Steps to automatically determine speed using 1.3 Patch
 

Hello,

I have been trying to figure out why I am having problems using the Automatic Speed determinator that was introduced in patch 1.3

Can somebody please list the EXACT steps in how they are doing it......

This is how I am doing it.

1. Visual contact of enemy vessel
2. Once visual contact is made then I proceed to crash drive and go to periscope depth.
3. Usually the enemy is around 5000 nm.
4. I raise the attack periscope and use the recognition manual to identify the vessel.
5. I then perform the range and the AOB, and then click on the PK.
6. I lower the periscope and wait about 30 seconds.
7. I then raise my periscope and perform another range and the AOB.
8. I click on the Identify Ship button and nothing happens.....
9. I have even tried to do another range and AOB, (and clicking again on the identify ship but nothing seems to happen)

Thank you will give that a shot :up:

It seems you always need a visual. I cannot get speed estimation by using just sonar and active pinging. Not that this is a huge issue. I just plot and dial in the speed. It worked on may last attack. Pitch black night with the slashing ran:oops: . I got three hits just using the sonar and active pinging for range. I dialed in 3 kts as the target was tracking very slow.

I may have a problem.... I am going to install a fresh install of Silent Hunter 4 with the 1.3 patch.

Also it might seem like a dumb question.... but I am going to ask anyways....

The ID button (last button on the Periscope) is this the "Estimate Target Speed button"? I just want to make sure I am using the right one...

Thanks again!

I do not believe you are using the correct button. When in scope or TBT view the upper right hand corner is the tool to set up range AOB and speed. Get the range and bearing. Do this twice(have to wait a minute or so for the second reading. At this time click on the speed button and then click the little picture of a stopwatch at the top. If the plotting officer gives a speed on the target click the red button to update the TDC. Remeber, only good data will give you a good speed reading.

You don't need to reinstall the game.

Just have to press this button:
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...argetSpeed.jpg

These are the steps to follow:

1. make sure the Position Keeper is OFF since it changes the TDC data using the speed determined for the previous ship you attacked. So PK is OFF.
2. Estimating the speed is affected by the efficiency of the crew, so it is useful to be in "battle stations" mode.
3. identify the ship so the correct mast height is set in the dial.
4. lock on the target. if the target is not locked the bearing will be off by at least one degree and you may get speed estimates in the range of 50 knots.
5. do a range measurement with the stadimeter and send it to the tdc
6. lower the periscope to avoid being seen
7. wait for 10 seconds (any more than that is useless)
8. raise the periscope
9. lock on the target. if the target is not locked the bearing will be off by at least one degree and you may get speed estimates in the range of 50 knots.
10. do a range measurement with the stadimeter and send it to the tdc
11. press the "Estimate target's speed". The estimated speed is set inside the dial (and typed in the message log). Pressing the button many times will produce different values, because of the human error. It is wise to send to the TDC the average of the given values.
12. send the speed to TDC
13. determine AOB
14. now the data are correct and you can activate the PK, lower the periscope and attack completely undetected :)

So this not quite "automatically", but at least you have the firing squad to do all the math for you:

1. pin-point the positions (measured in degrees of latitude and longitude) of the target on the map (with almost GPS precision) based on the relative position of a target to the (moving) position of the sub. The parameters are the distance and the relative bearing to the target and the heading of the sub.
2. measure the distance between the 2 positions (this is in meters or yards)
3. determine the speed, knowing the distance and the time (this is meters or yards per second)
4. transform the speed in knots (based on the average length of the nautical mile).

So, I guess that this math was what ticked everybody off when they said the stopwatch was broken :D. Basically, the stopwatch was only meant to give you the time between the range (and bearing) measurements. You had to do everything else, flowlessly, fast, every time :yep:. Well, no more!

PS: the system works even if there is no target in a thousand miles. So the system actually does all that calculations. Is not based on the fact that the game knows the position of all ships in the mission. You can do measurements of range and bearing "in clean air" and ask for a speed estimate with no problem. That's why is critical to lock on the target, so the result is the speed of that particular ship.

PPS: when you raise your periscope for the second range measurement, make sure you lock on the same ship. If you don't, the system will think the ship has teleported and report very high speeds :D . So when you see incredible speed estimates, it means you missed the ship and locked on another ship of the same class that's after you.

The more you wait the more accurate the results will be -- at least in my experience. I tend to wait at least half a minute or so.

Nice tutorial maerean_m!!!!!. I believe I will copy what you have and sticky it for a while:up:

Sticky Hell!

I'm going to print it out and tape it to my monitor!

JCC

My thoughts exactly!!! :lol:

Nice tutorial maerean_m! Thanks!! :up:

I followed these instructions and my torps were dead on!!!!:rock:

Thanks to everyone for their help! :D I thought that the STOPWATCH button (from the TDC and TBT) was just the stopwatch and not just the Estimate Speed!!!

It would have been nice if the readme that came with 1.3 went into a little more explalation! :hmm:

Thanks!

Kind of like the thorough manual that came with the....ah, never mind. Learn on the fly!

How the hell do you guys do it:-? ...you never fail to impress me:up:

Now if only there was a concise nub guide to manual targeting I may be able to leave fps mode:yep:

Many thanks for your nice, clear and very useful instructions maerean_m !!! :up::up::up:

Does not work for me, even waiting between times the silly crew keep giving me wild speed estimates of around 50 to 70 knots lol. Testing on submarine school, so maybe its the crew?

Put your crew at battle stations. This seems to help. Also, the biggest key here is identifying the target correctly. Your bearing is calculated when you lock on the target with your scope or TBT. You then dial in the range using the stadimeter. Wait a bit and take another range and bearing. Again, if your target ID is wrong, the range will be skewed thus making your speed skewed. Even when I have correctly ID the target, my speed is not always correct. Your calculations are only as good as what you are feeding your TDC officer.

That's because the mast height is way too small so the target is set too far when using the stadimeter (you can activate the Position Keeper to see that) and the speed needed to cover that distance has to be a big number.

:ping:

The position keeper must be activated only when you have sent fresh information to TDC: range & bearing, speed & AOB.

So after you sink a ship, you deactivate the PK and only reactivate it after you have completely described the new target.

Otherwise, your torpedoes will go in odd direction because after you send the first range measurement, the PK will change the TDC data using the last's ship AOB and speed. And there can be many seconds until you determine the new AOB and speed.

Remember: the Position Keeper was a mechanical calculator with toothed wheels, not a wizard, able to eliminate the bad targeting techniques. Its only purpose was to evolve the mathematical equation of the target's trajectory, but only after you have solved it at least once. This only allows for fewer raisings of the scope to avoid unnecessary exposure.