obQuestion about ships stuck at sea

[johnpruner]

Hi,

I'm sure the answer to this is somewhere but I can't find it. If I have a ship stuck out in the middle of the Atlantic and I try to move it but get "Illegal move, no supplies available" message - how do I get it home or out of there? There must be some way. Ships don't get stuck at sea forever in real life right? What am I missing? I just want to be able to use light ships to protect my convoys at sea.

Thx

[Joel Billings]

If you are using Standard supply rules, then you've run out of supplies and need to buy more.

If you're using Advanced Supply rules, you need to have a line of transports (or land areas with rail) that run from your supplies to an area adjacent to the area your ship is in. If you have the Auto Supply option on, then the supplies will move automatically as long as you have that transport/rail chain set up. If not using Auto Supply, you need to move the supplies manually.

[johnpruner]

Hi Joel,

Thanks for the reply. I'm using advanced supply so the 2nd part of your answer should apply to me...but it still doesn't make sense. Here is the situation:
1) Fall 1940
2) 5 supply points in eastern Canada
3) 1 transport fleet in North Atlantic 1 region (the sea area that borders eastern canada)
4) 1 light fleet, 1 French light fleet, 1 transport fleet in North Atlantic 2 region (the sea area just south of North Atlantic 1 and also 2 east of the northeast US land region)....this sea area doesn't border any land regions at all.

So - I have supplies in Canada, I have transport fleets linking to those supplies (one in the actual sea region w/ my light ships and one in the sea region just north that links to canada). Still when I select either light ship and try to move it to Canada or anywhere else I get "Illegal move, no supplies available"

Can you explain further what I am doing wrong?

Thanks

[johnpruner]

OOOOOHHHH!!!! I think I just got it! I have to actually move the supplies INTO the ocean area. I see - I never thought I had to float the supplies out but I get it now. Thanks!

[johnpruner]

Sorry for spamming my own thread - but do I need to actually have supplies floating at sea w/ my light ships at end of my turn so that they can fight when the subs attack?

[WanderingHead]

ORIGINAL: johnpruner
Sorry for spamming my own thread - but do I need to actually have supplies floating at sea w/ my light ships at end of my turn so that they can fight when the subs attack?

Yes and/or no. "Depends".

If you supply your units (any units [except subs which are a little different], including surface fleets) during your turn, then they remain "in supply" until the start of your next turn. This includes any units you move, that makes them "in supply". You can see this from the oil barrels in the icon.

In this way, they will be in supply during your opponent's turn(s) and able to defend at full capacity.

If you do not manually supply the unit or move it during your turn, then you will want to have at least 1 supply in the same zone or an adjacent zone, which your unit will consume when needed for defense.

At sea, you will generally prefer that the available supply be on an adjacent land territory or the same sea zone, rather than an adjacent sea zone, since the adjacent sea zone may leave the supply vulnerable to destruction (by sinking) before your unit needs it.

If your unit does not have supply available and is not still "in supply" from your prior turn, then it will defend at a disadvantage. This is not generally recommended.

One subtle thing to be aware of is that transports are frozen in place if they are holding cargo, or if they have moved any cargo this turn. But if they are holding supplies at the beginning of the turn (place there previously) and you consume them without moving them (e.g. by moving a fleet from the same sea zone) then that frees up the transport to move. It can be quite useful to understand how to do this, especially for maximizing the damage the Japanese can do to the USA fleets on the Pearl Harbor turn and then moving the "oiler" transports out of range of any counter attack.