Convoy Staging Grounds?
 

Wouldn't it be nice if someone took the time and effort to model some of these in, so that in addition to mobile convoys in transit, you had stationary groups of ships ready to head out?

In essence, this'd be a convoy of ships at speed 0, at a historically correct site and time. Maybe they could be scripted so that they only stayed a short time, so that you never knew if there was a big, fat sitting duck to be found at a given location.

Hmmm
Do you realise the work involved ?
Plus 99% of the time it would never be seen
RE the pic you posted of Op Cockpit - imagine scripting 22 ships building up
Then having to script them on return
Etc etc
In my experiance I would rather script a dozen convoys than that sort of thing
Takes forever and as I said the chances of someone spotting are next to nil

Plus it impacts on other shipping in the area
SH3 isnt intellingent enough not to spawn other shipping in the middle of another ship
So all other scripted units in the area have to be changed for that short time also

How and where do convoys currently spawn?

As a rule convoys spawn just outside of known staging areas\ports
They cant be started in most ports as a 5km wide convoy wont fit through a 1km wide opening
Some ports however mean the convoys actually spawn inside a port

The closest thing I ever encountered in game (GW) resembling a convoy staging area was Halifax in Canada. I went ashore in external cam mode and saw approx 8 large ships in the middle of what looked similar to a large water basin...all were stationary :arrgh!:

Yeah Halifax is one of the biggest staging areas

Not to mention the realism factor. Staging areas were very heavily protected. How many u-boats actually managed to get into one and sink anything?

I'm not suggesting you model them gather, I'm just saying model a stationary convoy and then have it disappear.

But then again, how many u-boats got into Scapa Flow or Loch Ewe or near the Normandie beaches after D-Day?

Yep I understand that S-K but it would be a one in a million chance of the player seeing it
To model that one static convoy once every 2 weeks or so would make the campaign files at least 10 times bigger than they are now

None (except for Scapa Flow once, and that was well-planned with help from Doenitz himself). My point exactly; these things may be modelled, but they should be impossible to carry out.