How to design logistics efficiently?

[Searry]

Since this is the most arcane system I have encountered I have no clue about how to do it right.

[solops]

No mention of this in the manual, but it requires runes and, sometimes, a small animal sacrifice.

Seriously, just try to build up truck and rail assents. Keep things connected by roads (and later on rail), but not too many splits. Over time you'll figure it out. Lots of threads on this. And the manual has lots of data in it, though some is spread out.

[Xxzard]

The best guide for logistics I am aware of is zgrssd's.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 3#p4649033

Steam community hub version:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2308877114

For what it's worth, I have about 1000 hours in SE, and I don't understand logistics perfectly. The most helpful advice I have (also given in the guide) is to turn on the supply overlay (the '6' key by default) and the logistics points current or used overlay in the right hand side menu, 2nd tab. These will at least tell you where the problem is, and you'll learn over time how to correct these problems.

[Soar_Slitherine]

DTurtle has an in-depth illustrated logistics tutorial which has the advantage of pointing out what various UI elements mean.

[Thrake]

To get started, I would suggest the following:
- Always have the highest asset levels in your SHQ city. 1 or 2 level higher than anywhere else at least.
- Every turn check the bottleneck view. It will allow to anticipate or react immediately to issues that you may otherwise ignore until it's really bad. If you see yellow you can start to worry and upgrade logistics, red is bad, black means you have a shortage.
- Start with truck stations, level 2 or 3 in every city will be good enough in the early game.
- Rails is best but due to limitations and rail cost, it's mostly for logistics between cities. Mandatory for mining hubs or any city with demetalization. Rail points only really flow between two rail assets.
- Assets can project logistics up to 10 hex on dirt road, 15 hex on sealed road, 25 hex on railways. Truck points range can be doubled with level 3 logistic stations.
- Anticipate logistics needs: if building up a bunch of mines in a city then get rail logistics there first otherwise you will have a logistical blackout everywhere for several turns.

There's more complexity than this but for starters this should allow beginners to enjoy the game without worrying too much about logistics.

[KingHalford]

I'd add that you need to carefully plan for wars too. A big war on a wide front with a lot of troops can choke even a good logistical network quite fast and so then, you might want to consider railroads to the front, ended with a railhead.

[BlueTemplar]

Railroad to the front ASAP is typically a good idea, even without a railhead yet-
(depending on how scared you are to get them captured and used by the enemy, those unlimited AI logipoints kind of throw a wrench in this logic here, maybe they should immediately destroy them instead ??)
-since you're usually going to war to get some city or at least a bunch of valuable assets, and even 10% of rail points tends to be quite significant !

[Galahad78]

Sorry to bump this up, but I'm just trying to wrap my head around logistics and playing with my first rail systems. So far I've got two major cities linked with a railway, with train stations in each city, but I do not understand what the use for railheads is Is it an end-point for the railway when no station is needed?

[Soar_Slitherine]

Yes, they're a cheaper option for when you need to enable existing rail logistics points to get there, not more rail logistics production. They also don't trigger refocusing, so they can function as backup end points on rail routes in case the final end point gets cut off from logistics for whatever reason.

[Uemon]

Roads and trucks are the cheapest way to move units and goods between 2 points.
Once your capital A is connected to the city B and a fronline that extends from city B farther away you will start experiencing bottleneck problems.
What happens is your capital city is attempting to cram too much traffict through a single road.
You can upgrade that road to a sealed road but the utility of that is limited. They will get bottlenecked very quickly as well.
So then you have 2 additional options:
1.) You can separate road connection between your cities from a road connection that goes from your capital to your frontline.
2.) You can build railroads.
Option 1 is obviously a quick fix solution for when you need reinforcements immediately but you cant get them there. But it costs a lot of industrial points.
Option 2 is the better long term solution, but it requires multiple turns for stations to be built and rail needs to be laid down as well. But once railway network is established, your main logistics lines should no longer see any bottlenecks.

In essence all cities should be connected via roads (and railroalds).
Keep basic logistics system short and straightforward.
Do not build needless branches that branch off and lead nowhere. If youre past a certain segment of the map and have no more troops there, delete extra branches.
Your frontline should be followed by a single line of railway and a branching networks of roads that follow your thrusts.
If you fail to support your units with proper logistic network behind them, the AI will outmanouver you and pwn you.

[Soar_Slitherine]

Roads and trucks are the cheapest way to move units and goods between 2 points.
Once your capital A is connected to the city B and a fronline that extends from city B farther away you will start experiencing bottleneck problems.
What happens is your capital city is attempting to cram too much traffict through a single road.
You can upgrade that road to a sealed road but the utility of that is limited. They will get bottlenecked very quickly as well.

To be clear, there are no limits to the amount of logistics a single road can support, it is purely a matter of logistics point generation. Sealed roads only increase the distance truck logistics may travel.

1.) You can separate road connection between your cities from a road connection that goes from your capital to your frontline. ...
Option 1 is obviously a quick fix solution for when you need reinforcements immediately but you cant get them there. But it costs a lot of industrial points.

A far less wasteful solution is to figure out what is bottlenecking your logistics and turn whatever it is off until you've improved your logistics output. For this, I use the Items tab of the bottom bar to check if zones are stocking, delivering or receiving excessive amounts of food, metal, or other items that have a logistics weight.

Usually it's food or metal being delivered from zones to the SHQ, in which case you can call the governor responsible and choose the option for stockpile settings (or whatever the button says exactly) to stop the shipments. Spare logistics can then be used to manually transfer any required items with the SHQ Transfer button in the right-side bar. It may also be caused by having ordered overly ambitious construction programs in zones, in which case you can select the assets and cancel construction or lower the construction rate in the bottom bar.

Option 2 is the better long term solution, but it requires multiple turns for stations to be built and rail needs to be laid down as well. But once railway network is established, your main logistics lines should no longer see any bottlenecks.

Again, this is purely a matter of the raw amount of logistics output compared to demand (and the output being in the right places so it doesn't get cut off by logistics falloff - higher distance before falloff is an advantage of railroads).

Do not build needless branches that branch off and lead nowhere. If youre past a certain segment of the map and have no more troops there, delete extra branches.

You can use traffic signs to block off unnecessary branches, which, unlike demolishing roads, does not cost IP.

[Uemon]

To be clear, there are no limits to the amount of logistics a single road can support, it is purely a matter of logistics point generation. Sealed roads only increase the distance truck logistics may travel.

Are you sure about that? Cause ive seen cases where connection between 2 points become a bottleneck. I then create a road that does alternative connection between A and B by going sideways, and the bottleneck then disappears.

[Soar_Slitherine]

Yes. Road capacity is not a mechanic.