How can I (re)enable the Weapon Officer?

[dutyfreeuser]

Hey there,
after my third war patrol with just shoot to an merchant with all (yes, all :( ) torps I had aboard (2 hit out of the first 4. But then the merchant began to zik-zak) without an shootdown I decided to hire my weapons officer again.


I'm not sure, but I think he was enabled back in time with an tmo or ops monsum mod, not sure. :hmmm:

I'm currently running TMO + RSRD.

How can I reenable my weapon officer so he will solve the torpedo solution for me with just a click like it was possible back in sh3? There must be a trick for this...

[Ragtag]

as far as i know it can't be done. Weapons officers autosolution was left out from SH4

[Laconic]

If you're looking for an automatic solution you can re-enable auto targeting, but it's on all the time. If the merchant is zig-zagging, that means it's detecting you or your torpedoes somehow. With merchants, don't go faster than 1-2 kn (with silent running), don't keep your scope up any longer than you need to, and shoot at them from a right angle...that should keep you hidden until it's too late (for them!).

[Sailor Steve]

Nope, no Weps in SH4, and no provision I've heard of to make him work, or I'd be using him myself.

But WELCOME ABOARD!:sunny:

[Rockin Robbins]

It's available, but not through the weapons officer. I'll post all the gory details later today.

[Bubblehead1980]

weaps officer, auto target, same crap basically.

Easy way to hit the zigging ships, they are usually making 5 knots when zigging.

[Sailor Steve]

So, do you have an answer for the question, or did you just drop by to kick us idiots?

[simsurfer]

It's available, but not through the weapons officer. I'll post all the gory details later today.

Waiting patiently :-)

[Bubblehead1980]

i wasnt kicking anyone, think my last post came across the wrong way.

Not sure about how to renable the "weapons officer"

I do know that an easy way to get speed is to mark your targets location on the map and start the timer, wait three minutes, take another look, mark its position at end of 3 minutes.Then take the ruler and measure the distance.

900 yards+9 knots 50 yards+half a knot and so on, pretty easy.OR

You can take a stadimeter reading.Lock on target with your scope, click the left button on stadimeter, bring the image down to the tallest point on ship, usually the masts.Then start the timer, give it a good 45 seconds and then on the speed dial of TDC, click the estimate time button(think thats what its called) your crew should give you a speed estimate.

The thing about the stadimeter is its not always 100 percent accurate.You have to be rather close to ensure you get the measurement just right or itll throw your crew off, can get speed errors, sometimes not enough to throw solution off, sometimes as much as 1 or 2 knots, which will usually cause a miss.Which is realistic, subs didnt hit everything they fired at.

General rule of thumb for speed with merchants though is this:

If sonar reports "slow" speed that means hes going 1-7 knots, if not zigging i've found they are usually moving at 7 knots, rough seas will prob be 6.

Medium speed is 8-12 knots, usually making 9.

Fast is 12+ knots...this is rare for a merchant but big ones like the Conte Verde Liner, troopships are usually making around 17 knots, it does vary though.

If your average merchant is making 9 knots and starts zigging because hes alerted, prob going to make 5 knots while zigging, just get in close and when he zigs towards you, aim at center and let some fish go, they will likely hit.Quite fun to hit a zigging target.


Best method is to mark the position, can do this without contacts but less of hassle if you have them on.Hope all this helps, good luck.

[Apocal]

Some of us are just wholly uninterested in doing the work of an entire nine- to fifteen-man fire control party.

[Bubblehead1980]

understand, i once did not want to either but learned manual target and made game much more interesting.Anyway, if you dont want to do the fire control party's job, just enable atuotarget.

[Apocal]

understand, i once did not want to either but learned manual target and made game much more interesting.Anyway, if you dont want to do the fire control party's job, just enable atuotarget.

I have autotargeting on most of the time. But I would like having the option of a simulated fire control party, with error introduced as a function of crew skill along with my ability to determine range and estimate angle of bearing, as a middle ground setting. Automatic-Realistic-Manual.

Basically, it should be a team effort, like in real life, rather than some bizarre mashup of duties.

[Sailor Steve]

I can appreciate that idea, but I liked the 'in-between' feeling SH3 gave. I knew that in fact the assistants drew the lines on the map and the chief assistant usually did the calculations, but of course the WE in SH3 was too perfect and really was just an extension of autotargeting.

Using him, though, I was able to pretend my way through it. I would ask for an initial plot, and then every one or two minutes I would put the scope up and do it again. That way at least I was taking the risk that we might be spotted. I guess what I really don't like about autotargeting is the little triangles. I hate them.

Like I said, when it comes to this stuff I'm a dummy.

[Apocal]

I guess what I really don't like about autotargeting is the little triangles. I hate them.

They don't really bother me. In real life, I know what I'm looking at and what I'm referring to when I talk to the other guys in fire control. The game can't read my mind, so it has to have some unambiguous indicator.

Like I said, when it comes to this stuff I'm a dummy.

IRL, a lot of decision-making officers have little idea how stuff actually works, they just ask the subject matter expert. At first I didn't understand it, but now that I'm one of the experts, I understand they don't need their heads cluttered with technical details while they are trying to maintain control of the tactical big picture.

I wish there was a game that accurately depicted how a crew works together, because I'm not a part of a ship's company now and I actually miss it.

[Rockin Robbins]

Sorry folks, real life intrudes sometimes, you know:O:

OK, SH4 does duplicate the function of the weapons officer in its TDC, but it works a bit differently. And unlike the weapons officer in SH3, the accuracy of this method is COMPLETELY dependent on the accuracy of your two necessary stadimeter sightings. If you're familiar with the stadimeter, affectionately known as the "damn stadimeter" in polite society and with other more colorful modifiers in submarines, you KNOW you use this at your own risk. It can and will tell you the target is on course 058 going 60 knots if you mess up one of your observations.

So you pop up the scope and take a complete range/bearing stadimeter observation, then wait at least 10 seconds. It's best to wait longer, I like at least a minute because the length of time between observations helps the accuracy, take a second complete stadimeter observation, then switch over to the speed input section of the TDC and press the "Estimate target's speed" button. You may have to have manual targeting enabled to use this button. In fact there's no reason to use it for auto-targeting, so I bet it's not available.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa293/RockinRobbins13/Silent%20Hunter%204/Manual%20TDC%20Range/Estimatecoursespeedbutton.jpg

After you press the button, your message board will tell you something like "target speed: 6 kt, course 152." Set up the TDC to reflect that, shoot and see if you're in the ballpark.

I personally don't use this method except in a helter-skelter melee situation where I don't have time to do it right. You'll miss as much as hit using this "cheater button."

Anyone who thinks you have to be a rocket scientist/brain surgeon to do manual targeting is missing out on the best part of Silent Hunter. Take a little trip over to my Sub Skipper's Bag of Tricks thread and find out what Silent Hunter REALLY has to offer. It gives the game a whole new sheen of excitement and your prejudice of "tedium" couldn't be further from the truth. Try it, you'll like it!

[Bubblehead1980]

Agreed, I put off manual targeting for a while but man once i got bored with auto target and sat down on a rainy day, i figured out auto target and could NEVER go back.After a while you can actually tell how fast a ship is moving by looking at it, or put in a pretty good estimate anyway.

Mods and Manual targeting are what has kept me into SH 4.