[CapnScurvy]

With the use of "tools" comes a learning curve. Like we used to say "this guys so green, he doesn't know which end of the shovel to pick up"!

For most players learning which side is Port, Starboard, what's Relative Bearing, what's Angle on Bow, are new terms that need digesting. The manipulation of a tool like a slide rule, Omnimeter, Is-Was, the AoB Calculator, the To-North protractor on the Navigation Map, all need time to understand and use. Once understood and practiced a seamless progression could be made with real time.

The point is, in real life there was a whole group of trained specialists that were a part of the "Firing Party". Each having their specific task to do and check, while the Approach Officer (usually the Captain) sighted the target. This manual, the "Submarine Torpedo Fire Control Manual" in Chapter 4, referrers to anywhere between 13 to 15 men involved in the firing solution process (depending on what detection system is being used). It stands to reason that the game does not lend itself to use manual targeting and simulate these different specialists duties within a real time environment. Sure, we can with Automatic Targeting, but who wants to follow the "green triangle" to tell us when to fire. There's more to this game than just that.

So a compromise must be struck between a simulation of real duties/activities and real time passage. There is no crime to "take time" in ones attempt to make a simulation of the various tasks involved. As you learn, the process will become less time consuming, more automatic.

Yes, having the firing technique of setting up close to a passing ships track and "leading" the target as if it's a duck flying past a blind, doesn't take a slide rule to figure the shot. If it was always that simple though, the "Submarine Torpedo Fire Control Manual" could have been only 5 pages long! It's not, and for good reason. The purpose is to learn all aspects of preforming your tasks, in all different situations. Isn't that what we find ourselves doing? Each of us simulating what we believe is reality for the enjoyment of playing a game that can be played differently?