Troop ships

[Stingray-65]

1st of all, I can tell I've gotten pretty rusty after not playing in over a year... But I've also encountered some things recently that I didn't before...

I recently came upon a convoy which I had trouble tracking & therefore intercepting. I kept getting "closing" & "moving away" messages. Took a little bit for me to realize they were running in a zig-zag pattern. In the past, the convoys I encountered mainly ran a straight line to a way-point.

Finally after intercepting this convoy, I counted 3 troop ships in the formation of merchants. (I don't think I've ever encountered them before... or at least that I remember.) After disposing of the escorts (no easy task --- it was downright nerve wracking) I then noticed some odd behavior (@ least to me) from the troop ships. They fell out of formation & took up the roll of escorts (kind of like bodyguards blocking your way). After I disposed of 2 of them, the 3rd took off ahead of the convoy & left them behind. I don't know if it was just trying to escape or if it was trying to lure me into a chase away from the merchants. Very strange, I thought.

Anyway, I've got a lot of practice to do to get back to where I used to be. http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/disagree.gif

[Stingray-65]

1st of all, I can tell I've gotten pretty rusty after not playing in over a year... But I've also encountered some things recently that I didn't before...

I recently came upon a convoy which I had trouble tracking & therefore intercepting. I kept getting "closing" & "moving away" messages. Took a little bit for me to realize they were running in a zig-zag pattern. In the past, the convoys I encountered mainly ran a straight line to a way-point.

Finally after intercepting this convoy, I counted 3 troop ships in the formation of merchants. (I don't think I've ever encountered them before... or at least that I remember.) After disposing of the escorts (no easy task --- it was downright nerve wracking) I then noticed some odd behavior (@ least to me) from the troop ships. They fell out of formation & took up the roll of escorts (kind of like bodyguards blocking your way). After I disposed of 2 of them, the 3rd took off ahead of the convoy & left them behind. I don't know if it was just trying to escape or if it was trying to lure me into a chase away from the merchants. Very strange, I thought.

Anyway, I've got a lot of practice to do to get back to where I used to be. http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/disagree.gif

[DarkOmen13]

Not seen that before. Only zig-zagging i've ever seen is when they know you're there and are trying to avoid your torpedos.

D.

[Foehammer-1]

I've once had a convoy of merchants join the escorts in looking for me... The WHOLE CONVOY!!

They were circling the spot where I dove, and kept getting in the way of escorts, thankfully. But they all tried to circle me...

Guess it's a glitch. I have a screenshot somewhere...

Here it is. Hard to see, but every one of them joined the hunt...

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a176/Foehammer88/d7694ed8.png

[Messervy]

I think they are classified as military vessels, thus they behave differently - maybe???

[Kaleun1961]

I had a similar thing happen to me once. I had sunk a ship near the front of the convoy and they all began to mill about seemingly aimlessly. When I posted about it, somebody explained something about how the convoy was trying to orient itself on the missing leader; something to do with game code, I seem to recall. When mods added searchlights to merchant vessels you would see them turning them on and sweeping the waves. It made night surface attacks ala Otto Kretschmer difficult.