AOB and COURSE trainer

[greyrider]

AOB and COURSE trainer

http://files.filefront.com/13254029

this is an aob and target course trainer,
the objective of this trainer is to teach how to estimate aob and target course by eyeballing.
as stated, this mission teaches estimating aob and target course r to submarine,
range and speed will not be discussed here, this is strictly to teach aob estimation, and course estimation, by eye.

i have arranged 5 targets, with a course relative to submarine, at different bearings, sort of like a candlepin bowling alley setup, or like an infantry fire team wedge.
all targets have the same course, just different aob's. theres port and starboard aob's, and there is a reference target. the submarine is at pd, and the 5 targets do not move, but are docked.
there are also two moving targets. the moving targets have a small AOB at first, but when they draw near to the submarine, thier in a full blown 90° AOB relative to sub.
now i cant put all the aob's and courses we would see playing the game, but if you know how to use the sh editor, you can go and edit this mission, to make different aob's, courses, or make the targets move,
instructions for doing this will be at the bottom of this post for those that dont know how to use the editor.
i kept it simple, relative and true bearings are the same here.
there are a couple of rules to follow when estimating AOB and course, and ill try to explain this as best i can.
whether by sight, radar, or hydrophones, with own ship at center, you have a 360° circle with 360 bearings. when a ship enters your 360 circle at any bearing, it has to leave your 360 at another bearing..
if the target has no AOB, then it will leave that 360 at 180° opposite from where it entered, (example, target enters at 20°, no AOB, leaves at 200°.) if the target has an AOB, say 10° to port, it will leave the 360 at bearing 210°, if target
had a 10° starboard AOB, then it would leave at bearing 190°. this is how you determine target course. but before we determine target course, we need to determine AOB.

determining AOB
as i understand aob, it is determined by how much the bow of the target is angled from my line of sight in degrees. my line of sight is the vertical aiming wire of the periscope, or tbt.
take a look at the picture below, and you see the target, the aiming wire is pointing at the targets bow, you do not see the port or starboard sides, all you can see is the bow of the target, this is a 0° aob.
no matter what bearing the target is on, if the periscope/tbt sight picture of the target looks like this, then it is 0° aob.

Shot at 2009-02-09
now take a look at the next two pictures, and you see that the bow of the target is angled away from the vertical aiming wire. the first picture is a port aob, and the 2nd picture is a starboard aob

Shot at 2009-02-09


Shot at 2009-02-09


determining target course:
rule 1, if a target appears in your 360, at bearings from 0° to 180°, then you add 180° to the bearing the target appears on,( less than 180, add 180)
rule 2, if a target appears in your 360, at bearings from 180° to 360°, then you subtract 180° from the bearing the target appears on,( more than 180, subtract 180)
rule 3, if a target has a port AOB, you add the aob
rule 4, if a target has a starboard AOB, you subtract the aob
now, following the rules to determine target course, in the first picture, target is bearing 0°, since the bearing is less than 180°, we need to add 180°, and since there is a 0° aob on the target, we can either add or subtract
the aob, and the course of the target is 180°.
in the 2nd picture, you see the target with a port aob bearing 349°, since the bearing of the target is more than 180°, we need to subtract 180°, from 349°, then add the aob that is 11° port, (349° - 180° = 169° + 11° = 180°)
so this targets course is 180°.
in the third picture, you see the target with a starboard aob bearing 11°, since the bearing of the target is less than 180°, we need to add 180°, to 11°, then subtract the aob that is 11° starboard, ( 11° + 180° = 191° - 11 = 180°)
so this targets course is also 180°.
now those you have never estimated aob and target course by eye, have an idea how its done. figuring out the rest of the targets aob and course in this trainer, i leave up to you to figure, its good practice, and if you follow
the directions below to change target course in sh4 editor a few times for prictice, you will get to be a pro at it.
good luck
grey



instructions for changing AOB and course in sh4 editor, for newbies, go to:
Ubisoft/Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific/Sh4MissionEditor:
then click file/AOB Trainer/AOB Trainer.mis
once the AOB Trainer.mis has been loaded in the editor, on the right hand side you see a tool pannel, and a plus sign to the left of units, expand units, click on anyone of the tankers,
another menu pops up, then click properties,
to change an AOB for any tanker, click in the space called heading, and change the course to whatever you want, then click accept on the bottom left hand corner, then go to file again, and click save.
load up the mission again as a game, and your new course
will be seen, new AOB, new course to determine.

[Rockin Robbins]

Awesome! That's a really great idea! And excellent execution too.

Now let's hear some stories about now accurate you can be with a trained eye for finding AoB without charts. I'll bet with experience it could be a great technique.

[Rockin Robbins]

Bump! I can't believe there isn't more response to this. It's really a pretty big deal. In practice, real WWII sub captains used this method, eyeballing AoB more than any other.

[Munchausen]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

I can't believe there isn't more response to this....

It's tax time. And that tutorial reads too much like the instructions for Schedule C. Scary.

[VonGlaus]

Downloading it now, will try it tonight...

[VonGlaus]

Practicing with it, appreciating it, thank you very much. It is quite helpful.

For the fellow-uninitiated (ignoramii) among us, I did have a problem. When loading the mission, it would jump straight to the "Mission Completed" screen. Click on "next" and you're done. Instead, click on "Return To Game" and then go practice...

[Rockin Robbins]

I've had that happen in missions I've designed too. I'm sure it's brain damage on my part but I can't find what's causing the problem and it's too easy to hit the return to game button.

[peabody]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

I've had that happen in missions I've designed too. I'm sure it's brain damage on my part but I can't find what's causing the problem and it's too easy to hit the return to game button.

The "problem" is not having an objective, when you write a mission just give it an objective. Since you have no objective the mission is completed before it even starts. If you are writing for testing just give it a "Generic Objective", you will always have an incomplete when exiting, but it stops the "Mission complete" screen upon starting.

Peabody

[Armistead]

Just what I have been searching for....forever....thanks so much

[Rockin Robbins]

Makes sense to me! Thanks Peabody.

joegrundman had a thread on judging AOB almost a year ago that was excellent.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=134200

Urge

[I'm goin' down]

nothing like staying up all night to read posts. And this is a good one. I may just stay up longer to practice.

[Robedslv]

Man, great tutorial !!! I've tried it, and the thing comes out very naturally after a few tries.

THANKS A MILLION!!!!

[Fish40]

Very helpful! I was just wondering how to figure it if the target was heading away from you instead of towards you? I chased down a target, and when he came into view, he was at bearing 320. From the location I was in, I knew the target had a limited set of headings to proceed on, since this was the only shipping route in this location. I tried to apply the rules to determine course and aob, but the figures didn't match. I'm sure it's something I'm overlooking. Any tips?

[Rockin Robbins]

Yeah, my tip is for greyrider to expand this puppy to ships moving away from you also.

This training course is a big deal. The real sub captains would be loving it!