Question: range?

[danmir]

Hey guys,

I have a basic question, and I'll also list my experiences.

Question: how do you guys get accurate range?

My experiences:
- First, I bought this game with the idea I'd try it and see what it was like for a real uboat captain. So I'm running 100% realism. I'll freely admit though, so far I've only hit with about 1/20 of the torps I've fired since setting it to max :rotfl:

- I've noticed the watch gives an extremely accurate range out to about 16 kilometers. Is this really possible? I am thinking no, with the statometer, daylight, calm seas, I seem to only get a range estimate out to 6 km max. So what I'm asking here is using the watchman cheating, or did they really have some technique to do this?

- I've used the periscope/stadometer. I really only start getting good estimates in good conditions (daylight, calmer) at about 2-3 km. Maybe I need more practice?

- I've tried the 3 degree variance on the hydrophone technique (but without the rotary slide rule tool). I think I understand it. If you have a constant 90 degree angle to the target at some speed, you have setup a collision course, and because your tearget bearing is a constant 90 degrees, it has 0 radial velocity. Because of this, you can change your speed by 3 knots, giving your target 3 knots relative radial velocity. At 3 degrees change over a time span, you can estimate the horizontal radial distance they will have traveled from the time taken and 3 knots velocity. Then, knowing this radial distance at 3 degrees, you can estimate range. But in practice I have not had it work well. I played with it in a spreadsheet as well, and found with some slight errors, (like guessing target going 6 knots but its going 7, and the 90 degree collision course off a tiny bit, but still less than a degree after 2 minutes), I get errors from -50% to +100%. Eg., at 12km I'll get numbers from ~7km to 24 km depending on the conditions in my spreadsheet. This is so far off I must be doing something wrong!

- So, as a result of the above, and trying not to use the watchman since it seems like cheating, I have to align on a 90 degree bearing collision course and wait until the target is about 2km or so to get a good range estimate. By then, they are so close I'm panicking to get a shot setup in time since I can just now begin to estimate the target's course. In a type IIA sub, they'll blow right by me if I take too long.

Do you guys think if the target is going say 5 knots, I'm in a typeIIA sub, and its starting range is about 2-2.5 km, will I have time to get a good course estimate and get a shot setup with a bit more practice? Or do I really need the course setup much sooner?