Quick Questions - Quick Answers

[JimboOmega]

It's look like a FTM game, are you playing with TFH? with TFH there is a workaround, the only VP is in oslo, so it's a one day war. Before tfh Germany was often stuck in Norway ... forever, with huge unsupplied forces unable to take some VP (the one far in the north for exemple)

Huhu, sometimes your faction's members are very aggressive. I have seen an axis Spain starting a land invasion of UK on is own

The only VP is in Oslo here, also. As you can see if you look closely, Germany hasn't taken it. They control one province away... but haven't taken it.

 

[misterbean]

Tag switch to Germany. SR a couple of those divisions back to Germany. That should clear up their supply lines and allow them to continue.

 

[JimboOmega]

Tag switch to Germany. SR a couple of those divisions back to Germany. That should clear up their supply lines and allow them to continue.

I rebased a small force to Copenhagen and then launched an invasion from there. Done.

On a related note...

What's the deal with creating an outbound supply convoy from a non-core port? What limits does it have and does the supply have to travel to the port first? I've a land connection (as NatChi) from Beijing to Kuwait, which would be closer to whatever I'm up to in Africa and Europe... but if it has to ship all that way, that's a disaster.

 

[misterbean]

AFAIK, cores don't influence the cargo capacity of a port.

 

[JimboOmega]

AFAIK, cores don't influence the cargo capacity of a port.

But do supplies magically appear at the outbound port for shipping? Is that only for core ports? Or is that for no ports?

 

[Karmapowered]

But do supplies magically appear at the outbound port for shipping? Is that only for core ports? Or is that for no ports?

Given my recent experiences with the supply system, I am no longer sure :

1/ if the game expects you to only create outbound supply convoys in a single lane from your core ports to wherever they are requested :

- Beijing -> Athina
- Stettin -> Leningrad
- etc.

2/ or if it's possible, and more efficient, to divide these lanes into several pieces, so that both land and sea supply lanes collaborate, assuming of course that the middle port has a connection with your cores/capital :

- Beijing -> Kuwait + Kuwait -> Athina (Kuwait has a land connection with Beijing)
- Stettin -> Riga, Riga -> Leningrad (Riga has a land connection with Stettin/Berlin)
- etc.

Case 2/ could be further problematic if you have nothing equivalent that requests supplies at your "middle" port (Kuwait).

To illustrate :
- Athina has a whole army landed that needs supplies for the invasion of the Balkans.
- Kuwait has a single GAR that was fine with the crumbs that it used to receive till now, and won't request any more either through sea or land.
- Does Beijing know that the supplies sent to Kuwait also have to feed Athina ?

I doubt it. Therefore, it seems to me that the safer bet would be to create direct links (Beijing -> Athina), which has the downside of an increased cost in numbers of of convoys (because of increased distance).

Hopefully, I understood your question right.

 

[JimboOmega]

But do supplies magically appear at the outbound port for shipping? Is that only for core ports? Or is that for all

Given my recent experiences with the supply system, I am no longer sure :

1/ if the game expects you to only create outbound supply convoys in a single lane from your core ports to wherever they are requested :

- Beijing -> Athina
- Stettin -> Leningrad
- etc.

2/ or if it's possible, and more efficient, to divide these lanes into several pieces, so that both land and sea supply lanes collaborate, assuming of course that the middle port has a connection with your cores/capital :

- Beijing -> Kuwait + Kuwait -> Athina (Kuwait has a land connection with Beijing)
- Stettin -> Riga, Riga -> Leningrad (Riga has a land connection with Stettin/Berlin)

Case 2/ could be further problematic if you have nothing equivalent that requests supplies at your "middle" port (Kuwait).

To illustrate :
- Athina has a whole army landed that needs supplies for invasion of the Balkans.
- Kuwait has a single GAR that was fine with the crumbs that it used to receive till now, and won't request any more either through sea or land.
- Does Beijing know that the supplies sent to Kuwait also feed Athina ?

I doubt it. Therefore, it seems to me that the safer bet would be to create direct links (Beijing -> Athina), which implies an increased cost in numbers of of convoys.

Hopefully, I understood your question right.

ports?

My capital is Nanjing, so the supplies would theoretically need to travel over land... in theory. - do the supplies travel from e.g. Nanjing to Shanghai over land? Or do they just appear there, ready to ship? I recall the later being true in some circumstances way back when. Otherwise there's a pretty harsh limit on outbound supply from a port (based on how much it can get in there by land) which I don't remember being the case.

 

[misterbean]

supplies travel from the capital to the port overland, where they are shipped. In your case, they go from Nanjing to whatever port you designate as the starting port. I would suggest the largest one you have that is the closest to Kuwait. I think that's Shanghai, but I may be wrong. If you have taken Hong Kong from the UK, you could use that one.

The convoy travels to the destination port, from where they are send over land to wherever they're needed.

 

[JimboOmega]

supplies travel from the capital to the port overland, where they are shipped. In your case, they go from Nanjing to whatever port you designate as the starting port. I would suggest the largest one you have that is the closest to Kuwait. I think that's Shanghai, but I may be wrong. If you have taken Hong Kong from the UK, you could use that one.

The convoy travels to the destination port, from where they are send over land to wherever they're needed.

So to support large overseas forces, it's worth developing infra corridors from Nanjing to high port level ports?

It's also worth having a large variety of ports to send things out and not just one that's highly developed, then?

 

[misterbean]

Yes to your first question, but keep in mind that same low infra that's keeping you from fully using your supplies, does the same thing to Japan's army. In China's case, that's a strategic choice you have to make. Reduced combat power vs better supply lines.
If you look at the supply mapmode, you can see which provinces (they are coloured green if you have enough infra) the supplies travel through to get to their destination, whether it's a frontline division or a port. Those are the provinces to focus on.

edit: sorry, forgot your second question. Yes, getting more ports is always handy, not only for supplies, but also for rebasing your navy. Keep in mind that enemies can use those ports against you. Keep them guarded (2 divs of 4 mil each should be enough).

 

[Karmapowered]

My capital is Nanjing, so the supplies would theoretically need to travel over land... in theory. - do the supplies travel from e.g. Nanjing to Shanghai over land? Or do they just appear there, ready to ship? I recall the later being true in some circumstances way back when. Otherwise there's a pretty harsh limit on outbound supply from a port (based on how much it can get in there by land) which I don't remember being the case.

Yes, they travel over land from your main supply depot (Nanjing) to whatever port you picked as outbound. That port (let's say Shanghai) limits your supply throughput with its capacity : according to the wiki, a level 10 port can ship out 60 supplies per day in TFH.

Therefore, if you need a high supply throughput, you are encouraged to use several outgoing ports of high capacity, with the best possible infra that connects them to your main supply depot, to avoid bottlenecks.

EDIT : Only mildly related, but here you can see three "autobahnen" that I built for GER prior to Barbarossa :



Anything that can help to avoid bottlenecks, as deep down the supply chain as possible, should be considered (also spacing out your units). I had zero supply issues in Russia (despite "hard" settings which worsen even further throughput).

So to support large overseas forces, it's worth developing infra corridors from Nanjing to high port level ports?

It's also worth having a large variety of ports to send things out and not just one that's highly developed, then?

As far as I see it, yes to both your questions, if you need more than what a single high level port can ship per day.

 

[misterbean]

You can see in the production screen how many supplies a division needs. Add all the supply needs of all the divs overseas, and you know how big your port should be. Two thoughts:

You can send from multiple locations, if you want to.
The naval tech "Basing" increases the amount of supplies your ports can handle.

 

[thexmassteam]

In order to increase your naval supply throughput you should also research "basing" tech, that increase the supply capacity of harbour. Must be hidden with submarines related tech, can't remember exactly where.

edit : ninja'd

 

[misterbean]

bottom right column, below spotting.

 

[JimboOmega]

Yet the wiki says:

• 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. Ports do not have to be in supply to provide supplies to a convoy but they do have to be connected via land to the capital.

Now certainly, the wiki's errors are manifold, but even assuming this is an error it raises an additional two questions:

For resource convoys, do they use the supply network (and block supply being transferred) - or can they just reach any port?

If you create a supply convoy FROM a province that has no units in it, does it not ship anything for a few days while the draw is propogated back to the capital?

 

[JimboOmega]

One more question - I see supply now travels from the capital to IC provinces... what does that mean? It has to make a stop at an IC province before it gets to the units? OR does it actually "appear" at an IC province (meaning IC is worth building close to the front)?

 

[Karmapowered]

The Wiki does not have that many errors as some information could be outdated for the lastest expansion (TFH) instead. It still remains a very valuable and pretty accurate resource in my book.

About resource convoys, since they use different lanes/ships, I don't see why they would block supply being transferred (EDIT : resources do not "share" port capacity with supplies). I am not even sure if port capacity matters for resources (which is probably your real question), I'll have to investigate. It looks like that you can convoy resources to any port, though I have no idea why you would do that : Kuwait (Oil) -> Singapore + Singapore -> Tianjin, instead of Kuwait -> Tianjin directly, for example.

About your second question, that's where we're reaching the limits of my knowledge, and the as of yet unanswered questions of my recent "experiences" :

- all my continental JAP troops were supplied from Rangoon, which had gathered a huge stack of supplies and fuel over the time of my successive invasions (76k+)
- since I withdrew my troops back to mainland Japan (to upgrade them), that kind of supplies were no longer needed at Rangoon
- henceforth, the supply system should have convoyed them back to Tokyo or whatever port Rangoon was connected to, which it never did (I even waited for several months)

It should propagate them from and back to the capital depending on local needs, that's what I assumed "sent into the network" and then "returned to the stockpile" meant.

 

[Karmapowered]

One more question - I see supply now travels from the capital to IC provinces... what does that mean? It has to make a stop at an IC province before it gets to the units? OR does it actually "appear" at an IC province (meaning IC is worth building close to the front)?

Some provinces with IC on them "store" supplies. This means for example that troops surrounded in a city (think Stalingrad) can hold for some time longer before going OOS. I do not think that such "IC supply depots" radiate supplies back to surrounding provinces however. Once again, I prefer to admit that I have reached the limits of my knowledge, instead of potentially providing you with mistaken information.

 

[misterbean]

Yet the wiki says:


Now certainly, the wiki's errors are manifold, but even assuming this is an error it raises an additional two questions:

For resource convoys, do they use the supply network (and block supply being transferred) - or can they just reach any port?

If you create a supply convoy FROM a province that has no units in it, does it not ship anything for a few days while the draw is propogated back to the capital?

That is just a complicated way of saying that the port of origin has to have a land connection to your capital. Supplies travel from Berlin to the port of Stettin, from where it is shipped to Königsberg in East Prussia. It does not matter if the port has no units.

One more question - I see supply now travels from the capital to IC provinces... what does that mean? It has to make a stop at an IC province before it gets to the units? OR does it actually "appear" at an IC province (meaning IC is worth building close to the front)?

I haven't figured that part out yet.

 

[JimboOmega]

That is just a complicated way of saying that the port of origin has to have a land connection to your capital. Supplies travel from Berlin to the port of Stettin, from where it is shipped to Königsberg in East Prussia. It does not matter if the port has no units.

But does it matter that there are no supplies in the province itself? I interpreted it as meaning it doesn't. If I create a new convoy from a province that has no units/supply in it, is there lag until the network sends supply there?