Task Force disappears everytime?

[theroc44]

Everytime i receive a contact report on a task force i never, ever locate it. I lay in its path and nothing. But if i receive a merchant convoy report i 9/10 find it. Why cant i ever find a enemy task force is there so kind of method? I wanna sink some capital ships, i hate doing it in port. Does anyone know how the TF convoys spawn? I got GWX3 gold and Shc 3.2 other than that its all vanilla stock. Any ideas would be most appreciated.

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by theroc44

Everytime i receive a contact report on a task force i never, ever locate it. I lay in its path and nothing. But if i receive a merchant convoy report i 9/10 find it. Why cant i ever find a enemy task force is there so kind of method?

The biggest difference is sheer speed. While convoys amble along at a pace that's perfect for an ambush, TF's speed along at 30 plus knots - making them very hard to catch.

Often by the time you arrive in their projected path they'll already have whizzed by leaving you and your capital ship dreams in their wake.

If you intend to get in front of them you'll have to get a good jump and be close enough during the initial contact report. No easy task mind you, unless of course you use a mod like GWX SpySat which both tracks and updates their position periodically. That way you know where they went and how far you've been left behind.

If you're interested, you can find it here:

http://www.gamefront.com/files/13511...X3_0_SpySat_7z

[theroc44]

sounds good but quick question what does this mean exactly --The usual applies:
Be in Port
Rollback SH3 Commander
Enable Spy Sat Mod-

Why do you need to rollback SHC when you put in new mods?
And secondly if you got a sec, where is the best hunting for capital ships in general?

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by theroc44

Why do you need to rollback SHC when you put in new mods?
And secondly if you got a sec, where is the best hunting for capital ships in general?

It's just a normal precaution to avoid ending up with wrong files or possible conflicts. Once you roll back, you've got a clean slate with which to introduce new elements.

I like to lurk a couple hundred clicks north of Loch Ewe. A great spot (especially early in the war) for inbound TF's.

[theroc44]

Fish you the man, im gonna try and hunt there a few patrols. If i rollback sh3 will that erase my career history?

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by theroc44

Fish you the man, im gonna try and hunt there a few patrols. If i rollback sh3 will that erase my career history?

Not at all, when you 'rollback' Commander all it does is undo the changes that it made previously when you launched the game. In other words, whatever files it copied into the SH3 directory (at startup) are removed and the files that Commander already backed up are put back in.

Hope that makes sense and thanks for the kind words!

[GoDeep]

I've also had TF's disappearing, even when I was in a perfect position for an intercept. For instance, hunting in the waters between the Isle of Lewis and Isle of Skye. I get a contact report that a task force is in those same waters, heading north east. That's practically straight towards me. I'm almost but not quite in their path. I get in position, roughly 30 km south south east of Stornoway, taking roughly 15 minutes on flank speed. The contact report for this TF is shown on the map as being in the middle of this straight. All things being equal, they're coming almost straight for me now. It's early morning, good visibility, by the way.

I go to PD, scope up and wait. Hydrophones pick up nothing. No visual contacts either. I surface for a bit, allowing my watch crew to see further. Nothing. Submerge to 25 metres, doing a hydrophone check. All's quiet. I wait and wait. Still nothing.

Literally hours pass (game time). They should have been here by now. Something is wrong. Maybe they entered a port further south?

Then finally, a contact. Warship closing, medium speed. It turns out to be a lone destroyer on patrol. She passes within 4 km of my location. I lay low and let her pass. Maybe she's the forward escort of something larger? But no...nothing more seems to come my way.

An hour after that, I get another report on a TF. Approximately 80 km behind me, coming out of the straight. It has to be the same TF that somehow slipped by me without being noticed. Or maybe they found a wormhole...? Or maybe the game thought it would be fun to name a single destroyer a TF? BdU is mocking me?

Some time after that, I found a single large cargo. I shelled the cr%p out of it with my deck gun to get my own back. Bloody tommies with their disappearing task forces!

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by GoDeep

Maybe they entered a port further south?

They probably turned into Loch Ewe. It's one of their major ports (along with Scapa) in the early going.

[GoDeep]

Originally Posted by Fish In The Water

They probably turned into Loch Ewe. It's one of their major ports (along with Scapa) in the early going.

Yes, that's a possibility. But I still think I would at least have picked them up on the hydrophones if that had been the case. The seas weren't very choppy and I had an experienced man on the hydrophones.

Maybe they had a cloaking device?

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by GoDeep

The seas weren't very choppy and I had an experienced man on the hydrophones.

Experience certainly helps, but no matter how much training they have, they still don't hear as far as the player. Truth be told, they can be downright incompetent - sort of like when a 'trained' watch officer fails to notice the merchant 3000 meters off the bow in clear weather.

[GoDeep]

Originally Posted by Fish In The Water

Experience certainly helps, but no matter how much training they have, they still don't hear as far as the player. Truth be told, they can be downright incompetent - sort of like when a 'trained' watch officer fails to notice the merchant 3000 meters off the bow in clear weather.

Yes, I've had that happen too! Becomes even funnier when the WO reports no contact in sight and a C3 cargo is steaming almost directly at you. "Ship? What ship?"

That's why I checked the hydrophones myself periodically.

[papa_smurf]

In my many careers, I have seen less than 15 task forces flying past at around 25-30knts.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by GoDeep

Yes, that's a possibility. But I still think I would at least have picked them up on the hydrophones if that had been the case. The seas weren't very choppy and I had an experienced man on the hydrophones.

Maybe they had a cloaking device?

Another possibility being they had reached their final waypoint and simply ceased to exist.

When checking the waypoints of multiple vessels entering a port you will see that vessels never actually enter the port but do as above.

[GoDeep]

Thanks for clearing that up, Jim. Still, I am voting for "they had a cloaking device". ;-)

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by GoDeep

Thanks for clearing that up, Jim. Still, I am voting for "they had a cloaking device". ;-)

LOL...Rgr that