Contacts that are VERY far.

[sixcoins]

Hello.... Again...

Can anyone tell me what's going on when.......


I'm sailing along at 1024 TC, all of a sudden a ship pops up on my navmap, more than 100 km away.

Where is this information coming from? I have no messages that tell me there is a ship there, so I'm not sure what to make of it.

This happens when surfaced, but it's difficult to imagine my crew seeing something that far out...

I guess as a sidenote, I sometimes see a ship nearby on my navmap, but get no info from any of my peeps. No 'ship spotted' message or anything of the like.

So what information should I be studying up on?

Thanks in advance.

[BootsmanBoof]

I believe that is a simulation of radio information received from friendly sources, like other u-boats.

[grislyatoms]

Originally Posted by BootsmanBoof

I believe that is a simulation of radio information received from friendly sources, like other u-boats.

A assumed what BootsmanBoof said or a contact from RDF equipment.

[Alpha Von Burg]

Bootsman's right, this is likely a radio contact report from other units.

Several nearby units intercept the radio transmission of the vessel in question and sends it to back to HQ, where they triangulate the source of the radio.

Otherwise, another friendly vessel reported a contact but could not engage.

Depending on the weather, max visibility is about 10-20 km (at clear weathers). To answer your question, your target is 100km from your current location. The (radio) contact marker which is displayed on you nav. map should indicate an approx. speed and general course of direction. This should be enough to plot and intercept course.

Cheers,

[sixcoins]

Thanks much!

I appreciate the help, but I still have one question...

Is there any major difference between this type of a contact report and a contact report that shows up in my radio room?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by sixcoins

Thanks much!

I appreciate the help, but I still have one question...

Is there any major difference between this type of a contact report and a contact report that shows up in my radio room?

Thanks!

If the contact is just drawn on the nav map and you get NO message in radio room, the vessel must be a single merchant. On the nav map by clicking the drawn mark you can determine its speed:
stationary = 0 kt
slow: <6 kts
medium: <12 kts
fast: 12 kts<
very fast: aircraft
and its heading like North, Northeast etc. As you can see this information is merely an estimate but most of the times enough to work with. In stock game you can even know whether it's friendly, neutral or enemy by the colour of the marking on the nav map.
blue = friendly
green = neutral
red = enemy
In GWX the colours have been disabled so when receiving such a contact report, each drawing will be grey and you cannot know if the contact is a valid target thus you must identify her flag within visual range. At night most (but not all) neutral merchants are lit making it easier to distinguish them from enemy targets.

Contacts, that APPEAR on the message log, report the status of a convoy, task force or warship. These reports are more accurate than the ones without radio message logs i. e. they contain the target's exact speed in knots and heading in degrees. They also determine whether it's friendly, neutral or enemy. However if you get a report of e.g. an enemy convoy, there'll still be possibility you can find neutral vessels within that convoy usually in the rearward. This works vice versa i. e. enemy vessels in a neutral convoy are common, too.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by allievo

...
Contacts, that APPEAR on the message log, report the status of a convoy, task force or warship. These reports are more accurate than the ones without radio message logs i. e. they contain the target's exact speed in knots and heading in degrees. They also determine whether it's friendly, neutral or enemy. However if you get a report of e.g. an enemy convoy, there'll still be possibility you can find neutral vessels within that convoy usually in the rearward. This works vice versa i. e. enemy vessels in a neutral convoy are common, too.

Not really exact. These convoys and/or taskforces can actually move at speeds with decimal fractions. The report only shows rounded numbers. (or truncated down, I'm not sure) But without nitpicking: yes, accurate enough for intercepting.

Get to these map-contacts before they moved 170 km from the plotted spot. Or else you are less likely to hear them in your hydrophone detection area due to their uncertain course.

[soopaman2]

I hate these long range contacts. I rarely find them!

I always assumed they were radio'd (I know that was not a real word) in from other subs/German sympathetic merchant vessels. (at least in an immersion sense)

From a game context, a game based on scripts and RNG's,
I am just trying to figure if they are real or thrown in there to annoy you or have you sail full on towards a ghost that changed course (or made port, as I love trolling the English coast) 3 hours before you arrived.

[Pisces]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

I hate these long range contacts. I rarely find them!\

...

Increase the "Display Range To Important Radio Contacts" or "Display Range To Opportunity Radio Contacts" value in SilentHunterIII\data\Cfg\contacts.cfg

From a game context, a game based on scripts and RNG's,
I am just trying to figure if they are real or thrown in there to annoy you or have you sail full on towards a ghost that changed course (or made port, as I love trolling the English coast) 3 hours before you arrived.

The reports that come in through radiomessages WITH icons on the map definitely are! All you need is to figure a way to meet them in time. Icons on the map without radio messages too, but are single units, and the speed is less accurate.

But they can always change course!

Some radio messages do not have enough info to locate them, or tell where they go/how fast. That is just immersion filler material. Though some major scripted real battles might hinted at with these messages.