Task forces, should I bother?

[redsolo]

Ive seen begining spring 1940, a lot of task forces popping up here and there. As the BDU wants me to only go after the merchants, I didnt bother. But now I havent seen anything that is worth sinking, sorry an english trawler doesnt do it for me.

A stationary task force, is it worth it?

[jasondef]

Jeez, I'm in summer '41, and I have yet to see a single task force pop up anywhere. I'd give anything to see just one at this point, dying to mix it up with some of the big boys!

What do you mean by stationary? Are the task forces not moving or something?

[STEED]

YES go for it battleships have big renown points I think they are worth 5000 any big warship is a target.

[Curval]

A stationary task force, is it worth it?

Of course it is. Stationary TF is a gift.

Yep its very sad to miss a chance to think some British battle ship, but from the other side its god damn dificult at least for me -
first its moved very fast, espesially when you play on 100% realizm, in manual solution you even don,t have a 3m15cek to get appromoximatly speed of the target. I am not so expirience player (i am exually starting to play in 100% when i saw a Das Boot movie ) and now after i install a agressive DD mod i don,t now how i will be able even to get close to battle ship thise fat bastards not traveled alone - only in night on surface like in reall life i gase

Offtop

God damn my English writing need improvement FAST!!!!!

[SmokinTep]

I've come accross a few task forces in my time, but have yet to catch up to one. They traval pretty fast.

[redsolo]

I was told that the stationary task force was loitering along the norway coast, it was right after norway was invaded, so I guess it was a part of the attack force. But when I arrived at that position, it was gone and the only thing I got from the trip was less fuel. So I never actually bagged anything in that patrol, thats why I asked this question. (around april 1940) Im also running the Rub mod but I dont think it adds stuff like that.

Other than the stationary, I have a TF running around outside the scapa flow. But since it is labelled as fast, I havent tried it yet. But perhaps today is my lucky day (or theirs depending on who sees who first)

[Quillan]

I've managed to intercept two task forces over all the career patrols I've played. Both times it was because I just happened to be pretty much in their path when they popped up. One was utterly worthless. The game seems to consider a "task force" to be any grouping of 3 or more ships that are all (or perhaps predominantly or even led by) warships. This one was composed of 3 Black Swan frigates. Oh, joy. The second one, however, was a Nelson battleship and accompanying escorts (about 7 assorted destroyers). They were cruising along at 21 knots, and happened to be passing pretty much right over me. I sank the battleship that time.

[andy_311]

Iv'e notice not all reports of TFs contain capital ships iv'e ran into some tf's that just had merchants in them.

[jasondef]

Originally Posted by andy_311

Iv'e notice not all reports of TFs contain capital ships iv'e ran into some tf's that just had merchants in them.

Everything I've heard is task forces are specifically only military, so maybe what you came across were just suped up convoys?

[Threadfin]

Some convoys have warships sailing in one of the columns instead of having them in an escort position and are misreported as task forces.

I've sunk 17 battleships so if you need to know where to find them I can help

Cruiser TFs usually make 30 knots.

Battleship TFs make 21 knots.

Hunter Killer groups about 14 knots.

[jasondef]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

I've sunk 17 battleships so if you need to know where to find them I can help

that'd be great, please! I have yet to come across a task force, and have never seen a capital ship except for a couple of moored ones that the wiki talks about.

[Keelbuster]

The task force that does circles in the North Sea round `41, just outside of scapa flow is a hunter-killer group. I've sunk it before, but it's all light tonnage so don't bother.

KB

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by jasondef

that'd be great, please! I have yet to come across a task force, and have never seen a capital ship except for a couple of moored ones that the wiki talks about.

Check this link. Most of the capital ships I've encountered are detailed in this listing. There is a date, grid, course and composition. All of these contacts have been with a stock campaign.

http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/s...ad.php?t=86892

The best place to find battleships is in the Med IMO. If you are really keen on a shot at a BB, I recommend patrolling grid CJ75. Patrol east-west 35 km north of the grid marker. They don't come through everyday, so be patient. This is also a good spot for cruiser TFs.

Other good spots are NW of Malta, like grid CN22. Northwest of Loch Ewe, like grid AM36. West of Gibraltar, grid CG97, CG 95. AM 42 is a grid where I've found a couple BB TFs. Grid BE66 is the best spot on the map IMO for jeep carrier hunter-killer groups from 1942 on, though these can be a handful as their escorts seems to be rather skilled.

One of the keys to finding these groups is to do submerged patrols, or at minimum do routine sound sweeps. Hydrophones increase your search range by 3x over visual in clear conditions and up to 50x in heavy fog. Because of their speed, you need to move quickly to get in position. If you find battleships you can be sure they are making 21 knots, which makes the shot a lot easier.

Of course, as mentioned, Loch Ewe and Scapa are good spots to find moored BBs, CLs, and CVs.