"XO, plot a course for intercept!!"

[The Renegade]

Good mornin' gents!

As I've been trying to ease myself back into the dark, shadowy world of submarine life, I've come across a PUZZLING dilemma. Years ago, I randomly picked up a little game called Silent Hunter III. I thought it was gonna be fun for a few months, get to see TORPEDO EXXXPLOSIONS, and then I'd move on. But OOOH no. It kicked my arse all over the place CONSTANTLY, and I loved it (still do!). I was determined to become a u-boat ace, to fire torpedoes with expert precision, to be a terror of the deep!

Getting to the point now I came to Subsim and found an EXTREMELY lengthy, detailed, illustrated, HIGHLY awesome guide (hosted on another site, but the LINK was here). I even printed it out! And there were TWO parts! Was like 15 full pages of computer game homework! Anyway, I studied up on how to plot a course for intercepting a contact, and how to calculate the course of approach in order to get an exact AoB of 90 degrees. How to measure a target's speed with accuracy, and how to hit EXACTLY what I was looking at in the periscope.

I've been looking at the SHIV Tips and Tricks thread and I've got the videos by WernerSobe, but I'm just wondering if ANYONE knows what I'm talking about. Because see, thing is, I can remember the general technique, but I'm forgetting the details. I remember that, when receiving a contact, you use the compass tool to draw a circle. You use the contact as the centerpoint, then use the speed data for diameter. Then you do the same for your u-boat. THEN you draw some lines with the ruler, or protractor, or SOMETHING, and you plot an angle based on where the circles meet (??)and you find an exact course heading that will lead you to intercept. Then, once in visual range of the target, you wait for him to get near to or cross your bow, and fire, so as to keep the torpedo deviation angle (I think?) as low as possible.

I remember this technique being a BIT hard to master, but oh my goodness it worked wonders for me. In the end, I was arriving right on schedule, had that perfect 90 degree AoB, and I rarely missed. And now I've forgotten most of those details and URRRGH! Just thought I'd ask and see if anyone used the same methods. And I'd like to perhaps make a video or picture tutorial of the method, I bet many fresh players could catch on and be getting some great results

[tomoose]

... is what you are looking for!

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...+course&page=2

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...+course&page=2

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=156698

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by The Renegade

...
I've been looking at the SHIV Tips and Tricks thread and I've got the videos by WernerSobe, but I'm just wondering if ANYONE knows what I'm talking about. Because see, thing is, I can remember the general technique, but I'm forgetting the details. I remember that, when receiving a contact, you use the compass tool to draw a circle. You use the contact as the centerpoint, then use the speed data for diameter. Then you do the same for your u-boat. THEN you draw some lines with the ruler, or protractor, or SOMETHING, and you plot an angle based on where the circles meet (??)and you find an exact course heading that will lead you to intercept. Then, once in visual range of the target, you wait for him to get near to or cross your bow, and fire, so as to keep the torpedo deviation angle (I think?) as low as possible.

...

Sounds like this:



In the end you will still need to turn your sub to be perpendicular to it's course. If that is how you want to set things up.

[The Renegade]

Originally Posted by Pisces

Sounds like this:



In the end you will still need to turn your sub to be perpendicular to it's course. If that is how you want to set things up.

GREAT scott! Pisces and tomoose, you are GODS amongst men! It gives me honor to serve alongside such fantastic skippers

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for! That image right there, BEAUTIFUL. That's exactly how I learned to do it, THAT is the intercepting I know and love. And there's more guides about this? GREAT! Holy bejeezus I think this is gonna be a lot easier than I thought haha! Thank you so much you guys, this is really great. I'm downloading the guides and reading through em and I'll be setting myself up for a crash course in intercepting and eliminating VERY soon.

*One last thing. I seem to remember that there's some small differences when using the Imperial system compared to metric. But overall, when plotting for intercept, if the target is going say 7knots, you would plot a circle that is 7nm in diameter, correct? And then I know there's the speed plotting issue, but I think I'll figure that out in a bit here.

Thanks again sirs!

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by The Renegade

GREAT scott! Pisces and tomoose, you are GODS amongst men! It gives me honor to serve alongside such fantastic skippers
...

You're welcome.

...

*One last thing. I seem to remember that there's some small differences when using the Imperial system compared to metric. But overall, when plotting for intercept, if the target is going say 7knots, you would plot a circle that is 7nm in diameter, correct? And then I know there's the speed plotting issue, but I think I'll figure that out in a bit here.

Thanks again sirs!

In this drawing it doesn't matter if the linetool uses kilometers or nautical miles. The radius ...radiusses... radi-eye (oh, whatever!) of both circles should be made in the same units. Units of 1km, 1nm, 10km, 10nm, 78km, 78nm, 250 pixels... whatever doesn't matter, aslong as the same is used on both circles of that drawing. The angles in the triangle do not change if the triangle has longer sides but keeps the same shape.

The difference in metric vs imperial units come when plotting positions for determining speeds. Then you need 3 minute periods for imperial, and 3 min 15sec periods for metric. Then every 100 yards, or 100 meters, distance moved by the target amounts to 1 knot.

As for different intercepting methods, I develloped my own drawing technique. Mine allows me to figure out the course to go to manouvre around/towards/away from the target, while keeping up with his own movement. Like extending distance as quickly as possible, draw left or right around him, or like the other picture reduce range asap (pure intercept). If you update this drawing as the target bearing changes then you can move in a nice circle around the target, maintaining your distance. I made this public in an obscure post in the SH3 section. But I never made a good tutorial for it, too lazy.

Here it is:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...12&postcount=5

[I'm goin' down]

Take a look at MOBO program in the Mobo forum. It is --how do I say this--unbelieveable.