Question from Newbie (TDC)

[MM1Ret]

Hello All. I'm new to SHIII though I've played Silent Hunter I to death for ~10 years. My question is, when I 'lock onto' a target with the periscope and shoot, does the TDC stay locked on that ship until I click onto a different ship like SHI did? I'm asking because subsequent shots to the same ship followed a totally different track.
Or, if there is a thread about making attacks, post it please.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Gary in GA

[Ducimus]

Auto TDC or manual?

edit:
If using auto TDC you still have to observe rules such as being within 15 degrees of a 0 gyro angle and such. Spread angle you have to adjust for too.

Also you have to open your torpedo tube doors before firing. Forgetting to do so will cause a 3 second delay which can cause a miss.

[MM1Ret]

Auto TDC. Not brave/smart enough to try manual. I didn't know about having to open the torpedo doors. But does the TDC stay locked?

Thanks

MM1

Originally Posted by MM1Ret

Hello All. I'm new to SHIII though I've played Silent Hunter I to death for ~10 years. My question is, when I 'lock onto' a target with the periscope and shoot, does the TDC stay locked on that ship until I click onto a different ship like SHI did? I'm asking because subsequent shots to the same ship followed a totally different track.
Or, if there is a thread about making attacks, post it please.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Gary in GA

I think I'll try actually answering the question:

The TDC stays locked, until you unlock the periscope (which you have to do, to look at another target). To test this, just unlock it, and hit F6, and watch, as the target drifts, but the torpedo path does not; move the 'scope, and the torpedo path swings wildly.

[MM1Ret]

Thanks, I'll try that.

MM1

[Umfuld]

It will stay locked, but only if you're close enough. This really bothers me about the game. In bad weather, ship can be 900m away, and the TDC will not stay locked.

If you can see the ship, it should lock on, but it doesn't. There really wasn't a thing in the TDC that would 'lock' on a ship. It's just to make it easier for the game player. Why they chose to have it not lock even though the ship is clearly visible baffles me.

[Khayman]

It stays locked, which is very handy. You can lock onto a ship, then unlock, then move the sight to whatever part of the ship you want to hit and the torp will go there.

Err.... sort of. When you "lock" it, it enters the data for the target in the TDC, and as long as it stays locked, continues to update it, as you and the target move. If you unlock it, it uses the path the periscope is aimed at, but still uses the values for when you had it locked, like angle on bow, speed, range, and so forth. So, if you unlock it, move the scope slightly, and shoot, depending on the angle and how slightly you moved it, you should still hit, but you can alter your target impact point this way. Move it towards another target however, and since the bearing is going to be so far off, you will likely hit no target at all, unless you lock it on the new one.

Originally Posted by Umfuld

It will stay locked, but only if you're close enough. This really bothers me about the game. In bad weather, ship can be 900m away, and the TDC will not stay locked.

If you can see the ship, it should lock on, but it doesn't. There really wasn't a thing in the TDC that would 'lock' on a ship. It's just to make it easier for the game player. Why they chose to have it not lock even though the ship is clearly visible baffles me.

I disagree. The reason it won't stay locked on in bad weather or at extreme range is that it's nearly impossible to obtain proper information in those conditions.

Try it on manual. Half the time I can't even identify the ship until it's very close.