Manual plotting on NAV map. Share your methods.

[Quagmire]

OK. I am graduating to 100% realism now. Which means no map updates. I have been practicing with map updates on for now. What I do is try to plot manually and see if my plot matches up with the actual unit position. What I have found is that my plots are always off by a NM or so every time.

The reason is that the game doesnt give you many accurate plotting tools. Here is my method. When a target is detected on radar I use the PPI to get the bearing and then the A-Scope to get the range. The A-Scope is a little tricky. First it is very hard to pinpoint the distance value since the gradient marks are very broad. Second the scale is calibrated to meters x 100? What is up with that? I thought that I enabled Imperial, not Metric? Oh wait, I did. Gotta love those little practical jokes our Romainian devs like to play on us. So I have to convert meters to yards. No matter, I have a calculator handy. Next I have to convert yards to NM since the ruler tool is calibrated in NM! Nice one again Romania! You got me again. So with all the conversions done I stretch out the ruler and find that the tick marks are every .2 NM or so........ Golly those Romainians sure are pranksters....

Well looky here, they have one more joke up their sleeves. I get close enough to the target to spot it visually and when I ask my watch officer to give me the range he replies in FEET!!

Seriously folks. I am sure the USN wasnt pulling out the metric to imperial conversion wheels all the time. Why isnt everything calibrated to yards for imperial or meters for metric?

So to all you "full real" players out there. How do you make accurate plots with all this unit of measurment madness?

Thanks
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[maerean_m]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

Golly those Romainians sure are pranksters....

Not intentionally

[Quagmire]

LOL. Nice reply. By the way, please take no offence to this thread. It was meant to be silly.

On the other side though. What is the best way to manually plot using the tools we are given?
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[Prof]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

So with all the conversions done I stretch out the ruler and find that the tick marks are every .2 NM or so........ Golly those Romainians sure are pranksters....

maerean_m explained in another thread that the ruler is designed to be innaccurate because, with map contacts on, you could just measure the range to the target and set it in the TDC if the ruler was super-accurate.

What I do is take a range/bearing observation through the periscope the quickly mark the centre of my submarine on the nav map. Then, because I know the position where I took the observation, I can take my time using the protractor and compass to mark on the bearing and range from the periscope. Where the bearing line crosses the range circle is where I estimated the target to be. Mark that spot.

Then I do it again every three minutes. Target speed is equal to nm covered in 3 minutes multiplied by 20 (or, for a better estimate, distance covered between first and third observations times 10, or first and fourth observations times 6.67, etc...). I lay out the target track using the ruler and use it (in an ideal attack) to plot my course perpendicular to the track. Setting your course perpendicular has advantages...it makes setting AOB very easy and you can fire your torpedoes at zero gyro and have them hit the target at 90 degrees.

When it comes to firing I attempt the 'Dick O'Kane method' by disabling the TDC and marking a bearing (no stadimeter) ahead of the ship. When the aim points cross the crosshair, I fire.

[maerean_m]

There is no single best way to do that. That's the beauty of SH4: by visiting subsim I've found out many ways people use the available tools, ways I would have never imagined. As long as you get the results, you can get them any way you can think of.


As for the tools in navigation map, they will become more precise for short distances so players will be able to use the map to point the enemy ships (if you get a range of 1743 yards, will be able to place it correctly on the map).

[Hitman]

Your plot can be absolute or relative. Absolute means you plot based on your sub's true course, and must therefore convert relative to true bearings each observation. Relative (What I do) means:

1.- Draw a line with ruler, vertical (North-South)

2.- Take first bearing and range. Start the chronometer simultaneously.

3.- Starting from the beginning of your vertical line, use the ruler to plot the bearing line in the proper orientation. Since your bearings to target are zero to 359 and your vertical line is north-south, you can read directly.

4.- 3 minutes later, reapeat processof taking bearing and range. Now, to plot it in the map, you will need to see your sub's speed first. Let us say you were doing 6 knots. Star from your first plot and go up 600 yards. That's teh starting point for your second plot.

Repeat as many times as you want, and then draw a line from the first target position you recorded, to the last, averaging along the various results to make it as straight as possible. Now you have an average distance, a relative course, and time. YOu can get speed and AOB instantly, and by converting to your sub's true course, the true course of the target (If needed).

I only use plotting as auxiliary. I try normally to get on a constant bearing to target and estimate AOB, then calculate speed with my MK3 course finder, use the game tools at the same time, watch the position keeper versus real situation of the target, and make plot. An average of all four things usually gives a very good solution