I'm in 44 now (next version), and I'm starting to get stuff in to the coast.

Single ships are easy, but escorted groups... those little islands become tricky.

Beginning of war 1941.

I have started a new career and that also did it so it is likely systematic at this point.

I will restart today and see if it repeats and will do a complete reinstall if it does.

Something for some reason has bugged itself.

Wulfmann

Yes, it does. After leaving the Rabaul area, I sank 2 more merchants with
remaining deck gun shells. I saw a 6 merchant/4 escort convoy which I had
to avoid. Going southeast towards Tulagi (for refit) I came across Adm.
Halsey's Carrier TF steaming northwest. Needless to say, my crew was
ecstatic seeing all those stars & stripes flying in the breeze. I went to Tulagi
and did the refit and am now almost back to Rabaul. My ships/tonnage to date:
22 merchants/1 DD (accident, was firing at merchant & missed) 112,000+ tons.

JIM

My first patrol i was sent to patrol off Hokkaido island and engage enemy merchant shipping. I arrived to the spot marked on a map but my objective wont update, ive circled the island and been there for ages, sunk 5 ships, but it still shows the objective Patrol off Hokkaido island incomplete. Am i doing something wrong ?

The missions are mostly unchanged, and that one I haven't touched. the star should turn grey after you patrol nearby ~55nm for 48 hours.

At some point I will change the missions to have larger patrol areas, and have all the patrols specifically inform you of the radius of the zone. Some might be harbor watch missions where the admirals want you on a spot, others might be 200nm patrol areas.

Right now that hokkaido mission is unchanged by me.

tater

Im not sure Ive read of accounts of escorted convoys running the shores, just individual ships and small groups of 2-3 or so. They didnt bring escorts with them, but utilized the few escorts running back and forth along the coastlines designated for their patrol.

Granted these coastal escorts would activly escort merchants along their coastlines of protection, actually setting meeting times and locations to group up and venture out, but i assume that'll be touch to model.

So I figured the escorts in game would just move back and forth along the coast and the merchants would enjoy their protection when they could :) The merchants and escorts could travel the coast in seperate lanes. Merchants landward and escorts seaward. This will hopefully minimize traffic congestion issues and escorts running aground trying to straddle the convoy.

Areas of importance to escorts would be heavily travelled areas, pockets of deep water along the shoreline, inlet/bays, etc.

Good ideas.

I was planning on having some ships tuck into inlets during the day, and travel at night. My first crack at the Tokyo Express (in the current version) works well enough with ships dashing in at night.

From the start I've has a few ships along the chinese coast moving between the islands, going from port to port, sometimes stayin in for a day, then moving on. They actually go all way into Rangoon port. I hope to have a little time to start messing with that sort of stuff this week at some point.

One thing we really need is some smaller shipping. Hopefully one of the skilled 3D guys will get interested in crappy, small, japanese shipping :D

3 types. A Fox Tare Dog, <1000 ton coaster. A Sugar Baker Sugar, <1000 ton coaster (engines aft), and a Sugar Dog (Sea Truck) of ~350 tons (we can have a steel and a wooden hull texture to vary the SD). These became very important, and were steaming around in substantial numbers. Unlike much japanese shipping, they were also somewhat standardized in design.

tater

I did a complete uninstall and reinstalled to 1.3 with all mods I was running including both of yours.
Problem now gone.
I am sure it bugged itself but is perplexing

Now, if I could stop those occasional CTD!!

Wulfmann

Wulfman, if you get any CTDs runnign my campaign, post it with the date and a rough location (no need for lat/long, just "~200 nm SE of Luzon" is fine.

There are some CTDs that are absolutely the result of the campaign, and many are very simple oversights (like having too many columns for the 100% number of ships, etc.

tater

The one I just got was off the east coast of Japan to the north. I had sunk 12 fishing boats and made contact with a "real" ship when it CTD.
This was a Dec 9, 1941 beginning career, first patrol.
I have not touched your 1941 stuff and at that point the 1942 either.
I have redone the 42 convoys after the CTD (I did a lot of RND.mis file modding in my SH3)
This multi file stuff is great as it is the convoys I really like to tweak and can do so one at a time. If I screw up I know what file it is compared to SH3 where a few days work could go down the drain if I could not locate the mistake.

One thing I changed in the 42 convoys was spacing. I have 800 as the closest because lower amounts cause them to bunch up and start meandering after a torpedo attack and that is just not real.
In real life they did travel closer than we can make them because of that bug.

Wulfmann

That's useful (the spacing).

I try to keep it above 500, but any hard rules that make the AI work better are good.

OK, I found the Yamato TF and sank it with good clean torp hits. All my waiting
along its route paid off. Mission has been completed with 182,374 tons sunk.
So I know thats one patrol good to go. I had the TF make about 6 port stops
along its circular path from Japan and back to Japan. Moral of this story is:
Don't Rush, Take Your Time and Wait it Out !!

JIM

Actually the day/night merchant travel thing is backwards from what it should be.
The USA made that mistake along the east coast back in early 1942. The U-Boats
were lying on the bottom during the day and patroling in the shallow waters at
night when there were no planes and visibility was poor. Taking a sub into shallow
water during daylight near enemy shores would be a no-no. American subs operating in the Pacific Theatre should follow that same principle, I know I would...

JIM

Yeah, I might have the chinese coast mixed up with the SWPA. In areas where the 5th AF was, they moved at night for fear of a B-25 at mast height ruining their day. Course late in the war the 345BG was in the Philipines...

tater

That sounds about right, merchants taking cover in port at night and moving out during the day.

I wouldnt mind the occasional bay being filled with fishing sampans. I like the idea of weaving between tons of fishing boats to evade a DD on the surface.

Then again I can see somebody using that as a cheap tonnage builder...2 dozen little fishing sampans ablaze on the horizon :nope: ...if it dont have antennas sticking off it, then it aint a picket...leave that poor little man and his 2 man crew along to feed his family(especially in Korean and South Pacific waters).