convoy question

[Laffertytig]

how do convoy routes work in SH4? i read somewhere that in SH3 traffic for the whole is loaded when the patrol starts but in SH4 only 3 momths is loaded, not sure i understand what that means though.

for example, if a port becomes japanese during a patrol, do ships start to sail from it or is it only when you officially end the patol and start a new one that ports start to populate?

im not running TMO mod.

[Armistead]

Ports really have nothing to do with traffic, simply traffic will spawn using parameters that have nothing to do with you docking. Traffic spawns at a set time or at least has a chance of spawning. Simply, while on patrol if the JP's take a port, traffic can spawn there, it doesn't have to wait for you to dock.

Ships don't spawn from ports themselves., they're set to spawn near ports. Ships can spawn anywhere, including the middle of the ocean, moreso in stock.

Usually when a port is taken, some docked traffic will spawn and a few escorts to patrol. Mod's like RSRD usually add more harbor traffic.

[Laffertytig]

alright good to know, cheers!:)

[Sailor Steve]

As for convoys, it's six months, not three; at least that is my understanding. What it means is that the game loads a whole lot faster than SH3 ever could. It also means that if you refit and go fight again, and again, and again, sooner or later you're going to be here asking why all the ships have disappeared and the ocean is empty.

[Laffertytig]

makes it sense for it to work that way i guess. do the convoys have an element of randomness or do they spawn and travel along the same waypoints each and every time they hit a set date?

[Pisces]

makes it sense for it to work that way i guess. do the convoys have an element of randomness or do they spawn and travel along the same waypoints each and every time they hit a set date?It depends on how the campaign/mission designer set up the waypoints. It is possible for a waypoint to go to the next (default behavior obviously), or to fork off to a different waypoint based on a certain random probability.

Aside from that, each waypoint can have a random offset around it, within some specified radius. So you can make the track pretty unreliable if you wish.

EDIT: Have a look at this (SH4 Subschool) mission I made in the editor. It makes a single ship choose a series of waypoint which eventually determines it's traveling speed and north or south general direction. Then using the random offset it chooses a specific course to follow.

http://www.gamefront.com/files/17285812/RNDapproach_Subschool_rar

[Laffertytig]

very informative. i wouldnt mind knowing specifically how TMO and RSRD campaign layers are set up?

a certain amount of randomness would be nice.

[Pisces]

very informative. i wouldnt mind knowing specifically how TMO and RSRD campaign layers are set up?

a certain amount of randomness would be nice.Well, install the mod, then look at the files with the mission editor. Easy peasy.

[Daniel Prates]

I must say, I like harbour-raiding a lot, so I do it often, and I have never seeen ships actually going in or out of the docks. That counts for escorts too. So either ports were empty, or with docked merchants, or with docked merchants and active patrols, or with docked merchants, docked patrols (that wont move but will shoot ya!), and active patrols.

However, I did see in a few ocasions some cargo ships nearing the port, or coming close to it. But there is no way to tell them apart from genericaly-generated single-spawned ships.