View Full Version : weird convoy course changes
shegeek72
10-19-06, 01:38 AM
In a 1942 campaign, I followed a convoy for a couple days waiting for the weather to calm. Obviously, I wasn't surprised about course changes - what did intrigue me was the manner in which the convoy did it. Some of the ships would circle 360 degrees and join the other ships that just did a standard course change, a couple appearing to almost collide. Is this normal ship behavior? I'm using GW if it makes any difference.
http://users4.ev1.net/%7Etaragem/sh3_map_course.jpg
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http://users4.ev1.net/%7Etaragem/sh3_u100.jpg
bookworm_020
10-19-06, 01:43 AM
I've stumbled across convoy's that have been just like the one above. It can also happen if you take out one of the ships that is acting as the lead one.
It makes for an interesting time for aimming torpedo's!!! It can also be a help as the escorts seem to be a little more disorganised.
Mauser KAR98K
10-19-06, 02:12 AM
Had this happened last night in real rough seas. About puked on my laptop. Nailed a C2 at midsection and split it in two. The convoy went from organized to a cluster you know what. I only sank 3 ships with 7 Torps. One was a single hit on a T3 tanker. It looked like she was overfilled at port and couldn't handle the rough seas, or she ran into something.
I had chased this Convoy for a couple of days. I was about to get it on a broad side attack when the Convoy did a 90 degree turn. Head on attacks, and really wicked seas. I was submerdged and surfaced at the same time.:doh::doh:
Hell the seas were so bad that the escorts didn't do anything! They were trying to keep "THEIR" boats on a straight path.
HunterICX
10-19-06, 06:04 AM
The horror starts when ur in the middle of it...ships moving multiple dirrections
I had 1 time that I got rammed by 3 cargo ships....BOING!!!!...holy sh!t....sunk 4 ships but had to go away. also its good...because of the havoc an Escort had my trail and he was comming towards me but he got blocked by an small cargo giving me time to dive deeper.
Warmonger
10-19-06, 06:58 AM
Do rough seas damage ships' engines? Last patrol I stumbled across 2x2 motionless ships in horrible November seas, got me nice and easy 25k tons.
mookiemookie
10-19-06, 08:23 AM
Putting this thread back on topic...
I've seen the same thing a few times. Once I even saw a convoy do a complete 180 degree turn after I sunk one of the cargos in it! (turning around because I picked one off? Ya bunch of pansies!)
Is this stock SH3 behavior, or related to GW? A bug or intended behavior?
AVGWarhawk
10-19-06, 08:51 AM
Do rough seas damage ships' engines? Last patrol I stumbled across 2x2 motionless ships in horrible November seas, got me nice and easy 25k tons.
I have seen rough seas sink ships yes. Not ruin motors. That was the vanilla version. Sometimes the ships are given movement by the computer and at the end of the run as scripted the ships just sit. I have seen this a lot and gladly sink them.
Yes, show up inside a convoy and watch the sheep scatter:yep:. Ships will turn this way and that way. The warships will attempt to come inside the convoy really creating confusion. The ships will stop and back up to avoid collisions. I have seen them do complete 360's. Once I targeted a merch and it stopped, mean while the warship was coming on strong and bang...he got it instead...split in two to boot:rock:. So yeah, dropping in for a pint in the middle of a convoy makes the ships do some really strange turns to get out of the way.
bigboywooly
10-19-06, 04:58 PM
IMHO a lot of the problem is the convoy spacings and ships running at full speed in a convoy
If a ship is running at its highest speed and its on the outside when the convoy turns it cant keep up
If the spacings are too close then when the ships turn the ones behind alter course to avoid collision - AI routines - and then its a mess
Still does help sometimes to sink a few
Ducimus
10-19-06, 05:33 PM
I havent seen that convoy behavior in ages. Happend ALOT in the stock game.
What causes it as far as i know:
1.) Colum spacing (and maybe arragement)
2.) When the convoy turns if the speed as said above is a bit on the high end.
From a mission editor standpoint, A convoy like this (as in stock), is a problem waiting to happen:
X__X__X__X
X__X__X__X
X__X__X__X
X__X__X__X
X__X__X__X
X__X__X__X
A convoy like this , the odds are less likely it will fubar into a birdsnest of ships.
X___X___X___X___X
X___X___X___X___X
X___X___X___X___X
X___X___X___X___X
Did this happen after loading a saved game?
Ducimus
10-19-06, 05:39 PM
Did this happen after loading a saved game?
This can do wierd things to ones game. I particuarly enjoy the watch crew being on deck while submerged :D
Cpt.Thorne
10-19-06, 05:52 PM
This happened to me today but it was due to AI sub engaging the convoy and I had a taste of "Happy times" in 1941 dezember as the escorts were after the AI VIIB behind the convoy.
CT
I noticed this when tracking my first convoy after installing GW. It was heading south towards Gibralter then made a 90 degree curse change to the West. It was kinda scary for a second when the lead escort suddenly looked like it was making a Bline for me. The rest of the convoy made a much slower turn and some of the ships seemed to freak out and start to turn inwards towards one another and then started to tread water in very small turns. I thought at first that the Convoy was breaking up for a second following the procedure of every ship heading in a completely different compass direction.
Eventually they all righted themselves onto the correct course. But it certainly didn't play out at all the way I've read when a convoy was making sharp course changes. It took some careful sailing to make sure I stayed away from visual range. It was also tricky to figure out the new course so I could run parallel when most of the ships were running in different directions.
To me it seems like some buggy AI coding.
shegeek72
10-19-06, 08:53 PM
Did this happen after loading a saved game?
Jawohl.
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http://users4.ev1.net/%7Etaragem/sh3_u100.jpg
Common bug. When you load a saved game, ships in the area lose waypoints and start acting funny. Not sure what the exact distance is, someone said 50km. You may have been close to them when you loaded.
I perfer my reason behind the crazy convoy.
Bernard wrote up a plan for British convoys on what to do in case you think theres a U-boat somewhere nearby, this plan was later on called...
Random Chaos.:rotfl:
Captain Nemo
10-20-06, 10:40 AM
Common bug. When you load a saved game, ships in the area lose waypoints and start acting funny. Not sure what the exact distance is, someone said 50km. You may have been close to them when you loaded.
I agree. I've seen this happen after loading a saved game near a convoy, they just seem to lose all sense of direction.
Nemo
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