SH4 missing convoys
 

Convoys keep disappearing before they reach me. I learnt about convoys changing courses, so I went where they go through a narrow passage 40 km wide. I waited dead centre of the passage. Convoy after convoy, merchant or task force, disappeared. They had no other place to go but through me. They get about 40 km away and then vanish. When I am not in the passage way the convoys go through it.

When they get that close (about 40 km) I tried chasing them down head-on at surface flank speed to no avail. I have been chasing, trapping, waiting, for weeks and can't get a chance to fire a torpedo.

Restarted the American career three times and every time in patrol four I can no longer sink a ship. What's going on?

Are you following those "reports" and then the little box with a tail on it on the Navigation Chart? Look at the time of the reported location, versus the time that you get it. Where do you like to have your sub base at? Pearl Harbor or Manila / Fremantle or Brisbane?

Yes I have been. Yet I have stayed in the narrow passage for several days with convoys heading straight for it nearly every second day. Yet no encounters.

At first, with the Asiatic Fleet, it is Manila. Then shortly afterwards it gets captured and the base is transferred to Surabaya. But I do prefer Fremantle, during 1942. Have not been able to get passed 1942.

Has anybody experienced ghost convoys?

Those aren't convoys, they're REPORTED convoys. Chasing them is next to useless and shouldn't be done unless the message expressly tells you it's an ULTRA report. Then there's at least a 50% chance of finding something.

SH1 had a system that the convoys pretty much "stayed the course" that was initially reported. SH4 is not like that. If you're looking for something to sink, you're better off finding a "shipping lane" and staying there. Somewhere between Formosa and the Philippines, in the Luzon Strait, is usually pretty active. Think of Japan after raw resources in the Dutch East Indies, and draw a line from there to Japan.

Thank you Rockin Robbins for the info.
However, most of those reported convoys, during the first three patrols, do appear when I put myself in their path. But in patrol four, none of them materialize, or even 'reported' again farther down the route, while others on different routes do. It is only when I am in their way do they vanish.

Thanks propbeanie. I have done what you have suggested but to no avail during patrol four. I am there for weeks see reported convoys heading my way, but nothing turns up. Even as I mentioned in the original post, I stayed in a narrow approach and non of them went through or even reported farther down the shipping lane. They simply vanished. Never to be reported again.

I wouldn't worry too much about those reports. However, have you seen any ships at all, friendly, enemy or otherwise? If you're in the Luzon Straits, you shouldn't go more than a couple days tops, without seeing something. Are you patrolling on the surface? Have you added any mods?

Hi propbeanie.
No enemy ships to be seen or picked up by hydrophone. Don't remember seeing any friendlies either. Only ship and convoy reports.

I prefer to remain stationary at what I think is the most probable shipping route in my area. At periscope depth and on silent running.

No, I have not added any mods, mainly because I cannot seem to understand how to install them.

I wouldn't worry about adding mods then, I was just curious if maybe you had added one, and it was affecting your game. The game has what some refer to as "layers", where one set of files runs from December of 1941 to March 1942. A second set will then load and run from March 1942 through to September 1942, when the next files takes over. Sometimes, if you're in the "between" time, where one file finishes, and the next loads, there will be no traffic for several days.

You might also be sitting in a bad spot for the traffic, especially for a Manila boat, which wouldn't have surface search radar, so you have to rely upon your watch crew, which when you're submerged, are probably in the aft torpedo room playing cards and gambling away their next pay... You need to be on the surface and moving at All Ahead Standard (usually), do a patrolling search pattern, so that you increase your chances of actually "seeing" something. You could experiment sometime, where you spot a distant vessel, lock it the periscope before you dive so you can identify it. Then dive to periscope depth, and it will disappear. Say you spot it at 9200 yards, and when you go to periscope depth, you may not see it until 5200. That's how much of the ocean surface you're missing by being below at PD. You might have air search radar, and if you do, pay attention to it. Watch Rockin Robbins Silent Hunter 4 Airplane Avoidance with Radar Tutorial for some pointers. Your screens may not be exactly like his, but the technique is sound, and allows you to actually "hunt"... Silent HUNTer, remember?... :03:

Even if you don't have air search radar, it's better to be up top so you can see. Just be ready to hit the "Crash Dive" button anytime something is spotted...

...Yeah, like planes.

Thanks for your help.

The thing is I hanged around for a few weeks and never got a hydrophone reading, let alone seeing anything. As I mentioned earlier, I even surfaced and chased lose-by reports on the surface at flank speed in hope of catching site / sound of the ghost ship/convoy.

I don't like using radar transmitters because it attracts enemy planes and warships. However I do like the air radar warning receiver system.

I have started a new career again, and will not worry about it until this phenomenon happens again. Then I will roam around and expose myself to attract attention. If nothing happens for a month I will fire all my torpedoes (near base) so I can end the patrol and dock at the base, and see what happens from there.

In any regard, I will report back to this thread, though I will keep an eye on it in case of new posts/developments.

Thanks for showing the video. I'll give it a go.

That vid is from Rockin Robbins. Find all of his stuff that you can...