Identifying a ship

[Jonesy33]

Hi everyone id just like to know is it really that necassary and vital to identify the target ship in the manual before you attack it ? thx

[TabbyHunter]

If you are using manual targeting, yes. Otherwise, you won't be able to know vital things like draft, speed, and mast height for range.

Unless I'm wrong...

But yes, identify a ship, then attack.

[Gargamel]

At least identify the flag. BDU May frown upon random sinkings of warships.

But yes, you must identify a ship regardless if you use automatic or manual targeting. You need to know the draft of a ship in order to set the running depth of your eels. This can vary greatly from ship to ship. A factory vessel may draw 10m while a destroyer may only draw 2m.

I assume your tired of flipping through the Id book. Just click the word 'ship' in the scope/ezo view and it will jump to the proper page.

[Jonesy33]

If you are using manual targeting, yes. Otherwise, you won't be able to know vital things like draft, speed, and mast height for range.

Unless I'm wrong...

But yes, identify a ship, then attack.
thx for replying mate

[Jonesy33]

At least identify the flag. BDU May frown upon random sinkings of warships.

But yes, you must identify a ship regardless if you use automatic or manual targeting. You need to know the draft of a ship in order to set the running depth of your eels. This can vary greatly from ship to ship. A factory vessel may draw 10m while a destroyer may only draw 2m.

I assume your tired of flipping through the Id book. Just click the word 'ship' in the scope/ezo view and it will jump to the proper page.

hi thx for replying to my question. its not that im getting tired of flipping through the manual i just wanted to know if it was vital like if it added more renown for identifying right then destroying.
i understand about looking at the draft but i dont really use the mast height for anything and i calculate the targets speed by marking on the map then start stopwatch till it hits 5 minutes then mark again measure then look in the charts. thx

[Pisces]

The Recognition manual only provides the stadimeter with a mastheight value. So, if you do not need to measure range with the periscope then you don't really need to use the checkmark. You can still guesstimate yourself, and enter it on the TDC page yourself.

I don't know if the game is too smart to give the right credit for a miss-identified target. But that is easily tested. Assume the Trampsteamer in front of you (in the torpedo accademy lesson) is the Nelson. Set the recognition manual accordingly and make it sink. I doubt you'll get the renown for the Nelson.

[unterseemann]

It's not necessary at all to identify properly a ship even in manual targeting. I use IABL's merchants fleet mod and there are so many ships that i sometimes make identification errors or simply cannot tell what is the ship inside my crosshairs. But after 7 years of playing i'm pretty good at estimating visually tonnage, range, speed and AOB so it's not a problem. Once the ship is sunk, go to your logbook and you will find what is the ship you sank even if you misidentified it first.

[Rudolph Schnappes]

no need to identify ship, i almost never do it.


here is how my attacks usually play out (gwx, 94% difficulty - gods eye view+weapons officer assistance enabled (i almost never use it)):


-find bearing of target using hydrophone readings taken a few minutes apart

-get my sub ahead of the enemy ship so that im perpendicular to the enemy's course, and such that im about 750m away, but it doesnt matter, because in this case the distance is irrelevant in the calculation of fire solution.

-find target speed using hydrophone readings taken a few minutes apart. real easy if you have gwx, just use the stop watch and the speed-distance-time chart in the nav screen.

-go to torpedo control screen, set the target speed to whatever it is you calculated, set the gyro angle to zero, set angle on bow to 90 port/starboard, depending on direction of target ship. once this is done you can move the gyro angle around and the angle on bow will update automatically.

-set the gyro angle in increments of 10deg such that the torpedo is launched as close to bearing 0 as possible (slow ship - 10deg, medium -20 deg, fast -30deg). this ensures that the torpedo hits the ship at a good angle and actually goes off instead of bouncing.

-look through the scope at whatever gyro angle you set. when the ship passes through your scope, fire torpedo. once you learn to account for torpedo launch delay, you can even aim for parts of the ship you want to hit.

[Gargamel]

no need to identify ship, i almost never do it.


here is how my attacks usually play out (gwx, 94% difficulty - gods eye view+weapons officer assistance enabled (i almost never use it)):


-find bearing of target using hydrophone readings taken a few minutes apart

-get my sub ahead of the enemy ship so that im perpendicular to the enemy's course, and such that im about 750m away, but it doesnt matter, because in this case the distance is irrelevant in the calculation of fire solution.

-find target speed using hydrophone readings taken a few minutes apart. real easy if you have gwx, just use the stop watch and the speed-distance-time chart in the nav screen.

-go to torpedo control screen, set the target speed to whatever it is you calculated, set the gyro angle to zero, set angle on bow to 90 port/starboard, depending on direction of target ship. once this is done you can move the gyro angle around and the angle on bow will update automatically.

-set the gyro angle in increments of 10deg such that the torpedo is launched as close to bearing 0 as possible (slow ship - 10deg, medium -20 deg, fast -30deg). this ensures that the torpedo hits the ship at a good angle and actually goes off instead of bouncing.

-look through the scope at whatever gyro angle you set. when the ship passes through your scope, fire torpedo. once you learn to account for torpedo launch delay, you can even aim for parts of the ship you want to hit.

So how can you know the draft? How can you tell if its 2m or 12m?

[Rudolph Schnappes]

what i do is set impact trigger, set the depth to minimum (or leave at default), shoot a salvo, and hope for the best. you can also guesstimate the draft just by looking at the ship, a big ship will have more draft, and a small ship will have less.

i find that you can waste two or three torpedoes going for that one hit kill trick shot, or you can shoot those two or three torpedoes in a way that are guaranteed to hit and sink the ship, or damage it badly.

miss your trick shot, now you have to reintercept, waste fuel, plot another fire solution, and you won't always have that opportunity.

[iambecomelife]

The Recognition manual only provides the stadimeter with a mastheight value. So, if you do not need to measure range with the periscope then you don't really need to use the checkmark. You can still guesstimate yourself, and enter it on the TDC page yourself.

I don't know if the game is too smart to give the right credit for a miss-identified target. But that is easily tested. Assume the Trampsteamer in front of you (in the torpedo accademy lesson) is the Nelson. Set the recognition manual accordingly and make it sink. I doubt you'll get the renown for the Nelson.

You will always get the correct renown for whatever target you sink.

[Gargamel]

what i do is set impact trigger, set the depth to minimum (or leave at default), shoot a salvo, and hope for the best. you can also guesstimate the draft just by looking at the ship, a big ship will have more draft, and a small ship will have less.

i find that you can waste two or three torpedoes going for that one hit kill trick shot, or you can shoot those two or three torpedoes in a way that are guaranteed to hit and sink the ship, or damage it badly.

miss your trick shot, now you have to reintercept, waste fuel, plot another fire solution, and you won't always have that opportunity.

Are you implying that setting the correct depth, based on ship size and pistol, for an eel is a trick shot?

Scenario:

You end up in the middle of a convoy, A Liberty Ship is dead on to you, 600m away, 0 AOB, closing fast, What depth do you set your impact eel to?