needed changes in convoy system

[gwgardner]

1) stop routing British Colony convoys through the med - historically the Cape Horn route was used;

2) or ideally, implement player routing of convoys - we should select not only origin and destination, but all sea zones between.

3) include in the reports the effect of the convoy escorts.

4) IF British Colonies are player-controlled, then automatic creation of convoys for the British Colonies should not occur.

[battlevonwar]

Agreed, the path for convoys is linear, while a clever convoy system uses lots of paths. Go the same road 50 times a sub will know where to hit, not wise...

[JLPOWELL]

I completely agree I posted something similar on the wish list just before I read this. Just avoiding the Med and Bay of Biscay would fix the worst of the problem.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner
1) stop routing British Colony convoys through the med - historically the Cape Horn route was used;

2) or ideally, implement player routing of convoys - we should select not only origin and destination, but all sea zones between.

3) include in the reports the effect of the convoy escorts.

4) IF British Colonies are player-controlled, then automatic creation of convoys for the British Colonies should not occur.

+1 - with item 2) having the option to have convoy auto-route, or manual routing as required (some convoys can be left to the original system).[:)]

[Omnius]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

1) stop routing British Colony convoys through the med - historically the Cape Horn route was used;

2) or ideally, implement player routing of convoys - we should select not only origin and destination, but all sea zones between.

3) include in the reports the effect of the convoy escorts.

4) IF British Colonies are player-controlled, then automatic creation of convoys for the British Colonies should not occur.

gwgardener,
I've already made this very same suggestion to doomtrader in an earlier thread and he was rather adamant that the British Colony convoy system is hard coded into the program and that he knows better than we do as to how to juggle the destinations, or the route. I remember that in version 1.02 the BC convoy routing was around Africa, the Cape of Good Hope actually, not through the Med in the 1939 scenario. That changed in version 1.03 so that now the BC convoy routing always goes through the Med regardless of losses. Actually the Med route is superior before Italy joins the war and is historically correct. Before Italy enters the Med route only affords Germany a limited number of sea areas where it can place subs in sea areas with convoys from the British Colonies, actually India in this case.

I suggested in an earlier thread that we should be able to have a minimum routing choice of either one of the two routes. That way we could choose the Med before Italy joins and then around the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) after Italy joins. That big chunk of sea areas that are all bunched together is the linear route around Africa so we really can't have any choice until after that dumps into multiple sea areas. I don't think that in this version of ToF we'll be lucky enough to see a major overhaul of the convoy routing system where we could pick our own convoy routes sea area by sea area, the way we can when we move our naval units. I hope we could get the two choice solution where we can control which route our convoys take, through the Med or around Africa. If not then I hope the route changes back to around Africa for every turn, like it was in 1.02.

I doubt that we'll see the effects of convoy escorts in our reports, not quite sure what "effects" you're talking about. I assume you're trying to figure out if placing naval units in the sea area on "regular" and "engage" affect the outcome. That would be nice knowledge, but did the historical leaders really have that info on a real time basis?

I was very adamant about your 4th point, about not having the program force convoy creation when we don't want it. I found that unbelievably frustrating and voiced my displeasure in strong terms. It's funny but the BC AI will stop sending resource convoys once losses get too great, I saw that in the 1941 scenario when I was playing as the Axis and was able to stop those convoys cold after only a few turns. I'd just like to be able to stop convoys for a turn or so then resume them to see if I could get more resources through that way with less transport losses.

I can only hope that doomtrader will pay attention to more players complaining about this BC convoy routing frustration. I find that it really ruins the game when playing BC myself. Plus it ruins the Allied AI if the BC stops sending resources ever again after suffering some bad losses. I figure that doomtrader is busy right now with Strategic War in Europe, just saw that patch 1.07 went to Matrix and is close to becoming an official release. Hopefully doomtrader will now pay attention to ToF. I see that so far doomtrader hasn't chimed in on this thread and hope that soon he will. I hope that players make sure to voice their frustration properly, but politely, so that he understands that he needs to bite the bullet and make some changes to make us customers happy.

Oh and while you're at it wishing for something wish for a 1945 scenario for ToF like he did for SWiE pitting early NATO against early Warsaw Pact. That is a really fun scenario in SWiE and this would make the 31/12/48 ending date for ToF scenarios make more sense.
Omnius