[mobucks]

Like you said training mission 3 is a "perfect situation" so if you are getting hits in that i would try to place myself in that perfect situation whenever possible to engage the enemy. This is my first subsim as well, and im not afraid to say i save and reload alot still, ive only been playing for about 2 weeks, but ditched auto targeting and map updates after one patrol and am now on 92 realism (freecam) with TMO on patrol 8.

Keep in mind the laziest guy will find the easiest way to do the hardest job, i am that lazy guy. I don't plot intercepts, or do much math, because im lazy and dumb. I dont try to engage targets in fog/ pitch black, there are pleanty of ships in the sea and im still learning.

I usually use radar to find targets and get myself into position.

A contact is reported, i hit flank speed, go to radar.

Watching radar with time compression, you can get a good idea of how the target is moving. I usually start by turning so the contact is at 0. If his blip goes left, i turn into (ahead of) him left by 45 degrees, right i turn into him right 45 degrees. hit time compression after each time you finish turning your boat and analise how he is moving. he should be closing distance. The goal is to have him coming to you at either 270 (90 degree angle left) or 90 (90 degree angle right) by the time he is close enough to be on the 8.000 distance radar screen. keep watching how his blip moves and refine your course. If he is coming directly to you from a right angle, it is time to slow down and prepare to dive. I usually go to radar depth so i can keep viewing him on radar till he gets close to viewing range.

Once he is within the visual range of my periscope i make sure to dive to periscope depth and then its just waiting till he comes to me, the end goal being that its like im playing training mission 3.

For shooting torps, i use "Simplified manual targeting for 100% realism" guide on this site and it works. However i'd like to note, that guide has you taking speed/AOB readings using math (eek) so i ditched that in favor of:

Starting when he is within 20 degrees of 0 on my periscope:

1. Identify target with book, and send it to TDC.
2. Range using stadimeter, lining the waterline on the ships tallest mast, send to TDC, wait 10 seconds, do it again, send to TDC.
3. Go to speed control on TDC, since you have taken 2 seperate ranges 10 seconds apart, if you hit the little clock button next to send, a sailor will tell you the ships speed and heading. Send the speed it puts itself at to the TDC.
4. Go to nav map, zoom way in, using the protractor, draw a line from center of boat to 0 on the heading helper thingy around your boat, and with the tool helper on make the second leg of the angle line up to the course heading that the sailor reported when he told you the speed/heading. The angle drawn will be (close?) to the AOB you want to input.

5. Once i have the AOB, i usually repeat steps 2-3 over and over while he gets closer to 0 on my periscope. I dont trust the position keeper. You want reportings that are not changing wildly. If he was doing 8kts one time then 35kts the next time, dont hit send, take another range reading.

6. Keep doing that till he gets within a few degrees of 0 and then fire your torpedos.


EDIT: I never finished tutorial 4 myself, so im not sure if these guidelines help for that, this is just how i do things on a patrol.