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(pertaining to B: In my current campaign I just got a report of a TF heading SE at 8 knots, however he was ridiculously far away, but since I hadnt seen any action yet Id figure id try, what I did was draw a 200 KM circle for the TF speed and a 300Km circle for mine (seeing as how I thought if I divide his speed as I lay it on the map by 4 mine would need to be also) <--is this wrong? and if so what is the general rule of thumb for how close convoys / ships/ etc should be for intercepts, AND is there another more efficient and better way to do long range intercepts??
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You choose a scale of 25 km/knot for the taskforce. (200/8=25) Then the radius of your speed circle would be 300km if you move at 12knots. (300/25=12) If you moved with any other speed then you would have been late or early for the meeting. To keep things simple you could have used a scale of 10km per knot. So circles of 80 and 120 km.
I made myself a rule to meet the target before
the target has moved 175km. Beyond that he might fall outside of your hydrophone sensor range. (listening yourself) So I plot a target-course extension of 175 km and set a circle at the endpoint with radius 34km. Then I make an ice-cream cone out of it (add two tangent lines to the circle from the starting point) to show where he could be during the whole process. If I cannot make the intercept cross the flanks of that ice-cream cone, then I let it go. I never make a choice based on range to target alone. The intercept course needs to cross the ice-cream cone from whatever angle. That's the rule! Ofcourse, I don't expect to make a visual contact at the expected meeting point. As it is based on hydrophone range if you listen yourself. If you want to rely on visual range only (with GWX can be up to 16km) then reduce the ice-cream cone to a size of 82km. (41km if you use stock 8km visual horizon)
Intercepting stands or falls with knowing the right target speed. If you only have general speed indication (slow,medium, fast) then you have to guess. Slow is up to 8 knots (medium up to 12, though could be changed by a mod). So if you guess it to go 6 knots then you might find in the end that you are late to the meeting if the target was actually a bit faster. Worst-case speeds (highest) always make you arrive early. But it might also mean that you choose not to intercept those that in reality could be intercepted because of lower than assumed speed.
Unless you are really careful about your fuel-status, I'd go with full speed. (take into account in your drawing the actual speed that you will intercept with, like reduced due to waves and weather) Don't tarry and give the target time to make a course change. Make haste!