LargeSlowTarget
Posts: 4443
Joined: 9/23/2000 From: Hessen, Germany - now living in France Status: offline
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Late-coming comment on convoys : Size does matter! Be aware that in the game, a sub can target only one ship per attack. So a huge convoy does not mean more targets to shoot at - it is one target per attack, regardless of convoy size. Obviously, the number of convoys impacts the number of potential attacks. Many small convoys shuttling between Japan and the SRA with necessarily few escorts per convoy give more and better chances to Allied subs to find a convoy and attack successfully. Few and well-protected huge convoys are harder to find, subs will have fewer chances to attack their single target and have to face much stronger escorts. So, make them big! Of course huge convoys in small ports is less than optimal from a loading / waiting POV and baby-sitting/tailoring each convoy for optimal use of port sizes is time-consuming. The solution is a spoke-hub system, with relatively small convoys of small, slow and short-ranged xAKL / TK with a few equally slow, short-ranged xAKL-converted-escorts collecting resources, fuel and oil from the source bases and shipping them over relatively short distances to a larger port - which will serve as hub for huge convoys of the biggest, fastest, longer-legged ships and lots of real escorts. The hubs are obvious (don't think I'm giving away JFB secrets here) - Singapore for sure, Soerabaja, Saigon, Manila, some players also use Davao and/or Palau. The faster medium-sized classes are being used for supply runs to the front bases, the slower ones on the shorter and direct "source to Japan" routes from Manschukuo/Korea and Hokkaido / Sachalin. In my current game I'm running just six huge hub-to HI convoys. I group the ships by size and cruise speed, i.e. a convoy is usually containing only one or two merchant ship / Tk classes. For example, one convoy contains all Yusen N and all Tonan TKs, which both have a 13kn cruise speed. Limas mix with Std-B TK conversions and Type-1 TM tankers (all 11kn cruise speed), Adens with Std-A TK conversions (10kn cruise speed). All six have a dozen escorts and a CVE or at least a CS with ASW-trained torpedo bombers embarked. Granted, some tailoring is required at the end points to optimize docking space, but I think the protection offered by huge convoys is worth the waiting time for ships already loaded. I manage to keep the SRA well-drained of fuel, oil and resources, with few losses suffered from enemy subs so far. I could comment further on the routing, but the enemy might be reading...
< Message edited by LargeSlowTarget -- 10/7/2016 11:38:21 AM >
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