Speed number--figuring out ships speed

I don't understand why you are quarreling with each other, guys ...

@ Zosimus : You can't say that u-boats' captains were incompetent, because you have not yourself commanded a German u-boat in WWII, so you have no real idea on how difficult it was (technology, navigation, psychology, self-control ....) Don't forget that SH3 is just a very unrealistic game with a very basic artificial intelligence, and you are playing it at home sitting on a confortable chair during your free time, without risking your own life, and the life of a whole crew ... If "game over", you can restart ... that was not the case in real life ...

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by Kendras

I don't understand why you are quarreling with each other, guys ...

@ Zosimus : You can't say that u-boats' captains were incompetent, because you have not yourself commanded a German u-boat in WWII, so you have no real idea on how difficult it was (technology, navigation, psychology, self-control ....) Don't forget that SH3 is just a very unrealistic game with a very basic artificial intelligence, and you are playing it at home sitting on a confortable chair during your free time, without risking your own life, and the life of a whole crew ... If "game over", you can restart ... that was not the case in real life ...

What he implied is that since he did so well in a game, spending an hour making things perfect, most real uboat captains were incompetent because they followed their handbook while dealing with the unpredictable actions of other human beings who may or may not have spotted them, with the actions of their own crew, with the randomness of equipment failures or weather, eith the effects of wind and current on ownship course and speed made good, rather than trying to perfectly match his technique in a controlled environment.

Bottom line. The techniques used by real ww2 captains would've been used by all of them because they'd be discussed over drinks, gossipped about at squadron, and eventually become doctrine. New techniques discovered by a succesful captain would eventually be tried by all of them. For all we know, some Uboat captain may have parallelly figured out Ekelund ranging, Spiess Ranging, or CHURN, but if he never got a chance to employ it due to being sunk first, we'll never know.

[BigWalleye]

Originally Posted by Zosimus

So when BigWallEyed says, "Your average u-boat captain didn't do it that way," I just don't see how that's an argument for anything.

That's interesting, since if you go back and actually read my post, you will see that I never wrote those words. or any words of equivalent or even similar meaning.

Some observations:

1. We are at an advantage over our RL counterparts. We know that AI ships only move at speeds in integer knots. Check in the campaign.xxx files. Or turn on the God's eye view so you can get exact data. You'll see what I mean.

2. Knowing the target's speed to better than the nearest integer is not necessary for a successful firing solution. The target is BIG. At 1000 meters, optimum firing range as recommended by KM doctrine, a 140 meter long ship will subtend 8 degrees. The lead angle for a 90 degree shot is 14.5 degrees for a target moving at 10 knots. So if you aim for the center of the target, you can have a speed error of 27% at 1000 meters and still hit. At 2000 meters, quite a long shot, the allowable error drops to 14%. That's 8.5 kts, instead of 10kts. It is not difficult to distinguish between 8.5 and 10 kts.

3. Submarine commanders were warriors, not engineers and certainly not accountants. If you read the first-person accounts, they didn't attempt to determine target parameters with great accuracy, just enough to get the torpedo on the target with a good probability of success. Better to fire two fish, hit, and retire than to try for the perfect shot, get detected, and have to abort the attack. I don't recall ever having read of an RL sub skipper who regarded the attack as a math problem. That's for staff officers.

Remember that the torpedo is a big, powerful weapon. Any hit will do a lot of damage. A heart shot is not needed.

[hauangua]

Originally Posted by Kendras

I don't understand why you are quarreling with each other, guys ...

@ Zosimus : You can't say that u-boats' captains were incompetent, because you have not yourself commanded a German u-boat in WWII, so you have no real idea on how difficult it was (technology, navigation, psychology, self-control ....) Don't forget that SH3 is just a very unrealistic game with a very basic artificial intelligence, and you are playing it at home sitting on a confortable chair during your free time, without risking your own life, and the life of a whole crew ... If "game over", you can restart ... that was not the case in real life ...

I agree
comprehensive answer
Someone confusing real life with game...