When do the happy times end?
 

I’m playing a “realistic” (I allowed map plots - I have officers in here with me dammit! -so technically custom) campaign in Fotrsu, running out of midway since the start of ‘42. Mostly patrolling the home island waters and up to June of ‘42 I haven’t been seeing any convoys per se. Usually just a merchant or two, with the odd patrolling FF or DD separate.

In many cases I can simply surface to deck gun the unarmed ones. So...how long until the Japanese wise up?

My experience has been around mid '43 the Japanese finally wise up and put their ships in convoys and attach escorts. It takes another 3-4 months for effective escort coordination.

And they return in mid 1945 when unescorted convoys appear, the Japanese having run out of escorts.

Single-escort convoys aren't bad either.

it depends.
some merchies start the war with small arms.
most merchies have deck guns by January 1943 however some never get weapons.
keep in mind that even the 3 inch weapons that merchies carry can fire 11000-12000 yds just like your deck gun. whether they WILL fire at that range is determined by the AI value set in the CFG folder. for most modsets, the enemy will return file at 6000-8000 yds.
so, be careful when you close with a merchie.
:Kaleun_Salute:

Oh yes, I learned about merchant weapons when they decided to start shooting up my periscope. I now start all runs submerged and only pop up for guns if it’s unarmed.