Here are my observations:
Supply map mode is not very helpful. I would expect it show where and in what amounts supplies are flowing. In other words to see my supply lines. What supply mode is showing is something else or I cant properly read it.
I would expect units in case of shortage to get partial supply. In other words, available supply to be distributed through my divisions. What I see mostly however is that division is either in full supply or totally out of it.
On picture below, you can see how unhelpful and confusing supply mode of map is:
As I sat, I would expect it to show, where and how much of supplies flow. But it clearly is not the case. Cavalry division in Beping is in full supply, province have high throughput, demand and some local supply. Provinces in green to the north have some local supply but no throughput. Now tell me if this map makes some sense to you since to me it does not give the slightest idea of my supply network and situation or what is going on with supply altogether. Note also green provinces to the east with no units but green color. I have no idea what those colors on map should represent.
This picture shows also another problem I came across. Border to the east is one with Manchuria, my puppet and ally. As long as my units were on Manchurian territory they could trace supply to my provinces in Korea and via ports back to Japan. However once my troops crossed border and took enemy port, all supply through Korea ceased, even if that new port cant satisfy all my needs. That makes no sense of course.
Can I try to explain that map:
1.
Provinces that have no colourings show where there are no supplies, no throughput of supplies and no demand for supplies. These provinces form no part of the supply network.
- These include all of the provinces on the north of the Manchukuo border. This tells us that no supply flows from the supply centre that covers Manchukuo (which is actually in Korea). Supplies flow from the naval bases in Korea across the border into Manchukuo. They can flow across the border into occupied Shanxi territory, but are currently not doing so.
- There are three coastal provinces near the naval base at Dagu which also have no supplies flowing through them.
2. There is a
province within the Shanxi occupied territory which has a supply centre icon
- This is at Tianjin. This tells us that this area is an independent overseas supply network. All JAP and MAN units in this area will be shown as supplied from Tianjin.
- A supply network cannot draw supplies from another supply network. It can only draw supplies from a naval base which is supplied by convoy from the capital. Tianjin draws its supplies from the level 7 naval base at Dagu.
3. Provinces which are
coloured brown are those where the local supply is less than the supply draw demand, so less than optimal supplies flow through the provinces.
- This includes Tianjin and Beiping. Since an adjoining province to Tianjin is uncoloured, and other adjoining provinces to these two are outside of the borders of the supply network, then all supplies from Dagu flow through Tianjin and all flow through Beiping.
4. All of the units of the
North China Expeditionary Army and their Manchukuo allies are north of Beiping, except for one HQ at the naval base Dagu.
- All of your forces rely on their supplies coming through Beiping
5. The
province tooltip for Beiping shows a supply draw demand of approximately 114 supplies per day, but a throughput of only 18.
- The overall throughput to the whole North China Expeditionary Army and it's Manchukuo allies is less than 20% of what the units are demanding.
- This does not mean that the units are consuming 20% of what they require. The demand consists of what is required to try to bring their local supply up to 30 days worth of supplies, not what they actually consume.
6. In the
hills to the north, along the Mongolian border, the provinces are coloured green. This means that the supply draw exactly matches the throughput, in other words optimal supply. These are furthest away from Dagu and are low infra, nevertheless there appears to be a healthy supply situation here.
- Units carry supplies with them. As the units advance the local supply stockpile also advances. The units in the north still have enough of the supply stockpile they started the operation with (while they were still in Manchukuo) to keep themselves supplied. If there was sufficient preparation, and a good supply network in Manchukuo, they should have started the campaign with 30 days of supplies. They have still not exhausted these supplies, that is why the provinces are green. They are not getting more supplies from Tianjin/Dagu than other units closer to Beiping.
- The units in the hills will still be trying to replenish the supplies they are using by drawing supplies from Tianjin/Dagu to bring them back to 30 days worth of local supplies. Since the throughput in Beiping is so low then they will not be successful in maintaining themselves in supply for very long. Shortly the local supplies will run low, and the provinces will change to brown colouring, or even red.
7.
Beiping is coloured brown, but does not have any red hatching on it. This means this is not a bottleneck.
- The amount of infra in a province limits the total number of supplies that can flow through it each day. The infra in Beiping (and also in Tianjin) is not limiting the supply flows. Something else is preventing sufficient supplies flowing to the North China Exp. Army.
- We cannot see the tooltips that would come from Tianjin, but we should see that the supply throughput there is 18.51. This accounts for the supply tax in moving supplies from Tianjin to Beiping. And in the naval base at Dagu it should be 18.62 plus the supplies being consumed by the HQ there.
- The limit on the overall supplies flowing through the network originates at Dagu
8.
Dagu is shown coloured blue, indicating that it has more supplies than is required. This is probably a temporary surplus. To the south along the Yellow River there is a Manchukuo Division, which is now surrounded and cut-off from receiving any supplies from Dagu. Some supplies from Dagu will have been flowing south down the coast to this Division, but the supply network will adjust to this change.
- Dagu is a level 7 naval base, so the maximum throughput of supplies that can be brought through it each day is 28. This is about a quarter of the total supplies that the North China Expeditionary Army are demanding through Beiping.
- Without the tooltip for Dagu we cannot tell the exact throughput of the naval base, but this is likely to be close to 28. Japan is unlikely to have any techs in 1937 which boost the throughput.
9. There are
about 20 provinces in the occupied area in Shanxi which are part of the supply network.
- With a daily supply tax of 0.11 for each of these, over 2 supplies per day are being used for the tax. This is a significant amount, it cannot be ignored, but is not unusually high. This is because the supply lines are not very long.
- As the front moves further from Dagu, then a greater proportion of the supplies will be used in supply tax, further reducing the amount available for the troops
10.
Three provinces in the centre of the front have red hatching on them, showing that the infra. is limiting the throughput there.
- The position of some of these means that a whole group of units in the centre of the front are not receiving very much new supplies each day. They have already exhausted their own local supplies, and are probably now out of supply. Further progress in the centre of the front will be difficult.
- When the infra limits the throughput of supplies to create a bottleneck, the additional supplies which are trying to pass through that province are lost. So JAP/MAN are already losing some supplies in this way, in addition to the supplies used in the supply tax. Without the tooltips for these provinces I cannot tell how much.
- The infra inland is quite low, but it is possible that the problem with these three provinces is temporary, caused by damage to the infra in those provinces by recent combat there. The province screens and infra. map mode should show this.
11.
There is a large local stockpile of fuel at Beiping (184).
- Since most of the JAP/MAN units will not use fuel they will not be demanding any fuel. This fuel was probably stockpiled there by Shanxi and captured by JAP when the province changed hands.
- With this stockpile, plus a flow of fuel available through Dagu, no JAP/MAN units are likely to run short of fuel during this campaign.
Having got all of that information from the supply mapmode itself. We can add some more general observations:
A.
There are at least five HQs visible on the map in Shanxi occupied territory. These consume supplies. Higher HQs could remain just over the border in Manchukuo, and still be in range of the Divisions. As the front advances, then this is less likely, and you need to make a decision between the combat and other advantages provided by the HQs, and the limited supplies. JAP starts the game with a fairly low-level of HQs, compared to the western majors (it has virtually no Corps). Adding Corps to the heirarchy (which in the forum I have generally seen as a "good thing") actually adds to your overall supply consumption in an offensive. In some other countries, I estimate the supply usage of a large force, say an Army Group, to be increased by 10-20% by all of the HQs. It is probably not a good idea in this campaign to give JAP alot of Corps HQs which need to remain close to the front and consuming supplies that might otherwise go to the combat Divisions.
B.
There are air units in the air base at Beiping. These draw fuel and supplies. Although the fuel is not a problem, the supplies are. A decision needs to be made whether it is better to keep all of the air units based at Dalian in Manchukuo, rather than Beiping. From Dalian they are unable to reach the north of Shanxi. However, the CAG's with the carrier fleet off the coast can, so there seems little reason to move the TACs to Beiping.
C.
There seems to be a lack of combat units close to Dagu. At the minute some of the Shanxi units are concentrating on destroying the Manchukuo Division which has been cut-off. If they turn their attention towards Beiping/Tianjin/Dagu it seems inevitable that the supply lines will be cut. This is not such a bad thing. An overseas supply network must have a naval base available to provide supplies. If it does not, say if Dagu is recaptured by Shanxi, then the supply system will cancel this area as a supply network, the supply centre icon at Tianjin will disappear, and the occupied territory which remains will become part of the Korea/Manchukuo supply network again. In the short-term much of the North China Exp. Army might be out of supply, but in several days the supply flow over the border should be re-established.
D.
The infra. level along the coast is much better than further inland. In addition, as others have already mentioned there is a level 10 naval base to the south at Qingdao in Nat.China. The better strategy might be not to attempt a broad-front attack into Shanxi along the whole Manchukuo border, but instead concentrate a smaller and perhaps fairly mobile force along the coast to capture Beiping/Tianjin/Dagu, then push south as fast as possible towards Qingdao, either to capture it, or link up with an amphibious landing there. Once you control Dagu and Qingdao you will have a daily supply to your troops of 68, instead of the 28 from Dagu alone. This should be sufficient to defeat Shanxi and then carry out a campaign against Nat.Chi and Comm.Chi forces further inland.
E. However, you can improve things yourself here in a 36 campaign.
The Marco Polo Bridge Decision can be delayed well into 1937. This gives you time to build some level 1 naval bases to be deployed along the coast at provinces other than Dagu. This will help your supplies slightly (though this is very little compared to capturing Qingdao). You can also use amphibious landings at a couple of points along the Shanxi coast, the units which are landed in this way bring with them supplies, so don't immediately start consuming supplies from Dagu.
F. If the amphibious forces are based in Korea, or Japan, before the invasion, then they won't be using supplies along the Manchukuo/Shanxi border. If you get the North China Expeditionary Army in place as early as possible, and ensure it is not too large for the Manchukuo supply network, then the supply system should be able to build-up stockpiles of 30 days of supplies along the border. Rushing in Divisions, or even whole Corps/Armies, just before the invasion will not give the supply system enough time to build-up the maximum possible supplies for them all. Patient preparations are important before any major campaign.
F. Unfortunately, you cannot build any level 1 air bases in Manchukuo to extend the range of your TACs, as you can only improve provinces that are controlled by you. But if you capture Jinan just south of the Yellow River as early as possible in your operation to capture Qingdao and link up with your forces in the north, then Jinan will draw supplies from Qingdao and it will not be a problem. From there your TACs will have the range to extend over much of central China.
