[nodlew]

The reason I want the option to use the Stadimeter without a a target in the sights is this--in a Fleet Boat in SH4, the Stadimeter is the ONLY WAY to input a BEARING into the Sub's fire control system. I cannot just mouse the TDC dial to any bearing I want. I can manually input Range, Course, and Speed using the Targeting Dials Fix (which I use and am grateful for). Bearing, however, requires that the Stadimeter be used, and the Stadimeter will not pull down unless there is a ship contacting the vertical line bisecting one of the scopes (attack, observation, TBT). In real life, the Bearing would not come from the Scope Lock (which did not exist), it came from a dude standing in front of the guy looking through the periscope reading the bearing from a ring on the periscope itself ("Mark!" Captain says. "Bearing: 350 degrees!" the other dude says.") then the guy at the TDC would dial in the bearing, range, speed, and aob, and start the position keeper. Subsequent observations allowed for corrections and refinements until the Solution was arrived at--ie, all of the elements of the equation agreed with each other very closely. What we have is a regrettably dumbed-down version of the TDC, which automates functions that would have been performed by crew members. The result is a TDC that is wonderful for computing solutions for targets that are moving at a constant speed and heading, but which is absurdly restricted and difficult to use when those functions are constantly changing. I find that the easiest (Ha!) way to snap-shoot a zig-zagging target (given this situation) is to preset my torpedo for a 0 bearing to a target going 0 kts at 0 degrees and then point the whole boat like a big gun and fire at my estimated lead angle--and in order to simply set my torpedo at a gyro angle of 0 degrees (shooting straight ahead) in order to do this, I have to turn my boat until I have a ship contacting the scope\tbt line, then use the Stadimeter to send the bearing. Does this not sound unnecessarily slow, complicated, and labor-intensive to you? I mean, come on.