Manual Targeting in Bad Weather

[heartc]

Originally Posted by GTHammer

Heart I'd like to say that was a great post.

Thanks. I hope the issue gets more of a lobby before the patch is out, since it is *essential* to the TDC operation and would also make manual targetting about 50% easier and at the same time more realistic.

Bearings - the actually sighted target bearing and the TDC-computed target bearing - are the quintessence of coming up with a valid firing solution, because if those two bearings match and keep matching over time, the TDC "knows" the target position and the torps WILL hit (unless they themselves malfunction), and if they do not match, then the torps WILL miss. It was this function - the ability to "check" your solution - which made the TDC a much more superior tool than say, the German system which was just an angle solver for *one* point in time, instead of a real-time mechanical computer.* And to use it properly and without hassle, we need this "transmit bearing" button.

BTW, comparing sighted relative bearing with computed relative bearing also pretty much eliminates the need for this magic chronometer thingy people so dearly ask for. I can understand the reasoning behind it (the crew doing the speed calc in the background based on your observation), yet you pretty much don't need it if you understand the TDC. Guestimate speed, then adjust it according to how the bearings develope.


*Amongst many other examples, I remember a patrol report where the issue was malfunctioning torps and the word out was still that the skippers are making solution errors. In the patrol report, the skipper noted: "Had a perfect solution, observed target for several minutes, during which observed bearing and TDC bearing matched perfectly."