Really Strange Patrol

[Folducker]

What are the chances of this happening? I am assigned to patrol the North West tip of the Philippines departing from Fremantle. July 30, 1944 off the southern coast of Borneo, I attack a large convoy that is also heading north. I sink 3 ships, avoid the escorts and continue north. I manage to get reloaded and since the convoy is still within range, I attack it again, sinking 3 more and damaging 3, one with a single MK23, and 2 with cuties. The one hit with the MK23 is burning but the cuties are apparently not capable of sinking a freighter. They were fired at the escorts but I guess the freighters were making more noise. They head west, I head east to the tender south of Ternate for a refit. Now, reloaded, I continue to my patrol area taking the long way there, up the eastern side of the Philippines past Davo. Arriving at my patrol area on 9 Aug. I do the usual, draw a 50 mile radius and set up a search grid which I start, quite by chance at the south western end.

During the day, I had to go to 80 feet because of a patrolling plane, returning to periscope depth, I spot on the horizon, a BIG plume of smoke! This turns into a convoy of 5 ships and three escorts making about 4 knots. One of the freighters is burning and the two others are damaged. (Actually cruising under power with pretty much all of the hull submerged just the bridge and upper deck works showing.) This has to be the same convoy I attacked 8 days ago! After a fairly long battle I manage to dispose of the rest of them including the escorts. The only thing I can figure is they were headed to Taiwan. What really surprises me is I thought the game randomly spawns targets, but apparently that’s not the case. I kept track of all the targets and received credit for every one I sunk.

[eljeffo41]

Do you suppose that once you attack a convoy it stays "In play" so to speak?This is definitely another interesting wrinkle in the tapestry that is SH4!:arrgh!:

[peabody]

What really surprises me is I thought the game randomly spawns targets, but apparently that’s not the case. I kept track of all the targets and received credit for every one I sunk.

Wow that is a weird patrol, to happen to see them three times.

But the game does spawn random targets, but most (if not all) are spawned at a base and follow waypoints to another base where they disappear. They are random groups so there are settings for how often the group is spawned and a % chance of whether or not it will spawn, and a list of ships in the group with each ship assigned a % chance of being in the group so that is how they become "random". So if a group is set at 60% it may appear it may not. And in that group it may have some ships that are set at 100%, so if the group does spawn that ship WILL be in it. Other ships may be set to 80% so they may be in the group or may not be in the group.

So this group spawned somewhere and then happened to travel in the same direction you were going and that is why you saw them again. So the random targets are not spawned at your location, they are spawned at a port (usually) and that group has a set path to follow which can also have random "forks in the road" so it may not travel the same direction each time.

Peabody

[peabody]

Do you suppose that once you attack a convoy it stays "In play" so to speak?This is definitely another interesting wrinkle in the tapestry that is SH4!:arrgh!:

Yes, the groups will stay "in play" until they reach the destination where they usually are set to "delete on last waypoint". So any ships you don't sink will eventually regroup and return to the assigned course. They will try to evade you, and the escorts will try to find you, but eventually they will continue on the course set for them.

Peabody

[Folducker]

Toward the last, when the convoy was down to two ships and one escort. I tried to lure the escort into attacking me by partially surfacing and trying to get him to chase me. Since I had the cuties loaded in the stern tubes, I needed him to come after me so I went to 30ft depth heading away from him, with a lot of the conning tower sticking out of the water. After I was sure he had seen me, (shell splashes) I went back to periscope depth and waited. He came after me at 32 knots, when he was about 2500 yards off he started zig zaging but he turned away at about 1700 yards and re-joined the convoy. I tried this three times, each time he would break it off and turn back. Finally, I went out a ways, surfaced and did and end around to get in front. Since I was in front, he didn't turn away and Mr. Cutie found him. I have found that cuties work best at 1000 yards or less and if I missed, I could count on meeting Mr. Depth Charge. Him and I do not get along.