Convoy Circles?
 

I am playing SH3 with GWX. It is early in 1941 and I intercepted two convoys that showed up on my chart not as big squares, but as big circles.

What, if anything, does this signify? Speed? Escort strength? Size? Some sort of mess up in my GWX install?

Has anyone else seen this?

Thanks.

it just means a submarine is at the centre of the front row of the convoy, nothing more interesting than that I'm afraid.

Those big circle convoys have neutral ships mixed with enemy ones.

Happy night hunting:03:

Those are wolfpacks.

It means that Bernard is the Convoy Commodore and he has them sailing in big circles while he tries to make up his mind whether to go home or go on.

Wait long enough and the crews on both merchants and escorts will be too dizzy to put up an effective resistance (but watch out for the occasional "lucky shot").:o

Sink 'em all!

:arrgh!:


(the answer about a submarine being the lead ship in a circular convoy is correct. It is the same as the reports of neutral convoys that appear as green squares only because a neutral vessel is the leader. Most of the convoy will be [red] allied ships. Very rarely GWX will toss in a truly neutral convoy, usually 2 mercs led by an armed trawler, often around the approaches to Gibralter.)

Your wrong!!! That's not Bernard it's Dinsdale.

The circle means that the convoy is being shadowed by an Uboot.
Close in and attack.
You might witness a wolfpack attack but the AI Ubooten will attack surfaced with their deck guns and thus they make themselves easy targets for the escorts. This is a blessing in discuise (spelling correct?) for you as you have planty of time to attack the merchants with your torps and escape.

What Cherry said. Used to freak me out, too.

No wolfpacks, no mystery. Just happens to have a sub (which the AI treats as a gunboat) in front.

Yes, usually a British sub. Sometimes you will find a convoy being attacked by AI subs who will show up on the map as circles around the convoy square box.

Convoys can also show up as a Task Force on the map, if the lead ship happens to be classed as a war ship.:03:

If you have added the Contact Colors mod, to put the colors GWX removes back in the map, then blue circles are convoys being attacked by German AI sub/subs. I avoid those like the plague, usually, because the AI can only run surfaced and generally serve no purpose except to get the convoy all excited...right before they die by gunfire. Occasionally they will draw off the escorts...which is the only benefit I've seen, so far.

I realize these are SH3 limitations, not the fault of GWX.

Rgr that...the icon/symbol for the convoy is dictated by the lead element in centre font.

Sink that and the icon/symbol will change to a square.