Patrol Course Tracking

[Torplexed]

Having read recently that using high time compression means that you are missing out on some air and ship contacts I've gone to playing at no greater than x256. Which makes for a long tedious crawl on the map. To help pass the time I've started using the marker tool to mark the sub's postion every 12 hours at noon and midnight. Then I use the ruler tool to draw a line between each mark. When the patrol is over I save the last map image to the clipboard, open it up in a graphics program and draw over the line and mark where I sank each ship. Then save it. At the very least it gives you a graphic record of what you did on each patrol. I've found that by the time you reach 1942 you're having hard time remembering where you went and what you did on those first duck patrols in 1939. However, on those patrols where you do a lot of concentrated zig-zaggy search patterns you'll probably have to fudge a little. ;)


http://zioxville.homestead.com/files/PatrolOne.jpg

[Church SUBSIM]

Nice :)

I too have gone the way of 256 and it is much more enjoyable .... and laundry, dishes, reading .... lots of things get done ;)

I like your idea there. I wish I could take a screen in game. I run at 1600x1200 and it does not allow me to capture anymore (crash if I do)

What ship icon is that you are using? I love that!

[The Noob]

What ship icon is that you are using? I love that!

I second that!Link please! :up:

[donut]

Plexed,did you run out of fish?Hartlepool's a good raid.lets see patrol log BDU:be more aggressive :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

[Torplexed]

Thanks guys! The ship icons I used were just some quick little items I drew up in a vector program. CorelDraw works good. I was thinking of adding aircraft icons as well to show where I came under air attack but at some point in the war that's gonna become excessive.
I'm curious to see how well this idea works on longer patrols. Might just have to put an "x2" next to a spot where I sank two ships together.

donut Yeah I did run outta fish. Took three torpedoes to put down a tanker at anchor off Hartlepool. One torpedo each for a C-3 and a small merchant. :cool:

http://zioxville.homestead.com/files/PatrolOneIcons.jpg

[Sailor Steve]

Cool! I'm gonna do that too...but I'll be sure to tell myself it was your idea; credit where credit's due, and all that.

[Torplexed]

Hey Sailor Steve! Was thinking maps would go great with your excellent patrol logs. :cool:

Was also thinking on those really long Type IX patrols it might make more sense to crop in on the actual area of operations than to show the whole route.

http://zioxville.homestead.com/files/Carribean_Patrol.jpg

[Sailor Steve]

Neat! But being a computer idiot, I have to ask: how do you put the notes on your map?

[winters]

You guys actually sail all the way back to port?

[Sailor Steve]

Always. I'm in it for the immersion: I like feeling like I'm there.

[Rotary Crewman]

Damn right, i didn't buy the game just for the fun exciting and rush moments. Das Boot wasn't one constant rush i'm told! Like Church SUBSIM said, you get lots done whilst waiting :)

[Dowly]

Torp, with your permission, I´d like to use those aircraft and sunken ship images. I think I map my WaW patrols and add the map to my patrol report.

[Torplexed]

Sailor Steve: Here's one way to go about it. A map image sent from the clipboard to MS Paint. Not my favorite graphic program but probably the one most people have. You set text in MSPaint by drawing a box that can either transparent or your choice of color and then start typing in the font you want. You can scale the box by grabbing at one of the corners. Takes a bit of trial and error to find out if the box is wide enough to accomodate the type. I might be doing it wrong too. I haven't used Paint in ages...

http://zioxville.homestead.com/files/Gibraltar.jpg

Winters: Yeah I like to sail all the way back to port too. For me a big part of the challenge of being a U-Boat captain later in the war is getting across that home stretch in the Bay of Biscay to your port without getting nailed by planes from Coastal Command. Plus, being able to teleport home means you gain an unrealistic radius of action since you really never have to worry about having enough fuel to get back. Of course, everyone is free to play in the style they find works best. :ping:

Dowly. Thanks fer asking They're all yours! :D Being a budding Photoshop guru you should have no trouble knocking out the white background on these.

http://zioxville.homestead.com/files/Ship_Icons.jpg

[Dowly]

Dowly. Thanks fer asking They're all yours! :D Being a budding Photoshop guru you should have no trouble knocking out the white background on these.

Wohooo! Thanks!! :up:

[Sailor Steve]

Thanks for the advice. Now that I know where to start, I'm sure I'll figure it out...or be back with more questions.