Does Air Supply work?

[T Knight]

100% air superiority, 100% mission effectiveness. 100 planes, no supply seen related to air transports

 

[GothiousRex]

You get 0.005 supply per transport assigned currently.
100 transports gets you 0.5 supply.

 

[Dimmie_Dumm]

Yes.

 

[T Knight]

You get 0.005 supply per transport assigned currently.
100 transports gets you 0.5 supply.

Where do you find the amount of supply provided?

 

[Gran Strategist]

Where do you find the amount of supply provided?

When they are on air supply mission you can select the wing and mouse over them and a tool tip will pop up detailing how much supply they provide and any modifiers affecting it.

In reality it is very unlikely you will ever see the full supply given unless conditions are perfect as I usually see a range of debuffs to the supply provided so only ever got the maximum in perfect conditions.

As it stands at the moment air supply is effectively a waste as it uses fuel, it is likely some planes will be shot down so it also costs you IC and you need around 500 planes to even supply 1 division so they just fill up airfields near the front as their range is quite low and then to cap it off they supply an air zone so any supplies they do deliver will be divided over all units in that zone rather than putting the supplies where they are actually needed.

If you could supply a specific province it might be worth using them, or if you could attach them to an army so you could focus where the supplies went.

 

[KubiG37]

I got the idea back then of nerfing the supply planes while simultaneously making them much cheaper to produce (1 transport was maybe about 100 times more expensive than a single strat bomber). But this was blown out of proportion I'd say.

A two engine plane now costs the same a single engine fighter, and 100 of them can't supply even a single division.

They should raise the cost again, and increase their supply. Then we would come closer to both realism/usefulness, without having to modify CP.

 

[PorkchopSandwiches247]

Like many systems in this game, it technically works, it just is terrible.

Much like lend lease with experience gain, even if you put in a ton of production into it its still pathetic amounts of return. I guess there should be a limit to air supply, but its so low right now it may as well not exist.

 

[T Knight]

Like many systems in this game, it technically works, it just is terrible.

Much like lend lease with experience gain, even if you put in a ton of production into it its still pathetic amounts of return. I guess there should be a limit to air supply, but its so low right now it may as well not exist.

Yet in some instances airsupply was almost exclusive:

"
The final summary of logged flight time in the airlift totalled 1.5 million hours. The India-China ferrying operation was the largest and most extended strategic air bridge (in volume of cargo airlifted) in aviation history until it was surpassed in 1949 by the Berlin airlift, an operation also commanded by Gen. Tunner.[186] Tunner, writing in Over the Hump, described the significance of the India-China Airlift:

Once the airlift got underway, every drop of fuel, every weapon, and every round of ammunition, and 100 percent of such diverse supplies as carbon paper and C rations, every such item used by American forces in China was flown in by airlift. Never in the history of transportation had any community been supplied such a large proportion of its needs by air, even in the heart of civilization over friendly terrain...After the Hump, those of us who had developed an expertise in air transportation knew that we could fly anything anywhere anytime.[187]

"

 

[Findell_HOI]

Its completly worthless right now unless you change it yourself back to reasonable numbers.

 

[goodcigar]

If they're balancing for multiplayer that's a mistake. It's not possible to do both well at the same time imo. If needed they should add a game setting to control Air Supply balance. Balancing for multiplayer has ruined two other mechanics I think, the Licenses and Embargo features.

I really don't think Air Supply and Transport Planes are ever going to be in a good place unless they are completely reworked and substantially improved. Because it's currently too simplistic and you only have one or two levers to pull to balance it.

By that I mean have different size/types of Transport Planes. Determine what kind (and how much) of Equipment they can carry based on their size/type.

Allow the transport of Manpower/Equipment/Supply via Transport Planes to an Air Base. To the front and away from it (evacuation when things go bad like Stalingrad for example). Another Air Mission could be added specifically for the evacuation of wounded to reduce casualties.

Differentiate between dropping supply/Paratroops directly on the front as opposed to landing/flying things in at an Air Base. Capturing Air Bases with Paratroops was a priority for a reason. Direct Paradrop can be done anywhere and is scattershot and less efficient. Flying things in via Air Base is more efficient but dependent on having an Air Base and enough capacity at the Air Base, and then the stuff has to be delivered from the Air Base to the front.

I would also introduce Gliders as a unit (not as a magic ability) because they are different than regular Transport Planes. They would probably be stealthier (no engine or noise), be able to transport larger stuff than regular size Transport Planes, cheaper to produce, but require (or prefer) flat terrain and a mother Transport Plane to pull them.

Much can be done with Transport Planes and Air Supply.

 

[GothiousRex]

Where do you find the amount of supply provided?

oops, it's 0.002 per transport so 100 transports is 0.2 supply

It's in this file -> C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Hearts of Iron IV\common\defines\00_defines.lua
as....

AIR_SUPPLY_CONVERSION_SCALE = 0.002, -- Conversion scale for planes to air supply