TDC

[Patchman123]

I was watching a video on YouTube about the Silent Service and the torpedo data computer and discovered that the TDC had thing that said "Own Position." to point to your own position on the submarine. Why doesn't Silent Hunter IV have this feature. It would sure help. The problem is that in they have essentially simplified the TDC and made it vague to understand. Is there a way to make it more complex and historically accurate like it was the old days?

[Armistead]

Well, the actual non working TDC is inside the sub where you can see all the features of a real TDC if you have the moving freecam. Would be nice to have a total working TDC but it would be a complex work. Really it isn't needed. You have everything you need on the map and with contacts on all the info a skipper would have. Using the tools you can easily figure aob both ways. I'm sure several modders wish they could make it work.

Many of us use other shooting methods that don't really require the many componants of the TDC. You may be interested in the Easy AOB mod that makes the PK wheel turn with the AOB wheel. There are other mods and tools that also help.

[Frederf]

Despite the different layout and lack of the small angle (0.2° increments) auxiliary dials, the in-game TDC is really remarkably close to shown in the screenshot (which is just a texture anyway).

I think if someone was good with 3D modeling and how to configure dials, I'm sure most if not all of those TDC dials could actually be made to work, clickable and all. That's an exciting thought.

While not adjustable or shown in any way, the TDC in generating mode takes your current speed and course into consideration when evolving the solution. So unless you miss the errors and fiddling with extra dials (which would be tasked to an officer anyway) there's not really anything to miss with those.

The time dial must be a glorified stopwatch for the TDC.

The only dial that confuses me is the is the target length dial which might have been tied to the stadimeter for AOB calculations? That or it somehow was used when generating spread angles.

What I really need to make TDC operation realistic isn't that gauge area to be modeled in historic detail, but 3-5 other people playing the game with me huddled in a phone booth shouting numbers and turning dials.

[Rockin Robbins]

Now I'm mystified. There's no "own position" anywhere! Own course came from automatic input from the compass. Own speed, similarly came from the knot meter. We have that. Otherwise the TDC could not work at all!

Its function is to calculate torpedo paths based on the relative motions of own ship and target. If it did not have the function you desire, although you are confused as to what the function is, you could hit nothing with a torpedo.

Actually, that's wrong, because with the vector analysis method, we can use the TDC as a several hundred pound paperweight. By choosing special attack parameters (any own course and speed, any target course and speed) we don't need the TDC at all.

It is reduced to a luxury, allowing us a variety of deadly attack methods and a vast flexibility to meet the requirements of our attack situations.

[Frederf]

That's not all that true. The TDC would work just fine as a solver without the ownship data input, just the solution would require a stationary ownship and/or would simply be only accurate for an instant like the german TDC.

[tomoose]

I thought one of the two dials in the working TDC represented "own ship"? It certainly looks like the same kind of dial as represented in the photo here showing "own ship". My brain hurts.

[Rockin Robbins]

Originally Posted by tomoose

I thought one of the two dials in the working TDC represented "own ship"? It certainly looks like the same kind of dial as represented in the photo here showing "own ship". My brain hurts.

Tomoose, the OP said the TDC had some kind of dial for "ownship position." That doesn't exist. What does exist in the real TDC are output dials for ownship course and speed.

Our TDC in the game reproduces the ownship course dial, but not the ownship speed dial. The ownship speed dial was just the reflection of the automatic input from the sub's knot gauge. To put it into the already crowded game TDC input would be redundant, because you already see the speed on your HUD.

Both of them are incorporated into the game TDC because without them the TDC's PK could not function and the TDC could not compute gyro angle. The OP is wrong, both on his stated observation and on his implied observation. Additionally, he is wrong in his conclusions from the flawed observations. The game TDC is in no way "vague" or difficult to use due to missing essential functions.

[Rockin Robbins]

That's a very strange definition for "just fine." A submerged submarine cannot function without moving, especially if it is altering its buoyancy radically by firing torpedoes. Having a solution that is only momentarily valid is also not "just fine."

Since you can do constant bearing attacks without using the TDC at all, and the above defined "just fine" TDC gives you no advantage over the constant bearing attacks, "just fine" is extended to a submarine with no TDC at all!

A TDC is on a submarine to provide additional alternatives which would not be available without it. Tracking your boat's motion opens up a whole constellation of possibilities for sinking targets which might remain untouched otherwise. The position keeper, able to predict future positions of the target without future observations does even more to extend the deadliness of the American submarine. Not having those capabilities is not "just fine."

By the way, the German TDC had the same automatic input for ownship course. Otherwise it could not calculate a gyro angle at all. After all, gyro angle is calculated from your heading. No heading info--no gyro angle. You cannot escape that requirement.

[elanaiba]

Originally Posted by Patchman123

I was watching a video on YouTube about the Silent Service and the torpedo data computer and discovered that the TDC had thing that said "Own Position." to point to your own position on the submarine. Why doesn't Silent Hunter IV have this feature. It would sure help. The problem is that in they have essentially simplified the TDC and made it vague to understand. Is there a way to make it more complex and historically accurate like it was the old days?

The own ship dial is the one on the bottom of the periscope TDC... is that what you're looking for ?

[Rockin Robbins]

OK, here's the periscope screen. On the right you see the TDC input dial, where you can enter speed, AoB and range/bearing. On the left are the TDC output dials, the target dial above and ownship dial below. You can see the torpedo was a stern shot. The gyro angle can be read with the inside set of numbers and the torpedo's course on the outside ring of numbers. On the upper target dial you can see the torpedo course on the outside ring (you have to read the opposite side, where the arrow is pointing, or add 180 to the number under the arrow), and the TTA (torpedo track angle) of about 50º measuring the angle at which the torpedo struck the side of the target.

You can also read the target's course at the zero bearing on the bow, see the number on the outside ring, about 59º. You can read the submarine's course on the ownship dial the same way, the number on the outside ring ajacent to the zero bearing, about 80º.

There is a ton of useful information in those two TDC output dials if you make yourself completely familiar with them they will help immensely in setting up your attacks.

Note that the game was just fine before EasyAoB came along and nothing is possible with EasyAoB that wasn't possible before it.