Help tracking convoys
 

Hi im very new to the silent hunter series but I'm loving it so far! but i am struggling a lot with tracking the convoys on the map. i set a interception route and get close and wait but i never find them.

welcome aboard!
 

Been a while since I've played SH3.


Do you have map contacts on? Are you trying to locate a reported convoy, or are you trying to track one you actually have visual contact on?


If it's reported, you'll get an icon on the map and a message about speed and course, as I recall. You'll have to estimate where it is going and try to intercept.


If you have visual, then you plot some points and draw a line to get the target(s) course.

Hi HeirWinter A warm welcome to Subsim Sir also when you do a sonar sweep to it manualy you can hear convoys and ships up to 38kms away from you your A.I. sonarman wont pick them up at that distance. :Kaleun_Salute:

thanks for the helpful intel! i did not know that about the manual sonar thats super helpful. and yeah i have the map updates on

Yeah, they move away from the marker as time passes. You can plot a line of 170km in the direction of their course. (multiples of 22.5 degrees for N, NNE,NE,ENE,E,etc. ; make sure you have compas bearing tools on your cursor to help with this) Then stick a circle centered on the end of that line with 34km radius. Then 2 additional lines from the start that touch the sides of the circle. Now you have the lines of possible courses in the form of an 'ice-cone'. Depending on their speed it will take a certain time for them to reach beyond that 170km (91.8 nautical mile). If you are not inside the cone when their exit-time passes then you risk them being outside of your hydrophone range. (should be 34km in GWX 3, other more modern mods might differ.) And then you are less likely to find them. So make sure you are inside as quickly as possible. As they could also change course before that and exit the cone prematurely. If you don't hear them with a submerged hydrophone check, then backtrack along the reverse of their course.

I am a bit unsure of the slow, medium, fast speed categories. But I guess they were in the order of 0-7.5, 7.5-11.5, 11.5-> knots. But for actual convoys they should show the nearest round knot value. So consider the next .5 above that for worst case speed. As the actual speed could be rounded down when displayed on the map.

Track convoys by cheating - SPOILER ALERT
 

A variety of "typical shabby Nazi tricks" are available.

A convoy spawns into 3D at a range of 32km (for me with GWX). This causes the game to lag, the size of the lag depending on the number of ships. This is of course an accurate simulation of the Kaleun's sixth sense for danger.
In a similar vein the maximum time compression is limited when the boat is under threat (e.g. spotted by the enemy), and the crew tend to cower and look worried. Different time compression limits correspond to different levels of threat.

Once the convoy has spawned and you have an idea of the bearing it is possible to lock on to individual ships with the Uzo or periscope even if they are too far away to render. Just keep spamming the lock on 'L' key whilst tracking across the bearing. The lock is held for about a minute. If external views are enabled you will then be able to browse the ships you have locked using ',' and '.'. If on the surface the watch officer will also be able to give range and bearing of the nearest target. I always say this compensates for a lack of a "smoke on the horizon" feature. Or in fact the lack of any horizon at all in the base game. I'm kidding myself of course - it just saves a lot of pfaffing when trailing a convoy.
For really advanced cheating i guess you could use the mission editor to work out when and where to go. This is very good for finding minefields. Yes there are loads of mines in GWX, in the locations you would expect, but they are spread very thinly and you usually sail straight through them without noticing.
Hope this doesn't spoil the game for you! You "need to be strong in this war" to eschew all the cheats the game offers, especially the superhuman weapons officer...

I don't remember for SH3, but in SH5 when you get a reported convoy you get a red rectangle on the map at the position, and a radio report that tells you their heading and speed. You can then draw a line from the contact square in that direction.



In SH5, if you click on your uboat and drag a new waypoint, the red convoy location will move away from its original location as you drag your sub waypoint, indicating where it will be when your sub is where the way point is. It is very faint on the map, but this is a great way to see where the convoy is headed. This is probably a bug/cheat.


It's not 100% accurate because the convoys do change course and this does not reflect that. It also is only accurate very soon after the convoy mark appears on the map.

This can help when you get a convoy report


https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=88961

I draw your attention to this thread:

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=88961