Attack disk & RAOFB

[xXNightEagleXx]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Yes, radar works against escorted convoys and in heavy seas. You can even extend the radar antenna from periscope or just go to radar depth to use it while submerged.

But yes, American sub commanders were very good at judging AoB by eyeball and trained extensively to get better at it. Since exact AoB was always available by the protractor method on the nav map, they were continually announcing observed AoB from the periscope and comparing it with actual.

All the other hocus pocus in those German periscopes presupposes perfect knowledge of what the target is and what its length is. Such fantasies of perfect knowledge are part and parcel of the German defeat. They were not superior. They were not infallible. They were utterly defeated by their betters.

Lets approach the use of radar against a convoy. With radar you know the course and speed of every ship in that convoy. You instantly know of any course changes and can react very quickly. They know somebody out there somewhere is using some kind of radio on that frequency, and that only if they are monitoring the radar frequency. Huge advantage to the submarine.

RR, i kind agree and disagree with you. Your statement about having perfect knowledge about everything is totally right, it would be so silly to really believe on having all info exactly with a almost none to zero errors.

That said, first of all let's keep in mind that germans didn't have radars. So they had really to trust on numbers and feelings, mixing these together can really compensate any lack of each.

It is very very important to remind that we are talking about a simulation on a virtual scenario. In real life with experience, it is possible to estimate any variable (some easier with more accuracy and some harder with increased error). However, in the game, with today technologies, it is impossible to have the same perspective as in real life, that changes a lot the way we interact with the game by removing/limiting a lot of skills we would use ourselves if we were in real life.

If you can estimate the AoB, then you can find its course (as we know) and you could also estimate/find its speed using CBDR technique (i'm aware that react to any variation is almost impossible).

Moreover it would be possible to take notes (vertical periscope marks, magnification, time taken to impact, etc...) pre fire/post impact and from there, for example, find the mast height that you might use to fill your personal ship database and/or improve your eyeball estimation skill....i would go even further by saying that at this point you can find even the length.

I would not be surprised if any official tells me that germans relied a lot on the salve shooting to counterbalance any error.

What i'm trying to say is that this need to have perfect data from start is just wrong, it would be more realistic to have incorrect data with random amount of error or missing data that would requires the player to try to correct/add them by himself (maybe even something ingame).

However, somehow this hole between RL and virtual sim must be filled at least partially.

Using OTC, for example, it is like having a manual calculator that if you follow each step correctly it is impossible to miss the hit (incredible precise AoB, distance and speed and this without any plot but only numbers), which it is not ok for me.

In my life i have seen people be able to do things naturally that others really struggle to or not even able to have the same result with assistance. So i would not be surprised if officers used to rely mostly on their estimations and used the few known data, right or wrong, just as an addition to verify their estimations (or exclude for good in case of huge mismatch). I can even imagine the scene of them checking their book and cursing someone for the outrageous mistake.

These are just my opinions that might even be totally wrong, so please feel free to correct if i'm wrong.

NE