Radio contacts

[Doolar]

how far away would you Captians chase an an enemy convoy or single ship , from a radio contact message ?

[Sailor Steve]

I use the SH3 Contacts tool. I don't even get radio contacts more than 100 km away.

[Maceaciadh]

well it varies hugely. i will divert to any single contact i can intercept in 6 hours or less, i find distance has nothing to do with it. however if its a convoy i could chase it for a day as you know most of the convoy routes and have a great idea of were it might be heading to(e.g. into the irish sea). all depends on how committed you are

[Doolar]

just wondering , I got a Radio Contact for a convoy about 170km away so I did make the decision to chase it . It probably won't be there at rendezvous spot but I'm going to give it a go and leave my patrol area a day or 2 early ( I stay in my patrol grid at least 2-3 weeks ) . I got a good chance to catch it before it passes me and turns into the Celtic Sea . It depends on how much time I spend avoiding aircraft . Its Apr.41 for me and on this patrol I've had a ton of aircraft spotting's . More then usual for this time in history that I can remember . Got'a head that way soon or later anyway . Thanx for the input .

[Sailor Steve]

If it's heading your way, or you won't have to travel more than 100 km to intercept, go for it. If it's heading in the other direction it will cost way too much fuel to make it worthwhile. That's my concept, anyway.

[Troublous_Haze]

If' you're aggressive enough you should find and destroy any hostile contacts that shows up on the map. However if it is a convoy in late war, radar warnings makes very difficult to do that. Flanking ahead in such distance that you could maintain contact with convoy and without attracting attention of escorts is like walking on the rope in some way.

[Pisces]

I will chase it if I can reach the stated course line, BEFORE he moves 170 km. In other words, the intercept point must be within 170 km from the icon location. At that distance the target's possible locations start to fall outside of your hydrophone detection range. Any further and they might slip by unnoticed at the extreme hydrophone range. You do need to use the hydrophone manually though, to listen upto 34 km. Don't leave it up to the crew to report them.

[Jimbuna]

I only go for those that areb headed in my general direction but have been known to chase the odd one headed away.

[troopie]

Interesting conversation that reminds me of an oft' faced conundrum (for daft skippers like myself anyway). When in the throws of conducting a patrol (i.e. in an asigned grid) and alerted to reachable contacts, how should I prioritise?

Any historical input on this?

I mean, when following orders to patrol said area for said amount of time, if I take off to the next grid to chase a suspected merchy, am I breaking orders? Am I to assume there may be a grander plan and BDU has things under controll? Is there another U-boat patroling that grid, trying to take care of it? Or should I just seize "every opertunity to launch torpedoes" and just try to rack up any tonnage I can find?

I know this has little bearing on how game/mission pans out, but I often wonder.

[Sailor Steve]

I mean, when following orders to patrol said area for said amount of time
The order to patrol for 24 hours is totally unhistorical. Kaleuns were assigned to a certain grid and told to stay there until ordered otherwise. This usually meant at least a week on station.

if I take off to the next grid to chase a suspected merchy, am I breaking orders?
Yes and no. If you follow a ship out of the grid you can easily sink him and head back again. If it's just a radio contact it could mean leaving your grid forever, and they may have had you there for a good reason. The game doesn't care.

Am I to assume there may be a grander plan and BDU has things under controll?
Maybe, but not in the game.

Is there another U-boat patroling that grid, trying to take care of it? Or should I just seize "every opertunity to launch torpedoes" and just try to rack up any tonnage I can find?
No other boats. There weren't enough to go around, and usually the nearest boat is hundreds of miles away. As far as the game is concerned you should sink everything you see.

I know this has little bearing on how game/mission pans out, but I often wonder.
Real life? They had their reasons, and to change locations you would need to request that from BdU. On the other hand they tended to be forgiving of kaleuns who sank lots of ships.

The game? As I said, the game doesn't know any better, and doesn't care.

[HW3]

When in the throws of conducting a patrol (i.e. in an asigned grid) and alerted to reachable contacts, how should I prioritise?

If I understand how it was done in WWII right, BdU would radio contacts, reported to them, to the nearest boats to those locations. It was up to the captains to decide if they could make an intercept or not.

How I play, I treat all contacts (popup as well as radio messages) as coming from BdU, unless otherwise addressed in a contact radio message, so it is not a violation of orders to go after it. I check to see how far away the reported contact is, and if it is closing or going away. If I can not intercept it within 12 hours, I do not go after it (and replay the scene from Das Boot where the captain figures out he can't reach a reported convoy).:03:

[Troublous_Haze]

Let's not forget weather conditions can also play a choosing role of actions. I often get demoralized in chasing contacts during bad weather.. At black pitch night manual targeting is almost impossible to make in such conditions. However I sometimes manage to score a hit intuitevly, having no visual contact and in close distance relying only on hidrophones but that is rarely a success and often just a waste of torp.