RA 1.42 Sonar Profile XLS layout

[phantomkira]

Like a lot of people, I can't make heads or tails of the current Excel layout for the sonar profiles for RA 1.42. I've decided to do something about it, got started, and ran into problems, so I thought I'd ask here:

What's the best way to lay out the sonar profile list?

My thoughts:

I'm looking at the original Dangerous Waters 104 list, and it seems rather clear. Aside from breaking out Subsurface, Surface, and "Civilian" (torpedoes), it's layout is simple. Lowest frequencies first, with some discrepancies at the higher end, that won't matter much in pulling them because you'll have broken them out due to lower frequencies before you get there. There is zero regard for country.

Originally, I figured I'd break them out by country, too. You're off X coast, you're most likely to run into X's craft. Then I discovered that there had been times when I looked in the periscope, saw X, tried to look it up on the Sonar Profile list, and had a hell of a time finding it. So I decided to do as they did. Lowest frequencies first, with specific separate sections for civil traffic (freighters, oil tanker, etc.), and "civilian" torpedoes.

I'm debating on not breaking out surface ships/submarines, but maybe I will do that as well.

Thoughts?

[FPSchazly]

I personally like seeing all the types of platforms mishmashed together, with the only organization being ascending order of frequencies. I like seeing the full range of what unidentified contacts could be.

The way the LwAmi frequency was broken up is interesting, also. They sort things by ship type and then number of propellers, for example, if I remember it correctly.

[Pisces]

Imho, the order in the list does not matter. Select all the columns and use the sort and filter function of Excel (2010, but all versions have it I think). Then you can select all applicable frequencies from a pull-downlist when you click on the column header. Or better you can even use compound relational filters (frequency larger than X and lower than Y). Only those rows with frequencies (cell values in general) that match show up in the list.

[phantomkira]

Good point Pisces. Hadn't figured on that. I found out how to sort... Freq 1 column. Now I need to figure how to keep Freq 1 as is, while sorting Freq 2 to the best of its ability.

Translation: Freq 1 = 50s, then 60s. Freq 2 then low to high, but with deference to keeping Freq 1's 50s then 60s intact. So far I have yet to figure out how to do this. If I sort Freq 2, it screws up previous sorting in Freq 1.

Sounds like there's a way to do this, I just need to figure it out. Hmmm....

[FPSchazly]

Sort ascending to descending starting with the fifth frequency and working down to the first frequency.

[phantomkira]

Worked like a charm once I figured out how to get it to do so. (Looks like I need to work with Excel a bit more.) It's so nice to have a clean, logical order back to ease the process of IDing the target.

Thanks agian! :Kaleun_Cheers: