Some questions on random games

[mantrain]

I noticed I am not able to move my air units to a different city. Is this because I need to build an airbase? Presumably there was no airbase where they were built an operating from. Also, how do you get an engineer unit to build an airbase? thanks

[Twotribes]

The list of operations is along the bottom just below the map. Engineers will have a construction button that is not greyed out if they have an construction points available. When you click on it it will list your options and their costs.

Any city ( not a suburb) can house aircraft. When you click on the move button it may be hard to tell what cities are in range they get a darker tint but can be hard to see.

[Josh]

ORIGINAL: mantrain

I noticed I am not able to move my air units to a different city. Is this because I need to build an airbase? Presumably there was no airbase where they were built an operating from. Also, how do you get an engineer unit to build an airbase? thanks

Planes each have a different range, improving when they tech up, so that city might be out of range.. or it could be raining there ( rain = no flying)
Engineers gather EP's per turn, engineer points, I think it's 2 per turn or so. So an engineer unit of 40 engineers gathers 80 EP's in two turns, enough to build an airport. Besides they need raw and supply and PP's (political points) too for some improvements.
Oh and when invading a foreign shore you *definitely* want to bring some seabees with you, an invading force without a harbour to receive supplies from, is doomed as it is considered to be out of supply. Put that engineer unit on the shore, wait to two turns to gather the needed 80 EP's, then build harbour, done.

[Mook881]

hi guys just bought the game and I am loving it! But I do have a question about supply...I have read many of the great guides and responses here on the subject and feel I understand the basic principles of the situation. However, many of my troops are not getting the correct supplies despite producing plenty of supplies and being within the green zones on the supply layer screen. They are not receiving "in" enough supplies...what is causing this problem? Thanks!

[Josh]

ORIGINAL: Mook881

hi guys just bought the game and I am loving it! But I do have a question about supply...I have read many of the great guides and responses here on the subject and feel I understand the basic principles of the situation. However, many of my troops are not getting the correct supplies despite producing plenty of supplies and being within the green zones on the supply layer screen. They are not receiving "in" enough supplies...what is causing this problem? Thanks!

Probably because you didn't assign those units to a Head Quarter.
Cities and factories need to be assigned to a HQ to deliver their stuff to. (you can see that on the coloured bar on the left of that city/factory)
Units need to be assigned to a HQ to get their supply and HQ bonus. That unit will from then on have the same coloured bar on the leftside of the counter as the HQ unit.
Note that the assign button for Cities/Factories is different from the assign HQ button for an unit.

[Tac2i]

Some other possibilities: are there enemy zones of controls affecting supply distribution? Are there enemy guerrilla units nearby? Are your units depending on supply over the ocean which could be interdicted by naval and air forces? Are your HQs sufficiently staffed?

[Mook881]

Thanks guys for the replies! I do have my cities linked to HQs and HQs to supreme HQs and finally units to their nearby HQ. I have over 100% staff on each HQ. there are also no oceans on this map and no guerrillas behind my lines. Even troops that are not near enemy lines are not getting their requested supply amount. Basically most units are getting 50-70% "in"
Do HQs need to be on a road to distribute the supplies or need trains/trucks in their formation, even if the supply layer is green? Also I noticed that in the statistics screen I have "range penalties" that are reducing supplies but I am not sure what that means since all my troops are in the green layer of supply.
Thanks again for your help!

[Tac2i]

How much over 100% staff? If your HQs are severely overstaffed, I believe that can cause negative consequences as well. Are your HQs in the green zone of the HQ they are getting supply from? If your subordinate HQs are receiving insufficient supply, they won't have all the supply they need to distribute to the troops.

[Josh]

I don't think overstaffing your HQ can have supply effects, what it does do... I think... is diminish the exp growth of your staff. Say you get 100 Xp points for 100 staff, now if you have double that staff the Xp increase will be less.
Supply flows much like in real life, easy along railroads and highways (ofcourse in this game both are the same)... deep into forests and certainly across hills and mountains supply flows much harder. So you need your most important troops, that's engineers, to build railroads to your frontline troops. Railroads are your lifeline, for supply and new fresh troops and equipment. Everything needs to be connected as well (well not always but you can forget about that for the time being lol), so if your Supreme HQ has enough supply *but* is situated in a city behind mountains there is a big chance your troops never get enough supply. Your frontline HQ's draw their supply from their superior HQ... usually the SHQ, or sometimes a local SHQ. They need to be connected via roads.
Maybe you can post a screenshot of your supply situation?

[Mook881]

thank you guys for all your help! I started a new game and all of these problems went away following the advice you guys gave. The only thing I can think of was that my train units got separated by mistake from my supreme head quarters in my first game...would that mess up supply?

[Josh]

"..The only thing I can think of was that my train units got separated by mistake from my supreme head quarters in my first game...would that mess up supply?..."
 
No. Trains in vanilla ATG are used solely for strategic transport (although you can use them as a way of transport, like horses, though they are ... restricted to the railway network [:D] ).
Are you using any mod perhaps? [align=right]
.[/align]

[Mook881]

Oh ok that's good to know about the trains! No I am not using any mods. How do I load a screenshot here?
Thanks!

[Josh]

Upload can be done by either uploading it to say Dropbox (or any other server for that matter) and then linking it to this forum via;

Or via the upload button in the reply box;




Select a file to upload: [/align]Upload in progress... [/align]



Select a file to upload:


Max. 200KB;
gif/txt/jpg are supported [/align]Please wait for the confirmation message to appear.
On a slow network, it may take up to several minutes. [/align]

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Oops that didn't work out so well [X(] well you get the idea, either by copying the link to your picture that is on a server somewheres like Dropbox, or uploading the picture itself from your pc...for that you need to take a screenshot of the game... I think that's F12 in ATG... can't remember really. Or some folks use third party software to take a screenie of their game.

[Jenska]

Automatic supply doesn't depend on any actual transport capacity, the necessary transport is assumed and DOESN'T COST ANY FUEL; strategic supply is manual and may have cost associated with it. What does matter is that the supply chain be unbroken and each level of the chain be within the green of the previous level. Only map conditions affect supply delivery: terrain, weather( via terrain modifiers), distance and enemy ZOC's. Roads through any terrain are the path of least cost, terrain without roads costs more; mud/mountains are the worst. And the enemy can cut lines of supply, either completely or by obstructing the best path. Keep in mind that supply ONLY flows to SUBORDINATE formations. If city X sends its supply directly to HQ A, a common practice with combat units, which is subordinate to Supreme HQ, that supply does not help Supreme HQ, only the formations assigned as subordinate to HQ A.

Typically supply goes from a city to Supreme HQ, to the next HQs, then to their formations. In this case Supreme must be in the city's green zone, the next HQs must be in Spreme's green and the SF's must be in their respective HQ's green zone. Sometimes after significant movement the chain isn't so direct and one or more of the lines exceeds the 100% limits. Since ATG only computes supply from HQ's not the cities, you can use this tip (from another chain) to determine the city delivery zones:

Another tip to determine the supply coverage of a location since ATG seems to only display it properly for hq units: Create a bogus HQ (assuming you've got the points) at the origin location, production city or factory, then use the supply display (F5) to show its coverage. Then simply delete the HQ and you get the PP's back. Repeat as necessary. Do this at the beginning of your turn so you have the PP's, especially with the Officer HQ bug in effect.

Keep in mind that EACH city and HQ have a different supply zone and you must perform F5 (and subformation right click) for each one in order to see the delivery zone of each city and HQ and how the SF's will be supplied. This will let you see if enemy units are likely to disrupt supply or if units are completely cut off or out of range. Out of range units are essentially dead, since they cannot get supply and probably didn't get noticed until they were unable to move back towards the supply point (or away from the enemy). The only solutions are an airdrop if in range or to move the supply closer either by physical movement of the supply HQ or by building roads toward the unit. Large SF's are hard to air supply as only 50% of the supply reaches the formation. Sometimes only 1 or 2 hexes of road are enough to get enough supply to the SF to make it mobile enough to crawl home without additional assistance or cost. If they are in danger of being wiped out, the usual condition of out of supply units during combat, then you may need to spend more to save them. More road hexes, or a new (disposable) HQ unit that splits the (logical) distance from the supply HQ and the unit may be needed, with the unit being assigned to the new HQ just to facilate supply without regard to readiness, since that's going down fast anyway. Just getting the formation back may well be worth the cost and time to recover before its combat ready again.

All in All, out of supply is a VERY BAD thing.

[Jenska]

ORIGINAL: phatkarp

I usually have no staff in my supreme HQ, as it is not a combat HQ and will not benefit from having permanent staff. Staff are not required to fulfill the supply distribution function: they only exist to add combat bonuses to directly subordinate combat units. I have my capital make as much supply as I need, and spend the rest on PP's, aircraft, or whatever else I want and can afford.

With the new Officer mod, its rather expensive to waste the officer that comes with the Supreme HQ. It seems better to make it a combat HQ, and create a new, higher level DEPOT HQ for the purposes of supply. Then all your combat officer HQ's can be subordiante to the DEPOT, and any front-line combat HQ's subordinate to the officers. That way your cappital city can focus on supply and PP's, and maybe some units that don't take readiness penalties (that matter) such as aircraft or horses. Aircraft can fly FROM ANYWHERE to a city or airbase, so the DEPOT deosn't even have to be in a city, just a central locaton. And horse readiness doesn't seem to matter much and they can be strategically transferred easily from the DEPOT.