Simultaneous hits

[sublynx]

In some situations it's advantageous to try to hit multiple targets at the same time. For example you might be attacking a small convoy and want to hit the front escort and a merchant. If you hit the merchant first the destroyer is likely to turn hard towards you with initial maximum speed. That makes it a difficult target, if one uses manual targeting. If you hit the destroyer first, the merchant will start weaving making it a little bit harder to hit as well.

So it would be good to launch the first torpedoes to the target that is farther away. But when to launch the second batch of torpedoes?

Method a). You can calculate the running times on the navigation map - takes a lot of time
Method b). You can feed the ranges of the targets to TDC in Attack Map (F6) and see how long the torpedo run takes and calculate the difference - takes some time
Option c). Alternatively you can use the chart underneath:

http://i.imgur.com/TkjKr.jpg

The lower line represents the range to the targets, the middle line tells you approximately how long a torpedo running at 30 knots takes to run the range given underneath. The upper line tells you approximately how long a torpedo running at 40 knots takes to reach the target at the given range.

Example: Target A is at a range of 700 meters, B at 1600 meters. You decide to attack with a torpedo running at a speed of 30 knots. You see from the chart that the torpedo takes about 40 seconds to run 700 meters and about 100 seconds to run 1600 meters.

http://i.imgur.com/vWNJp.jpg

100 seconds - 40 seconds = 60 seconds. That means you should launch the first set of torpedoes at the more distant target, wait 60 seconds and then launch the torpedoes against the closer target.

Here's a link to the tga I've made:

http://www.2shared.com/file/qJKfwYpL/laufzeit.html

If you find it useful you can print it out or mod it into the game.

http://i.imgur.com/xsCvo.jpg

Take note however that the picture only works if the courses of the targets are the same, that is they are moving in a convoy or a task force. Different courses means that you would need to use method a) or b).

[SinkingFeeling]

Beautiful, beats the spreadsheet I was using...

[melnibonian]

This is very good.

I will try it in my next patrol

[allievo]

Thanks sublynx!
This chart is absolutely a must during convoy attacks.

[MLGathome]

I understand the table but am puzzled in how to use it on 90 degrees attacks. Should one of my attacks be with a gyro not being 0. So I could launch the first torp further away with an 10 degree gyro. Or am I missing something?

[sublynx]

I understand the table but am puzzled in how to use it on 90 degrees attacks. Should one of my attacks be with a gyro not being 0. So I could launch the first torp further away with an 10 degree gyro. Or am I missing something?

You understood it correctly. The bad thing about hitting two (or more) targets simultaneously is indeed the fact that very likely one of the salvoes has to be shot with a less than perfect gyro angle. If the gyro angle is too bad the risk of a miss increases as well as the risk for a dud torpedo, if one is using impact pistol.

Sometimes it's good to hit the important target with a good gyro angle, accepting the fact that this makes hitting the less important target less likely. On other occasions it might be better to use a less than perfect gyro angle for both targets, so that the risk evens out equally between the targets. If the gyro angle gets too big, it might be better to only shoot at one target.

The formation of a convoy might make this gyro angle problem smaller. You might for example try to hit the first ship of each column of the convoy. In that way the gyro angles would be closer to zero than when for example targeting the first and second ship of the closest column.

[Sailor Steve]

Outstanding! :D
There is really no need to quote an entire post, including big pictures, just to make a one-word comment. In this case there's no need to quote any of it.

[melnibonian]

I understand the table but am puzzled in how to use it on 90 degrees attacks. Should one of my attacks be with a gyro not being 0. So I could launch the first torp further away with an 10 degree gyro. Or am I missing something?

Just to add to sublynx's comment. If you want to have good firing solutions (gyro angle between 0° and 5°) then you better fire on ships that are travelling on parallel columns. They all travel at the same speed and on the same direction.

If now you want to accept less than perfect solutions then I would actually consider to fire keel shots on these targets. That way you will not be affected (seriously at least) by the bad gyro angle and you will manage to score a hit regardless. If you target it correctly you might actually sink the ship like that.

[Pisces]

Just to add to sublynx's comment. If you want to have good firing solutions (gyro angle between 0° and 5°) then you better fire on ships that are travelling on parallel columns. They all travel at the same speed and on the same direction. ...You mean vessels in the same row of the collumn? The forward vessels in the convoys (not the DD sailing ahead on point) would be the 1st row, next the vessels behind them in row 2 and so on. Exactly, the most distant target will pass the periscope line first and will be fired at. After some time the second closer vessel will pass the line. You'll find this to be the same time as Sublynx's calculator provides. And so on.

Hmm, where is Rockin Robin's animated gif again?

Here it is:

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

[melnibonian]

You mean vessels in the same row of the collumn? The forward vessels in the convoys (not the DD sailing ahead on point) would be the 1st row, next the vessels behind them in row 2 and so on. Exactly, the most distant target will pass the periscope line first and will be fired at. After some time the second closer vessel will pass the line. You'll find this to be the same time as Sublynx's calculator provides. And so on.



Yes my point exactly. Also if you are happy to fire at gyro angles of about 5°-7° you can actually fire at ships travelling at different rows at different columns, but then the situation becomes a bit more tricky.

[Red Heat]

There is really no need to quote an entire post, including big pictures, just to make a one-word comment. In this case there's no need to quote any of it.

You are right, Steve my apologies...

[Sailor Steve]

You are right, Steve my apologies...
Well, there was no need to delete your post. You could have just removed the quote part. :sunny:

[Red Heat]

Thats ok, Steve im not a man of long words...and that post it was to big but at the same time empty of words... :cool:

[Sailor Steve]

Thats ok, Steve im not a man of long words...and that post it was to big but at the same time empty of words... :cool:
You're also a man with a sense of humor, who takes things in stride. I like that. :)

[Red Heat]

Thank you, Steve...
Im just a ex in a lot of things...but when you belong to the Navy...its for life! :salute:

[vanjast]

Aim for the furthest ship.. fire two torps.. wait for a predetermined time, fire another two torps... VIOLA!! two ships at the same time :)

Edt: this is on 100% and no scope lock

[allievo]

Sorry for the kind of nooby question but where exactly in the SH3 folder should I copy the .tga file I downloaded?

[sublynx]

Sorry for the kind of nooby question but where exactly in the SH3 folder should I copy the .tga file I downloaded?

SH3/Menu/Gui/Layout/ if I remember correctly. Copying the file is not enough however - you also need to add a text to menu_1072_678.ini file which you find in SH3/Menu/ folder. You can download my Charts Addon from Subsim's SH3 Graphics section - the readme there might help you understand what you need to do.

There is a discussion on how to add tga's to the game here:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=196352

I'm also planning on adding the tga to my Charts Addon mod, so if you wait a while (I haven't had the energy and time to add the tga to the mod yet) it might get a little easier for you. However, adding tga's to the game almost always means editing menu_1072_678.ini file, which is usually something one needs to do alone, since many mods have already modified that file.

NEVER MESS WITH THAT FILE WITHOUT MAKING A BACKUP FIRST!

[sublynx]

Since there was interest, I felt motivated to add the chart to my Charts Addon mod. It can now be found as a pulldown chart in Attack map. Charts Addon can be downloaded from here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=3675

[allievo]

Since there was interest, I felt motivated to add the chart to my Charts Addon mod. It can now be found as a pulldown chart in Attack map. Charts Addon can be downloaded from here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/downloads.php?do=file&id=3675

Thanks very much, sublynx. Now with this new chart a new dimension of convoy attack has just been opened... :arrgh!: