My impresions of SH5 so far

[maillemaker]

Long time SH3 player here.

I love the graphics in the new game.

But I really feel like a fish out of water. I feel like a complete noob.

I've fired torpedoes at 2 targets now and missed.

It seems to me that the old 3:15 method of determining target speed no longer applies in SH5? Does anyone know what time interval gives speed in knots in SH5 when tracking a ship on the map?

How does one access the recognition manual?

I find that the explosions and fireballs on the ships seem to be a bit too fast in motion. They ought to be slower. I am running TDW FX Update if that matters.

I find the motion of the sub to be a bit too quick in the water, too, for that matter. I would think something so massive would move a bit slower in the water. I'm running the Historical Specifications 1.7 if that matters.

I'm really missing my old hot keys to jump from station to station in the boat.

And I haven't gotten the hang of all the events that knock me out of TC. Sometimes it drops to 1 for no apparent reason.

Steve

[Hinrich Schwab]

SH5 is utter garbage without mods. Go to this thread and select the mods you want. http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=190656

The 3:15 method is a mathematical truth. It always works, but the fire control methods in 5 won't let you do much with it. The stock TDC is completely broken and is ignored in favor of the "Connect-the-Dots/Kentucky Windage" model in the minimap. Almost all of your problems will be resolved with a liberal application of mods, particularly TheDarkWraith's TDC mod. This one is a must.

[maillemaker]

I am running TDW's TDC mod.

Here are the mods I am running currently:



I will try the 3:15 again. I had a merchant going 11 knots by calculation and my torps went in front of it.

Steve

[Hinrich Schwab]

Oops! I guess I should have asked about mods, first. Since you are using 3:15, I can assume manual targeting, correct? 11 knots is an odd speed to see merchants run at. Was he maneuvering, to the best of your observations? You have the torp speed fix, so that can't be the problem. The only other thing i can think of would be a timing error with or without an AOB miscalculation.

[misha1967]

Most of the merchants I've sunk so far (1939, September) ran at a steady 11 kts and I nailed them right amidships all the time with manual targeting. Except for the one time I made the mistake of using an electric with magnetic pistol, which ran straight under the keel without as much as a peep. But still amidships.

Which is historically accurate, to the best of my knowledge. They *did* run a bit too deep and the early magnetic pistols weren't worth much. My bad for not remembering my history.

[maillemaker]

Oops! I guess I should have asked about mods, first. Since you are using 3:15, I can assume manual targeting, correct? 11 knots is an odd speed to see merchants run at. Was he maneuvering, to the best of your observations? You have the torp speed fix, so that can't be the problem. The only other thing i can think of would be a timing error with or without an AOB miscalculation.

I'm doing an 90 degree attack (90 degree AOB), so range shouldn't matter and AOB error should be slight. I was shooting from about 1500m.

Only thing I can figure is I did not record time correctly with the stopwatch. I can't make out any minute marks on it so it is difficult to figure our when 3 minutes expires. I did it just by keeping track in my head how many times the second hand passed 12 o'clock. Maybe I lost track.

Steve

[0rpheus]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

I am running TDW's TDC mod.

Here are the mods I am running currently:



I will try the 3:15 again. I had a merchant going 11 knots by calculation and my torps went in front of it.

Steve

Do have another try, 3:15 works fine for me and no mod will affect it. The stopwatch can be a little hard to read, I've been caught out that way a few times

Also, just as a heads up - you may find that, with Nozaurio's skin so high up in the list, you may not get the skins appearing when you're given a 7c. I've found (through trial & error) that it's best to keep it as late as possible, preferably last in the mod order.

[NefariousKoel]

My 3:15s had seemed to be a bit on the fast side, too.

After using 3:00 it's been just fine thus far on 11kt merchants - right on the dot. Yes, it's set to metric system. *shrug* Makes me wonder if there's still some Imperial stuff going on there.

[misha1967]

After pondering some more, maillemaker, I have a couple of suggestions:

First of all, I never use the 3:15 method in SH5 (I'm familiar with it from the old SH3 days, I just don't use it anymore). Instead I clock the target at 5 min and use the handy-dandy conversion table. Which brings me to another question of yours that I overlooked. You're using the outstanding TDW NewUI, so to access both that conversion table AND the recog manual you've been looking for, just click on the "clipboard" icon in the upper right vertical menu and all of your draggable charts etc. will appear. You just need to click and drag them into view. The recog manual you're missing is on the left edge of the screen and only visible as a little gold clasp peeking out. Click and drag as needed. The distance to speed conversion table is one of the three charts tucked away in the upper left of your screen (it's the one called "Seite 2").

Anyway, when using the ruler to measure distance traveled, keep in mind that the ruler is not a precision instrument, it will round off. Thinking back, no matter how precisely I've measured my 5 minutes, I've never once hit an exact distance listed on the conversion table. What I do is "round off" to the closest one listed, and that has always gotten me the right speed so far. If you go by the strick 3:15 rule, by the other hand, you might be off by a hair.

Finally, seeing as how you're using the 90 AOB method (I do the same to the point where I'll hesitate a lot to attack if I can't use it), you have to pay really, really close attention to the gyro angle indicator after you've done the initial setup. It has to be exactly on zero for you to be on the right bearing with the periscope.

And finally finally (mheh, there's always something more with me ), this may or may not be an issue, but I had a problem hitting in the beginning too for no apparent reason. I don't know if this is what "fixed" it, but once I've initially locked a target and identified it, I hit Space to unlock it again (but leave the TDC on, I just click "never mind" to close the WEP dialog), then I turn the scope to a bearing of 0, turn on the TDC manual input with the red button, set speed and AOB=90, lock it in, and then turn it back until the gyro reads zero and wait. Initially, I tended to leave the TDC dialog and target lock on. I don't know if this messed up my firing solutions, but it might be worth a try to not do so. (The dialog doesn't matter, it just takes up space, but the Space Bar "lock" might).

[NefariousKoel]

Yeah, just use the conversion table and go per minute.

That's what I started doing after I found them on the improved UI mod. Can still go per minute with some easy multiplication or division.