Good search/patrol patterns
 

I struggle to accept which search pattern is optimal. I can usually find an acceptable way to search any given area, but like I said using the optimal search pattern is what I am curios about.

I am also curios about the how far (distance) from the patrol point I should go, one grid perhaps?

IF enemy ships appear randomly on the map, then there are no effective algorithm/search pattern that can be applied, and that is a shame because in the real world there is an effective way to perform search patterns.

There are some auto search patterns here.

One is for searching along a shipping lane and the other for a patrol area.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=174400
:up:

In stock campaign - patrol zones are about 200km.
In OHII they range from 80km to 200km