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Hey Captains!
Today's Lesson: Mini-Map Reading!
The mini-map is one of the most important tools to learn early in the game.
The Basics:
+ and - keys will adjust the size of the mini-map.
The mini-map has evolved a lot since the beginning of the game. There are so many adjustments you can make to your mini-map to give you more information. You can add rings for detection by air, detection by sea, AA range, and so forth. I am going to post a few screenshots of the settings and we can go over them real quick!
note* - These just happen to be the settings I had selected for these screenshots =).
As you can see in the screenshots above, there are a multitude of settings/information that you can put on your mini-map. You can access these settings by holding down "control" and clicking on the cog at the bottom.
Let us go over them real quick:
Detectability Range by Sea: This is a setting that you should ALWAYS have on, this is the range you get detected at! This will put a circle on your map around your ship showing where you would get detected at.
Detectability Range by Air: This is a great setting to have on when in a DD especially. I don't normally have this on in most ships but again this is more information you can use.
Secondary Battery Firing Range: If you are in a battleships known for secondaries this is definitely something you might want to have turned on. I memorize the distance of my secondaries (not always an option) but this is a nice visual to show it.
AA Guns Firing Range: I find this setting to be a little outdated, was definitely better when ships like the North Carolina had varying levels of AA out past what it is now.
Hydroacoustic Search Action Range: Another ring that will show up if enabled on the mini-map. I personally don't use this because I don't play many ships with hydro, but again more information the better (if needed).
Transparency of Circles: This lightens and darkens the circles. You can use this to make the rings more prominent on the map.
Water Transparency: This makes the mini-map see through =). I usually have the mini-map as transparent as I can so I can still see in that corner of the screen.
Last Known Position Markers: ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS! Please make sure you turn this on. The information this gives you can solve a myriad of different problems.
Range Numerical Values: How far you can shoot and the range of your torpedoes (if you ship has them).
Ship Names: This setting works great with the "Last Known Position Markers". What is better than knowing where a ship was last spotted? The name of the ship of course!
I suggest having these settings turned on (if you put too many settings on at one time you could have information overload):
Detectability Range by Sea.
Last Known Position Markers.
Ship Names.
Why do I say this is one of the most important skills to learn?
The mini-map simply is the way to track what is going on throughout the game. You should always be checking this and keeping track of what is going on, on the rest of the map. This is one way that you can help prevent DDs from getting the drop on your (not always, especially if they were never spotted) but if you have the last known markers on they will show on your map. Learning the mini-map will increase your awareness to what is going on in the game. This might save you from pushing into a recently spotted DD or help you realize that you need to flex to the other side of the map to help stop a push.
Captains please keep this on topic and discuss the mini-map. Do you feel this is as important as I do to learn early?
Thanks!