How to calculate ACCURATE range without having to use the stadimeter?

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Yes. I get the background game sound but no voice over.

Oh, lol, there is no voice over. It's just a gameplay recording.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

Oh, lol, there is no voice over. It's just a gameplay recording.

That would make it very difficult to understand if no one is explaining all the lines and circles would it not?

[Hitman]

Using the WO to give you reports every 3m.15s seems a great and easy way to get the plots needed (with god mode off) .Is he fairly accurate then,and are his reports to be relied upon?

He does round up the values to the next hundreths, i.e. 5634 metres is 5600 metres, but that is not just close enough, but also realistic for what you would expect when using a small hand-held rangefinder (In fact may be even more at long distances) and is good enough for plotting while surfaced. Once you are underwater, at periscope depth, it will be just you who can look through the periscope and construct the firing solution -again realistically-

I have seen copies of the UBCH on Amazon,and it is extremely rare to get hold of,do you know any other places that might sell it?,ideally UK suppliers.But if it can only be ordered overseas I may have to open a paypal account,something i'm not too thrilled about doing...still

Get it here for free and print it:

http://www.hnsa.org/doc/uboat/index.htm

But be aware that there are some minor translation errors in the text.

Good hunting

[Paul Riley]

Guess what Hitman,

I just ordered a brand new copy of the UBCH at amazon UK,for about £12.00! They finally have some copies,so I snapped one up while I could!

Here is the link for anyone wanting this elusive gem
http://www.amazon.co.uk/U-Boat-Commanders-Handbook/dp/0939631210

[Paul Riley]

Originally Posted by Hitman

He does round up the values to the next hundreths, i.e. 5634 metres is 5600 metres, but that is not just close enough, but also realistic for what you would expect when using a small hand-held rangefinder (In fact may be even more at long distances) and is good enough for plotting while surfaced. Once you are underwater, at periscope depth, it will be just you who can look through the periscope and construct the firing solution -again realistically-

That all makes sense now mate,and thanks.Getting accurate ranges to targets with the naked eye or as you say a small rangefinder would have took nothing short of god-like abilities.

Just one last little question about this now.Lets say you got your range wrong by about 100,or 200m,how far out would that be after about 50km of tracking,would the contact still be in either visual or audible range?.Getting the ranges wrong,would naturally give you a slightly incorrect course angle,and after 50km or more even a 1 or 2 degrees shift could be quite substantial.But probably not that much,he should still be in sound range,at least.

[Hitman]

In SH3 the visibility is just 16-18000 metres when using the 16 k environment mod (And only <9000 metres without it), so you must consider the 50 km figure that OLC said more as a real life matter than something usable in the game.

If you plot the target using the IWO and make an average after say, 6-10 estimates, you should have a fair degree of accurancy and be able to do a good end around at full speed plotting a paralell course in the limit of visibility, i.e. a course parallel at 15000 metres to the target/convoy (in good visibility), so you never lose the sight of the tips of the masts, or at least the smoke plumes.

[Paul Riley]

16-18000 metres? and,the stock game vis. limit is on a clear day about 8-9000m.That is about double,is that correct then?,that is bloody far
Would someone be able to see that far with the naked eye?

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

16-18000 metres? and,the stock game vis. limit is on a clear day about 8-9000m.That is about double,is that correct then?,that is bloody far
Would someone be able to see that far with the naked eye?

You can see the moon, right?

In very clear weather the limiting factor on visibility is how high up you are vs how high the ship mast / smoke column is (because of the curvature of the earth). On the ocean, with your eyes just 5m above the surface of the water, the horizon is 8km away (which means that - on paper - you can see things that are 5m tall up to 16km away, and things taller than 5m can be seen further than that).

And of course your crew are not really spotting "with the naked eye" - they have binocs.

[GinoC]

Originally Posted by Paul Riley

16-18000 metres? and,the stock game vis. limit is on a clear day about 8-9000m.That is about double,is that correct then?,that is bloody far
Would someone be able to see that far with the naked eye?

On a very clear day, you can see the superstructure of another ship above the horizon with binoculars at 15 NM or ~28km. That being said, how much you can see all depends on your height of eye above the surface. I can't imagine a Type VII could have been much more than 5m or so. That would give you a distance to the sea horizon of 8km. Anything further than that would start to dip below the horizon.