Yeah I considered the "current heading 45" thing, but again, it would break if you issued a second course change while the boat was still turning. I don't like to implement things unless they're pretty foolproof. Besides, there are bigger fish to fry, such as these for v1.7 (don't hold your breath for these, it's going to be a while):
[first you lock a ship on the scope. then -]
"recognition manual" or "target ID" (TM only I believe)
[you get the ID done so the TDC is updated properly, then -]
"prepare for attack" (brings up various torpedo controls on attack scope)
[then you would do these in any order, but this would be the typical order]
"torpedo contact type [magnetic | contact only]"
"torpedo depth [0-50] feet"
"torpedo speed [low | high]"
"stadimeter" and/or "[increase | decrease] target distance 1-???? feet"
"[increase | decrease] angle on bow [0 - 360] degrees"
"[increase | decrease] target speed [1-??] knots" or "calculate target speed" (after two readings of course)
"mark" or "save" or "send to TDC" or "update computer" or whatever
"start position keeper"
(making sure not to enable it twice which would turn it off)
Then you would fire or make further adjustments after cheating by looking at your PK line on the attack map (as I do hehe).
There's only two problems with this whole thing that I know of:
1. AOB dial stops turning if you turn it too far in one direction, but spins indefinitely in the other direction. Could be a problem after a few "increase aob" orders when it hits the wall and doesn't know it. Should be solvable by simply inverting "increase" requests of 5 degrees into 355 degree "decrease" requests, and always spin it that direction.
2. Some of these commands require multiple key presses and clickdrags, and I don't currently have a way to string those together, but it shouldn't be too hard to implement. I just want to implement this properly as a sort of "macro" like feature where people could string together a series of many commands, for example, you could set up a "crazy ivan" that stops the ship, enables silence, and turns of the radio and gramophone, and jumps to the command room just for atmosphere.
For example, increasing AOB on a target would involve this macro sequence:
A. Press the attack scope key to ensure we are there (unless you're already there or on attack map)
B. Click all of the TDC pullout buttons to ensure all computer panels are visible
C. Click the AOB button on the TDC
D. Change the AOB with a click/drag
C. Click the red "mark" button automatically (if I decide you shouldn't have to say "mark" after each one)
So there's four things to do. I'll probably extend the "parent" system that the CSVs already support, where A is the parent of B, B is the parent of C, C parent of D, and D childless. I just have to be sure it is not going to screw up when different types of parents are intermixed, which I'm pretty sure it will right now.
Anyway, don't hesitate to put out to sea with 1.6 since 1.7 will be a while. Unlike certain publishers we all know and love, I enjoy sharing what I'm working on long before I start and sharing exactly how I will do it so I can get community feedback.
As an aside, I'm thinking of putting a longer delay on all commands in order to allow you to say "belay that" which would cancel the last order before it is implemented. But this is pretty tricky.