First, I apologize for the number of supply and production related screens in this update – this is a sort of study in management of resources and slider management, and so is relatively technical, though it also includes a couple of “my heart skipped a beat” moments with regard to the Spanish Civil War, so….
All right… Well, that’s not good. Not on the heels of the British intervention, of a month before. Also, notice the boundaries between Nationalist and Republican provinces. I’m not sensing any major trends in the war right now. In fact, I can’t identify any obvious differences between the front lines in August versus those of a month before! No change is not good – the Nationalists need to be making progress, or else these interventions on behalf of the Republicans are going to tip the balance!
So it’s time to flex what small muscles I have, in hopes of maybe getting involved at some point, or at least in expectation that the world will become a more dangerous place, and recognition of our need to be ready for it…
Our Neutrality is at 73 still, and Republican Spain has about 10 Threat to us… It’s going to be a while before there’s any chance of an intervention there. I did try an alliance with the Nationalists, but that’s refused. There’s nothing to be done but attempt to increase the leverage on the other side – reducing Neutrality as fast as I’m already doing, but trying to increase the Threat on the Republican side. This requires more than 2 spies (I had 3 at one point, but I’ve not had the leadership to spend on expanding anything in espionage). I do increase my espionage slider from 0 to 1.00, which I’m hoping will begin a resurgence of spypower there…
The reduction of research allocation from almost 4 down to just 2 means Industrial Production and Education are the only things progressing for now. Sadly, I also have Leadership being drawn away to other needs –,my officer corps is still in need of beefing up, and I need diplo points for trade deals, so…
I make two separate trade deals for the same commodities – 2 Oil and 1 Metal from USA, and 4 Oil and 5 Metal from Romania. Why? Because with only 37 money available right now, and with these two deals costing $2.29 per day, I’ll have to do one of three things – increase my CG production to bring in cash, or sell supplies somehow, or break off one of the deals. Two deals gives me the flexibility of cutting off only one, not both.
My research into Industrial Production pays off, though not visibly. The percentage increase of +2.5% didn’t move me from 23 IC to 24, but it’ll become important once I expand my economy yet more.
Indeed, by early September, it’s time to change my Production Slider priorities. I have the ability to produce more than $7/day through massive CG spending – 3 times demand! But I pay a heavy price in production, where any spending on the Transport disappears, and I’m left only building the reserve garrisons and a convoy unit.
Note, above, that my supply production occupies only a slight percentage of my total IC. But watch…
By sorting the Diplomatic List to see who needs supplies, I notice the Germans are kind of short on supplies. And they’re my potential allies, so it’s important to me to support them, while getting something in return. I ask
THEM (a switch from normal, worth trying) to buy my 50 Supplies per day, in return for $9/day money. They accept!
Now my daily supply need has jumped tremendously, but I’ve also funded my resource stockpile buildup for the time being. This huge sale of supplies replaces all the IC I’d put into CG, and the tradeoff actually benefits me, because supplies are a cheaper method of gaining money than CG (not as good, note, as in v1.1c –
this is only a suspicion (I’ve not tested it). But it sure seems like I did much better financially when selling supplies in v1.1c than in v1.2. Oh well, they’re still better than CG.
The switch allows me to improve my resource buys, and tailor them more to what I need for my strategic stockpiles. All of my resource stockpiles are gaining, right now, and I have enough cash on hand, and a decent-enough balance of income vs. outcome so that I don’t bankrupt myself getting it!
Bad news on the other front, though…
The Republicans have found all my spies! Those dogs! Their Counterespionage was 3 at one time. I wonder if they increased it. Three weeks of massive spending (okay “1” is not massive, if you’re a big power – it’s massive if you’re Portugal!) on spies has given me absolutely nothing to show for it. Time to give up on that. Too costly. Besides, the Republicans, by doing so well, are increasing their own threat to me. My points go back into research, with diplomacy and officers left as they are (notice officers % at 68%? – bad). I can’t read our neutrality – I think it’s about 70%.
Did I say the Republicans were doing better? Hmm…. Well, not much has changed on the ground, but remember what I said about the Nationalists needing to start getting some momentum? There’s very little going on over there. They haven’t moved the frontier appreciably in about 2 months now. That’s bad. That’s ominous…. And what can I do about it???
By the way, notice how I put Industrial Production back in the #1 slot just as soon as I finished the slot before? So long as I’m not researching “ahead of time” (and sometimes even if I am), this is the cheapest way to increase my IC. I don’t have the technology to build new factories yet, and I don’t have the leadership to spare to get there, and I don’t have the IC to build them even if I did! So Industrial Production is how it is… Why Coal Processing and Coal to Oil? Because that’s one of the major draws on my stockpiles right now. Those techs will both help me. I won’t pursue them doggedly, but through one level at least will help.
I think 65% neutrality was the threshold for increasing my economic mobilization to War Economy, and I achieve that point about a month later, in mid-October. I also increase my draft level, which allows me to start reinforcing my many reserve units to higher levels.
In this time, you might have seen, I start to breathe easier about the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalists have broken through, and linked their territories together (it was really fun watching the border, and seeing first a Republican detached brigade run past into the fog-of-war, then see it being chased by a Nationalist brigade, or even a Nationalist division!). Before this happened, though, I watched the Republicans actually reach my border in the north! That concerned me. So first I thought the Nationalists had just lost the whole thing, and just after that the Republican lines collapsed (overextended, then cut off, I’d bet!), and the Nationalists made a critical, decisive advance. Nicely done!
They haven’t won the war yet, but they’re getting there. That was an important step.
Back to the Production screen… Reinforcements are underfunded, at a rate of about 1/3 of need (I won’t need these guys right away – I can’t declare against anybody, and no one has the ability yet to declare against me). Supplies are still huge, because I’ve still got that lucrative deal going with Germany for supplies. CG is a little elevated, because I need to maintain a positive cashflow (just $1 does it). The rest is going into production. The increase of IC from 23 to 29 is very, very helpful in allowing me the freedom to do all these priorities at once. Most of the things in my queue will be finished in November, so…
Once they’re done, I start transporting them to colonies where I don’t have garrisons yet. Each transport can carry four brigades (probably could hold 5, but I carry 2 divisions of 2 brigades). I drop one division in Mozambique, and set out for Macao with the other one (that’ll be Macao’s 2nd division, I think).
Meanwhile, the Production Queue starts finishing off that non-reserve Garrison, and continues building my new Transport at increased speed. Next, you’ll see me working on cavalry and infantry. Not a lot of either – that’s not going the be the bulk of my military until after war gives me more flexibility – but enough to give me some power (infantry) and some speed and scouting power (cavalry). That’s flexibility I’ll need if I intend to get anything accomplished.
Two last things to notice, here… My convoy ships are sufficient, now, to carry me through any emergency. I can build more if I need to – in fact, that guy you see at the bottom of the screen? I’ve actually taken that convoy unit I’d been building, and moved it to the bottom of the queue before completing it. If I get into war, I can throw it back into production and have it ready within a month or less. This way I don’t have to go through their whole run with my coveted peacetime IC – I get to spend it on other priorities – but I’ve progressed it enough that I’ll have it before I desperately need it, and will have time to produce it with wartime IC when that time comes.
Those of you with a keen eye will notice the .33 IC being spent for reinforcement, that doesn’t need to be there. I fixed that before the day was out – no sense in wasting IC! Those alerts in the upper left corner are there for a reason. Constant vigilance is also helpful, in keeping from spending IC on the wrong things.
Until next time, folks… I’ll try to increase the speed of updates if at all possible, so you can get through the peacetime number crunching and into some real action!