Africa, division size and logistics companies

[Antless]

Hi,

I'm trying to map out good division templates for an Italian playthrough. I'm having difficulty finding a whole lot on fighting in very low supply areas (in this case: Africa) and designing divisions for that purpose. The biggest question in my mind would be, if logistics companies deduce supply consumption by a flat amount (which would be good in small divisions), or by a percentage amount (would be good in large divisions).

Since fighting in Africa will most likely requre small divisions (to cover a whole front with very limited supply) I was also wondering how much of an impact support companies in general have on a division's overall supply consumption. This is relevant since I was planning of making heavy use of artillery, recon and possibly AT support companies, in both infantry and motorized divisions. The idea is to try and counter allied numerical superiority in that theater with better equipment and firepower.

 

[alexchau]

you mostly can only attach one logistic brigade for each division so they wont reduce consumption much. So my bet would be create numerous small diversified divisions with each accompanied by a logistic brigade so that I can reduce consumption to the maximum while still deliver the punch to the enemy.

 

[DiegoVaz]

i am actually trying to figure out the same thing
i will be playing ITALY for my first game continuing the tutorial.

create numerous small diversified divisions

this might not help i guess ?
as we have seen each province can only supply to a limited number of troops
so it doesn't matter weather you create a lot of small divisions or a two big divisions, it is going to supply to it's supply limit.
Instead what my plan is
improve the infra structure of the provinces we hold initially and upgrade the ports so as to increase the supply pool in rthe province that we hold.
with this if we face any supply problems on the front line, we can just pull back some units to our regions where there is enough supply to sustain the retreating units.
this will help us to keep the attrition to a minimal level.
giving ground to the enemy is better than loosing all our men in a low supply zone.

However anything we can think of right now is just going to be theory. we have to figure out how the game responds when we are ACTUALLY PLAYING IT

 

[Xoerpond]

@DiegoVaz But if you upgrade the infrastructure of your provinces, they might hold more troops than normal, but what about attacking then? The enemy still (probably) has the low infrastructure provinces and attacking and holding to that land will hurt your supply lines (not even talking about advancing even further).

 

[DiegoVaz]

the low infrastructure provinces

well not only that
Your continuous bombing might also reduce the infrastructure to rubble.
Seems like supply is going to be a big problem in ARFIKA as well as in the PACIFIC where everything depends on naval supremacy.
i am still trying to figure it out
the biggest problem here is that we cannot try things in HOI3 as the supply system is a total new thing in HOI4.

 

[Xoerpond]

the biggest problem here is that we cannot try things in HOI3 as the supply system is a total new thing in HOI4.

Guess the only thing we can do is wait (And it hurts)

 

[DiegoVaz]

Has anyone figured it out yet ?

 

[paddy1966]

HI all as i intend to play the Brits,my sollution General commando 50% out of supply bonus,Field marshall 25% supply reduction. Dont know the maths however.

 

[thedarkendstar]

Nah do the slow advance beef up the infrastructure move forward boost it up it will only take you a few maybe 6 months to get to the canal XD

 

[Midden]

I reckon North Africa, will show up some, issues with logistics and the supply usage of certain troop types.

What we should see is that Motorized divisions should have a supply/ combat advantage in this terrain.

However, unfortunately, I fear we will see, in game that the basic walking Infantry will be the best way to go in this terrain type, as I suspect they will have a low supply usage and you will be able to pack more in. I hope this is not the case as historically, non motorized, were mostly useless in this campaign and struggled to travel the large distances between supply sites.

 

[BBBD316]

I hope they just have 3 provinces, North, Middle and South Africa.

Hate winning North Africa and then having to SLLLLLLLLOOOOOWLY crawl around taking colonies.

 

[fellaz007]

I do not have a final answer to the effects of the supply battalion.

But it is possible to pimp the colonial infrastructure of the Italian North Africa empire via the National focus:
http://www.hoi4wiki.com/Italy#/media/File:Italy_national_focus_tree.jpeg

See:

• Ethiopian War Logistics
• Italian Highways
• Prospect for Oil
• Libyan Refineries
• Libyan Infrastructure

This could be an easy way to upgrade the supply situation in NA (at least when defending).

 

[BBBD316]

It is a pity that the UK doesn't really have an infrastructure NF for NA as with the 2 combined it would make for a more fluid front