Realistic chart depths

[Dollburger]

I have no idea how challenging this would be, but it would be very cool if water depths would be close to what they are in the real world (especially near-shore or ports). I was just playing around with some nautical charts for Scotland and wanted to find a nice hole to hide in for a day, and each one I went to investigate was 5-6 m max instead of the 50-100m depth they actually are.

I know this is a tiny nit-pick - are there any mods out there that focus on water depth?

[EmotionallyBroken]

ive been wanting this for years also, the game doesnt even save manually marked points on the map.

[Dollburger]

Originally posted by EmotionallyBroken:

ive been wanting this for years also, the game doesnt even save manually marked points on the map.

It seems like points from the measurement tools are persisting across missions, but the ability to mark up your own personal chart would be great.

[mccoyco64]

Apparently you can pull up / download/ order RL depth charts - and cross reference your coordinates in the game with those on the chart… significant other may not appreciate the 4 x 8 plotting table in the middle of the living room tho ….😆

[DECAFBAD]

Actually, since it seems simpler, I wouldn't mind the reverse: a chart but from UBOAT

[Dollburger]

Originally posted by mccoyco64:

Apparently you can pull up / download/ order RL depth charts - and cross reference your coordinates in the game with those on the chart… significant other may not appreciate the 4 x 8 plotting table in the middle of the living room tho ….😆

That's my point though - the real life depth charts are not accurate to what is presented in-game.

I had hoped the in game map updates would present the map more like a realistic nautical chart, so even if it doesn't match the real world you could still visually understand the changes to depth without having to mouse over certain area. Then we could plot out our preferred routes.

The areas we sail in had very accurate charts for the areas we most commonly sail in, unlike what was available for the Pacific Theater (sometimes charts from the 1700s). It would aid to the immersion if the nav table was a bit more interactive.

[mccoyco64]

Originally posted by Dollburger:

Originally posted by mccoyco64:

Apparently you can pull up / download/ order RL depth charts - and cross reference your coordinates in the game with those on the chart… significant other may not appreciate the 4 x 8 plotting table in the middle of the living room tho ….😆

That's my point though - the real life depth charts are not accurate to what is presented in-game.

I had hoped the in game map updates would present the map more like a realistic nautical chart, so even if it doesn't match the real world you could still visually understand the changes to depth without having to mouse over certain area. Then we could plot out our preferred routes.

The areas we sail in had very accurate charts for the areas we most commonly sail in, unlike what was available for the Pacific Theater (sometimes charts from the 1700s). It would aid to the immersion if the nav table was a bit more interactive.

+1 I too wish we had a chart in game... as well as showing tides

[Parrot_Bay180]

Originally posted by Dollburger:

Originally posted by mccoyco64:

Apparently you can pull up / download/ order RL depth charts - and cross reference your coordinates in the game with those on the chart… significant other may not appreciate the 4 x 8 plotting table in the middle of the living room tho ….😆

That's my point though - the real life depth charts are not accurate to what is presented in-game.

I had hoped the in game map updates would present the map more like a realistic nautical chart, so even if it doesn't match the real world you could still visually understand the changes to depth without having to mouse over certain area. Then we could plot out our preferred routes.

The areas we sail in had very accurate charts for the areas we most commonly sail in, unlike what was available for the Pacific Theater (sometimes charts from the 1700s). It would aid to the immersion if the nav table was a bit more interactive.

Your not the only one that was thinking outside the box and wanting such charts. We need to petition for UBOAT developers to provide such information, im currently plotting points while i go along with my echosounder for the future within the game. Im hoping we are given an infinite amount of points on the map.

[rocketengineer1982]

I have 2 complaints about the in-game charts:

1) Depths are not marked on the charts. If you want to know how deep an area is, you have to hover over here... and hover over there... and hover over here some more... Isolines and shading to indicate depth would be very helpful. I'd like to know that I'm following a convoy that is taking the only navigable path through shallow waters before I try a run-around and end up running aground. (Cough, 3 hours ago, cough.)

2) The depths listed on charts are ridiculously inaccurate. "I'm sorry, Captain, we don't know if the water here is 50m deep or 100m deep. Our charts just don't say!" Actual German charts from WWII report depth to the nearest meter, and are probably accurate to within 5 meters of the true depth. In addition to coarse surveys of the waters surrounding the English Isles, they also had highly detailed maps of the English coastline and of the waters surrounding English ports. If a captain wanted to take his boat into The Wash (between Norfolk and Lincolnshire) his charts would not lacking sufficient detail, even if his judgement might be lacking!

WWII German naval charts: https://maps.nls.uk/coasts/german-naval-charts.html

I would like to see accurate depths marked on the map.

[Feltan]

I think to keep the game playable, they have done a fine job. To accurately map depths in the North Sea and around the British Isles alone to, say, a 10 meter square resolution would require an enormous amount of data storage capability. That might be fine for a mod, but I suspect it wouldn't work on most home computers very well.

[VanZan_75]

Got to agree with all of the above , i would even settle for some charts for the in -game map , no matter how inaccurate the depths are compared to real life ...... ( rule of thumb currently for myself is to use the quiet 150mt sonar ping before i even launch an attack , to get " some " idea of depth . Even then , in most cases you pick a mid point depth , nothing worse than going rapidly from 50mts depth to 20 mts without knowing !!! ) .

[rocketengineer1982]

Originally posted by Feltan:

I think to keep the game playable, they have done a fine job. To accurately map depths in the North Sea and around the British Isles alone to, say, a 10 meter square resolution would require an enormous amount of data storage capability. That might be fine for a mod, but I suspect it wouldn't work on most home computers very well.

10 meter square resolution might be a bit excessive. Resolution on the order of a few hundred meters (or few kilometers in open ocean) might be practical. Remember that grids can be adaptive (higher resolution where it's need and lower resolution elsewhere).

I think that simply having the in-game chart provide accurate (or at least more accurate) depth values with respect to what's modeled in game. Sure having in-game depths that match real world depths would be nice, but I'd like to at least know what the actual in-game depths are.

[rocketengineer1982]

Originally posted by VanZan_75:

Got to agree with all of the above , i would even settle for some charts for the in -game map , no matter how inaccurate the depths are compared to real life ...... ( rule of thumb currently for myself is to use the quiet 150mt sonar ping before i even launch an attack , to get " some " idea of depth . Even then , in most cases you pick a mid point depth , nothing worse than going rapidly from 50mts depth to 20 mts without knowing !!! ) .

I've ran myself aground because of changing bottom depth so many times that I swear I've used more repair parts fixing the bow torpedo tubes than I have fixing damage from depth charges.

[Dollburger]

At a minimum it would be nice to have a deeper, better modeled North Sea. It would also be nice to have more depth at some areas around the UK, Ireland, and Norway.

Actual nautical charts typically won’t have bathymetry lines. They’ll have depth listed as a number spaced throughout the chart. As for scale the resolution could also vary by location - as an example harbors and approaches could have the best, followed by coastal, and last open ocean (essentially crush depth and beyond).

I don’t need accurate depth, but it’s a bummer than some fjord that should be 100s of m deep is like 10m max. And it would be really nice to be able to plot out routes visually.

[rocketengineer1982]

Originally posted by Dollburger:

At a minimum it would be nice to have a deeper, better modeled North Sea. It would also be nice to have more depth at some areas around the UK, Ireland, and Norway.

Actual nautical charts typically won’t have bathymetry lines. They’ll have depth listed as a number spaced throughout the chart. As for scale the resolution could also vary by location - as an example harbors and approaches could have the best, followed by coastal, and last open ocean (essentially crush depth and beyond).

I don’t need accurate depth, but it’s a bummer than some fjord that should be 100s of m deep is like 10m max. And it would be really nice to be able to plot out routes visually.

Check out the German WWII charts that I linked to (https://maps.nls.uk/coasts/german-naval-charts.html). They have bathymetry lines. Not many lines, but they are there. For example, the chart of the North Sea and the British Isles (1944) has lines at 20m, 40m, 100m, and 200m. One of the detailed costal maps (Firth of Forth, 1938) has bathymetry lines at 10m, 20m, 30m, 40m.

As you pointed out, the major depth reference is the numbers printed all over the chart. The map of the Irish Sea (1944) has a particularly large number of closely spaced depth readings.

[seamus7d]

did they change the depth ping machine? used to just click on it and get the depth but now i have to sit down and ♥♥♥♥ around with it. was this changed or am i missing something?