My sonarman is useless

[Dusty_Monk]

When I ask my sonarmanto report the range to target he'll give a range that is very wrong.

If I ask for a range to target he'll report one thing. If I then instruct him to enter that range into the TDC he'll enter a range approximately half of that which he just reported. e.g. target is 10km away, he reports 4.5km, then reports/enters 2.5km into the TDC.

The range he reports also seems to be influenced by the TDC. If there has already been a range entered into the TDC he'll usually report a range slightly less than that.

Also, when I manualy use the hydrophones I get no text feedback of the range. So in order to estimate range I have been forced to send the ping and count the time intervals till the return ping. The time interval being the time it takes for the sound to travel 1km. This is both time consuming and horribly inaccurate.


Do I need to reinstall or just start a new career? Is there possibly an easier solution?

[Dogfish40]

Originally Posted by Dusty_Monk

When I ask my sonarmanto report the range to target he'll give a range that is very wrong.

If I ask for a range to target he'll report one thing. If I then instruct him to enter that range into the TDC he'll enter a range approximately half of that which he just reported. e.g. target is 10km away, he reports 4.5km, then reports/enters 2.5km into the TDC.

The range he reports also seems to be influenced by the TDC. If there has already been a range entered into the TDC he'll usually report a range slightly less than that.

Also, when I manually use the hydrophones I get no text feedback of the range. So in order to estimate range I have been forced to send the ping and count the time intervals till the return ping. The time interval being the time it takes for the sound to travel 1km. This is both time consuming and horribly inaccurate.


Do I need to reinstall or just start a new career? Is there possibly an easier solution?

Ahoy Dusty,
Well, you might have opened Pandora's box here. However, I will shoot this out first. Technically, the hydrophones are no good for accurate range anyway, at least not in WW2. In terms of getting position and speed, the phones are much better. Because the hydrophones are using sound (ships propellers, engines, people talking loudly) the Hydrophones are literally pointed at the sound, thereby giving an approximate position of the source. By waiting for a time, you check the position again and get the approximate speed. There was no way to judge exactly how far the sound was because there simply was no way to measure the distance of a sound simply by how loud it was. Even the best soundmen could only say the sound was "Long Range" or "Very Close" ect.
In the game there is a tiny cheat and it is only somewhat accurate at best. Zoom in on the nav-map until the Hydrophone lines are somewhat long. You will notice that the line (or lines for multiple contacts) drop off, or stop. If you measure that line from your boat till it stops, you will come up with a decent range (if you're zoomed in enough).
Bottom line is, until you get surface radar, you will have to get the range either from a visual or by using the length of the hydrophone lines (zoomed in).
I think you'll have more Skippers putting in some more facts so I'll stop.
I hope all goes well and good hunting!
D40

[Rockin Robbins]

Yup, the in-game sonar men are employed by the Japanese. That's just one of the things that are wrong with SH4. Better just to concentrate on the areas that work really well and enjoy them.

[magic452]

Welcome to the boat mate.

When using the sonar your self the only way to get an accurate range is to be sure you have the sonar pointed at the very center or the target, move the head left and right till you find center. Than when you ping a target you will get a pretty good range, not great but good enough to start a plot or firing solution. The more off center, the worse the range will be. The sonarman can't seem to do this.

Magic

[Daniel Prates]

First thing to do would be to immitate Donald Trump and say "you're fired!" to the sonarman.

I never use this resource since, as i understand it, when you ask your sonarman to measure distance he uses ACTIVE SONAR for that, does he not? And that basically reveals you for everyone around.