Periscope View - Target Decay Rate

[caodwolf]

I play with map contacts on as to me this represents by crews view. In attack mode however, I as the Kapitan peering through the attack periscope only has eyes on the target. When you shift from the periscope to the map view you can see the target. When you lower the periscope and jump to the map view you still see the target for a period of time as it gradually decays.

Is there a way to increase this map view decay rate ? I adjusted something on my old PC which accelerated the decay rate to around 10 seconds but I cannot figure out what I did. I've fiddled with the sensor.cfg file to no avail. Right now on my new PC it's around 40-45 seconds.

I do not want to see the ship in map view when I jump over from the attack periscope as I want to plot the target based on my own observations.

Thanks in advance fo r any suggestions.

Dave

[Aktungbby]

caodwolf! after a long silent run.

[Plague]

I'm sorry, I have no answer for your question, but don't you think it should be better to play with no map contacts at all?

I don't want to be teacher's pet, indeed I used to play with map contacts ON till one month ago. That day I decided to try the realistic way and... well, I have to admit that it's harder but much more satisfying and I think I'll never go back to the "easy" way.

Just give it a try, you'll never regret.

[Zosimus]

The realistic way is with a crew of 7-9 people working on the problem. You have a captain, three seamen, a weapons officer, a navigator, a helmsman, a radio officer, and a sonar officer all helping you to plot stuff on maps and take observations.

What exactly does the weapons officer do on your boat anyway? Does he just gaze blankly into space the whole time, or does he smoke a few reefers while you pretend he doesn't exist and cannot help you with the problem?

[Sailor Steve]

The captain is in the conning tower manning the periscope, far from the plotting chart. The U-boat had no such thing as a "Weapons Officer". The 1WO, or Erster Wachoffizier, did the plotting, with the aid of the Obersteurmann, or Navigator (actually Senior Quartermaster would be a better term). That's about it. The crewmembers mentioned above would have no room to stand around the plotting table.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Zosimus

The realistic way is with a crew of 7-9 people working on the problem. You have a captain, three seamen, a weapons officer, a navigator, a helmsman, a radio officer, and a sonar officer all helping you to plot stuff on maps and take observations.

This matter comes up frequently in SH4, and the same considerations apply.

In RL, most of the critical tracking work (plot, observations, op of TDC or related equipment) was probably done by 3 or 4 people. That number was necessary in RL, but the game is less demanding, and we can pause it, without difficulty. People like to say that the map-contacts are "realistic" because the skipper wouldn't do the chore of plotting himself. They focus entirely on who is doing the task, while ignoring how it is done. Was any real-life crew ever able to plot enemy positions with 100% accuracy, and do this in real-time? Using map-contacts makes the skill of the player/ observer largely irrelevant. Players routinely obtain tonnages far in excess of what RL skippers could get. I think it should be easy to see why.

[Sailor Steve]

I use the 'Assisted Plotting Mod'. It uses the map updates function to make a realistic depiction of the target ship. No ships appear on the map unless you identify it first, and then it will be the only ship that appears. Extremely functional. I use it and I don't even do manual targeting.