Can't Find the Convoys

[sharkbit]

Late December 1939
I'm on my 4th patrol. The first 2 were in a IIA. I upgraded to a VIIB after my second patrol.
My patrol area on this patrol was north-west of England, where I sank one large freighter travelling alone. After my 24 hours on station, I moved over to about grid AM18 where I sank 4 other ships travelling alone.
I then get a report of a large convoy travelling east at 6 knots. I set up a intercept course, using what I've learned from this forum and used very sucessfully against single ships, and I reach the intercept point about 8 hours later. No convoy shows up. I dive and listen for them-nothing. Pop back up and back track down their projected course-nothing.
I figured they probably changed course. I pick off another single and cruise around the western portion of square AM for a while.

So I get another convoy contact report of a large convoy heading east. This time, I think maybe they will change course to the ESE or SE, so I plot an intercept on that possibility. Same result. I swan about the area looking and listening but still nothing. I manage to find and sink another lone ship however.

I know convoys probably aren't easy to find(if they were, the war would be over very quickly), but I'm on a convoy route and am getting contact reports, but I just cant' find them.

I think one or more of 4 things may be happening:
1.) I'm patrolling at a point where they may be turning from an easterly course to a SE course to port and I may just need to search further west.

2.) The convoys are making a sharp evasive turn immediately after the contact report-maybe picking up the signal and turning. I dont' know if the AI is that smart though.

3.) I'm heading too slow for the intercept point. I need to plot a faster speed for the intercept and try to intercept them sooner.

4.) I'm just screwing up the intercept course. Doubtful though-I use the same process for the single ships and have only missed finding one so far.

I think I may try 1 and 3 and see what happens. I have just under 50% of my fuel left and plenty of torpedoes left to keep looking. I'm still pretty pleased with the results of the patrol so far-6 ships for over 20000 tons(and I saved the game last night on an intercept of another, to be hopefully finished off today after work, however it is pretty stormy and the seas are bad), but I definitely want more and I want a crack at a convoy.

So, does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks.

[danlisa]

Such was Real Life.
This is (you may not think so) an awesome report from ingame which mirrors the frustrations of the real crews.

Convoys (ingame) do change course fairly frequetly but it's not impossible to plan an intercept. Not having the SH3 map infront of me, I would assume the convoy you reported as being in AM18 was travelling to AM52 and into the Irish Sea. If they were reported as travelling East, they would have either zigged/zagged to a NE or a SE direction, so you weren't far. In that situation, it was probably best to set up an ambush nearer AM52 and wait.

Trial & Error is the only way to learn this.

[Able72]

Good, let us know how it goes. I have a real problem locating convoys and task forces myself. Although a good portion of that could have to do with when in the War it is.

[mcf1]

Hi there Kaleun.
I think something like number 3 or 4 happens
In order to find them here's what I do. When I get a report, I estimate it's heading and draw a straight line on the nav map the direction it's heading and then I plot my course on that line and I follow it, and after a while I find the convoi.

[Brag]

Guessing the probable destination helps, especially for inbound convoys. But the surest bet is to intercept the convoy ASAP.

Keep in mind, convoys tend to change course at sunrise and sunset.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Brag

Guessing the probable destination helps, especially for inbound convoys. But the surest bet is to intercept the convoy ASAP.

Keep in mind, convoys tend to change course at sunrise and sunset.

Do they do that in game

[KeptinCranky]

Dunno Jim, not that I'm aware of, I HAVE however found out that intercepting a convoy at 50 or 100 km from it's initial contact report tends to give bad results, trying for 60km or 110 works better...

They tend to zig or zag every 50km or so... it's not set in stone yet but I've noticed that trend....

[Kitzbuell]

Originally Posted by mcf1

Hi there Kaleun.
I think something like number 3 or 4 happens
In order to find them here's what I do. When I get a report, I estimate it's heading and draw a straight line on the nav map the direction it's heading and then I plot my course on that line and I follow it, and after a while I find the convoi.

Yasas, mcf1

My favorite vacation locale when not hunting tommies...

[/IMG]

[flag4]

i have played the sea's for 4 years now and i have never encountered a convoy except in single missions.

i have seen them though, travelling along on the nav map hundreds of miles away from my position...

i have recieved messages as to where they are, but im too far away....

i have never lost heart, let them be i say, for when i am ready, they will come to me.

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by KeptinCranky

Dunno Jim, not that I'm aware of, I HAVE however found out that intercepting a convoy at 50 or 100 km from it's initial contact report tends to give bad results, trying for 60km or 110 works better...

They tend to zig or zag every 50km or so... it's not set in stone yet but I've noticed that trend....

Also need to keep in mind your initial position relative to the convoy. Generally if they're 8 hours away or more you'll burn too much fuel in order to intercept them, let alone get ahead of them. If you look at the map there's a few major intersection points of several convoy routes that you can just cruise around wait for an inbound one to finally show up. Other way is to travel the route backwards slowly and hope that it is in front of you.

Chasing after a convoy is tough and usually burns a lot of fuel; though tougher its ideal to be in front of the convoy when its reported which gives you plenty of time to plot out its probable course and lie in wait. Convoys do zigzag, but pay close attention to the map, its your best tool as most convoy routes are not linear.

[KeptinCranky]

Meh, fuel, I don't mind I tend to sail everywhere in Uber-savings mode, 9 knots for a VIIc that way I have plenty of fuel left to chase after convoys at high speed, takes forever to get anywhere though,
I also mostly hunt just in the western approaches or south of Ireland so I don't spend a whole lot of fuel in transit...

It's different if you're in a type II of course, but then the only convoys you're likely to find are the ones hugging the British coastline, and believe me you do not want to take out a t3 tanker with your canoe only to find yourself in 25 meters of mine-riddled water with a DD on your case

[difool2]

If the course is given as say "NE" (this assumes you are in GWX where there's no tails), then I draw two lines from the contact, one at 45+11.5 degrees (12 really), or 57, and another at 45-12, or 33, and then I draw in my 32 km sonar detection circle. I will generally make a run on the convoy if the circle isn't significantly smaller than the space between the two lines at my calculated intercept point. That of course assumes that the contact will remain on the same course which as already discussed isn't a given.

[Huncowboy]

Stupid question but I have been away from the game for a while. Just got back to it with GWX 2.0.

Q:
I get these reports about ships, but I don't see any longitude latitude on the navigation map. All I see is AN21 etc...

So someone please tell me the secret. How do I define my lat/long position on the map? I know it is right there I just don't see it. Thanks!!

[Elmer Kosterman]

Reports involving positions in latitude and longitude are for immersion only, and don't correspond to real contacts in-game. If you're still interested, you can do a conversion on this website: www.ubootwaffe.net/quadrant.cgi.

[Bosje]

I tend to do this:

draw a line along the reported course and then get the compass tool. draw a circle extending to a maximum of 100-150 kilometers. set a course at full speed to the edge of that circle where you expect the convoy to be. that is the first course change.

then, as the boat is speeding up (maybe those extra minutes will prove vital), give it a closer look.

draw 2 lines from the reported convoy to the edge of that circle. rougly 20 degrees to either side of the projected course, this leaves you with a projected search area in a roughly 40-45 degree margin of error around the reported course

I hope this makes sense so far.

then you look at the speed of the target, the report should give the estimated speed, or else you will know it is slow (around 6kts), medium (around 8-9kts) or fast (never seen that happen so far on convoys)

you calculate when the convoy can reach the outer limits of your search area, make sure you are there earlier and draw 2 cirlces with a diameter of 30 kilometers. these should overlap or almost overlap. also draw a 30 kilometer circle on the reported course

then you time the whole thing. always get there as soon as you can, hopefully reach the first intercept point before the convoy travelled more than 100 kilometers. you then have 3 positions where you can spend some minutes listening on the hydrophone (listen yourself with all engines stop at a depth of around 20 meters), don't depend on your sonar operator

if you travel between those search positions fast enough during the hour or so which the convoy needs to travel through the search area, you really should be able to hear the screws on the hydrophone. even if no lookout reports a ship or the sonar guy doesn't report any contacts

did that make any sense?