Plotting course with Just gray lines?

[sirbum69]

Ok so i feel like a complete newb here...Ive been playing SH sence SH3 tho i played most of it in SH4.

Ive been trying to play this one on mostly realistic settings, tho i do have map contacts on. Problem i am having is most of the time when my sonar man does find something,

He finds them way out, so that all i get is Gray lines that run out to them. Another words i dont see a ship icon to plot out there course. Ive read tutorials on here about how to plot there course, but all of them show a ship icon already in few.

My question is, say my sound man says merchant bearing 345 long range. when i go to my TIA map or the main map, i see a gray line going outwards, but when i try to place a mark using the tool helpers the dam thing with the bearing marks on it, is upside down...0 being at the bottom, so i can never extend it out so the line goes through 345.

Now i have read a million times that this is how its suppose to work. So what am i missing. Should i just be placing an X at the end of the gray lines, every few mins...This just doesnt seem very realistic. As im sure in the real world, They wouldnt have a map showing gray lines...lol...

With SH4 i was always able to figure out how far they were and if i was heading towards them or if i was losing them just cause of the sonar...With SH5 i seem to lose alot of contacts because i wasnt close enough and they sailed right past me ahead of me.

So my biggest question is, how would this have been done realisticly..And how the hell do you use the upside down 360 bearing tool lol, to place a mark on the correct bearing...

[wambam]

Originally Posted by sirbum69

Ok so i feel like a complete newb here...Ive been playing SH sence SH3 tho i played most of it in SH4.

Ive been trying to play this one on mostly realistic settings, tho i do have map contacts on. Problem i am having is most of the time when my sonar man does find something,

He finds them way out, so that all i get is Gray lines that run out to them. Another words i dont see a ship icon to plot out there course. Ive read tutorials on here about how to plot there course, but all of them show a ship icon already in few.

My question is, say my sound man says merchant bearing 345 long range. when i go to my TIA map or the main map, i see a gray line going outwards, but when i try to place a mark using the tool helpers the dam thing with the bearing marks on it, is upside down...0 being at the bottom, so i can never extend it out so the line goes through 345.

Now i have read a million times that this is how its suppose to work. So what am i missing. Should i just be placing an X at the end of the gray lines, every few mins...This just doesnt seem very realistic. As im sure in the real world, They wouldnt have a map showing gray lines...lol...

With SH4 i was always able to figure out how far they were and if i was heading towards them or if i was losing them just cause of the sonar...With SH5 i seem to lose alot of contacts because i wasnt close enough and they sailed right past me ahead of me.

So my biggest question is, how would this have been done realisticly..And how the hell do you use the upside down 360 bearing tool lol, to place a mark on the correct bearing...

I couldn't be bothered trying to figure the real way with this editon, compared with SH3 or SH4. . I simply do the following: I simply take a note of the Nav's bearing, surface if it's safe , head (speed rate tripled?) in what I think is the direction of the ship for a couple minutes, submerge and check again. That second time check will tell me if I am heading away from him or closer. Then I surface again and speed in the general direction, submerge and check. Usually that will give me a fair idea of his heading. Works most times but if it's a loner he might zigzag course and I might lose him; whereas if it's a convoy it will usually keep steady course, smug in being protected by warships

[kylania]

Yes, the end of the sonar sound line is the current position of the ship. So you can just place X's there and plot his course.

If you wanted to do the TMA (Target Motion Analysis) more realistically, try following this HydroHunting tutorial.

As for why your ruler tool is "upside down", you should read my Map Tools tutorial to read why that is and how to properly use it.

In order to find where a 345 bearing from your ship is, use the protractor. Draw the first line from the direction of your travel, or where your boat is pointing, to the middle of your boat the the second line out at a 15 degree angle to port (left) since that would be 360 - 345 = 15. If the target was to your starboard (right) side you'd just drag the second line to 15 degrees. Make sure you zoom all the way in to get it most precise. It's ever easier if you have a bearing overlay loaded, as in the bottom picture here.

[wambam]

Originally Posted by kylania

Yes, the end of the sonar sound line is the current position of the ship. So you can just place X's there and plot his course.

If you wanted to do the TMA (Target Motion Analysis) more realistically, try following this HydroHunting tutorial.

As for why your ruler tool is "upside down", you should read my Map Tools tutorial to read why that is and how to properly use it.

In order to find where a 345 bearing from your ship is, use the protractor. Draw the first line from the direction of your travel, or where your boat is pointing, to the middle of your boat the the second line out at a 15 degree angle to port (left) since that would be 360 - 345 = 15. If the target was to your starboard (right) side you'd just drag the second line to 15 degrees. Make sure you zoom all the way in to get it most precise. It's ever easier if you have a bearing overlay loaded, as in the bottom picture here.

Have to say I will def. give this a try as well. Haven't seen the links recently and am excited. The way I was doing it was a hit and miss and although it worked often enough I would rather perfect a realistic approach. Thanks Kyl for that great input.

[sirbum69]

Yes i second that thank you. I was preatty well sure that the end of the gray line was where the boat was at, But as i said in the real world there not going to have gray lines moving on there map LOL...

So for a more realistic approch i wanted or was looking for something more realistic...All i really needed was to know how to plot useing the upside down thing accuratly...

Now that you have shown me this meathod i will try it...Seems tens times easier to at least get there general direction...TY