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Supply is beating me... - 10/12/2014 5:14:07 PM

PittBull

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...or lack there of. I'm holding my own until I outrun my supply.

I think I understand from the posted page on "Supply for newbies" that there is 250AP of distance for supply to reach the front lines. OK. Multi-part question:
1. Should I move my "Boss SHQ" closer to the front to close the supply distance?
2. Not being good at math, how many hexes does the 250AP convert into?
3. Would it be more advantageous to placed sub HQs in between the front and the "Boss SHQ" for supplies to flow through?

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PittBull

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/12/2014 5:30:55 PM

Calliope

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There is an easy way can help your analysis.
Firstly left click the HQ or city, then press F5 you will find the GREEN, YELLOW zones etc. Finally right click any hex you want. It will show you how supply goes and you can calculate it.

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/12/2014 5:49:28 PM

Twotribes

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I do not move my Supreme Headquarters. If the map is large I make a Front Headquarters near the front and it moves. The problem with string headquarters is the basic game is programed for 3 headquarters and the 4th in a string can not add divisions. The solution is to modify the game before you start with more allowed headquarters.

BUT I play on max size maps and have never needed more than a Front headquarters between the Supreme and the Divisions.

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/12/2014 6:20:38 PM

Josh

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I know the supply thing can de dazzling, but it makes totally sense once you've grasped it.

Like Twotribes here I usually play on large or very large maps and I almost never use more than Supreme HQ (which stays in your starting city and gets all the supply...well there are exceptions to that rule, but in general the SHQ gets all the supply) and Division HQ's.

First thing is build roads with your engineers, no matter how hard the terrain is, if there are roads/railroads, the supply flow is 100%. Oh build bridges too, very important for your supply flow, makes sense no?
Matter of fact I don't use the 250AP thingy or the "supply layer" at all. Simple rule is your ever expanding empire and with your troops ever farther away from their supply source (the SHQ) they *need* to be connected via a railroad system. To get the supply flowing, and to get fresh reinforcements (via strategic transport). You can use the supply layer thing to get an idea of where and how much supply is flowing though, ofcourse that layer will change the more rr you build. Heck sometimes you *have* to build a railroad to an isolated unit. Happens to me sometimes, send out a cavalry unit to capture something, and then that unit runs out of supply and can't move (or attack for that matter) anymore.

But it comes to you naturally after a while because supply flows as it does in real life, via roads and railroads. Units a couple of hexes away from your supply grid get 100%, imagine trucks loaded with beans and bullets moving along dirtroads. They'll be fine within a few hexes. Now add even more hexes away from the supply grid, now the trucks have more difficulty reaching your troops. Now add even more hexes and mud, or hills and forests...*now* your trucks have major problems reaching your unit. Until they can't even reach your units anymore, say Russian rasputitsa style, not good.

So yeah, build roads, that's it really.

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/13/2014 12:41:19 AM

Philo32b

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Individual divisions and units that are in the brush away from the rail can get out of supply quickly. Does it help to stock several trucks in the unit's local HQ? First, of course, the supreme HQ pushes supply up to 250AP distance from it out to the local HQ. I could be wrong, but then it seems that if you have trucks on the local HQ, it can push it again out to the units, even if that is farther than 250AP from the Supreme HQ.

I also never really have supply issues, but I put a far amount of trucks (at least 10 or so) in each local HQ so that I can distribute reinforcements via land connection easily. Do these trucks help, or am I just kidding myself?

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/13/2014 8:47:25 AM

Josh

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Trucks aiding your supply system? Not that I'm aware of. Supply flows automatically. Unless you have a mod installed?

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/13/2014 11:57:17 AM

PittBull

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Gentlemen, thank you very much.
I think I haven't been using my engineers properly. Up to now, I have placed them all on the resource hex instead of building roads.
Now in my current game I have been learning how to use the engineer and it bears out what you are saying. Duh!
I have also learned that I have to change my production schedule as the situation changes. This game is much more dynamic than I first thought.
I have also tried placing "operational HQs" between the SHQ and the front without much effectiveness. My conclusion is that roads and RRs are critical.

Thanks again for answering such basic questions for me.

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/14/2014 4:52:44 AM

Philo32b

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Josh

Trucks aiding your supply system? Not that I'm aware of. Supply flows automatically. Unless you have a mod installed?

My apologies. When I strip off the trucks, the supply path and costs are identical. You are absolutely right. I should have tested this first.

Followup question: Does a division's supply path come from the Supreme HQ or its parent HQ? I would have thought the latter, since the parent HQ reports what supply its units requested out of it and what the HQ delivers. If that is correct, then parent HQs to divisions serve as amplifiers similarly to what I describe, just without the trucks.

I tried to test this myself, but while you can right click in the supply mode to see what the AP cost is from any unit (or spot on the map), I don't know which is being used to calculate supply being delivered, the Supreme HQ or the division's parent HQ. I have seen in games where one unit from a distant parent HQ is out of supply while the other units next to it from a nearby HQ are in supply, so I am guessing that parent HQs do amplify supply to some degree. Is that right?

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/14/2014 5:33:43 AM

Twotribes

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A unit draws supply from its parent Headquarters.

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/14/2014 2:23:39 PM

Josh

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Philo32b

quote:

ORIGINAL: Josh

Trucks aiding your supply system? Not that I'm aware of. Supply flows automatically. Unless you have a mod installed?

My apologies. When I strip off the trucks, the supply path and costs are identical. You are absolutely right. I should have tested this first.

Followup question: Does a division's supply path come from the Supreme HQ or its parent HQ? I would have thought the latter, since the parent HQ reports what supply its units requested out of it and what the HQ delivers. If that is correct, then parent HQs to divisions serve as amplifiers similarly to what I describe, just without the trucks.

I tried to test this myself, but while you can right click in the supply mode to see what the AP cost is from any unit (or spot on the map), I don't know which is being used to calculate supply being delivered, the Supreme HQ or the division's parent HQ. I have seen in games where one unit from a distant parent HQ is out of supply while the other units next to it from a nearby HQ are in supply, so I am guessing that parent HQs do amplify supply to some degree. Is that right?

I had to read your question a few times (as a foreigner I still have problems concerning english occasionally

) but I'm guessing your question goes something like this; suppose unit A is in the red supply zone, and its HQ is in the green supply zone, then that HQ can get supply but unit A (as A gets its supply from its HQ as Twotribes pointed out) can't. Then would moving that HQ to an hex closer to unit A make a difference? (move that HQ to an hex in the yellow supply grid but not the red) Amplify it as you say. I'd say yes. Because sometimes just one or two hexes can make the difference. Especially for tracked units in muddy or hill/mountain hexes. Tracked units are more dependent on roads/ plains then units that travel by horse, so they get out of supply quite easy. Moving their HQ could make just the difference.

Having said that I would advise strongly against that tactic, endangering your HQ is extremely bad, you could lose your entire battlegroup because your HQ = out of supply = all of its subordinate units out of supply

A cut off HQ threatens all its subordinate units, one way of saving them is either airlift supply via your transports, or giving the endangered units a different HQ that is still in supply and take the readiness loss.

< Message edited by Josh -- 10/14/2014 3:25:27 PM >

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/15/2014 1:53:43 AM

Philo32b

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Thanks, Josh, that makes sense. My line of questions was ultimately aimed at the idea that you can go much farther than your range of railroads in a wild map, by nestling HQs under parent HQs under parent HQs as needed, and so on. Each one would amplify the supply range a little farther. I wouldn't want to do it routinely, but sometimes I'm racing to reach and defend a good area before the AI gets there.

By the way, your English is very good--I hadn't noticed where you are from and thought you were a native speaker.

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RE: Supply is beating me... - 10/15/2014 8:51:04 AM

Josh

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From: Leeuwarden, Netherlands
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Thanks

I think there can only be four tiers of HQ's, personally I rarely make more than three (SHQ, local HQ's and the frontline HQ's that do all the fighting).
Suppy flow in wild rugged terrain is a major obstacle, so get your engineers/seabees to work. If racing against AI I'd say use Cavalry and use transports to get supply to them.
Oh one other trick; *if* you take a city that produces supply but it is located far far away from your lines you can make a local HQ on that spot and set that city to produce for that HQ, it even needn't be subordinate to the SHQ back in your starting city.

(in reply to Philo32b)

Post #: 12