Truk - Dec '42

[ESPY]

Anybody familiar with the traffic routes into Truk in Dec '42 (TMO 2.5 + RSRD)?

I received a radio message indicating arrival of at least 3 convoys from home waters on the 11th, 15th, and 18th and have made a couple attempts to intercept but keep coming up empty.

First time I patrolled an area due north of Truk, thinking they might navigate one of the two channels that lead south to Truk. The other time I stayed NW of Truk patrolling an area around the line between Truk and Tokyo.

Thanks!
ESPY

[KaleunMarco]

Originally Posted by ESPY

Anybody familiar with the traffic routes into Truk in Dec '42 (TMO 2.5 + RSRD)?

I received a radio message indicating arrival of at least 3 convoys from home waters on the 11th, 15th, and 18th and have made a couple attempts to intercept but keep coming up empty.

First time I patrolled an area due north of Truk, thinking they might navigate one of the two channels that lead south to Truk. The other time I stayed NW of Truk patrolling an area around the line between Truk and Tokyo.

Thanks!
ESPY

yes, that can happen.
then again, the next time you play that same mission, three convoys will steam into your patrol area at the same time.
the thing is that convoy activity is controlled by the AI and there are random factors involved (probability). if the dice roll is low, a convoy will not be spawned (created), and each convoy will have its own spawn probability.

[Threadfin]

I've always found the best spot is just to the west of Truk. This doesn't mean you'll find all traffic here of course, or your specific target, but this is where I have the most contacts, and especially task forces.

[propbeanie]

Where you go depends upon where the convoy comes from and goes to... Here is an acceptable map of Truk Atoll:




and an acceptable map of the area, including supposed shipping routes:




Note that shipping routes were in a constant state of flux from mid-1943 to the end of the war. But traffic might come done from Japan along the Bonin / Volcano lines to the Mariannas, and then diagonally to Truk, and from thence to Ponape and the Marshalls. What is NOT shown is the eventual major route to Kavieng and Rabaul for distribution to the Solomons or New Guinea. Traffic from Japan or the Philippines might also come from the Palau side directly to Truk for further distribution. This is "historical" information...

One thing to remember about the SH4 game itself, and this includes Stock, with TMO, RFB and RSRDC, as well as other mods, is that Truk is not represented well enough to reliably run ships through the Atoll, due to the way the ships are actually rendered and operate in the game, and due to the inaccurate way the game renders land and sea. Therefore, anything originating or terminating in the atoll has a tendency to get "stuck" and/or go into collision avoidance routines and act very strangely. Here is the Stock game, which would also be with RFB, with the "white" water being shallows:




btw - Stock has minimal traffic in or near Truk... Here is the 43a Merchant layer as found in TMO. Note, same terrain map as Stock...




and here is the 43aMerchant and Convoy layers merged together as found in RSRDC:




Going out the south, or inbound, they are to/from Kavieng/Rabaul. Going out the west opening, they are usually headed for Palau, but might also head for Saipan. Some traffic will come in from the north also, but in different files, different years... It is of course, much much easier to find traffic when between two points on a known traffic route than it is to be close to the origination or destination, which makes it difficult to know which entrance at Truk a given group would use. Remember, there was usually 5 or 6 US boats assigned various areas around Truk at any given time, and your job would have been to be astraddle one certain route. Same with the Marianna Islands, or any other location from about mid-1943 for the duration. Now, early in the war, the US was just as bad as anyone else in "prosecuting" the war, and they would generally try to hang-out around harbors, where there was local planes and ASW ships, as well as group escorts to contend with...

[ESPY]

This is great, thanks pb! Definitely looks like west or south have the best odds, will check them out.

Also looks like I might be able to see those layers myself using the MissionEditor, correct?

Thanks,
ESPY

[propbeanie]

Yes, you can. However, keep in mind that if you do that in RSRDC, that you stand a good chance of ruining all of the good timings that lurker spent on the various groups that he put all that research in to. The Mission Editor has a very ~nasty~ habit of changing some settings on groups. Just be certain that you "cancel" out of any group you look at, and do NOT change anything. If you want to change something, look at it in the Mission Editor to find the grouping, then find it in a text editor, and edit it that way. You can Save changes made in the Mission Editor, but put the file saved into a mod folder, and then run WinMerge on it to see what the changes are that the Mission Editor makes. It will surprise you... but you can put those changes back with WinMerge, but be careful with the edits you want to keep...

P.S.: Some groups do go in/out the north entrance, some the east, and others still out the other south entrance. That's only two "layers" there, not seven of them... Most of the convoys and merchants in 1943 to use the west and south side though...