Supply from South Africa

[Bill Durrant]

I'm in two PBEMs in late 43 and early 44. My advice at the start is max supply from CT to Calcutta so you can feed Ledo, Chittagong and Akyab. You will run CT dry to start with but very soon the AKs won't be able to keep up and then Aden opens and your supply will be on overload. Oz to start with but Sydney pretty much looks after itself when you get to mid 43 depending on how aggressive the Japs have been. I think the trick is getting the right AKs to CT and Aden very early. I put long range AKs to CT to ship supplies to Calcutta then Chittagong (and eventually Rangoon) and short range AKs to Aden to supply Karachi (and with AC) at the start. Come late 43 you will be awash with transports so don't worry. This is even having converted what I can to APs.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Cpt Sherwood

Bullwinkle58, why do you think setting a CS convoy at full speed removes the usefulness of the CS convoy? I use them all the time for travel between two off map bases with no problem. They travel at full speed with no problem and reload fine.

Because if you have to babysit the speed they aren't automatic. Not that they don't work, but that you don't gain anything by the CS.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I personally don't use max speed for any ship moving between off-map boxes.  I don't think the ability to do this was intended by the designers.  That's my own personal preference.

I called Kreskin and he said they were thinking about ice cream at the time. [:)]

[Cpt Sherwood]

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Cpt Sherwood

Bullwinkle58, why do you think setting a CS convoy at full speed removes the usefulness of the CS convoy? I use them all the time for travel between two off map bases with no problem. They travel at full speed with no problem and reload fine.

Because if you have to babysit the speed they aren't automatic. Not that they don't work, but that you don't gain anything by the CS.

I do not understand, I do not have to 'baby' them. I just set them up and let them run. I have some that are on their third voyage, all completely normal CS TFs. Once you create the TF, make it a CS, reset the speed to full, there is nothing else needed. They will stay at full speed until you change it.

[jmalter]

Cape Town is an important supply hub, but it's easy to run it dry of fuel in early '42.

IME this happens when on-map convoys return to CT set for 'full refuel', a lot of these will be 'fleeing refugees' from the DEI.

far better to set these guys to 'do not refuel' & 'auto-disband' on their arrival in CT. those w/ any fuel > 0 can be sent on to EC USA, thanks to auto-refuel of off-map movement, they'll arrive safely, where they can fully refuel
& load fuel for CT. convoys sent from CT to Perth should be set to 'minimum fuel', but don't let them leave CT if their fuel is 'red'.

Allies have mega fuel available at EC USA, but it'll take lotsa ships & lotsa time to build up a comfortable stock at CT.

Oz fuel distribution from Perth is kinda slow, and might tend to pool into Darwin, when you'd rather have it at Sydney & Townsville. Kiwis will also need some fuel to keep their HI running.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Cpt Sherwood

ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58

ORIGINAL: Cpt Sherwood

Bullwinkle58, why do you think setting a CS convoy at full speed removes the usefulness of the CS convoy? I use them all the time for travel between two off map bases with no problem. They travel at full speed with no problem and reload fine.

Because if you have to babysit the speed they aren't automatic. Not that they don't work, but that you don't gain anything by the CS.

I do not understand, I do not have to 'baby' them. I just set them up and let them run. I have some that are on their third voyage, all completely normal CS TFs. Once you create the TF, make it a CS, reset the speed to full, there is nothing else needed. They will stay at full speed until you change it.

Ack, you're right. I had thought they reset to Cruise when they docked to unload, but they don't. Mea culpa.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: jmalter

Cape Town is an important supply hub, but it's easy to run it dry of fuel in early '42.

IME this happens when on-map convoys return to CT set for 'full refuel', a lot of these will be 'fleeing refugees' from the DEI.

far better to set these guys to 'do not refuel' & 'auto-disband' on their arrival in CT. those w/ any fuel > 0 can be sent on to EC USA, thanks to auto-refuel of off-map movement, they'll arrive safely, where they can fully refuel
& load fuel for CT. convoys sent from CT to Perth should be set to 'minimum fuel', but don't let them leave CT if their fuel is 'red'.

Allies have mega fuel available at EC USA, but it'll take lotsa ships & lotsa time to build up a comfortable stock at CT.

Oz fuel distribution from Perth is kinda slow, and might tend to pool into Darwin, when you'd rather have it at Sydney & Townsville. Kiwis will also need some fuel to keep their HI running.

This is excellent advice.

Moose Disclosure: I set up a 30-ship TF to go from CT to EC with December refugees in the early days of the war. Some of the ships down below the screen edge were, you guessed it, red 0 on fuel. Did not notice. It is now mid-April and they're still 15 days from New York, some ships with green 14,000 on endurance, some with that red 0. Be careful, kids.

I think the code is still set that fuel will flow, at least in part, to ports based on the number of ships docked or disbanded. My Darwin is flat; I have to send fuel by sea. There is a lot of fuel in-country, it just doesn't go to Darwin.

[oldman45]

One of the things I do in OZ is move the ships around to ports I want fuel in. So Melbourne and Sydney are full of ships with only a few ASW ships spread around as needed. It seems to force the fuel to those two ports.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Early in the game I set up fuel and supply convoys from East Coast (and sometimes Balboa/Cristobal) to Capetown.  (I find its necessary to supplement what comes in organically - especially the fuel.)  I run my supply out of Capetown to both Oz and India.  Somebody above said India can operate on its own.  I disagree.  In a game in which the Japanese move on India, supply can be the deciding factor.  Later in the game, when the Allies go on the offensive in the theater, I want it flush with supply.

Canoe says it all. You need a good half dozen large xAK convoys running from the US to Cape Town for the first year and a half of the war. Just set them up and forget. Once the Suez Canal is open, it is not an issue. You have plenty of fuel in the near east but you will need fuel in Cape Town to shuttle to Perth and Port Headland or Darwin if you can get it there. Set these convoys up as soon as you can.