How do I act quickly with manual targeting?

[Musician]

I'm brand new to the silent hunter series, and realistic simulation games in general but thanks to the video tutorials here, I've really been able to take to manual targeting. The other day I was able to take a merchant out using only sonar thanks to the advanced targeting solution guide on this site.

My only problem is, when I'm not expecting an enemy, and I'm not prepared and at a good optimal firing position, and I don't have alot of time to make calculations especially when there's bad visibility, what am I supposed to do?

let me give you a situation, I'm heading towards a convoy and a warship notices me and starts heading directly towards me at about what I estimate (roughly) to be 25-30 kts. In this situation it's also raining and is very dark so I'm unable to identify what kind of japanese warship it is. Since it is heading directly towards me, should I choose to fire a torpedo I'd have to hit a very small target which is out of the question for a ship that I can't identify and is taking evasive manuevers... (this just happened to me :/)

so what am I asking is: realistically, how should I deal with a situation with this so that I ultimately get a kill?

thanks a bunch

[nomad_delta]

Hopefully someone with a bit more experience will provide some insight, but if it were me in that situation I would crash dive and make like a hole in the water once below the thermal layer: chances are if it's spotted you and decided to head straight for you at that kinda speed, it's probably a destroyer. You don't want to tango with those unless you've got no other choice, or you don't mind reloading a saved game. (I've recently taken to never reloading saved games when I get blown to bits. I've noticed it tends to make me a little more cautious and careful 'cause I don't want to start the whole career over again.)

If you've absolutely got to fire a torpedo, for a ship that's heading straight for you you don't really need to do any calculations 'cause the only thing that really matters in that case is the bearing.

Why risk it, though? Run away and live to fight another day.

nomad_delta

[tedhealy]

Crash dive as deep as possible.

If you really want to get a shot off and he's coming right at you, don't worry about ID'ing him. ID it as a merchant or whatever, get the bearing, AOB, and speed and fire a spread. The distance won't really matter. Then crash dive as deep as possible.

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by tedhealy

Crash dive as deep as possible.

If you really want to get a shot off and he's coming right at you, don't worry about ID'ing him. ID it as a merchant or whatever, get the bearing, AOB, and speed and fire a spread. The distance won't really matter. Then crash dive as deep as possible.

If he's heading right for you, it's even easier than that - AOB is easy (it will be zero - he's heading straight for you) and speed and range won't matter (as long as he's close enough to be within the max range of your torps by the time they get there) - the only thing that will matter is the bearing - so fire a spread, crash dive and keep going down - then go silent running once you get deep enough and listen for the explosion and breaking up noise he'll make if you hit him, or the depth charge explosions if you don't.

Good luck!

[Musician]

Originally Posted by tedhealy

Crash dive as deep as possible.

If you really want to get a shot off and he's coming right at you, don't worry about ID'ing him. ID it as a merchant or whatever, get the bearing, AOB, and speed and fire a spread. The distance won't really matter. Then crash dive as deep as possible.

I know how to imput the AOB and the speed manually, but i'm not sure how to get a bearing (without using sonar) or how to input that to the TDC once I get it.

[nomad_delta]

Originally Posted by Musician

I know how to imput the AOB and the speed manually, but i'm not sure how to get a bearing (without using sonar) or how to input that to the TDC once I get it.

Yeah, you're not the only one missing that. There's been some discussion around here about the lack of a way to quickly send bearing only to the TDC. The best way I've been able to find (without having to resort to the sonar station) is to just very quickly use the stadimeter again. Once again the range doesn't have to be accurate in your case, so don't bother trying to get it lined up just right. It will send the bearing your pointing at, along with an 'updated' range as an unintended consequence.

nomad_delta

[Centred75]

Originally Posted by panthercules

If he's heading right for you, it's even easier than that - AOB is easy (it will be zero - he's heading straight for you) and speed and range won't matter (as long as he's close enough to be within the max range of your torps by the time they get there) - the only thing that will matter is the bearing - so fire a spread, crash dive and keep going down - then go silent running once you get deep enough and listen for the explosion and breaking up noise he'll make if you hit him, or the depth charge explosions if you don't.

Good luck!

Also make your torps run at minimum depth (4-6 ft) and make sure contact influence is ON. Since the target is providing such a small area to hit, sometimes your torps will just barely miss it. Ive seen a number of my torps litterally go bouncing along the hull without exploding but when I turned on influence then they would explode if they got close enough.

[wetwarev7]

I agree with all of the above, except that in this situation, I would wait till the last possible second to launch torpedoes. Go to flank speed, periscope depth. Use the hydrophone to continously check his distance and bearing. Set TDC bearing to zero degrees, target AOB to 0 degrees, and wait till you reach just beyond the torps' minumum range, (remember to take into account you and your target are closing fast), raise the periscope, either use the rudder or the salvo offset for final adjustments and let one loose.

Do not evade yet! Start diving, but try to get as close as possible before turning away, and make sure he knows you are still there(this will help keep the target from making evasive manuevers). Wait as long as you can, or at least till you either hear the torp hit, or decide it's missed, or the target is almost on top of you, then turn hard right or left. Since you are allready at flank speed you will dive and turn fairly quickly, and the target will not be able to follow your turn from this angle and will overshoot. At this point, turn hard in the opposite direction to a course that is 90 - 180 degrees from your original heading, going to silent running when applicable.

Note: Since this is an unusual manuveur, I've only actually done it twice in my SH3/SH4 career. The first time was in the center of a convoy when I noticed a rather large (a corvette, if I remember correctly) ship bearing down on me. Target was sunk, barely made it out of the way before being taken under with it.

The second time was when I got picked up trying to sneak up on a convoy. Torp missed the target, but never could find me again, and the evasive manuveur helped my approach to a now undefended convoy.