As a further improvement of "convoy commander" (CC):
One of the problems with implementing AI escorts being directed to locations further afield than the default distribution and distance of escorts around the convoy, is that our CC is completely aware of when the game starts, and also knows the typical behaviour of u-boat captains in terms of gathering data prior to firing, both at night, and in daylight. This means an astute CC can reasonably forecast the approximate position and distance of u-boats, and were he accorded complete freedom to send escorts to (say) distances of 5km or so from the edge of the convoy could be reasonably certain of being able to disrupt most attacks by forcing most or all u-boats below the surface during the period we're usually gathering data for AOB and convoy speed, making subsequent attacks very difficult.
Consequently it seems to me that what's needed is he is limited to a numerical value that's small to start with, but which gradually expands over time. This value would be the sum of the values of distance for all of the escorts, from their nominal normal positions. It would present the CC with a limitation that he could send one escort a reasonable distance, or, many escorts a very short distance, away from their standard location relative to the convoy. Similarly, if he detects a uboat, and attacks it/remains in asdic contact with it to keep it down, as the escort and u-boat fall astern of the convoy the effect of this is to prevent him moving other escorts any distance away. So in order to start to be able to use escorts to look for other u-boats beyond the escorts usual patrol area, he'll need to pull the escort well astern back to the convoy in order to gain the ability for him to move other escorts to greater distances.
Similarly, over time, he gains more latitude to move escorts further away without hitting the limit.
This also suggests that if corvettes, then bitterns, then Tribals were used sequentially, each relieving the next, to attack a given u-boat as it fell astern, he could retain the maximum flexibility to deploy u-boats further out, because the slower escorts would be relieved first, thus reducing their distance to the convoy, and thus conferring the ability to range further out to other escorts; than if a single corvette was left a long way behind, and could only catch back up with the convoy very slowly.....
So, such a mechanism takes care of the predictable problem of CC's exploiting the known behaviour of u-boats, and known start-time of the game, but allows - within reason - CC's to attempt different permutations of escorts behaviour throughout the game.
Such a system would also make some escorts much more valuable than others: Tribals would tend to be further out, moving at speed to try and catch a u-boat on the surface, and/or periodically, doing an asdic search to clear a likely vector for an attack. Conversely, corvettes would tend to remain close in. If one were to sink all the Tribals early in the game, it would greatly affect the CC's ability to defend the convoy.....
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