Task forces, should I bother?

[redsolo]

Ive seen begining spring 1940, a lot of task forces popping up here and there. As the BDU wants me to only go after the merchants, I didnt bother. But now I havent seen anything that is worth sinking, sorry an english trawler doesnt do it for me.

A stationary task force, is it worth it?

[jasondef]

Jeez, I'm in summer '41, and I have yet to see a single task force pop up anywhere. I'd give anything to see just one at this point, dying to mix it up with some of the big boys!

What do you mean by stationary? Are the task forces not moving or something?

[STEED]

YES go for it battleships have big renown points I think they are worth 5000 any big warship is a target. :yep:

[Curval]

A stationary task force, is it worth it?

Of course it is. Stationary TF is a gift.

[Dimitrius07]

Yep its very sad to miss a chance to think some British battle ship, but from the other side its god damn dificult at least for me -
first its moved very fast, espesially when you play on 100% realizm, in manual solution you even don,t have a 3m15cek to get appromoximatly speed of the target. I am not so expirience player (i am exually starting to play in 100% when i saw a Das Boot movie :yep: ) and now after i install a agressive DD mod i don,t now how i will be able even to get close to battle ship thise fat bastards not traveled alone - only in night on surface like in reall life i gase :cry: :(

[Dimitrius07]

Offtop

God damn my English writing need improvement FAST!!!!!

[SmokinTep]

I've come accross a few task forces in my time, but have yet to catch up to one. They traval pretty fast.

[redsolo]

I was told that the stationary task force was loitering along the norway coast, it was right after norway was invaded, so I guess it was a part of the attack force. But when I arrived at that position, it was gone and the only thing I got from the trip was less fuel. So I never actually bagged anything in that patrol, thats why I asked this question. (around april 1940) Im also running the Rub mod but I dont think it adds stuff like that.

Other than the stationary, I have a TF running around outside the scapa flow. But since it is labelled as fast, I havent tried it yet. But perhaps today is my lucky day (or theirs depending on who sees who first)

[Quillan]

I've managed to intercept two task forces over all the career patrols I've played. Both times it was because I just happened to be pretty much in their path when they popped up. One was utterly worthless. The game seems to consider a "task force" to be any grouping of 3 or more ships that are all (or perhaps predominantly or even led by) warships. This one was composed of 3 Black Swan frigates. Oh, joy. The second one, however, was a Nelson battleship and accompanying escorts (about 7 assorted destroyers). They were cruising along at 21 knots, and happened to be passing pretty much right over me. I sank the battleship that time.

[andy_311]

Iv'e notice not all reports of TFs contain capital ships iv'e ran into some tf's that just had merchants in them.

[jasondef]

Iv'e notice not all reports of TFs contain capital ships iv'e ran into some tf's that just had merchants in them.

Everything I've heard is task forces are specifically only military, so maybe what you came across were just suped up convoys?

[Threadfin]

Some convoys have warships sailing in one of the columns instead of having them in an escort position and are misreported as task forces.

I've sunk 17 battleships so if you need to know where to find them I can help :)

Cruiser TFs usually make 30 knots.

Battleship TFs make 21 knots.

Hunter Killer groups about 14 knots.

[jasondef]

I've sunk 17 battleships so if you need to know where to find them I can help :)

that'd be great, please! I have yet to come across a task force, and have never seen a capital ship except for a couple of moored ones that the wiki talks about.

[Keelbuster]

The task force that does circles in the North Sea round `41, just outside of scapa flow is a hunter-killer group. I've sunk it before, but it's all light tonnage so don't bother.

KB

[Threadfin]

that'd be great, please! I have yet to come across a task force, and have never seen a capital ship except for a couple of moored ones that the wiki talks about.

Check this link. Most of the capital ships I've encountered are detailed in this listing. There is a date, grid, course and composition. All of these contacts have been with a stock campaign.

http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=86892

The best place to find battleships is in the Med IMO. If you are really keen on a shot at a BB, I recommend patrolling grid CJ75. Patrol east-west 35 km north of the grid marker. They don't come through everyday, so be patient. This is also a good spot for cruiser TFs.

Other good spots are NW of Malta, like grid CN22. Northwest of Loch Ewe, like grid AM36. West of Gibraltar, grid CG97, CG 95. AM 42 is a grid where I've found a couple BB TFs. Grid BE66 is the best spot on the map IMO for jeep carrier hunter-killer groups from 1942 on, though these can be a handful as their escorts seems to be rather skilled.

One of the keys to finding these groups is to do submerged patrols, or at minimum do routine sound sweeps. Hydrophones increase your search range by 3x over visual in clear conditions and up to 50x in heavy fog. Because of their speed, you need to move quickly to get in position. If you find battleships you can be sure they are making 21 knots, which makes the shot a lot easier.

Of course, as mentioned, Loch Ewe and Scapa are good spots to find moored BBs, CLs, and CVs.

[winters]

I've come accross a few task forces in my time, but have yet to catch up to one. They traval pretty fast.

Same here, i had one near Gibraltar and one near Scapa Flow yesterday and i couldnt catch either one :down:

[Keelbuster]

Actually, the best way that i find to detect TFs and convoys is using time compression. At compression 512 or even 256, depending on the size of the TF, the game will slow down - accelerated time will actually tick by slower. This means that there is a group within about 30km of you. Drop to 30m, and man the hydrophone. Crank up the gain, turn off your engines, and you _will_ here the TF. Then plot a bearing line, turn to face it and charge at flank. After a few minutes, drop to 30m, take another bearing line, and you have a rough course estimate. Plot intercept, kill the bastards, and feel a bit cheap about using the limits of your hardware to catch your prey. :arrgh!:

KB

[MarshalLaw]

Hello all,

Just last night I was passing through BE66 on my way to my patrol area and came across a Task force. My angle was bad and it was broad daylight with calm seas so I let them pass by. Escort carrier with 4 escorts in a loose diamond formation. They are out there. :up: Timeline was early March 1944.

[winters]

Last night while once again patrolling near Scapa Flow in horrendous weather, i literally ran into a Destroyer TF. Wow, what an intense fight that ensued, i had torps flying from both bow and stern and the end tally was 6 dead destroyers, Hunts, C class and J class.

After this particular patrol i had sunk over 10K tons in warships alone (7 destroyers and 1 corvette) plus another 15K from the 3 merchants i found. This was hands down the most intense/gratifying/relieved to be back at port patrol i have undertaken since buying the game.

Now i want to set my sights on some big game, the closest i got was a Cruiser in the middle of a large convoy i ran across but with only 2 eels i didnt want to risk rushing in and missing and ending up a quick meal for the Cruiser and her Destroyer escorts.

[jasonb885]

I've sunk 17 battleships so if you need to know where to find them I can help :)

that'd be great, please! I have yet to come across a task force, and have never seen a capital ship except for a couple of moored ones that the wiki talks about.

My list of TFs and single port'd warships is still accurate.

http://edseek.com/archives/2005/05/04/silent-hunter-iii-survival-guide/

(Shameless plug.)

:up:

[Razman23]

I found a TF in the MED which contained....

1-Hunter DD
1-Landing Craft
1-Transport
1-Fiji Cruiser

When it was all said and done, all that was left was the DD and thats because I ran out of fish. I mistakenly used a TYII-ES (sound torpedo) on the stupid landing craft. If I had used it on the DD, I could have sunk it as well or at least put it out of action while I cruise out of gun range, surface, and load the two external fish I had left. :damn:

[canimo]

Most task forces i´ve met were made of 2 or 3 destroyer !! :( :P :(


And they move so fast that if they are not going towards you, just never mind it !! :doh: :doh: :doh:

[Noè]

Most task forces i´ve met were made of 2 or 3 destroyer !! :( :P :(

i'm in the june 1940 and in the AN grid is moviang up and down a TF ...well i was bored to have a report every 5 mins of that TF so i intercepted it and that "so spyed TF" was made of 3 DD :nope: ..... The better capital ship i sunk is a Southampton Light Cruiser of 10.000 t that usually navigate near west coast of ireland (in 1940) :up:

[VonHelsching]

Use the SH3Gen application and make your life easier regarding TF locations:

http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=47405 :rock:

I'm using this with the intelligence indicatior on 80%, while playing with my 6 year son. He just loves hunting TFs together. When playing alone I slide the intelligence slider a little bit more left...:|\

Definitly a must add-on to SH3.