UK Oil Shortage

[canuckgamer]

Starting my second PBEM game with a friend. I am the Allies again, and in the first one the UK was always short of oil. In part it was because I was strategically bombing early which of courses uses oil. I know that in the latest update the sub hunter rule was added but that means UK fleets have to be at sea so I'm wondering if the expenditure of oil for this is worth it early in the war?

In the last game I also attempted to create a trade as soon as the USA entered the war where they exported oil to the UK. I kept getting the message that the UK did not have enough merchants but USA merchants would be used. However I never could tell whether the UK was getting this oil as there was no destination port ever shown, only an X.

It seems like I better start building merchants and escorts with the UK right at the start.

[ago1000]

The destination port is Liverpool and the starting location is New York. There are a couple of ways to see if your resources will be delivered. Checking the available MMs used when the trade is created in the convoys and Escorts screen and/or placing your mouse over the convoy route near the destination hex to see if there is an increase the resources received on the subsequent turn. (Note: make note of the number of resources entering Liverpool on the previous turn and also realize subs may reduce the value expected based off their attack)

In the example below, UK had enough MMs so it will use theirs. Let's assume your example above and say 207 was 0, then US would have 64MMs available for the delivery and the 40 would appear below the 64.



The second method (placing my mouse cursor by Liverpool on the convoy lane) I noted 167 resources entering Liverpool, on the subsequent turn I would expect 207 - (losses from sub attack).

This is how I tell if resources will be delivered.

[Harrybanana]

After Italy is in the War, the UK can invade Iraq and Persia and gain access to all their oil. But you will want to make sure that you have enough MS to carry both your resources and the oil. If your opponent is running an aggressive U-Boat War this means you will have to build lots of MS.

[canuckgamer]

The headings are confusing because it says "From: UK" and "To: USA" so you would think that it should show all the exports from the UK to the USA. In my just completed game, I clicked on the USA at the top so that it was "From: USA" and on the left "To: UK". Maybe that's why my trade never happened.

However in your example I see that there is a green arrow indicating import. I also see that the USA is shipping 20 oil and 20 steel to the UK so it looks like merchants are required on a one to one ratio to resources. Where does Liverpool show up? In my previous game a green arrow pointing down never appeared, only an X even after USA merchants were used to cover the UK shortfall. I guess the green plus sign indicates the total number of resources being shipped to the UK.

What do the numbers 94 and 45 in green for the USA and Russia mean under the To: USA column?

Under convoy routes it shows that the UK has a total of 44 escorts remaining after the 10 assigned to the North Atlantic route, correct? What does the green 10 in brackets mean?

Thanks.

[ago1000]

Took me a while to figure out, but each section of the dialog has it's own function as mentioned in the pic below.
1) Liverpool:
If you place your cursor over other routes entering the UK, you will see at the bottom left of your screen 0 resources flowing, but near Liverpool you will see all resources entering and leaving from there. Once Liverpool falls, the others will kick in.

2)94 and 45:
represent the total number of MMs those countries have.

3)Under convoy routes it shows that the UK has a total of 44 escorts remaining after the 10 assigned to the North Atlantic route, correct? What does the green 10 in brackets mean?
Correct, 10(10) The first 10 represents the total number of escorts in the route for all countries, (10) 10 in brackets represents UK contribution to the total.

4) Green Arrow down
Agreements created by the scenario do not have an X
Agreements created in play will contain an X, they represent trade from Capital to Capital. So a down green arrow is not created because when you click on the down green arrow it takes you to the hex location of the resource.
Note: Iraq convoy (ie: First Oil Example in UK trade window): Conquest Trade has green arrow down
(212,21) oil resource location (click green arrow down)
Rail to Basra then
Basra(start)-->African Coast route-->South Atlantic Route-->North Atlantic route-->Liverpool (destination)



The rules I remember are:
Resources flow on a 1:1 ratio with MMs.
The country getting the resources provides the MMs.
If they cannot, then the country exporting will try to provided them.
All minors use their majors MMs.
subs sink MMs and the resources they carry.

The pic compares the view from US and UK and bottom shows route of US convoys.



+1 with Harrybanana