I'm flunking sub school!!

[Landlubber]

Hey Guys!

It looks like a great game, but for right now, I have a small problem: I can't figure out how to get my boat to go from here to there. I gather I'm going to have to learn how to do that before I can graduate from Sub School Navigation Training.

The mission is to reach a designated zone. The manual isn't much help, and the in-game help doesn't. I've scoured this forum, and thanks to you guys, I've learned about the navigation map. Now I know where I'm supposed to go, but I don't have a clue how to get there, and I'm unsure how to use the tools.


Ruler. As far as I can tell, drawing a line with this thing gives me distance and degree bearing to whatever it is that I want to draw a line to.

Compass - Tells me whatever is within xx km of the boat - right?

Magnifying glass - zoom in or out - got it.

Marker - Put marks on the map. At this point I'm not sure why I'd want to do that, but I assume that might be of some use later on.

Protractor - Dunno

The manual mentions a waypoint tool. I can't find it. If I could find it, what would I do with it?

I would be immensly grateful if some kind soul would take the time and trouble to give me a step by step guide to getting my boat from wherever it is to wherever it's supposed to go.

[paulhager]

If you go to the navigation map screen, you'll find an icon on the bottom left that shows, if memory serves, a dotted line with an arrow. I think if you hover your cursor over it, there'll be some sort of a tag that indicates it's the waypoint tool. To it's right is another icon that shows an angle with a dotted line - that's for returning to the plotted course.

Select the waypoint icon - there is no separate "tool" - and your mouse cursor will turn into a triangle-type drawing tool. Using the mouse cursos and mouse clicks you can lay out a course. If you play with it a little bit, you'll figure it out.

[PhantomKira]

The navigation map can be brought up by pressing F5. I assume you know this, as you've already been there, but I just want to be sure we're on the same page.

Okay, per your questions, I'll answer as best I can. I'm sorry if some of this stuff is oversimplified. I don't know where your understanding is, so I try to make it really simple, and explain everything.

I see you've discovered the jumble of "tools" in the lower left corner, so you're on the right track.

I'll go through them, and what they do, from top to bottom, left to right.

1. Compass [turn Beginner help on/off]

I assume this to be the "Compass" you're refering to. It isn't a compass exactly, just a symbol to open the tool "help" (haha). What this does is turn on extra features with the other tools to give you a helping hand with the other tool's individual features. Basically, it turns on or off "Beginner mode" with extra help regarding the other tools.

2. Ruler [Measure distance]

This simply measures distances. It helps you determine the distance to radio reported contacts, patrol locations, and how far you might have to go to get home.

With beginner help on, it has a compass rose attached to the cursor end, which gives you the bearing of the end of the line from the initial point where you clicked the cursor on the map. This is very useful in determining distance and bearing of a reported contact from you, assuming your first click is where you're submarine is, and you drag the cursor over your target. You would then read the numbers on the line under the compass rose [that would be the numbers nearer your submarine, and the only ones that the line is under] which would give you the target's bearing from the initial point [your submarine in this case]. Note that the numbers are reversed of what you'd expect, ie a line drawn to the west has the line under the numbers to the left, being 270, not 090 as you might expect of numbers on the right. This is because it's giving you information on the target's bearing to you, not you to the target (the target is at bearing 270, or due west of you).

There's more to this tool, I think, but I've covered the basics.

3. Eraser [Erase stuff]

This erases lines drawn with the ruler, and marked points, etc. If you put the little + in the upper left of the eraser symbol over a line, it will highlight the line. Simply click to erase the line. It also erases courses plotted, in the same manner, should you accidently plot a course you don't want. Simply move that + over the waypoint you want to delete and click.

4. Compass [Tool for drawing circles]

I use it for marking areas. For example, I know that for certain missions I need to "Patrol X area for 48 hours" and I know I need to stay within 100 miles of the patrol icon for the 48 hours. I'll use the Compass to draw a circle around the icon, then stay within the circle. Usually, this is a 100 mile circle.

The tool may also be of some use in manual targeting, which I don't use, so I'm can't be of any help to you with that.

5. Magnifying Glass [Zoom In]

Decreases the area covered by the screen, increases the detail of the area covered. I don't know of a zoom out function on the window. I don't use this, since I have a mouse, finger wheel that works much better for this.

6. Marker [Put "X"s on map]

This is useful for manual targeting. You can use it to mark your target's position at two points in time, then use those points to figure the target's speed, and direction; two critical figures when generating a target solution when manual targeting for the torpedos.

7. Protractor [Measuring Angles]

Another tool critical for manually figuring targeting solution for the torpedos. I don't remember the specifics of how it works.

Now, I'll go into Navigation, and telling your sub where to go. I'll also inject this with a walk through of the first Navigation mission in Sub School.

Press F5. This should bring up the navigation screen. At the bottom of the screen you'll have a series of tabs atop a bar, with some dials at the right. The second tab over has what looks like a compass tool on it, an inverted V. Click it.

You'll note that the series of boxes below the tabs just changed. There are two you need to be most conserned with. The first is the third box or so over and has a triangle in the lower left, a dashed line leading up the the right, and an X in the upper right. Click this, and note that you're cursor on the nave map has changed to a protractor like shape with a shaded line leading from it to the last waypoint. You move this to where you want the next waypoint to be and right click to place a waypoint. You can keep placing waypoints, until you're satisfied, as far as I know, there's no point at which placing over a particular number will delete your previous ones. When you're finished plotting points, press the right mouse button the un-select the tool. Your engine room will automatically go to "Ahead Standard" and start following the waypoints you just put down.

The other box you need to be concerned about for this one is the one that looks like a triangle with a dashed line as its base. Clicking this will tell the crew to return to the set course.

So, to finish the navigation lesson, you click the 2nd tab over to bring up the navigation screen, then the box underneath witht he triangle with dashed line leading to the X on it. Then move the cursor over the map, and click in the water to the left of your submarine icon. Do this several more times, moving the lines up northward in the water to the left of the island, and then back east [right] along the north side of the island, puting the last point at the yellow star icon on the map. Keep in mind that you may have to zoom in to get close enough to the star to trigger the point as being reached. Also, the lighter the water, the shallower it is. Maximum time compression is not available in really shallow water.

Long and drawn out response (as usual). I hope it helps. Let me know if you need "clarification". I'll see what I can do.