The Wild West - Supplies (Union)

[TulliusDetritus]

How do we start? Ok, from the manual:

"A town is a small city (Level 1 to 3). It is too small to be able to forward Supply during the Supply Distribution Phase unless a Depot has been built in the town"

As far as I can tell the only depot in the wild west is the one in Denver. And ALL the cities west of Missouri are < 3.

Therefore zero supplies are pushed or will be arriving to the west (from let's say Missouri).

A chain of depots could be built. I see two possible routes:

1) southern route - through Kansas: in game closest depot in Lexington (MO)
2) northern route - through Nebraska: in game closest depot in Council Bluffs (IA)

I more or less calculated that to push supplies to the west you should need minimum 3 depots (northern or southern routes) to link Lexington or Council Bluffs with Denver: $ 240.000 (3 wagon trains).

Then you should need another chain of depots from north (Denver) to south (let's say Fort Craig and Fort Stanton in NM). I guess minimum 3 = $ 240.000.

So that makes 240.000 x 2 = $ 480.000

And finally there are more expenses: the units you need to protect these depots, lines of communication.

Is this more or less correct?

And finally: the boxes in the left side of the screen (California, etc.): will they push supplies to the on map areas?

On the screenshot, the depots are randomly placed, for the sake of the argument. I calculated 3 depots are needed. But maybe 4 are the correct number.

[Q-Ball]

It would be good to know. Somehow, Stockades seem to act as collection points for supplies; not sure if they forward or not, but look at your stockades, seems like they always have a pile of supplies there.

[loki100]

I'd suggest you are better to not worry about supply push in this region. Its too expensive and for safety you'd need a depot every 3 provinces (push is over 3-5 but affected by terrain, development and weather).

Treat this region as if you were playing Wars In America. That has the 'simple' supply model - ie supply appears at cities and structures and you can move it using supply wagons. On that basis you can calculate the largest army feasible for operations (ie slightly less than the largest single source) and how many supply wagons you will need to ferry supply to/from that force.

So yes, use stockades to create supply and wagons to move it.

[Q-Ball]

ORIGINAL: loki100

I'd suggest you are better to not worry about supply push in this region. Its too expensive and for safety you'd need a depot every 3 provinces (push is over 3-5 but affected by terrain, development and weather).

Treat this region as if you were playing Wars In America. That has the 'simple' supply model - ie supply appears at cities and structures and you can move it using supply wagons. On that basis you can calculate the largest army feasible for operations (ie slightly less than the largest single source) and how many supply wagons you will need to ferry supply to/from that force.

So yes, use stockades to create supply and wagons to move it.

Stockades don't create supply; they just help move it.

It's important actually to understand this dynamic, because if stockades are critical to maintaining a supply line, then a way to get your opponents line is to burn stockades in his rear, which is easy enough to do actually

That's why this is an important question from Tulius

[The Red Baron]

Don't waste money building depots through KS and NE; supply will flow from the CA depots.

I suggest building depots in the Western AZ and Western NM regions. You should also station at least 1 CAV RGT in the Western & Eastern AZ regions and Western NM as well; more is better. Alternately, if you have the logistical wherewithal (troops, $), create a small cavalry division under Canby or Carson (both Indian fighters) and include 1 HA RGT. You will use these forces to play Whack-a-Mole with the Indians who periodically appear. As soon as the Indians appear, they shut off the flow of supplies, so leave the stack posture set to assault. For some reason, you can't drag and drop to intercept Indian stacks; you just have to hope your stack intercepts and wipes them out or drives them away.

My understanding is that stockades do not push supplies forward. They do generate a small amount of supply each turn (2 pts of general supply). There are several stockades in KS which cannot be reached by any depot, even at a 5 region max, which may be possible without rail or water on the steppes/prairie. How they remain supplied in the Middle of KS with no depots close by is beyond me; however, your troops can draw supplies from them in the same or adjacent regions. Most stockades in the West start with a modest supply level, which might explain the supply status of these isolated outposts.

If you're fighting the whole war and are flush with cash, I highly recommend investing in regional decisions which improve the development of all the West OMBs, especially SoCal on south. Employ "Develop Territory" and "Clearing" on each of these territories several times until you hit a development level of 35 where you can then build roads to improve the supply flow further. This presupposes the West is not a sideshow for you, but someplace you want to make an effort. It will take you over a year of continuous development to finally complete a road, so the sooner you start the better.

I've played through Sibley's Campaign 3x and the West Campaign once. I was able to capture El Paso 3 times, but in 2 out of the 3 cases, I only managed to snag it at the end of the scenario. It was a near thing, and I was desperate to get it because I needed the El Paso Depot's supplies BADLY. I had emptied all the nearby stockades of supplies by placing my supply wagons in regions adjacent to them. I had to because my supply wagons had run low as well. This is why controlling the Indians is critical. If you don't drag your feet capturing El Paso, you should net a hefty amount of supplies when you take the city, and it will give you a nice logistical base to push further into TX.

[Ace1_slith]

Far west is an isolated theater with limited supply. Do not try to bring supplies to it. There is a reason California column, after capturing El Paso, never tried to push into Texas. Simply too expensive and not feasible.

The objectives in the theater for the CSA should be capture of Colorado gold mines. The objective for the US should be eliminating CSA threat. The region can supply about division sized force for both sides. Anything more would require too much resources (depots). You cannot push into TX with only 1 division on a long supply chain. You would get slaughtered.

Now look at real life. Can you imagine 15 thousand men marching in a column over far west areas. Simple not feasible, and game simulate this pretty good, IMO.

When game went out, I tried to capture California as CSA from El Paso. Simply it could not be done (realistic), my only supply point was El Paso, while Union sat on abundant supplies in CA ports. I could build more units, but I could not sustain them.

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: Q-Ball

Stockades don't create supply; they just help move it.

I'm sorry but this is simply wrong. The whole issue is that stockades etc will generate a small block of supply but it can only be used in that province or gathered and moved by supply wagons

[TulliusDetritus]

Really useful tips. Many thanks to everyone [&o]

I don't really want to launch serious operations. Yes, it's clearly a sideshow. I wanted to know how much is too much ie how many troops can be fed, armed. Starvation could be just around the corner [8D]