[Corsair]

Originally Posted by Abd_von_Mumit

Same here, fully agreed.

But this sounds like real hard core! I'd like to read your log from the trip, and read about the methods you used.

The methods used have been discussed on several threads and a good approach is to watch on You Tube the 2 vids named "Dantenoc's Hardcore Navigation in SH3"

The idea is that standard SH3 nav is like today's GPS nav : your position is shown in real time on your GPS map screen, you assign waypoints, and your GPS connected to the autopilot follows them.
In WW2 it was a little different ( even later, I started open sea sailing in the 70s and the only thing we had was radio-goniometry before the Loran-C which was not covering all of Europe)

First thing is to have "no map contact updates" so that sound contact lines don't show your position and tweak the zoom level at which sub icon is displayed, so that you can only view your position at the minimum zoom, which is then useless. You also have to replace your bearing overlay file by a transparent one. Of course no use of the plotting tool, as the origin of the line gives your position away.

When in view from land you make coastal navigation - more difficult than IRL because less features to take bearings on but enough to make "island hopping" in the Aegean...
When not in view from land, you simulate use of sextant to have a fix either on sun or polar star. I do it at sunrise, 12h00, sundown and midnight. After checking I can see the sun or the polar star, I use the Ctrl-click function to bring my sub position under the cursor at max zoom and mark it. Using this method, I have never been more than 3 kms from where I thought I was.
When weather doesn't allow it (cloudy, fog...) you have to make an estimate on the map based on bearing/speed/time. I have been now for about 4 days in heavy winds/heavy fog/clouds (in the Med !!) and am doing manual estimate. So far didn't collide with land ...

Main problem comes from the inability of your qualified helmsmen to keep the boat on course when surfaced. The waves tend to bring your boat off course (realistic) but your guys are unable to bring it back (less realistic). The heavier the wind/sea, the more drift. Means that when you crank up TC - max 64 for me -, you have to keep an eye on compass (my 6 dials mod is helpful) and bring manually on course from time to time. By nice weather not difficult, by high winds better submerge most of the time and only surface to reload batteries.

I'm glad it's keeping me busy because on the "shooting side" it's a no-joy. I had beautiful weather for 11 days but didn't see or hear anything... Now I am in a good spot (Sicily/Malta/Lampedusa) region, I hear contacts all the time but can't do anything with the weather - rough sea - visibility 300m.
I was thinking of riding it out in Lampedusa and wait for better times, but like in real life find it safer to stay at sea rather than trying to make it to port with no visibility and some doubts on my exact position...

Having real life navigation experience, I like it and it reminds me when in IL2 I first turned out the "minimap path" and had to navigate. Problem in SH3 is that harbour control doesn't give you a "vector to homeplate"...