AOB trouble

[RemairTamec]

I thought I would give manual TDC a try, watched a couple of vidoes and after a couple of hiccoughs got it working well, hitting ship after ship right where I wanted to. The main thing I am having trouble with, and the reason almost all the ones that missed did so, is I don't really understand AOB. Both tutorials had differing versions of how to calculate it (one using the protractor, the other by using maths on various bearings and headings) but I am still confused.

What exactly is AOB a measure of?

Are there any good tutorials (preferably video) that explain exactly how to calculate it?

Thanks for any help, I may be trying something a bit too complicated for my level but to me putting in measured values in much nicer that waiting for the 3's to overlap on auto :)

[Trevally.]

If you use TDW UIs then see here

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=177725

[Harmsway!]

What exactly is AOB a measure of?



It is the angle the target ship has from its bow to the sub. It is very similar to a bearing taken from the ship to the sub using +/- 180 degrees. It is not an angle from the sub but to the sub. Without doing any calculations at all you can get the AOB by drawing a line from the sub to the target ship and then out the target ship course direction. This is extremely easy if you have Gods view of the map with all ships marked.

If you choose realism and have no auto-marks on the map you will need to calculate the distance between you and the target ship. You will also have to know the target ships course direction. This is the challenge. The tutorials are all about getting that information. If you get spotted and the ships begin to zig zag all the calculations go to hell.

And this my friend is why some many of us love the hunt.

[joegrundman]

Harmsway! is exactly right, but in a modest attempt to expand on it i shall say:

when you call bearing to target, you set the scope/uzo to look at the target, and the resultant bearing is relative to the front of the submarine. This bearing can be on a 360 degree arc, or on starboard/port 180 degree arcs if you wish.

AOB is exactly like this only from the point of view of an imaginary person on the target pointing his scope directly at you in your submarine. The target AOB is the equivalent of a target's binoculars bearing to U-boat

[RemairTamec]

Thanks guys, that clears that up nicely. Thinking back I was doing a mix of the aboe (the ones that hit) and a different order (using protractor on ship, point of intercept of headings and then my submarine, ie the angle of difference in heading og both ships, of course this always missed). Hopefully using the correct method I can get a few more ktons :)

While I'm thinking about it does anyone have any advice for torpedo depth? I know how to set it, and how to get the target ship's cut-section displayed on the torpedo depth chart but not really sure what difference it makes. Up till now I've been aiming my torpedos quite shallow in order to hit the verticle sections of hull in order to get a less glancing angle and hopefully decrease the chance it will not explode. I also tend to go impact pistol if I'm confident of hitting at a nice ~90 degree angle as I would assume this explodes closer to the ship than magnetics, and out of my observation it seems magnetics are much more likely to be duds than impact pistols. I use magnetics if its at a more glancing angle or I am not confident that I will hit the target.

What difference does the torpedo depth have?

Am I using the impact/magnetic pistols correctly?

[joegrundman]

you should make a new thread for that

[vanjast]

In addition to AOB, there is lots of stuff, and dials of how to calculate this.
The best practical method is visual, and after your first patrol you'll have this down to within +-5 degs, on a 1 second glance through the scope...
:)

[joegrundman]

In addition to AOB, there is lots of stuff, and dials of how to calculate this.
The best practical method is visual, and after your first patrol you'll have this down to within +-5 degs, on a 1 second glance through the scope...
:)

while this skill is great to have, vanjast is very unrealistic about how long it takes most players to acquire it.

[Sammi79]

Yeah it has taken me a long while with SH3 and SH4 and finally SH5 to adequately 'guess' AOB.

I normally use TDWs SOAN manual which has ship pictures @90 and 45 degees, looking at the 45 degree picture you can see any forward cranes or turrets and the gap to the superstructure. As I am already setup well in front of the target almost always, when I first look the AOB is between 5-45 degrees. I simply check every few minutes until the scope view is identical to the 45 degree picture in SOAN and set the AOB to 45. Works for me every time.