but I am unable to do anything usable as I always press the wrong key, or can't remember the correct procedure.

How do you cope with the differences?

Kanolsen

[Rockin Robbins]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=173

[Laconic]

I recently picked up a copy of SH3 and tried it for the first time, and I feel much the same. Trigger Maru Overhauled's (TMO) key bindings are similar to SH3's, so the link posted by Rockin Robbins would probably help. As far as attack routine goes, yeah, it's a pain adjusting, it's taking me a good long while to get comfortable with SH3's manual targeting (though the fact that I dove right in with OLC's Gui Mod probably didn't help much...!)

You'll get the hang of it the same way you got the hang of SH3, practice, practice, practice. For an attack run, it's "Drag the Stad (Stadimeter), Check the Angle, Set the Speed, Send / Drag the Stad, Check the Angle, Set the Speed, Send." The American TDC, while more complicated to use and not useful for attacking more than one ship, is far more powerful than the German TDC; if your measurements are perfect, and the targeted ship doesn't change course or speed, the TDC will track the position of your target in relation to your own in real time with no further data updates.

Just remember a few key things--
*Remember to activate the TDC after you've put in your data, otherwise it won't track your target!

*The torpedo gyros are set by the TDC, not your attack scope...where you're currently pointing scope has no affect on where the torpedos will go.

*There are no salvos, just single shots, and the torpedo angle dial offsets the fish's course by whatever setting it's on. If it's at zero, the fish will go directly where the TDC tells it the target is, if it's set to 5 degrees to the right, the fish will go 5 degrees to the right of where the TDC says the target is. You can see the projected torpedo course in the attack map.

*The best way to get the range to the target is to take it yourself with the stadimeter. As long as you've ID'd the target correctly, and as long as your reading is accurate, the range that pops up on the TDC will be a very good estimation.

*If you're stalking your target properly, and it's not changing course or speed, getting the speed is easy. The speed is the distance the target travels in 2'58", divided by 10. Get range and bearing readings, start your chronometer ("X" is the default hotkey, and you can now get the chronometer at any station), plot the target's location on the nav map. Three minutes later, get another reading, plot that location, and measure the distance...divide by 10 and you've got the target's speed (900 yds divided by 10 = 9 kn). If you're using metric, the same formula works, just get two readings 3'15" apart.

*AOB is the hardest part of the firing solution to nail down. If you're having trouble eye-balling the angle (Lord knows I do), check out this application: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=156698
It's stand-alone, so it'll work with whatever version of the game you're playing (and it'll work with SH3, too).

[Rockin Robbins]

And be sure to stop by the Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=146795) thread, where we have adapted U-Boat tricks to the fleet boat arsenal of attack tactics. These constant bearing attack methods are very insensitive to range errors and will seem very familiar to a U-Boat jockey. The steps can be quite different than you are used to, though, because the American TDC needs different care and handling than the German one.

[Ducimus]

Trigger Maru Overhauled's (TMO) key bindings are similar to SH3's, so the link posted by Rockin Robbins would probably help.

TMO's keyboard layout is basically meant to make it easier for one coming to SH4 from SH3. Originally, it was meant to make it easier for me to make the conversion, and i never bothered to change the layout back to SH4's. Very hard to relearn hotkeys after a few years of mashing the same keyboard shortcuts. Anyone coming from SH3 into SH4 will pick up on the keyboard layout right away.

[Rockin Robbins]

I think the SH3/TMO keyboard layouts make much more sense than SH4's. Why did SH4 remove one-key access to the attack map? We had whole modding crews that didn't appreciate what the attack map was and why it was important and what real function on an American submarine it replicated. They nerfed the whole thing! And it was caused by the removal of easy attack map access in the SH4 keyboard layout.

And that's only the beginning. For people who like to work by keyboard command instead of button bars, I think the SH3/TMO keyboard layout is much superior.