Tips on estimating range in combat?

[Farrago]

I’ve heard several of of our most experienced captains taking about specific ranges to the target. Any tips how you learned this skill in estimating distance in combat? Thanks.

[RedNeckMilkMan]

Chain range is about 250-300 so if you have a feel for how far you can chain then you can estimate the exact number. 

[van Veen]

As far as I know, the grid distance in battle map view is 250m. 

[Tenet]

I am not yet actually doing it - but one way could be the "__" length of the bar of the aim. You can compare that length to some feature on the enemy ship, like the distance between masts,  and come up with an assessment.

To do that, one would first have to test and record the results for popular ships. You could develop a primitive system similarly to the MILS based on just one bar.