I've got the Lone Merchant Blues.....

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

Are there any convoys out there this late in the war? I thought that the Japanese finally convoyed up in 1944?

The Japanese ran convoys right from the beginning of the war, but except for special transport convoys carrying troops for invasion and occupation purposes, they were usually no larger than 8-to-10 ships, and most of them were half that.

The last convoys in August 1945 consisted of 6, 2, 5 and 4 merchants respectively.

[buddha95]

Much different for me. I circled Japan 3 times, been in every port,,,, seen only 2 cv. no battlewagons or carriers or even heavy cruisers???? its 1941,42,early 43. i got RFB.
my convoys are (90%) a destroyer or two and a subchaser,, no other targets. I have to raid ports for merchants and tankers. I DO get good merchant/tankers in toyko bay,, and 1 cv,,,, but thats all.

where are the BIG BOYS ???????????

[Segwin]

Originally Posted by buddha95

Much different for me. I circled Japan 3 times, been in every port,,,, seen only 2 cv. no battlewagons or carriers or even heavy cruisers???? its 1941,42,early 43. i got RFB.
my convoys are (90%) a destroyer or two and a subchaser,, no other targets. I have to raid ports for merchants and tankers. I DO get good merchant/tankers in toyko bay,, and 1 cv,,,, but thats all.

where are the BIG BOYS ???????????

I was wondering the same thing.

After I dispatch the tin can guarding the port all I see at the docks are merchant ships (got some great tonnage though).

TMO & RSRD with latest patches.

[Fincuan]

The ultra messages in RSRDC are a great addition. In my current career with the P-class USS Pike(SS-173)out of Manila I've yet to sink any merchants, but partially thanks to ultra we're now a warship killer. 1st patrol we "only" got the Chitose(a seaplance tender), plus two escorts from another invasion convoy. After reporting the convoy we were told to attack the escorts, so that's what we did. 2nd patrol we were patrolling the South China Sea, when Ultra alrerted us that Heavy IJN units were moving out of Camranh Bay, and were expected to be quite close to us the next evening at 1800 hours. We were in position four hours before Ultra's predicted time, and submerged to listen and wait. At about 1900 hours multiple heavy and light warship screws were heard north of us, and after a while an IJN Task Force appeared. We greeted them with all of our 16 torpedoes, scoring a Shokaku fleet carrier and two Takao-class Heavy cruisers. One attack was made submerged and three on the surface. 3rd patrol the base was moved to Surabaya, and we spotted two unescorted Takaos just 500 kilometers out of the base. Needless to say these found their way to Davy Jones' locker, but it took the whole night and all the 16 torpedoes(gotta love the reliability of torpedos in RFB). Looking forward to the fourth patrol and the first merchant kill, since that's all the four Takaos ever built

[Hylander_1314]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

This thread got me thinking if i should touch up convoys.

Basically right now, in the default campaign Early war has more single merchants then convoys spawning. As the war progresses, the amount of single merchants reduces and the amount of convoys increases.

I made convoy reports pretty sparce so you won't be getting too many contact reports. Convoy composition is either 4 to 6, to 9 merchants ( i may have some 12 merchant convoys in there, but not very common), with probably 6 merchant convoys being the most common, with escorts ranging anywhere between 2 and 3 escorts being the most common with some convoys with 4 escorts. All convoys zig zag at regular invtervals (no i wont say how long their zig zags are, that ruins the fun)

At anyrate, ive run into a few too many 2 escort convoys, but then maybe that 3rd escort was there and i just didnt see him. They don't always bother to engage if theres already 1 or 2 escorts on you. On the other hand trying to loose a couple escorts takes awhile, but then again, if i do have too many 2 escort convoys, their entirely too easy to attack. (but then again, its not like the IJN had alot of warships to draw from like the allies - yes i play "back and forth" with myself when making design decision.. a regular waffle iron! ).

I have to go back through the convoy files and re evalute my settings there based on what ive seen the last 3 patrols. Either way its *close* to my visioin of what i want for a convoy.. maybe close enough, i dont know. Kind of hard to gauge a whole slew of convoy entries based on just 3 patrols. Since burnout demands that i take a break, i may just put it off on a back burner.

A good idea Ducimus. It really sucks to have no fish left because of the juicy targets along the way to the patrol zone. An occasional ship of opportunity, or Jap sub from time to time, is nice to break up the monotony, but I find myself ignoring contacts, so I have ammo when I get where I need to be. In fact, I just got my first carrier, in Dec. of '43, and I started out at the beginning with the attack on Pearl, and the Philipines. It was only a small escort type, but it still was 11,000 tons. But I mainly run into destroyers and sub chasers for the most part.