Supply and Control Questions

[kglorberau]

Howdy all,

I have a few questions regarding control of regions and supply (land and naval).

I am currently playing an 1862 grand campaign as the USA. As I push forward I am having several units run out of supply and then "melt away" due to no supplies (understandable, but very frustrating!!). I figured out that I need to build "depots" every 3-5 regions to "push" supplies forward (correct??) and it seems to be working ok. If I understand it I need to control at least 25% of area to allow supplies forward.

Do I need to garrison each province to keep them from going back to CSA? Several times I have noticed this happen, so I have a few units (militia, or cavalry) go back in to them to bring them back Do I have to wait until they are 100% controlled by USA? I see some of the loyalties are split (some higher for CSA, some for USA) I take it the higher loyalty for my side is better.....does it go up or down as I mofe units out of area?? How do I prevent this? Or do I just worry about the important towns/cities and depots??

I noticed that as I push down the Mississippi river, that if I dont control both sides of the river, especially at a fort or city, my supplies are not "pushed" forward. Do I have to garrison both sides of the river to assure supplies going forward??

I am preparing to reinforce my footholds near Savannah and Florida but notice my base forts / harbors are always low on supplies.....How do I supply them better, or is this something done automatically by the computer?? I do not want my units there to waste away and would like to make a bigger force to start carving up the underbelly of the Rebs...

Really enjoying the game but still have lots to learn. Especially on what units to build, as I am always running out of manpower each turn...Usually have lots of money or war materials, but even as the USA manpower is a beast....I cant imagine the difficulties there will be as the CSA....

Thanks for any help.

Kglorberau

[Le Ricain]

Howdy all,

I have a few questions regarding control of regions and supply (land and naval).

I am currently playing an 1862 grand campaign as the USA. As I push forward I am having several units run out of supply and then "melt away" due to no supplies (understandable, but very frustrating!!). I figured out that I need to build "depots" every 3-5 regions to "push" supplies forward (correct??) and it seems to be working ok. If I understand it I need to control at least 25% of area to allow supplies forward.

Your understanding of the game's supplies is correct.

Do I need to garrison each province to keep them from going back to CSA? Several times I have noticed this happen, so I have a few units (militia, or cavalry) go back in to them to bring them back Do I have to wait until they are 100% controlled by USA? I see some of the loyalties are split (some higher for CSA, some for USA) I take it the higher loyalty for my side is better.....does it go up or down as I mofe units out of area?? How do I prevent this? Or do I just worry about the important towns/cities and depots??

Yes, you need to garrison each province that you want to keep from going back to the CSA. You should garrison cities (as they can spawn CSA militia when they go back to CSA control) and a line of provinces (hopefully containing RR) leading from your stacks back to the Northern states. Please note that you will need a depot every 3-5 provinces. The remaining Southern provinces behind your front lines are just empty ground and need not worry too much about it.

I noticed that as I push down the Mississippi river, that if I dont control both sides of the river, especially at a fort or city, my supplies are not "pushed" forward. Do I have to garrison both sides of the river to assure supplies going forward??

Controlling both banks of a river is not necessary in order to use it to transport supplies. The key to controlling rivers is emplaced artillery. Forts containing artillery are especially effective in closing down a river to supplies.

I am preparing to reinforce my footholds near Savannah and Florida but notice my base forts / harbors are always low on supplies.....How do I supply them better, or is this something done automatically by the computer?? I do not want my units there to waste away and would like to make a bigger force to start carving up the underbelly of the Rebs...

Thanks for any help.

Kglorberau

Building depots in your footholds will vastly improve their ability to attract supplies. Also, send additional transport units to the sea control box. The units here are the ocean transport system for the Union. The Economic section can be used to improve your railroad and riverine capabilities, but the only way to to improve your ocean capability is to assign transports.

[arsan]

Just a little addition: loyalty is very important in this MC issue.

As the north, you will have no problem on maintaining MC on a region loyal to you (unless some CSA units step on it) but on the southe0nr regions loyal to CSA, your MC will be eroded pretty fast if you don't keep some garrison there.

More than 25% is enough to let supplies pass and also to be able to use rail movement on the region.
Regards

[Banks6060]

I'm not totally positive about how this works, but I think what you're referring to when you mention garrisons in regions along your supply line...regions without cities that is...could much more cost effectively be dealt with if you change the "Loyalty Setting for that state".

example...(based on how I understand it)

You've managed to march all the way to Atlanta. Instead of spending resources dropping garrisons in every region on the way down...just switch the loyalty setting to "Martial Law" and loyalty will remain within a manageable range that will keep your supply line open.

I could be wrong though.

[squarian]

Instead of spending resources dropping garrisons in every region on the way down...just switch the loyalty setting to "Martial Law" and loyalty will remain within a manageable range that will keep your supply line open.

I could be wrong though.

Ah! So that's what that screen is for!

[kglorberau]

Im a little confused on that part tho....I thought I read in one of the wiki help threads that if you put the region on Martial Law or Habeaus Corpus you don't get the VP's for that turn that it is in place. In my current game I am down the Mississippi and have Memphis, going for Corinth and Little Rock. I have quite a few cities / towns under my belt, but the CSA is way ahead in VP's, even tho I have the upper hand in NM Pts....

So shouldnt I leave the loyalty stick as normal so I get VP's?

Kglorberau

[Major Tom]

Im a little confused on that part tho....I thought I read in one of the wiki help threads that if you put the region on Martial Law or Habeaus Corpus you don't get the VP's for that turn that it is in place. In my current game I am down the Mississippi and have Memphis, going for Corinth and Little Rock. I have quite a few cities / towns under my belt, but the CSA is way ahead in VP's, even tho I have the upper hand in NM Pts....

So shouldnt I leave the loyalty stick as normal so I get VP's?

Kglorberau

Exactly why I never use the loyalty settings. But I guess Banks has a point -- I had not considered the implications of using these to keep supply lines open, but now that Banks explains it, it seems obvious (good ideas always seem obvious after you hear them!).

I guess it's a trade-off, and you have to decide whether it's worth losing a few VP per turn to gain the loyalty in those supply line regions. And even if you're not gaining the VP from a city, at least the enemy isn't either, so it's not a dead loss.

[Banks6060]

Exactly why I never use the loyalty settings. But I guess Banks has a point -- I had not considered the implications of using these to keep supply lines open, but now that Banks explains it, it seems obvious (good ideas always seem obvious after you hear them!).

I guess it's a trade-off, and you have to decide whether it's worth losing a few VP per turn to gain the loyalty in those supply line regions. And even if you're not gaining the VP from a city, at least the enemy isn't either, so it's not a dead loss.

Yeah, when you think logistically (from a supply standpoint). The VP's aren't going to help you out until the END of the game anyway...so you might as well keep your supply lines open while you still can.

The only time where I might consider dropping the loyalty setting would be if you're getting close to the end of the game...or the FI score is getting too high..

[kglorberau]

Ok thanks Banks..

I was going to lower the loyalty to normal, but will put them back on martial law..../ habeous corups..

Kglorberau

[Heldenkaiser]

In my current game I had constant troubles keeping my supply lines through TN open. I suspended habeas corpus for that state to raise the loyalty and, unless I'm seeing things, the instances of cities reverting to Reb control have been much reduced over the last few turns, whereas earlier they were frequent.