Stadimeter: Where to put horizontal crossline?

[Drakken]

Allright, stadimeter problems have been discussed through and through in the last year. I think everyone, beginner and intermediate players alike (me included), still struggle with the stadimeter to the point of madness, especially when you cannot check your solution using the attack map (like in RFB+RSRD mod).

I was so frustrated with the wide ranges of estimation even at closer range, that I admit I have left the game in disgust. But now I am back...

I've been thinking... Since stadimeter measures angle, from which the range is infered, I was wondering if, perhaps, part of the problem was the position of the horizontal crosshair line in TBT/Attack periscope sight. Since a stadimeter measures the angle between the tip of the mast and the waterline, the periscope's crossline should be lined with the waterline. If not, when the double image is put on the tip of the highest part of the ship, of course the angle will be too short or too wide...

Am I making sense, or does the stadimeter ignore the position of the crossline when calculating the angle?

[Seminole]

I admit I have left the game in disgust. But now I am back...

I'll probably be pillaried as a heretic for saying so but you have alternatives to using impossible mods that give you grief. These range from not using them at all to using parts of them that appeal to you..which is what I do.

As for the stadimeter it has been discussed to death. I learned to use it by trial and error in the Artillery sub school and in campaigns. It can be ,often is, frustrating but it can be mastered with practice and patience.

There is an alternative to using it however:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...&postcount=167


Try the Dick O'Kane method. It is easy manual targeting. You can mix it up with full manual to relieve some of that frustration while you master the full manual. Doing that either saved me from Auto targeting or quiting all together...I'm not sure which...

You might also try learning the sonar attack and approach...doing so might help shed some light on the whole process. Believe it or not I have had a higher rate of success with sonar attacks than with stadimeter assisted attacks.

Good Luck...and stick with it.

[Drakken]

Will check the O'Kane method... but was it really used by Dick O'Kane historically? Seems too simple to be true. :hmm:

Just wondering, because it is really only with the range estimation that I struggle with, thus the damn stadimeter. :p

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by Drakken

the damn stadimeter. :p

That's nice compared to some of the names I've called it. I understand in SH3 the line should be at the waterline, but in SH4 it does not matter. After all you aren't superimposing the masthead on the line, but on the waterline. That angle stays the same no matter what part of the field of view the waterline is in. Your horizontal centerline doesn't have any part of the calculation.

You can't use the attack map to check your setup? I use it all the time in TMO and I can't imagine RFB is harder. There is a line showing the lead angle of the shot. The end of that line closest to your target and extending ahead of it on the target's course (if you're set up right that is!) is the impact point. I don't have RFB installed so I can't check it out right now.

Did Dick O'Kane use the Dick O'Kane technique? Aaronblood and I have done enough research to know that he COULD have. What we do know from Wahoo and Clear the Deck is that O'Kane would follow the target around with the PK on making sure that the PK and the target were in agreement. In SH4 parlance, he switched to the attack screen and adjusted target range, course and speed until the PK perfectly tracked the target.

Then he sighted ahead of the target, turned the PK off, sent that bearing to the TDC and fired as juicy parts of the target "passed the wire." He mentioned approaching at 90º to the track also. Put all the pieces together and you get something very close to the Dick O'Kane technique.

The funny thing about it is that Aaronblood, gutted and I invented the technique first and then fished around for an appropriate name. Aaronblood was reading Clear the Deck and connected the dots. Although he may not have used the precise technique, it is appropriate that we named this devastating procedure after the master of the Torpedo Data Computer, Dick O'Kane.

[Drakken]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

You can't use the attack map to check your setup? I use it all the time in TMO and I can't imagine RFB is harder. There is a line showing the lead angle of the shot. The end of that line closest to your target and extending ahead of it on the target's course (if you're set up right that is!) is the impact point. I don't have RFB installed so I can't check it out right now.

I have RFB v1.5 plus RSRD, and the Attack Map isn't keymapped anywhere, and not even accessible through the GUI. I have looked everywhere for a way to access it, but to no avail.

So until I can find a way to access the Attack Map with these two mods. I am basically blind as far as target solutions are concerned.

[Frying Tiger]

Originally Posted by Drakken

I have RFB v1.5 plus RSRD, and the Attack Map isn't keymapped anywhere, and not even accessible through the GUI. I have looked everywhere for a way to access it, but to no avail.

So until I can find a way to access the Attack Map with these two mods. I am basically blind as far as target solutions are concerned.

I use TM, but there's one trick I use to check out the solution without using the attack map. (I only use the attack map to judge the closest point of approach anyway) The tool tip that pops up over the torpedo gyro angle dial on the TDC gives the relative bearing. If your range and speed are close to correct, over time this bearing will track the direction on the scope to the target. I check each time I raise the scope (as it's coming up I put it on the generated bearing) to see if my solution is lagging or leading the target. The error can be speed or range (or they might cancel each other out!) but I can usually tell how close my solution is. I've been shooting over 75% on the first shot unless I get all happy and fire before I'm confident in my speed and range!