Convoy routes

[Le Creep]

Is it possible to tell your convoys which route they should take? Let's say I'm playing as the soviets and I'm at war with germany. Can I tell my convoys to deliver supplies to me through the black sea instead of the baltic if the german subs are sinking my convoys?

 

[Wyrm]

I hope we are able to do this to some degree.

I also hope that we can get intel on enemy convoy-routes so we know where to concentrate raiding efforts

 

[bwc153]

You can blacklist sea zones to tell your Convoys to AVOID certain areas. Besides that, it's automated.

 

[potski]

Have you seen that in a WWW video?

 

[bwc153]

It was shown in one of the WWWs as well as talked about, I think, by podcat in one of the dev diary threads (if not in the dev diary proper)

 

[potski]

There are something like 15 WWWs each an hour long. Any idea which one showed this?

 

[Axe99]

There are something like 15 WWWs each an hour long. Any idea which one showed this?

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in a DD as well (so the knowledge of it, as far as I can recall, predates the WWWs, possibly by 6 or more months). My memory's pretty confident on the whole "convoys can be blocked out" thing, and my memory's rarely confident about much, so I'd bet good money it's in. My best bet is the DD with a picture that showed us some u-boats near the UK, but it wasn't the recent submarine DD. Sorry I can't be more specific.

 

[GsusNSV]

The only thing I could find atm.

{Secondly do you have control over your supply routes or is it completely automated?}
Routes are automated

@Axe99 could you mean DD15? https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...rts-of-iron-iv-dd-15-on-the-high-seas.850123/
(The last picture fits your description)
But in the thread I could not find anything, related to black listing sea zones for convoys.
(only that you could block out all convoys for an enemy nation.)

 

[Vidkjaer]

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in a DD as well (so the knowledge of it, as far as I can recall, predates the WWWs, possibly by 6 or more months). My memory's pretty confident on the whole "convoys can be blocked out" thing, and my memory's rarely confident about much, so I'd bet good money it's in. My best bet is the DD with a picture that showed us some u-boats near the UK, but it wasn't the recent submarine DD. Sorry I can't be more specific.

It was mentioned in a very early video that promoted HOI4 about 2 years ago. It could have been removed again. We dont know.

 

[Axe99]

The only thing I could find atm.


@Axe99 could you mean DD15? https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...rts-of-iron-iv-dd-15-on-the-high-seas.850123/
(The last picture fits your description)
But in the thread I could not find anything, related to black listing sea zones for convoys.
(only that you could block out all convoys for an enemy nation.)

Cheers for looking - I just did some searching as well, and couldn't find anything either . That was definitely the picture I had in mind - I'm very impressed by your memory .

It was mentioned in a very early video that promoted HOI4 about 2 years ago. It could have been removed again. We dont know.

Cheers for finding it. I swear I saw it written down, but maybe I'm getting a bit overconfident about my memory! It's definitely old information though, so there's always a chance it was designed out (although I'd be surprised if they did unless it was proving difficult to implement or the like - there's no way it's not helpful from a gameplay sense, particularly for the UK and Japan).

 

[potski]

Yes, that's my memory too, that it was planned to be included, from one of the very early media releases. I tried to find this written down by @podcat or one of the devs several weeks ago but couldn't. If it was a current feature in the builds then @Johan would have used it as UK in WWW. He didn't AFAIK. So assume it is all automated.

Can I tell my convoys to deliver supplies to me through the black sea instead of the baltic if the german subs are sinking my convoys?

Plus there are the straits to consider. You might end up using Murmansk.

 

[panzerzombie]

I hope that - at least - the convoys/AI starts to avoid certain sea zones when a certain treshold of losses or attacks took place in it.

Did this work in HOI3 or was it even there, my memory is even crappier than axes

 

[leeuw]

Maybe (and I stress "maybe"), the system will avoid the sea zones where the enemy has naval superiority. At least, I hope it will do something like that, otherwise there is the risk to have sea zones similar to black holes for convoys.

 

[egslim]

I hope it will be possible to blacklist certain seazones.

Otherwise naval balance will remain screwed up completely.

 

[Vidkjaer]

I hope that - at least - the convoys/AI starts to avoid certain sea zones when a certain treshold of losses or attacks took place in it.

Did this work in HOI3 or was it even there, my memory is even crappier than axes

In HOI3 they convoy route changed a bit after an attack. Basic of no use. We want to change it by our self...

 

[panzerzombie]

In HOI3 they convoy route changed a bit after an attack. Basic of no use. We want to change it by our self...

I know what you want and I support it, I read the thread...

 

[MonkeyFuzz]

I hope the convoy system is sufficiently detailed and effective! I'm looking forward to a quality Ubootwaffe experience and having prey that are responsive to my wolf packs' predations will be great.

 

[potski]

I hope that - at least - the convoys/AI starts to avoid certain sea zones when a certain treshold of losses or attacks took place in it.

Did this work in HOI3 or was it even there, my memory is even crappier than axes

It did work in HOI3, but convoy routes were on a sea zone (province sized) basis, and the AI could adjust the route a few sea zones to either side. You had no control over it.

In HOI4 routes go through naval regions covering massive areas, and including many sea zones. The subs or convoy raiders have to find the convoys. They could be abstracted to potentially change their routes every day.

But of course, regardless of the use of zones/regions, there are always bottlenecks which you can't avoid - at the two ports, and if you pass through straits/canals. You need to protect your convoys with escorts and air cover where possible, rather than just relying on not being found.

 

[CharlieFox]

"I will miss the Hoi III convoy system" said no one ever

 

[egslim]

But of course, regardless of the use of zones/regions, there are always bottlenecks which you can't avoid - at the two ports, and if you pass through straits/canals. You need to protect your convoys with escorts and air cover where possible, rather than just relying on not being found.

There are also bottlenecks you can avoid - which is why the UK sent convoys to Asia around South Africa, after Italy joined the war.

Even most convoys to Egypt went around Africa.

In HOI2 & 3 the UK sends its convoys and transports through the Med. Realistically speaking, this meant every convoy would need a battleship + carrier escort, and still lose more than half its ships - see Operation Pedestal. Not viable.
So in both HOI2 & 3 the ability of a fleet + air force to find and destroy convoys was reduced, which of course affects naval balance all over the world.