Need help at calculating intercept stuff

[Commander Mysenses]

I think there is very little point working out a formula to keep you just out of visual range as you move to your intercept point. This is mainly because your victim's visual range is always going to be changing due to several factors (time of day, weather, sea state, your profile and height and more). For example, if a fog bank sweeps across their visual range will drop considerably and you will be able to take a short cut to an intercept point. Conversely, if your are heading to an intercept as dawn approaches, you are going to have to steer around their ever-increasing visual range.

If you just want the most efficient intercept course, just make sure your victim remains on the same visual/hydrophone bearing as you approach. This is good when you are aproaching from way outside their visual range.

You piqued my interest with your diagram, plotting an intercept course from an initial parallel course (just outside the victim's visual range), so I plotted it out myself (in 30 minute iterations). Guess what?... it turns out to be an ellipse (s'pose I should have seen that coming). Trouble is, an ellipse will be a bu**er to plot!
Still, all a bit academic, when visual ranges wobble all over the place!

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by Commander Mysenses

I think there is very little point working out a formula to keep you just out of visual range as you move to your intercept point. This is mainly because your victim's visual range is always going to be changing due to several factors (time of day, weather, sea state, your profile and height and more). For example, if a fog bank sweeps across their visual range will drop considerably and you will be able to take a short cut to an intercept point. Conversely, if your are heading to an intercept as dawn approaches, you are going to have to steer around their ever-increasing visual range.

If you just want the most efficient intercept course, just make sure your victim remains on the same visual/hydrophone bearing as you approach. This is good when you are aproaching from way outside their visual range.

You piqued my interest with your diagram, plotting an intercept course from an initial parallel course (just outside the victim's visual range), so I plotted it out myself (in 30 minute iterations). Guess what?... it turns out to be an ellipse (s'pose I should have seen that coming). Trouble is, an ellipse will be a bu**er to plot!
Still, all a bit academic, when visual ranges wobble all over the place!

I figured the following method would be even more complicated for Kretschmer the IV, so I decided to restrict myself to giving the 'simple' solution above. But using this following intercept/manouvering diagram you can really keep going around in neat circles around your target. Or just directly towards or away from it. But it involves frequent re-draws of it and course changes as the true target bearing changes. I guess with the propper mousecursor modifications this would be equally possible in SH5 as it is in SH3 and SH4.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...12&postcount=5

[ETsd4]

To get with your sub x miles in front of a target is just a special case of the "Intercept of moving target"-problem, where you are x miles behind a target, on a same course as the target and you try to intercept the target.
For calculation use then the usual formula for interception
http://img.xrmb2.net/?imgID=207664
from the "formularies for u-boat commanders"-handbook =>

[Kretschmer the IV]

Well, my first and most important condition is: make it as simple as possible. Honestly, for me: i do not want to draw complicated figures just for one merchant. For a convoy i would do it

I think there is very little point working out a formula to keep you just out of visual range as you move to your intercept point. This is mainly because your victim's visual range is always going to be changing due to several factors (time of day, weather, sea state, your profile and height and more).

Thats why i took 10 nm, to make 100% sure to stay out their visual range. 8000m would do it too i guess.

For groups with more then 2 ships, i attack at night anyway. In this case i use AGRUFRONT LEHRMATERIALIEN with Attack Disc to calculate circumstances for a night attack.