[REQ] Realistic Weapons Officer Assist

[GoldenRivet]

after determining my own firing solutions for so long and even attempting several on paper i have recently gone back to toying around with using the WO for solutions and i got to thinking about how the weapons officer is capable of firing off a split second firing solution under any circumstances and his solutions are 99% of the time spot on accurate!

At the click of a "plot solution to target" button, the Weapons Officer develops a deathly accurate solution within a matter of 2 seconds.

Now, in reality, target solutions are based on observation of bearing and range changes over a period of time, as short as one minute or as lengthy an observation as several minutes.

I also got to thinking that when you plot solutions on graph paper, observing range and bearing... drawing a line to the contact, marking his position and repeating the process every minute until you determine a mean course and an average speed of the target and then and AOB... until you do this alone you dont realize what a process it actually can be!

therfore if one can simply push a button and have a flawless firing solution laid out before him it is no wonder a player can rack up 100,000 tons per patrol and come back to the forums wondering how this is possible!

so i propose that someone out theredevise a method of hooking up some sort of time delay of say a minute and a half to plotting solutions to a target when using the weapons officer.

for example.

1. Lock onto the target
2. Click the button to cause the weapons officer to plot a solution
3. the target must be locked for one minute and 30 seconds minimum

OR

4. the solution will not plot until one minute and 30 seconds has passed

any setup similar to this where a delay (much like the torpedo loading delay) would be built into WO solution plotting would be fantastic IMHO

so... now the big question... is it possible to mid this?

[Packerton]

I never use the WO.

In fact I do all my solutions on the TDC/Paper.

[GoldenRivet]

As do i... it takes a couple of minutes per ship to get a good one.

so, if the mod were possible, it would take a couple of minutes with the WO and i would use the WO more often and save myself the hassel.

[Cezbor]

Well, I do all the targeting by myself, almost never tried WO . Ones WO helpt me to identify incomming convoy from great distance in poor weather and almost none visibility. That's all.

GoldenRivet

any setup similar to this where a delay (much like the torpedo loading delay) would be built into WO solution plotting would be fantastic IMHO

I don`t promise anything, but thise one of my future projects .
Here a explanation about how i get thise idea

Not so long ago i read a very interesting story about captaine and his WO.
The Uboat (don`t remember a number) made a very good patrol and sunk more that 50.000 ton. When the German captaine heard that he is going to be awarded with knight cross he sad that he only will wear it if his WO will also resived one because he is the one ho did all the firing solution.

Sorry for my bad English

[GoldenRivet]

as far as im aware in most situations the captain called out data to the Weapons officer. such as range, bearing, speed etc

The WO plots it and makes the TDC inputs.

a player really has no idea how time consuming this process is in real life until they have tried to plot the solution on graph paper.

I have done it before with varied success, but yesterday i tried it again and got a couple of hits. but going back and forth to the periscope to make observations and plot them on paper then using the paper data for TDC inputs took several minutes.

once i fired the two shots i scored two direct hits on a medium cargo (stock)

from the initial approach, initial observation, secondary and tertiary observations, plotting on paper, TDC input all the way to firing took about 6 minutes.

i really hope someone manages to mod the weapons officer in SH3, partly, because there will be the crew interaction aspect, and partly so that if a player uses the WO we wont have to hear about their million ton patrol :rotfl:

Originally Posted by Dimitrius07

Not so long ago i read a very interesting story about captaine and his WO.
The Uboat (don`t remember a number) made a very good patrol and sunk more that 50.000 ton. When the German captaine heard that he is going to be awarded with knight cross he sad that he only will wear it if his WO will also resived one because he is the one ho did all the firing solution.

Teddy Suhren (Commander of U-564) while a watch officer was the first jr. officer to be awarded the Knights Cross as you described. I'd suggest the book: Teddy Suhren: Ace of Aces: Memoirs of a U-boat Rebel.

It was customary during surface attacks for the first watch officer to be at the UZO and to call out all attack data. Submerged attacks were conducted by the captain at the attack scope.

German subs did not use an attack/plotting board. Speed, being the most critical factor input into the attack computer, was estimated based on experience. There was no 3-minute, 15-second method or rule based on plots. Angle on the bow was also estimated, easily determined by knowing the target's base course, u-boat's course and bearing to target (simple math). Distance to target intercept after firing was also an estimate but as in the game, the least important factor.

Experienced commanders and watch officer could probably call out this information rather quickly as any adjustments became necessary to the firing solution. Remember, commanders in training were required to make 60 surface attacks and 60 submerged attacks prior to firing a real life torpedo during training.

Therefore, the use of the Watch Officer in the game is probably not that far off from real life. Plus, the Watch officer in the game is not alway accurate. And, one person playing the game without the aid of real life crew members is at quite a disadvantage. Therefore, some allowances need to be made to assist the player as that player may well choose. It is a personal choice as to difficulty. It's only a game!

[joea]

Originally Posted by von Zelda

Detailed reasonable explanation...It's only a game!

He he good explanation mate.

[GoldenRivet]

twas only a mod request.

ill think before i make another request

Originally Posted by GoldenRivet

twas only a mod request.

ill think before i make another request

And, it was a very good suggestion that resulted in some good comments.

[Woof1701]

Originally Posted by von Zelda

And, it was a very good suggestion that resulted in some good comments.

Agreed. Just because not everyones in favor doesn't mean it's a bad idea!

[TheDarkWraith]

if anything make it for yourself and post it for everyone. Those that like it will use it, those that don't will not (and speak their mind of it also but just ignore them!). Do not let negative people crush your creativity or ideas.

[onelifecrisis]

In reply to the original question:

I had a very similar idea... do you use that Voice Command mod (available here at subsim)? I do, and you can set a delay on an order if you like. I thought about doing it that way, but in the end I found I quite liked doing my own firing solutions, so I just removed the WO Firing Solution icon from menu_1024_768.ini and the shortcut key from commands_en.cfg and now I just use the WO to ID ships

Still, it's a thought... you should try that voice command thing, it's great

[GoldenRivet]

hey thats good thinking, i havnt used that voice program in ages.

im kida tied up with other things right now, but when work is done ill promply re-install it.

thanks i forgot all about that thing