Reading Flags

[trongey]

Is it just me (and my R/G colorblindness) or does everyone else have a terrible time telling what kind of flag a target is flying? I have to be almost close enough to board before I can read the flag. Kinda ruins the attack when I have to back up to get out to arming range for the torpedo. Am I missing some tool, or trick?

Tony

[Tool]

External view is what i use.. might be cheating, but in real life you could see much better than the optics on the PC can.

Tool.

[melnibonian]

Originally Posted by trongey

Is it just me (and my R/G colorblindness) or does everyone else have a terrible time telling what kind of flag a target is flying? I have to be almost close enough to board before I can read the flag. Kinda ruins the attack when I have to back up to get out to arming range for the torpedo. Am I missing some tool, or trick?

Tony

Usually I check with the UZO or the binoculars on the bridge. If I cannot make the flag (especially at night and in bad weather conditions) and the ship is not lighted I fire. This is a common problem real U-Boat Captains had during the war. The whole idea is Fire First Ask Questions Later (within reason obviously )

[Abd_von_Mumit]

I know I should read the flags, but I also know that darkened ship travelling to/from GB close to the British Islands cannot be neutral or Axis ship. The problem arises in daylight as no ships are darkened , but then I usually do my best to read the flag before launching the torpedo. And yes, I find it extremely hard sometimes, but that's nothing strange, as IRL I have that problem too.

[dmlavan]

Let me echo what Melnibonian said. There have been times during the day when I've seen neutrals traveling w/ their lights on. When you get past December 1941 and the US enters the war, you'll find there are fewer neutrals. As a rule I'll fire at a contact that is not illuminated (in the Atlantic... in the Med there are plenty of Italian/Axis ships). One place to be careful is around the Azores and Canary Islands - you can find a lot of Portuguese and Spanish ships transiting those waters.

[BulSoldier]

Dont forget the small Irish convoy.I almost cried when i saw their flag when closed enough.

[trongey]

I guess I'll have to watch for the lights/no lights thing. I've seen plenty of neutrals in the Channel, but never noticed the lights. It's 1939 and most of the ships I saw along the British coast during my last patrol were Norwegian. I thought I saw a Jack on the last one so I sent my final torpedo up his bow - oops . Fortunately, it didn't sink him even though it detonated under his bow. I guess you can shoot a neutral all you want without a renown hit as long as he doesn't sink. I would think in RL the owners of the ship and the supplier of torpedos would both be just a bit miffed about that.

I'm no expert on WWII equipment, but I would have expected any sort of warship to have some honkin' powerful binoculars for ship ID.


Tony

[TomcatMVD]

Originally Posted by trongey

I'm no expert on WWII equipment, but I would have expected any sort of warship to have some honkin' powerful binoculars for ship ID.
Tony

That's the UZO... you just need to get within range

[Jimbuna]

In the most 'generalised' of terms, the boat being lit or otherwise is usually a fair indication :hmm:

[trongey]

Originally Posted by TomcatMVD

That's the UZO... you just need to get within range

Well, yes, in theory. I've noticed though, that the attack scope actually seems to give the largest and clearest image, expecially in poor conditions. I've also noticed that the targets seem to be good as spotting me when I'm within 600m on the surface.:hmm:

Tony

[danlisa]

This is exactly why you have 10x zoom on the persicope. With it, you should be able to ID a flag from about 2km out.

[papa_smurf]

This is exactly why you have 10x zoom on the persicope. With it, you should be able to ID a flag from about 2km out

This is how I ID ships, and I always manage to correctly identify the nationality of the ship im targetting. Saying that, I have on a several occasions got things wrong and sunk a neutral

[trongey]

Originally Posted by danlisa

This is exactly why you have 10x zoom on the persicope. With it, you should be able to ID a flag from about 2km out.

That would be true if I were running GWX (which I plan to do after I finish my current camapaign). Well, the 10x part would be true. The combined performance of my old eyes and my old computer remains to be determined.