Questions re: transfers to Russia and combat

[EdinHouston]

A few questions:

1) How can the TE transfer food and resources to Russia?

A) Sea supply via the Black Sea: Is knocking out Turkey enough, or do the allies need to occupy Constantinople? How much is the supply capacity for this supply by sea?

B) Land link across Europe: if the allies are able to link up with the Russians across Europe (say, through AH into Italy), can this enable transfer of resources? if so, how much can be transferred?

C) Land link through Mesopotamia/the Caucasus/Armenia: does this enable transfer of resources to Russia? If so, how much? (I was assuming that if this allowed transfer, it couldnt be very much due to the terrible transportation infrastructure through this region, but I have learned the hard way its not wise to make assumptions like that in this game...)

2) I have seen some very weird combat results lately.

A) In two cases the attacker inflicted overwhelming casualties on the defender in attacks on cities, but the attack 'failed' and the attackers did not advance into the city.

B) And just this last turn I saw an attack where the attacker suffered more significantly more casualties and exhaustion than the defender in rough hex, but the attack 'succeeded' and the defending troops retreated and the attackers advanced (at least some of them). Perhaps this is because some of the battle casualties shown in the results were due to artillery attacks before the combat?

(edit, 3rd question added)

3) I know that France loses all production (resources and food) if Paris is lost, and Austria loses all production if Vienna is lost. I assume the same holds true for Germany/Berlin, Italy/Rome and Russia/St Petersburg?

Any thoughts appreciated!

[FrankHunter]

Working backwards, I can answer #3, yes, the same holds true for the other countries.

On 2A, that can happen, especially in the case if the city has a "fort" strength as it nullifies the retreat.

2B is more rare but again it can occur due to readiness. In your case for example its possible a major defending unit lost its readiness and was thus forced to retreat on its own. The remaining defenders may no longer have had the same strength comparison and thus a forced retreat for the other defenders. Once readiness hits zero it doesn't matter what the casualties were or the current odds, that unit has to retreat.

For 1.25 I am overhauling the transfer system and its still in a state of change. I will have to come back soon with a definitive answer.