RFB, Accurate Manual Targeting and Realism

[CapnScurvy]

I know a bit about Mast Heights, Manual Targeting, the relationship between the Stadimeter reading and the Position Keeper, and what results one gets with a poor firing solution (SCAF). May I say, with some of RFB 1.52's mast heights, you couldn't hit a bull's behind with a base fiddle!!! OK, so maybe you could if you were 600 yards from target; the torpedo's don't arm themselves before 400 yards!!

I've spent a lot of time testing, calibrating, retesting, finding manual range using the stadimeter, to know the stock mast heights are on average 25-35% incorrect. Enough so that one meter (the internal game files are all in meters) on average, will produce a little less than 50 yards of difference for a manual targeting solution compared to an automatically found one. This is with the range being taken at a standard 1200 to 1300 yard distance, and with an average mast height of 19-23 meters.

If you use the auto targeting feature you can stop reading now. The relationship of correct range finding with auto targeting compared to manual targeting is like day and night. The devs developed auto targeting to keep accurate track of targets for you. In this regard they did it very well. You can still screw up, but most of the hard work is done for you. In auto targeting the game doesn't use the mast heights to find range but rather object coordinates to find the correct relationship's between one another. The game keeps track of hundreds of objects, so finding the distance between just two is a piece of cake.

In manual targeting the player makes the inputs for a firing solution. The one I'm most concerned about is mast heights since this one figure is out of the players control (it is placed in the game through the ships .cfg files), and yet it makes part of the equation for manually finding accurate range when doing it yourself. The game crunches the numbers for you, but the solution is only as good as the input figures you use. So let's look at some of these mast height figures from RFB compared to stock; compared to what they would be if you wanted accurate range finding. I'm only going to list a few.

German Lrg Tanker using the tallest mast
RFB=28.0416 meters tall
Stock=29.6
Accurate=24.2

T3 Tanker (for those that plan to play the German side, more to come below)
RFB=28.956
Stock=29.6
Accurate=25.5

Medium Old Composite Freighter
RFB=27.432
Stock=29.3
Accurate=29.2

BUT here's where the differences really don't add up (edited note: these RFB figures are for Warship funnel heights, the other's are for mast heights. My mistake, read the post further down for comparing apples to apples)

Asashio DD
RFB=12.192
Stock=27.0
Accurate=27.1

Minekaze DD
RFB=10.2108
Stock=21.0
Accurate=21.75

Yamato BB
RFB=27.432
Stock=44.0
Accurate=42.5

Sub Chaser
RFB=7.62
Stock=18.0
Accurate=17.9

Lrg MineLayer
RFB=13.716
Stock=21.0
Accurate=28.56

And for those using the Allied ships for targets (edited note: again the RFB figures are for funnel heights, the others are showing mast heights. My mistake.

River DE
RFB=11.2776
Stock=19.5
Accurate=25.5

Fletcher DD
RFB=14.3256
Stock=27.8
Accurate=27.8

Brooklyn CL
RFB=20.4216
Stock=31.7
Accurate=32.4

Colorado BB
RFB=21.6408
Stock=42.2
Accurate=43.6

OK, that's enough for now. The point is if you plan to use RFB and manual targeting you had better get close enough to see the whites of their eyes or your going to be disappointed in the results. For some, this is "realism" as it's intended to be. I don't agree. This intentionally bends the muzzle of the gun and tells you for the sake of realism, to use it as is. This is like the old Don Knots movie playing his role as sheriff in the old west. He couldn't hit a thing if his life depended on it. In real life, if a sub Captain was issued the same weapon he would have corrected it because his "real life" and those of his crew depended on it.

This is a game, meant for entertainment, not frustration. You want frustration, chances are you can find plenty of it in your own "real life". To model the inability to accurately find range does not create realism, it creates frustration and doubt in your make believe abilities to simulate a sub Captain. If this was all that was found in "real life" during WWII we would have never won the war.

RFB creates "realism" by tweaking AI sensors, and ship physics; and in this case the ship mast heights that make a solution for firing. The efforts can be better served by removing the time compression from the game if that's what RFB is all about. We could spend an evening heading West and after 3 hours still look over our right shoulder to see Pearl.