[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Zosimus

The realistic way is with a crew of 7-9 people working on the problem. You have a captain, three seamen, a weapons officer, a navigator, a helmsman, a radio officer, and a sonar officer all helping you to plot stuff on maps and take observations.

This matter comes up frequently in SH4, and the same considerations apply.

In RL, most of the critical tracking work (plot, observations, op of TDC or related equipment) was probably done by 3 or 4 people. That number was necessary in RL, but the game is less demanding, and we can pause it, without difficulty. People like to say that the map-contacts are "realistic" because the skipper wouldn't do the chore of plotting himself. They focus entirely on who is doing the task, while ignoring how it is done. Was any real-life crew ever able to plot enemy positions with 100% accuracy, and do this in real-time? Using map-contacts makes the skill of the player/ observer largely irrelevant. Players routinely obtain tonnages far in excess of what RL skippers could get. I think it should be easy to see why.