ORIGINAL: ScooterV
3. UGH!!! Logistics is my hardest thing to grasp initially. I now have the mechanics down, but no guess on how much should go where. The manual says Australia typically needs only fuel, yet I am burning through supplies. I also followed some other AAR's for my initial setup I wish I hadn't, as the ships I want in certain places to set up more as CS: aren't where I want them. I'm working on that. BUT, how much fuel and supply is (again, just typically) sent to AU from Cooktown? Well, a better way to ask that would make sense to me, is what is the total number of TK and AK used exclusively in the early game?
I'm not exactly sure what you're asking above and I only have a little bit of experience, but no one else has answered and so...
(1) I figure out how many transports I'll need for Cape Town, Aden, and Abadan and send them there. CT needs a bunch of xAKs for the regular large supply convoys that appear there, Aden needs a handful of xAPs for the troops/air groups that appear, but Abadan seems to get enough TKs and xAKs appearing in that port to take care of fuel/supplies that appear there. If you seem to have too many transports in these ports just send the excess to the west coast of the US.
(2) I keep a bunch of short distance xAK, xAPs, and xAKL in Australia and elsewhere for whatever is needed. They are needed, for instance, for visits to PM and other interesting tourist destinations and to get resources from a couple of places (I'm not sure how important resources are for Australia but I gather them if only to deny them to Japan if she takes certain places).
(3) A few transports need to go up to Prince Rupert.
(3)
Most of the rest I send to SF and they arrive by ones, twos, threes and more in that port over the next month or more. When they appear I load them up (xAKs with supply and TKs with fuel) and send to Pearl and Sydney. I keep them busy as possible and only keep them in port if they need repairs.
An idle transport is fighting for Japan! Initially they visit the islands I deem important between Pearl and Australia. But after that they are sent, with little thought at all, to Sydney and Pearl. Most of the TKs are sent to Sydney with occasional stops at other important refueling points. And, of course, APs and xAPs (along with some xAKs) are used to send troops out of SF where needed. (Be aware that some APs and xAPs are too large for smaller ports).
Initially you have transports all over the place and they are hard to keep track of. But relatively soon things settle down as ships become part of large convoys and they are typically visiting only a few places.
Remember to expand the ports on the west coast of the US and go looking for units with navel support, many of which seem to be offloading fish (and offloading them very efficiently!) in Alaska and related ports, and send them to smaller ports of importance.
The biggest problem I face is not getting supplies/fuel to Sydney and elsewhere they are needed but getting the escorts needed in the right time/place. Over time you learn where you can risk not using escorts but Japanese subs turn up in unlikely places sometimes (and often don't turn up where you'd think they would). If I had my druthers...that's an Americanism, right?..., I'd scrap a BB and transform them into a dozen DDs.
