just some thoughts from a newbie
 

Well, I've been having a blast for about 10 days now. A lot of it has been very frustrating, but I just need to sort some things out in my pea brain.

1) I don't believe that I can play without the auto calculating shot thingie. I just can't do the math fast enough or correctly enough to even be anywhere near where I need to be.

2) I keep turning the wrong way to line up on something when in a hurry. It's not natural for me yet with the heading, AOB & just where I am pointing in reference to the target. I think that will come back to me in time.. At 67 I'm just a bit slower then I use to be lol..

3) Crew rest will remain off..I'm the Kaptian...I deligate those duties to the lower ranks...lol..


Anyway, what I'm wondereing is: I want to try a campaign but don't quite know how they operated inroute... I mean..Did they cruise for a while & look with the binoculars and submerge once in a while, stop & just listen on the hyrophones or just cruise along & hope to see something?

I have noticed that the guys on the con will say "ship spotterd" but never give the direction...or I see something about 3-4 minutes before they say anything.

If you do hear anything on the hydrophones do you just head for the sound until you can see something or what.

It seems to me that learning how to obtain a direction via the hydrophone sounds is about the only way your going to have a chanch at a contact if the wx is dark or foggy etc...

sorry for rambling on, but my mind is kinda jumbled at this point...lol

I believe they would sail like 90% of the time on the surface, the U-boats where essentially torpedoboats (perhaps even more like destroyers) wich could submerge.

They would only dive to escape from stronger opponents and aircraft, or to attack shipping.

Ingame however I'd cruise to my patroling area at max TC and submerge every 4 hours game time or so to dive and listen to hydrophones, attacking as much as possible.

Oh and remember AOB is the angle at wich the target should see your ship! Not the bearing from your ship!

Try GWX once you get the hang of the game, you might be pleasantly suprised :arrgh!:

Have a look at this as well:http://www.mysh3.info/shiii/index.php?title=Main_Page


RDP

I have printed out the manual...and I actually read it. However, some things are not sticking with me yet..lol

like: Is there a key (or mod) to make the periscope go full up or down with just one key press ?(release & it keeps moving to the stops)

Can u shoot a spread of two? I just get a spread of 4 .

Yes, if you press Ctrl+PageUp or Page Down the scope will go all the way, up or down.
Yes, you can shoot spreads of two, there´s a dial in the F6 screen that lets you choose the tubes to use. One and three, two and four if my memory serves me right:hmm:

Yeah, thats one thing I absolutely hate about SHIV, it doesn't have that feature.

There has to be a watch officer on the con in order to get the direction of a spotted ship. He's the only one who knows how to use a compass...;)

In a couple of weeks you'll be an ace, PapaG. :D

I'm sorry; newbies aren't allowed to have thoughts. Get to work, and if you're good BdU will assign you some thoughts when they think it's time.:rotfl:

On thing you can do is use manual targetting but keep Weapons Officer Assistance selected. You can then have him set up the solution for you, and still fire at will. That way you don't have to worry about AOB and target speed if you don't want to.

Yes, you can. It isn't about being able to do the math quick enough, you have plenty of time while you are gathering data and setting up for the shot (except for those uncomfortably close situations, like in heavy fog).

What you need is some kind of tool that will help you do those calculations in an intuitive way. You need this:
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5185/dsc00013ym5.jpg

You can get Hitman's Kriegsmarine Whiz Wheel here:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=114351

Using the wheel, you can get an accurate AOB and speed (two of the three things needed) to plug into the vorhaltrechner.

You'll get used to it. It just takes practice. Remember, if the target is in front of you and heading from port to starboard, the AOB is starboard. If the target is in front and moving from starboard to port, the AOB is port. Reverse those for a target behind you.

I usually just rotate myself in my head to visualize the port/starboard thing, and I've gotten to the point where I almost never goof it up.

THen again, the other side of the whiz wheel can help you visualize it:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/5618/dsc00014um0.jpg

It's an amazing, and authentic, tool. I suggest you download it and build one as soon as you can. There are instructions for it's use in that thread I pointed you to above.

Also, when you get a sonar bearing and you want to intercept it, just going striaght at it is unlikely to work unless it happend to be more or less headed at you. By the time you get there, it'll be long gone.

What you can do is plan to intercept the target by the following method:

Point your boat at it and slow down.

Pay attention to the bearing change. If the bearing starts to decrease, the boat will pass to your port side, showing its port side to you. If the bearing starts to increase, the boat will pass to you starboard side, showing its satrboard side to you.

If the target bearing is showing it's port side, set a new course of minus 90 degrees relative to your present heading. E.g. if you are pointed currently at the target on a heading of 035, set a course of 035-90=305. If the target bearing is showing its satrboard side, set a new course of plus 90 degrees relative to your present heading. E.g. assuming the same heading of 035, the new heading is 035+90=125.

The target will now be approximately on a bearing of 90 or 270 degrees to you.

Find the speed which holds that more or less constant and you will eventually meet the target. Obviously if it turns out you are running parallel, you won't actually meet. you need to watch out for that ;)

Brag...
Read all of ur stuff...Great bits of info.. I have copied & will print them so I can refer as I go to sea... I guess this is gonna be "On the Job Training" for me...lol..

There used to be a thread titled 'What do you know' about things people had found out can be done in SHIII. I can't find it, but it must be around somewhere here.

Puster Bill...lol That's funny.. I do have an old CR3 from my flying days, but I haven't fiddled with it in 30 years. I don't think the true air speed or wind side would be of much help for sub work though...

Now that key I could make some sense out of... I use to send 20-25 words per minute with one of those...lol about 47 years ago... heck, I can still remember the morse code clear as a "dit dit dit dah"

new thought though... Is is possible to have a man on the flak guy along with the regular con spotting crew? I tried to put one there, but I only got an either or situation...not both places covered at once...