What Exactly do the Colors on the Supply Map Represent?

[Harin]

I have not seen this question anywhere, so I feel like the only dummy in the room who has not figured it out.

Not knowing has not hurt my fun. The map somehow manages to communicate to me where I am having supply problems, without me knowing exactly how it is doing that. Kudos to the designer. Building a feedback that lets a player know something without the player knowing how he knows, is a feat. Still, after a few games on the Eastern Front, I thought it wise if I swallowed my pride and just asked what the colors represent.

What value(s) make a province turn from green to blue to red?

Thanks in advance for any answer or advice you take the time to give.

 

[DukofDeth]

Red means "bottlenecked" - I just learned that from another post in the forums.

There should be a legend somewhere, or maybe we need to bug them for one.

 

[Nephandus]

Actually not quite.

The province colours just indicate how many supplies are available for distribution in that province (as can be seen in the screenshots with the tooltips).
Red in this case means that currently no supplies are in that province. However this is only a snapshot of any given hour. Any newly conquered province will be red since the supply hubs and states need to refill the supplies.

If your find a supply hub whose numbers are red (in that case the first number is always bigger that the second, as can be seen in those screenshots.... the supply hub in the center), then more supplies are drawn from that hub than can be provided by the railway network. If you select that hub, it should show the railways lines used. And the railway line which are coloured red: THOSE are the bottleneck.

 

[jpd]

various shades of blue : more supply is available to the province than is used up.
purple : supply available is in balance with supply use.
yellow/orange : supply use is slightly greater than supply available. It's a problem, but not a big one
red : supply use is much greater than supply available. Units will start dropping org, and suffer equipment attrition.

 

[KubiG37]

A side question: Has there ever been any rationale as to why attrition only affects equipment and never manpower?
Why do 10k troops surrounded in frozen mountains province for months have their rifles disintegrate from overuse, but otherwise they just eat dirt and stones and all survive?

 

[HugsAndSnuggles]

A side question: Has there ever been any rationale as to why attrition only affects equipment and never manpower?
Why do 10k troops surrounded in frozen mountains province for months have their rifles disintegrate from overuse, but otherwise they just eat dirt and stones and all survive?

Obviously, they eat rifles first, which are full of iron and various other nutrients

 

[Cavalry]

A side question: Has there ever been any rationale as to why attrition only affects equipment and never manpower?
Why do 10k troops surrounded in frozen mountains province for months have their rifles disintegrate from overuse, but otherwise they just eat dirt and stones and all survive?

People can live very long without food, extreme long on low food, but not long without water

 

[Cavalry]

various shades of blue : more supply is available to the province than is used up.
purple : supply available is in balance with supply use.
yellow/orange : supply use is slightly greater than supply available. It's a problem, but not a big one
red : supply use is much greater than supply available. Units will start dropping org, and suffer equipment attrition.

How about railroad color?

 

[awmobile367]

How about railroad color?
View attachment 780739

I think the red rail line indicates a bottleneck. The yellow I think is a line being upgraded.

 

[Feltan]

On another side note, the only issue I seem to regularly have with supply is ports that home base a large number of ships. These ports are red, and there doesn't seem much to be done except either porting smaller groups in multiple ports, or putting ships on a mission. It doesn't have the right "feel" to it ... think of Pearl Harbor, San Diego, Wilhelmshaven, Brest, Taranto, Portsmouth, Hiroshima, etc. These large ports were not perpetually out of supply despite the fact that they were home base to a large number of ships.

Maybe I am missing something.

Regards,
Feltan

 

[jpd]

How about railroad color?

Yellow rail : this is the actual route from your capital to the supply node your supply trains travel
Red rail : same as yellow, but this section has a lower rail level than the rest. Upgrade it, and more supplies can flow.

 

[Bridger15]

A side question: Has there ever been any rationale as to why attrition only affects equipment and never manpower?
Why do 10k troops surrounded in frozen mountains province for months have their rifles disintegrate from overuse, but otherwise they just eat dirt and stones and all survive?

Is this accurate? I always assumed attrition hit manpower as well, but was replaced quite quickly from your reserves.

 

[awmobile367]

Is this accurate? I always assumed attrition hit manpower as well, but was replaced quite quickly from your reserves.

This was my understanding too.

 

[awmobile367]

This was my understanding too.

The wiki is your friend.

Attrition and accidents - Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki

hoi4.paradoxwikis.com

 

[awmobile367]

The wiki is your friend.

Attrition and accidents - Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki

hoi4.paradoxwikis.com

Manpower loss

Manpower - Hearts of Iron 4 Wiki

hoi4.paradoxwikis.com

 

[SeekTruthFromFx]

On another side note, the only issue I seem to regularly have with supply is ports that home base a large number of ships. These ports are red, and there doesn't seem much to be done except either porting smaller groups in multiple ports, or putting ships on a mission. It doesn't have the right "feel" to it ... think of Pearl Harbor, San Diego, Wilhelmshaven, Brest, Taranto, Portsmouth, Hiroshima, etc. These large ports were not perpetually out of supply despite the fact that they were home base to a large number of ships.

Maybe I am missing something.

Regards,
Feltan

This is due to a bug in 1.11.1 that meant divisions did not get supplies if there were ships in port in the same province. It has been fixed in 1.11.4, which is available as an open beta on Steam.

 

[Feltan]

This is due to a bug in 1.11.1 that meant divisions did not get supplies if there were ships in port in the same province. It has been fixed in 1.11.4, which is available as an open beta on Steam.

Thank you.

Regards,
Feltan

 

[Axe99]

There's a lot to like about the new supply system, and it's a big step up in terms of gameplay A few rough edges, but even with them I'd rather have the current system than the previous system.

One thing to keep in mind about the supply colour is that it's the "potential supply" - so if it's based mainly on state supply, that supply colour will "drain" (transition from blue to red) very quickly in the state once troops start moving in, whereas if it's mainly hub-based, then as long as the hub isn't overloaded (which is harder to do, but not impossible) then putting a div in one province will have less of an impact on another province.

Another thing to keep in mind is that divs in the state (I think) all draw from the state supply first, so if you have two divs in range of a hub, and one without, then the one without will only get 1/3rd of the total state supply, even if there's plenty of capacity in the hub. But this means that moving divs into a hub will reduce the available supply outside of the hub, and "redden" the shades a bit, depending on where the available supply is relative to the thresholds.