Supply problems

[GustFire]

Hi Blues and Grays,

I've played a number of scenarios, and I have a serious recurring problem:

When I want to add to my railroad and water transp stock [or produce anything, for that matter], my available supply gets really low, and I have to wait several turns for it to build back up.

I do create more plants, but that takes supply too.
This cripples my plans and operations, so how do I take care of this?
How do I make sure that I always have enuf supply for all my needs?

Thanks, GustFire

[Nial]

Resource management is one of the, if not the most important aspects of war. What you describe is WAD. (working as designed) It takes some time to find the proper balance between producing what you want, and what you really need to win.

Good luck and keep trying.

Nial

[Moriety]

Hi Gustfire,

One of the buttons above the overview map shows supply. This is very useful for quickly showing where your supply depots and harbours are. As you advance try to build depots to extend your supply lines- one depot every third square on logical paths- especially the railways.

Also put a supply unit with each army/corps stack as they will help if you are more than one square away from a depot, navigable river or coastal province.

Ensure that you purchase enough railway and river points via the economic screen each turn to get the full 3 supply pushes shown at the top of the screen, and finally don't forget that the transport ships you place in the Union shipping box not only bring in money and war supplies each turn but also act automatically to deliver blue-water based supply.

Any enemy forts on a river bank automatically prevent supply beyond that point, although I believe placing a string of river transports along the river will negate this problem- Rafiki made a mention of this recently so he's the one to ask on that- as a newish player I'm interested as well!

Toby

[arsan]

Probably you already know it, but just in case...
Bear in mind that when you order factories on a state, its cost will be charged on you TURN AFTER TURN until you stop the investment on that state.
Its not a one turn only investment, so it can be a huge burden on you resources y you forget to remove them when you don't want/can afford to invest more.
Cheers!

[Nial]

I would also suggest starting with the Union if you are not allready doing so. They have much larger resources. Timing is also important. Several of the options are tied to your NM (national moral) and VP (victory points) totals. So you will recieve more conscription (men) and money the higher these totals. Do not over buy. Buy the units you need for a given situation only. Choose them from the closest state to where you need them. ( less rail or water trans. resources used to get them where they are needed) It is easy to blow through several hundred thousand dollars or conscription points in a turn or two and not have enough for four or five turns down the road. Be carefull about buying the huge Confederate units. They are extremely expensive. It is sometimes better to have two med. units in two different places vs. one huge unit to cover only one need. Though war supply may seem to be the rarest of the three resources? It is not. Husband your conscription. It is the most important of the three.

Nial

[GustFire]

Okay, much thanks to Nial, Toby and Arsan.

Depots, supply units, clear supply lines, transp ...... I *really* need to pay more attention to these. oke:

I am getting it that this game is more complex than I thought.
You have to juggle so many things in the game.....


Thanks again

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Yeah I love juggling all of those different needs. Makes one get a sense of what waging the war must have really been like.

My problem is the opposite of yours actually. I'm good at getting my economy up to a point where I'm producing tonnes of ammo, supplies, and cash, I just can't get them out to the troops in the field fast enough.

Recently I've discovered the wonderful world of the wagon train. Build plenty of these and have them ferry supplies to your troops that are 3 or 4 territories away from the nearest depot or supply source.

[Clovis]

Okay, much thanks to Nial, Toby and Arsan.

Depots, supply units, clear supply lines, transp ...... I *really* need to pay more attention to these. oke:

I am getting it that this game is more complex than I thought.
You have to juggle so many things in the game.....


Thanks again

It's a really complex game, under a deceiptive simple appearence. That's why it remains IMHO the best Civil War wargame ever produced (on computer or as boardgame).

[Nial]

It's a really complex game, under a deceiptive simple appearence. That's why it remains IMHO the best Civil War wargame ever produced (on computer or as boardgame).

agreed

[GustFire]

>Recently I've discovered the wonderful world of the wagon train. Build plenty of these and have them ferry supplies to your troops that are 3 or 4 territories away from the nearest depot or supply source.<

What a great idea, thanks for that Moff.

Do you mean the Supply Wagons that are available in the Reinforcements section?
Do you keep the new ones with the troops, or do you simply build new depots out of them along the way?
I guess I'm wanting to get a visual of exactly what you mean by "train".

[Moff Jerjerrod]

You're welcome, this tactic has been saving my men from starvation!

Do you mean the Supply Wagons that are available in the Reinforcements section?

Yes, if you're playing the grand campaign supply wagons become available after a certain point in the Reinforcements section.

Do you keep the new ones with the troops, or do you simply build new depots out of them along the way?

Half and half actually. I tried to create some depots in areas that have supply holes in them and I keep a reserve force of individual supply wagons stationed at sources of supply ready to go out to the troops in the remote areas.

I guess I'm wanting to get a visual of exactly what you mean by "train".

What I mean by "train" is what they call the individual supply wagons you can recruit in the Reinforcements section. They call them wagon trains.

[GustFire]

Okay, thanks for that.

I've played Union, now switching to Confederate to see what it's like on the other side.
That's where I run into a level of supply problems that I did not experience with the Union side.

I'll try out this tactic, thanks again.