Manual Targeting in TMO different from stock game?

[razark]

Originally Posted by Barkerov

We don't actually give a crap about what the AOB is in and of itself, that was just the way target course information happens to be fed into the TDC.

I've always looked at it the other way. AoB is important, because it's one of the three angles of the triangle that we are so interested in:
Note that "Target Course" isn't even on this picture.

It doesn't matter what the target course is, unless you figure in your own heading. AoB remains AoB, regardless of which way you're going. It just happens to be easier to get enemy course directly from the map. Well, you could plot everything relative to your boat, say on a maneuvering board, and get the AoB without knowing anything about your own course, I suppose.
Of course, it's all just different ways of looking at the same problem. You can drag out complex math, draw it out on graph paper, solve it on a slide rule, or hand it to the TDC. (And they definitely knew it during the war. You'll find that subs often had a fire control party working independently of the TDC by another method.) As long as you understand that triangle and what it means, you're on the right track.