[REL] Revised engine telegraph

[Highbury]

Originally Posted by Arclight

If you find me a good picture of an engine telegraph, I'll use those terms.

What you have looks good for a 'common' US military telegraph of the day.

http://www.westsea.com/tsg3/itemlock...cker/06-74.JPG

Of course that is not from a sub, but it does prove your terminology is not incorrect at all.

Thanks for the upload!

[Arclight]

Aye, but I think the question has become whether the text should reflect the spoken words, or what is represented on the telegraph. And whether to use military terms or civilian.

I'd translate "kleine fahrt vorauss" as "ahead dead slow", while the proper term in English as found on the military telegraph is "(all) ahead 1/3".

At first I figured "well, it's a military craft and the text is in english", but it feels a bit clinical; perhaps a closer approximation of what is spoken (in German) will appear more natural.

Sooo...

All stop
Ahead dead slow
Ahead slow
Ahead standard
Ahead full
Ahead flank
Back dead slow
Back slow
Back full
Back emergency!

How's that?

[Bilge_Rat]

to be most accurate, it should probably be checked with someone who speaks german to see what is the correct translation.

[Arclight]

Maybe, though I still think it should be translated into proper English terms. We already have the literal translation.

[Baleur]

All back full <-- sounds funny :P

[Arclight]

You should join the navy then, you'll have a blast.

[Highbury]

Originally Posted by Arclight

<snip>

Sooo...

All stop
Ahead dead slow
Ahead slow
Ahead standard
Ahead full
Ahead flank
Back dead slow
Back slow
Back full
Back emergency!

How's that?

Actually that's pretty good IMO. In English we have a definite difference between a Military or Civilian engine order telegraph, but we like to re-invent the wheel in terms of language in the military, because even the most elementary things must have a "military" way of saying it lol. It appears that the ones used on U-boats would translate closer to what we consider a civilian one.

[Arclight]

Aye, just gonna go with that. Seem to recall hearing "ein dritten fahrt vorauss" or something, think in SH3. That would translate to "ahead 1/3", but the last suggestion seems more in line with what we hear in SH5.

File updated, happy with it.

[Sailor Steve]

The only thing I would change is the caps. Since it is a command, or an order, I would think each word should be capitalized, i.e. "Ahead Dead Slow."

Perhaps to match the "Extreme" idea, and to match the reverse, it should be "Ahead Emergency." I think that's how I'm going to do it in my SH3 setup. Of course someone has said that "Extreme" is something somebody said, and not the actual order.

[Arclight]

Meh, you start a line with a capital letter, not every word. I think the rules of grammer are pretty clear on that.

Besides, other lines in the text feedback don't use caps for every word either. I want any mods, whether they are my own or someone else's, to 'blend' with the game. Even the smallest detail that looks out of place can ruin the feeling imho.

It's called 'back emergency' because you use it in an emergency. 'Ahead flank' may be used simply to overtake a convoy.

Yep, I'm happy with it as it is.

* Apart from 'back dead slow', that just sounds weird, but for lack of a better term, so it shall be.

[Frederf]

Pulling from some of the better SH3 mods I would say your last setup is the best. The only one I'm unsure of is "back dead slow." In SH4 all the "backs" were kicked up a notch (missing the bottom rung) so you had:

Ahead dead slow
Ahead slow
Ahead standard
Ahead full
Ahead flank

Back slow
Back standard
Back full
Back emergency

Then again the telegraph in the picture I linked above clearly has a "Voraus Kleine Fahrt" and a "Zuruck Kleine Fahrt." The picture very strongly suggests that the "missing" entry from the backward direction is "GroBe" or full.

In which case I might do:

Ahead dead slow
Ahead slow
Ahead standard
Ahead full
Ahead flank

Back dead slow
Back slow
Back standard
Back emergency!

Also "Halbe" is "Half" so one could substitute "standard" for "half."

[Arclight]

It's my interpretation that 'ahead standard' implies some special meaning, namely the best setting for long range travel. Since ships don't travel in reverse normally, I don't think there should be a 'back standard' setting.

'Ahead half' or 'back half' would be possible, but that's a strictly civilian definition again. At the moment I have a bit of a mix of military definitions ('standard', 'flank') and civillian ones ('slow', 'dead slow') ('full' seems commonplace in both). Imho it's the best balance I can get get between proper terminology and matching what is spoken in-game.

One last thing I might do is compare the engine RPM while at 'back full' setting, and see if it corresponds more closely to 'ahead standard' or 'ahead full'.

[LukeFF]

FWIW, this is the terminology that is used in the USN Fleet Submarine Manual:

17C4. Orders for the engines. Standard orders to the engines are given in three parts: 1) the first part designates the engine starboard, port, or all; 2) the second part indicates the direction: ahead or back; and 3) the third part indicates the speed: 1/3, 2/3, standard, full, flank, or stop. Typical orders are:
1. "Port, ahead, 2/3."
2. "Starboard, back, full."
3. "All, ahead, standard."
4. "Port, back, 1/3; Starboard, ahead, 2/3."
5. "All, stop."

[Arclight]

Thanks Luke.

Coincidentaly exactly what I used for the first version, but didn't really mesh with the German voices.

[Safe-Keeper]

Doesn't need to fit the German voices, if you ask me, if it's English, it's English.