[TEC] The biggest convoys and SH4 performance

[MaxT.dk]

I've just seen that great movie Iwo Jima (I've actually stopped *wanting* to play SH4 after watching it) about Japanese fighting the Americans trying to keep the island Iwo Jima...

Here's a screenshot from it:


The question:
Have you ever seen a "convoy" of that size? Because I didn't... And as UBI devs said, they wanted to be as historically right as possible... So... Where are those big parties goin' on? Maybe I'm missing all the fun? :rotfl:

[panthercules]

Originally Posted by MaxT.dk

The question:
Have you ever seen a "convoy" of that size? Because I didn't... And as UBI devs said, they wanted to be as historically right as possible... So... Where are those big parties goin' on? Maybe I'm missing all the fun? :rotfl:

LOL - I don't think you'll ever see anything like that - that's an Allied convoy and I suspect that you and the other American subs would have been vectored as far away from it as possible to avoid the likelihood of being mistaken for enemy subs and destroyed by friendly fire from trigger-happy escorts trying to protect that huge force from Japanese subs.

[Hartmann]

i have only 10 fps with huge task forces of 32 ships (cruisers , BB, and destroyers)

perhaps this fleet could be possible with a 8800 card , a 4 ghz cpu and 4 gb of ram :rotfl:

[Sailor Steve]

There were never any Japanese convoys that size, not even invasion forces. And that is an invasion force, not a convoy. the biggest ever mounted was, of course, the Allied landings at Normandy, June 6, 1944. They had more than 5000 ships that day; the largest armada ever assembled.

[CaptainHaplo]

The current size of convoys in SH4 is accurate - to a point. Large Task Forces are close to historical sizes (remember that often groups were seperated - like at midway the main battle group wasnt the carriers) so the size is about right. Now merchant convoys - were not really "required" by the Imperial navy until fairly late in the war. And their size was not 12+ ships normally. Most were 2 - 4 merchies escorted by 2 or more DD's or DE's.

Adm. Calvert (ret.) recounts in Silent Running how the USS Jack attacked a LARGE Japanese convoy they were vectored to by an ULTRA message. This group was on its way to New Guinea to reinforce the troops there against Gen. MacArthur. The convoy was 15 ships - "seven heavies and eight escorts". The "heavies" were transports and freighters, one being listed as an munitions carrier due to the way it went up looking "like the Fourth of July".

The Japanese rarely put together "huge" groups - the Allies only did it when true concentrations of force were necessary. Even today, putting all your resources - aka - eggs, in one basket - is a recipe for disaster.

[nematode]

There were quite a few 50-60 ship Japanese troop convoys in the first 6 months of the war, and these would have to qualify as their largest convoys.

The Japanese were indifferent to merchant ship escort coverage until mid-war, on the other hand, their early war troop convoys were well escorted with fleet destroyers, kaibokan, subchasers and minesweepers in close escort, frequently with seaplane tender, heavy cruiser and battleship groups covering at a distance.

The Western Invasion Force for Banten Bay Java in Feb 42 is pretty much the pinnacle of that activity. It consisted of 56 transports with numerous light escorts, an entire flotilla of fleet destroyers, and a division of heavy cruisers, even a light carrier as escort. There was an equally large Eastern Invasion Force for the Soerbaja area, and an appreciable chunk of the rest of the Japanese Navy within 700 miles or so, busily destroying anything Allied that they could lay their hands on. Although the Japanese never rolled out anything remotely approaching an Iwo Jima invasion convoy, the Java invasion was pretty impressive in its own right.

[MaxT.dk]

Yeah, I see... And even if I did just wanted to take a look at "our" invasion force of that size, that wouldn't be possible... Could be fun tho', but yeh, I guess one would need a super duper PC to get it running smoothly.

Thanks for the answers, guys