Convoys in the Mediterranean?

[Clacker]

Hi All,

Were there any large convoys of merchants in the Mediterranean in WW2?

I've seen lots of lone vessels and a BB taskforce (once) but no convoys.

Thanks
Clacks

[Cpl Carrot]

They are there. They are never reported however and don't start till mid 42 (I think).

[Clacker]

Thanks for the reply,

I'm in Dec 1941 so that explains it.

Regards
Clacks

[urseus]

Med felt really lonly.

I only stayed there 2 patrols it was boring.

Why do they only start after 42? And does it get ridiculously difficult after that?

[Cpl Carrot]

Why do they only start after 42?

Because that is when they are scripted to run. Perhaps not the answer you were after. When they ran in RL I don't know.


And does it get ridiculously difficult after that?

No harder than anywhere else.

[urseus]

i was imagining though that it would be harder because the atlantic is harder 43+, and the Med would be completly covered in air support in a small area.

Plus there is only 1 covoy route? Compare to the aparent dozens in the atlantic.

[EAF274 Johan]

Kontaktmeldung! :)

I just spotted a large convoy travelling ENE at 12kn, off the coast between Oran and Algiers. I suspect it's on its way to Alexandria. The date is 29 November 1942. Convoy consists of troop transports, a tanker and Liberty ships. Not telling you about the escorts :p

[larsen]

i was imagining though that it would be harder because the atlantic is harder 43+, and the Med would be completly covered in air support in a small area.

Plus there is only 1 covoy route? Compare to the aparent dozens in the atlantic.

For most of the war in North Africa, there was really only one route : from Gibraltar to Alexandria and back. And for Italians it was from Italy to Tripoli.
Doesn't explain why it only starts in 42, though...

[EAF274 Johan]

Doesn't explain why it only starts in 42, though...
Just guessing, but I can imagine that until 1941 the British were too hard pressed on the home front to send large convoys to the Med? Also considering the German and Italian air force activity...

[don1reed]

The Allies had their hands full trying to push Rommel out of Africa...and the build up toward the Battle for Sicily which kicked off in July '43. It all took time.

[larsen]

Doesn't explain why it only starts in 42, though...
Just guessing, but I can imagine that until 1941 the British were too hard pressed on the home front to send large convoys to the Med? Also considering the German and Italian air force activity...

In fact, they were very busy sending convoys to their troops in Egypt from 1940 until DAK surrendered in Tunisia in May 1943 thru this route. Most of the supply and reinforcements were following this route as the one around Africa was way too long... After North Africa was freed I guess some supply could arrive in Morocco/Algeria harbours.

[Farside]

what about the 'special' convoy to valetta with the tanker ohio, couldn't that be put into the game ( scripted a course)

[Egan]

The Med theatre has been jacked up in RUB-OpsMod. New and improved convoys and allied operations are both there now.

[sergbuto]

The Med thearter is also exploited in U-boat War Mod II as well as other places.

[jasonb885]

The Med theatre has been jacked up in RUB-OpsMod. New and improved convoys and allied operations are both there now.

I didn't modify the convoys in the Med, because, first, there really weren't any scheduled convoys, and second, as noted above, no one plays there.

And yay we just had a fire drill.

:up:

[oRGy]

But no-one plays there precisely because it's boring. ;)

Would be good if someone added that flotilla at Cosntanza...

[Kalach]

I just did 3 patrols there and only took 4 tincans and a small merchant :-?

[Ahoy!]

I guess I`ll have to tweak the campaign files myself then. I really like the short distances in the Mediterreaneran, but it is disappointing criss crossing the area between Sardinia and N. Africa for 6 weeks and sink 1 small merchant and not see a single airplane :(

[Egan]

The Med theatre has been jacked up in RUB-OpsMod. New and improved convoys and allied operations are both there now.

I didn't modify the convoys in the Med, because, first, there really weren't any scheduled convoys, and second, as noted above, no one plays there.

And yay we just had a fire drill.

:up:

Oh, Ok, my mistake. I sometimes get confused about whats there and whats not. :)

The Sharks with Head-lasers are still there though, aren't they? :P

Anyway, there are definatley allied operations in there.

Unless the sharks got 'em all..... :gulp:

[CCIP]

There's a lot of friendly and enemy [scripted] warships going around in the Med in Ops, I know that much. I think Jason also put the single traffic amount back to 100% (default values) there - didn't you?

Otherwise, the Med could still use some work. The single traffic routes, in particular, are pretty crappy. :hmm:

[CB..]

a quick fix is to go thru the RND file (do a search for med convoys ) MKS, MKF etc etc and increase the frequency and probability...same with the med taskforces..and traffic (search for med) and bingo you have a reasonably playable med campaign....i'm not going to make any claims on this being realistic but it makes it worth the while untill one of the teams has a go at it...

open the RND file with wordpad ---you'll see it reads pretty much in plain english

heres the first entry found when searching for MKF

[RndGroup 83]
GroupName=MKFConvoy
Category=0
CommandEntry=0
Long=-645020.000000
Lat=4334640.000000
Height=0.000000
DelayMin=60
DelayMinInterv=8140
SpawnProbability=90
RandStartRadius=0.000000
ReportPosMin=700
ReportPosProbability=20
Heading=179.113998
Speed=13.000000
ColumnsNo=3
Spacing=600
DeleteOnLastWaypoint=true
CurrentInstanceID=0
GameEntryDate=19421112
GameEntryTime=0
GameExitDate=19431204
GameExitTime=0
NextWP=0


here's the relevant frrequency of the convoy

DelayMinInterv=8140
SpawnProbability=90

(ive allready reduced the amount of time between convoys on this particular route to 8140 minutes between convoys with a 90% chance a new convoy will start along the route after this amount of time--yu see how it works?)

you could allso alter the entry date for the convoy from

GameEntryDate=19421112
GameEntryTime=0
GameExitDate=19431204


to

GameEntryDate=19401112
GameEntryTime=0
GameExitDate=19451204

and this would provide this convoy in game thru out the war..and so on..

if you like lots of radio messages then these are the entrys to look at

ReportPosMin=700
ReportPosProbability=20

this is my edited entry and gives a usefull yet still unpredictable flow of contact reports regarding this convoy..

have a bash at it..(make a copy of your RND file for safe keeping ) and within half an hour you have a goodly populated med..

[Shahed]

The Med theatre has been jacked up in RUB-OpsMod. New and improved convoys and allied operations are both there now.

I didn't modify the convoys in the Med, because, first, there really weren't any scheduled convoys, and second, as noted above, no one plays there.

And yay we just had a fire drill.

:up:

There were'nt any scheduled convoys ? Where do you see that, in which file ?
Thanks in advance. :rock: