Interception Technique Help?

So first off I want to say thank you to everyone who has been practically holding my hand so far with this whole thing.

Secondly Id like to apologize for SOOOO many threads but Im trying to dive into this and learn and learning requires many questions to be asked by me

But to the point, I would like to know the different techniques for interception. Im using one now in which I get a contact and general heading, draw a angle from the contact through my u boat, then in the direction of his general heading (if he is going east and Im north, then I cut the 2nd leg through his course which I map out wiht a ruler)

Then I draw a circle representative of his speed (slow is 6knots so well use that) then where that circle intersects his course I draw one rep of my speed. (say hes doing 6 knots and I feel like doing 7 or 8 so I draw a 8 km circle) then I draw an angle where my circle meets the 1st leg of the "Big angle" then I make the Big angle match the little angle and i have my interception.

However ive noticed that

A) Im quite inaccurate some times and in many cases must re adjust my positioning and

B) that for contacts far out (over 600km or more) that I seem to have trouble

(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??

and anythign else you guys can teach me would be great

Casey

The only thing BDU occasionaly tells me about is convoys. (Usualy, I don't even get them).

They give me a grid number, direction (32 points), and slow/medium/fast.
I try to gain a position ahead of their most advanced possible position.
From there on in it's generaly alot of wide zig-zagging across their possible course until my lookouts see something.

anything else you guys could reccomend??

[desirableroasted]

You mentioned 600nm... at that far out, even the tiniest deviation will mean you and the target will never meet. And since the contact information is vague ("West" for example, can be a heading of 259 to 281; "Slow" is 4 to 6 knts), deviation is built in from the start. Moreover, the ship will probably change course along the way.

I disregard any contact reports further than 100nm, and even those I think about carefully. If it is a single ship moving away from me, I am not going to burn fuel hoping to overtake it AND find it. If it's a convoy 60 nm away, though, it's worth the effort to overtake.

Of course, stuff moving toward me or laterally is worth investigating.

[Pisces]

(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??

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!

The smaller circles would have made it so my circles wouldnt have converged and the way I know how to do it I need to have them converge before I can get an angle to lead the target with. and Could you maybe visually represent what you told me? I dont understand the 25 km/knot thing.. as well as in GWX on the right side of the Nav map there are scales how are they used??

Originally Posted by Pisces

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!