Supply routes. Partisans, what to do?

[Alexndr]

So I am pretty new with HOI3. But I ve got myself into a fight with Russia as Germany like I am supposed to. Now I have a lot of difficulties maintaining my suplies for my armies, on the supplymap every where there are provinces with red stripes, accordingly I think these are partisans, and I drop military police on every single province, still the supplies wont really flow. Is there any way to solve this problem?

 

[marxianTJ]

the red is bad infrastructure - that means there's like no roads, rails etc - unless you're in partisan map mode. Your supplies travel along infrastructure in the standard mode - so if you're in an area with crappy infrastructure, your troops will have a really hard time getting supplies/fuel and their org regain will be slower. You want to avoid going into those places if at all possible - it's also important to beef up the INFRA in your Polish occupied territories to help your supply flow into Russia.

If it is partisans (as in you're on the partisan map mode) some MP + suppression units will help, but Russia's infrastructure will make it worse well before the partisans get you.

 

[Alexndr]

the red is bad infrastructure - that means there's like no roads, rails etc - unless you're in partisan map mode. Your supplies travel along infrastructure in the standard mode - so if you're in an area with crappy infrastructure, your troops will have a really hard time getting supplies/fuel and their org regain will be slower. You want to avoid going into those places if at all possible - it's also important to beef up the INFRA in your Polish occupied territories to help your supply flow into Russia.

If it is partisans (as in you're on the partisan map mode) some MP + suppression units will help, but Russia's infrastructure will make it worse well before the partisans get you.

Ok. Good to know. The current game is a bit strange, I conquered England, now I am going for Russia. Before this game I conquered Russia without much problems, no supplie issues at all. Now I hardly cant get supplies over there, and my supplies it self deplete with enormously numbers, (4000 per day....), any clue what is going on?

 

[unmerged(180647)]

This is usually happening after a lot of units are re-based or strategically re-deployed, which causes the spots of desperate needs for supply to pop up in a place where there had been no or very little need before. The supply system tries to counter this by pumping more and more supply and fuel into the network. It will calm down only after a couple of weeks, when the supply has finally reached the units.

As far as Russia is concerned: the best solution is to build some roads of high infrastructure through occupied Poland and have sufficient rebel suppression in place before starting Barbarossa. It might help though, if you set up a supply convoy from Stettin to one of the eastern ports, like Riga or Leningrad, if you already own it.

 

[ntz]

also I'd like to mention, that having two transport planes for airdrop supply for emergency cases is must-have.

 

[szcott69]

Supply in Russia can be difficult. I used to go through the headache of trying to upgrade infrastructure, but thats almost impossible because supply paths are all figured out individually for each unit, so that 2 units next to each other could have totally different paths.

There are 2 important supply techs in the theory tab that should be kept upto date, supply transportation and supply organization. Also if using naval supply, the basing tech in the Naval tab.

The next important thing is to is to put highest ranking general in charge of of your Army group, the best case is a level 9 which would reduce your supply consumption by 45%. Also having Logistic Wizards at corp level. Having a good command structure and keeping all units in range to receive those benefits is vital. I have started adding combat brigades to my corp HQ's just to remind me to keep them up with rest.

Get the most benefit from your command structure by keeping it full, 4(or 5) brigades to a Div, 5 Div to a corp, 5 corp to an Army etc.

Also you may want to move all your Aircraft west of Berlin so they don't suck supplies. An exception to that might be coastal provinces that can be supplied by ports.

Hope some of that helps. Some or most of this requires some micro management.

 

[marxianTJ]

As far as why this game is different, it could be that you have spare supplies floating around in provinces to the West, or floating around in the British Isles, that are going home, after you moved troops East, and things will right themselves in a few weeks. It could also be that your convoy system is over taxed between sending supplies to any troops in the British isles and deploying supplies to captured ports on the Baltic (and possibly) the Black Sea, unlike previous games.

 

[Secret Master]

First thing's first. If you are facing supply problems, tell me what occupation policy you are using. If the answer is anything other than "collaboration government," change it ASAP.

Also, let's put a minister in charge that reduces supply consumption (guns and butter doctrine).

And just for the lulz, make sure your Army Group(s) have skill 5 or better leaders.

These three things take seconds to implement, but will help significantly (it will still take time for the supply system to sort itself out).

 

[Alexndr]

Thanks all! What a amazing game this is, lot of detail that needs my attention, even more than I expecte!

 

[Alexndr]

One more question

Thanks all for throwing in information on supply routes. As for what I understand now, the partisans is not the immediate threat. One more question; what about encircling the enemies capital? On a few 'lets play' I have seen a some people encircle the main capital instead of taking it, supposedly also either to cut of their resources, or to feed on the resources coming to the enemies capital. How does this work? Is it actually true?

And isn't this encirclement a bit like cheating the system, as I cant imagine that the Germans could have beat down Russia simply by blockading the routes to Moscow.

In my game I have encircled Moscow, yet still most of the troops are getting really low on resources..

Last questions, in the game it is now July, everything barely holds for now, but Russians winter is coming, does this affect the use or the resupply of supplies and fuel? Will my troops run out of supply due to increased supply consumption, or worsening supply transitions? And related, if troops don't move, or are not in combat, do they use supplies? This I wonder because before starting the offensive most troops could get their supplies adequately.

Thanks for answering in advance !!

 

[unmerged(180647)]

If you encircle the enemy capital, this will not improve your supply situation, but rather worsen the enemy's supply. As the main supply depot is in Moscow, their units will be out of supply after a couple of weeks when they have used up what they had and the supply network dries out.

The supply consumption is indeed increased when the units are in combat, iirc it is doubled, and also on frozen ground. The weather conditions can decrease the supply throughput of provinces, when they are muddy.

 

[Alexndr]

Supply in Russia can be difficult. I used to go through the headache of trying to upgrade infrastructure, but thats almost impossible because supply paths are all figured out individually for each unit, so that 2 units next to each other could have totally different paths.

There are 2 important supply techs in the theory tab that should be kept upto date, supply transportation and supply organization. Also if using naval supply, the basing tech in the Naval tab.

The next important thing is to is to put highest ranking general in charge of of your Army group, the best case is a level 9 which would reduce your supply consumption by 45%. Also having Logistic Wizards at corp level. Having a good command structure and keeping all units in range to receive those benefits is vital. I have started adding combat brigades to my corp HQ's just to remind me to keep them up with rest.

Get the most benefit from your command structure by keeping it full, 4(or 5) brigades to a Div, 5 Div to a corp, 5 corp to an Army etc.

Also you may want to move all your Aircraft west of Berlin so they don't suck supplies. An exception to that might be coastal provinces that can be supplied by ports.

Hope some of that helps. Some or most of this requires some micro management.

One of your advises is to keep the army organisation full, 5 divisions to a crops, etc. But what about supply distances to the HQ units? If I keep just one Army Group with 5 Armies either they are pact together in a small region or further away yet too far to be within HQ reach. Or would being pact not be an issue, or the out of reach is not an issue?

 

[unmerged(180647)]

On the eastern front, you will need at least two, but better three army groups, named say AG North, Center and South, in order to cover the long frontline. My choice for the commanders is usually a level 5 and fine-skilled one, like von Kluge for AG North, von Manstein for AG Center and Rommel for AG South. Even if not already leveled up they all provide a 25% supply reduction for everything under their command, plus the 'winter' trait for the northern forces and the 'battlemaster' trait for the central and southern forces.

 

[Kovax]

I've never needed more than two AGs to cover the entire Eastern Front, and a third in the West (which can cover all of Western Europe). The various Armies can be a pretty significant distance from the AG HQ and still be in supply, and the Corps give you even more reach from there.