I am rather new to HoI3, and in all my games, I have a problem where in about a year, I pretty much run out of every resource. I don't have enough money to trade for more either. How should I go about managing my resources to make them last?
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What countries do you play?
In order to secure a good resource flow, you need to act quite early. Once the major countries have made their trade deals in a few months, world trade »settles« a bit. If you have any surplus of any resource, sell it. Germany is abundant with Energy, for example. That gives you money to by whatever you need. If that is not enough, you need to produce and sell supplies.
In order to secure a good resource flow, you need to act quite early. Once the major countries have made their trade deals in a few months, world trade »settles« a bit. If you have any surplus of any resource, sell it. Germany is abundant with Energy, for example. That gives you money to by whatever you need. If that is not enough, you need to produce and sell supplies.
I am playing as Germany now, but it happens with every nation. I am losing every resource, including energy because I am trading it all out now. crude, metals, and rare materials are all going to run out in 20 days and I'm losing 18 money per turn. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
Either you need to back down one of your laws to lower your effective ICs to something you can support, or else you need to sell a LOT of supplies to cover the cost of the raw materials.
Germany has more than sufficient Energy, but the value of it is fairly low, so selling it won't gain you as much as it might first appear. In particular, selling Energy to other potential Axis-oriented states will increase their opinion of you and slightly influence them toward your faction, but won't make a lot of money. On the other end of the spectrum, selling supplies to the US and SU is potentially lucrative from a financial standpoint (besides marginally slowing the US's move toward the Allies), but detracts slightly from your arms buildup as you divert some production to produce those supplies.
Oh, NEVER buy oil or fuel. You can produce far more than you need from Energy, and will do so whether you want to or not. After a few months, there's NO market for oil or fuel, as everyone has a glut of the stuff. The resource system is a complete butcher job, and provides Germany with enough surplus Fuel to power half the rest of the world, not just itself. So much for Germany being historically "fuel starved" in the late war.
Germany has more than sufficient Energy, but the value of it is fairly low, so selling it won't gain you as much as it might first appear. In particular, selling Energy to other potential Axis-oriented states will increase their opinion of you and slightly influence them toward your faction, but won't make a lot of money. On the other end of the spectrum, selling supplies to the US and SU is potentially lucrative from a financial standpoint (besides marginally slowing the US's move toward the Allies), but detracts slightly from your arms buildup as you divert some production to produce those supplies.
Oh, NEVER buy oil or fuel. You can produce far more than you need from Energy, and will do so whether you want to or not. After a few months, there's NO market for oil or fuel, as everyone has a glut of the stuff. The resource system is a complete butcher job, and provides Germany with enough surplus Fuel to power half the rest of the world, not just itself. So much for Germany being historically "fuel starved" in the late war.
As Germany on January 2nd. start a couple of trades where you import rare and metal. Don't worry about trading away energy as these offers will come to you. Seven days later trade away 20 supplies to the SU. Remember to make sure you set your IC to produce extra supplies. Then 7 days later again trade for rare, metal and maybe oil. Best places to get these things are Russia (rare and metal), Sweden (metal), Romania (oil), USA (rare, metal and oil). If you need more money trade more supplies away to SU as they now have lots of it due to you buying their rare.
I can never get anyone to buy supplies though. Every country in the world has a surplus.
Also A noob question. What determines how much metal and rare materials are used up every day? Maintenance and building troops? Anything else?
Also A noob question. What determines how much metal and rare materials are used up every day? Maintenance and building troops? Anything else?
When I first start a game, as nearly any nation, the first thing I do (IC allowing) is sell the US a shed load of supplies. 50. I then tap up the SU the same way. At the start of the game ('36 admittedly) I find they nearly always accept my proposal. I do order the list by who needs what (running a deficit) and who has money. I never ask for more than they can afford either, as they'll nearly always say no. However, usually get $9 from US and $5 from SU to start. I tend to trade back to these countries as well (buy rares/metal) as it allows them to have the finances to continue buying my supplies 
Later in the game I often get the US or SU approaching me to buy supplies...if I am running a surplus
I think metal/rares etc are used up by IC. IC is used up on maintenance and troop building (and manpower), however, I'm not one of those who knows everything about the game
Later in the game I often get the US or SU approaching me to buy supplies...if I am running a surplus
I think metal/rares etc are used up by IC. IC is used up on maintenance and troop building (and manpower), however, I'm not one of those who knows everything about the game
It doesn't matter if they have a surplus cause they still buy it. SU will but supplies all day long. As for energy/metal/rares they are used by IC only.
Key is doing this in January 1936 and not 1938.
Hover the mouse over the resource values and you will see how much is being produced, traded and used each day. For energy, this includes the amount converted to oil as well as the amount used for production. The formula is as follows: each point of IC uses 2 energy, 1 metal, and 0.5 rares every day (oil conversion is NOT included in this formula, so energy usage is actually higher). Keep in mind that when you change laws and increase your IC, or increase IC due to conquests, your resource usage will also increase. Obviously, it is important to build up stockpiles pre-war and/or at least get to a point where you break even in resource usage once your laws have been optimized.
As mentioned above, due to how the trade mechanism works, you will want to make your major deals very early on. Also, you can research various techs which will improve resource production over time.
No it doesn't. IC uses rare/energy and metal. Doesn't matter what you build. If using IC you uses the resources. If all are placed in consumer goods or wasted upgrades then the IC isn't used and the resource usage is also lower.
If you build extra supplies early in the game, you will get trade offers from other countries for them. Spend 2 leadership points on diplomacy and trade every 3 days. This requires lots of micromanagement.
One thing not mentioned so far is difficulty levels: the easier that you play, the more resources that you get but the fewer resources that the AI gets. So at easier than normal difficulty it's harder to trade for resources.
One thing not mentioned so far is difficulty levels: the easier that you play, the more resources that you get but the fewer resources that the AI gets. So at easier than normal difficulty it's harder to trade for resources.
When playing as Germany, here's the trade trick I use:
I start out on 01:00 Jan 2, 1936.
I offer 2 metal to the USSR for sale. Sometimes this is refused and sometimes it's taken. If it's refused, I just wait the time necessary and try again.
After every sale, I click on the market tabs to set it to Europe only, then sort energy to lowest on top. I go down the list selling 5 to 10 energy to everyone that will buy it.
I keep doing this until my relations with the USSR is at 200. Then I buy blocks of rares in 5 chunk lots per trade.
By this time, I'm selling energy to whomever will buy it, regardless of what continent.
Once I have rares 20-30 above need, I'll start canceling the older trades and resell same amounts back at the better rate.
This is micro to a sometimes irritating degree, but in the early years, there's not much else to do anyway, and I end up with solid stockpiles of resources, decent relations with most of my neighbors (except allied members. forgot to mention I don't buy or sell anything to/from any known enemy nation), and a major trade partner that's not going to cancel out due to war dec until I've already gained enough by conquest that they're no longer really needed.
I also tend to have coin surplus in the 3-5 per. And, I dont have to sell off my IC by proxy due to selling supplies.
Remember, you get a +15 to relations per positive sale. You loose that relations in the same amount with a canceled sale. So, if you do go for the min/max in prices with your metals after getting your rares up to snuff, cancel one and resell before canceling the next.
At 200 relations, prices are down by, iirc, 50%.
I start out on 01:00 Jan 2, 1936.
I offer 2 metal to the USSR for sale. Sometimes this is refused and sometimes it's taken. If it's refused, I just wait the time necessary and try again.
After every sale, I click on the market tabs to set it to Europe only, then sort energy to lowest on top. I go down the list selling 5 to 10 energy to everyone that will buy it.
I keep doing this until my relations with the USSR is at 200. Then I buy blocks of rares in 5 chunk lots per trade.
By this time, I'm selling energy to whomever will buy it, regardless of what continent.
Once I have rares 20-30 above need, I'll start canceling the older trades and resell same amounts back at the better rate.
This is micro to a sometimes irritating degree, but in the early years, there's not much else to do anyway, and I end up with solid stockpiles of resources, decent relations with most of my neighbors (except allied members. forgot to mention I don't buy or sell anything to/from any known enemy nation), and a major trade partner that's not going to cancel out due to war dec until I've already gained enough by conquest that they're no longer really needed.
I also tend to have coin surplus in the 3-5 per. And, I dont have to sell off my IC by proxy due to selling supplies.
Remember, you get a +15 to relations per positive sale. You loose that relations in the same amount with a canceled sale. So, if you do go for the min/max in prices with your metals after getting your rares up to snuff, cancel one and resell before canceling the next.
At 200 relations, prices are down by, iirc, 50%.
My own technique for Germany is to find out who needs what on about day 2 or 3, after the initial confusion has died down and countries start to look for deals. Sort the nations in the Diplomatic screen by Energy and find out who's short. Sell small amounts (2-10) to as many countries as you can spare the Diplomatic Points to do. If they don't show at least "Likely", don't even try; save your initial Diplomatic Points for those who will take the deal as "Very Likely". Don't try to sell as much as they need in one shot either, for two reasons: first, because as soon as their economic needs fluctuate, they'll find themselves with a slight surplus of the resource or a cash shortage and cancel the deal, and second, because you'll want to make another deal later to boost relations further. The actual amount has no effect on relations, only the fact that a deal was made and accepted.
About 7-10 days later, when you've got more Points and your fresh Diplomats have arrived in those countries, go back and start seeing which of those countries have excess Iron or Rare Materials, and start buying. The initial Relations boost provided by your sales of Energy will make it a LOT easier to get them to accept the deals.
After a few weeks, when you've made a few rounds of trades to sell a lot more Energy and buy a little more Iron and Rares, you'll be in need of cash. At this point, a few countries will start running low on Supplies, and you can sell them some to afford more of the other resources.
You can prioritize a few countries, like the US, to boost relations and provide a tiny amount of diplomatic "drift" in your direction. Others, such as Italy and Hungary, you can try to see that they have a good supply of Energy to get their economies off to a solid start, to make stronger allies out of them when they eventually sign up for the duration. That beats having their AI buy tons of supplies, when their basic resource needs aren't met to build their own supplies. Sell the supplies to the USSR, US, or even the UK if possible.
About 7-10 days later, when you've got more Points and your fresh Diplomats have arrived in those countries, go back and start seeing which of those countries have excess Iron or Rare Materials, and start buying. The initial Relations boost provided by your sales of Energy will make it a LOT easier to get them to accept the deals.
After a few weeks, when you've made a few rounds of trades to sell a lot more Energy and buy a little more Iron and Rares, you'll be in need of cash. At this point, a few countries will start running low on Supplies, and you can sell them some to afford more of the other resources.
You can prioritize a few countries, like the US, to boost relations and provide a tiny amount of diplomatic "drift" in your direction. Others, such as Italy and Hungary, you can try to see that they have a good supply of Energy to get their economies off to a solid start, to make stronger allies out of them when they eventually sign up for the duration. That beats having their AI buy tons of supplies, when their basic resource needs aren't met to build their own supplies. Sell the supplies to the USSR, US, or even the UK if possible.
No, that's not true. They will only buy supplies if they have excess money and not enough supplies to supply all their troops. Buying supplies makes sense when you have excess money as you can use the IC you save to build more troops.
As Germany, 1936.
Sell energy to Yugoslavia, Nat China, Spain, Japan, Italy, Sweden, and Bulgaria on the very first day, before you even start the game. Most of these countries will accept deals for 18-50 Coal.
Now buy Metals/Rares from Sweden, USSR (or USA). If you need more money, sell Supplies to USSR/USA. Get in the green with Metal/Rares from this one primary trade partner.
Continue to sell what supplies you can afford and purchase oil from Romania, Hungary, USSR/USA.
I've never encountered a resource problem with the '36 German scenario. It's too easy to accumulate an enormous surplus IMO.
Sell energy to Yugoslavia, Nat China, Spain, Japan, Italy, Sweden, and Bulgaria on the very first day, before you even start the game. Most of these countries will accept deals for 18-50 Coal.
Now buy Metals/Rares from Sweden, USSR (or USA). If you need more money, sell Supplies to USSR/USA. Get in the green with Metal/Rares from this one primary trade partner.
Continue to sell what supplies you can afford and purchase oil from Romania, Hungary, USSR/USA.
I've never encountered a resource problem with the '36 German scenario. It's too easy to accumulate an enormous surplus IMO.
This doesn't sound right either. Loading GER in the '43 start I convert 41.6 energy to oil per day, which gives me 20.8 oil per day, which gives me 29,12 fuel per day. That's enough to run, what, 6 Panzer divisions?
Assuming I was getting that much fuel per day from day 1 and I used 0 fuel for the first 4 years I would have 42515.2. I use ~700/day in this startup so only running on converting fuel I would lose 670/day, so I would run out in 64 days. Using only converted energy for fuel doesn't seem workable at all.
Excess money yes. Not enough supplies, no. The SU will buy supplies if they have the money and it doesn't matter if they have an excess or not. Also, the supply network as you know goes green/red almost daily, especially if the amount produced is close to the projected amount needed.
But on Januar 2, 1936 the SU has tons of excess money. So sell 25 supplies on this date. The reason is as the countries become friendlier the prices drop so the best prices are before any other trades have happened.
What is forgotten is that you capture tons of oil and fuel from all those countries you overrun in 1939/1940.
Much of that fuel is only being dispersed into the system, it's not all being consumed.
Load the same scenario and you'll see that you're running out of supplies in less than a week - but it doesn't happen.
With Germany's historical conquests, oil prod/energy conversion, I buy maybe ~4 oil per day at most. I've never had a fuel crisis.
Have you ever had a fuel crisis as Germany in this game?
They really don't:
Here SOV has excess supplies and money and will refuse to buy even 1 unit of supplies (or any other amount).
You didn't mention that, but you're capped at 99999 fuel/oil anyway. Even if you max out both that's 358 days at -670/day.
