OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Shadow Empire >> OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions - 1/30/2022 7:54:19 PM

John S

Posts: 101
Joined: 9/5/2004
Status: offline

Having started the admittedly very frustrated "Enough is Enough" thread a couple of weeks ago, I read the very helpful responses and came back to the game again. Many thanks for the guidance and encouragement. Having tried another couple games, let me ask for some additional specific help.

1) Let me say that the tip that someone gave about eliminating all unnecessary roads was incredibly useful. If any new players are reading this, I would say that this is a great starting point, especially as you conquer a major country with all sorts of garbage routes. Watch the unneeded roads and get rid of them.

2) Can someone help me better understand "pull points"? I guess I understand trucks, the distances they can travel to full effect (Logistical Points and Action Points), the diminishing returns after a certain (often 4 hex) distance, and the idea of using a Supply Base as a cheap way to extend etc. I also understand the use of the Traffic Signs to block some or all of the Logistical Points going off on a necessary but relatively unused road.

What I don't understand is what the function is and how best to use "pull points" In all honesty, I look at the "Custome Pull Points" in the lower left-hand corner of the "Traffic Signs" display and have no idea as to how or when I would ever use this. Any help and general guidance, much appreciated. As a practical matter, how much do you guys focus on this stuff?

3) One specific question from a game I recently played. I had a large capital city and conquered a relatively large city of a major power. My logistics - both sealed road and railroad, ran through a city that I created and that I couldn't seem to make grow (this I do understand, and I think I tried everything). The cities at either end thus had truck and train stations at Level 4 but the city in between could not get above Level 1. When you run into a problem like this, is it best to just pretty much bypass the low growth small city and try to get stuff to simply run between the large city? I ran into huge bottleneck problems which I could not seem to resolve. Is the low capability of the small city in the middle the logical culprit?

Again, guys, thanks for the help and encouragement.

Post #: 1

RE: OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions - 1/30/2022 9:10:31 PM

Soar_Slitherine

Posts: 426
Joined: 6/7/2020
Status: offline

2) The logistics system automatically sets pull points to direct logistics points to locations where zones, assets or troops need them. It's not usually necessary to set pull points yourself, but it may be useful if, for example, you're planning to raise or strategic move units in or to a specific area. Setting a custom pull at the destination the turn before can help ensure the logistics systems directs enough points there to cover the extra LP required for the transfer.

(in reply to John S)

Post #: 2

RE: OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions - 1/30/2022 9:14:52 PM

GazBot

Posts: 84
Joined: 7/12/2020
Status: offline

Lets see if I can be somewhat helpful...

1. Absolutely - yes getting rid of dross makes it much easier to manage
2. Can really help you with pull points - I sometimes use them but only have a an intuitive understanding of them. What I do is I just put some in when I intuitively think it will be helpful then use the predicted / next turn logistics points overlay to see if its doing what I want it to. Actually I use that tool all the time to chk to make sure Im getting stuff to where it needs to go.....it upates as you set traffic lights and pull points....
3. Just have your rail stations in the big city's....whats in the middle shouldn't really matter. Depending on branching of your rail network you might need a rail stop so the points flow down both branches correctly. If the distances are so great you need another rail station in the middle then you could delegate the rail station to one of the higher level city zones though not sure if that will allow you to build up to level 4....but you can try. Or else place a new station outside of the city, midway but ensure your zone boundarys are set so the midway station is in the higher level zone....

TBH though Id be surprised if you need a midway station....prehaps you need to invest into high speed rail etc....

(in reply to John S)

Post #: 3

RE: OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions - 1/30/2022 9:36:32 PM

Voker57

Posts: 78
Joined: 9/19/2020
Status: offline

Small truck station in the town is not being the bottleneck, however you lose some points on refocusing, so if by this city you are not out of free logistic AP, it's better to disband it. Also, for interzone logistics you generally want to use rail.

(in reply to GazBot)

Post #: 4

RE: OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions - 1/30/2022 11:28:09 PM

zgrssd

Posts: 3385
Joined: 6/9/2020
Status: offline

1. Yeah, the current handling of road spam is bad. I had some suggestion on how Vic could fix that with hopefully minimal work:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4988936

2. Pull points exist to hopefully draw the Logistics into direction where it is needed (another city, the main battlefront) rather then splitting up 50/50 at every crossing.
However as you learned, they do not do so right now. The issue is that while Pull points are satisfied, the rest is still split 50/50 - rather then weighted based on the Pullpoints.

3. In that case it is indeed better to bypass the small city. Large cities should be conneted by rail. As should be any front (luckily some Railheads as you approach your future citiy can do.
Some remarks on "railway towns":
- only ever found a city to get rid off admin strain. You can ignore all figures under 10 for Admin Strain
- As I understand it, if you found a city on a Free Folk town you get the entire free folk population as citiy population
- The new city must have emergency food on. And maybe some Private Economy Subsidy too. It will take a serious amount of money and population to get the 1xt Agri Dome
- I would scrap the buildings (as much as nessesary) and keep spamming the "integrate city" option, until the small town is gone.

(in reply to Voker57)

Post #: 5

RE: OK - Thanks Guys - Logistics Questions - 2/2/2022 1:34:44 AM

pbi298

Posts: 6
Joined: 1/22/2022
Status: offline

On Item 2:
For pull points, I don't worry about it. Not the custom ones, at any rate. I use Traffic Signs to ensure that roads that have no need of general logistic points (i.e. roads going to resources or roads that only have troops) only draw pull points. Turn off Pull Points in the Traffic Sign screen for the road junction, and choose Block All on the roads where I only want supplies for units. If your units are drawing large amounts of supply and/or replacements, you may need to start Allowing some general logistic points through as well. This allows the vast majority of my logistic points to flow between cities.

If you're asking how do I calculate when I need to build more roads for my troops, I let the overlay be my guide. When moving my units, if they're in the yellow/red range, then it's time to extend my road network. I usually alternate Supply Bases/Truck Stations every 6-7 hexes (I operate under the assumption I'm using Sealed Roads); that's probably too much, but it works and I'm not usually on the brink of a collapse of my logistics system.

On Item 3:

That's what colonists are for. I only create new cities to alleviate admin strain, and even then only when I have a few thousand colonists I can use to keep the new city's workforce topped up and increase the population.

The small city in the middle is definitely a problem, as it limits the level of your truck station inside the city. For rail, though, unless your two large cities are very far away - rail costs only 4 AP/hex - that small city shouldn't have that much of an effect. It doesn't even need a railhead as long as there are terminals on the ultimate ends of the rail network.

(in reply to zgrssd)

Post #: 6