manual targeting - speed

[Frederf]

Negative. Range matters a great deal even against a stationary target. If you have TDC data

Range: 1100yd
Bearing: 056°
Speed: 0 kt

and the target is actually

Range: 4300yd
Bearing: 056°
Speed: 0 kt

You will miss.

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by Frederf

Range: 1100yd
Bearing: 056°
Speed: 0 kt

and the target is actually

Range: 4300yd
Bearing: 056°
Speed: 0 kt

You will miss.

Indeed, and it's not going to be even close. Below is the same situation drawn in Mobo. A straight run of 200 yds from the periscope to the turning point is assumed before the torpedo executes an immediate turn to the bearing. In practice the turn wouldn't be immediate and the straight run would probably longer, resulting in an even bigger error.

[Morpheus]

there is also another "trick" to get the targets estimated speed...

when reporting a convoy, you can read the estemated speed from the radio log ... this can be considered as "cheating", but so what.

torpedo fireing from a german uboat in sh4 is bugged anyways, when playing stock, so take any advantage you can get.

i play with the "map update" feature and fire directely from the attack map view. it's like shooting fish in a barrel. i never miss.

maby that changes with mods like operation moonsun. i will have a try on that soon.

cheers
morph

[kstanb]

I don't consider it cheating for the only reason that the estimate is not that good anyway, last time I check, radio log estimated 5 knots and the actual 2 bearing-range input gave me 7 knots

Originally Posted by Morpheus

there is also another "trick" to get the targets estimated speed...

when reporting a convoy, you can read the estemated speed from the radio log ... this can be considered as "cheating", but so what.

[Rockin Robbins]

Since the stadimeter is cursed and a one pixel error can result in a hundred or two hundred yard difference in measured range, I always time the run between two points three minutes apart. The number of hundred yards you run in that time is the target speed in knots. A cursed stadimeter also means the estimate course and speed button is also cursed.

If you are using radar, this is a dead accurate number you can rely on. With radar, you have the additional advantage of not having to expose your periscope with the target close aboard to obtain the information. With metric, the number of hundred meters traveled between two positions 3 minutes fifteen seconds apart does the trick.

According to the Submarine Torpedo Fire Control Manual, all shots under a 30º gyro angle are considered straight fire and can absorb a lot of range error without missing your target. That doesn't mean you can input 750 yards for a target 3,000 yards away! But it does mean that ballpark ranges work just fine for lesser gyro angles.

In a trailing situation, I don't like the 180º AoB shot all all. Just a tiny rudder movement of the target and your torpedo misses. I like to set up for a shot that runs parallel to the target, takes a 90º turn and impacts broadside. That means range is critical! But it also means almost no possibility for the target to maneuver out of the way. The action report that begins the RFB training manual is a recounting of exactly that situation.

[kstanb]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

If you are using radar, this is a dead accurate number you can rely on. With radar, you have the additional advantage of not having to expose your periscope with the target close aboard to obtain the information. With metric, the number of hundred meters traveled between two positions 3 minutes fifteen seconds apart does the trick.

Maybe a stupid question, but how do you use radar for two points speed measurement?
is there a button to send radar range to TDC? like the active sonar approach?
I use radar just to figure out an aprox. range to target, but I have never been able to get exact distance

[Frederf]

Originally Posted by gutted

not true.

in regards to the fleet boats..you can be moving, and the PK can be on. I use the stopwatch all the time, right up until i fire to recheck/compare the speed and heading it gives me. once it's consistent.. i know it's good.

What do you mean the stopwatch? Do you mean you are actually plotting and using the big silver stopwatch or are you using the brown arc'd stopwatch button on the TDC speed input dial?

I'm pretty sure that the little stopwatch button only compares 2 bearing-range figures to do some simple math and calc a course and speed. I guess it'd be an easy test to simply give the same input twice while having been moving between the two and see if it reports "0kt target speed."

Originally Posted by kstanb

Maybe a stupid question, but how do you use radar for two points speed measurement?
is there a button to send radar range to TDC? like the active sonar approach?
I use radar just to figure out an aprox. range to target, but I have never been able to get exact distance

RR ascribes to the philosophy that 100% realism is less help than reality and I believe runs with map contact updates on. He then takes his radar ranges from the map contact updates.

Doing it without map contact updates leaves you with 3 options:
1. Estimate from the PPI scope
2. Estimate from the A scope
3. Download the mod that makes the A scope much more precise and use the A scope. (I have a version that works with RFB1.52 if you need it).