Attacking multiple contacts

[Tonnage_Ace]

Hi guys, been a while since I've played SH3, I think it was the sour taste SH4 put in my mouth...but I've still been checking up on the site every few days to see the goings on. So 1.4 was released and I felt I would give SH4 another chance being that this is a long awaited patch(keep them coming!) and so I fired up the game. I was a pro at 100% SH3 so I figured SH4 would be an easy transititon but it's not. As soon as you realize the TDC is used to aim and not your periscope your getting somewhere and not to mention I read copious amounts of materials before/while playing. The PK is a novel idea but I think it was tad redundent for a few reasons historically and in game.

In the German subs in SH3, attacking a convoy was super efficient because as long as you knew heading and speed of the contact(s) you could input that into the TDC and leave it, with only the range as a variable leaving you to point the crosshairs and shoot. I used to(with great success) fire at the farthest target, decrease range by 500m, fire again and repeat, hitting multiple targets at the same time without worry that a torp would hit and cause the next targets to alter course and screw up my following shots. I found 45 seconds per lane was good for this purpose and setting range in the TDC was very easy and quick.

My problem with SH4 is that it seems the system was built with attacking single contacts, very accurately, despite your own movements. This is all well and good but if I miss the first time, the target usually sees the torp wakes and starts evading that is about the only time I would start getting into a new position but by then the PK's data will be moot.

So basically, I don't move while shooting and shooting eels at multiple targets(convoy), especially if they're fast is extremely difficult and time consuming. Hope someone knows a good way around this.

For now, what I started doing is this:

I'll find the heading and speed of the convoy by looking at a single ship, then I'll enter that into the TDC, finally range and bearing until I get a good estimate and set the PK. Once the PK is set, I'll head into the sonar room and use pings to get updated range and bearing, send to TDC and fire an eel as fast as I can, I'll find another ship with the sonar, send both range and bearing to TDC and fire. I sank two ships like this in a convoy, however as you can tell, I'm using the sonar like I used the periscope in SH3...anyone seeing the problem now? My other two torpedos found nothing but open ocean and the ones that did hit were one in the center and one a little fore of the bridge.

Using the ship guide to get range and bearing with the scope is too slow so that's why I use the sonar.
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I know I can set range on the fly but the PK still needs bearing to aim, I think the PK is a great tool but I hope everyone would agree that if I turn it off(white button) I should be able to manipulate the gyro with my optics.
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Thanks guys for reading if you did and hope the above can be modded or implemented in a future patch.

[howler93]

Tonnage,

I also struggle with targeting multiple ships. With manual targeting and 100% realism, it's hard enough to bag just one. So, I typically just pick out the juciest target from the convoy and let him have it. If anyone's got a good multi-target strategy that can be pulled off quickly, I'd like to hear it too.

Good hunting,
Howler

[Fincuan]

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...ltiple+targets

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...ltiple+targets

The search function is your friend