Thanks very much for the welcome.
Couple things. You mention the stadimeter is more of a snapshot tool then rangefinder? The problem I seem to be having is getting an accurate read with the thing at all. I'm somewhere about 5k out on a Large Modern Composite yet the choppy seas and finding where to place the second image are producing wildly varying distances by as much as 1k between the two most extreme amounts of 4500 and 5500, which is also making that method of determining speed inaccurate with ranges from 40-100 knots. lol
Is there a better way to find range? I know you can with Sonar but I've read it's not so accurate all the time itself and I'm really not sure how easily I can get myself into trouble pinging other ships. Are merchants able to tell when I'm pinging them or is it only escorts? And how careful should I be about pinging with escorts nearby? Say there's no warship within 10 degrees (couldn't find the degree symbol on my keyboard) of the ship I'm pinging for distance, would would an escort beyond that range still detect what I'm doing?
For that matter, how high can I surface myself without making my sub profile too obvious? Do I always need to stay at periscope depth while occasionally peeking out to be safe or can I let myself rise 5-10 feet in choppy seas so the waves don't make it so difficult to get a proper reading. I understand the waves also make it harder for them to spot me but at such a range I don't think they'll spot my quick periscope peeks even if I raise it, but I'm unsure what the effect of decreasing my depth would do otherwise.
As to the realism stuff, I'm not really having trouble with most of it. Fuel, air, battery and all that are simple enough and in my early war campaign I'm having little trouble sneaking into convoys and escaping after my attack. I simply don't understand all of it yet but I've been having a lot of success with it anyway. My only problem is with feeding the info into the tdc for proper attacks once I sneak in because of the varying ranges I'm getting and the fact that I'm still having a tough time identifying the AoB. I understand it's my location from the perspective of their ship but it's tough to identify what that is. I find I'm miscalculating by some fairly large margins, by as much as 30-40 degrees.
I'm going to try rereading those tutorials you mentioned and see if they make more sense to me now. *crossing fingers* lol
And thanks again. I really appreciate the help.
Edit: Also, which mods would you really suggest? I haven't really taken much of a look there as I've been trying to get the basic fundamentals down before I really do anything else but plan to take a look once I do.
Edit Again: I looked up the tutorial you suggested and I agree it appears to explain everything I really need it to, except I'm having a problem making out half of what he's saying because his voice isn't very well contrasted to the game noise. There are entire portions of those 3 video's that I simply can't make out because I can't hear what he's saying.
I'm rewatching the sonar one and the sound for it doesn't seem as bad as it was for the first two video's so that's good. I actually think this video has helped me understand how it's done, at least under the assumption for sonar error. Definitely should help though.
Now I'll just rewatch his earlier vids and see if I can understand the parts where I can't hear his explanation properly. Maybe it'll make more sense this time.