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Old 01-07-21, 02:59 AM   #1
entrippy
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Join Date: Jan 2021
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Default Feature Request - Convoy Location Practice

Request:
A Convoy location problem generator based on the in game map tool to assist players in learning the dark art of convoy location finding.

Detail:
As with the actual game, a sub and convoy location is defined, with the convoy also having a heading and speed attribute (all hidden from player).

Unlike the normal game play, the player is restricted to the map screen, and time does not pass in real time, instead moving forward at set increments e.g 5 mins, when prompted, for a set number of intervals.

At each prompt, the player is asked to choose a heading and speed to move their sub ("none" being a valid option).

After input, time is incremented, the subs location on the map updated based on the inputed values, the convoys location is also updated based on its speed and heading, but this remains hidden, and a new bearing to the convoy, based on this updated relative position, is given.

After the max number of prompts is reached, the convoys origin, heading, path, and current location are revealed on the map.

During this entire exercise, the player is free to draw plots on the map the practice the steps of solving the navigation solution.

After the convoy course is revealed, the player is able to assess how close they were to a valid solution, if their planned intercept was workable or if they were entirely off the mark.

Options: It might be that someone who understands different approaches to solving convoy locations could justify making the interval length and count customisable, either for each problem, or even for each interval, but I'll leave that for the experts.

Justification:
There is nothing more satisfying than nailing trigonomic navigation problems or firing solutions. But while there is a tutorial on finding firing solutions with the TDC, the only way to practice convoy finding is in game, in real time. This can take between 3-10 mins wait between bearings, so 12-40 mins total (3 measurements+1 forecast).
Having the above as an inbuilt tutorial would allow players to step through the exercise of location finding, without the drawbacks of realtime and in game variables (being rushed to complete a step, waiting 5-10 mins for the next bearing, spending 20-40 mins working and waiting just to find you got it wrong and have to start over, or having to account for unreliable hydrophone operators )

Existing solutions:
I have built something like this myself (https://github.com/entrippy/wolfpack-problem-generator), but the end result is inferior to a solution integrated in game as:
1. It's hard to replicate or find a close analog to the in game plotting tools that give the player distance and bearing feedback. My tool contains none, and just generates lat, long, and relative bearings. charting and mapping is left to the user.
2. Integrating the problem generator with any tools you do find is really clunky and introduces its own errors.
3. My problem generator uses one set of calculations or approximations for earth curvature and magnetic deviation that does not necessarily align with the calculations that the mapping solution might use, leading the the solutions to look.... odd and potentially gives false positives/negatives.
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