Stadimeter: Use top of flag or top of mast?

[MCM]

Hi,

when I use the stadimeter do I take the top of the flag or the top of the mast? If top of the mast, do I take the top of the mast with the flag or the highest mast of the merchant? Sometimes the highest mast is not the mast with the flag...

(before calculating I have pressed button "send mast height to TDC")

THX
McM

[Cybermat47]

AFAIK it's top of the tallest mast, regardless of the presence of a flag.

[barrind]

May I revive this tread and ask if the above answer can be confirmed? Is it the tip top of the actual mast when tallied with the recognition book heights? On most merchants it seems this is pretty much one in the same with top of the flag, but with escorts there seems to be a considerable difference between flag top and the tip of the mast. This is with the WOS mod btw.

[vdr1981]

May I revive this tread and ask if the above answer can be confirmed?

Confirmed...

[barrind]

Thank you.

While I am on, can I also ask about the celestial fix navigator command? Assuming it is perfect weather, when you issue the command, how long are you expected to wait for the fix? Is it a certain time plus/minus a variable depending on the navigators skill for example?

Also, do you have to be stationary for best results?

[vdr1981]

Thank you.

While I am on, can I also ask about the celestial fix navigator command? Assuming it is perfect weather, when you issue the command, how long are you expected to wait for the fix? Is it a certain time plus/minus a variable depending on the navigators skill for example?
Exactly...Something like 45 min or so, This can be adjusted with OFEV...



Also, do you have to be stationary for best results?

Not really...

[DicheBach]

Could someone please explain EXACTLY how to use the stadimeter in SH4? Well . . . actually both the American and the German versions? If memory serves they are quite similar but to the extent they are not the same, some of you may be able to clarify.

It is obvious that one drags the two images of the vessel close to one another, but the exact points in the images one seeks to match is not at all clear, and especially not when the vessel is still at range. I find that I am very rarely able to derive a range from stadimeter which corroborates a range from sonar based map plotting (or visual map plotting with that feature activated).

This seems to have a tremendous impact on every other piece of data that is derived and in all the Youtubes and how-to threads I've found--not to mention wiki, etc., pages on the use of range finders--I cannot find anything explicit which helps me to know the best technique for using this device.

I suspect that some of you guys are perfectly masterful with this part of the game, and once you get it, it is no doubt obvious how it is to be used, but it remains unclear to me.

One suspicion I have is that: I am simply trying to use it at too far of range, and that it is intended to be inherently prone to sufficient error at ranges greater than about 750 yards such that: beyond about one 1m (2025 yards) it is effectively useless.