UPDATE: I followed the advice here and managed to sink a yellow target ship from the rear using torpedo 5 ! :)

Thanks for that.

Many questions remain, however.

One: What do you mean by draft of 6m? And

Two: Why did you tell me to set the depth to 3? How was that number determined?


Three: When I did the Aob, I basically averaged it. I just temporarily put it on manual and twisted the ship to where it sort of looked perpendicular. Not very precise at all, but it worked somehow. Is this ok for now or should I delve into the complex intricacies of making it precise ? :o

In certain favorable conditions,
 

it is good if you do not have obvious attack periscope longer a need to Avoid detection by other ships as DD or the vessel you have been meaning to sink..

http://imgur.com/UjWSs.jpg


This is only a small example,how it would look like in a given situation :yep:

Regarding the Academy, though the navigation is screwed up it still gets you somewhat familiar with the keys used for navigation. Long as you can accomplish the objectives (whether you credit for them or not isn't really important) is the important part, getting used to the controls. Unless you're suicidal DON'T do the Flak exam, its unforgiving and general rule of thumb is to avoid attacking planes at all costs and dive to escape em.

Until you're comfortable with everything else I wouldn't think of trying manual targeting (lot of experienced players don't use it either) till last. There's a number of good GUI's out there to help with manual targeting if you really want to tackle that.

The learning curve is steep and harsh, its better to set realism low (like 25% or less) so you can stay alive longer and not have to worry about too many things at once (like fuel consumption or CO2 content) so you can focus on learning how to play. Once you cross the hump and get familiar the rewards are worth the effort, there's no shame in starting out easy to learn the game.

Another good idea is to install stock SH3, do the academy and then install a mod like GWX. That way, the flak exercise in the academy is not so unforgiving. In any event, it is not necessary to run the academy exams in GWX as you get 1500 renown to play with at the beginning. This way you will get to learn how to handle the flak guns without getting killed right away. Once you are in GWX, avoid tangling with planes unless you are forced to; even then, I do not man the guns myself as I suck at it. My boat's gunners do a better job than me. They fended off three passes by a Hudson last night. The reason I didn't dive was because I was surfaced and reloading externals. The game allows you to simply suspend the reload, but I simulate the time it would take to dismantle the external gear before diving. I took some damage, but the my flak gunners managed to send the Hudson away with smoke trailing from its port wing. I tell you, I was terrifed seeing that thing diving on me, machine guns blinking rounds which zinged around my head. He must have been a rookie pilot as we did not take any crew casualties and only minor damage which took a couple of hours to repair [I have the longer repair times mod installed.]

Well done on the sinking! :)

I know very little about manual targeting (I'm new too!) but I can answer your first two questions:

1. A ship's draft is how much of her lies below the waterline.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...asurements.png

The blue line shows where the waterline is on the ship's hull. Dimension d on the lower picture is the draft. Its main importance to us is figuring out the best point on the target's hull to fire the torpedo into.

http://www.ship-technology.com/proje...n-dry-dock.jpg

Have a look at the contours on that hull. Most ships in SH3 are similar: the hull is more or less vertical near the waterline but curves more and more as you go down towards the ship's keel. Our torpedoes' fuses (impact fuses - magnetics are a separate topic) work best when they hit at 90 degrees to a flat surface. When they hit at shallower angles, or hit a curved surface, the odds of the fuse failing increase very rapidly. So, it follows that if you set your impact torpedoes to run too deep, they'll hit the target's hull but won't explode.

2. 3 metres is a fairly "safe bet" for impact torpedoes - I'm afraid it's one of those things you learn from experience! You can experiment with your own torpedo running depths by looking at your ship recognition manual (in Attack Periscope view, F3 - it's the brown book at bottom left) and looking at the contours of ships' hulls which are shown in there. You can also use the external view and the event camera to learn a bit about your targets' contours.

Draft: it's a measure of how far below the waterline the ship goes. A draft of six metres means the very bottom of she ship is six metres below the waterline. You can find the draft values for each ship in the recognition manual. Small nible ships like destoyers and corvettes might have a draft of only one or two metres, whereas a big old tanker or battleship might have a keel far more than 10 m below the waterline.

The further below the waterline you hit with your torpedo the more damage you will do, so you will want to check the draft of the ship you are targeting and set your torpedo depth appropirately. You will DEFINITELY want to view your shots through the ecternal 'event camera' when figuring this out, as if you set your eel too deep, it won't impact a flat surface at 90 degrees and will just bounce off when using an impact pistol to detonate your torpedo.

Knowing the draft of a target also allows you to set your torpedo to detonate magnetically as it passes under the ship, between 0.5 and 1 metre below the keel (the draft value given in the recog manual). This is the most devastating shot you can carry out and you can sink even the biggest ships with a single torpedo this way by breakng its back. You should only use magnetic detonation in calm seas, and IMO when just starting out sticking to leanign with imapct pistols is the safest way as you avoid introducing yet another variable that you must keep track of.

EDIT: where are my manners; Herr Obersteuermann not only provided a fine explanation of draft including photographic evidence but also didn't forget the important point of actually congratulating you on achieving some success!

This is a great thread. I really like how new guys get help.

Speaking of draft, it only works out that way on paper. A ship sails in a liquid environment, subject to the forces of wind and sea. A ship's draft will vary as it pitches up and down. In a flat dead sea your draft will be accurate, but a heaving ship? You could set a magnetic torpedo for 1 metre below the keel, only to see the ship go up just as it arrives and sails harmlessly under it. I don't trust magnetics in rough seas for the above reason and set impact pistols for 2 metres or more above the keel. For a ship of 6 metres draft, I set the pistol for 4 metres. If it is a calm sea and I wish to use a magnetic, I set the draft for 6.5 to 7. Because the running depth can be set in the TDC by dragging the needle, you can set increments of 1 metre by guessing and dragging the needle.

As well as hitting as close to perpendicular as possible vertically on the hull of the ship, you'll also want to hit within 20 degrees of dead centre relative to the horizontal axis of the target. To visualize this, imagine that you are looking straight down from a bird's eye view; your torpedo track should form as close to a 90 degree angle as possible as it approaches the side of the target. Inside this range of angle, within 1000 M using auto targeting you will get the vulnerable zones to "light up." Click on the box you wish to hit [engine, fuel bunker, etc.] and fire your torpedo when you get a green triangle and you may get a catastrophic hit that kills the ship with one torpedo. I know you wish to manually target, but learning this technique with auto targeting will give you an idea of how the target should look in the scope when you do try manual targeting.

It's a great game; I wish you all the best with it.

When you lock the scope/UZO on a ship and get the green/yellow/red arrow also remember that while it is locked it will aim right at that spot; which isn't necessarily the best spot to fire at to sink the ship quickly. Each ship has its sweet spot:

http://pelsia.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/achilles2.jpg

I was using a magnetic shot and it landed exactly where I wanted it to (under the middle turret, there's 3 adjacent to each other on the Nelson), I wasn't expecting it to go down with just 1 torpedo on a battleship (have sunk many with 2, but none with just 1). The other shot was aimed at the boilers which hit a few seconds later but didn't matter, the event cam from the first shot was brutal enough that it looked like the ship was going to crack in half like many merchants do when you hit them at their achilles heel.

In order to aim at a specific spot on a ship you'll need to unlock the scope (toggle the L key so the lock light goes off) and aim the recticle at the exact spot you're after (if target is stationary or using the weapons officer).

http://pelsia.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/hood.jpg

General rule of thumb is to aim for boilers (aft section) or cargo compartments (like the fuel tanks on tankers) and if you're lucky can get a 1 shot kill on a 10,000+ ton ship. If you want to tangle with capital ships magazines always cause massive damage.

GWX is so amazing because of the many variables factored into the damage model. I soon grew weary of the same tired, predictable Hollywood damage effects of stock SH3. Now? I can never accurately predict how many torpedoes I will need to sink a given target. I've sunk large ships with just one, and needed more than one to sink a puny freighter of under 2K.

One tactic I have found to be effective, especially in rough weather, is to manually target a torpedo near the front of the target. The flooding in the bow section can, but now always, drag the front end under. With her engines pushing her forward, she progressively drives herself underwater, or causes her to slow so much I can tackle her after she falls behind the convoy.

And the saga continues, but wait...our hero is stuck...at the harbor !!!

Funny story. I started a career mission, and this time I was required to leave port, and go to a place called AN-16 to patrol there. But as soon as I plot the course, and click on "return to course" my sub starts taking a ton of damage. Now my torpedo place is damaged.

I haven't even left the harbor, and I'm already taking damage. Not a good sign for our hero.

Are you using SH3 Commander,
 

so you can start at sea instead of the port,it is better to take up a course outside the port when it is small and contains other boats also..

Hehe, sounds like a classic case of your navigator being shoddy in his plotting; taking you into a harbour wall or a ship or some such :DL

I like to stay on the bridge and navigate the boat out of port myself, which avoids these problems, plus I like the view. It's not necessary to do that though; just zoom in as close as you can when you plot your course and ensure there are no obsticles near your boat (some things will only show up when zoomed in very close). Also bear in mind if your're plotting a very tight course round a harbour wall or whatever that your boat might not be able to turn as tightly as you've plotted, and could drift into the obsticle. Give yourself plenty of space!

And watch out for the mines and sub nets in your own ports! I like the "start at sea" option in SH3 Commander; it avoids having to waste time leaving your berth and hearing the 1,001 "ship sighted!" messages, unless of course you install the "no ship sighted" mod.

I can relate to your predicament my friend. I am new to SH3 myself, and it took me quite a while to get a handle on the manual TDC thingydoodadwhatsitcalled. Don't worry about that for now. Take it nice and slow, thats what I did, and in no time you will be sinking ships left and right.

As for pulling out of port, all of the above posts took care of that. If you don't mind taking the time to manually steer your boat out of port, it can be a very fun experience with a ton of cool crap to look at.

Wait until the RAF attacks your port while you are sailing out to sea. Things'll get really interesting, really fast.