Obtaining accurate speed estimates from map plots

[CapnScurvy]

Hi, gi_dan. I was just answering another post of yours when I ran across this one.

I'm a 100% realism player. That means absolutely no map contact updates to form torp solutions. When I use the stadimeter to obtain two range/bearing readings, then click the clock icon for speed/course, I usually get values that are off a good deal in accuracy. So unless I'm firing from close proximity, I don't have very good hit percentages.

I too am a 100% realism player. I learned back in my SHIII days how to plot contacts on the map with no help from the computer. Thanks to guys like Wazoo who developed the process of map plotting using a hand held tool similar to my AoB Calculator found HERE. The difference in the calculator Wazoo used and the one I developed, is a third "compass" dial that helps in turning "relative" bearing into "true North" bearing. If you're playing the German side, the calculator is extremely important in providing an accurate plot on the nav map. On the American side of play, knowing what the Position Keeper/TDC dials do and how they relate to one another takes the place of a hand held calculator.

To be brief, I won't go into the details of explaining what the PK does, how to use the dials to plot a targets position on the nav map, or use the plot to estimate speed and AoB. But, my "High Realism Tutorial" does. It's showing it's age (I should update it to comply with the work I've done with the Optical Targeting Correction mod) however, the process of making a plot and making a good firing solution from it still holds true.

One other quick point, my first frustrations with the game came when I discovered (much like you), why was I missing a target after doing a fairly good job in making the estimates required to complete a firing solution? I found out the games target mast height measurements were not even close to what they should be. Some so far off, that at a true 1200 yard distance the stadimeter would read a 500 yard error into the range figure! Some of the problems are indeed due to what I've discovered through the Optical Targeting Correction thread where I've pointed them out (like the stadimeter not being centered on the sub; allowing a 10 to 20 yard difference in range finding, in less than 1000 yards distance, depending on which direction the reading is taken. The error growing much larger, the further away the target is). But, the mast heights are really the problem with many of the Recognition Manual entries.

In my opinion, I'll accept a miss due to realistic running torpedoes, or a calculation error I put into my plot, or estimated data. But, to have the game measurements so far off that the only way you could hit some of these targets is to be close enough to ram it shouldn't be one of them. It's like going into a gunfight, knowing your weapon shoots to the left by twenty feet. Not realistic at all.