Comments re Hitman's tutorial re manual targeting

[I'm goin' down]

Here are some comments that I posted in response to Hitman's tutorial on simplified manual targeting.

This was posted a couple of days ago in the thread to his post.

Originally Posted by I'm goin' down

I used your manual targeting tutorial, but usually had major problems with the range, and the direction of the target was usually inaccurate. But the concept of aspect ratio is quite interesting. Before I delve into your new tutorial, I want to point out that the ship centered accuracy fix (SCAF) mod makes finding the range, aspect ratio and angle of bow a simple matter. Instead of determining range by matching up to the target's mast, you match up to another part of the ship (e.g., the smoke stack), so it is not as difficult as the task of matching up to the top of the target's mast, which is difficult to pinpoint at a distance. And you do not necessarily have determine the aspect ratio for accuracy.

I used it for the first time today, and the white "x" and white line showing the target's course on the Attack Map were on target. I mean exactly on target. (Maybe I got lucky). As the target moved into firing range the white x fell astern stlightly, which I attribute to a possible miscalcualtion of the target's speed. I fired and missed four shots to slightly to the stern of the target, but the markings on the attack map were where they were supposed to be. My ship only permitted slow torpedoe speed, and I do not know if that played a role in missing the shots. When calculating range on the stadimeter the trick appears to be matching the bottom of the waterline beneath the bottom of the top ("movable") target to the designated spot (i.e. the smoke stack) of the actual target.

If I strike out when I try it in the next few days, I will post a retraction. By the way, I delivered four torpedoes into a carrier yesterday, and although it made a major turn to port, it did not go down.

This was posted a few minutes ago in the thread in response to his post.

Originally Posted by I'm goin' down

I had already read the Hitman tutorial. I thought it was a newer version. Anyhow, I want to follow-up on my previous post. I used the ship centered mod (SCAF) this evening and was able to calibrate range and angle of bow on a large modern split frieghter travelling at 10 knots at a range of about 1,000 yard at a bearing of roughly 350 degrees. The whte "x" and the white directional line on the attack map were about 50 yards above the target, but otherwise precise. I fired four torpedoes. I recorded the attack. The first torpedoe passed under the bow of the freighter, so I must have set it to run at too great a depth. The other three were hits on the bow section.

The benefit of using the mod is that you do not need to calculate the aspect ratio. It brings satisfaction to work out the correct aspect ratio, but it also a pain in the rear because it can be time consuming.

I have one correction to my previous post. When calculating range, line up the shadow ship with the mod's predefined point on the target and make sure that the bottom of the shadow ship's keel is touching that preddefined point. SCAF modifies the ship manual and the predefined points for each ship are highlighted in red. Read the instructions when you download the mod.

I f you don't use the mod, Hitman's tutorial should work better than trying the impossible task of lining up the shadow ship with the high point on the target's mast.