Convoy busting or goofing off.

[unmerged(96436)]

USA April 1940.
3x5 Gato class subs with torpedoes are roaming the Japanese home waters for convoys and... Nothing. Or?
I have no clue if my subs are convoy bashing or just sunbathing, how can I see if they are doing something (anything!)? I get reports of Japanese attacks on my convoys, especially the one to Guam suffers.

 

[SpaceViking]

You should get messages when they attack convoys. Check if you accidentally turned those off.

 

[Sakkura]

The AI will try to route convoys away from sea zones where they get raided, so maybe the AI has just made all the convoys take alternate routes that avoid your submarines entirely. This can be avoided by setting up an unbroken chain of convoy raiders across enemy supply lines.

But even when the convoys do pass through the area your raiders are in, there's a random factor involved in deciding when the convoy gets hit.

 

[SpaceViking]

If you send your subs to the right few spots Japan is doomed eventually. Which is pretty much what historically happened.

 

[Imperator G4G]

I play as the US in my current game and I conquered Japan yesterday. I found that the key to victory was to put some subs in the area to the south-east of the Japanese islands. That's where the supplies going to their pacific belongings originate.

While that did not stop them from conquering both China and India, it did prevent them from taking the resource-rich provinces in South-east Asia. What did surprise me, however, was that the Japanese surrendered after I had taken their home islands. I had expected to have to go through both China and India before.

 

[SpaceViking]

I had big groups of subs all around the Japanese mainland and by 1945-ish they were only building convoys and convoys escorts and only a handful of them at that. Their economy was almost completely shut down. What was really weird is that they had 11,000 manpower!

 

[Nukeitall]

Escorts. Probably too many escorts.

 

[Otacon]

What was really weird is that they had 11,000 manpower!

What's so weird about it.

 

[JRHINDO]

What's so weird about it.

Its over 9000!

 

[SpaceViking]

11,000 is pretty high for manpower

 

[^_AC_^]

General Mobilization gives a lot of manpower. It's proportional to the population of national provinces.