Using Stadimeter to obtain range

[Platapus]

I have returned back to SH3 and made the commitment to use only manual targeting. So far I am loving it (now if I can only do that in SH4..)

My questions concern using the Stadimeter. The theory is easy. Align the horizontal reticule mark on the waterline; Activate the stadimeter; place the new horizontal reticule mark on the highest mast; Click and Bob’s your uncle.

The devil is in the details of course and I want to learn how to do this with the highest accuracy. Hence my two questions.

1. Waterline. This is pretty straight forward with most ships in that it is the boundary between the wet stuff and the hard stuff. However, if the cargo ship or tanker is running empty, it sits higher in the water. Sometimes I can see the delimitation line between what is normally above the water and what is below the water (colour change in the side of the ship). This colour change delimitation is the actual waterline of the ship. So if the ship is light, I should use this delimitation line for my height measurements and not the actual water level. Is this correct?

2. Highest mast. In the ship’s recognition manual, the highest mast is depicted pretty clearly. The problem is that when observing my ship, sometimes there is a flag mast on top of the highest mast. This flag is not depicted in the recognition manual. Since the recognition manual depicts the mast and its height, when using the stadimeter where do I put the reticule?

a. At the point of the mast that is depicted in the ship’s recognition manual? This is what I have been doing.

b. At the highest point which may include the extra flag mast? Since the extra flag mast was not depicted in the ship’s recognition manual, I assume that the maximum height of the mast does not reflect this extra flag height.

So to sum up my ramblings:

If the ship is light, I use the hull colouration to determine the “waterline” and not the actual position of the water

I ignore any extensions to masts that are not depicted in the recognition manual when using the stadimeter.

Am I doin this right? :hmm:

[danlisa]

The answer is A.

[Platapus]

That's what I thought. Now how about my anal-retentive question about the waterline?

Or does is that question really moot as it does not affect the range calculations to a practical significance?

[danlisa]

You are correct again! You want to be lining up with the waterline.

Just FYI (don't know if you'll want this) but you can pause the game and still use the stadimeter. This might be useful in severe weather or if you wanted to conduct tests.

[Platapus]

Good to know that I am doin "somethings" right in this game

[Sailor Steve]

On the other hand, for realism's sake I have to ask: did the Germans really have one?

[finchOU]

from the couple of years I've been snooping around these forums the anwser seems to be no......i guess the Skipper would just count the vertiacl ticks...translate that to an angle....Id the ship for mast hieght...solve the trig for distance.

[P_Funk]

But the Americans had one I believe. I also recall hearing that they made part of the German TDC wrong and instead made the part in question like the American model instead. I guess we can add the Stadimeter to that.

[GoldenRivet]

Originally Posted by finchOU

from the couple of years I've been snooping around these forums the anwser seems to be no......i guess the Skipper would just count the vertiacl ticks...translate that to an angle....Id the ship for mast hieght...solve the trig for distance.

here is a period article providing details on how the ww2 era German Stadimeter worked. It is written in German though. it appears that initially they only had the horizontal line range finder, but later in the war had the split image type range finder. basically input the mast height and the split image does the rest mechanically to solve for distance.

http://personales.ciudad.com.ar/piet...Stadimeter.jpg

[Dantenoc]

... It appears that the german stadimeter in that article actually works like the stadimeter in SH4, no?

[GoldenRivet]

a stadimeter from all acounts i have seen is basically similar in operation to a sextant.

I wish i could recall where i saw this but i was almost certain that during or slightly before world war one when the Germans were leading the world in submarine technology, the Germans actually INVENTED the range finding periscope stadimeter... therfore i find it hard to believe they would not have them on their U-boat fleet during ww2.

[Canovaro]

I was left with the same questions as Platapus. Thanks for the answer!

[finchOU]

Cool....I stand corrected!

[Kumando]

Originally Posted by finchOU

from the couple of years I've been snooping around these forums the anwser seems to be no......i guess the Skipper would just count the vertiacl ticks...translate that to an angle....Id the ship for mast hieght...solve the trig for distance.

From what i searched this is what they did in reality, but in sh3 that line that we put on the highest mast is only to make things easier for the player.

[P_Funk]

So can anyone tell me exactly what the degrees between reticle marks are in the UZO and Pero in GWX 1.03? I wanna try it out sans stad.