Radar, Sonar explained

[vois2]

Originally Posted by Chili

. . . I am having NO luck at all with the sonar and radar functions. Can anyone who does get this stuff to work please explain step by step how they did it. I am getting very frustrated with the lack of instruction, explanation, or tutorials for those of us who haven't played the silent hunter series before.

Chili,
I can get you up to speed on sonar, which I find to function perfectly and as expected regarding my experience with SH3. ( >>> Radar is another story. It works, by itself, although I can't interact with it in any way. For radar, I just let the operator tell me what he sees on the scope. By the way I can't get him to stop doing this. <<< )

For sonar ...
I find that the hydrophone is completely functional between 60 to 80 feet depth to keel. I suppose if you are using metric, that would be between 18 and 24 meters depth to keel.

When your ship is at this depth, cut all engines by pressing the ` key. (Upper left of keyboard next to the number "1".)

Press the hydrophone icon or press F8.

All you need to do now is rotate the direction of the hydrophone. You can do this by pressing the "HOME" key on the keyboard. You need to tap it, and not hold it down, so that you arc through 2 or 3 degrees with each tap of the HOME key.

You may wish to make sure there aren't any background noises in the room (real, live room).

If you come across a sonar contact, you will hear the difference. A steady chugging of any sort will reveal the bearing at which the contact lay.

Generally, a ship will be heard on two or three degrees of bearing. That is, if you can hear the ship on 73 degrees, you will probably hear it also on 72 and 74 degrees.

In my experience with both games, if the sound of screws turning is very, very faint, then that ship is very, very far away and you should be prepared for a long chase of successive travel and hydrophone checks to find him.

If you can hear the screws without much straining, then you've got a good potential target at hand. One of the buttons (I believe it is the second or third yellow button from the left) when pressed will reveal a text message showing you the range to the target. Be aware that using this active sonar (to find range) may reveal your location to nearby warships.

You should test all of the above on a known contact. Try a training mission with known ships in the area and dive down to 60 to 80 feet and test the above, to train your ear.

Thanks,
vois2

[horrgakx]

Originally Posted by vois2

When your ship is at this depth, cut all engines by pressing the ` key. (Upper left of keyboard next to the number "1".)

Thats a big gripe I've got with whomever designs the keyboard shortcuts in games - that key is located to the left of the "1" key .... on US keyboards. On our UK layouts (and probably Europe as well * ) it is located between the "L" and "Enter" buttons, alongside our @ symbol. Please bear this in mind when telling people which keys to use, it can instill confusion.



Dave


* OMG there are places outside the US?????!

[Front Runner]

Anyone know how to get range rings to show up?