Supply surprise.

[Chris21wen]

Didn't know this and found it when testing TOE Upgrades. It's this little sentence in section 15.1 re Supply Operations and the word 'abundance'.

'... It then looks for units and bases that need supplies, and which are near bases ((or ground units in the same hex) that have an abundance
of supplies....'

Basically the game will return supply held by units to a base. I've not experimented with this but this is what I noticed.

On turn 1 Horn Is had 30 supply, on turn 2 it had 844. It's an Is and I did not fly or ship any to it! Turns out that supply held by the 4 units based there return their excess to the base. E.g. On turn one the Horn Is Det had 300 sup, on turn 2 it only had 66, 2x in sup requirements.

[Yaab]

Several units in the beginning of GC have ample supply, for example some corps in non-base hexes in China. When you check those units after 15 turns you will notice that some of this ample supply is gone. I have always thought this supply was first used in the units for their day-to-day needs. Giving the surplus supply to bases can be good, but it sometimes can be bad. For example, if an LCU hax x4 supplies required, it can create its own replacements out of this supply. This can be handy in some places (Burma) for long-range patrol units.

[BBfanboy]

Supply held is based on needs and the initial amounts assume combat has happened or is about to happen. There is probably less spoilage if a base holds the excess supply - I assume the LCU holding more than their requirement +10 would result in spoilage for lack of buildings and refrigeration.

[RangerJoe]

If a unit has excess supplies and then enters a base, the excess supplies will be added to the base supply level while also being removed from the unit. No hoarding is allowed at the base.

[PaxMondo]

Not sure why this is a surprise, always been in the game .... happens frequently ... Example: whenever you win a battle you often expended less supply than was planned for and that supply is returned to the overall pool.

[Yaab]

Does it work the same as supply trace? If your closest base has <49 supply trace starting from an LCU, then the LCU should give its surplus supplies to the base only one day in a week. Ans if you cannot trace back a supply line to the base (because your enemy blocked hexes around you), surplus supplies stay with the LCU?

[Chris21wen]

Not sure why this is a surprise, always been in the game .... happens frequently ... Example: whenever you win a battle you often expended less supply than was planned for and that supply is returned to the overall pool.

For whatever reason it was to me.

[Chris21wen]

Does it work the same as supply trace? If your closest base has <49 supply trace starting from an LCU, then the LCU should give its surplus supplies to the base only one day in a week. Ans if you cannot trace back a supply line to the base (because your enemy blocked hexes around you), surplus supplies stay with the LCU?

I'm not the one to answer this. Better ask those it wasn't a surprise too.

[RangerJoe]

Does it work the same as supply trace? If your closest base has <49 supply trace starting from an LCU, then the LCU should give its surplus supplies to the base only one day in a week. Ans if you cannot trace back a supply line to the base (because your enemy blocked hexes around you), surplus supplies stay with the LCU?

I'm not the one to answer this. Better ask those it wasn't a surprise too.

The LCU only gives up excess supplies to the base where it is located.

edited for:
The base only has 100 supply trace in its own hex.

[PaxMondo]

Not sure why this is a surprise, always been in the game .... happens frequently ... Example: whenever you win a battle you often expended less supply than was planned for and that supply is returned to the overall pool.

For whatever reason it was to me.

Let me clarify and you should see it pretty quick.

As you know, a units supply requirement in combat is much different than what it is not in combat. So, when a unit wins a battle and in particular when the enemy are destroyed/surrender, the supply requirements of the units in hex change (drop) considerably. If they did not use all of the supply allocated to them in the previous turn, and that amount exceeds the requirements of the units in the current, non-combat, turn, then the excess supply is now returned to the supply pool. Exactly where it goes depends upon the supply AI result, but that's where it goes.

Ex: At the start of the GC when I am attacking Hong Kong with +9 ID's, supply requirement in hex is upwards of 40K supply. Once HK is conquered supply requirements drop to about 8K which means HK would like to settle at about 24K supply. Whether it can drop that far or not depends on the rest of the bases inside my supply area at the time (Canton, Amoy, etc.).

Hopefully this helps. And I am sure you have seen this, maybe just didn't recognize it. IJ players tend to be far more cognizant of this than allied players as they have to watch supply like a hawk; allied players are just swimming in the stuff.

[Chris21wen]

I understand the fundermentals of ground supply, the need for in combat, moving supply about between bases etc etc but I never realised a ground unit would return supply to a base. It's not wrong and I'm not complaining I'm just stating a gaming fact of life that completely missed me. This is just one of those things we learn about the game every day.

[Yaab]

Wait, Tracker counts supplies in bases to give an estimate of supply situation in a given economy. In China, several LCUs start the GC with x2 supply or more. Thus, at least in the beginning, your supply count is Tracker is indirectly boosted by the LCUs giving their surplus supplies to Chinese bases. You get a rosier picture of the China's economy this way.

[PaxMondo]

I understand the fundermentals of ground supply, the need for in combat, moving supply about between bases etc etc but I never realised a ground unit would return supply to a base. It's not wrong and I'm not complaining I'm just stating a gaming fact of life that completely missed me. This is just one of those things we learn about the game every day.

Yup. Happens to me too. I'll see a line in the op's report, or in screen during turn resolution that I've never seen in all the 1000's of turns that I have run. I'll look at that and think ... somewhere GG or someone actually took time to think about that aspect and at least acknowledged it. I'll then add it to my list of things to look for to see if it is just commentary or if there is actually something behind it .... it is surprising how many times I am able to prove to myself that there is something behind it ... a random roll maybe, but still something ....