How to range a task group with Mils

[Black Jack]

There has been a previous post about the use of the different crosshairs we have in the 8" cruiser guns. I posted and asked if somebody knew if the grey crosshair was really mils and if it could be used to range a cv with it. I didn't receive any answers yet so I went and did my experiments to see if it really works. Well it does. Let me explain you how you can range and hit a cv with a very good probability of first shot hits.

First thing you need to know is how mils are used to range targets. I won't get into this too much and you can research it yourself but it's a system created by the military to find the specific range of the target so you can engage it accurately. What you need to know to start to do the math is the specific size of the target or something close to a target that you want to engage. For this specific example here it would be the size of the cv. Since the cv can move on angles, the length of it can vary so using this won't be good. One thing that stays the same though is the height of it. It doesn't matter which direction the cv is going, the height will always be the same. Now when I was testing this, I realized after you hit the cv once, the tower explodes or whatever and you can't see the top of it because of the flame like in the picture. With my testing, I found that the height of the cv from the water to the flat top section of where the red arrow is pointing is 40.6 meters.

So here is the formula    Meters/Yards x 1000 / Mils = your target range in meters or yards depending on the one u used.

If you look at the picture. The grey crosshairs is horizontal to the water (black arrow) so you can count the lines going up and see that it's very close to the 5 mils line (blue arrow)

So if you do the math with this info.  40.6(meters) x 1000 = 40600     Then 40600/ 5mils= 8120 meter. So 8.1k away.  Fire

Like it did in the picture-------> went boom.  First shot hits.   

Now those are the ranges with the specific amount of mils   2 mils=  20.3k
                                                                                       2.5  =   16.2k
                                                                                       3     =   13.5k
                                                                                       3.5   =   11.6k
                                                                                       4.0  =    10k
                                                                                       4.5   =   9k
                                                                                       5      =   8.1k

The better you are at milranging, the more accurate you can be. I only used those numbers because engaging at 20k is kinda max effective range. You can use the same formula to divide them into smaller mil reading, 1/4 or better.  It's even more important at longer range. Example 2.5 mils and 3 mils. might be small but it's still 3k of difference    Now the yellow indicator is for the lead. You have to try it out and have a feel of the lead you need. In this example, my cv was going the same direction as the nme one and fired at that specific location and got a mid ship hits.

So that is what I was able to accomplish playing with it. If anybody has any questions or comments. I'll try to help 

Black70

                                     

[bustr]

The horizontal yellow hash bar takes the place of needing a director computer manned with observers feeding range while the azimuth and lead is adjusted based on a table for the 8 inch battery. Just pull the bottom of the hash bar to the water line of the cruiser. Adjust for relative lead. Fire and wait for the first salvo to impact. Adjust if a miss, or adjust for changes in direction.

Always remember to kill the cruiser first when engaging another CV group or in the shore battery. You can practice this offline using the NDisles map. In the south is a CV group dead in the water just off it's port. You can get the feel for ranging with the horizontal yellow hash bar.

When shooting past 15,000 yds to about 25,000 yds before the haze covers the CV group. Your lead is about one full ship length off the end of the yellow hash bar.

I tried this approach years ago with the math and how it works. No one cared. All they want is the "How To: Point here and Click" explanation. If you think about it, the director fire control analog computer systems were solving exactly that problem. In the real world your gunner is more effective if he points the pipper at the target and pushes a button. Not needs a PHd from a War college in physics.

Before Hitech changed our aiming system to the Director Fire Control view. I sank ships at 24k using manual ranging all the time. Just takes practice. Same from the shore battery. The few point and click sight aids in our game are so the majority of players have something that doesn't require they live in the game full time. Not everyone thinks that is fun.

Here is a point and click: If you want to hit shore battery's from the cruiser's 8 inch battery. Use land mode. Then push the horizontal yellow hash bar half way up the shore battery's small mountain they sit on. In full zoom be careful. Depending on your range and travel relative to the battery, you will see it on top of a tiny mound and then a small mountain. It's the small mountain you want to place the hash bar half way up. 

[JimmyD3]

Well done Black.

[Black Jack]

Tks Ken, maybe it can help somebody 

[mensa180]

neat write up.

also, "Not needs a PHd from a War college in physics."... lol?  Anyone who can divide (i.e. everyone) should be able to appreciate this post...

[The Fugitive]

Tks Ken, maybe it can help somebody 

The only issue I had was terminology. The red arrow is pointing at the top of the smoke stack, the flight deck is called the flat top. But other than that is looks like its a great quick aiming device. Thanks!

[bustr]

neat write up.

also, "Not needs a PHd from a War college in physics."... lol?  Anyone who can divide (i.e. everyone) should be able to appreciate this post...

Then you already know the default ring is 18Mil and how to range using only it from the 8 inch cruiser battery or shore battery. We used to have an 18Mil cross that was better for determining range by relative size visa Mil@range. The gray Mil grid is taken from long range NAVY spotter binocular and fire director scopes to estimate data to feed back to the analog computer. You still need to range salvo while the spotter used the Mil grid to call out corrections.

In sea mode from full zoom like the screen shot from the OP you simply place the bottom of the horizontal hash grid at the water line of the ship and adjust for lead then fire. You need to know nothing more in this game. In most cases your miss will be inside of 500yds with an error in lead. The hardest lead is when the target is traveling at a diagonal to or from you. Then you have to account for the loss or gain in range with your lead, and the difference in how much lower or how much higher relative to the target's diagonal line of travel your yellow horizontal hash grid will rest. On full zoom the only way you can tell your target is moving at a shallow divergent path is by watching how the ship's water line at the bow is re-rendered about every 5-10 seconds. Your 8 inch rounds travel about 1000yds for every second. At 20,000yds that's about 1.5 full yellow hash grid lead.

Full zoom and the yellow hash grid at the water line take the place of an analog fire control director, which it would need the data in the OP's presentation based on the gray spotter Mil hash grid. Along with you the spotter having memorized average length of known vessel types to quick estimate vessel length to Mil estimated range. Same dope memorization a sniper goes through. Width of a mans chest at 100-1000 corresponding to the Mil reticle in his scope. And some spotters scope have a black or gray Mil hash grid to call out corrections and range.

Hitech gave us an aimbot so we don't have to remember all of that dope to play a kiddy game. The farthest I've sunk a carrier using it was 29.1k from a shore battery with the horizon disabled. Yes at ranges past 21k, disable the horizon and the ships will show as white silhouettes. Range varies on different maps depending on how the haze is setup.

Any of you can create a dope table for range by determining the length of the CV and Cruiser from wikipedia. Then visa Angular Mil math converting yards to meters or similar triangles converting yards to feet and inches, a range dope table for your first ranging salvo. Or simply using sea mode push the horizontal yellow hash grid's bottom even with the target's water line, account for lead and fire.

Or remember,

1 degree = 17.7778 Mil(18Mil)
1Mil = 0.05625 degree

Then elevate the battery, account for lead and fire. Half zoom with the ring at the top of a 22inch monitor was about 16k before the aimbot.