Shore Battery Help

[badhorse]

Last night I went to a quiet little back water area of the war so I wouldn't bother anybody and tried out the new shore battery commands. I never did figure them out.  I got the sight reticule to show up finally but when I fired, the shell went in a whole different direction.
Can someone please post a primer on how the shore batteries (and presumable the 8"'ers) work now please.

[SlapShot]

I second this help request.

Is there a "help page" on how to use the "guns" in the various modes that are offered ?

[DoubleEagle]

There is a help page.  Well, "training" page to be precise.  However, it is out of date now.  It talks about using the mouse pointer as an impromptu gun site piper, but we don't have mouse pointers anymore without the clipboard up.

All I can say is that direct mode is just a gun.  You aim it as you will.  Good luck and may the Force be will you.  That is honestly the only way you will hit anything that isn't incredibly close by.

Land mode lets you click on the clipboard map, and then the gun will turn to that point, even miles away.  Then WASD will let you move the point of impact around.  A and D will shift it side to side, and W and S will lengthen or shorten the range.  If you are shooting beyond visual range you will need another player to spot for you.  This works with the fleet cruiser 8 inch guns as well, even with the carrier fleet moving around.  Your shells will continue to land in almost the same spot on the map.

Sea Mode is similar to Land Mode, but point of impact of your shells moves with your moving ship.  If you are in a shore battery, then Land Mode and Sea Mode probably have no difference between them (you are not moving).  If you fire out to 7 kilometers to the fleet's 10 o-clock with the cruiser turrets, then the next time you shoot will be 7k out, towards the 10 o-clock position.  Again, WASD will let you move that point of impact around.  Sea mode is still hard to hit anything with this, but with some practice you can probably get good.  It really only works well if the two fleets are sailing in parallel to each other, trading shots like old battlewagons from the battle of Jutland.

[badhorse]

Prior to the latest version you could enter I beleive it was sea mode on the Shore Battery and zoom in your view. You could then raise the barrel of the gun and the view would stay as it was.  Has that changed too?

[Tigger29]

There is a help page.  Well, "training" page to be precise.  However, it is out of date now.  It talks about using the mouse pointer as an impromptu gun site piper, but we don't have mouse pointers anymore without the clipboard up.

All I can say is that direct mode is just a gun.  You aim it as you will.  Good luck and may the Force be will you.  That is honestly the only way you will hit anything that isn't incredibly close by.

Land mode lets you click on the clipboard map, and then the gun will turn to that point, even miles away.  Then WASD will let you move the point of impact around.  A and D will shift it side to side, and W and S will lengthen or shorten the range.  If you are shooting beyond visual range you will need another player to spot for you.  This works with the fleet cruiser 8 inch guns as well, even with the carrier fleet moving around.  Your shells will continue to land in almost the same spot on the map.

Sea Mode is similar to Land Mode, but point of impact of your shells moves with your moving ship.  If you are in a shore battery, then Land Mode and Sea Mode probably have no difference between them (you are not moving).  If you fire out to 7 kilometers to the fleet's 10 o-clock with the cruiser turrets, then the next time you shoot will be 7k out, towards the 10 o-clock position.  Again, WASD will let you move that point of impact around.  Sea mode is still hard to hit anything with this, but with some practice you can probably get good.  It really only works well if the two fleets are sailing in parallel to each other, trading shots like old battlewagons from the battle of Jutland.

I disagree about how sea mode works.  As far as I can tell it's nothing like Land mode in the fact that you can't click on the map, etc with it.  It also doesn't 'auto target' you ahead of the fleet.  Instead, it maintains your view over the water and adjusts the gun outside of your field of view (as opposed to direct mode where your view is of the same angle of the gun).  I've shot down many ships while in sea mode and have always had to manually adjust my aim to compensate for the ships' movement.

I should also note that "K" in the game is representative of "Thousand"... not "Kilometer".  When a target says 2.5K this means 2,500 Yards (7,500 feet)... *NOT* 2.5 Kilometers (2,500 Meters).  I know both distances are close, but it's still important to know the difference especially so you don't look dumb on the bulletin boards 

[Nutzoid]

Prior to the latest version you could enter I beleive it was sea mode on the Shore Battery and zoom in your view. You could then raise the barrel of the gun and the view would stay as it was.  Has that changed too?

Yes it has. I'm looking for the answers as well!

Nutz

[kvuo75]

Yes it has. I'm looking for the answers as well!

Nutz

no, it still works the same..

there is a bug when switching between direct and land / sea modes though.. (don't move gun in direct mode if you plan on switching, or your gun will end up pointing diffferent direction than view)

go into land mode before moving anything, it works just as before, except now you get a nice 40 mil crosshair to help with fine tuning / rangefinding.  same with sea mode.

you can either w a s d or joystick to change range / bearing

[Blagard]

Irrespective of how the Land, Sea and Direct views used to work, I agree with Double Eagle on how it now seems to work.

So for a Shore battery Sea and Land mode work the same because you are not moving. I certainly found that in the Land and Sea modes your view remained on the horizon and you can zoom in if you want to.

The reticule only seems to appear in Land and Sea mode. Adjustment of the aim is either by keys or your joystick (My Gunner keys have been mapped by me so I am unsure of the default).

The main Reticule cross seems locked to your view while the yellow bit remains on target. But I think something is not quite right with the way the software works. Occassionally your straight ahead view seems to shift substancially to one side, this takes the Main "Cross" reticule with it, but that it is not where you are aiming! If you shift your view around you may find the yellow bit which is where the gun is actually pointing! Once out of alighnment I have not found a way to get them back together in the straight ahead forward view.

At sea the Sea view behaves just like the direct view. That is, the gun stays pointing in one direction, locked onto the same angle and distance. The real difference being that in Sea view you are looking at the horizon where the shells fall and you adjust each shot to account for the change in the relative position of the target to your ship.

Due to what appears to be the buggy behaviour of the reticle and view I think it can be very confusing at the moment.

Edit: kvuo75 seems to have identified when the buggy view occurs, perhaps Skuzzy will transfer the thread to bug reports!

[Blagard]

I omitted one piece of information. When I say in Sea mode you gun acts like in direct mode fixed on the same angle and distance, I should have qualified it, because I meant the same angle to the ships deck!. If your ship starts to turn it will take your gun around with it. Essentially the only advantage of using Sea mode over Direct mode is that you get to look at the horizon where the gun is pointing. It is then much easier to adjust your aim after watching the fall of the shells. How much to lead a target will probably be easier with the new reticle.

[kvuo75]

I omitted one piece of information. When I say in Sea mode you gun acts like in direct mode fixed on the same angle and distance, I should have qualified it, because I meant the same angle to the ships deck!. If your ship starts to turn it will take your gun around with it. Essentially the only advantage of using Sea mode over Direct mode is that you get to look at the horizon where the gun is pointing. It is then much easier to adjust your aim after watching the fall of the shells. How much to lead a target will probably be easier with the new reticle.

i think yer a little wrong, in sea mode, the gun stays the same bearing even if your ship turns.  the difference between sea and land mode is land mode moves the gun to stay on a point on the ground (automagically changing range and bearing).. sea mode keeps the gun at same range and bearing, but the target point moves with the ship.  direct mode of course the gun moves with the ship.

[Blagard]

i think yer a little wrong, in sea mode, the gun stays the same bearing even if your ship turns.  the difference between sea and land mode is land mode moves the gun to stay on a point on the ground (automagically changing range and bearing).. sea mode keeps the gun at same range and bearing, but the target point moves with the ship.  direct mode of course the gun moves with the ship.

Excellent correction - Yep,In Sea mode, range and bearing are fixed even when the ship turns - Thanks 

[Nutzoid]

no, it still works the same..

there is a bug when switching between direct and land / sea modes though.. (don't move gun in direct mode if you plan on switching, or your gun will end up pointing diffferent direction than view)

go into land mode before moving anything, it works just as before, except now you get a nice 40 mil crosshair to help with fine tuning / rangefinding.  same with sea mode.

you can either w a s d or joystick to change range / bearing

So I was right. It has changed. Bug non withstanding. I wonder, how were we going to find out about this? Assuming this "bug" is fixed, will we then be able to enter Land and Sea modes as before, and have the new "extras" to go along with it?

Thanks kuvo75 for passing this on. 

Nutz

[fuzeman]

If I had the time I'd redo my Training article on Ship and Shore Battery Guns but I'm so backed up still finishing the 2010 KOTH TOC plaque.

[Blagard]

It may be worth noting - the "bug" may only be apparent to those who disable mouse controls. I put in a bug report and so far Hitech has asked if we have mouse control disabled.  kvuo75 and I do.

[Blagard]

Edit: All rewritten!

With the "bug" issue now out the way, see the link to Fuzemans old article. I don't think the principle of ship and shore guns has changed. The changes  were mainly the little cross now replaced with a better sight. Setting an initial range and bearing by clicking on the clipboard map is still there along with zoomed in viewing.

The view reticle should now make adjusting your aim easier, (helps with rangeing). The yellow part of it remains on the gun bearing at the horizon, making it much easier to make aim corrections.

http://trainers.hitechcreations.com/bigguns/bigguns.htm